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.