April 2, 2018

Family and friends,

       This week has been great, as always. We stayed pretty busy this week, on thursday night to friday night I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Cooke, which was really cool. We went towards twin to pick up packages (Elder Cooke is a zone leader) from Elder Wall, and he said he was really impressed with my family (not entirely sure why, but thats cool, so yeah.) Then we did a lot of service for Brother Cleverly, but he works closely with horses, so I had a massive allergy attack. Fun stuff. 

       General Conference was the best Ive ever watched, probably because I'm a missionary now and have been set apart to feel the spirit more strongly so that's good. Its crazy to hear of all the new changes that are happening, what with the elders quorum and the high priests quorum combining and what not. Also home and visiting teaching are being replaced by ministering, also RUSSIA is getting a temple!? So cool. I felt the spirit so strongly, it was truly wonderful.

        Im sorry that this email is going to be kind of short, but there's a good reason. Im dying. Last night, I had a crazy stomachache and I couldn't for the life of me fall asleep. So, I went to the bathroom a couple of times, and when that didn't solve the problem, I begged my Heavenly Father to help me. I received a stong prompting to go into the bathroom and kneel. I did so, and my stomach was promptly emptied into the toilet. I felt better, but at the same time i also threw up 3 more times that night and cried a lot. I dont get sick often, but I guess when I do, I'm kind of a weenie. I threw up a couple of times this morning, but its hard to type when you're in pain, so sorry. I love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Godspeed, 

~Elder Quiner

PS. Ill send this weeks pictures in a seperate email.

March 26, 2018

   

 Family and friends. 

This week has been pretty strange. We have officially moved out of the zone leaders place and into a house of our own. YAY! We'll miss living with another set of elders, but having a place of our own is nice. (Even though said place was built in the 20's) On Friday, we started to move out, but the carpet of the new house was still wet, so that night, we camped on the Acequia Elders floor, which was fun. 

       Moving took up most of this weeks time, but yesterday night, after dinner, we went on splits with the 5th ward bishopric. I went with Brother Mendoza and we visited a younger couple who needed help with their lambs. We were actually going to castrate one of them, but they want him for breeding purposes, so we didn't (Elder Kerr made me go instead of him for that reason) So we get there, and the lambs have LONG TAILS. I was shocked. We chased them around for a little bit, caught the first one, and then Brother Mendoza takes a rubber band and puts it way up high on the tail. Apparently, this cuts off circulation to the tail and after about 6 weeks it just falls off. Weird, right? I caught a couple of them and screwed up some pants, but they were DI pants anyways, so its OK. All in all, this week has been pretty good, and we're gonna be able to do a lot more now that we live closer to the area we actually work in. Hooray!

Pictures:

The Squad

Typical Idaho

March 19, 2018

Family and Friends,

        Transfer calls came and the verdict is in! Elder Kerr and I are both staying in beautiful Rupert, Idaho. Not too surprising, but this transfer should be interesting. We will be doing a lot of finding this transfer, in an effort to find more people to teach. (This is the constant struggle of missionary work in small town Rupert, Idaho.) The real problem is that it feels like everybody here either already knows about the church and has made their decision to accept or not accept the gospel, or are already members. The hard thing about it, is that it's often hard to tell which ones are which, because there are so many less actives here. We're really trying hard to find those who have been prepared for us though.

        We've been doing a lot of service this week, which is always really fun. We've been working with one of the ladies in our ward to help remodel her house. I poked my head on a nail in her attic on accident on Tuesday while we were putting stuff up there. It bled a little bit, but there isn't even a scab there anymore, so I'm fine. We also had the opportunity this week to with our ward mission leader and visit some sweet old ladies in our wards. One of them asked for a blessing, so we were able to do that. Both of them are pretty crippled though, which probably isn't very much fun. On Saturday, we got to go help one of the members sand down some cabinets and then we ate lunch with them. Woot!

       Also on Saturday, we had an Elders Quorum unlimited pinewood derby race. If you don't know what that is, there are no rules.​​ Well, one rule, but that rule is only that you cant have open flames, so it was pretty fun. One brother figured how to rig a CO2 canister to his car and set it off at the start of the races. I think his fastest time was 2.08 seconds to make it down the track (needless to say he won.) My car never even made it to the end of the track (Mostly because my car was an 8 pound weight duct taped to a piece of wood, but oh well. There's always next time.) The race was a really great opportunity to get some less active members involved, and we actually met quite a few people that the ward hadn't seen in a while. We had some really good conversations about the gospel and everyone had a great time.

