Week 75 - "If you want a beautiful life, let beautiful people in"

NI ZHONG! Channeling my inner Hmong person to say "hello"! (Must be the fact that we are having to switch apartments this week where the Hmong Elders were living.) This week has flown, but what else is new? Another transfer has come and gone and I'm sad that Sister Carlini is gonna be leaving me, but SO STOKED to get Sister Hansen! It's going to be such a rad 6 weeks with her. Sorry, but this is going to be a lot of bullet points. My mind is all over the place today! 

• Went hiking on p-day with the Hermanas and the zone leaders. One of the Hnas got hurt so we had to hike by ourselves back to the car and got lost for a little bit. Kind of felt like a story that would be told in conference. But we made it. No worries. 
• Had exchanges with the Hermanas and I went to GB Spanish with Hna. Brian! Ahh, I adore her. We had a blast and tracted our hearts out. She's such a hard worker! Also, apparently in Kenosha/Racine (her last area) Dawn Armstrong, the missionary mom from Meet the Mormons, came and spoke at their youth conference and a quote Hna. Brian told me she said was, "If you want a beautiful life, let beautiful people in". I just really like that.
• Some girl danced on our car while we were stopped at a stop sign
• Met with Cayla a couple times this week. She didn't end up coming to church, but after we talked to her. I can kind of understand, it's still frustrating. But she and Nick came to the Vanderheyden's for dinner last night and it was wonderful.
• After dinner at the Bishop's home, we saw Sister Mangum and her daughter finishing up their afternoon walk and stopped our car to talk to them! Then their neighbor called out to us and we all started talking to him. Then Sister Mangum invites him to hear the missionary lessons. WHAT. Way to go, Sister Mangum!! I was so happy to talk to Gary and tell him more about the church, but maybe even more excited that Sister Mangum was so bold in being a missionary!! She's a rockstar. We ended up giving him a BoM and he said we could come back over. So, yay! Then Sister Mangum texted us saying that he used to play for the Packers. So that's pretty cool, I guess :)
• GENERAL WOMEN'S BROADCAST. Oh it was the best, wasn't it? I loved all the talks given. There is just such a special spirit that comes during this General Conference season! I loved hearing from all of our leaders, but I really loved Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson's address. She was so bold. It was fantastic. 
• SUNDAY. Was the best day. We had church. Then we saw Ashley and she fed us, well, me, pizza! Then we went to see Victoria and her family. We're so sad Emma has to move. She's had a really rough life and she's only like 11. Breaks my heart, but we hopefully helped her to feel that God knows her and loves her so so much! She really wants sisters to teach her wherever she ends up, so we'll have to figure that out when the time comes. Then we went to see Cayla cause she skipped out on church. She's had a tough week and is struggling with some things. It was good that we stopped by though. Cause at first she wasn't going to come to the Vanderheyden's for dinner, but at the end Nick came in and they decided they wanted to come. YAY! So we stopped by this LA couple's house and set something up with them. Then we went to the Vanderheyden's for dinner and it was the best. Them + the Elders + The Mills' family + Benson + Jena & Jake = dream team. It was basically all my favorite GB people in one room! Then we went to Hmong class at the Dodson's and I learned all sorts of Hmong phrases from Grandma Ying Moua and it was the best. She told Elder Davis that my Hmong was super awesome hahaha so basically I should have been called to speak Hmong. 
• Elder Platero ate a bee

But I just love all these people in Green Bay so much and I'm really grateful to be here. Grateful to be a missionary and so grateful to be learning so much about my Savior! He lives! And loves us so much. I hope you are all excited about General Conference this weekend. My heart is just so ready to hear the inspired words of our cute Prophet and other general authorities!

Have a wonderful week, everyone! I LOVE YOU. CTR. 

Xo,

Sister Quist

Best Sunday night ever at the Vanderheyden's with the Mills family, Cayla & Nick, the Elders, and Jena & Jake, and Benson! 

 That gap though haha, such a fun district! 

Hna. Brian, Hna. Martinez, Me, Sister Carlini, E Bartholomew, E Davis, E Ipson, E Bastian

 Really putting Elder Uchtdorf's message into action! ;) Just keep knocking!

