June 29, 2017-Coming home

So, the mission ended. I never thought this day would come. Quem diria?

The trip home was quite an adventure. On Tuesday I dropped Elder Briggs off at the train station to go up to João  Monlevade. I walked with another Elder to the bus station where I waited until a van came and picked up some other elders and me. We were then brought to the mission office and walked down to the chapel nearby. All the Elders and Sisters that were heading home stayed there for almost the entire day. We took a self sufficiency course that helped us prepare a little for the transition to normal life with work and studies. That night we had a pizza party and stayed in a hotel. I shared a room with Elder Karen and we stayed up talking for quite a while. Finally, we were able to fall asleep.

The next day we woke up at our normal time, got ready and ate the continental breakfast(a lot of pão de queijo). Then we went to the Central Market, where we bought some souvenirs. My favorite was a horn to call in the cattle. Then, everyone headed to President Fernandes' house for lunch. Then we all caught a van to the airport, where we started to split up to our various destinations.

All of the American Flew to São Paulo together then We started to split way fast. We were running a little late. So Elder Silfies, Sister Perkins and I had to hurry to board our next plane to Atlanta, Georgia. We got there(after a 9 hour flight) and we passed through customs easily. Then we split up, each for their own plane. I caught another 5 more hours in a plane and got to see my family again.

It took a 24 hour trip, but I was with my family again. We went to Athenian Grill and as I had been unable to sleep in the plane I was dead tired and took a nap before I went to talk with President Bennett to be released as a full time missionary.

Me-Nelson-Coutinho-Briggs

S'Andrade, S'K Costa, E'Barbosa, E'Bustamante, E'Acosta, E'Araujo, E'Karren, Me, E'Seale, E'Silfies, E'Domingues, E'Sampaio, S'Shepard, S'Perkins

S'Fernandes, Pres'Fernandes

  

In the van to the airport

                   Sister and Elder Perropato

Back with my family

June 26 - Gutierrez area

I see a Beautiful Horizen

I´ll only be in Belo Horizonte for a few more day, but we should try to see a beautiful horizen everyday. That is one thing that I have learned from the mission. We need to look for the good things in life and stay optimistic. 

Well, this last week we found a true golden investigator. He understands everything and goes for it. That´s the secret for us. If we want to know if a doctrine is true we have to try it and we will see the blessings that follow. 

This week I will arrive at home ending my mission and returning to normal life. During the mission I have learned more than at any other time in my life. When we are in the service of our fellow man we are only in the service of our God. When we are in His service He will bless us. 

I´m excited to see and talk to you all in just a few days.

Abraço

Elder Quain

June 19 - Gutierrez area

I see a Belo Horizonte

THE END IS NEAR

No, I am not a crazy guy on the side of the road saying the world is going to end, but I will stop you in the road to talk about Jesus. So, you might call me crazy. But, the end of the mission is coming up(no way). That feels weird. Now, end of trunky spree.

This week we had some visitors. Elder Andrade and Elder Pereira came to do splits. It was fun to see my old greenie all grown up. We got to talk a bit, eat pizza and play chess. Yes, chess is our new addiction. I guess the whole singing thing was too good to last, ha ha. I found out I´m not too bad at chess, but I do make quite a few stupid moves at time. 

I received a message from my old companion M. Ribiero, who´s at home now. He said that Márcia went to the Temple and that João Paulo is receiving the Priesthood. I´m super proud of the two of them. As I am getting close to the end of the mission I think about the opportunities that I have had to help others. As I have helped others I have grown along the way. Personally, I feel like I was benefited more from the mission than any of my converts. I am extremely grateful for the Lord having trusted me to help his children find the path that leads home.

Abraço 

Elder Quain

Rosalia's baptism

 Rosalia's Birthday

June 13 - Gutierrez area

I see a Belo Horizonte

This week my house has discovered it´s new favorite passed time. It's...wait for it... singing church hymns. Who would have thought? We have a mini piano and a baritone ukulele (which I learned to play) and we play them along to the hymns; it is actually a great stress reliever.