       Yesterday, we found out that the 1st ward changed one of our ward mission leaders without us noticing, so we went over there and introduced ourselves. It should be good, he seem like he's ready and willing to get to work, so we're excited to work with him to make it happen here in the promised land of Rupert! If you would like to help, you could always pray for us to find people who are willing to hear us, the struggle is real. Also, help the missionaries in your local area!

Godspeed,

~Elder Quiner 

March 12, 2018

   

The weeks seem to go by faster and faster as I go on. On preparation day, I played football for the first time in my life. It's actually surprisingly fun, though I did get trucked by a 300 pound Hawaiian guy. Ouch. On Tuesday, I went on exchanges with my trainer, Elder Baccarini, which was good, if not a little weird. We had interviews with president Bartlett this week as well, which was good. It's always nice to get president Bartletts opinion on things. On Wednesday, we helped a lady wipe some black mold off of food storage cans with essential oils... Very weird. Then, on Thursday, I went on exchanges with Elder Ruesch. At the end of the day, we ran into this family of jack mormons who were drinking and smoking. They offered us beers, but we just had some water. It was actually a really good experience, because we had a gospel conversation with them for like, 45 minutes. yaaay. Yesterday we ate with the county sheriff, which is cool, because I didn't know sheriffs were still a thing. Then we went on splits and taught a great lesson. 

       I highly encourage everyone to watch the Mormon message LIFT if you haven't already, and even then, to do it anyways. It's really good.

Godspeed, 

~Elder Quiner

Pictures:

robot mailbox

Elder Reusch and I on exchanges

cool icicle

 le dragon

March 5, 2018

Family and Friends,

        We have officially moved out of our old apartment, and onto the zone leaders floor. We moved everything out in one trip. It was pretty crazy. Right now we're living in one of the members side houses on the zone leaders floor. Its pretty great. The house we'll be moving into will be done in a couple of months, so thats fun. They thought it would be done in December, but well, that didn't happen, so thats a thing.We had zone conference on Tuesday, and we were officially cleared to use Facebook in our proselyting efforts! From now on, you might see me on Facebook sharing uplifting messages with the world (which you can then share on your pages if you want to help me out.) On wednesday, we got everything together and moved out. We helped the person who is doing our house! Other than that, this week has been a little bit slow. Im going on exchanges with Elder Baccarini tonight. Ill keep You updated

Godspeed,

~Elder Quine

February 26, 2018

Family and Friends,

        So it begins. (And yes, I am aware that I spelled my title wrong) The trials that I have had up until this point on my mission have been a thing of naught compared to the nigh unscalable wall of learning that we have been presented with. You may be wondering what I'm talking about. The one word answer is: Facebook. Our mission has been cleared to use Facebook in our proselyting efforts, which is why some of you may have noticed that I have a new account. The reason for me creating a new account is that I cant seem to remember my password for the old one. SO! Fro those of you wondering if I've been hacked, the answer is no. Facebook will be a wonderful tool for us, being able to find new investigators, share spiritual messages with those we connect with, and keeping daily contact with those we work with. The learning curve for this tool will be immense however. Or rather, the UNlearning curve will be. We have to "unlearn everything that we think we know about social media" essentially rewiring our brains away from the way that this generations brains are trained to be wired. Tough stuff. I know I can do it with the Lords help though. 

        On Wednesday and Thursday, we did a little bit of tracting, which Elder Kerr seemed to enjoy. We've really been focusing this week on being a help to the ward auxiliaries, especially since the ward boundaries recently changed, and there's a lot of people that nobody knows. On saturday, I shared my first object lesson, which was about how important it is to read the scriptures, pray, and go to church. We used cups and knives, but Ill send a separate email with pictures later.

        On Saturday, we also had the experience of being confined to being inside for a few hours, since APPARENTLY there was supposed to be a huge arctic storm headed our way. So, we were instructed to park the cars at the house and stay inside to work on area book stuff. This lasted for a few hours, until they realized that it had petered out in northern Idaho. Lame. It may be because of that storm, but for the last few days, we've actually been having a good amount of snowfall. We actually got like, 4 inches last night. Yay! I think driving in the snow is fun. I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week. I heard a great quote in one of Hank Smiths talks this week: "You are the children of the most creative being in the Universe, he expects you to create."

