Week 6

This week has been especially tiring. It was really chill at the beginning, like the devotional was really good. We had the Relief Society General President, Sister Burton. She did really well! I was not disappointed, but I am especially excited for this week, because we have another Tuesday devotional, then we have a devotional on Thanksgiving. The choir director (not because I am in choir but because I heard from someone else) said we would not be disappointed by the devotional, so I am excited!

Last Wednesday our district was selected to do traffic control, which are the missionaries that are at the MTC the day we get new missionaries, and they guide the cars through the MTC. But when we got there, they already had like 3 sisters so they didn't need me. So while my entire district did traffic control, I did hosting again. It was weird to be away from my companion so much, because it's allowed when you are hosting. I got to host 3 new missionaries that day, because there were 700 missionaries coming in that day! There were so many because we aren't getting any this week, because of Thanksgiving. But since we have 700 missionaries, and no missionaries are leaving this week, the MTC is so crowded. We have so many new missionaries by our residence!

This morning we got up at 6:25 to get to the showers, so we could get to the temple on time, but there was already a huge line at the showers when we got there! We usually don't have to worry about that though, because our zone has gym in the morning, so we don't shower till like 830, and all the other missionaries are gone by then. But on PDAYS and Sundays we just can't shower, the lines are soo long. I guess I can shower before dinner tonight. 

Anyway, on Thursdays we do service.. but last Thursday we had inspection in the building we do service (the building we clean on service day) so we worked so hard to make sure that building was spotless. I was exhausted after that. 

And, on Friday we had a special teaching session, where a really good teacher taught our district in English in front of a bunch of new teachers. So on Friday we had 7 and a half hours of class time.

And to top all those days off, my teachers started to teach us Chinese. What I mean is that, for the 5 weeks previous, we learned something that can't even be considered Chinese, because it was so simple and the grammar was so simple. But last week our teachers started teaching us how Mandarin really works. It was a really difficult week of language, so pray for me to learn this language! Sometimes it's really hard. 

So by Sunday I was exhausted.. so it was nice to have a nice day to relax. But I still love the MTC, because it is really fun. The weeks have taken a toll on me, and my clothes, but I am moving forward and it is getting easier and easier. And don't worry about my clothes mom, we have a sister in our district we call "Mama Kwong", because she helps us with stains and other problems we have. 

Things are going well, I can't believe I only have 3 weeks left till Taiwan. Oh, and about visas: the district above us going to Taiwan, they are going to get their visas in the next week, maybe a day or two longer, and we sent in our papers in a few days after them. So they told us we would probably get our visas on time! But still pray for us! Pray that I can leave the 16th! 

I love you guys, thanks for the letters and the packages! Thank you especially Onna and Lilon for the cookies!! They were great! My companion who is lactose intolerant ate a bunch because they were so good, even though he knew he had to face the consequences. Keep it all coming! It's so great! 

Love, Elder Quist

Week 5

I am already half way done with the MTC.... that's crazy. But it's okay, because I am really excited for Taiwan! It might be a little rough if the first week in the field is Christmas, but it's okay, I'll get through it. 

Every week here goes by faster and faster. This last week my district got to host. IT was pretty awesome, we got to be the missionaries that picked up the new missionaries. I got to host 2 missionaries, both going English speaking. I felt bad for them, because they both seemed so out of it. I guess I probably was like that too when I first got here. But it just so happens that both these new missionaries have my same PDAY, so I saw them both at the temple today. We didn't talk.

Then it snowed! My whole district celebrated when it snowed. It was actually the first time Elder Marcelo had ever seen snow, so it was a cool experience. But then all the snow melted... and only the cold remained. It's so cold... I am ready for Taiwan's weather.. 

It's exciting that Shelby is coming home soon! I feel like she just left. Tell her I love her when you guys see her.

Hannah your time is coming! These last few weeks go by so fast. I will make sure to look out for you your first week. I will be an 8 week pro by then... so I can help you out.

I don't know what else to say for this week. Things are pretty basic around here. The Dear Elders aren't working right now so if you sent me a Dear Elder and I didn't respond it's because I haven't got it yet. But I did get Taylor and Jason's. I am sorry Jason, I saw Zac  the other day and he told me he already took the xbox.. so you will have to take it up with him. 

They put up the Christmas lights around here today, which is cool. And tomorrow I feel someone special for the devotional, so I will tell you what happens with that. I bet Hannah will see so many apostles because the time of year shes coming in at, so look forward to that Hannah, because the devotionals are awesome.

Keep the love coming. Keep the prayers coming, especially about visas. And I am going to keep going. 

Love Elder Quist

Week 4

I CAN'T BELIEVE JOSH AND ALLIE ARE HAVING A BABY. Of course you waited till 4 weeks after I left on my mission. That's okay though, you'll have to send me some pics of it. And tell me when you know if it's a boy or a girl, although with the spirituality I feel here I am inspired to say it's a boy. I was also inspired that his name should be Noah. Just keep that in mind.. you might not want to go against a missionaries inspiration..

Things are going well here. Time flies by, my Chinese is slowly getting better. It's fun to learn a language so fast, but I am pretty sure I pronounce everything wrong here. I can't wait for Taiwan! Today when I was leaving the temple I came across my Mission President's mother-in-law and brother-in-law! They took a picture of us and are going to send it to the Mission President. The brother-in-law also said that he heard all the missionaries going to Taiwan in December are going to get their visas accepted on time! I hope he's right, because I really want to be in Taiwan by Chinese New Year. So everyone pray that I get my visa on time! 

I went to the BYU devotional, and I didn't see any of the family members there.. but I did see my old MTC teacher and Ciera. I waved to Ciera and made her stand up so all my district could see her. 