On Saturday the Sisters from our district asked us to help them sing a song and asked me to do a solo in English. I would have responded that," I will sing so low you can´t hear me."(Tiki room reference) Unfortunately, puns don´t translate well, but if Dad had been there I would have said it. We all ended up singing "I Like to Look for Rainbows" in Portuguese together and it sounded pretty good.

Other than that the week was kind of routine. So, until next week,

Abraço

Elder Quain 

June 5 - Gutierrez area

I see a Belo Horizonte.

This week went by quite a bit faster than last week. 

To start off we had a zone conference where we talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and how to recognize and use it. One of my favorite parts is when we were talking about personal revelation. We talked about how personal revelation is different than inspiration, because personal revelation is inspiration with the total ability to fulfill. (1 Nephi 3:7) It reminded me of the idea that a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not necessarily a square.

After that, we had a split where I worked with Elder Coutinho in his area. We went to visit a member that has a 15 year old son that is into body building. He challenged us to a pull up competition. I got a solid second place as Elder Coutinho managed 0. I managed 10 and the 15 year old managed 100. It was a little humiliating, but at least I didn´t come in last place.

Then we had a Baptism. Rosalia has been progressing extremely well and has understood the lessons better than almost anyone else. The greatest thing is that we just tell her something and she applies it immediately. It was really cool to see her be baptized and confirmed. Unfortunately, the computer is not accepting my SD card so I can´t send any photos.

...But my mom sent me a photo that shows perfectly how I feel on Sunday night at 10:30.

Abraço

Elder Quain    

Conferência das Zonas BH Oeste e Betim (01 Jun.2017)

May 29 - Gutierrez area

I see a Belo Horizonte

Well, this week went by a little slower than most, but I guess not every week can be stellar. But, the bright side is that Rosalia accepted the invitation to be baptized this week. So, if everything goes well there will be a baptism this Saturday and uma festa nos céus. (if you want to know what that mean you can use Google Translate.) But, we are hoping for the best.

This week we were teaching Rosalia and Lucimara and they offered us canjica, which is type of corn soup, and they asked me if I would like hot sauce. I responded that I would. Unfortunately, I wasn´t paying attention while I was adding it and added a whole three tablespoons. That´s about five times more than needed. I tried to mix it in to hide the flavor, but I burned quite a bit. I didn´t eat any hot sauce for the rest of the week.

Randoms:

• Elder Briggs and I made up broccoli and beef (My cooking skills are improving)
• Elder Briggs and I found 2 liters of ice cream for 8 reais (less than 3 dollars). So, we bought it and promptly ate all of it.
• We tried to write a song as a house one night and we found out that we are horrible at writing music.

Scripture of the week:

"Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have received? A voice of gladness! A voice of mercy from heaven; and a voice of truth out of the earth....How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that bring glad tidings of good things, and that say unto Zion: Behold, thy God reigneth!....Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!"

D&C 128:19,22 (this is an excerpt, I would recommend reading vs.19-24)

Abraço
Elder Quain

May 21,2017 - Gutierrez area

I see a Belo Horizonte.

New week. New companion. New area.

To start out, last week Elder Namauu and I had to say bye to our investigators Rosemeire and Lorrane. It was a little hard, as us two were leaving and entrusting them completely into other´s hands. But, Rosemeire and Lorrane are super strong. It was an honor for God to have entrusted them to us and to have been able to teach them.

My new companion is Elder Briggs. He is from South Jordan, Utah. He is a nice guy with a sarcastic sense of humor, so that means that we are getting along rather well. We met up at the bus stop, where I also got to see all of my past companions that are still in the mission.

Then I came into my new area, Gutierrez. It is quite different than any of my past areas. There are a bunch of apartment complexes and high rises. So, I am trying to adapt the way that I work to better fit here. We have quite a few good investigators that are progressing well. My favorites are Rosalia and Lucimara. The first time that we went there I thought that they were already members. I got a shock when I found out that they weren´t. I was talking with Elder Briggs and asking about why they were not yet members and he told me that it was because of coffee. That is probably the most universal problem that people have here. But, we are working with them to help them stop.

That´s about all for the week

Abraço

Elder Quain

May 15, 2017 - Belo Horizonte, Guarani area

I see a Belo Horizonte.