Godspeed, 

~Elder Quiner

February 20, 2018

Dear Family and Friends,

        This week has been quite hectic. On Wednesday, we had the opportunity to go to the Normans house and help her daughter move things around in and clean her kitchen. (For some reason, I seem to enjoy things like that a lot more here than I did at home.) This week we've been trying to get ahold of one of our investigators, tuff, but he doesn't have a phone, and its hard to meet with him when he never seems to be in the right place. On Thursday, TWO of our lessons for the night fell through, though that did give us the opportunity to meet one of the investigators we hadn't met yet, which was nice. On Friday, we had a great District Meeting, then had the opportunity to go on exchanges that night with the District leader. Elder Kerr went to Paul to be with Elder Baccarini (who is our district leader and the one who trained me) and I stayed in Rupert with Elder Montgomery. It was an interesting exchange. Elder Montgomery has an odd life. He's cool though, and I really learned a lot. We actually contacted the majority of the people our ward mission leader wanted us to that day, which brought us some decent success. We're really trying to work with less actives right now. On Sunday, we participated in a really good stake correlation meeting, then went to the PEC for a couple of our wards, which was nice. Our area is blessed to have great local leaders, who are really willing to work with us. 

       After church on Sunday, we went over to one of our semi-active members houses, and shared a great mormon message with them called Daily Bread. I highly recommend that all of you watch it. It really hits on the principle that we need to be exposing ourselves to spiritual experiences every day. It's so important that we do this, because ultimately that is what allows us to feel the spirit, and come closer and closer to Christ. The next day, on Monday, we went over to the same house and helped them scrape their walls down so that they could paint them. He really appreciated it, and we are actually going to start teaching the missionary discussions to their boys. It should be good. 

       That evening, we didn't have a dinner scheduled, and so we decided to go a little farther into our area to contact some people we needed to see. We went to the first house but nobody answered, and after consulting the GPS, we realized that we needed to turn around and go the other way for the next person. Usually this isn't a big deal, we usually would either do a 3 point turn, or a U turn. So, not thinking, I took the second option. We were in a Chevy Cruze, and the road was pretty wide, so I thought it would be fine.

THIS WAS A MISTAKE!

       We didn't get ten feet around in our turn before our car slid off the road and promptly got stuck in the snow. Now this was embarrassing, having established myself as the elder from Alaska, for me of all people to be stuck in the snow. So, shrugging like these things happened all the time, we got out and began to shovel the snow out from under our car. This got us nowhere. Now, being used to the cold, I hadn't brought my ear cover (which I had to buy, since in a typical Elder Quiner move, I lost my hat last transfer.) It was about 25 degrees outside, and I got cold ears and cold hands. It wasn't until a couple of kind spanish speaking gentleman came by and helped that we were able to get out of the ditch we had (metaphorically and literally) gotten ourselves into. They ended up tying a rope from their truck, to the bar of our suspension, we were lucky that it turned out the way that it did.  All in all, everything turned out all right, and could have been a lot worse. Makes for a good story for my companion too (he had never been in snow before his mission.)

       Ultimately speaking, it was a good week with some crazy experiences, but I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us. He knows what were going through. He knows that we would have trials and make mistakes while we were here, and because of this he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to atone for the sins of humanity. I invite you all to think about what Christ went through in the Garden of Gethsemane, He even asked his father if there would be another way, but there was not. He BLED from EVERY PORE. The experience would have killed anyone else, but he endured it. Because of this, we are able to be forgiven for our sins. All we have to do is repent. Confess them, and forsake them. Repentance is a change of heart, and I testify that it will make you better every time you do. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. I love you all, and hope you have a great week!

Godspeed,

~Elder Quiner

February 13, 2018

  

Dear Family and Friends,

       For those of you that thought I was dead because I hadn't emailed yesterday, fear not. Our preparation day was moved to Tuesday because we had a temple trip today. Our entire Zone (all like, 20 of us) got to go to the Twin Falls temple and do and Endowment session. This was a great experience and I really enjoyed it! The Twin Falls temple is beautiful, and the Spirit that can be felt at the temple is simply beautiful.

       This week was great, being both productive and enjoyable, as missions often (hopefully) are. We are currently teaching an investigator who is progressing very well, and it's really cool to see how much he changes for the better between each lesson. He's a younger guy who seems to have had a bit of a rough life up until now. He's currently living with his member grandparents though, so the situation is looking pretty positive. This week, we also helped one of the ladies in our ward paint some walls and rake some pine cones up from her lawn. They're a lot bigger compared to the ones in alaska. This week we also did a lot of coordination with our ward mission leaders and our bishops. All of who very good at helping out the missionary work a lot. We are very excited to be here in Rupert, working hard and taking care of the many lists that our leaders give us. Elder Kerr is a great missionary already, and hes only getting better.

