Week 32 - Happy Thanksgiving, Officer!

Hi family!!

Let's just start out by saying how blessed I feel to be serving a mission. Thanksgiving had me all sorts of grateful and really helped me step back and recognize how incredibly blessed I am. We had a lovely holiday complete with 3 (!!!) dinners. Needless to say we were absolutely stuffed!! The last house we went to was the Jepson's (an office couple). The Muskego sisters and West Allis elders joined us. Afterwards we all went to this kind of dumpy gas station and sang a song to the chashier guy. He was from Pakistan and said how he was really missing his family on the holiday and how we made his day brighter!! Just the simple acts of kindness really can make a huge difference. I felt super silly singing "Happy Thanksgiving to you"! (like happy birthday), but it didn't even matter when he told us how much it meant to him. So go out and serve somebody! :)

Thanksgiving night was when the real fun happened though. Boy, oh, boy. So back story: Our apartment smells like weed. No joke. There is no question that somebody is smoking marijuana nearby us. So our manager said if we want to do something about it then we just have to call the cops. Greattt. So Thanksgiving night I go to open the porch doors and BAM. The smell of weed hits me hard. So I'm like, okay Sister Osburn we have to call the police. (more back story: it was raining hard all day and earlier that day Sis O accidentally drops the phone in the gutter which is full of water...cool). So we call the number and it's ringing and our phone decides to stop working and shuts off completely. So we turn it on again and thankfully it works this time. So we give them our info and they tell us they will send someone over. But we are missionaries and we go to bed at 1030. So 1030 rolls around and we go to bed. Then an hour later we wake up to the phone ringing and it's the officer! We missed the call because we were, ummm, sleeping! She didn't have a way to get in the building so she told us to call back with more info. So we call back and give them more info and by this time it's 1215AM and we're basically dead at this point. But soon after we get a knock at our door and it's two officers from the Milwaukee Police Department. And after all of this they couldn't find the source of the marijuana. Surely a Thanksgiving to remember. 

In other news, KELLY AND BRENT GOT BAPTIZED! Last night was one for the books. There aren't even words to describe the feeling that I felt watching them enter into the waters of baptism. I'm so proud of them. Both of them have just grown so much and I'm so thankful for the light that they shine!! My hearts just bursts with JOY because of them. I'm so happy that I am staying here to see them progress even more. Speaking of staying here...

TRANSFERS! We just found out today about transfers and looks like I'm training...AGAIN!! I am looking forward to this new adventure, yet slightly more nervous than last time. I've been sharing Philippians 4:13 with people this week and I think that is the scripture that I am needing the most! 

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me".

Always remember that!! Anything is possible because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

Have a wonderful week, y'all!! Love you!

Sister Quist

A pre-Thanksgiving text from a member -- wonderful people taking care of our girl! 

Week 31 - First Snow and a Fantastic Mission Tour

Let’s see, this week was just - great!  So many things happened. Here are just some highlights!

Monday:

*Family Home Evening with the Munoz Family. That was fun. We talked about tithing! Jayson was so cute and brought out his “tithing cup” that he got from his primary class. I’m so glad they have been coming to church. They learn so much there!

*FHE round 2 with the Abshire’s. They made us dinner then we did a quick object lesson. Peter (6) is a sensitive little soul. But we taught all about strengthening the family…(thanks for the lesson, Mom).

Tuesday:

*Kelly and Orlando had a gender reveal party. There was so much excitement anticipation! They had ballon the color of the gender (boy - blue / girl - pink) in a box and the kids got to open it and PINK balloons came flying out! So fun!

*We also had a lesson with Jessica and the Muskego Sisters at a froyo place. Fun fact: Jessica has been in Utah/Idaho this past weekend! Visiting some of her friends at BYU and BYU-Idaho. She’s getting to see my homeland(s)!!! A little jealous, not gonna lie. :)

Wednesday:

*Sister Straight came for a sleepover!! That was fun and we just were back to our old selves - chattin’ it up together! But alas, no pics. :(

*Other than that, Wednesday was kind of a bust… all of our appointments fell through so that was rough.  But we did have a fun lunch together with the Muskego and Spanish Sisters at our apartment. A good reason to clean our apartment! :)

Thursday:

*Magical!! We had mission tour. Highlights include being the only sisters who go a one-on-one interview with Elder Schwitzer!! So cool.

*Seeing Sister Lambrecht.

*Sister Cutler’s cookies. Yum!

*THE WHOLE CONFERENCE! (I’ll share more on that another time!)

Friday:

*Geneology booth!

