Week 10 - Hair Dying and Country Music Festivals

Happy Monday!

So yes, please send some more shakes. Did you get the tiny memo on the postcard? I called them and they said they would put credit on your card to send me more...so confusing. Sister S was like, "Just call your mom!...oh wait". Haha, not that simple :) No. We don't have any plans for the 4th yet. In fact, dinner appointments are just so slim here in Oshkosh. Yesterday I actually asked someone if they would feed us. No shame in my game. People are willing to if you ask them, but they never sign up or offer. So that's why I feel like I am spending so much money!! We just are so tired at the end of the day and who wants to cook after a long, hot day of tracting/being a missionary? No one. Hopefully something will come up and we'll have plans for the 4th. We might just go over to the Irazarry's. My fave people. We'll see though. 

Well. Donna doesn't want to meet with us anymore, so that's sad. But our investigator Fonda does have a date July 25! So that's really exciting! But she has a real problem with the word of wisdom/law of chastity. She's super cool though. She actually came to church yesterday so that was a huge miracle (even if she was slightly drugged...)! We found her tracting and she automatically told us that she didn't have a belief in God. But it's been so incredible to see her countenance change and see her belief in God grow. She texted us last night saying how church made her whole day lighter and brighter and thanked us for re-introducing God into her life. How cool?! Makes the tough days so worth it. 

So here's the deal with Fonda. She's cool. She's prepared and ready for this in her life. But she doesn't quite have it all together. She says she's a recovering addict….not sure from what. She came to church yesterday she kept falling asleep! But then we'll stop by her house randomly and she's totally fine and happy. But, drugged or not, she came to church and she felt the spirit there. Getting people to come to church is a struggle, so when someone actually does show it's like winning the lottery...not that I have experience with that. It's such a good feeling though! I'm really hopeful for her. As long as she keeps putting in the effort and doing her part, God will help her overcome anything in the way of her happiness. 

I'll be honest, this is TOUGH (I feel like I say that a lot, but I'm just being honest here...). We are working so hard and don't have a lot to show for it. I'm frustrated with myself most of all. We are our biggest critics, right? We had interviews with President Cutler this past Tuesday and how grateful I am for him and the power of the priesthood. This interview came just at the right time. Like I said, I've been feeling just super overwhelmed with a lot of different emotions and talking with President was so nice. I asked for a blessing and I can truly testify that President Cutler is called of God. I felt like it was more of a patriarchal blessing. It was really neat and both of us had tears in our eyes. That was a huge boost of strength! But President did tell me that there is a good chance that right after I'm done with my training that I might be training a new missionary. WHAT THE HECK? I have absolutely zero clue as to what I'm doing...how could I possibly TRAIN another human being on how to be a missionary? Yikes. We'll see what the Lord has in store I guess. So the possibility of that has contributed to my stress lately. 

On Wednesday we went over to the Irazarry's and we dyed Sister Irazarry's hair. Hahaha, probably one of the funnier experiences I've had here. She tried so hard to give us money for it to go get ice cream, but we can't accept money from people! She basically forced us to take $10 from her, but when we left we put it on the seat of their car. On Sunday she pulls me really close and says (in her 82 year old Spanish accent), "I know what you girls did". I was so confused, then I remembered. Haha, she goes, "Is okay. Next time you girls come for my lesson, we take you out to ice cream". Then she kissed my hand. Oh Sister Irazarry. 

Just a little who-knew moment. One of the country's biggest country music festivals is here in Oshkosh! We're talking HUGE. Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Eric Church, Swon Brothers, Thompson Square, and Miranda Lambert. I don't even like country that much, but this Country U.S.A. was getting to me! Sis. S and I were really tempted to go. But we didn't succumb to Satan's obvious trap. But the struggle was so real. We are going to be volunteering at EAA (the big airplane museum/ airport) in July for their big event. Also another thing that famous people are going to be at. Like Indiana Jones is giong to be there. And with our service they are giving us free passes to the event - so cool. That comes along with free access to a Dirks Bentley concert... so tempting. You know how much I love concerts! I don't care who it is. ...I sound so worldly. And then there is Pollock Pool which we won't even go into. Water slides and everything…cool.

