"I just wanna get baptized!"

Good Day everyone, not a lot new here in the big Setúbal Portugal. Nothing new except the HEAT!!!! Holy Goodness. It is soooo hot. Haha it reached 41 Celsius this week... which is over 100 degrees if our phone’s calculator is working correctly!!! It is sooo hot!!! Elder Harris and I have a mountain to climb every day in our area and basically all we can do is laugh because when we are walking we can feel the heat beating on us. When we get to our destination and actually stop, we just start dripping with sweat. Completely soaked!! Then we just use some napkins or our arms to sop the sweat off our faces. It´s not unbearable though, so thats good. It´s amazing how hot it really is though! Never felt heat like this before, but on the plus side, I am getting way tan. So that´s good. We have another baptism planned for this weekend! Actually 2! The Lord is blessing us so much! We are trying to find every opportunity to change ourselves and behaviors to be more obedient to unleash the miracles of heavens here. Everybody and their dog here smokes, so one of the people we have marked for baptism is trying to get over his addiction. As of now, he is still doing well. Our other Baptism is firm. We asked him, "Who do you want to baptize you?" and he said, "No me-importa! só quero ser batizado!" (It doesn’t matter! I just wanna get baptized!). So that’s pretty cool to see more fruits of our efforts. The World Cup has started and today is Portugal VS Germany, so everybody here has their flags hung and is ready for the big game! Portuguese is getting better for me, at least on my part... I am starting to speak more grammatically correct. I still don’t always know what the people here are saying (99% of the time), but one day I will know what they´re sayin! Love you all!
Love Elder Quinn

Just call me Sister Mary Clarence

So this past week the Rapazes (tone deaf young men) in our ward, needed some help with their song they were going to perform in Sacrament Meeting. So their leader asked the elders to help out. So I pulled a "Sister Act" and did my best to make them sound better. Basically it just ended up that the elders ended up singing with them and I just sang my loudest to try to help the ward members hear a little of what the melody should be like. We are teaching English classes at the chapel every Thursday night. It´s kind of hard to teach Portuguese people English when you can´t even speak Portuguese... but It seems to be going alright. A weird thing Elder Harris and I saw this past week, were some people on the basketball court in wheelchairs. They were practicing rugby.... Never knew rugby could be played in wheelchairs... don´t know how they tackle each other... Anyway, this week we were talking with a lady in the street and her daughter dropped a balloon on the ground that she was blowing up and playing with. The little girl picked it up and put it right back in her mouth.... ha-ha. Hopefully I don´t make faces when I see these types of things. Portuguese is still Portuguese.... ha-ha. I can understand my companion completely when he is talking in Portuguese, but then we go to these people’s houses and I cannot pick out more than 4 words per conversation! Ha-ha ok it’s not that bad, but it´s still a little difficult. My Portuguese I feel, is getting better so that’s good!! Elder Harris and I are trying to do everything to be exactly obedient. We are doing pretty well actually. We are seeing the miracles every day. We have some people lined up for baptism. We just have to rely on the Lord to continue to bless and prepare them. All is well here in Portugal, Today we are going to eat choco frito! Its fried cuddle fish!!! Should be delicious!!! Loving it here! Fica Bem!!!
-Elder Quinn

"we just gotta look for them"

Herro Der! Things are going great here in Setúbal! I have a new companion who is doing my training! Elder Harris! We had a pretty awesome week! We marked 4 people for baptism! 3 of whom we just barely met this past week! Miracles are occurring everyday here! This past week we went to a contact’s house, she answered the door and said she didn’t want anything to do with us, so we asked if she knew anyone who needed help. She pointed at the door below. There we found Vitor! He is the most humble guy! He lives in a little apartment, with no working lights and the left side of his face is paralyzed. His wife has passed and he has a kid who lives with his sister. The son lives with the sister because Vitor wants the best for him and he can’t provide that right now. Vitor works all day at the harbor to catch squid to sell to provide for his kid and himself. He is just the most awesome guy. We marked him for baptism after our first lesson with him about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We went to pick him up for church and he was running a little late because he was on his way back from the dock where he had to get a little fishing in because he was sacrificing some time to come to church. Such an awesome guy. Just a pretty good week! Miracles are always happening; we just gotta look for them. The food and juice is still good, the restored gospel is here, and all is well. Love you all! Thanks for everything!
-Elder Quinn

"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