I received a package from home this week and I decided to start with the Reese's. Brasil has not yet found out the perfection of mixing chocolate and peanut. Maybe, someday they will understand, but today is not that day. 

This week, in honor of mother´s day, all of our lunch messages were aimed at mothers. So, obviously we used the example of the 2000 stripling warriors and the examples that their mothers gave them. The great miracle is that even though they were inexperienced in war none of them died in the fight, this was do to the faith and obedience that they had learned from their mothers. So, learn from your mom and listen to her. Who knows, one day it could save your life.

Shout out to my own mom,to whom I am very greatful for; love you! and thank you for your example.

Sunday was a rather exciting day with the skype call home and transfer calls. It was fun to call home and see everybody. You all look great. After we got home from the skype call we received the call that I will be transferred to Gutierrez and will have a new American companion. I have really enjoyed serving in Guarani with Elder Namauu I have learned a lot, we have had success and there are some very special people here. I am sad to be leaving, but super excited to see what this new area has in store for me.

Abraço

Elder Quain

 In honor of Casey & Trevor's wedding, we sent Elder Quain a matching tie.

Mother's Day skype call :)

May 8, 2017 - Belo Horizonte, Guarani area

I see a belo horizonte

This week feels shorter than most as it has been only a little time since I have written. But, first news. I now have a married sister and I officially feel old. Best Wishes for Casey and Trevor.

Here in Brasil one of the big events this week is that we had a split with the Zone leaders. I was with Elder Gimez. He is from Paraguay and spoke Portuguese before coming to the mission, which is super lucky. He is a really nice guy and we were able to teach a few people and I leaned a lot from how he teaches and adapts his teaching to the people. To finish off the split we all got açaí; because everything is better with açaí. There is an elder that lives in their house that is going home in a week and it is weird to think that in just a little bit that will be me. 

We came back to our area and ran around like crazy people trying to get as much work done as we could in our little work week. I felt like we were unable to do everything that we wanted to, but we actually had quite a few people show up to church and they all really liked it. Jessica (the granddaughter of the women who stopped to ask us if we could have 4 wives) came to church and when she saw everyone bearing their testimonies she was shocked. She said that no one in her church would get up and say their testimony for such little things. They had to have some giant miracle to tell others. That just reminded me that we need to strive each day to see the hand of the Lord in our life and be grateful for what he does for us.

Abraço

Elder Quain

May 2, 2017 - Belo Horizonte, Guarani area

I see a Belo Horizonte

Well this week we had a zone conference. In the conference they talked about some scriptures. The first being, "Ask and ye shall receive." During my study this week I also found a cool scripture that elaborates more on that topic,"Behold this is my will; ask and ye shall receive; but men do not always do my will"(D&C 103:31). We talked a lot about the fact that many times God simply waits for us to ask. It is that simple. Then why do we ask for so little? God has all power and can do all things. So, we just need to ask and trust in him. We do have to act too, we can´t just lie in bed. 

It was fun to talk with the other missionaries at the conference. My former companion, Elder Ribeiro, was there and he is just two weeks from going home. It´s so weird. He was my companion last mother´s day and that has already been almost a year ago. 

Other than that it was a normal week for us. We studied, walked, taught some people and tried to find more people to teach.

This week Casey is getting married. Shout out to her. I would love to have been there, but I´m sending a congrats and best wishes. I´ll have to get to know Trevor after I get home.

Abraço para todo mundo

Elder Quain

Zone Conference

April 24, 2017 - Belo Horizonte, Guarani area

I see a Belo Horizonte

This week we had the baptism of Lorrane. I´m really happy for her and her decision to come unto Christ. She is progressing very well and her and Rosemeire are reading the Book of Mormon together and doing family prayer. It is interesting how many times it is the simple things that are often over looked, but equally as often the most important. 

The baptism was really cool and I was even able to preform the baptism, but the coolest part is when Rosemeire bore her testimony. She talked about how much her life has changed since her baptism and how happy she was for Lorrane. It was just another witness to me how powerful a good example can be for someone else. Especially the good example of a parent.