 I love this beautiful place! Even though, it's beginning to be tights weather! 

 I love Benson! He was baptized earlier this month! 

Such gem.

b/c the packers won 

 Me & Junior 

Some pics with Selena! She and her mom were baptized in March after the elders tracted into them!

throwback to MLC in August!

Week 74 - "move forward in faith"

Another week come and gone here in beautiful Wisconsin! How I love it here. Recently we have been seeing a lot of cool miracles. Who am I kidding, every week we see a lot of cool miracles! But along with the miracles have come some really challenging situations. We've been meeting a lot of people who are just so close, yet so far! Good Christian people who have a strong belief in Christ, but are just wanting to bash us and try to convert us. We had a lesson with M & M and at the end of our meeting they kept expressing how they will pray that we are able to find the truth. Helloooo, we've already found it. Then they pulled out this book on converting Mormons. LOL. And then I see there is a chapter specifically on how to convert Mormon missionaries! I was appalled. Seriously, who would write a book like that? Mostly, it just made me really sad to see them reject the real truth. The Plan of Salvation gives me so much hope, knowing that this life isn't all we have to learn about the gospel, but that we will continue to learn and teach others who didn't accept the gospel in this life. 

RICHARD! He didn't come to church, again. Ugh! But we did set a baptism date with him! Woohoo! October 14th is the date. He's kind of in a sticky situation with moving and everything, but we know that he needs this gospel now more than ever!! He's been reading the BoM every day and is just so willing to experiment upon the word of God! It's great. He has some very sincere desires. We're excited to start teaching his son, as well. It's just hard getting their schedules to line up. 

Had exchanges with the Manitowoc sisters this week. I was able to be with Sister Hall for the day and it was wonderful!! First of all the weather was the bomb. Second of all, we just worked really hard. There is nothing more satisfying than a full purpose day. Sister Hall is so cute. We had a lot of fun. 

Met with Shawna and Rilee and the Moore's a couple times this week. The ward boundary change is really taking a toll on them. They're pretty upset about it and being really stubborn! We just love them and want them to be able to keep progressing. So we just have to have faith that whatever happens, God will take care of them. 

Met with a cute former investigator, Crystal. She's DARLING. She's a single mom of a super cute baby. She's very involved in her own church and is a very firm believer in Christ. Unfortunately, this lesson also turned out like the one with M & M :( She just can't accept the Book of Mormon as true scripture. I'll tell you, people are very quick to say that the BoM isn't true, but are SO unwilling to crack it open and read it! The spirit only testifies of truth, and I know that if you read and pray about the BoM then you will be able to receive a confirmation from the Holy Ghost and know that it is the word of God. 

Friday was Zone Conference! What a boost to my soul. Not only did I get to see some of my faves, but leaving the conference I just felt spiritually full! I have been struggling with some things this past transfer and I left that day feeling completely void of all negativity. It was wonderful and I'm just so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Because that's how we are able to overcome our individual trials. I know that if we rely solely upon ourselves we will get nowhere, but if we rely on Christ we can get anywhere! :)

We have also met with Cayla a few times this week! She's doing SO GOOD. Please pray for her, cause the adversary is working hard on her. But she's a tough cookie. She told us that no matter what she is going to come to church every week. If not for herself, for her kids. And that's what she did! Came again for all 3 hours and loved every minute of it. The ward just adores her. Sunday night we went to dinner with her and Nick at the Grant's and it was perfect. Their stories are strangely similar. It was so good for C & N to see that members of the church are flawed and imperfect, but can live the gospel fully and happily! 

In Relief Society on Sunday I sat by Cayla and we're singing the opening hymn and after we get done it's quiet, cause everyone is waiting for the prayer and Cayla just blurts out, "YOU SING LIKE A DISNEY PRINCESS". Haha, it was really funny. She's so darling. 

God is so good, folks. There are so many things each day that try to shake our faith, but as we actively choose to do the things God has asked us to do our faith will be strengthened!! :) 

I love you all TONS. CTR and be kind to people. 

Xo,

Sister Quist

So fun seeing these cute sisters!

