"This place is awesome and one day I hope that gift of tongues everybody talks about finally comes!!"

Hello there. I have had one crazy culture shocking of a week!!! Portugal is beautiful! After 72 hours of flying, we finally arrived in Lisbon and found the President and his wife waiting there for us. We went to their house for the first night and had dinner with them and slept there. We woke up the next morning and went to the office where we met our trainers/new companions. Mine is awesome!!! He is Elder Moeller from Tucson Arizona! He has been here 8 months and is fortunately fluent in the language and can help me. Oh the language.... haha. I thought I knew at least a little, maybe enough to get by.... But I seriously cannot pick out any words these people are saying. They speak so fast and mush all their words together! I end up finding myself not paying attention to what they are saying because I can´t understand so I just tune out. Church yesterday was rough. I was sitting by one of our Investigators, (Natalina), in Sacrament. Her friend (Vanessa, a member) snapped at me saying "Elder...." haha waking me from my slumber!!! I fell asleep in elders quorum and gospel principals as well.... haha it is soo hard paying attention to something you can´t understand! Anyway, I guess they expect you to actually talk to the people to be able to find new investigators... but it´s insane here... haha you walk up to some people and they won´t give you the time of day. Or they already have their own religion... Haha luckily we already have some investigators, because finding new ones ain´t easy. The City I am in right now is called Setúbal. It´s just like a post card here. There are allies with shops like Disneyland and it´s so cool that it´s real life. Natalina is our closest investigator to baptism; she just needs to get married to her boyfriend before we can make that happen.... Yesterday we went to this guy’s house for dinner. He´s the nicest. He´s a friend of the elders and he is very catholic. We walk into his house and there are pictures of Jesus all over. The place is covered. We walk in to his room and there are literally over 100 crosses on his wall with Jesus on them!!! It was crazy!!! But he fed us a 4 course meal of something consisting of salad, cheese, bread, lamb, pork, cake, and fruit... tons of food that made for a good Easter dinner! Attached are photos of our traveling to the airport, and me with the President and wife after sleeping at their house and being a little jet lagged and not looking so hot But this place is awesome and one day I hope that gift of tongues everybody talks about finally comes!! Thank you for everyone’s prayers and support!!! Love you all!
-Elder Quinn

                                                                                 

Portugal Bound!

I am here in Portugal! After 3 flights of not too much turbulence, I made it. Just writing to let you know that I am here, and tonight we are sleeping in the mission home with President and his wife. LOVE YOU!!! -Elder Quinn

This picture is of me and Elder Gabriel. He is from Angola and he speaks fluent Portuguese. He is headed to Ghana on an English speaking Mission. While we were waiting in the airport, I would practice my Portuguese on him and he would practice his English on me. Funny.

Chillin' in the Salt Lake airport!

"Moldy Peaches"

Still here at the MTC and not a lot has happened different from the usual. I have been here a month which is #craycray! So amazing how fast time really flies! It's weird out here on the mission, because you would think you'd miss things like watching movies or being able to relax, but you're always so busy you don't even have time to miss those kinds of things. I got sick last week on Monday. Just runny nose, head ache... you know the stuff that really makes you feel miserable if you're away from home and can't just sit in bed till you get better. But thank goodness for modern medicine. I was popping pills at every meal to make sure that my symptoms wouldn't get the best of me and now I feel much better! Our district got a fridge handed down to us from another district which was awesome, because I could buy milk and put it in there, come home from a long day, pop open a milk and enjoy a cosmic brownie as I wind down for the night. But the people who do room checks took it because it's only supposed to be used for medical purposes. I need my milk or else I can't function!!! But whatever, what can you do. I got to host these two past weeks, which is awesome. Getting to see these new missionaries and helping them find their way around campus is so much fun! But I get a little emotional seeing all the goodbyes that take place! So when I got here we had 12 other Elders in my zone, then 8, now we are down to 4.... how great... Haha. I do love my district because they are crazy! But it’s definitely more fun having more people. I and my district get in debates daily... I call them Daily District Debates... haha. It's amazing the things we don't agree on!!! It's so funny to see just the most random subjects that we don't agree on... Diabetes, animal rights, and guns are just a few of the themes that we have discussed. I don't really jump in on the debates about guns or diabetes... but when it comes to animals, I'm sure to speak my mind! Haha. But we all get along which is great! I got sent Moldy Peaches on April Fool's day. Does anyone know about that? I got a note in the mail that said I received "Moldy Peaches" and they had to throw them away because they were a perishable item sent through a local delivery service and they don't put things in the fridge or something like that. I think it was just a joke, but I don't know who would have done that! I got my travel plans this week!!! I fly out on the 15th of April!!! I fly out of SLC to Dallas TX, then to London, then To Portugal!!! 2 layovers!! I've never been to London or Texas, so this will be an adventure for sure!! I leave the 15th at 2:20 p.m. and arrive in Lisbon at 6:05 p.m. April 16th. I'm not sure if that's our time or theirs, but it will be a long couple of days in airport terminals! Well all is well. The food’s still good and so is the Portuguese! Attached pictures are wishing you a Happy St. Patrick's Day, me and my companion at Study time, us Elders and our teacher, and the last picture is of the Elders in my room receiving packages from my family. Thanks for everyone's love and support!!!
-Elder Quinn