       Yesterday it snowed quite a lot here in little Rupert. we woke up to quite the surprise. Elder Kerr was pretty excited, since he's from Las Vegas he doesn't really get much snow there. So, that morning, we went around and shoveled for people who looked like they could use some help. One lady actually brought us some cookies after we finished, which was pretty nice. I've really grown to love helping the people in this mission. I know this church is true, and I know that this mission is the best thing I could be doing right now with my life. I love you all, and I hope you have a great week.

Godspeed,

~Elder Quiner

Pictures: 
The scene we woke up to on Monday Morning

 The cookies we got for shoveling   

 A picture of Elder Kerr during comp study     

 Big pinecones   

February 5, 2018

Family and Friends,

       And so it is that I depart from the bustling metropolis of Buhl, Idaho. Yep! It's official: I've been transferred from Buhl.... to Rupert, Idaho! Please hold your applause. Im very excited about this, I love seeing new places, and Rupert has TRAINS. Its pretty exciting. My new companion and I will get along great. His name is Elder Kerr (who just turned 21 yesterday), and he's from Las Vegas, Nevada (Not Henderson either, actual Vegas) Besides that, however, I am a bit nervous... BECAUSE I'M HIS TRAINER. What. I, who have only been out for a little over 2 transfers, am training another missionary. Truly a case of the blind leading the blind. HOWEVER! The Lord trusts me enough to fulfill this responsibility, so I'm going to do my best. I'm sure we'll do just fine. He has a great drive to learn and the fire of someone who's brand new. Were very excited to get to work and turn Rupert, Idaho into the city of Zion. There's only one thing in our way:

       Whitewashing. Training a new Elder in a new area means we're both brand new to the area, which is known as whitewashing. This also means that the only knowledge we have of the area comes from the (honestly quite decent) notes left by the Sister missionaries we replaced, and the knowledge contained in the brains of our very good Ward Mission Leaders and Bishops. So, for this last week, we've spent all of our time either trying to figure out who the Sisters have been working with and getting in contact with them, or else coordinating with our local leaders to figure out whats going on. This has caused me a bit of stress, but not enough to hinder my ability to work hard and teach the restored gospel. Speaking of which, since we haven't had the opportunity to teach actual investigators this week, we've been teaching the missionary lessons to our dinner appointments so that Elder Kerr has the chance to get some practice in. Our dinner schedule is pretty confusing too, so we're also trying to figure that out. (BTW, if any of my missionary friends know of ways to make 12 week even better than it is, please let me know.) 

       So! About our wonderful new area. Rupert, Idaho is a smallish town with decent sized boundaries located near the bottom middle of Idaho. Like I mentioned before, Rupert has trains, and we cross a LOT of tracks. Personally, I enjoy watching them pass, even though they get in the way (I drive), but I've heard that not everyone is a fan. It seems like a very nice (almost quaint) little place, and I think we'll really enjoy it. We cover 3 wards (which is nothing new to me), Rupert 1st, 5th, and 7th. All 3 of them seem very nice, though it seems there has been a mix up in the last year or so, which led to some people from Declo ending up in the Rupert 1st ward, which for some reason is causing some under the surface contention. Ridiculous. Either way, we're excited to do the work here. 

       We live above a members garage, in a really nice little place that we're being kicked out of at the end of the month. It's no fault of ours, but the owner just feels that it's time to move on. So this means we're looking for a place to live. Preferably somewhere we can rent from a member, because the church can get rent cheaper. People keep offering us their sheds. The finding a new house thing caused a little stress, but we're not going to worry about it, because the stake presidency is taking care of it.

       On Sunday, we went to all 3 wards, and tried to meet as many people as we could. I officially remember almost none of them, as usual. I do remember everyone we eat dinner with, and all the local leaders though, so thats good at least. ​​I'm excited for this upcoming week, because we have a lot of teaching appointments planned. It should be really good practice for Elder Kerr. We're definately going to be staying busy.

Love you all, and hope you have a great week!

Godspeed,

~Elder Quiner

PICTURES

1. Singing for our lunch at Zone Conference
2. A picture from last zone conference.
3. The mission home: Me and My new Trainee Elder Kerr

January 29th, 2018

Family and friends,

       So it begins. Our phones are now up and operational, and we've begun the transfer from old paper records, to our digital Area Book Planner. The transfer itself is estimated to take upwards of a year, since we're only doing the transferring for an hour a day. Its not going to be fun, but it's cool to see how the work is hastening. We are not authorized to use facebook yet, though when we are, you'll hear about it. 