We were giving service at Evergreen (this old folks community) this week and walked past a t.v. right in time to see "Breaking News". Of course this was about the Supreme Court ruling this past week. How sad. Both Sister Straight and I looked at each other with the widest eyes and jaws dropped to the floor. Anyways. That happened.

I'm reading Doctrine and Covenants now. I read these this morning,  "Fear not to do good, my sons, for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good ye shall also reap good for your reward.Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail."

Love these verses. It reminds me that as long as we're doing the right thing then good things are going to come. Doesn't say when, but they will. We have to have faith that they will!

Hope ya'll have a real great week!

Xo,

Sister Quist

Week 9 - What is this mystery booth?

Howdy!

Boy this week was long. Probably one of the longest ones yet. I honestly have no idea what even happened this week. Sister Straight just turned to me to ask what happened and I just shrugged my shoulders. All the days run together! Some things I do remember is that Donna once again texted us saying that she didn't want to meet because she didn't feel comfortable changing her beliefs. Such sad news! A really big bummer. But I have a lot of faith that she will come to know that these things are true. She's a kingdom builder, she really is. 

Last Monday we had some fun. There is this lighthouse that we always see and we really want to visit it. So obviously we went on a search. Unfortunately we had no direction whatsoever to where it was. We just had to rely on our senses. Yeah, that got us nowhere. We did find a spot that was very pretty though, hence the lake pic. I just love the lakes so much. 

We also went to Ripon on Monday. That was quite the trip. We went to dinner at the Murphy's, who are awesome. Love them lots. Then we went to visit a couple less-active familes. The L and G families (who are part-member too). The G's are way cool. They're both 23, so I kind of just see them as people my age. They have two kids. It was a nice visit with them. Then we went and saw the Larson's. The Larson's are a family who went inactive pretty recently. It's really sad to hear why some people leave the gospel and how they think they're happier without it. Something that Sister Larson said was, "I'm going to a new church now, and they don't really require anything from me". Of course they don't! Did Heavenly Father ever tell us that this gospel was convenient? No. I love the quote, "I never said it would be easy, but I said it would be worth it". We are promised blessings upon blessings for doing the things that God has asked us to do and really, in comparison for all the grace, love, mercy, and blessings that He has given to us, whatever He has required of us is nothing. 

Regarding the subject for this email: We orchestrated a farmer's market booth on Saturday. We just had to make a sign and everything for the booth and at one point we were like, "Maybe just no sign"? Then I was like, "Yeah! Then people walking by will be like "What is this mystery booth?!" and come check it out"! The booth was in a really bad location and it was a bit of a struggle but it was fun. There were some sketchy old men playing bean bag toss behind us and we had a good time with them :)

We also have been meeting with a girl named Fonda. But I'll have to tell you about her next week! We did set a baptismal date for July 25 with her and she accepted! Yay! And literally a minute ago we got another HQ referral! The Lord is hastening His work, people.

Hope you have the best week. Please feel free at any time to send me a letter or package :) The boost from those babies during the week is greatly appreciated! 

Much love!

Sister Quist

to Natalie:  Hope you have the BEST day ever! Happy 13th! You teenager, you!

tracting selfie - game strong

sunsets are aight here…

all natural. feels good not to wear make-up sometimes. 

love the paredes family (+neighboors)

a family from our stake happened upon our girl's ward and sent this pic to us.  

made for a perfect father's day!

Week 8 - Hello, hello!

