Week 69 - Huitzilzingo

Hey everyone! 

Awesome week here in Huitzilzingo. A little slow honestly, but we worked hard. Elder Cabrera is a great missionary so I'm learning a lot from him.

Tuesday: We had our district meeting here in Huitzilzingo. It was great! I talked a lil about knowledge and while I prepared everything I learned a lot. In D&C 130:19, it tells us that through diligence and obedience we can gain knowledge, and seeing as that is the only thing we take with us after we die, it is quite important. Other things came to mind as well but I can't remember right now. After the district meeting we did exchanges with the Elders in Tetelco, I stayed in Huitzilzingo with Elder Borup. It was a great day, we taught a couple of lessons and enjoyed ourselves.

Wednesday: We had interviews with President Zapata today. I love that man, he's great.

Thursday: This morning was one to remember! So last night we called everyone in the zone and told them that President Zapata is not happy with us and that he wants us to talk to them. So we kinda scared all of them. But they are all doing great haha. So we got to the church early and got the mission secretaries to help cause they are in the zone, and we made the zone pancakes and eggs and bought everyone juice and had a good time :) It was awesome! After that we went to the offices for a little training with some other leaders. In the afternoon, we went on divisions with Elder Bahena and Elder Reynolds. It was cool! We saw lots of little miracles.

Friday and Saturday were just kinda meh.

Sunday: Today was pretty cool. Background: my first Sunday here two youth came to church to do an english assignment for school (they have to interview someone in english, it happens all the time). I contacted them after. They are suuuuper cool. Fast forward to today: they came to church! Their names are Mariana and Sergio by the way. After lunch we had meeting with some other elders. Later at night we had a cool lil miracle. We have been teaching a girl named Diana, but she might have moved, we aren't sure, so we went to go check. When we knocked on the door, her neighbor opened her window and started talking to us! She is very nice. 

Honestly it has been a hard week. Not a whole lot of success as far as numbers go, and today, Sunday, I have really felt differently. We have seen many small miracles. I know God is aware of the trials of every single one of us. He wants us to be happy, but he also wants us to be strong. I love this work. I know it is true and I know it is the work of the Lord. 

Also Sunday night was a full moon and a LUNAR ECLIPSE! AND A BLOOD MOON! So that was pretty cool. 

Have a great week!

Elder Quist!

The chapel

Our washer

The Lunar Eclipse 

Week 68 - Declaring His Word

This week we saw a lot of miracles. Lots of people preparing to be baptized, lots of people prepared to listen to this amazing message that we share. I forgot my camera in the house so I don't have any photos, sorry :( But next week I will write a nice good longish email. haha 

I am running out of time. I love all of you and I miss ya! Have an awesome week!

Elder Quist

D.C. 42:5-7 - "And I give unto them a commandment that they shall go forth for a little season, and it shall be given by the power of the Spirit when they shall return. And ye shall go forth in the power of my Spirit, preaching my gospel, two by two, in my name, lifting up your voices as with the sound of a trump, declaring my word like unto angels of God. And ye shall go forth baptizing with water, saying: Repent ye, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Week 67 - Happy New Year! + Transfers

Hi Everyone!

Changes! This time I'm going super far! Just kidding. I just moved to the other side of the stake haha. I am now in the ward Huitzilzingo. I haven't ever been in this zone before, so I am pretty excited. My new companion is Elder Cabrera. He is from Sonora, Mexico. I love being with him - he is an awesome leader. 

Tuesday: Last day with Elder McDowell in the mission! He gets home on Wednesday. It's insane to think about that. When I got to Mexico, he only had about 9 months. The time goes by sooooo fast! Well after saying goodbye to him, Elder Cabrera and I got on our way to our house. After unpacking a little bit, we headed out and got lost for about 5 hours... Might be worth mentioning that Elder Cabrera is also new here. We walked a BUNCH. 

Wednesday: Today we got off to an early start with an appointment at 9:30 am. Later we went to Chalco to take money out of the ATM, then to Mixquic for Elder Cabrera's backpack that he left at another missionary's house... Then we WALKED. A LOT. We walked to one side of the pueblo to the other like 3 times. I mean, it isn't like a large city, but it isn't small. We met Edmundo that night, a neighbor of ours and the dad of some members. He has been meeting with the missionaries for a couple weeks. We got to know him and he expressed his desires to be baptized THIS SATURDAY! So of course, well, we said yes. (: 

Thursday: Lots of walking, calves looking fine, spirit strong, very tired.

