May 30, 2016 - Sete Lagoes

I see a Belo Horizonte

I actually can remember a little bit more of what happened this week. This week was rather interesting.

Well, last p-day we cleaned. We cleaned so well that the house is still clean and we might be able to sleep a little today. I´m actually pretty excited.

Tuesday we had district meeting. I am actually becoming a lot more comfortable talking in Portuguese in front of a group. I still don´t know how comfortable I would be giving a talk in sacrament meeting, but I'm getting there. We have a really good district right now that just wants to work, it can really get you excited. Later that day another ward in our chapel had a baptism. Um mais por Jesus!! It was great and we were able to bring one of our investigators to watch it. The intermission for the baptism fell through, so literally 30 seconds before I had the sisters looked over at me, opening the hymn book, pointed and asked, can you play this? I then had 30 second of preparation as I walked to the piano to play. It went pretty well and I even played a second one.

Later in the week my district leader planned a split where I would work in his area. I wasn´t too happy about it as I had planned a family home evening with one of my favorite families here, but I was recompensed. We went to go visit a girl that had her baptism planned for Saturday and her sister that she had brought to church. While we were there we asked her sister how her reading of the Book of Mormon was going. She just turned to us and said, I received an answer and I know it is true. She then told us about how she had had a dream and received her answer.

After that Elder Buchanan and I really needed to use the bathroom, but nobody was home, so we ended up going to a restaurant to use the facilities. We took that as a sign that we should eat there. We had some açaí juice(amazing) and a matafome. A matafome is a sandwich with a hamburger patty, chicken, hot dog, bacon, lunch meat, egg, cheese, potato chips, corn, tomato and lettuce inside it. it is really filling.

I had a migraine one day, which destroyed our morning, but it went away and we had an awesome afternoon working with a member to teach his friends and receiving a dinner of chicken salad sandwich, Brasilian style.

To finish off the week we had two of our investigators come to church and two less actives that we are working with right now. I think the whole ward noticed the two super happy missionaries this week.

Elder Quain

the suco de açaí and a little of the matafome

May 23, 2016 - Sete Lagoas

Well, I see a Belo Horizonte.

This week was a lot like nearly every week on the mission. It goes by really fast, you feel tired but happy and you preach repentance and baptism.

I´m feeling really too lazy to write anything, but I´ll try. I kind of can´t handle a lot of time on the computer anymore. I just want to log off and do something. I think it´s because if  you live in real life, it is just so much more interesting. I see all of these return missionaries that come back and one of the first things they need is a phone. After that, they just forget about the world around them. First off, phones are not bad things, but they can become a vise. They are a great tool for communication and planning. You can use your phone to invite people to your house, but when they arrive you should put it away.

Phones, along with computers, and social media sites are great tools that we have been given if we use them to their potential. We should use social media to invite others to come unto Christ and keep in touch with family. We could use our phones to read scriptures, set reminders and contact other people. We have the ability through computers to listen to conference and to find and save our ancestors information and bring their names to the temple. But, what can we do with all of these things we have been given? Missionary work, and you know the best missionary work? We could put all these things away and focus on those around us. 

I have notice more and more during my time on the mission, just how many missionary opportunities I have let slip by. But this is not how things need to be. So, my challenge to everyone reading is to share a simple testimony, a kind act, or give an invitation to someone to know more about the gospel with at least one person this week. You might be surprised how people respond. 

My promise is that if you do this you will feel the love that Christ has for you even stronger than before. he suffered for our sins, giving us the right to repentance. It is not denied to anyone and he calls for everyone. When you share that knowledge with others you will gain an even greater understanding that it is true.

To sum everything up, I´m challenging people to have an awesome week!!

Elder Quain

May 16, 2016 - Sete Lagoas

I see a Belo Horizonte

What did we do this week? That is always the question I have to think about quite a bit every p-day. It just keeps getting more difficult every week. The most important thing that we did this week was preach the gospel, but I guess you already know that. So I´ll try to be a little more specific.

Well, generally people use p-day to play sports, relax, and maybe sleep a bit, but the group I live with is not normal. We decided to reorganize the entire house and basically invert where everything was placed. Where we were sleeping, we now study, and where we were studying we are now sleeping. It actually had a little logic to it. We separated where the two companionship's study, which has improved our focus a bit. It also put us all sleeping in the same room that has the most windows, making it the most cool room. It does look a little funny, as all of our beds are put into rows that make us look like we are in boot camp. We are soldiers in the army of God. We are fighting a spiritual battle and need to always be focused.

