Week 14 - EAA Air Show 2015 +Training

Oh yeah! We gave service at the EAA (experimental aircraft association) air show every morning this week. It was SO FUN! (world's largest gathering for recreational pilots and aviation enthusiasts) Even though we sacrificed an hour of sleep each morning it was so worth it. One night we went to the night show to walk around and talk to people and like 7 members came up to us. I felt like a celebrity! Not too many exciting things happened this week.  Just going to EAA was a highlight. I think it's safe to say I'm obsessed with planes now. Sister Straight and I had fun coming up with plane analogies and quotes all week.

No investigators came to church this week :( But we did have three less actives comes--which is super awesome!! These past two weeks, because of EAA, the chapel has been filled! I have loved getting to meet all the visitors from around the country. We even had some members from Ukraine there yesterday! I love how much unity members of the church have. It's a blessing to be apart of this great gospel! It is frustrating though that no one came to church. We've been really blessed with someone at church almost every week. I'm just kind of stumped with ideas of how to get people to church. Basically I'm just stumped with how to get Oshkosh a baptism! I want a baptism so bad here. I know that it can happen, we just need to get some solid investigators!! 

I'm really excited about this next transfer. Well, excited as in I'm really nervous and slightly scared. But I have complete confidence in the Lord. He'll help me become who I need to become. Fun news: I'm training!! Is that fun news? I'm going to miss my cute Sister Straight, but she'll still be in the zone. I still feel completely inadequate to train a new missionary. Especially since I still feel like I don't have much of a clue what's going on. I'll also being training TWO new missionaries for a week this month as a girl from Oshkosh ward will be doing a mini mission with us. Pray for me. I'm feeling all sorts of emotions, but I know that the Lord will help me. It's going to be an adventure for sure and I know I'll learn a ton. 

Hope you all have a great week. Keep sharing the gospel and being an example to all!! 

Xo, Sister Quist

*So you know you're a missionary when you pray in your sleep! I've done that a few times now. Hey! Never too many prayers.

We passed out their newspaper every morning. Do I look like I should be in Newsies? 

I sure felt like it! SO MANY PLANES! It was so fun. 

 planes all day everyday‏

Last district meeting all together.  I do love our district! 

Week 13 - THREE Months as a Missionary!

This week was really great. First of all it was HOT. Stepping outside into the heat and humidity is comparable to jumping in a hot swimming pool. The air just sticks to your skin and I just love it so much. I can't believe that I hit three months this week. It's gone by so fast. What even happened this week? I don't even remember haha :) But we did have quite the exciting Sunday yesterday. I don't know how much I've said about our investigator, Quincy, but we've been meeting with him for like 7ish weeks. He reads the Book of Mormon every day and says that he knows it's true. GREAT! That's the best, cause, you know, it is true! But he will not commit to ANYTHING. And it's really frustrating. He has MS and is home all day. He reads the BoM mostly because he doesn't do anything else. But nevertheless, he reads it, which I am grateful for. Every time we ask him to do something he just says that "it's too hard" or "I can't". Bleh. The only way that he is ever going to know that this is the truth is if he does things that will stretch him! Picking up the BoM on the side table isn't stretching him enough...SO. We invited him to church (again) this week and HE MADE IT. He came rolling into the church building right on time yesterday morning and stayed for the first hour. What a champ! I'm so proud of him because I know it took a lot of effort for him to get there. He was able to hear Sis. Straight's talk and was able to witness my rad conducting skills...I felt like Sis. Pflueger up there leading the music (love you Karen!!). Even though he only stayed for Sacrament mtg. I'm so happy with the (slow, but sure) progress that he's making. We also had a BAPTISM yesterday! ...just a cute eight year old girl in our ward though :) It was still so fun to be apart of the service. I love baptisms! I know that I'll be able to see the font fill up some day when someone decides to enter into this true and everlasting gospel! 

I'm learning so much every day. I'm developing a deeper relationship with my Savior and even though I know .0001% (maybe) about the Atonement, I know that it is for me and it is for you individually. Someone who spoke yesterday in church said, "I just can relate anything back to the Atonement and I'll be golden, right"? Yes. Absolutely! I've also been studying a lot about member missionary work and dang. I was an awful member missionary! But anyways, I was reading in Alma 8 about one of the greatest missionary duos there ever was (you know, besides Jesus and His apostles), Alma and Amulek. What great guys. We are really trying to push member missionary work in the ward. I know that members are a HUGE aspect of missionary work. I have a testimony of that for sure. 

All is well here in Oshkosh! We're going to the EAA flight show later today so that'll be an adventure. Love you all. Thanks for your continued support and prayers. 

Xo,

Sister Quist

all of us a couple weeks ago representing our america tees!

working on our tans!  

Week 12 - Miracles

Hello all!!

This week went by in a blink! So fast. We had so many things happen this week. I'll just expand on the best day ever as of yet. Sunday was FABULOUS. Holy cow. So many blessings yesterday. Our ward was so full compared to what it usually is. We had a less active part member family, the Taylor fam; a less active woman and her unbaptized daughter, Sister King and Ashley; a less active man, Brother P; the Elders had two investigators come, and Sister B (another less active) all came to church!! What miracles! It was so fun to see the ward befriend them all and reach out. Sis. Straight and I were in heaven. 

