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

March 13, 2017 - Belo Horizonte, Guarani area

I see a Belo Horizonte

Well this week I decided that I had to buy new shoes. My seventh pair on the mission. Monday it was raining quite a bit and the water kept coming into my shoes. I can still use them on normal days, but I have a new pair for when it is raining. 

Tuesday it didn´t rain, but we were out doing visits when the rent lady called us saying our water storage box on top of our house broke and overflowed. We had to come back home and clean up a good amount of water, but we got lucky and none of our books or beds were wet.

Wednesday we finally had a normal day of work which continued until Saturday when we taught an English class. It was the first in this ward and didn´t have too many people, but was rather fun. We taught them the Alphabet song and we sang together. People started laughing at me when I got mixed up and started singing it in Portuguese. 

That night we had a ward baptism of a primary kid. We got there and they were having a bridal shower that had a lot of food left over, so we got some hot dogs and chicken salad. After eating we were going to the baptism and noticed that the font was empty. So we filled it up as fast as possible using buckets and hoses to speed up the process. Luckily, the kid was pretty short, so we didn´t have to fill it up very high.

I had been asked to give my testimony for the ward this Sunday. When I arrived they told me that one of the people who had been marked to speak didn´t show up. So, I got to give a full blow talk. Unfortunately, the sound wasn´t working very well so not every heard everything. After that we got to teach the youth how to talk about the gospel with there friends. The secret is bear a simple and true testimony.

Well, that all for this week

Abraço

Elder Quain

old photo of Elder Namauu, Elder Higashi and me on transfer day​

 Our English card that we give out.

Literal translation: "Do you want to learn English?

We have a class given by two Native American professors"

I thought that was pretty funny.​

Cleaning our flooded house, about 2cm of water across the floor. Elder Quain's tag phrase,

"We preach, we teach, we serve, and we just try to survive."

March 6, 2017 - Belo Horizonte, Guarani area

I see a Belo Horizonte

Well, this was my first week in Guarani. I said bye to Sevilha and traveled a whole thirty minutes to my new area. But, I finally entered into the big city. I am now in Belo Horizonte, the Capital of Minas Gerais. The church is better established here and I think the ward has the highest frequency of any of the other wards that I have served in.

My new companion is Elder Namauu. He is a Hawaian that was born in Germany and lives in Baltimore, Maryland. He has about 4 months on the mission and is excited and ready to work. We are one of the two All-American companionships in the mission. The funny thing is that I think he might be even taller tha me, so we feel like giants. We get quite a few looks as two tall, white Americans walking through the streets of Brasil. 

We have quite a big teaching pool right now and I am just trying to learn everyone's name and how to get around here. These city streets are a lot more confusing than the countryside I´m used to. But there are a lot of good people. One even had a birthday this week (Bel) and invited us to attend. They had food there, so it was an obvious ye. 

I should have more to write about the area next week, but that all for now folks.

Abraço

Elder Quain

Elder Quain & Elder Namauu at Bel's birthday

February 27, 2017 - Ribeirão das Neves

I see a Belo Horizonte

And for the First time I will be serving there.

The transfer calls came in last night and I will be moving to a new area with a new companion. It should be interesting as my new companion will be my first from America. I will still be district leader. Tomorrow I will know my new companion. I talked with him once when I went to the mission office to pick up Elder Andrade. My new companion just finished training. Also, my new area is called Guarani. It will be my first time serving in Belo Horizonte and probably my last area.

This week we had one day where we ate at home and I took advantage of the opportunity to make homemade chicken noodle soup. It turned out well and I don´t think I messed up too bad. But, Grandma still makes it better than I can.

This week was really a week of ups and down. When almost everything was going against our plans a miracle happened. An investigator that we have been working with for about 3 months came to church. We had almost stopped teaching her and she came through. It just reminded me that we should never give up on anyone. God has a plan and a timetable. Generally, the timetable of God is different than ours and at times he is trying our faith and testing our desires. When you love the people, they will respond to the call and come unto Christ.

random:

* I tried a new food called acarajé - traditional Brazilian fritters made with black-eyed peas served with caruru, sauteed shrimp and chilli sauce.

abraço

Elder Quain

Trying acarajé.​

 Elder Andrade

Can you see the Chapel?

 Making noodles

Finished product.

February 20, 2017 - Ribeirão das Neves

I see a belo horizonte

This week we did something amazing. We drank root beer in Brasil. Thanks to the extract that my parents sent me we were able to bring a little bit of America to Brasil, and to celebrate we bought hamburgers. Next time we might buy ice cream to make root beer floats.

The week went well. I got to do another interview for a baptism. I´ve actually done quite a few and it is interesting that whenever I do one for the Sisters they give me a warning that he talks way to much or that he is super timid, but any time that I do an interview they are always calm and open.

This week we had the Senior couple, Elder and Sister Perropato, come and visit our ward and give talks. Fun fact, Elder Perropato is from the same ward as Didi Rasmussen. We were just talking about that and decided that its a small world after all. Afterward, they went to a brasilian BBQ with us and they went to look at our house. Luckily, we passed the test, but they told us that our house is tiny and should only be for one companionship, not two. We might be changing houses, but who knows.

Random thing: everyone ends a cellphone conversation with abraço, or hug.

Well, that was my week in a nutshell. Hope everyone is doing well.

Abraço

Elder Quain

 with Elder and Sister Perropato

 Trying root beer for the first time!

 Making root beer

Me and Root Beer(He is the most interesting man in the world)​

The effects of the Brazilian sun

February 13, 2017 - Ribeirão das Neves

I see a Belo Horizonte

Well this week was rather full and luckily I have a lot more to write about than pizza and rain.

To start out we had a split this week with the LZs in Pampulha. We woke up early to catch the bus and go there. I was with Elder Searle from my group. It was fun to catch up and we had a lot of time to talk as we walked a lot. We were trying to find the place where you do your documentation to get married(cartório). One guy said it was two more blocks, the next said one km and when we got there we decided to take a bus to get back. We also taught an English class, which I am actually really bad at because at times I can´t remember if some things are correct or not.

We came back, had a normal day and the next day we went to a Mission tour with Elder Basset. He is part of the area presidency of Brasil. He asked me where I was from and he actually knew where Vacaville was. Apparently he had served as area seventy there and knew our stake president. He gave a talk to us about charity and  giving service because we want to, not because we have to.

Luckily, I listened to the talk and took notes as I was asked to give a talk as Sacrament meeting started. I ended up using a lot of the same scriptures and trying to transmit the same idea to my ward.

After church we were making a lot of contacts and almost everybody was commenting on my eyes. After one guy had commented about my eyes he turned to my companion and said, I like your teeth. We got a good laugh out of that.

I hope that everyone is doing well. Love you all.

Elder Quain

(he's in the background - but he's there! :))