This week had some rather interesting events including:

1 - We came to a house where we had marked to teach and there wasn´t a man there. We explained that as missionaries we don´t enter into a house that doesn´t have an adult male. They really wanted us to enter and the 18 year old granddaughter asked if she could count as the adult male if she put on man clothes. But then the Grandma went out and got some neighbor to sit through the lesson with us.

2 - I was trying to buy some food to make lunch and as we were paying the cashier told me that my eyes looked fake and asked my why I used lenses. (nope, They´re real)

3 - We were stopped by a group of kids that asked us to speak English and thought that we were from Argentina because we could speak English.

4 - The same group of kids asked what color I dye my hair. (nope, my hair is real too)

abraço

Elder Quain

We made homemade tortillas(Me and my companion. the guy from Argentina doesn´t know how, but I learned from Elder Erazo) and we made enchilada casserole

April 17, 2017 - Belo Horizonte, Guarani area

I see a Belo Horizonte

This week we had a new addition to the House. Elder Florencio is now training Elder Cardozo. He is from Argentina and is learning the language right now. It can be a little funny because sometimes he´ll say something and everyone just looks at him in utter confusion. I have had to use more of the Spanish that I learned in school(which is practically nothing) during this past week than in the rest of my life. Words like huevos and queso.

This week was Easter and the ward did a fun Easter egg hunt. So, we got volunteered to help hide the eggs. I don´t know if they will ask the Elders to help with that again. They told us not to make it super easy. We decided to climb and place some high on the church and also bury some. They had just put in new grass, so the side could be lifted up and easily hide a candy. People were still searching for candies on Sunday.

We have been working with Lorrane for awhile now. She is the daughter of Rosemeire, who is a recent convert. We have been inviting her to be baptized for quite some time now. She kept saying that she didn´t feel ready yet. We had tried just about everything that we could think of when, this Sunday she stopped us and asked when she could be interviewed to be baptized. We quickly marked her interview for this week and she is excited and progressing. 

That´s the hot of the press weekly letter.

Elder Quain

April 10, 2017 - Belo Horizonte, Guarani area

I see a belo horizonte,

This week was fairly normal with quite a few lessons and some new people to teach. We are teaching more Seventh-day Adventists. They are actually more prevalent here than in the US. Usually they are really chill, polite and give us food. But, there was one guy last week that tried to convince us for about a half hour that we had to honor Saturday as the Lord´s day. His argument was pretty two dimensional and he quoted some scriptures with weird references as his evidence(they were wrong). My companion and I did a study on the day of the Lord and we both came to the conclusion that we will continue to go to church on Sunday.

We also had a family home evening where we taught about Nephi and how he was able to build a boat without a lot of former knowledge. First he did what he knew how to do, then he asked God for guidance and trusted in the Lord as he fulfilled the will of the Lord. It was a good lesson and I was rather impressed that we got through it with about 7 rambunctious kids.

That's all folks

Abraço

Elder Quain

making pizza - with Elder Namauu

April 3, 2017 - Belo Horizonte, Guarani area

I see a Belo Horizonte.

This week went by really fast, but without much news to tell. To start off the week we did splits with the other companionship in our district. I was with Elder Dantas, who now has only one week left on the mission. We were able to teach a few lessons and it was good to hear another way of teaching and he asked some really good questions to our investigator. 

Also, on the thirtieth it was Elder Namauu´s Birthday. We celebrated with homemade pizza and açaí.You get the best of both worlds. 

After that we got to watch four sessions of conference. We weren´t allowed to watch priesthood session as it ended at 11 o´clock at night. That´s a little late for us. But, the conferences were super good. They seemed to be talking directly to me and what I needed to do to meet the needs of my investigators. The main focus seemed to be about love and the light of Christ was talked about more than once. 

They also talked about how we need to keep doing the basics; praying, reading scriptures and going to church. Also, they spoke on living the doctrine of Christ. Mix these to topics together and you have the key to happiness.

Well, that´s my week.

Abraço

Elder Quain

March 27, 2017 - Belo Horizonte, Guarani area

I see a Belo Horizonte

This week was a short week as last week we had p-day on Tuesday. We ended up making some breaded chicken, onion rings and ranch. It had been a long time since I had eaten ranch, as it does not exist here. 

