Week 7

How's it going everyone?! :)

I am in Carson City, Nevada right now. For those who would like my address my family has it and I believe that it is on my facebook as well.

Its' nice being in the states. I am also glad to use an American keyboard again. makes typing a whole lot easier lol. Mission president is cool yes as for spiritual stuff there's always stories lol. Also i cant use facebook. Well with this president at least. When we get a new one in 6 months maybe i will be able to I'm not sure though.

It was funny I told mom but I got off the plane in Phoenix and this black dude said hi to me and I was like hola hermano and kept walking and then I realized wait a second did I seriously just say that? hahahahaha I said hi brother. And it was like wow I've been around lots of Spanish lol

In the airport while we waited we had about 30 peoples who were LDS come up to us and thank us for our service and try to buy us lunch and that type of thing it was awesome! That's the type of person i want to be. It just made me feel like a really special person. I met this family names the Notars, The wife has been a member for years the husband doesn't want to be a member but he has known mormons for like 30 years and always had them in his life. A missionary gave him a Book of Mormon 15 years ago and he always tells missionaries that he won't read it and its not for him. Hes a SUPER knowledgeable man though. He's in law enforcement BUT, I've never met someone in law enforcement with his attitude. When he sees bad people he thinks about how christ can help their lives, etc etc. He is literally a mormon minus the water (baptism, get it :p). So we were talking to him and mentioned the BOM and how You dont have to be a mormon to read it. And he got a tear in his eye and said that he will read the book of mormon and that he hadnt felt the spirit like that it was so cool. We had a member with us. Having a member with you at lessons is super important, it helps a lot.

 My companion is Elder Arellano, he is a native speaker, which is a score for me because I wanted a native speaker, he's a funny guy. He only started speaking English when he came out on his mission, he's been out for 3 transfers now (about 5 months). He was made a district leader and a trainer at the same time. His English is actually really good though. He's 24! Which made me happy that I'm with someone older than me as well lol. The funny thing is our district is comprised of him and I, and then 4 companionships... of sisters... but they are pretty cool.  I've only met 2 sets of them so far though. 

Every morning we wake up at 6 and go play sports with 3 other companionships which is fun! But, I also really miss going to the gym and lifting weights. Oh well though. I am helping Elder Arellano with his English and he is helping me with my Spanish. I keep teaching him slang words and its really amusing to hear him use the slang words. There should be pictures of us and me with my mission president up on my missions blog pretty soon, they weren't there when I just looked but the link to that is    http://nevadarenomission.blogspot.com/

I had an awesome first week though! My day was made on day two because okay so. Every 2 transfers we get 3 new sister missionaries from Salt Lake Temple Square sisters who are serving there but they come here to get an actual normal mission experience. One of them was one of my friends! I used to hang out with her at college at BYUI and I met her at E.F.Y. like 7 years ago. Sister Kylie Ennis. So that was a really cool "small world experience"

My companion and I cover a huge area we cover 2 wards, the Carson River ward (and spanish group) and then the Lone Mountain ward. We have a car though luckily. 

In my mission presidents office he has the acronym C.T.R. written I laughed when I got closer and read the words after each letter

C.ome

T.o

R.eno

Gave me a good laugh. 

We have taught about 25 lessons in the 5 days that I've been here. Some Spanish some English. The Spanish is coming alright we don't really do language study right now though. During the day he just asks me things in Spanish and makes me use my brain to think in Spanish which is a good thing. 

We went to a guy's house the other day and it was in the middle of nowhere but his house was.. really ghetto but super interesting and cool looking, I want to try and get a picture of it. It consisted of 4 motor homes stuck together, and in between he build a ply wood flooring, and he connected it all with ply wood. He also has about 100 chickens, it was crazy. Hes a mechanic as well so of course there were broken down cars everywhere. 

Funny story of the week we were eating at a members house and I asked if my comp. wanted more jalapenos because he had just gotten more mexican food and he was like yes of course! So I started passing them to him and he was just about to get it and I was like HAHA despues de me! (after me) everyone died. The story won't be as funny to you guys probably but I laughed. 

We have had a lot of good lessons though. Already seeing miracles. P day is on Mondays for me. I can't think of what else to say though. I am sure there is plenty more that I could write. After i'm done emailing, we are going to go to some waterfall. The weather's been about 15-20 degrees in the morning but normally gets up to 50 degrees.

We were talking to this one family whose investigating the church, their son Angel is a really smart kid and he asked about fears and how he can't sleep much and I felt like I should show him my favorite scripture (Isaiah 41:10) and then I bore my testimony and told him God and Jesus Christ can help us with any of our problems, all we have to do is ask (he hadn't been praying).

So in the scriptures it talks about the Liahona and how it has spindles and when they were choosing the right it would point the right direction. It very clearly says spindles though. Plural. so in my opinion... in order to point the correct way, they would have to overlap. Yea? Just like a watch when both the hands are on the 3.

We watched a short portion of a broadcast for mission presidents from Utchdorf. He said "Fear No Man. When people know and feel your love you can never be too bold. Overbearance is being bold without love.

My favorite scripture is Isaiah 41:10. In my opinion one of the most powerful scriptures in the bible. It just gives you a huge sense of comfort I think. You'll recognize the passage because its the final verse of how firm a foundation

Its been cool to find people who are friends with mormons or have been taught by missionaries before, clearly they have been prepared so that's been cool.

 Love you all!

-Elder Quinton

(My District pictures below)