Week 50 - A Week in Pictures

Moving day!

a pic of the volcano

Week 49 - Tender Mercies

Hello family and friends! 

It will be a lil smaller this week I apologize.  

This week we saw a lot of little miracles, a lot of blessings and just so many good things happened. I bore my testimony this Sunday about the love of God and how there are not any coincidences in this life. God intimately knows each and every one of us and what happens in our lives. I read a talk by Elder David A. Bednar the other day about the tender mercies of the Lord in our lives. Many many many MANY times in our lives we just live without realizing the hand of god. 

Something funny (kinda): we were knocking on the door of a contact and her husband came out and was really rude and more or less cussed us out and kinda got in our faces so I said "thank you" and "have a good day!" and we were OUT of there. My comp was fine but I was a little startled (11 months in Mexico and that is the first time that has happened haha). More than anything I was kinda sad there are people like that.

Sunday was the bomb, we had 7 investigators in church! A lot of people came to church and we all could feel the spirit. We currently do not have a Young Men's president, so my comp and I taught the class and we killed it. 

1 Nephi 1:20: But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance. 

I love you all! I miss ya a ton.

Elder Quist

Elder Bednar's visit to the mission

 See him? Top right corner :) 

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!)

Week 44 - 10 MONTHS

HELLO EVERYONE! 

Not a ton of things to report this week. Just that literally all of our investigators need to get divorced or married orrrrr both. And that is so difficult here in Mexico because no one ever has the money to get a divorce or to get married. And no one has the time to do it all because it takes a little bit of time. Prayers would be ideal. Thank you everyone! 

This week was good nevertheless. In the church, we had 55 people which is the most they have seen here in awhile, even though there are like 400 members. If anyone has any "out of the box" ideas, please let me know how I can get more members to come to church. Shoot me an email.

We met a lot of people this week, which is awesome, but none of the people we met are 100% ready for this message so we are continuing to look this week and trying to help everyone get married. ;)

Not to much to report. I love y'all! You're in my prayers!

Elder Quist

Week 43 - Mi HIjo Amado

The pregnancy was long and tough but after many long months I gave birth to a young and healthy Elder Solorzano. He is legit. A couple weeks after he got his mission call some professional soccer team in Guatemala offered him like $4000 american dollars monthly to play for them and he turned them down so he could focus on the mission #consecrated. I am in a new area called Cuatro Vientos Ixtapaluca. It is cool. When we got to the house, it was super dirty. So an hour or two everyday we have been cleaning it. Saturday we finally got to the back patio... lemme tell y'all. That was a terrifying experience. There was a dead rat in a bucket, a trash bag full of maggots and larvae, then the spiders.  

So in the corner there was this stack of floor tiles and I started moving them and I saw something move... To my horror I found the largest spider I have ever seen, like the size of my hand, and it had an enormous egg sack on it's back. Basically a nightmare of mine. So VERY carefully I started moving the tiles so I could kill the spider from hell and APPARENTLY this freaking spider has a HUSBAND. So you know, there is me, internally screaming like a little girl (and a little bit on the outside too), and then a couple feet behind me is my son, all calm and relaxed telling me to kill them while he is doing the dishes or something like that. After about 20 minutes, I move all the tiles and the spider couple is happily staring me down. They think I got nothin', but to their surprise I had a bucket of water. And a broom stick. That spider couple didn't know what hit them! I splashed them with a TON of water and went in there beating those things like a man possesed... I hope I left a good impression for my son...

This week we went and talked with the Salas family. They just got back from a long vacation and are so ready for this gospel. They read the Book of Mormon like everyday and all the pamphlets. Super prepared people. Pray for them. We also met with Tio and Leti. Really kinda awkward couple... BUT they are also way prepared. They read the BoM like maniacs. We were just getting to know them and I asked if they have been reading and praying often, to which they responded "yeah, when I get back from work everyday and relax a little bit we say a prayer and start reading and then after we finish we say another prayer..." and we just could not thank our Heavenly Father enough for preparing these people for us to help them know his true church.

