Week 18 - A Temple Trip and Transfers!

Hey Everyone! I hope everyone is doing well - that the snow isn't too bad. Let me tell ya, this 75 degree weather killer... This week was the last of this transfer AND the last week of my training!

Monday: Good day! We went to the store in the morning, then to the Garcia's where I made everyone cheese pancakes. (pics last week) They were bomb.

Tuesday: Just an awesome day! I taught a lesson in district meeting that was fire. Our day was full of appointments and almost everyone was home. So we were able to teach a lot. Super blessed.

Wednesday: Recently, I started reading "Jesus the Christ." It's super interesting and I would highly recommend reading it! We were rained out in the evening so I just read "Jesus the Christ" for awhile.

Thursday: We some good studying done in the morning, then later went to Chalco to the mission office to pick up some stuff.  Yolanda decided recently that she doesn't want to be baptized because she likes her saints too much. We have been a bit stumped as to what to teach her. If y'all have any ideas, let me know!

Friday: BEST day of the mission yet! So first of all, 4 months complete! Second, recently we have been preparing the Garcia's to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. Two weeks ago we got permission to take them and watch. They got their recommends on Thursday and today we went! It gets better though. When we got to the temple, we found only 3 workers in the baptistry. So they asked US if we could help be witnesses AND baptize! I got to witness for Christopher and baptize Angeles. SO INCREDIBLE! The temple is such a cool place guys. Go often!

Saturday: Visited Irma the prophetess and she accepted a baptismal date! Pray we can get her in there.

Sunday: After church, the Garcia's invited us to their home to eat some pretty dang good Jello. Totally worth it. We met with some peeps we contacted, Gabriel and Daniella. Only talked for a few minutes, but they seem promising. Then - We went to the Stake Center and learned of our changes. I'm staying here and I'll most likely have a latino comp and Elder McDowell is going to Cuatla! It's been awesome being with him. I love that guy.

Well that's the news for this week. I hope y'all stay safe! I love and miss you all! God loves you!

-Elder Quist

 All the scrips McDowell has

This pic describes the Garcias perfectly - great family!

Week 17 - HOT WATER!

Hola All!

Last Monday, we had a zone party at our church. (I think I sent pics last week). It was sick. I love our zone. We are killing it with baptisms too! The rest of the day was chill.

Tuesday: We got to watch the press conference with our zone. President Russell M. Nelson: "Alright, well..." Rude reporter: "What about the women?" President Nelson: "We love 'em!" Guys, President Nelson is so cool! Read his talks. Listen to him. He has so many great ones!

Wednesday: Visited this super crazy, near blind guy... He is very interesting. I don't think we are going back. My comp needs to go renew his visa tomorrow, so he stayed in Chalco. I went on divisions for the night with Elder Oehler. It was super chill. He's a cool guy.

Thursday: Probably my best morning  of study since getting out into the field. After studies, we went on divisions with the zone leaders. I was with Elder Hatfield and now we're best friends.. Haha. We tight. Turns out we took spanish together when I was in 8th grade and he was in 9th. We flipped out because, I mean, what are the odds?? Then we finished divisions.

Friday: We were contacted by this lady that thinks she is a woman prophet and has been receiving revelations and visions from God since she came out of the womb. Her name is Irma. She is crazy.

Saturday: We had a few lessons that went pretty well. Then. The Garcia's helped us obtain a tank of gas so now we have HOT WATER!! One week left before we probably leave this area. :( We took the Prophetess to a baptism of the elders in the other ward. She claimed to have a vision during it, but besides that it was good!

Sunday: Church was good. Nothing exciting. After church, we had carnitas for lunch with a member. It was soooo good. We visited some people and set some new appointments. I contacted this really cool guy all by myself! Good day.

Good week! Lots of work done. My spanish is improving and I'm getting better at teaching. This is probably my last week in this area (we'll see??) and my LAST week of training! That'll be cool to finish training. Anyway, I miss y'all! Write me!

Have a great week!
Elder Quist

Our chapel

 cheese pancakes

Week 16 - Volcanoes and Baptisms: A Great Week!

Monday: The Garcia's took us to an ancient volcanic crater and made us dinner. Angeles taught us how to make a Lemon Pie. A good day.

Tuesday: We had interviews in Chalco with the President. It was good. President Zapata is a cool guy! Later, we went back to Chalco to a multi-zone meeting. 

Wednesday: Giovana took us to some friends she knows and we met this girl named Astrid. We taught her the Plan of Salvation... All the while her aunt was just breastfeeding her baby and it just got super awkward. haha. But she (Astrid) accepted a baptismal date!

Thursday: We had to go to Chalco to pick up some baptismal clothes. While we were there, I bought some new shoes. They are dope. Later, we had the baptismal interviews for Brenda and Ingrid and they both passed! I'm going to baptize Ingrid and my comp will baptize Brenda. It's going to be so cool! 

Friday: CONGRATS TO MAREN AND CODY! I LOVE YOU GUYS! Now don't have a baby until I get home. Please. Thank you. Also, we met this crazy lady named Susanna. More on her if she progresses.

Saturday: Brenda and Ingrid are baptized! So cool! When Ingrid was going in the water, she said it was cold, but after I asked how she felt. She said she isn't cold anymore, just super happy! Soooo cool. So blessed to be somewhere I can see 4 people be baptized within 40 days. 

Sunday: So there is this guy, Hermano Beto, in our ward who is super cool. So funny. He is a return missionary, like 30 years old. Just a super nice guy. We talked to him for an hour-is today. That was the daily highlight.