Sister Carlini, me, Sister Naughton, Sister Christenson, Sister Peterson, and Sister Stosich

I love President and Sister Williams!

How would you like to have Lambeau Field in your backyard?

Week 73 - this is gonna be a long one!

HELLO! What a week it's been. Lots of great things going on here.

Wednesday! We had our return appointment with Richard! We found him street contacting and didn't even teach him anything, but he just asked if we could come over and talk to him more later that week. So Wednesday we went back and he told us that in 2004 he had met missionaries and said that at that time he wasn't ready to learn about or accept the gospel message, but he feels like now God has led him to the gospel again and is giving him another chance to accept it. WHAT. He's so cool and just so prepared. We saw him Friday, too, but I'll write about that in a minute. A few weeks ago we went to dinner at this less active/part member family's home and we asked them if we could come back and teach them more of the lessons and they said yes! So Wednesday night we went back and it was only Kelsey (the non-member), but HEY! She fed us dinner. Sausage, french fries, and broccoli. An odd combo, but in her own words, "the ultimate bachelorette meal". Haha, she's too funny. We then helped her to paint some built in cabinets that she's making. She's kind of a boss. They're out of town this week, but we're so excited to keep building a relationship with them and to hopefully see them progress! :) 

Thursday! Thursday was great. We saw CAYLA! Ahh, my heart. She's the best. Last week in our lessons she just kept emphasizing how she really felt a need to go to church that Sunday. We told her that she needed to act on that prompting and she was super excited to come, but didn't end up coming. So when we went on Thursday she said, "I regret it so bad!! I'm going for all three hours this Sunday to make up for it!!" I believe the Lord was preparing her to come this Sunday cause the lessons given were PERFECT for her. But anyway, our lesson was really great. We read the scriptures with her and I don't know why sometimes I think I underestimate the power of the Book of Mormon, but it was fantastic and we helped her to see that if she's going to do this that it's going to have to be a family thing. That's why we do what we do in the gospel. So we can have eternal families! That night we had a super bomb Restoration lesson with a LA lady and her daughter. Sister S testified of the importance of church and shared all sorts of experiences from her mission and we committed them to come to church on Sunday and they didn't come. So that was a bummer. 

Friday! Friday was busy, busy! We had back to back appointments all day and we were just living that missionary dream. We saw Richard again and brought Sister Mangum. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation and his mind was blown! He had so many questions that we addressed and answered during the lesson. The spirit was such a powerful witness that these things are true. He said the closing prayer and got kind of emotional. Which I did not expect, but he was very excited to come to church and bring his 11 year old son, too!! We saw Cayla again and I'll tell you, God is truly mindful of us because we were so busy that we didn't have to time to have lunch so by the time we got to Cayla's we were starving! So we get there and she opens the door. The first thing she says is, "Hey! I just made homemade meatloaf, do you want some??" BLESSED. Haha, so we proceeded to have the best meatloaf ever and then had a great lesson with her. She knows this is true. She knows that she's happiest when she's living the gospel. She was asking us why it's getting harder to be obedient and we told her it's because November 6th in getting closer and the adversary does not want her to join God's team! So she's making lots of progress and is just really excited to be baptized.

We had an appointment set up with Victoria and her fam and tried numerous times to contact her to confirm, but nothing. So we weren't sure if she was going to be there or not. To preface this, I have a confession to make. I might possibly be addicted to cheese curds... I haven't had any since coming to GB, but that's mostly cause my companion is gluten and dairy intolerant. So I caved into temptation and headed straight to A&W cause their cheese curds are pretty decent. And that must have been divine inspiration because on our way out who pulls up to the gas station right next to us? Victoria! So we were able to confirm our appointment and it was such a tender mercy! So that day I learned that sometimes the Lord speaks through cheese curd cravings :)

why get a picture of your name-tag on the beach when you could get a pic of it on some cheese curds?