Life here in Mexico is great, exhausting but great work! I miss y'all. You are in my prayers, and I love ya!

Elder Quist

PS - No pics for the moment, I lost my camera :( If you would like to donate to my new camera fund let me know! :)

Week 42 - Transferring and Training!

Hey all!

So I'm on the move again. I'm transferring areas again! And one other thing... I'M PREGNANT! I'M HAVING A BOY. I found out yesterday that I will be training starting onnnnn Tuesday! I'm pretty excited, but a little sad to be leaving Jonacatepec. 

So this week, on Sunday, we had a baptism! Eder got baptized after listening to the missionaries for TEN YEARS!! Super cool guy, he is 25. It was a really awesome service. His whole family was there. His sister flew in to see him get baptized from Monterrey, about 2 hours by plane. We had like 50 people at the baptism and along with 12 missionaries, and a ton of the young single adults came from another ward. We had a super spiritual service. I got to baptize him which was incredible. I messed up saying his name the first time so I had to do it again and after I hugged him in the font and said sorry I messed up. He just kinda shrugged it off and said "That's ok, I had a lot of sins to get rid of." hahahahaha I love him. He's awesome. At the end of the service, he was asked to say the closing prayer and it was just so spiritual and personal. He cried during the prayer and yeahhhhh he's awesome. 

Sometimes it is hard to see the blessings we have in our lives right in the moment. Sometimes it is easy. Always be grateful. Recently I have thought about being an example to others and how important the examples in my life have been, my mom and my dad, my older sister, my younger siblings, all my friends, my leaders who cared and loved, my bishops, all the other ward members and family friends. Remember: As a member of this church, even though you are not wearing a name tag, you are a personal witness of Jesus Christ, of Joseph Smith, of Russell M Nelson, of the Book of Mormon. Always act in such a way that would bring nothing but honor and respect to those things. :) 

I love y'all! I miss ya.

Elder Quist

Week 41 - Baptism!

Hey guys, 

I don't have a ton of time to write today. I just wanted to tell y'all that we had a baptism this week! Guadalupe was brought into this wonderful church of God on Sunday. It was a fun day :) We have another baptism this Saturday with Eder. He has been an investigator for TEN YEARS! God puts the miracles in our lives every day. Don't forget to be grateful! :) 

Homies don't forget to be an example and let your light shine forth for everyone to see! 

Love y'all!

DQ

Baptism pics with Jhonnatan and Guadalupe!

Week 40 - Elections Are Over

Hello my friends in the good 'ol United States Of AMERICA!

Enjoy the 4th of July a little for me, eh? 

So lately we have been trying to get an investigator married, Guadalupe, to her husband who is a member. They are cool!  Y'all are gonna see them in some baptism pictures soon!!! They are getting MARRIED THIS WEEK ON THE GOOD 'OL 4TH OF JULY - send them some love through that amazing thing called prayer.

Mexico has been pretty dang insane these past two months or so. The elections for the state governor, city mayor, and president are all going on at the same time. Here in Mexico everyone cares about the local government more than any other thing so the people running for office here have made jingles to use to tell people to vote for them. People put GIANT speakers on their cars and drive around and blast this ugly music all day and all night... BUT the elections ended Sunday so it's a lot more calm.

THAT ALSO MEANS we can visit more people. The number one thing people say when we show up at their house is "oh I am going to help so and so with some politics stuff, come back another day". So this week we are going to kill it.

I love Mexico, I love the Lord, I love my comp, I love the prophet, Russell M. Nelson, I love all you out there reading this! Have a stellar week!

E. Quist

 Elder Mendez from the Dominican Republic, I love him

 Elder Castillo and I in a taxi during divisions

Elder Santos and I borrowed some bikes and found this cool highway that no one is allowed to use. It's called the highway of the sun.