Week 74 - A Mighty Change

Hello everyone :) 

Awesome week in Mexico City!

Elder Peña and I have been working super hard and exercising faith and seeing a lot of miracles! Being a missionary is awesome! Everyone needs to do it haha. 

This week I thought a lot about true conversion. I was reading in Alma 5 where it talks about basically doing a spiritual self quiz. It is kind of a long chapter, but I encourage everyone to go read it! 

Alma 5:14: "And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?"

I meet a lot of people here, and I know a lot of people in the US, and they are all great people! But sadly there are many that are not as converted as God requires. There are many things that God commands us to do, many simple things, that we don't do. I have been reading a few talks about this and thinking a lot and after talking with my companion about it too, I made a list of things I can improve. Small things. We can always improve!

I love y'all! Have an awesome week :)

Elder Quist

Week 73 - Working Hard in Huitzilzingo

Hey all!

I am little sick today, so honestly I am not gonna write a lot today. My new companion is Elder Peña! He is super cool, from El Salvador. He goes home March 11th, so I will have only 4 weeks with him and a new companion the final 2 weeks of the cycle. We are working super hard. We have had lots of success so far and I am really happy to be able to learn a lot from him. I promise to write a better weekly email next week! :) 

Enjoy the cold up there in the US of A. :)

Love ya all!

Elder Quist

(With the new changes announced in regards to missionary communication, Davis can call home on p-days, but said that he would rather not. But he loves us! :) Just wants to stay focused! And we completely respect his decision. Can't wait for Mother's Day!)

Week 72 - A Week of Miracles

Hey everyone! 

We had an awesome week! Full of miracles. I don't want to write a lot today, to be honest, but I will give y'all a little rundown.

Wednesday we had a lesson with Esmirna and my companion said something that has really stuck with me: "God does not give us what we want, He gives us what we need". I mean, I knew that before, but I had not thought about that in a long time. It reminds me of the verse in Isaiah that says that our thoughts are not Gods thoughts, and our paths are not his paths. God has a specific plan for each and every one of us. I have truly gained a testimony of that. Many times we must go in search of said path, but we must always search. God knows us personally. 

We had the great opportunity to go to the temple last week! It was incredible... I am sad I'm not closer to the temple to be able to go to the temple more often. It is such a spiritually energizing experience.

Elders Quist and Cabrera

 Reunited with Elder Solorzano

(his "son" who had to go home for surgery and has now returned!)

(the temple pic from the mission facebook page)

I found this little gem of a quote when I was studying on Friday. "Although our missions may not be as grand, John's example teaches us that our love for Jesus Christ leads us to accept our own calls and challenges in life, no matter how bittersweet they at times may seem". We are all called to do things sometimes that we may not be so excited to do, but God has called us to do it. It may not be easy, but it will be worth it. I have been pondering this the last couple days and how I can apply it in my life and I invite all of you to do the same. The article is from the January Liahona 2019 about John the Beloved. It is awesome, I loved it!

Saturday was milagroso. We found this girl named Emily a few days ago. She is 17. She had been taught by the missionaries before and went to church a few times, like a month and a half ago, and was almost baptized, but then a couple things happened and she couldn't. BUT NOW SHE CAN. We talked to her the first time on Wednesday and she got baptized today! It was an incredible tender mercy by God to let us baptize her. She is a very, very prepared daughter of God. 

On Sunday, we received our changes! I am staying here in Huitzilzingo and Elder Cabrera is leaving. He is goin to Amecameca. Elder Peña is my new companion. He is from El Salvador and this is his last cycle. We are going to have a ton of success, I can already feel it in my bones. ;)

I love you all! I hope you are enjoying all the snow haha Go be a great person and serve someone in a special way this week :)

Elder Quist

2 Timothy 4:17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear.

Week 71 - "Don't Drop the Ball"

It's February and a bunch of cool things happened this week. Let's take a look:

-this sweet old lady told us that there was someone bugging her on Facebook so we helped her block a bunch of people.

-we went to Ayapango a couple times this week and on the way I saw an old man chasing a cow with a beer in one hand and a whip in the other.

-we got some investigators married and their eyes got SUPER wide when the judge lady asked them to hold hands (that sure didn't stress me out... I hope I am not like that when I get married...).

-I ate a hamburger almost every day this week.

-I saved this kid's life. We were walking down the street at night and this kid was running away from a big dog and he tripped and fell on the curb and started screaming and the dog was trying to bite him so I chased the dog away :)

Lots of stuff happened this week! We are working with a couple people in particular. Oscar is really cool, and he wants to get baptized this weekend on the 9th! But he was living with his girlfriend, a member actually, so they got married on Saturday so that he can get baptized! It was cool, and they came to church which was great.

We are also teaching Hariany, she is 14. Normally she lives out of our area, but she has some complicated family problems, so on the weekends she lives with her cousins in our area. She is funny, and came to church which was awesome! She loves it there. 

I was reading this week a talk by President Hinckley titled "Don't Drop the Ball", which talks a little about character. "You can't tell the character of an individual by the way he does his daily work. Watch him when his work is done. See where he goes. Note the companions he seeks, and the things he does when he may do as he pleases. Then you can tell his true character". He goes on to talk about the diferences between an eagle and a hog. I want to invite all of you to go read this talk and ponder its message, then apply it in your life. This talk has always been one of my favorites, and I always learn something new by reading and studying it.

I love all of you guys! I sure do miss y'all. Have an awesome week and don't forget to study the scriptures :)

Elder Quist