We also received the records of a new family in our ward! Yay for new families!! There is Betty V and her step-son, Tony. She also lives with her son and her daughter (who has 3 darling girls) who are all non-members. They welcomed us right in and we got to know them a little bit and set up an appointment to come back and have a lesson with them. They love the BoM, so we read a chapter with them before we left. This family is a miracle family and I know that the Lord has big plans for them!! 

After the V family, we went to see a less active man, John. We got to share a message with him and his non member girlfriend, Laurie. As we were leaving we talked to their neighbor across the street, Dan. Super cool guy. A solid potential investigator for sure. But here's the miracle part of that encounter...he told us how his wife's sister is LDS. We were like, "who"? He told us her name was Amber. Turns out she is a less active woman who is in our ward! We haven't been able to get a hold of her because she moved and we don't have her address, but he gave it to us and we are super stoked to meet her! Such a big blessing.

We have a busy week ahead! We are trying really hard to work with part-member/less active families and we have seen much success from those efforts.  I feel like I'm finally starting to see the fruits of my labors as we work more with these families. And it's so exciting to see people who have been struggling find their way back onto the path! The Lord has so much in store for Oshkosh and I know that we're about to see it blossom!!

Hope y'all have a great week. Much love.

Xo,

Sister Quist

Elder Robinson's (an elder in the zone) dad is tight and sent him a whole bunch of kettle corn from Water Gardens theater. I enjoyed having that little piece of home! Yum.

Unplanned service rocks my world. I was just pretty pleased to have this (although not much) to show for it! Lol.

Jumping pics at exchange point! Fun times in Wausau with Sis. King. It was weird not being in my area, but it was a really great experience. 

the little area above my desk. of course :)

Week 11 - Happy Belated Fourth!

What a fun 4th! Looks like a ton of people were there. That's awesome. I didn't realize how much i actually love 4th of July. We had a pretty fun day though as well. We went to the ward picnic on Lake Winneconne. So beautiful. It was hot, hot, hot! And just super muggy. It had a really great turn out though. We enjoyed playing ladderball and catch with the members and just visiting with them. Bro. Whiting's wife (non-member), came out, which was very exciting!! She's seriously one of the prettiest women I've ever met. We then went and tried to see some people, but no one was home :( We did get to see Sis. Moffitt, which is always a good time. Love that lady. That afternoon was a blast. We got together with a couple sets of missionaries and some members and had a BBQ/ s'mores/ volleyball. It was awesome. Felt like I was just hanging out with friends. Which was nice. Ended the evening by enjoying some fireworks on our drive home:)

happy fourth! basically the loves of my life.

winnebago ysa sisters sister lamprecht (super fresh. just out of the mtc this transfer), 

sister gifford, yours truly, and sister straight

Oh. And this past week we were on foot for 3 days. Haha. That was an adventure. You know how Sis. Straight hit a rock like a month ago? Yeah, so it finally went into the shop to get fixed and in the meantime we were left to walking. Dang. Talk about unproductive. I just felt like we got nothing done cause it took so long getting from place to place! It was okay though. Now I'm super skinny and tan. Just kidding. But it was nice to get some good exercise! Not envious of walking missionaries though #blessed

Other than that our week was pretty good! We've been working really hard to get new people to teach and it's honestly exhausting, but it's so worth it. We're not really sure what's up with Fonda. The whole situation is kind of sketchy. We were able to get another appointment in a member's home with her, we texted her the morning of and she said she had to cancel b/c she had to take her daughter to emergency room. Yikes. Of course we understood. But then on our way home that afternoon we were walking kind of by where her house is and we saw her all dressed up walking down the street with some guy...who is not the boyfriend we thought she had. Then we stopped by a couple days later and she came to the door in tears and told us her grandmother was passing that day, but told us to come back later that evening. We went, but she wasn't there. We've since texted her a couple times and no reply. So we're not totally sure what's up there...

We did go back and see Quincy. Oh Quincy. First of all it was awesome because we found out he's been reading every day since we last saw him. Yay! But he still refuses to make it to church. He just kept saying how hard it was to get going in the morning and how he never used to be a complainer, but now that he has MS everything is "just hard". I might have exploded if he said how hard his life was one more time during that lesson. I was getting so upset, but trying to be compassionate at the same time.  We have a member of our ward who has MS and has cancer and is going through chemo and she comes to church every single week. Life is hard, Quincy.  I mean, I get it, I can't imagine what he's going through. But this world is full of people who have hard things going on and he's letting his MS define who he is, when he should be looking at this trial as an opportunity to refine himself. But who am I to talk. (also, shout out to Amanda Garlock for teaching me about refining vs. defining ourselves-- I use that ALL the time). We have this really ugly piece of cardboard on our apartment wall, but I love what's written on it. It says, "It's good to know how to do hard things". I love that. Hard things test our faith and devotion to our Savior and Heavenly Father. Makes us better. 

We're just working our tails off here and praying and fasting to see the fruits of our labors. Hope that y'all have the best week! Much love.

Xo,

Sister Quist

Had to get a pic with this (go knights!)

Oh yeah. Sis. Straight was done being the driver so now I'm driving around. This is me filling out the miles report. 

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)