Week 84

THE BEACH

Another great week in Tainan! I am so glad to be a missionary here. This last week we were a little busier than usual. We had our MLC (Missionary Leadership Counsel) meeting in Taichung last Thursday and we were asked by the assistants to stay until Friday so they could go on exchanges with us. So, we had about two days when we weren't in our area. 

Our investigators are all doing pretty well lately. Our investigator 子綱Zi is progressing towards baptism. He is 19 years old and really nice. He is friends with Bo Ru, who got baptized recently. So, we are hoping he can get baptized this month.

There is also an investigator who is a young kid named Jia You. He is a buddhist, but he is seriously considering getting baptized. He is struggling with coming to church though, because he has to work all day on Sundays now.

Then we have some really cool really new investigators too. One of them is named Sabrina. She is a 18 year old girl who we met on the street one day. She seemed really interested in our message so we started to share with her. Then one day we realized that she is one of the best piano players in all of Tainan. So one of the members gave her a hymn book and told her if she wanted to she could practice the hymns at home. We were surprised when she came to church that Sunday and was able to play her own version of "Come Follow Me."  The way she redid it and played it was so beautiful!  There were even some members that were moved to tears.  We are hoping we can help her get baptized too. However, her mother doesn't really like her coming to church.

Then the other new investigator is a father. He has recently separated from his wife and really wants his son to meet the church. He is really looking to find help through the church. His name is Mr. Xie. 

We have seen so many miracles. The Lord is providing so many prepared people to hear the message we are sharing. There are others we are teaching right now too. I am so grateful to get to serve in Tainan.

One story from this last week was the opportunity we had to teach an investigator with the Jehovah's Witnesses. We have this one investigator who is also meeting with the Jehovah's Witnesses. So, this last Saturday we went to visit him and it just so happened that the Jehovah Witnesses also went on Saturday to visit him. So we had a lesson, us and the JWs, about the restoration of the gospel. Our member, Guo baba, was there too, so we talked a lot and the JWs didn't really say much. However, at the end they asked how we could ever know that the Book of Mormon is true. We told them how, but they seemed to be content to have the Bible instead. It was an interesting lesson.

Things are going great here in Taiwan! I love the people here. Today the whole zone is going to the beach for a beach party for p-day, so I will send some pictures next week. 

Love you guys,

Elder Quist

Week 83

I LOVE THIS PLACE

This last week was an interesting one. I had to spend time getting used to some of the new changes. Elder Redding is a really good missionary! We have already had a lot of fun times together. However of course, when you first meet a new missionary you need to adjust to the way that they do missionary work.  So, this last week was a lot of adjusting. Elder Redding loves to get up early to exercise and I love to sleep. So, it was an interesting adjustment to get up every morning at 6:00 am... but I like it now!

Along with some of the changes of last week, we also saw a lot of cool miracles. We talked with everyone everywhere we went and we met a bunch of good people!  We met a lot of people who seemed to have been prepared by the Lord. We got a few new investigators last week too. One of them is a girl named Sabrina and she even came to church yesterday.

That's something I don't think I mentioned to you guys. With the new mission president coming in, President Blickenstaff has been preparing by changing some of the rules he felt didn't comply to the white handbook. One of those rules is a previous rule that prevented us from meeting with women if there were sister missionaries serving in the same area we were serving in. This hasn't really affected me too much, because most of my previous areas didn't have any sisters. But this one does, so now I will be able to meet with anyone that I come across, male or female.

So, things are going really well now. I really like the city I serve in. It is a really clean place with a lot of nice little parks and little communities just packed full of houses. I have never served in an area that looks so much like America like this one does. This is a really nice place.

I also really like the ward I am serving with. The people here are all really willing to help out with missionary work. We have one member named Guo baba, who is an older man (68) who will ride around on his bike with us and visit people whenever we need him to. He knows all the people in the ward, recent converts, less-actives, anyone and everyone. He is also super healthy and he will challenge anyone to a push up contest!

I really love this place. We are working hard to help people get baptized and come close to the Lord. We have the help of other missionaries in the district and also the help of a lot of ward members. We are seeing miracles all the time. The Lord really does love missionary work and I do too!

Elder Quist

Week 82

NEW TRANSFERS

The new movecall is here and with that I get a new companion and a bunch of new people in my district! It will be an exciting movecall here in Tainan and I am excited about what will happen.

My new companion is named Elder Redding. I have seen him a lot while serving, but I have never really served with him. He has also been on the island for a long time. He is going home after two movecalls, so it is possible that I will stay with him until he finishes the mission! Then once he leaves here I will get a new companion and then hopefully stay here to finish out my time.  Elder Redding seems like a very nice guy.  He is from Bountiful.

Last week we had a baptism! Lin Bo Ru got baptized last Friday night. It was a really good service. As part of the service all the missionaries sang "Nearer My God To Thee" and while we were singing Lin Bo Ru started to cry a little (even though he is a 19 year old college freshman). I thought it was pretty great that he was able to feel the spirit.  He bore his testimony about how he wants to endure to the end.