Saturday! So in our ward there are a lot of Hmong members and the Moua's invited all the missionaries over for a "celebration" of some sort. I don't know Hmong, but I do know that I ate some dang good egg-rolls and some sketchy tapioca pudding drink. Then we went back to Jessica's to teach her the Plan of Salvation with Sister Taylor! Remember how I said she was an odd one? Well, let's just say she went a little crazy on us. It was an interesting meeting, that's for sure. Then we drove a million miles out to De Pere to go to a church service with M & M! They're the cutest and they were kind of shocked we came, but also really excited to see us. They said they had been "researching" the church more and have lots of questions. I sure hope by "researching" they meant, "reading the Book of Mormon"... we'll see when we go over there this week, I guess! Then the GB2 English and Hmong elders had a baptism so we went there and I gave a spur of the moment Restoration lesson while everyone was getting dried off and changed. I love how excited Bishop Willmott is about missionary work. He has set the ward goal high and we are going to for sure reach it and hopefully exceed it!!

Sunday! Our day began at 7 am for our missionary correlation meeting. Then church, Nick and Cayla (together!!), boundary change meeting, dinner at the Willmott's, Mariah and Daylin, and then home! Like I said, Cayla and Nick were both there for our lesson. Holla! Nick has kind of been hot and cold and so we just had to ask him straight up if he wants to meet and he said yes. There were three witnesses!! Plus all three members of the Godhead, so that makes six. SIX witnesses and so we're just really pleased about his desire to work towards and eternal family :)

Yesterday there was a young man from our ward who gave his farewell talk and at the end of the meeting we all sang "Called to Serve." I was just sitting there and the second verse just really caught my attention this time.

"Called to know the richness of his blessing-- 

Sons and daughters, children of a King--

Glad of heart, his holy name confessing,

Praises unto him we bring".

As I have served Him for the past however many months it's been, I have truly come to know the richness that the gospel blessings bring. It's incredible the amount of joy that has come into my life while serving as a full time missionary!! I have many mixed emotions about the coming months ahead, but I know that when my calling as a full time missionary ends, I will still be "called to serve!" Because the invitation to invite all to come unto Him is an invitation that extends beyond these 18 months into the eternities. Seriously. We'll still be preachin' the gospel in the Spirit World! 

I love you lots and kudos to you if you made it to the end of this uber long email! CTR and have a super rad week! 

XO,

Sister Quist

the Hmong celebration that we went to! still not really sure what we celebrated...

I promise. We do other things than eat. haha!

 the view from our ford fusion

Week 72 - Packer Pride and Sushi

As I look out the library window it's completely sunny and down-pouring. Happy September, Wisconsin! There have been so many cool things that have happened this week! And let me just say that God is SO good. I just know without a doubt in my mind that this gospel is true. It's incredible how Heavenly Father leads you to certain people. This past week we had a very powerful experience with prayer. All of our appointments on Saturday cancelled, so we had a lot of time to go contact less actives, find new investigators, and preach the word. We decided to go this less active/part member family's home. We had never met her and so we navigated our way through the crazy football game traffic and made it to her apartment complex. We had her complex address, but the problem was we didn't have her actual apartment number. Great. So we both decided that the only thing we could do was to pray. So we each said a prayer and walked past each door in the complex. When we got through all of them, we both felt that the last door we got to was the one we needed to try. We knocked, and a woman answered the door saying, "hey guys...". YEAH. It was Katrina! We were so amazed and even more so that after a few minutes of chatting on her doorstep she let us in and we had a super great discussion. She started out very hard-hearted, but as the conversation continued you could physically see her countenance softening. The spirit works wonders, my friends. 

Yesterday we had a return appointment with this young mother, Jessica. Our first encounter with her was super cool and so we were excited to go back. Except both of us were dumb and forgot to write her address down. Cool. I'm still getting used to GB and where everything is and Sister C just doesn't have a good memory haha so we were a little concerned about how we were going to get to the lesson! With only knowing what semi-direction her house was in we said some prayers and headed that way hoping and praying we'd be able to find it. And I'll tell you, those prayers must have gone straight to heaven cause next thing you know we're pulling up to her house. The lesson was great. It was a little odd, but the spirit was definitely there, testifying of the truthfulness of this message! She even accepted a baptism invite! She has so many experiences that align right with the teachings of the restored gospel, it's kind of hard to believe, but I know that God is preparing all sorts of people to help build up His kingdom here on earth. Who am I to say who is prepared and who is not?

