"The Queen of Costa"

So, here in this beautiful beach town of Costa da Caparica, I have picked up the name, the Queen of Costa, thanks to our recent convert Ernesto. He speaks English pretty well, so when he read my name, he thought it was the same as queen. (I get that a lot). We as a mission were working really hard to achieve a goal of 165 baptisms this transfer! We performed 3 fasts in total, as a mission and with the members here. The results were 151 baptisms!!! We had 56 baptisms this past week as a mission! The best week this mission has seen since 2012 when they had 51. It was a lot of fun to come together as a mission and work for this goal given to us from our president. Elder Durfee and I had another 2 baptisms this past week. A mom and a child, Patricia and Rafael. We are still working with the husband to get him to the waters of baptism. He said he´s known the Mormons for 20 years and never had anything to do with us, but now the Elders have become a blessing in his home. Pretty amazing the way The Lord works! Some fun things to update on.... Elder Durfee and I thought we had bought some onion rings so we took them home, were frying them, then eating them, and realized on the bag that they were octopus rings.... they were still delicious!! It rained cats and dogs a little this past week! So as we were walking to one of our appointments, somebody drove by and splashed me hard core!!! Ha-ha the people here just LOVE the Elders! Fortunately for Durfee, I was between him and the puddle. Also, we met a couple from Utah here just on the street. The Higgins family. He was wearing a U of U shirt. Boooo! So we hear them call, "Missionaries!", and we look over, and see them and go talk to them. While we are talking to them we found out they live in the Salt Lake area. He served his mission here 10 years ago and one of his areas was Costa. We keep talking, I tell them I´m from South Jordan, they say they are too, and we find out we are in the same stake!!! ha-ha it is such a small world! Towards the end of our conversation, I hear a Splat! and look, and his wife, (Sister Higgins) got pooped on by a seagull!!!! It splattered across her face and down her shirt!!! Hahaha, us 3 (Durfee, me and Brother Higgins) were dying laughing!!!! It was smearing her makeup... it was too good! So as some of you have probably heard, my birthday was this past week. Can you guess what I did? Yes, I went to McDonalds!!! #ofcourse! On the day of my birthday, Durfee made us french toast, we did weekly planning, went to Mcdonalds, went to our recent converts house for cake, then worked for the day, came home and made German Pancakes!! ha-ha, it was definitely a good day! I am no longer a teen. That’s very strange to me! Then Sister Fluckiger (Presidents wife) called and sang to me! We also went to a member’s house last night to have a Cod fish dish and some homemade pineapple cake! So.... We got the call last night for transfers.... are you ready?! Elder Quinn... you are being transferred to Oeiras! You will be the District Leader; you will be white washing, and YOU WILL BE TRAINING!!! I´m getting a greenie this week!!! His name is Elder Yansey. I´ll get to see two of my very good friends at the meeting when I go to get my trainee. Elder Biancucci and Elder Ruggles are from my Riverton ward. It’s going to be a transfer of lots of work and faith! (#prayforme #pls) ha-ha it’s going to be awesome! I already have the Leader of the work calling me and wanting to meet with me. I think it’s one of the biggest chapels in Portugal and has a huge ward! Sad to leave Costa, but excited for the new adventure! Love you all!! Thanks for everything!! Tudo bem aqui!
Love Elder Quinn

"....and the fight continues!"

Ola America!!! Tudo Bem?! This transfer has been one of miracles. Elder Durfee and I are having such a good time here in Costa. Wakin up, runnin on the beach, studyin the scriptures, then hittin the streets finding God´s Elects! So, some fun things I have done as a tourist missionary (on P-Days of course) with Elder Judd. We went to Lisbon, a praça do comercial, or something like that, and it was beautiful. All these old buildings, the architecture and everything. It is absolutely stunning here!! While there, we went to the hard rock cafe, and when we were entering, there was some members from Setúbal that I knew!! Ha-ha #thankyouheavenlyfather. They bought our hard rock cafe food and we had such a good time just sittin there enjoyin some American Chicken sandwiches and Oreo cheesecake after!! It was soo cool! The members were so surprised at how good everything tasted. They got a slab of ribs, and they told us, "You Elders have to try this!!" ha-ha so we told them, "This is our food everyday over there in America!" ha-ha, it was cool. Elder Durfee and I went to Cristo Rei, the big Jesus statue here in Lisbon - it's ginormous!! We went to the top and everything! Today we´re going to Belem and we are going to get some more pastels bread and cheese! We also tried some sugar cane juice!!! Also, we had a Zone Conference - Elder Fish and Brown (from my MTC district) are here in my zone!! So I got to see them and that was way awesome!! Elder Fish said I have gotten way tan....(Traci Day ain’t got me beat!) It’s just awesome having this different culture and different language every day! Definitely a different lifestyle, but it’s worth it! Yesterday.... WE HAD A BAPTISM!!! #blessed! His name is Ernesto! He was truly prepared by the Lord!!! We found him when we were knocking on doors! He let us in, we had the answers to his questions, and he was baptized! He had a stroke so he doesn’t have full function of his left side, so Elder Durfee and me baptized him!! #whiteparty! It was so neat, after he went in the water and came out, he sat there, was crying a little and hugged us both (he likes to speak English with us) and he said, "Thank you Brother." It was soooo awesome!! The Lord is the best! I am coming to know him so much more out here than I would have ever imagined!! Thank you for all your support and prayers! I love and pray for you all! The summer is coming to an end, so there are not as many people here at the beach. But the juice is still good, the Lord is my light, and the fight continues!

Love Elder Quinn