Long week, but a good week. 2 spiritual thoughts I want to share. 1, At funerals, the pallbearers are the people who were closest to the deceased. Those that carry the sacrament are literally pallbearers for the body of Christ. So to pass the sacrament, we must be close to Christ. And 2, Less of a spiritual thought, but the Articles of Faith are incredible. I highly suggest reading them again if you haven't in awhile! Anyway, this cycle ends the 29th and I'll be done training! I hope to stay in this area. It's super fun here. I really like working here. I miss y'all! 

Love ya! Write me!
E Quist

Week 15 - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It was a good week. Super long though. I'm exhausted. I don't remember if I mentioned last week, but when we had a zone meeting, we changed our companionship goal from 5 baptisms this cycle to 10 baptisms. So we could use your prayers! Gracias. Anyway, my week...

Monday: Happy New Year! I'm spending all of 2018 in Mexico. Everyone go drunk so there was absolutely nothing open. We just sat in our house and literally just played UNO for a few hours. Our family night with the Garcia's was bomb, as always.

Tuesday: We taught this super stubborn catholic named Julio and we finally made progress. He asked why are there so many churches. We explained the difference between good and correct. It was a good lesson. After some other less successful appointments, we got some references from the Garcia's, we convinced them to eventually have another kid because we need more of them. haha!

Wednesday: Nothing happened. Sorry.

Thursday: Our lesson with the Jimenez fam was good. Their new baptismal date is January 13th. Pray for them, peeps. Gracias. Our lesson with Epigmenio was confusing... my spanish was bomb though. We watched "Ole!" about Ferdinand the Bull for Noche de Cine. Super funny actually. Then... TACOS!

Friday: So we were walking to lunch today and we saw this guy run out of his car with like a 2-liter beer bottle yelling about how his car was on fire. We then sat there and watched his car almost completely catch on fire. Mexico is wild!

Saturday: Our appointment fell through so we were walking back to our house when we saw this guy we know breaking up a sidewalk. So we stopped and helped him for 45 minutes. We broke up about 35 feet of concrete with sledgehammers. Pretty legit. Today, January 6th, is Dia de Los Reyes in Mexico, which is a bigger holiday than Christmas (and more comparable to Christmas in America). They have a tradition of eating Rosca de Reyes. When they bake it, they put a baby Jesus figurine in it. So when you eat it, whoever has the baby Jesus has to buy everyone tamales. I had the baby Jesus in my piece, of course. 

Sunday: Our first day with church starting at 8:30 am. The rest of the day was just visiting people and asking why they didn't come to church. haha. No one came to church. 

All in all, a good week. Thanks for your support and prayers.

Elder Quist

View from part of our area

Walking pic, just a street

  A bow and flower lucy gave me

chillin with Lucia

Week 14 - Still Haven't Been Robbed (Part 7)

Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!! Christmas was great! Just hung out with the Garcia's and called the fam (love you guys!), and got some good presents!

Tuesday: We had a zone meeting today. It was pretty good. We changed our companionship goal to 10 (it was 5) baptisms this cycle. Later we met the Cruz Dueña Familia. We didn't get them to commit baptism, but hopefully soon.

Wednesday: We did splits today with Elder Santiz and Petersen. I was with Petersen. He's super chill. Almost at his 6 month mark, from Saratoga Springs. We walked soooo much today.

Thursday: Super busy day. So we have been trying to meet with this one lady for weeks and today finally worked out! Turns out she has been/is a missionary for the Catholic church for 33 years. hahaha. She was like, "Yeah, just so it's clear, I'm not interested at all." Then she talked for an hour about how all churches lead to Christ... no baptismal date for her, but she actually gave us a good reference!

Friday: Second lesson with Cruz Dueñas, better than the first. Still no baptismal date, but they are progressing. We committed this 80 year old, Epigmemo, to baptism! He live along and like to walk around the park and talk to people. He believes that the Book of Mormon is another Bible, but that'll be easy to fix!

Saturday: Alright so I started the day with donuts and ended with tacos, so I'm living it up down here in Mexico City. A lot of appointments, but not too much success. Not a horrible day though!

Sunday: Happy New Year Eve!! We had 40 people at church today which was kind of sad, but was bueno. We went to a zone party in Chalco for the night, it was sick. This member made us tacos and we just chilled and then broke some piñatas - don't worry, I killed it. That piñata had no chance when I got in there.

Really good week in all honesty. We got money for the next month so my taco obsession/problem is back alive. We found 4 new investigators and whole bunch more contacts (yikes, that grammar is bad), so this next week should be exciting! I realized on Sunday that I really miss church in America. Like, having only priests bless the sacrament, lots of youth, people care about their callings (only the bishop is there on time - his counselors show up 10 minutes late), and people actually coming to church. Sidenote, the Relief Society President has a baby chihuahua and it was just walking around the whole time. It was easily the highlight of my day. I love you all!!

-Elder DQ

Happy New Year from México!!

Week 13 - Christmas 2017

Merry Christmas! This was a slow week, but it ended good! We committed Brenda and Ingrid and Yolanda to baptism again for January 13th so pray for us that they can follow through! Christmas was the bomb, I love my fam! It was the besttttt to talk to you guys for an hour-ish, I can't wait for May! I love you guys! I pray for y'all! Write me! 

Elder Quist

1st Try - Not a great connection - it was touch and go. But so happy to see that smile!! Tried for 20 minutes to figure it all out. 

Then thanks to the Garcia Family, we got to see and hear our boy! Doing fantastic in México! Love him!