There are soooo many things that I am grateful that I've learned on my mission. Especially recently, I'm grateful that I am learning how to receive and act on the promptings of the spirit. Even if nothing miraculous happens, I have never regretted doing what Heavenly Father wants me to do...no matter how illogical it seems. I know that I can't see the big picture all of the time, but He can. I pray that I can always be like Alma in Alma 8:18 and "speedily" act on the revelation I receive. As we trust and heed the revelation He gives to us we will have the surety that it will all work out!! :)

In other news:

- We made sushi with Sara and somehow we got talking about chocolate and she said, "If you tell me you don't like chocolate either you're lying or you're a psychopath". AMEN.
- Had a bomb lesson with the cutest couple, M & M. They're darling and so faithful!
- The youth here are AMAZING and I love them so much.
- MLC was the greatest. So optimistic and uplifting!

- The Cooks fed us last night AND sent us home with lots of groceries! #blessed

- Rilee is doing SO good and we're so excited for her to be baptized this SATURDAY! Please pray that her dad's heart will be softened! She is so excited to go to the temple and lovvvvvess reading the Book of Mormon! It's the best!

I love you all mucho, mucho! Keep doing your thing and being good humans! CTR and pray... cause it works!

Xo,

Sister Quist

football season has begun! time to get my packer pride on 🏈

shout out to Jess for surprising me once again at church today!! so fun to spend the sabbath with this cute girl!

making sushi with sara! a cute single return missionary girl in our ward! :)

at Jena's (a recent convert) b-day bash

Week 71 - the week of mosquitoes

Hello, hello! This week has been awesome! Each week just keeps going by faster and faster...not quite sure how I feel about that. Monday all of our appointments cancelled so we tried to contact this less active woman the relief society president asked us to visit and we met Jimmy! What a cool guy! All tatted up with gages and everything. He was very open minded and after a great 45 minute conversation with him he said that he wanted us to come back and teach him and his family! The coolest thing ever is being able to feel the spirit touch someone's heart and be softened. Their body language changes, the words they use change, and even their countenance changes. The spirit really is able to work wonders within us as we allow it to. 

Tuesday we saw a former investigator, Tammy. She's a gem! Let us right in and tried to feed us fajitas. She and her kids were home and so we talked to her about all sorts of gospel things, but mostly about the family and how sacred and important it is. We left her with a family proclamation and committed her to come to church, too. She said she would. But spoiler, on Sunday morning we called her to confirm that she was coming, but she said her husband got sick and so she had to stay home to take care of her kids. Darn it. Hopefully she'll come this week. 

We saw S & R again this week and taught them about the Word of Wisdom. Such a great lesson. They both committed to follow the WoW! I know that as they follow this commandment that they will be more receptive to the promptings of the spirit! R was a little sad that she couldn't drink her Starbucks any more, but we gave her a list of non-coffee things she could get there and that made her feel better :) We also saw Cayla and I met Nick, her husband. He's a funny guy. He kind of comes off like he doesn't like us there, but once he gets into the lesson we can tell he really enjoys having us over. We read out of the Book of Mormon with them and the spirit was just so strong testifying to them both that they are missing something big when they don't come to church. Nick works 3rd shift so he decided to sleep rather than come to church, but Cayla brought her daughter and came. She loves coming! And everyone loves her there so she has a lot of great fellowship. Which I am so grateful for, cause you will not believe how much of a difference that can make in someone's conversion. 

We also went to this way too good chocolate place my Lambeau Field and got these chocolate bars with POP ROCKS in them. That place is dangerous. Then we headed to dinner with a part member/less active family. They were super nice and Brother P has a nephew serving a mission right now. They lean more toward the atheist side, but they did say that we could come back and "practice" the missionary lessons with them. They're not opposed to learning more though, so that is a huge blessing. 