*Munoz Family

*package from Mama :)

Saturday/Sunday:

*Lunch at Chipotle courtesy of Brother Greenfield

*Surprise lunch at the Capps!

*FHE with the Smiths

*Another solid lesson with the Munoz Family. The spirit is so strong in their home. So, so excited for next Sunday!!

Many AMAZING things are happening!!

Keep it real and have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! 

Xo,

Sister Quist

Last p-day was super chill. Probably one of the funnest p-days I've had in a long while. Our district went to the park. We played volleyball and played on the playground. These people make me laugh so hard! Elder Andreasson, Elder Burgon, Elder Schoenfeld, Elder Mullen, Sister Peterson, Sister Wise, Sister Osburn, and yours truly 

Classic. Tried to be artsy, but it didn't quite turn out.

I love this girl!! Sister Peterson <3

 It's a girl!!

Just a bunch of Sisters at mission tour. From the MKE North, MKE South, and Madision zones! 

Oh hey ELDER WHIMPY!! Such a fun surprise at mission tour!!

Went the whole day without getting any pictures of the snow, then we were headed in that night and I was like, "WAIT! I HAVE to get a picture with the first snow"! So I forced Sister Osburn to come take pictures of me in the freezing cold. She's a champ.

Reunited with one of my fave at mission tour!! Love Sister Lamprecht.

Selfie with the Appleton crew! My old Zone Leader, Elder Mann, me, and Sister Lamprecht

The "Ladies who Lunch"

Every once in a while us, the Muskego Sisters, and the Spanish Sisters get together for some lunch. Super fun!! Obviously we had to get a pyramid pic :) Took like five billion tries, but we got it!

Week 30 - The Light of Christ

Howdy, howdy! So this week was pretty uneventful. But also pretty great. So we went to the Munoz' this past week and it was just Orlando and Kelly there. We went through the baptism interview questions and she was just glowing. There is no doubt in my mind that she is ready for baptism. It's been incredible to see a transformation take place in her. Going from being very doubtful about the gospel and baptism, to now beaming with the light of Christ. Her confidence in God and herself have grown and it's been such a privilege to see her growth in the gospel of Jesus Christ! This work is the greatest. 

We have mission tour on Thursday with Elder and Sister Schwitzer! I am super excited about that. Sorry, not much else to write about, but it should be a fabulous week!!

Feel free to drop me a line sometime :) Missin' you all. Say your prayers and choose the right!

Xo,

Sister Quist

Week 29 - "Reach Out With Love"

Wow! What a week it has been. Busy, busy. Some highlights include:

- We have a new investigator!! Fred! Fred always has Usher playing when we walk in his house. We set a bap date with Fred though!! Yay! December 13th. So that's cool. He is reading the BoM all the time and is in 2 Nephi. Now he just needs to come to church. Tina is a gem and comes with us to lessons. Her testimony is so powerful. You seriously would never think that she's only been a member for 7 months. Rockstar! 

- Went on exchanges with Sister Green on Friday. Oh how I love this Sister! She and I work really well together and always have a ton of fun. I'm sad that she is leaving us soon :( But I'm super happy that I got to spend all day with her down in Kenosha. We got a huge pie from this less active and some girl scout cookies from their investigator's mom. #score But anyways. Something that I'm learning is that I just talk way to much. Remember how at the beginning of my mission I felt like I couldn't talk? Yeah, well now it's like completely the opposite. I won't shut up! Something I love about Sister Green is that she is really great at letting the Spirit fill the silence. She is a woman of few words so it's neat to see how the Spirit can really testify even when there isn't much being said. 

- We had an AWESOME fireside with the youth last night. It was all about missionary work and how easy it is for everyone to be involved. It doesn't have to be handing out Book of Mormons. But it's as easy as being somebody's friend. 

We showed the youth this great Mormon Message at the fireside. I laugh so hard every time I watch it. Such a great message! https://www.lds.org/youth/video/reaching-out-through-love?lang=eng

- Also, we had another bomb lesson with our investigator, Jessica! We talked a lot about personal revelation and how she doesn't feel like she's getting an answer to her prayers. We decided that we were all going to fast together. She's had a rough time making it to church weekly, so we really wanted to see her there on Sunday. While we were in ward council she texted us asking us to save her a seat!! It was magical. Such an answer to prayers!! 

Also, found this great quote on a whiteboard yesterday at church: "We know we are successful if we live so that we qualify for, receive, and know how to follow the Spirit."

-Julie B. Beck

Well, keep reading your scriptures and saying your prayers. Hoping you all have a fantastic week. Love you!

