Week 48 - ELDER BEDNAR

Hi all!

OK SO... 

Friday we went to Chalco to sleep in the house of Elder Bistline and Elder Reyes because at 3 am there is not any public transport... Saturday we woke up at 3am, got ready, took a taxi to the mission offices, got in some large vans and went to the temple! We showed up to the temple at 6 am and we waited for basically 3 hours doin nothin. You might be asking why? Well, Elder Bednar is visiting Mexico and his first stop is with us! Mexico City Chalco and Mexico City South missions. We were blessed to listen to an apostle speak and teach us for 3 hours. It was crazy! The spirit was insane! He is also really funny. He kinda just roasts everyone.

NOTES:

-Faith is not a feeling, it is an action.

-Teach one thing: Spiritual self-reliance.

-Repentance does not come when we are baptized in the font, it comes when we receive the Holy Ghost through a baptism of fire.

-You don't find happiness, you create it.

-We are the conduit, not the reason.

The work is good, tough, hard, but also really fun. I don't remember if I invited y'all, but I encourage everyone to study the diference between a prayer and a prayer of faith :)

Have a great week!

Elder Quist 

Another pic from Sports Day last week - Elders Solorzano and Quist

Week 47 - The Art of Street Contacting

Hello everyone! 

Let's get right too it.

So Tuesday we had a district meeting in Chalco. I love district meetings! I always learn something useful or remember something I need to improve. After the district meeting, we talked with the mission secretary about changing houses and we figured out (without saying too much) that there are a ton of problems with the contract we have for this house. That whole process took FOREVER and we didn't get back to Cuatro Vientos until 2ish. We went to lunch, visited some people, then I got a call that we had to go BACK to Chalco to pay for something. There was a ton of traffic and yaaaaa, it was a slow day.

Wednesday was also a slow day. Since I am training we had to go to a special trainers meeting in Chalco (again). It was cool to talk with all the missionaries and we learned a lil bit as well. For some reason, it lasted like 8 hours. We left the house at 8:30 am and got back to our area at 6 pm... so we tried to visit a bunch of people really fast, but besides that, as far as the mission work, it was a slow day.

Thursday I was feeling a lil sad that we hadn't had time to work a lot so I decided we would dedicate the entire morning to contacting in the street. My son doesn't exactly love contacting, but I taught him a little about the keys to contacting and he likes it (kinda) now: don't talk to people like they are strangers (without love), smile, get to know them a little if there is time, and don't get down on yourself. It was fun and we killed it. In the afternoon, our investigators surprised us with this cake thing that is called (basically) the Impossible cake. It is flan with chocolate cake on the bottom. It is the bomb! We visited a bunch of other people but not too many were home or had time so :/

Friday we had a fun lil experience. So our area is just a huge planned community and all the streets have gates so we have to call the people and wait for them to open it. While we were waiting, it started to rain so I called our investigators like 8 times and THEN it started to HAIL. Elder Solorzano and I looked at each other and read each others mind. We just flat out sprinted like 10 minutes to a members house while hail the size of a nickel came at us from every direction. I just remember running and hearing my comp yell "ow" like every 2 seconds hahaha!

Saturday was full of walking. We looked for a ton of people, but hardly anyone was home.

Sunday was good. None of our investigators came to church though :/

Monday! Ok so about 6 months ago we had this activity in our mission called Sports Day (original right?). Today was sports day! We compete against all the other zones in the mission. And we wonnnnn! Two in a row baby let´s gooooo! It was exhausting though.

Love y'all! 

Quist

(so thankful for the mission fb page so we can see our boy's face... since he lost his camera)

Week 46 - The Gospel is Simple

Hi All! 

Sorry this one is gonna be lil' bit shorter - 

This week I really focused on making my studies better - using the scriptures more and teaching more simply. I have always taught that when we receive blessings it is because we are obedient to some commandment. I have always known that to be true, but I had no idea where it talked about that doctrinally until I found D&C 130:20-21 (if I remember right...). It is a good read; highly recommended!

Throughout this week, well, throughout my whole mission, I have learned just how simple this gospel is. Keep the commandments. Really, if we just keep all the commandments we will be fine, we will be happy, we will have the Holy Ghost with us, we can return to the presence of our Heavenly Father and live with our families forever. :) 

It was a good week, a lot of work here in Cuatro Vientos (that means '4 winds' in English, just FYI).

Love y'all! Stay tuned for a more detailed, fun, longer, interesting email next week! :)

Elder Quist

Week 45 - Finally a Fridge

Hey there! 

Finally got a fridge. 

So for three weeks we have been living without a fridge in our house so basically we don't eat breakfast or dinner. POR FIN we got a fridge! Our district leader brought it to us Friday so now we eat lots of cereal. Corn Pops is the only cereal that tastes like it does in America sooo I eat those babies a ton... Other thing, our house has a weird water heater thingy and it doesn't really work so I am back to showering in freezing cold water. Wish me luck.

This week wasn't the best week ever because we had to go to Chalco almost everyday for some reason or another. Tuesday we had our district meeting there. Wednesday we had a meeting with president in the morning and then after we had our interviews with President Zapata. Thursday we had to go to the hospital in Chalco because my comp had some weird rash. SO we couldn´t meet this week with a couple of our investigators who only are available in the morning :/

SUNDAY. BEST DAY! SO our ward has struggled a lot recently with church attendance. Ever since Elder Solorzano and I have gotten here, every week the attendance has gone up by about 10 people, and this Sunday we had more people than they have seen in the last 6 months! It was a super spiritual testimony meeting because a bunch of the youth went to an EFY thing and (found boyfriends and girlfriends but that is besides the point) Sunday they bore their testimonies and they all cried. Our ward doesn't have a Gospel Principles teacher right now, so I am the teacher right now soooooo that is kinda stressful but it was fun! We had a bunch of people go. After church, like 20 members plus us took a combi from the church to our houses and it was the most cheerful public transport experience I have had on the mission. hahaha All the members started singing happy birthday to someone and I felt kinda embarrased because there was like 3 people in the combi that were not members and WOW it must've been awkward for them. But it was cool.

It was a good week. We saw a lot of people in church that we have not seen in awhile. Just ask my comp how happy I was when we got home after church...

I love y'all! 

Elder Quist

Note: In Gospel Principles we talked about being the reason others have miracles in their lives. This week I challenge you all to take a little extra time in your prayers and ask God to help you be the reason someone has a miracle in their life! :)

(We are so grateful for the wonderful Garcia family who keeps track of our boy! Davis is in an area that is close to them again and they had a p-day outing together!)