       We had house inspections at the beginning of this week that we passed with flying colors. We've really done a lot of work to the place. On Friday, we had an Excellent Zone conference, and we did a lot of training for the new phones. Something our mission president said really stuck out to me, and it was that lazy people cannot have the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Its quite an interesting idea, but I testify that it's very true. As I've learned to work harder and harder on the mission, I've seen an increase in the spirit as well. It's truly an amazing experience. We also had an excellent devotional for missionaries, Seminary and Institute teachers, and stake presidents. Elder Christofferson spoke about truth, and how truth is something set and unchangeable. It doesn't change because somebody has an opinion, and moral truth is the same thing. All seeking to define their own personal moral truths as different from our Heavenly Fathers will, are seeking to qualify sin and wrong. Moral relativism cannot thrive in a society of order. All the knowledge of infinite and universal truths that we can obtain comes with divine assistance. And disobedience to Gods Commandments will actually strip us of the knowledge of truth. I testify of what he taught. As I have gone throughout the short time I've been in the field, I've learned to learn from the scriptures divine truths that my Heavenly Father wants me to know. I have learned to love the Book of Mormon and what it teaches.

       We had an Experience yesterday with an Anti-Mormon lady that taught me about the importance of having an unshakable testimony. We knocked on her door, and quickly realized that she used to be a member of our church, but turned her back and joined one that didn't like us very much. She spoke to us about why we should join her church, and why ours wasn't a christian church. It would have been funny if the situation wasn't so dangerous. Elder Uchdorf has a quote though, "Someone with an experience is NEVER at the mercy of someone with an opinion." I testify that that is very true. I love this gospel, and I have had experiences that make my testimony unshakeable.

       I had an exchange with Elder Durst, one of our zone leaders that's going home soon. We had a great exchange and I really learned a lot from him. Right after the exchange, we had a baptismal interview with one of Elder Dursts investigators, who is super awesome. Then, right after that, there was a baptism for one of their investigators. She' like, 80 something, and it's super awesome. I know that This church is true, and its amazing to see this gospel change peoples lives. I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

Godspeed,

~Elder Quiner

Photo 1: Receiving our new Smart  Phones/Training

Photo 2: An awesome view of the canyon.

January 22, 2018

Family and Friends,

       Yep! You saw the title. By the end of this week, every missionary in my mission will have a smartphone in their hands. In fact, they will be in our hands TODAY (we wont be allowed to power them on until zone conference on Friday) we're supposed to have them charged for zone conference. With this announcement comes changes in the way the work will go. As we've been trained these last few months, we've thought up ways to use technology that will help us to find new investigators, find fellow-shippers for investigators, and keep daily contact with those we are teaching. Along with the benefits to our teaching and finding, this tool will allow us to more effectively plan the route we take while we go to appointments, and improve our personal and companionship study. Its all very exciting.

       Even more exciting however, are the 6 baptismal dates we have for our investigators. All of them speak spanish, and some of the dates are very soon. There is a young couple, he's a member she isn't, that should be getting married TODAY! It's very exciting, because we've been working with them FOREVER. We'll see next week if it actually happened or not. If it does, she can actually get baptized the week after that. We also started working with another young Spanish couple, where he's a member and she isn't. They are actually married though, so thats good. She has a baptismal date set for March. We also have been working with some English speaking people, which is awesome. We're very excited to see the work picking up for both languages we work with.

       I finished Jesus the Christ this week. I've decided it's probably one of my favorite books. The things that Talmage talks about are very interesting, and learning more about the life of our Savior fascinates me. I highly recommend it.

       This week we did an extensive amount of contacting. We've been working with less actives a lot in one of our wards, because we found out that there are over 400 less active members in that ward alone. So far we haven't had a ton of success, but we're hoping things start working out soon. This week, we've done something with dinners that has vastly improved our ability to get referrals. We call 3-4 days ahead of time, and after setting up the dinner, we let them know that we will be asking them for names of people we've been working with after we share a message, and inviting them to think or come up with someone during the time before we come. This, surprisingly enough, has triple the amount of referrals we've been getting. Its pretty amazing. Highly recommend it for all my missionary friends out there.

       I love you all, and I hope that you have a great week. This is an exciting time to be alive. The Lord is hastening his work, and we're right here in the middle of it.

Godspeed,

~Elder Quiner

First Picture: My companion at I at a members home

Second: The wall of pictures I made next to my desk.

Third: Loves for my mom

Fourth: Our district, minus the Filer sisters.