On Wednesday we had THEEEEE most awkward law of chastity lesson with a returning less active/recent convert family. Seriously. I usually love teaching the LoC, but this time was painful. Not because of us (I hope) because the spirit was definitely testifying through us, but they were just super awkward. It's okay. Cause the church is still true haha. We also had a great lesson with LILLY! I love her oh so much, but man, we got eaten by mosquitoes! I would have put on bug spray if I would have known we'd be sitting outside for an hour! My legs seriously still itch. But hey, you know I love you when I sit outside and subject myself to the zika virus for you. ;) 

Thursday the Marquette sisters came and we blitzed the area with them. SISTER GARNER came and we were reunited! It was glorious and SO MUCH FUN to spend the day with her! We saw a less active/part member family and had a pretty good lesson with them and just got to know them. We then headed out to DePere to see a cute young mom in the ward. She has two super cute, sassy girls. Her husband is less active so we're trying to start the lessons with them. Then we went to TACO BELL for old time's sake. We had to. Just reminisced about our days in West Allis and it was just the best. We also saw one of my faves here in GB, Katie! Her boyfriend isn't a member and she's starting to come back to church more so we're just starting to visit them more. I'm just super excited for him to start learning more about the gospel. We ended the night with pizza with the Hermanas! It's so fun to be near old friends! I love Hna Martinez and Hna Brian! They're gems. 

Friday was MISSION TOUR! It was just what my spirit needed!! So many wonderful things were spoken! Some by those who spoke, and others by the spirit. Elders Ringwood and Cordon came and it was such a neat experience to have them there. We were able to have a Q & A session with them and Elder Cordon said, "Just say "yes" and the Lord will give you the strength to do it". I know that there have been countless times when I'm asked to accept a calling or given an assignment that I feel I'm incapable of doing, but I know without a doubt that the Lord truly will qualify us as we "just say yes" and try our very best. It shows obedience and trust in the Lord, and because of that He will strengthen us. Elder Cordon also reminded us that obedience is the first law of heaven and shared the account in John 9 of the blind man being healed. We know that Christ could have healed the man, but he wouldn't have learned the valuable lesson that would heal him for a lifetime - obedience!  Also remember last mission tour how I got to have an interview with Elder Shwitzer? Well, I was able to be interviewed by Elder Ringwood! It was so neat and such a humbling experience. He had a lot of great counsel to give and the spirit witnessed to me that he was definitely a man called of God. Plus, mission tour was great to see some of my favorite sista friends I've made out here! 

Saturday was busy, busy! But I'm kind of out of time right now, so I'll just leave it at that :) We'll just sum it up by saying FOCUS ON THE ROOTS. Met with Luke and tried to help him understand that we must focus on the roots (Christ, the Book of Mormon, etc...) before the leaves of the tree (outer darkness, the temple) even matter! As our roots deepen, our capacity to understand the other parts of the gospel will increase. 

Sunday I gave a talk! Cayla and R & S came to church! The Vanderheyden's had us over for dinner again 👌. We went to the Mills' home for Book of Mormon club and I just wish I could express how much I love the Book of Mormon. I have learned so much from the inspired words it contains! 

I love you all so much!! You are such lights and examples to me! 

Have a wonderful week. CTR. 

Xo,

Sister Quist

people really love their packers here. i'm only a little scared for football season #gopackgo 

me and sister osburn at mission tour! 

me and sister peterson!

me and my baby child! so fun to go on exchanges with sister garner and then get to hang out at mission tour!

with sister killian!

 me and sister carlini

 POP ROCKS CHOCOLATE BAR blew my mind

at the Vanderheyden's

a little p-day fun! 

Week 70 - land of the packers, home of the dairy

I'm coming at you live from Green Bay, Wisconsin. What a great week it's been! Monday and Tuesday were crazy busy full of goodbyes and appointments. It was crazy, but so fun/sad because I had to say bye to some of my faves). We had FHE and did a "Sacred Grove" activity at a park. It was a neat concept, but the mosquitoes didn't help with the execution. But we all went to get chessecurds after because they're the best.  

