Very busy week!
We had interviews with President Zapata this week. My son asked him if we can stay together until Christmas, which would be another two cycles together hahaha.
On Wednesday I taught my first disrict meeting. It was pretty fun. Right now we are teaching a family of 5. They are awesome! They come to church almost every week, they read the Book of Mormon - super cool people. Baptism in a couple weeks, it's gonna be a party.
I have been thinking a lot lately about what makes us different from the rest of the people in the world, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ. Visiting so many people on my mission, those that accept the gospel and those that don't, has shown me just how important this message is that I get to share everyday. It really changes lives! I gave a talk in church this past Sunday about the small and simple things in life. Taking the sacrament every week, reading the Book of Mormon everyday, or, even better, really STUDYING the Book of Mormon everyday, personal and family prayer, family home evening, putting a little extra effort to serve someone, to show someone love, to be grateful, etc etc... All of these things are small, relatively speaking, but they are hard though. What is easier: studying the scriptures or not studying? Answer: not studying. The gospel is not easy. Keeping all the commandments is not easy. The easy things in life come from Satan. Everyday we make tiny decisions that will either bring us closer to Christ or take us farther away.
It is hard being here sometimes and we are teaching people and telling them exactly what they need to do to make their life better, how to get closer to Christ, and they don't do it! As we walk in the streets, we see a bunch of worldy distractions, and I'm not gonna lie, sometimes they really are distracting. As members of His church here on earth we have to be examples for everyone. We are different because we know how to find that happiness that can't be described. We know how important the little things are. I can't remember which apostle said it, but I remember a quote that said something like: "I have never met someone that went inactive that was reading the Book of Mormon every day and praying." The small and simple things take care of all the things big and complicated. I know that to be true with every part of my body. Being a missionary is hard, we have so many rules we need to keep, so many things we need to think about, study, ponder, and pray about, we need to develop the characteristics of Christ, and so on and so forth. Sometimes (actually many many times) I have small mental breakdowns when I think about that. haha My companions really appreciate them. BUT. I know that perfection does not come all at once - let alone in this life - so we need to focus on the small and simple things. :)
I love y'all. I miss America. Someone eat In-N-Out for me this week.
Elder Quist
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