Wow. This has been a really crazy week! So, so busy. First of all, right after we got done emailing last Monday Donna texted us saying she didn't want to meet with us anymore. We were SO disappointed. She was so solid and all of a sudden she was totally backing out. Really sad. It was really tough to to get discouraged about that. Especially when it just felt so right. The Lord definitely is aware of us though and as we were walking into Walmart we saw a new potential investigator, Don. What a tender mercy from the Lord. On Wednesday we stopped by Donna's house to clarify why she wanted to discontinue meeting with us. She said how she felt really overwhelmed and had a lot of questions. So we told her we'd stop by Saturday to have a little Q & A session. That lesson was a little unconventional, and it was kind of scattered, but I think that it really helped her to understand some things about the church and gave her a lot of peace. She told us about her background and we said how it sounded like the things that she has gone through had prepared her for this. She expressed how she "felt goosebumps"! Holy Ghost alert! How incredible. Then yesterday she came to church!! All three hours. All three blocks were amazing. Sister Mueller talked in Sacrament meeting about the whole metaphor of the lighthouse being a beacon to us. And Sister Belnap talked about how God is our loving Heavenly Father. And wow. The spirit was just so strong, I don't know how anyone couldn't feel of it! After church Donna said she really enjoyed it all {YAY!} I know that the Lord has prepared Donna. I'm so blessed to play such a small part in her conversion.

Also, last Monday, all of our evening plans fell through. Such a bummer. So we decided to take a little trip to Winneconne! I was so excited because Sister Straight has been raving on and on about how beautiful it is. And it did not disappoint! We were able to see the K family, some members who live out there. Their backyard reminded me of McCall a little. The prettiest lake house! 

We left their house, but not before looking at all their family pics and realizing I was in my golf class with a guy that married their granddaughter! Such a small world. I love it! Anyways, we left their house and went to visit Bro. Whiting. Bro. W's wife is not a member and neither Sister Straight or I had ever met her before. From what we had heard from Bro. W, she just hasn't seemed very open to the church or missionaries. But we said, what the heck! And went and it turned out to be such a successful visit! We knocked on the door and Bro. W answered and invited us it. His wife was no where to be found though. But then, he said, "Hold on"! And he went and got her. We had the loveliest time visiting with them and just getting to know them better. Then we left an hour later and that was that! THEN. Sunday (yesterday) we were in ward council and Bro. W shared with us that us dropping by meant so much to him and how his wife "can't stop talking" about us!! I was like, WHAT!? This is such a good news! Me, Sister Straight, and Bro. W were all tearing up as he told us how she is now opening up to take the missionary discussions! It's amazing to see the Lord soften the hearts of His children. That has been one of my favorite moments ever on my mission so far. Just being able to see the desire that Bro. Whiting has for his wife to learn about this gospel and to feel to joy and happiness it has brought him makes me so happy! Ah! So incredible. (Also, fun fact, I'm dying with all the golf courses we're surrounded by and Bro. Whiting may take us to the golf course soon! Bless his soul).

New Missionary Training was this week, too! It was really fun to see all my MTC pals. Especially my beautiful Blas! I have just missed her so much. First thing she says to me, "Q! I found your husband"! Oh my goodness, Sister Blas. Such a nut. Haha, she makes me laugh so hard. It was so nice to spend six hours with President and Sister Cutler. The more I get to know them the more I just love them. Being surrounded by other missionaries is so fun, too.

the MTC group

the madison sisters stayed at our apartment 

the night before new missionary training… 

so that was fun! 

 Sisters Blas, Tenney, Osmond, and Quist

You know, I just really am learning to love it here in Oshkosh. I just really love the ward members and I love meeting new people and I love my cute companion. And as crazy as it sounds, I'm learning to love knocking on doors. And of course I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father so much. I am just really happy. Of course days are long. Probably some of the longest days I've ever had have been on the mission. And of course there are really crappy moments. But for the most part, this mission thing isn't so bad! I'm not gonna lie, I miss you all like crazy and sometimes I miss those worldly things. But I love the Doctrine & Covenants 25:10, "And verily I say unto thee that thou shalt lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better". And that's what I'm trying to do! Laying aside music and dating and movies and all that jazz to come closer to my Father in Heaven. How lucky and grateful I am for this opportunity!