Tuesday we met with Monique, Will, Nyreesha, Maria, Cherie, Nicole, and had BoM class. Such a solid day. Then I finished packing and Wednesday we headed to transfer point in Oshkosh. I took the fun bus up to GB and then Sister Carlini and I were off! She and I came out together, so we have known each other since the beginning! It's been fun! :) And holy smokes I LOVE GREEN BAY. Wednesday evening we set a baptism date with S and her daughter, R! Ahh, they are so cute. S grew up a member, but was excommunicated a while ago. She has since found the church though and wants to be re-baptized! Her daughter is 12 and is so darling. We're so excited for them to be baptized together on September 10th! They've come to church for the past monthish or so, so we're pretty stoked!! :) 

Thursday was jam packed! We saw the Moore family and read scriptures with them. They are doing so good and are working towards the temple! We went to contact a referral and met a cool guy, CJ, from Jamaica! He's very humble and ready to start rebuilding his relationship with God! We drove out to Denmark (no, we didn't go to Europe) to see some recent converts, Mariah and Daylin. Mariah is such a sweetheart and Daylin is such a punk kid haha, but we were able to get them all involved...which was a win! We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and Mariah just had the sweetest answers. She is so tender. There is just so much power in a child's testimony. No wonder Christ asks us to become as a little child! We had dinner at the Cooks who are wonderful and crazy! Haha, Sister Cook is from Texas and is the sassiest human. We love her and her fam so much! We also saw our investigator, Luke, who is possibly moving this weekend, so that stinks. But our lesson was good. Although it began by talking about outer darkness, we brought it around haha. He's a very sincere guy. And he's a YSA! So that's pretty cool. He and his friend, Cory, came to sports night on Saturday so that was great for them to meet more members. 

Friday had a lesson with a recent convert, Lori. She's my fave!! Talk about prepared. She is preparing to go to the temple soon and so we're helping her with that. She was so cute on Sunday. She had this necklace on and it was like a chain with a little silver bar. I told her I liked it and she was like, "It's my straight and narrow necklace"! Haha, YES! She's the only member of her family, but she said that her daughter would be okay with us talking to her soon! Her husband is coming around...he gave us some fresh veggies during the lesson and Sister C said that was a big step. So we'll take it! Veggies now, baptism later! ;) We went back out to Denmark to see Dawn and Brian and their family. They are a part member family who are sooo cool! They said that this year is their "rebuild year" and this gospel fits in with that perfectly. They have an 11 year old and a 7 year old. Both boys. They all came to a family history activity the week before I came then stayed for the adult session of stake conf! We're pretty excited to see them progress. I know this gospel unites families and strengthens them! We also went to the Pyper's for dinner and I love that family so much! They entertained us with riddles and mission stories and great food. It was lovely!

Saturday began RAINY and early! We headed to the church for a ward activity. The BACON RUN. Basically a little one mile fun run and after we ate bacon and fruit! It was a blast! We all got soaked, but it was worth it. Plus, it was so fun to get to know more members! :) We saw a recent convert in the rain...so he let us borrow his Badgers and Packers ponchos! Haha, we looked ridiculous, but hey, we were dry! 

Stopped by really quick to meet our investigator, Cayla. Basically she knows this church is true...she's just having a tough time giving up Satan's drink of choice... coffee. Apparently she was doing really well until a couple weeks ago and she's kind of backed off :( We're not super sure why but we are seeing her tomorrow so hopefully we (+ the Spirit, obviously) will be able to help her overcome any reservations she has. We also had SPORTS NIGHT. And Luke and Cory came. Plus I got to see Karlene and Malia from the YSA!! :) Totally made my day! We played some really fun games and it was so good for Luke and Cory to meet some members and get to know them!

Yesterday was a great Sabbath day!! We had church and S and R came!! :) And then we went to the Vanderheyden's for dinner and it was the best dinner ever. Bro. V made these like all natural cookies with blueberries in them and they were actually the most delicious thing of my life. 

Okay well now I'm done writing this novel. Man, just so many good things happening here!! I love Green Bay! I love my Savior! I love my family and my companion and just being a missionary is the bomb. Hope you all have a super rad week! CTR. LOVE YOU!

Xo,

Sister Quist

🐄🧀🏈

Saying goodbye to this cute girl! Monique is a gem and is such a wonderful example to me of Christlike service and love! I <3 her!

