Week 57 - A Day in the Life of a Missionary

Hi All!

I will just straight up quote the email of my good friend, Elder Crockett, from a few weeks ago because it perfectly relates to this week. 

Honestly I can't think of anything special that happened this week.  

It was a super long week.

Full of the normal missionary life.

Each day we get up early and go study our brains out. Still super tired and nodding off sometimes.

After that, we go out into the day and no one is home before lunch. 

It's super hot outside and I get sunburned at least every day hahaha.

Then we go eat lunch with a member who is kind enough to feed two hungry missionaries and give them something to drink.

And they don't stop feeding us...

Then we go back out with full stomachs looking for willing people who are looking for the gospel in their lives.

There are always drunks that yell at us and angry people as well.

And then there are the people that yell "May god bless you" as we go on our way.

Sometimes we will have appointments. Most often these appointments fall through. We go to their house and they say they are sleeping or don't have time.

We walk through the dirt streets of Mexico seeing hundreds of dogs in the streets each day.

Sometimes we will go to an appointment and they let us in for some strange reason. Sometimes we are able to share a message that reaches their hearts. Sometimes they begin crying. Sometimes they feel the spirit so strongly. And their heart starts burning inside. And they are grateful to have a God that is their loving Heavenly Father. 

Each day we see many things that are wrong with the world. 

Each day we see tiny little miracles that make us smile.

Then we go home at the end of a long day. Super tired and just ready to sleep. The day starts over and over again.

There are 730 of those days as a missionary.

There are good days and bad days.

But the good days are so good.

And the bad days are so bad.

But at the end of each day, we have made a difference in some peoples lives. The spirit has testified to them. And their lives are changed forever.

And it's worth it.

I love y'all! Enjoy your Halloween!

Elder Quist

Week 56 - Happiness is a Choice

Hey everyone! 

A lot happened (and didn't happen) this week. 

The Salas family: Ok y'all buckle up. SO. The Salas fam is the bomb. We met them my very first day here and they have been preparing for baptism since then and actually they are very prepared and excited to be baptized. The thing is they are not divorced and the divorce is ALMOST done, but something keeps delaying it. So every week in my emails I say "this week is gonna be awesome", but then something always happens. :/ BUT hopefully this week gets LOcO and they finally get wet. haha

Niños: We are going to baptize a couple kids soon (I think), the 30th. They are my homies.

Andrea: Also my homie. She met with the missionaries 3 years ago and wanted to get baptized, but she was living with her boyfriend so she couldn't. NOW she isn't! We have been meeting with her for awhile and teaching her but she never has been able to go to church (she works on sundays and her boss is a jerk and didn´t give her a break). BUT she finally changed jobs and this week she finally went to church!! It was sick. I was pumped. I was also freaking out because of a soon to be revealed "problem".

The Reyes family: We made a list of less active members to visit and came across this sweet fam. We visited them and we have had an enjoyable time getting to know them haha. The dad is crazy, looks like Einstien a lil bit, and is very confusing sometimes but super cool. And his wife is the bomb. She is super nice. They have a teenage daughter who is a genius. She is planning on working for NASA in a few years sooooo yeah. She told me her hobby is studying math #props. Also we are going to baptize their daughter and son, 10 and 8 years old.

Our "problem" was that there were only two Elders at church (well, that is normal) and THIRTEEN investigators came!!!! That is insane. It blew my mind. That was one of thee most hectic days I have had in a while.

I was listening to a Holland talk and this thought came into my mind: Happiness is just as much of a choice as discouragement. We wake up everyday and work and we can make the choice to be happy or sad. Always choose to be happy :)

Elder Quist

Companions - Elders Strunk and Quist

 Fellow LP Knights - Elders Quist and Rowberry

Week 55 - Another Week in Cuatro Vientos

Hey y'all! 

Here I am again, same area - Cuatro Vientos - and I am doing the same thing: training! My second son is named Elder Strunk. He is from Taylorsville, Utah and is going to SUU after the mish to study to become a pilot. He loves comedy and entertains me at night in the house with comedy routines haha. 

We had a semi stressful week. I can't explain it right now causeeeeee it is a crazy long story and I am lazy when it comes to writing today. BUT I will have quite the story next week so don't worry and stay tuned for the next part of this adventure.

I WILL say I will probably throw a swimming pool party this week. It will be crowded, but it will be sick. So keep them in your prayers!

I have to go, but I love you. I can't wait to see ya. Have a fantastic week!

Go read Elder Hollands talk about forgiveness!