I got my Chinese nametag this week. The characters I originally sent were wrong, because I guess Brother Autumn is a weird name there.. So I am going to send a picture of the right characters. 

Yesterday we had Elder Cabie speak to us. He was really funny and he talked all about always being ready to teach, and about the power of the Book of Mormon, it was a really good talk. 

This morning I did some more sealings. The guy who was performing the sealings asked me where I was from and I said, "Santaquin, but you probably know it as Payson", because every time someone asks me where I live I tell them I am from Santaquin, then they always say they have no idea where that is, until I tell them it's basically Payson, then they're like "Oh!". But the brother performing the sealings said he was from Santaquin, so he knew where it was. His name was like Brother Scollfield or something.  It really is a small world. 

Thank you Lilon for the letter, it was really nice to get during the week! Letters and packages are great everyone.. so follow Lilon's example! Oh and thanks dad for the package, but I sent you an email thanking you. Every letter is so great. 

Hannah get ready for the MTC. I will definitely see you at least once before I leave. You are going to see so many General Authorities during Christmas time. 

Love you all, pray for my visa. And don't get mono Zac, I heard that's rough. 

Love,

Elder Quist

Week 3

So today was a really good week. I am really started to get comfortable here. The devotionals are all so great! Last night Sister Nelson came, Elder Nelson's wife. She said he couldn't make it, but it was okay because she did so good! She said we can pray for angels by name, and she also said it's good to pray for inspiration through dreams. It was just a really good talk! At the end of meeting she had us sing "Lord Make Us a Holy People", which is a new hymn! So when you hear it in the near future just know that I sang it first.

On Wednesday this week I lost one of my companions. He had to take care of some stuff at home, but he will be back in a few months! So now it's just me and Elder Millat, with Elder Chan and Elder Marcelo of course. And we are not losing Elder Marcelo! He is staying with us until we leave, because they realized he didn't know any Mandarin. 

It's getting really cold outside? When is it going to snow? I am ready for the snow, because I realized it's the last time I will see snow for 2 years! Not to mention that MTC is awesome during the holidays! Last night in the devotional one of the MTC leaders taught us how to treat General Authorities, because apparently this is the time of year they come.  

Halloween was a good time. We all wore our orange ties, and Sister Kuang and Sister Hancock both dressed up (as much as you can at the MTC). Sister Kuang was dressed in all black, I should've taken a picture, and Sister Hancock apparently wore a bunch of conflicting patterns.. I didn't really notice but she assured me something was different about her outfit. Then we went back to the residence and ate so much candy and played basketball with our new nerf hoop. It was a good time, we played zhu (I think 2nd tone), which means pig. Don't get it confused with zhu (3rd tone), because that's Lord.

I also did sealings for the first time last Monday, and that was really cool. Today we did more endowments, and it's really nice to get to got to the Temple every day.

This last weekend we said goodbye to Wu Dixiang and Sun Laoshi, our teachers. It was really sad, because we had Wu Dixiang from the beginning, and he spoke like 4 lines in english to us on Saturday because he really wanted to share his testimony with us. And Sun Laoshi was great too, she started crying when she was saying goodbye, and so did most of the Jiemei (sisters) in the room. But not we start with Ge Laoshi, who is really cool, and Ke Laoshi, who is Zac's friend, and we all really like her a lot. So in the end it's all good.

Things are going really good here, the MTC is fun. I am really excited for Taiwan though, because a lot of my teachers went to Taizhong and they talk about how great it is. I hope the visa thing works out, we haven't heard anything about it, although they said if anything was wrong we would hear about it, rather than hear nothing. So let's hope for the best. Thanks for all the support, and know I am praying for you! Keep all the great Dear Elder and Letters coming! 

Love,

Elder Quist

Week 2

This last week has really gone by fast. I am really starting to get the hang of things. Me and my district have a lot of fun, which helps the time go by. The devotionals are great, and the spirit here is just really amazing. It's like the spirit is intensified in everything you do. For example, I watching the Joseph Smith Movie last night and it was really powerful.. even though I have watching it before tonight. The devotional last night was really good, all about repentance. The speaker shared Abide With Me, Tis Eventide, which is a great song with a great message.

The Chinese is getting better, it's pretty crazy how fast you can learn here. I am now teaching two investigators, one a day, and it's a lot of work to prepare for them. My teacher asked we don't use Chinese Scripts anymore, which are basically scripts of the first lesson in Chinese, so I have to try to teach by memory, which is really hard. My teacher still hasn't ever spoken English to us, but he's getting easier to understand. We have a new teacher too, Sun Laoshi, she is a native from Sheng Hai and she is really funny. My companion was talking to her one day and tried to say to her in Chinese "Everyone should love everyone" but ended up saying "Everyone should love Americans", since she is native Chinese, she laughed so hard. 

So Zac and Karriann went on a trip (with Denver) this weekend... Wow I may just miss a wedding. I can say whatever I want, by the way, because I am a missionary and can do no wrong. That's kind of weird to say right now though, because Zac is literally 5 feet from me right now. He is helping people in the computer lab. I'm pretty sure everyone thinks he's a missionary though, because they keep saying things like "Oh do you have the time to help me?", it's pretty funny, but it's weird to see him.

Thanks Josh and Allie for the cupcakes, they were really good! And thanks everyone for the Dear Elders, those are really fun to get so you should all send some. Everything is going good though! I really am having the time of my life here, me and my district really have fun! It's sad though because Elder Marcelo is leaving next week, we don't know why but he was fast tracked and got his travel plans last week. Crazy, because that will be me in no time. Love you all and keep the emails/letters coming (letters especially)

Love,

Elder Quist