I'm reading this really good book right now. You may have heard of it. It's called the Book of Mormon. And I'm in Alma 17. Probably one of my favorite chapters ever! How great are the Sons of Mosiah? Such amazing missionaries. Alma 17:5-8 just stuck out to me this morning and I love how they directly relate to not only being a missionary, but just being a human! We are all going to have afflictions and get emotionally, spiritually, and physically exhausted. But as we put on the whole armor of God and go forth to tell (and show!) people why the gospel makes us so happy the Lord will provide a way and buoy us up! I have seen it here on my mission and I can see it in the lives of those around me.

Thankful for the prayers offered on my behalf and also the emails and words of encouragement! We're working hard here in Oshkosh and I'm learning so so much about myself and my Heavenly Father! Love you all tons. 

XO,

Sister Quist

 Sister Moffitt (love her)

Week 7 - A good week in Oshkosh

My first transfer is (almost) complete! Weird, or what?  We went on exchanges this past week. Man. It's stressful to be the "senior comp". Even just for 24 hours! Being the driver was stressful as well. It worked out though. No laws broken or cars crashed. It was really fun to have Sis. King (the sister training leader) here though. She's going home next month so it was neat to see a more "seasoned" missionary. I learned a lot from her. Just to be more real. I think I've been a bit mechanical. Probably just cause I'm in situations I've never been in before. I also learned that I am perfectly capable. Sis. King was like, "Wow. You are a really powerful teacher". Something that kind of made me speechless.

Thank you for thinking of D. Being "in-charge" of Heavenly Father's children is really stressful! We met with her again. Tried to set a baptismal date, but said she needed to pray about it. Understandable, I guess. We committed her to come to church...which was stake conference. But that night she told us she'd still be out of town. Pretty disappointing. We're seeing her tonight and going to emphasis the importance of church attendance. Hopefully it won't be too much. I think it'll be really powerful.

Gosh. It's been hard to not be able to call you and Dad. At the end of most days I just want to call you and tell you about all the things that we did. I'm doing really well though. We have "New Missionary Training" on Friday this week and I'm very excited to see all my MTC buds. It'll be fun to see how everyone is doing.

We found a couple new investigators this week. Always good. Most of them seem moderately interested so I'm very excited about that! K is one of them. She's my fave. She's a young girl. Married. I don't know if she has any kids. Anyways, she said she and her husband about a year ago were looking for a church and had briefly heard about the LDS church, but nothing happened. When we asked if we could give her the BoM she was like, "Oh my goodness, yes, please! I'm going out of town for a couple weeks, but we're taking a train so I'll have lots of time to read through it before you come back!"  You could only imagine how pumped I was. Then as we were leaving she was like, "I'm really looking forward to talking with you in a couple weeks"! Who says that? She's just the cutest and I'm really hopeful for her. The Lord has prepared so many of His children here in Oshkosh and now it's just a matter of working hard to find them!

In Stake Conference, Elder Packer (of the Seventy) spoke, as well as Elder Haynie (also from the Seventy). Elder Haynie said, "To sprinkle salt (the gospel), you have to get out of the salt shaker (your comfort zone)". I just really liked that. There are so many ways to sprinkle the gospel. And Elder Packer said, "We, who are the pilots of our lives, must learn to land and fly our airplanes in both good and rough conditions". Loved that too.

Have a marvelous week!

Xo,

Sis. Quist

Her District:  Elder Amann (going home the same day as me!), Elder Drishinski (going home soon), Me, Sis. Straight, Sis. Goldwater, and Sis. Gifford (holding the makeshift selfie stick) Too funny. We have too much fun together.

Week 6 - Sister Quist on a Quest

Oh my goodness! What a week it's been. What even happened this week? First of all, it has been super rainy lately! Everyone says that's a good thing, for the farmers and such, but tracting and rain do not go very well together. I've been sporting the rain boots, or as Elder Mann says, "wellies" (he's from the UK). Things have been happening here in Oshkosh! Miracles, people. So we had those four headquarter referrals. Let me tell you how they all went down. 

1. Wrong address, wrong phone number

2. Sketchy house in the Elders area. Went back four times and couldn't get into contact with her. Some black guys told us to just walk inside and up the stairs and knock, but NO. We were not about to fall into some kidnapper's trap. We agreed it would be best if we gave her over to the Elders...they can go into the scary house if they want to. Lol. 