January 16, 2018

Family and Friends,

       Time really just seems to fly by on the mission. its crazy to think that I've been gone for 3 whole months already! Sorry for not E-mailing earlier, preparation day is today because Martin Luther King day was yesterday. Nobody really celebrates it here though, for some odd reason.

       On Monday night to Tuesday night I was on exchanges with Elder Murray we contacted a lot of less actives, and had a really great lesson with one of the people we found in the Meadowbrook apartment complex. She was going to come to church this week, but something came up, so she wasn't able to make it. She said she should be there next week though, which is awesome.

       The next day we had interviews with our mission president. He's excited about some of the work we're doing here in Buhl, which is nice, because we're also very excited about it. All of our wards have been blowing up with work recently, and we have so many potential investigators that we don't know what to do sometimes. The Lord always provides a way though, so hopefully we'll be able to get everything we need to get done done. 

       This week we started to set up more frequent correlation meetings between ourselves and our ward mission leaders. It should help us out a lot to work with our wards more closely. On Saturday, we had a correlation meeting with the Ward Mission Leader for the Thousand Springs ward, Brother Smith. We put together a 5 pronged plan for our wards mission plan. A lot of the work we'll be doing is to help strengthen the members, and really get them involved more with missionary work. We'll also be working hard on our Spanish work, and Brother Smith decided the best way to do so was to start up a class to help people who know Spanish learn English, and those who know English to learn Spanish. We hope that sharing each others languages will bring the Ward closer together, and not only help with member retention, but also with helping us to get more referrals. In our other wards, especially the Deep Creek ward, we've been really hitting less-active work hard. We got a list of all the members in the Deep Creek ward, and to our surprise, less than half of the people on the list were even semi-active. So, after talking with the bishop and ward mission leader, we set out on the arduous task of contacting every less active on the list (more than 400 names) and determining their willingness to start accepting the Gospel back into their lives. So far, we've actually been met with relative success, as we've found a surprising number of them just developed a habit of not coming to church, or not doing the simple things, and are entirely willing to at least let us share a message once in a while. It's very exciting.

       on Friday, we had the opportunity of watching our dear Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson's funeral. It was an excellent event, and we were able to bring the spirit into the home of a less active families house very strongly, which was excellent. This morning we also had the opportunity to hear from our new Prophet, Russell M. Nelson. Dallin H. Oaks and Henry B. Eyring are his 1st and 2nd councilors, and all of them are divinely inspired men, who will execute with earnestness the will of our Lord. how powerful it was to hear the words of our new prophet, as he solemnly declared, and with a powerful spirit, that he would dedicate his every breath to serving the members of this church, in doing the will of the Lord, and in serving Him until his final breath. We sustain him as the next Prophet, and a man who will lead this church with exactness according to the will of the Lord. We look forward to seeing the diverse ways the Lord will move His work forward, as we see He is even now doing. I love this Gospel and this Church, and solemnly testify that there is nothing more true upon the entire face of this great Earth. I love you all, and wish you the best as this week progress'.

Godspeed,

~Elder Quiner

January 7, 2018

Family and Friends,

       This week was a very busy one for us here in Buhl, Idaho. Elder Saunders felt a little sick on Wednesday (He threw up) but it didn't stop us from going out and doing work. Thursday we contacted a LOT of our potential investigators, we met a few people who are really promising. We ended up giving a blessing to an older lady that day as well. It was cool, because we actually ran into her while tracting on her street, and she said she was going to call us later anyways. It strengthened my testimony that what we are doing out here is becoming tools in the lords hands. On Friday, we went to tract out an apartment complex, on inspiration of the spirit. We ended up finding 5 people who want to meet with us again, and 2 less active families. 

       That day was also the first day of the Book of Mormon reading challenge. I'm focusing my reading on the Plan of Salvation and what we have to do in this life to be Happy. Already I am seeing the blessings of my studies. This week, we reviewed our mission president's letter in district meeting. It was about having kneeling prayers, and he challenged us to do so more often. I testify that as we have kneeling prayers by ourselves, in our families, and with our companions, we will be blessed with the Spirit of the Lord as we pray. As we pray, we must remember to not just draw near to Him with our mouths, but with our hearts as well. We should be seeking for what the Spirit would have us pray for constantly as we pray. This is something that I have learned here in the field, and something that has blessed me by making my prayers more powerful. I just wanted to share that with you all, and I would like to challenge you to have kneeling, audible prayers more often throughout this new year. 