Elder Quist

Week 54 - Conference & Training Again!

Hello everyone! 

So this week was General Conference! Duh. Haha It was awesome! I watched it in ENGLISH at the mission offices with the assistants. It was so great! 

I don't feel like summarizing a conference talk or telling you my favorite quote. I just want to tell you that I know without a doubt that President Nelson is a prophet of God. I know that Jesus Christ directs this incredible work through him, and I know that if we listen to the prophet and apostles, we can really come to know the will of our Father in Heaven and become more devoted followers of Christ. I do not know this because I read it in a book or because someone told me. I know these things because I have prayed and asked and I have received this knowledge from God. I invite all of you to make an extra effort this week to read one conference talk, pray to God, and then go and do the things that you need to do to become closer to the person you want to be.

Other update: Elder Speirs will no longer be my companion, just one week together. Starting tomorrow, I will start training my SECOND son. This one will be a white guy. My first son has a brother from another mother. I'm excited! I will be staying here in Cuatro Vientos. 

I love y'all! I miss ya! Have a good week!

Elder Quist 

Week 53 - The Work Must Go On!

Ok so this week was crazy! And very sad. I am still very sad. Let me explain. 

At the beginning of the training of Elder Solorzano, he said his ear kinda hurt, but it wasn't too bad. So he dealt with it and the pain kind of went away. A couple of weeks ago it got worse and it was hurting him all day every day. I gave him a blessing and we went to the doctor, but nothing helped. This last week he has been getting super nauseous and sick and threw up almost everything he ate, 3 or 4 times a day. SO we went to the doctor again, a better one, and he told us that the problem is not his ears, it is his nose. As long as Solorzano can remember he cannot breathe through his nose and that makes his ears hurt (?) which shouldn't make sense, but it did when he explained it. So we told President Zapata and he called the family of Elder Solorzano and the General Authorities. Everyone decided that he needs to get surgery. Now, the rule is that if you need surgery and it'll take more than 2 weeks to recover, you have to go home to do it :( THEREFORE on Friday in the morning I went with Elder Solorzano and the AP's to the airport to drop my lil child off so he can go home to Guatemala. Tears were shed, pictures were taken, we also ate donuts, but that is beside the point... My son will be in Guatemala for about a month and a half and then he will come back :) My son was and is one of my best friends. But the work must go on. 

Until this cycle ends (next week), I will be with Elder Spiers. He is super cool, I love him. Right now he is learning how to be secretary because the secretaries of the mission are going home soon. I am still in Cuatro Vientos for now. All those baptisms I talked about last week fell through :( I am also very sad because of that. 

The other day, I don't remember which one cause there have been so many, I was reading in Helaman chapter 5. It is a very good chapter. I never have realized how good it is actually! Go read it :)) 

That was the major news of this week. Please keep Elder Solorzano in your prayers so that his surgery goes well.

I love you ALL. God loves you more. If you love God (and me) you will all remember to watch General Conference this weekend! There will be a bunch of cool announcements, (so they say). One of them will include China (just a guess though, haha). ;) 

Have a great week! Love you all!

Elder Quist :)

My birthday celebration 

Sending off my son

 Me and my new comp

Week 52 - ONE YEAR IN MÉXICO

Wow I haven't been in the USA for a year now and BOY do I miss it! Now when someone asks me what I was doing a year ago, my memory will be about Mexico. Weird. 

This week was good. I am not gonna go into a ton of detail cause typing a lot makes me sleepy. 

I am loving my area. Cuatro Vientos is super cool! It is not too big so we don't have to walk so far for everything. It is a little city situated on a hill so we get a good leg work out in every day. Our house is at the bottom of the hill which means the first thing we have to do every day is go uphill. 

We got good news this week! We have an investigator that has been an investigator for awhile. All four of her kids are members (she has two kids on the mission), but she has not been able to get baptized cause she doesn't want to get married to her boyfriend. But just the other day she told us that she had talked with him and they decided (she decided) that he can't live there anymore... so we will probably baptize her soon :)

The other family we are teaching is awesome! We are just waiting for the divorce papers to get back and then we are goin' swimmin ;)

I encourage you to go read "For Times of Trouble" by Jeffrey R. Holland this week. I have listened to that talk 4 or 5 times this week. Apply it to your life in the most personal way possible :)

Love you all!

Elder Quist

 Celebrating Elder Solorzano's birthday

Just a handsome guy in the middle of México

a trip to the temple!

Week 51 - Small and Simple Things

Hey y'all! 

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

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)