Friday: We went all the way to Amecameca today for the leadership meeting. It was awesome! We were able to feel the spirit as we listened to all the messages. Two elders in particular talked about making sacrifices. I really liked what they said about giving up something right now, maybe something good even, for something better in the future. We are all faced with decisions everyday. Some hard and some easy, and our loving Heavenly Father has given us our agency to choose. Many times we can choose to do what would make us happy right now or we can choose to wait. Throughout my time here, I have gained a strong testimony of this principal. 

"Nevertheless, without patience, we cannot please God; we cannot become perfect. Indeed, patience is a purifying process that refines understanding, deepens happiness, focuses action, and offers hope for peace."  -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

(pics from the mission facebook page)

Saturday: First Saturday in Huitzilzingo, first baptism. Edmundo, the man we met during the week, was baptized by his son-in-law Cesar. It was an awesome service! I could really feel the spirit present.

Sunday: Not gonna lie, it was kinda weird with just 2 hours of church. I liked it though, don't get me wrong. I don't want to get into soooo many details, but we saw so many miracles today. It was a nice tender mercy. 

This week was kinda crazy and kinda busy and very fun. It has been an eye-opening experience to be here in this area with Elder Cabrera. Have a great week! Don't forget to make goals. We can always change for the better. Improve, develop, and become more like the Savior. It's the purpose of life, right?

Love ya all!

Elder Quist (:

Week 66 - 7 Days, 7 Baptisms

Hi All! 

It was a good week to say the least. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS! An incredible day. In the morning our whole district went to our bishops house and he made us tacos... sounds weird but it is pretty normal (I think) to eat tacos for breakfast. Then we had a district meeting which was delightful. 

Tuesday afternoon was pretty hectic. Our district had our own "noche blanca" -white night- with 8 baptisms on Christmas day! Elder Strunk and I had 4 baptisms, Guadalupe and her two sons Zaid and Gael, and Tomas, the Nephite :) It was awesome, unforgettable!

Wednesday morning I was finally able to call home and talk to the family :) It was so great!! Only one more video call home! I can't believe I have 15 months in Mexico. 

Saturday was also very fun! We had three more baptisms in the evening. Yanet, Vanessa, and Alexa. Alexa and Vanessa are the sisters of Raul, the kid we baptized a few weeks ago. It was an awesome way to end the year of 2018! 7 baptisms in 7 days :) After the baptisms, we got home and we ordered the best pizza I have ever had.

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! And don't forget to have a happy new year! :)

Love ya all!

Elder Quist

Week 65 - Nephite on Navidad

Weekend of miracles.

I'm gonna start on Tuesday aka not the weekend, so hold your horses.

Tuesday: We had a slightly weird district meeting. Half of my district was at the district meeting and the other half was at the trainers meeting. And half of Elder Crockett's district was there too. So we just combined and had a good district meeting together. Later in the day, we ate lunch with an hermana in Pueblo Nuevo and her dad was there. He is this 85-90 year old man, half deaf, but super funny. As we were leaving, he asked if he can do a card trick for us. So we sat down and he had me pick a card from his deck of cards, and memorize it, then put it back in the deck. So his "magic trick" was just flipping the deck of cards around and counting out the cards until he got to my card. hahaha! It was a lot more funny when it happened, you probably had to be there...

Thursday (not much happened on hump day): Today our mission had our annual Christmas party! Everyone in our mission comes to Chalco and we have a party in the Stake Center. We had a small devotional, then played some games (we played an intense scripture chase game and I won one time and I got a new tie :)). Then each zone bought a piñata and we broke them, then we watched "Freetown". We ate food and had a mission talent show. It was a good day :)

Friday: In the morning, we visited Guadalupe and discovered that she is VERY chosen. She is incredible. We talked about what day she wants to get baptized and discovered that she already bought baptismal clothes for her and her two sons. SO that was cool :) Later we had some enchiladas verdes for lunch with some agua de piña. Then we tried to find a reference in Tiapala, a part of the area that hasn't really had any members in it, but we found our reference! The name for the reference was "La pantera" (the panther hahaha), but his actual name is Tomas. We got to his house and very soon found out that he got his hands on a Book of Mormon and recently finished it! He read the whole thing!!! He asked us about the three Nephites and if we know where they are cause he wants to ask them some questions (don't we all???). So after talking for 15 minutes, I just started doing all the baptismal questions. And he passed. So. That was incredible. God is great, ya know? Right after that, we talked to a members' sister that I didn't even know was a member and we did another baptismal interview right there. And she passed easy peasy. So you could say it was a fun day.