       On Sunday, we had two excellent fast and testimony meetings in Clear Lakes and Deep Creek. Afterwards, we co-ordinated with or ward mission leaders for two of the Wards that we cover. We will be working a lot with less active members here soon. Should be good. We have a couple of lists that we a re working on right now, that Elder Saunders has organized to increase effectiveness. 

       We were sad to hear that our dear prophet passed away this week. However, I testify that he was a prophet of God. It was his time to leave us, and the next prophet, President Russell M. Nelson will receive inspiration from the same source that all prophets before have. Remember that this is not a church led by one man, nor by a group of men. The resurrected Christ literally heads his church, and makes the decisions that will prepare the world for the second coming. This is our Lords time, and he is hastening his work. We look forward to hearing the inspired words of President Nelson in the next General Conference.

       I love this gospel and this work, and I bear testimony that this is the MOST IMPORTANT work on earth. There is nothing I could be doing with my life right now that could be more important. I love the people that I am serving, and I know that this gospel is the best thing that they will ever receive. I love you all, and wish you the best as this year moves forward.

Godspeed,

~Elder Quiner

January 2, 2018

 
A Picture I took of Elder Baccarini and I before he left

Family and Friends, 

       This week has been a good one. I went on exchanges with Elder Tauanu'u on wednesday. We had an awesome exchange. We shoveled a couple of peoples driveways, and actually ended up helping a less active family move to Mountain Home, ID. They were very thankful to us. It's always cool to see how peoples hearts soften as we serve them. 

       On Thursday, we had a very good lesson with a young spanish couple living with one of our members. We actually set a baptismal date with them. They are very prepared, and they are very ready to receive the restored gospel. The baptismal date, as of right now, will be the same day as their marriage in a couple of months. We're very excited to continue teaching them. On Friday, we had an AMAZING lesson with a spanish man named Alfredo. The spirit was very strong, and he felt it SO MUCH. It was truly incredible.

       District meeting we talked a lot about the new policies regarding phones. They are coming soon, so its important that we learn about how we can best use them as tools to push this great work along. We'll actually be able to teach people outside of our assigned area, on case by case basis, so that should be interesting.

       New years eve was excellent. We spoke in sacrament, and I gave a very well prepared talk about how we can strengthen our testimonies, and how when it comes down to it, the best way to do so is what we call spiritual CPR. In other words: Church attendance, regular Prayer, and regular scripture Reading and study. Those small and simple things build up our testimonies bit by bit, until they are strong. We went out and tried to find people to teach, but nobody was interested. That night, I SAW A SHOOTING STAR! Not just any shooting star though. This one seemed really close! Very red tail, with little streams coming off of it. I got very excited. (hopefully it wasn't a plane crash, wishes dont work as well on those) Either way, since New Years Eve gets crazy, we had to be home by 6:30pm that night. So once we got home, I did my nightly routine, and then I read Jesus the Christ for a while. It's a really great book, and I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. It talks about a lot of interesting scriptural and historical truths I didn't know about.

       It's the New Year! This year I'm going to work hard to share the gospel with everyone I meet, so I'm looking forward to doing well this year. Coming up here soon we will be doing a BOM reading challenge, and I would invite all of you to take the challenge with us. On January 5th, we will start the Book of Mormon, from the introduction. On March 30th, we will finish it. 85 days. 7 pages a day. This is the same amount of time that Joseph Smith translated the Book in. Surely we can finish it in the same amount of time.

       Have a good year everyone. 2018 is here!

Godspeed,

~Elder Quiner

December 25

Dear Family and Friends,

       This week was one of change for me, being as it was my first transfer. I said goodbye to Elder Baccarini on Wednesday, and picked up my new companion, Elder Saunders. He's pretty cool, and he's a really good missionary. He speaks Spanish, so we're pretty excited to get some good work done in Buhl.

       Speaking of Spanish work, once Elder Saunders got here the area blew up with work. Our spanish sister missionaries Went around Buhl a couple of weeks ago and contacted many of the areas spanish former investigators. We met a couple of really promising people. One man, Alfredo, we talked to him for like an hour (or Elder Saunders did anyways, I just sat there like a dead fish and pretended to know what was being said). We gave him a blessing of comfort for some trials he's going through, and then on Sunday, he came to church! We were very excited. Hopefully I pick up a little bit of spanish, so at least I can understand what is being said. 

       On Saturday, we started teaching the new member lessons to the Lunas. We started to teach The Restoration, but it quickly turned into a lesson about Family History and temple work for the dead. The Lunas are very excited to start doing temple work, so were going to be getting them an interview with the bishop soon, and we'll be having FHE with them on Sunday this week to teach them about FamilySearch and how they can do some ordinances. 