3. She lives in Neshkoro. Like an hour away. Unfortunately we don't have the miles to just go and see if she's home. We've called her a couple times, but we're thinking that she doesn't feel like getting her free Bible is super urgent.

4. Donna. Oh, Donna. She's kind of the best. First of all, she requested a Book of Mormon. WHO DOES THAT? We usually have to convince people to take it. She ASKED for it. We went and delivered it to her. She wanted to set up a return appointment. Um, YES. So the following Tuesday (the 26th) we brought a member (Sis. Matthies. Who is an awesome return missionary in the ward. She's super cool. An art teacher. She says, "We're BFF's"--holla). We knocked on the door and NOTHING. Not home :( Just as we were leaving, her husband pulled into the driveway! He texted her and told her she forgot. She called us and left a message. Apologizing and asking to reschedule. So of course we called her back! She is actually interested!! So exciting! I don't think she got our message because the next day she left us a message saying, "Sisters, this is Donna. I don't know if you got my message, but I would really like to reschedule something for this week! I'm so sorry about Tuesday. I feel so bad. Call me back, thanks". So after a couple days of phone tag we were finally able to set something up! Her lesson was incredible!! She said how she's looked at the "Order a Book of Mormon" page so many times and she just kept coming back to it. She finally decided to order one. The spirit was so strong and I was able to recite the first vision to her. Which was really cool. I was so nervous, but I nailed it. She said "yes" right off the bat to the baptism invite. (WHAT!?). So much happiness. We're going back tonight. Pray that everything goes well. We are greatly influenced by those around us, and I just hope and pray that those around Donna support her in this.

In other news, I had the weirdest 30 minutes ever yesterday. We went to try to see a less active. Not home (classic). And on our way out we talk to this tall black guy, Tim. He's like "Oh, I love church. Could I come to yours"? Um, yes Tim. You can come. Please come. Then he's like, "Here's my number. Call me to remind me". Okay, we can do that. Then we went to these townhouse thingys. We knocked at a door and no one was coming. Two sketchy guys were walking up to the apartment next to the one we just knocked at and so Sister Straight started talking to them. Then the person came to the door and it was JUST ME. Thanks Sister Straight, you're a pal. BUT good news. I did the whole approach fine and gave him a BoM and set up a return appointment. There is no way that I would be able to do that if I wasn't a missionary. NO WAY. I'm so thankful for the constant companion of the Holy Ghost. And the courage that God has given me. 

Saturday was real fun! Started out with a ward service project. Cleaning the church. The best. It was nice to wear jeans. And they still fit. So that's always good news :) I just love getting to know the members more. Sister Straight and I have noticed a big change in the ward just since I've been here. More trust and more contact. Apparently there have been missionaries in the past who got on the wrong side of the ward members. So we've been working hard to build up that trust. Brother Kemper is my fave. He's just the coolest 92 year old man I've ever met. When he sees me and Sis. S, he says, "Hello Sister Straight and Sister Quist on a quest"! That's me! Haha, Quist on a Quest! :) 

And of course, I just love Sundays. Our Zone Conference was about how to make the Sabbath a more exalted day. Exodus 31:13 says,  "Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbath ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you". What sign are we giving God on Sunday? Russell M. Nelson said, "When I had to make a decision whether or not an activity is appropriate on the Sabbath, I simply asked myself, 'What sign do I want to give to God?' That question about the Sabbath day made my choices crystal clear." The Sabbath isn't just a day that we go to church, partake of the Sacrament, then go and watch t.v. all day. It's a day to know God more fully and do the things that will strengthen our relationships with Him and our families. 

I hope that you all have a super rad week. The more completely I live this gospel the more I come to love it. I can testify that living the gospel with exactness will bring forth many miracles! I'm just the luckiest girl to get to wear this name tag for 18 months. 

Xo,

Sister Quist

Pics:

1. Waiting for the bridge to lower. After Donna's lesson. Feeling on top of the world!

2. Just a little selfie shot ;)