Saturday: In the morning, we went and helped clean part of a house. It was a good time. In the afternoon, we had our ward Christmas party and all the missionaries in the ward (8 of us) sang a couple songs. The primary and elders quorum did a live nativity thing, and a bunch of other stuff happened. It was a ball.

Sunday: In the morning, we woke up hecka early and passed by Tomas' house and went to church together. We had 6 people in church today! It was awesome. Our ward takes a picture after sacrament meeting ends with everyone in the chapel together when we break an attendance record. There were 136 people in church! It was super cool. We ate lunch with a super cool family. Then we taught the commandments to Tomas and now we know he is one of the three Nephites. ;) He tried to throw us off his track by asking about them, but I am convinced he is one. We asked if he wants to be baptized on Friday and he said ok. We invited him to come see some of our other baptisms on Tuesday... AND HE ASKED IF HE CAN GET BAPTIZED ON TUESDAY (Christmas Day). We found him on Friday. That will be 4 days between the time we found him and taught him for the first time and his baptism... I believe that is some kind of record.

I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas! Can't wait to talk to the fam tomorrow! Don't forget to be happy :)

Elder Quist

 Fellow Knights - Go Lone Peak!

Week 64 - WOW!

Christopher and Angeles and their daughter, Lucy were sealed in the temple on Friday! Elder McDowell and I were able to be the witnesses. An AWESOME day!! :))))

(just put a bunch of pics) :)

Week 63 - No Dinero

I have no mo dinero. 

This describes my week very well. 

It was a good week though.

Just a very poor one as well.

On Tuesday we had a district meeting and we talked about being grateful.

Alma 34:38 That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you.  

I really like this one.

Always remember to be grateful.

Especially this time of year.

On Wednesday we ate very far away.

It was very pretty. 

But it costs a lot to get there so now I am broke.

Thursday we also ate very far away.

We had a good lesson.

Then this mean lady told me to go away while we tried to talk to her husband.

She is quite rude.

Friday we ate close to home and I saved money.

Then we spent 4 hours walking around looking for a bunch of contacts we had made.

No one was home.

Saturday the same thing happened...

Sunday was good, but the church is far so I ran out of my money... again.

But it was a good week!

The sisters of Raul (the kid we baptized) are going to get baptized soon too!

PRAY FOR THEM :))

I love each and every one of you. I hope you have not gotten mad at me for being a bad writer of weekly emails. Endure to the end :)

Elder Quist

Week 62 - Baptism and New House!

Hi Everybody!

So we finally have a new house. Thank goodness. Pics coming soon of our house. Nothing too special though. It kinda reminds me of a jail cell... but it is not the first time so that's fine. 

We spent the first couple days figuring out how to situate the house. With 4 elders living in the same house, it can get a little complicated, but we figured everything out eventually.

So our area just barely changed to a different ward. It was part of Vicente Guerrero, but now it is part of Barrio Pueblo Nuevo (barrio means ward for you gringos..). It is a pretty big ward. The church building is super nice, one of the nicest in the mission. It is in a super pretty area. The only bad thing is that it is soooooo far away, like 45 minutes on a bus. So that is a little difficult. 

Now getting to the best news! We had a baptism on Saturday! Raul is 9 and he is a little ball of energy, he is crazy. The font was super warm. It was a super fun experience. We are teaching his older sisters too and they should be getting baptized soon too! Got lots of potential in this new area! 

Sorry I always do short emails.

Love y'all!

Elder Quist :)

New House with Elders Strunk, Rowberry and Crockett

 Zone Conference

 Elders Crockett, Petersen and Quist

With the Garcia Family