This week was one of the first time I utilized family history as a tool in my missionary work. I was just left there afterwords thinking, how have I waited this long to start using this amazing tool that we have at our disposal. We really do believe that families can be eternal and this is one of the greatest truths of the restored gospel that we can share with others. I´ve always shared this with others, but I don´t know if people really understood how. We brought one of our investigators to visit the family history center. He really enjoyed it, opened up to us, and felt the spirit. 

We also had a great activity this last Saturday. Another agency had talked with the church to see if it could hold a service activity in our chapel. We said yes and they had a bunch of free services, like hair cuts, judicial help, Zumba, and medical check ups. We also set up a booth about what we believe and family history and we were just talking with everyone. We had a return missionary "helping" us that decided to grab the law of chastity pamphlets and give them to everybody wearing tight or revealing clothes. I was trying so hard not to laugh, but I guess they needed it.

On Sunday President Fernandes visited our ward and gave a talk. He talked about 3 thing that we could do to always be happy. First, never miss church another Sunday. When we go to church we are keeping a commandment and it will bring more peace into our lives for the rest of the week. Second, pay an honest tithe. If we don´t pay tithing we are not worthy to enter the temple, or experience the blessings it brings, including eternal families. And lastly, Share the Gospel. We have the gospel, which is sweeter than any treat you can find on earth and really, when you give you simply end up receiving.

Hope every is doing well and living to always be happy.

Elder Quain 

May 9, 2016 - Sete Lagoas

I see a belo horizonte.

This week went well.

We were able to have 2 family home evenings this week where an investigator was present. It was really great to see members starting to do their own missionary work and host these type of events. They really aren´t anything super complex, just a 'family home evening' with your family and a few others. Really, when an investigator has friends in the ward it makes everything a whole lot easier. 

One of them was a power family home evening with 3 recent converts, 4 return missionaries, and 1 investigator. We taught the first lesson and it went really well as everyone had experiences and testimonies to share. The other was with a part member family and it is great to see how in both instances the members accepted them with open arms.

We also had a Mother´s Day activity at the church that we were able to bring an investigator to. They were serving food there and said that all the women go first. I was sitting there just fine waiting, when some other people told us to go get food because our curfew was close. I just told them that I was not going to eat before a mom, but my companion and I were the first guys to eat.

To finish off the week I got to call home to my family. My second time during to mission and I only have 2 left. It was nice to call and talk, but made me think about how fast the mission goes by. It really felt like I called them for Christmas just a few weeks ago.The time we have been given to serve the Lord full time really is short and we need to use it to the best of our ability.

Elder Quain

All wearing pink!

Skype call home on Sunday

May 2, 2016 - Sete Lagoas

I see a belo horizonte

Well this week went by really fast. I think it might be like that for the rest of my mission.

Well this p-day we broke an unwritten rule in Brasil and played basketball. It was the three Americans on one team and we had two other teams of Brasilians. The American team won every time. USA!! It was pretty fun.

So, I don´t think that I have written about this yet, but our president has now asked us to plan a baptismal meeting every week even if we don´t have a baptism. It is really a great way for us to show our faith. It has made me think a lot about the scripture that says that miracles don´t come until after a trial of your faith. So, we are working towards that miracle. Really what a miracle is, is when you see how the gospel can change the lives of people everywhere. It doesn´t really matter who they were before. When they feel the love that their Father in Heaven and Jesus have for them they can make any change that is required to be able to accept the atonement.

Now, after that spiritual moment... this week it finally cooled down and I was able to use a blanket for the first time during the mission. It felt great and I had forgotten what it felt like to use a normal blanket. It feels like a big hug. My companion is from the north of Brasil, so he is totally freezing.

Also, I found out that I have no luck. I was walking to the lan house where we write emails today and was almost there when I see something flying towards me and and hear a splat. well, I have now had a monkey throw poop at me, so I can cross that off my bucket list. My white shirt is a lost cause and the worst part is I had to walk back through the city center to the house to change. As an American I have a lot of people look at me, just imagine an American covered in poop.

Elder Quain

Basketball!

 Monkey poop :(

 Pictures from my apartment