"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

"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