The next day we had a Split with the Zone leaders and I was paired up with Elder Silfies. He´s another Elder from my group. I hadn´t really talked with him much before and it was nice to get to know him. Unfortunately, almost nobody seemed to be home, but we were able to teach a first lesson and they had a ward activity, Candy Bomber. We watched a little video and then they threw candy at us.

The next day was our only normal day this week and we were just working and trying to follow up with all of our investigators. By the end of the day we were rather tired.

On Friday we had Rosemeire´s baptismal interview. It was a success and everyone was happy. 

Saturday we had our English class, which has a pretty good group of people going now and they want to learn. A lot of people here take extra English classes and they place more importance on learning other languages. We are kind of slacking in the U.S. 

After that we filled up the font, arranged the room and got everything ready. Elder Namauu and Dantas wanted to make a cake while we waited for the font to fill up. I have never seen a font fill up so slowly. We had a successful baptism and everyone went to the 'manly cake boss.'

In the 'manly cake boss' only the men could make the cakes. There was a competition to see which one was the best with women judges. Wives could not be judges, and the Elder´s cake won third place. The other Elders got really excited. 

Sunday was rather calm with a confirmation and Elder Namauu and I were very tired. Just fighting to make it to p-day.

Just thought that everyone should know that today is my moms birthday. I love her.

abraço

Elder Quain

Rosemeire´s baptismal interview

 Rosemeire´s Baptism

 Manly Cake Boss Activity

 Splits with the Zone Leaders

March 21, 2017 - Belo Horizonte, Guarani area

I see a Belo Horizonte

This week was rather full. We had Zone conference, and a ward activity.

To start off we had a zone conference and I got to see a lot of other missionaries. All of my old companions that are still in the mission were there. President Fernandes talked quite a bit about our ability to choose. He made a comparison that I really liked and want to share with you.

He compared our life to an airplane flight. He gave us the ability to choose where we wanted to go, which plane, the duration of our visit and where we sat on the plane. Then we got into the plane and halfway through the flight we wanted to get out of the plane. We all know what would be the effect of trying to leave a plane in mid flight. But, why would we want to leave. We chose the plane, our seat, we accepted everything.  Are the plane walls too confining? To leave now would be suicide... 

In this life we accepted our conditions. Even though we don´t remember, before this life we lived with God and he presented us the plan of salvation. We accepted it. Why would we want to leave now? Are the commandments too restrictive? To leave now would be spiritual suicide.

This week we also had a ward dessert competition. Elder Namauu and I made passion fruit mousse. Unfortunately, we didn´t win anything, but our dessert was the first to disappear. So I think the judges were a little biased against the missionaries. They can´t let two Americans win against Brazilians.

We are teaching a lot of people, but the investigator that is progressing the most is Rosemeire. She´s come to church many times and has a baptismal date for this week. She seems really excited for the Baptism.

Questions answered:

1. So, how are your pipes? Are things fixed and working better? Yeah, we were able to get them all fixed and now we have water pressure. So, that´s always a plus.

2. Tell me more about your English class. We had a few more people come to this last session and things are going rather well. We even have a few nonmembers and less actives going.

3. How are you and Elder Namauu getting along? We are getting along well and are working together rather well. At times he reminds me a little of Spencer, so that can be kind of funny.

4. Who else is in your apartment? Names, where from? Elder Dantas. He is from São Paulo and is a nice guy. He only has 3 more weeks on the mission, so he is thinking about home a little bit, but who can blame him. Elder Florencio. He is from the south of Brasil, where it is like a mini Europe. As he is darker, a lot of people don´t believe that he is actually from the south. He is really chill and a funny guy.

5. What’s your ward like? This is the largest ward that I have served in and they are fairly supportive. A lot of the people just seem to want to help. We receive quite a few references, so that helps us a lot.

6. What’s the city like? The city is good. We live next to the grocery store and bakery and here has pretty much everything that we need. It’s not super hilly, but it is definitely not flat. I shouldn´t be gaining any weight here with these hills.

Abraço

Elder Quain

 Zone Conference

 view from my apartment window