Xo,

Sister Quist

Fred K. (a member) makes neon signs for people so we were in his workshop and I found this "m" so naturally I had to take a picture! 

I live here!! Proud to be a Wisconsinite :)

Exchanges with Sister Green in Kenosha! Probably one of my favorite exchanges ever. I'm gonna miss this girl when she goes home at the end of the transfer! :( Happy we got to spend some time together though!

all cuddled up with little teagan girl

Week 28 - Lord, I Will Follow Thee

Hey y'all! What the week it's been. So many miracles happening all around Wisconsin, but I'm so lucky to be serving here in West Allis! We are working with the most adorable less active Phillipino family. We had a GREAT FHE with them last Monday night, then dropped by again yesterday before Stake Conference. The dad even stuck around for a quick message. Win! The Munoz family is doing splendidly. We have barely seen Brittany this week because she is busy, busy with her school's musical. But we have been able to see Kelly and Brent and the rest of the family. Brent is honestly doing SO good. He is soaking it all in and really progressing. The Spanish Elders got him and Jayson one of those children's BoMs and they love it. Brent committed to read it 3 days a week and pray every morning and night. In his prayer he even promised Heavenly Father that he will do his best to stick to these commitments! What a champ. Kelly is definitely progressing as well. It's easy to see that the gospel is quickly becoming something she LOVES. After the adult session of stake conference we asked her how she liked it and she said with a big smile, "I LOVED it"!! We are SO stoked for the 29th of November. It will be an incredible day! Tonight we are going to the Cutler's with them for a Family Home Evening. The mission is really stressing the importance of FHE. Last night we were able to have a great FHE with Jaclyn (a recent convert), her LA husband, their two children, and her husband's two unbaptized kids. We were able to have the lesson in an active member family's home, which made all the difference. I think having FHE's in member's homes will truly help get the ward to become more missionary minded. 

Something that stuck out to me in the adult session of stake conference is that perfection isn't achievable (right now). That's something I think I needed to hear from the Spirit. I guess that maybe stuck out to me because I'm striving...or not even striving, but expecting perfection. And that's not fair. It's not fair to expect that of myself or of anyone else. But I'm realizing that with these expectations of perfection that I'm setting I am constantly falling short of them. So there's that. That is what is preventing me from loving others (and myself sometimes!). And, Mom, I'm grateful for your wise words of "just love"! Because that's truly what I need to work on. I just think of the Savior and His infinite love. I was prompted to read in John 13 and found verses 34-35 as an answer to my prayers. "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another". More than anything, my this time serving a mission has ignited my desire to become a more faithful disciple of Christ. As I was reading those scriptures the song, "Lord I would follow thee" came into my head. "...who am I to judge another, when I walk imperfectly". Talk about a slap to the face! I am made up of so many faults and weaknesses, so who am I to point out the weaknesses of others? So there is my lesson of the week. Sometimes the truth hurts! But it's good for me, right?? 

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! CTR.

Xo,

Sister Quist

 guess which one is mine?? :) #hpfanforlife

 "CHEESE"

 Crafting/ doing service at the Capps on Halloween!

best service ever!

Week 27 - #blessed

Hello world! This week has been pretty normal. Other than Brittany was confirmed yesterday and is officially a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!! Wahoo! It was such a sweet and spirit-filled day. Our ward had their primary program yesterday as well and I just decided that I'm going to be the proudest parent when I have kids. I couldn't wipe away my grin when Jayson (7) and Brent (11) Munoz were up there singing and doing their parts. It was especially awesome because Brent just totally stepped up to the plate and took on the parts of kids who weren't there. What a rockstar. If you can't tell, I just love that family tons. 

I'm just kind of skipping around the week, but here are some highlights throughout:

On Friday we had a blast making applesauce with Sister Capps (a member). (We received a wonderful message on our phone that evening from Sister Capps telling us how much she loves and appreciates Maren.  Made us a little teary, but definitely made our day!) I came out of there sticky as heck, but man alive did we make some good applesauce! Nothing beats homemade.

