"WE HAD OUR FIRST BAPTISM!!!"

Ola Bom Dia, Tudo Bem?~

A lot happened this past week! Muuuuito!!!! We went to Lisbon on Thursday for a Mission Conference with 7 other zones in our mission. We had Elder Kearon (of the 70) there to speak to us. It was a very cool experience to sit there and just listen to him talk. It was an interactive meeting, so he told us to raise our hands at anytime if we had thoughts or questions while he was talking and basically it became a 4-5 hour long conference. But it was way cool. We got to Lisbon by taking a train to a boat, and the boat to a train. Pretty cool how we travel here sometimes. We then came home by boats and trains and went to dinner with Lorenzo (a very Catholic man that loves the missionaries...see the attached photos to see his Catholicism). One more thing happened this past week....... oh yah... WE HAD OUR FIRST BAPTISM!!! (see attatched pictures again) It was soooooo coool!! We have been working with this kid for the past 3-4 weeks. He is the boyfriend of a girl in our ward. The first time we talked to him he was with his member girlfriend on the street. Then we got a call that he wanted to learn more about our church. About a week ago he got the answer to his prayers and on Saturday, he entered the waters of baptism! And guess who did the Baptism.... I did!!! The water was freezing, but when we entered the font, and I started the baptismal prayer, I couldn't feel the chill of the water. His name is Miguel Ângelo Vieira Recatia... So I messed up once or twice with that one... then once on the prayer... but on the 3rd time of attempting the prayer, I said it, and lowered him down and brought him back up! It was supes awesome! Such a neat experience! Me and my companion had been working very hard this transfer and I´m grateful we got to see the fruits of our efforts! Miguel then received the Gift of the Holy ghost on Sunday! So yesterday was the last night of the transfer, (these 6 weeks flew by) and my companion got the call about transfers... Neither of us thought he was leaving, but sure enough he´s been called to be a Zone Leader in Lapa. I couldn´t believe he was already leaving. We've only had six weeks here and we're just barely getting the ball rolling. But the Lord has better things in mind for all of us. So I am staying here, and I am getting Elder Harris as my companion. He just barely finished his turn being Assistant to the President... haha the Lord´s sending his big guns to Setúbal 1B! Turns out Elder Harris and my Bishop's daughter in Utah, have been writing each other. So me and him are already a little acquainted. That´s it for this week. Love you all!!!
-Elder Quinn

A few adventures of Elder Quinn for the week

The green milk is a weeks supply for the three other elders in the apartment.

The blue milk is my personal supply for the week. I do love my milk.     

A castle on the hill.

Me on the castle on the hill.

                            Still on the hill by the castle.                      

A fort on the beach that is now a hospital with a private beach for the patients.

                                        A selfie in front of the fort.                              

Me and Elder Mueller on the beach.

A box of snails.

Vanessa and Natalina cooked snails for us!

Are you going to eat that?

Ewwwwwwww!

                                                     

"heartless robots"

Alright, so I guess every week I let you guys know about one germ phobic moment of my week, (isn’t hard to find). So anyway, this past week’s event was, we were in a little house teaching a lady and her ex-husband a lesson, and during the lesson the ex-husband sat there cleaning out his toes.... I was just sitting there thinking about how I was going to have to shake his hand as we were leaving... that’s the story for this week. Basically still adjusting to everything. Trying to focus on focusing. It’s so hard when you can’t understand what is being said. My mind wonders like no other. It’s pretty fun here! We had 6 investigators at church which is pretty cool! All the people here make fun of my facial expressions... I think it’s when I’m trying to figure out what they’re saying or what I am going to say back.. I just do a weird face when I am trying to figure out words. Also when we are eating dinner with members or something and the other elders and the whole family are laughing at a joke because they all understand and I just sit there at the end of the table drinking my juice. I tell my companion stories sometimes to help keep the time going or when we are walking home from our area. So far I have told him the stories of Catching Fire, Mocking Jay, and Into the woods. I think he enjoyed them. Love you all!!! I also got to talk to my family for mother’s day! I was the only one of 4 elders who said goodbye and cried... I guess the mission turns you into heartless robots since the others didn’t cry or care one bit... maybe it had to do with the fact that I am the newest elder that was there...Either way it was awesome to talk to them!!
Love, Elder Quinn

"The Lord has blessed me so much by sending me here!"

Hello there everyone!! How is everything back in the USA? You guys still there? Portugal is amazing! Sooooo pretty and cool!!! The Lord has blessed me so much by sending me here! There are allies full of shops and little cafes everywhere, so it looks like the part where you exit out of Pirates of the Caribbean in Disneyland... if that makes sense. Pretty cool. Right now in my area, we are in a good ward of people that feed us pretty well. I have tried my first chicken foot here and it was.... alright. This next week I am hoping to have a plate of snails (caracóis). The people here love them so I gotta try them, #right? One of the things I really love about the people here is they love their juice! At every meal they offer some delicious juice, lemonade, mango nectar, peach and grape juice. Just all delectable drinks! Every day I get a beautiful view of the bay, and the huge ships that come through. One of our investigators said that the 3rd largest ship in the world, that actually sails the sea, came through the Setúbal port. Pretty cool. We didn´t get to see it. They have lots of holidays here... random ones. I swear the kids are never in school. One Holiday that I was here for was Liberdade... which I think was their independence day! And they were going to do fireworks down in the plaza, so I was excited to see them. Turns out they had already happened the night before, at midnight. Kind of crazy, but whatever. We took a boat that was just a little ferry that took us across the bay to Troya... Troe... I dont know how to spell it. It was probably a 20 minute ride. The ferry was probably just a little bigger than the one at Disney World that transported us from to and from the Magic Kingdom! I´m pretty sure me and my companion’s area is the only place in Setúbal with a hill. We climb that hill probably two or three times a day going to different appointments and what not! Also, summer is coming, FAST!!! It is soooo hot already, and the people here say that this is nothing like it will be in the summer... haha great.... And I already got sun burnt. But don´t worry, I found the house supply of sunscreen. First fast Sunday in the field was yesterday! I guess we fast from lunch to lunch here, so that´s kind of cool. But by the time lunch came around on Sunday when I could break my fast, I was parched!! We ate with a family and I drank all their lemonade, but they kept refilling my glass, so I kept drinking. That family we ate with has a little girl, and before dinner they told us to wash our hands, so she followed us 4 missionaries to the bathroom to wash and she USED THE BIDET! (the thing that washes your bum for you)!!!!! haha she used the BIDET to wash her hands for lunch!!!! The attached pictures are of me at the beach of the island we rode the ferry to.The other picture is of me with two best friends on our last day together at the MTC. Hannah Vanwagoner, who is going to Argentina and Chad Taylor, who is going to France. I guess that about sums up my life here so far, all is well. I hope everyone’s doing great back at home!!! Love you all! Thanks for your prayers and support!!
-Elder Quinn