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

Week 70 - More Baptisms

Hey everyone! 

This was a fun week, now I am super tired, but it is alllll worth it when you can baptize a couple of people :)

Tuesday: In the district meeting we talked about the importance of Preach My Gospel. Just a sidenote; everyone go read PMG. It's so cool. If you have any desire to be a better member (which you all should) you need to study that book! Anyway, later in the day we went with Mariana and Sergio. They are the bomb! Preparing to be baptized on the 26th! 

Wednesday: The other day we contacted this chick and she invited us to eat breakfast so we went and I ordered a banana smoothie and I am not joking I think it was banana water.. It wasn't very good. 

Thursday: Today was a good day. Very good day. We got new mattresses. My old mattress looks kinda like a banana. Today we found a couple new people, a couple of miracles. We were walking in the street when I got a call from a member who told me that there was a lady in the church who wanted to be baptized. SO. We got there and we taught Gaby. She is super chosen. Without even asking, she told us she knows Joseph Smith was a prophet and the Book of Mormon. Soooo that was fun!

Friday: Today I went to Mixquic and Tetelco with Elder Cruz! He's a great missionary! It was a great day.

Saturday: We had a baptism this morning! Sergio and Mariana were baptized today! It was awesome. The water was super warm and when Sergio got in he was like "it burns!" and I'm pretty sure it was just his sins hehehehe. 

Sunday: Church was good today. I really like this whole Come, Follow Me program! It's super interesting. Study it! Don't just read it every week, actually study it. You will all become better members and more converted :)

Love ya all!

Elder Quist

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!