Friday morning we were running late and I was backing out of the parking spot and my companion was in my blind spot and I'll be honest I wasn't really paying a ton of attention to what I was doing, but to be short I totally backed into another car. Yep. I was trying SO HARD to avoid any car issues on my mission. Whoops! Luckily there was no damage. #blessed

We had a really awesome lesson with our investigator, Jessica, on Saturday morning. Jessica is great and so prepared! She just needs to make more time for the Book of Mormon and CHURCH. But anyways. We decided that it would be good to read a chapter of the BoM with her to make sure she's understanding it and getting it. So we just picked up on where she was...which was 1 Nephi 15. And how perfect was this chapter!! While we were reading verse 27 really stuck out to me. I was like, "This is for Jessica"! And it was crazy cause after we were done reading we asked her what she liked, what she understood, what stuck out? And she totally said verse 27!! She just explained how her mind has been "swallowed up in other things". And I was just thinking how often times our minds are so swallowed up in the things of the world. It's nice as a missionary I feel like I just have one purpose to think about, but as a regular human being there are a million things going on! Life is crazy and that's just a fact, but how important it is to make sure that our minds don't get caught up in the "filthiness" of the world. There is a lot of evil out there and it's so easy to slip into bad habits or become consumed with things that don't matter. It's just awesome that we have the gospel to help our thoughts, words, and actions stay on course with our Heavenly Father's plan!! 

Thanks for the love and prayers. Snail mail is always welcome :) Keep up the Lord's work wherever you are. Love you all!

Xo,

Sister Quist

 Helllooooo Milwaukee! From our downtown excursion last Monday :) So pretty.

Goodbye Barley's :( Sad day to say goodbye to one of my favorite senior office couples today! I love these two so much. We all sang "God be with you 'til we meet again" as they walked into the office this morning and I'm not a crier, but I could NOT hold the tears in. These two just mean so much to me and I'm grateful for all they have done.

Week 26 - birthday baptism!

Monday: What a beautiful evening. We went over to the Munoz' and Orlando was ordained to the office of Priest. I could tell that this meant so much to him. The spirit was so strong as Bishop Hayes ordained him. How cool is it that now he could baptize his family?! He was seriously glowing with the spirit.

Highlights throughout the week:

Stopped by the Abshires (part member family) and caught her home with a sick Peter. So happy to see her since we haven't really heard from her in a couple weeks. We have been kind of confused as to why she isn't active so I just decided to be a little bold with her and read Moroni 6:4-6.  She expressed to us some feelings about her husband and the church and why she hasn't been coming to church weekly. It's interesting though because she knows that she needs to be there. She even said how if something is important to you then you will make it a priority. TRUTH. It's that simple and there is no getting around it!

On Thursday we met Brittany at the church for her baptismal interview. Afterwards she and Orlando tried on the jumpsuits and while they were doing that, in walks the Muskego Sisters (Sis Wise and Sis Peterson) with our shared investigator, Jessica! So after the Munoz' left we went and joined in on the lesson with Jessica. It was such a powerful lesson. I love teaching with Sister Wise. But anyways. Sister Wise just kind of looked at me and said "take it away"...okay, thanks for passing the baton Sister! I had no idea what to talk about. But I noticed Sister Wise's necklace was the YW medallion and it reminded me of YW in Excellence that we went to the night before. So I just started talking about how incredible it is that this gospel teaches young women (and young men) that they are all divine children of God. How a lot of kids these days don't really know who they are or where they belong. But in this gospel we know from the time we are in Nursery that we are all sons and daughters of a King! It's so wonderful to know that our Father in Heaven loves and cares so much that He provided a plan for us to return to Him.

On Friday all our appointments cancelled so that was a bummer, but we stopped by the Rein's (LA family). And it's always just a little awkward when you walk up to someone's house and they are sitting in their car. But anyways, it worked out cause she got out and talked to us for 45 minutes while her daughter, Kaley (shout out to Mom!), was sleeping. Sister Rein is so solid. She is a convert. Investigated the church for 4 years. And her husband, Brother Rein is a RM. So basically they are so cool, but are completely not active. We are thinking because of their profession. But we are not sure...we are seeing her tomorrow though so that's happy!

And of course, last night was Brittany's baptism!! It was absolutely wonderful to see her enter into this covenant with our Heavenly Father. And to see her father baptizing her. SO GREAT. Nothing better :) Brittany has made some major changes and it's so cool to be able to see that this gospel is not only changing her behavior, but changing her nature. The gospel of Jesus Christ changes hearts, people! The church is true and I'm so happy that Brittany is now a part of it (officially). Her family is following behind her and is headed toward the temple!! Happy days. 

Well. Lots of love! I hope you are all being little missionaries where ever you are.

Xo, Sister Quist

Quist family birthday poster…love it!!! :) 

 

 love the gift from lil' sis… thanks natalie! :)

the sisters in the district with sister smith (the senior couple) love them!

 the streets of west allis

Downtown Milwaukee for some Chinese on p-day