       Christmas was yesterday, so Merry late Christmas to all of you, and a happy New Year! I got to call home yesterday, which was good. I really loved getting to see allmy family, but I'm still not completely sure my youngest sister knows where I am. We called home from the Thaynes house. We also ate dinner with them yesterday. They're a really great empty Nester family, and they enjoyed having us over. This transfer we should be getting a lot of really great spanish work done, so look forward to hearing about that in the future. Our English work is picking up as well actually. Brother Wilder has agreed to read and pray about the BOM, and he already knows a lot about the church, being from a part member family. Its really all up to him at this point. 

       Below is a picture of Elder Saunders and I in front of a christmas tree.

Godspeed everyone, and Happy New Year!

~Elder Quiner

December 18

Family and Friends,

       Wow. This week was pretty crazy. Everyone in our district had interviews with President Bartlett on Wednesday, except Elder Peterson and I, because we're still brand new. Our house was also supposed to be inspected this week, but the inspectors were backed up, so it ended up not happening. 

       On Friday we had district meeting. Elder Black (one of our APs) was there because he was on exchanges with Elder Anderson. We've been doing a lot of training on smartphones recently, which is good. The Zone Leaders already have them, and from what I can see, this will help the work progress a LOT faster. After District meeting, I went on exchanges with Elder Peterson. We got a lot of work done (we passed out 40 LTW cards) Which was really great.

       On Sunday, we had Stake Correlation meeting. We talked about all the work that was happening in the Filer Stake. That night I learned that Christmas will NOT be a preparation day. We will be Emailing on December 26th for that day.

       That night we heard the big news about transfers. Elder Baccarini is going to PAUL IDAHO! Im staying in Buhl and I'm going to be companions with Elder Saunders. He speaks Spanish, which is exciting because now we can actually talk to Spanish people! Im pretty excited to do some good work here in the spanish area. Transfers are the 20th, so we'll see how it goes from there.

Godspeed Everyone,

~Elder Quiner

First Picture: Our house in Buhl

Second: Car Inspection at Zone conference

Third: Me and my Companion on Transfer Day

Fourth: Man it's cold!

Fifth: My district

December 11th

Dear Friends and Family,

       This week was incredible. We went on exchanges with Elders Mehr and Peterson on tuesday after Zone Conference. I went to twin with Elder Mehr, and we ended up going and visiting some really cool people. Their area is pretty low on work right now, but they're trying hard to get things done. The next couple days on Thursday to Friday I went on exchanges with Elder Randall. (Elder Murray's Companion) Hes a really great artist (See the picture of the Elder Anderson dinosaur below) and we got a lot of really great work done. We met a guy named Levi while we were walking around. We helped him push his truck into the backyard and he agreed to set up an appointment with us for this Tuesday.

       On Saturday we had a very cool experience. The Luna family, our super awesome investigators got BAPTIZED! It was and excellent baptism, and the spirit was extremely strong, though I couldn't understand half of what was being said because it was in Spanish. On Sunday, they were confirmed members of the church. We are so excited for them, and they are feeling very welcome in the ward.

       On Sunday we taught a FHE lesson at the Rays house. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how we can gain a testimony of it. For those of you who haven't taken the challenge in Moroni 10:3-5 to read the Book of Mormon, and SINCERELY and with REAL INTENT to know if it is true ask your Father in Heaven if the Book of Mormon is true. I testify that if you will take this challenge, an answer will come. Maybe not right away, and it may not be a loud answer, but it will come.

       Last night I set up our Christmas tree. It was hard, because all the branches were unmarked, but I think that it looks pretty good if I say so myself. I attached a picture of it below.

       So there is a family in one of our wards, the Hortons. They were formerly inactive, but they have been coming every week for a while now. However, they are going through a very hard time right now, and I would ask you all to keep them in your prayers. Brother Horton went to Meridian to have some neck surgery. The surgery went fine, but after the surgery, his neck swelled up and he threw up. At the time, he was lying down, so the vomit went down into his lungs, and he stopped breathing. At that point he went into cardiac arrest. They did CPR on him and got him breathing again through machines, but they started a little late and his brain was damaged. They're not sure if the damage will be permanent, but until further notice he is for the most part unresponsive, and though he can move his arms, he is not responding to commands. His family is very worried, and the ward is going to help them with what they need. He is being moved to a long term Psychiatric Ward soon, and so he wont be there for his family. I would appreciate it if you would just keep them in your prayers for a while. 

Thank You, and Godspeed,

-Elder Quiner