Then last week was also my birthday! That was quite the experience. So we had a nice morning... at first I felt like most people had forgotten it was my birthday. But then, we went to district meeting and after district meeting the district surprised me by bringing out a birthday cake! It was super good too!  Elder Taylor bought it for me. Then after that it just so happened that I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Millett. That was a great birthday present! We got together and had a great exchange together. Even though it rained and we were rejected by some people, it was a really fun time together. At the end of the night, we had a lesson with Bo Ru. After the lesson he surprised me by bringing another cake into the church! It was delicious too! In the end I got two cakes!  Also, my birthday package got to my apartment the next morning!

That's about it for the week. We are trying to find new investigators. We do have a couple investigators with baptismal dates, but we want some new investigators who can get new baptismal dates. We are going to work hard this week, so pray for us!

I love you guys,

Elder Quist

P.S. Happy Birthday, Josh!

Week 81

Faith to Work Miracles

First off, I want to share with you a goal I have. I only have 5 months left on my mission and I am really sad that I have to end so soon and I really want to make the most of these last 5 months. So, I have set a goal to help 14 people get baptized before I go home. I hope with faith and God's help I will be able to hit this goal.

Since setting this goal, I have already seen a lot of miracles!  This week we had an investigator drop in to get baptized on Saturday. We weren't sure if he was going to get baptized or not, but this week he got his parents permission and he was able to get baptized. I am so happy for that! His name is Wong Yu Feng and he is such a great kid. He is 15 years old. He got baptized this last Saturday and I will make sure to send you some pictures of the baptism.

Also, we had an investigator named Lin Bo Ru who decided he wanted to get baptized next week! We are so excited for him. As I said, we are seeing so many miracles here!

We are seeing God's hand in the work everyday. We have another investigator named Luo Jia You. He is a 16 year old kid. He is so great! We taught him the first lesson and he told us that he wanted to get baptized! He asked us what he had to do to get baptized and he committed to work hard in order to get there.

So, yesterday at church we had four investigators! I will send you a picture of them all. They were even all wearing white shirts and ties. It was so great! I am so happy to serve here. 

The Lord is letting me see so many miracles lately and I am so grateful.  I can't wait to help more and more people meet Jesus. The gospel is true!

Love, 

Elder Quist

Week 80

This last week was a SUPER BUSY week! I spent most of the week running around trying to get things done. I had to prepare things for baptisms, MLC, next week's zone meeting, and Elder Hampton's memorial. But, it's good to be busy and I got it all done and everything went alright. 

I really like my new area here in Tainan. My companion is Elder Taylor. He is going home 2 weeks from today, so the time we have together is pretty short. He is a really good missionary and we have had some good times together. He is from New York, but he moved to North Carolina when he got into high school. I need to work hard though, because once he leaves I will have to start leading the area.

I am serving in the city. Tainan has a very good reputation in the mission for being a clean and a happy city. The people here are said to be happier and more receptive to the gospel. Since coming here I have felt there is something very special about Tainan. I really like it here and I hope that maybe I will stay here to finish out my mission.

Last Thursday we had MLC, or Mission Leadership Council, which is held once a month at the mission home for all the zone leaders and sister training leaders. It was a great experience! And I got to see a lot of people that I knew from earlier in my mission. We also had a great lunch that Sister Blickenstaff made for us.

Then on Saturday I traveled back up to ZhangHua for Elder Hampton's memorial. I went up in a car with Elder Millett (my MTC companion), Elder Wang (who used to serve in ZhangHua with me) and Elder Sagastigi (who served with Elder Hampton in the MTC). I spoke, as well as the stake president in ZhangHua, President Blickenstaff and one of his counselors.  I was really nervous about speaking. I was going to be speaking Chinese, and they were going to be translating it into English as I talked, so I was worried they would get confused and my thoughts and feelings would get lost in the translation. But everything seemed to go okay. I feel the talk went well and I feel honored that I was asked to speak.  It was a great experience to be there to honor Elder Hampton.  The Spirit was very strong.  I am so grateful for the blessing I had to serve with Elder Hampton.  I learned so much from him and the experiences we shared.  

After the memorial service, we had a baptismal service. Claire and Sister Lin got baptized on Saturday! (Elder Hampton and I served together for only a short time, but I feel like we worked hard and accomplished much in our time together.)  It was my privilege to get to baptize both of them. They were the first people of my mission that I had personally found and baptized myself on my mission so it was a very special experience for me. I am so happy for both of them.  There were lots of ward members at the baptism and I know they will look after them and fellowship them.

We have a lot of cool members and investigators here. I am excited to serve the people of Tainan! I am so grateful for my mission! I love it!

Love, 

Elder Quist

Sister Lin and Claire

April 30th

District in ZhangHua

Peter's baptism - April 23

MLC