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