 Aviana came to a lesson with us and we took a pic!

 home of the dairy

 land of the Packers

Week 69 - Teaching the Midwest the Ways of Fry Sauce and Leaving Winnebago

Hi All!

Got the news today that I'm being transferred to the home of the Packers. GREEN BAY! And I couldn't be more excited. Of course, I'm super sad to leave some of my faves here in Winnebago, though. These past four transfers have been some of the best. I have learned quite a bit about myself and about my Savior. First of all, we are who we are and where we are for a reason! Heavenly Father has created us and placed us in certain areas to touch the lives of our friends, coworkers, and neighbors. Sometimes we think we have to conform to a certain image in order to bring the spirit or teach the gospel, but in reality the spirit can more easily testify through us as we are ourselves.  

Also, I've definitely learned that our faith is either growing stronger or becoming weaker. There is no stagnancy. It's sooooo essential to our progression and overall happiness to be consistent in our gospel living than to binge on scripture study or prayer or anything like that once a week. I've seen that even if it's the smallest righteous action it strengthens us sometimes even more than the big acts, as long as it's constant. Had a lovely lesson with Sam last night. We roasted marshmallows and I even found a couple starbursts! That brought me back to my girl's camp days. We talked a lot about doing the small a simple things. Again, goes back to consistency.

Elder Holland said, "With the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can escape the consequences of sin and stupidity". YES. Young single adults are sinful and stupid. I am one of them. It's just the nature of the age group (but not limited to as we all are affected), but the Atonement is real. It frees us from our sorrows and pain. It strengthens us in our shortcomings and weaknesses. So thankful for Christ and his willingness to take upon Himself the heartaches of the world. Grateful that we don't have to struggle alone because He knows exactly how to help us! 

This week has been lovely. We had our zone training meeting, exchanges with the Appleton sisters, lots of cool people coming out of the woodwork, and Nicole came to church! Exchanges were soooo fun cause I was able to go to Appleton with SISTER WISE! She's still as fabulous as ever. We saw their investigator, Jim, whose bird totally pooped on my skirt. So that fear was realized on Wednesday. Cool. He has been meeting with sisters for over a year now and is just the most classy old man you will ever meet. He knows this church is true! He has even written thesis statements about how it's true! It's just softening the heart of his wife that is the task now. I'm so happy that Sister Wise and I got to go on at least one exchange together. I always learn so much from her whenever I'm around her, so having 24 hours to be around her was quite the treat!

At St. Thomas' this week chicken tenders were on the menu and since these Midwest people don't know what fry sauce is we made it for them and they loved it! We thought we were pretty cool. We also have to use latex gloves to serve the food and so we taught the old man serving food next to us about the Plan of Salvation using the glove as our body and our hand as our spirits then proceeded to talk to him more about it. He wasn't too thrilled with us talking about religion, but what do you expect? I mean, we are missionaries. And plus, it did spark some conversations with some other people there. So... you never know where gospel conversations can come from haha :)

We met with Will on Thursday. We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and it was so cool to see him receive revelation as we went through the lesson! Also, at church the Stake President spoke and afterwards Will was sooo full of the spirit. He was just like, "I am SO glad I came to church today. I heard a lot of things that I needed to hear". SAME. President Kindt is a rockstar and his talk was nothing short of amazing. I'm so happy that Will is recognizing the spirit more and more. A skill that we all need to develop!

I'm so thankful for the chance I got to serve here and all the people I've been able to meet. A huge part of my heart now for sure! But on to new adventures in Green Bay! :)

Much love! 

Xo,

Sister Quist

had to get my UWO swag before I leave!

zone training

Pretty building on Lawrence campus

Went to a baptism in Oshkosh and got invited to the Murphy's farewell party so we went over for a few minutes because I love these people! 

cute YSA's

Sister Graves is a gem for letting us come over every Monday morning to do our laundry and eat her food! I love her dearly!

megan & riley's wedding reception

Megan & Riley part 2 

Karlene and I <3 

we do dumb things and make people take pictures of us 

meaghan, aviana, and I cheesing it up at sports night

Me and Bethany matching! :)