June 27, 2016 - Sete Lagoes

I see a belo horizonte.

Just to start out we still have a cold shower, but at least it is clean.

This week I think I knocked on more doors than during any other week in my mission. It is not my favorite thing to do, but it is part of the work. I actually like it when you are able to find someone who is open to talk. You´d be suprised about how open people are, especially with two random nineteen year olds.

This week I was thinking about miracles. Mostly, people think that miracles are things like parting the Red Sea and raising the dead, but many times overlook the small miracles. One is the miracle that anyone lets us enter their house without knowing us. But the greatest miracle is the change that the gospel brings into the lives of those that hear and follow it. The key to this miracle is reading the Book of Mormon. The people that really start to sit down and read this reavealed scripture every day have a change come over them. The change can be drastic, as when one investigator stopped drinking and cut his long hair, or it can be barley noticable to those that don´t pay attention. Just beginning to smile more, be more open to others and wanting to be better. At times I open and begin to study, when I find a verse or story that speaks to me and helps me with a challenge that I am facing.

The other act that can bring about this miraculous change in people is attending church. Inside of the chapel, especially in sacrement meeting, you can feel the spirit with great strength. When you do these two actions, reading the Book of Mormon and attending church, you will recieve a witness that the Book is true and that this is the church of Christ which was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. 

When you know this there is only one question left, 'What does God want me to do?' He has told us exactly what to do; repent and be baptized in the name of his son, Jesus Christ. When we do this we take our first step towards gaining an eternal family.  The next is found at church on Sunday and the next the Sunday after that. I am refering to the sacrament. This is our oportunity each week to renew our batism and be clean once more.

How does this all start? With an invation to know more. God knows who is ready and He will guide us to them.

Elder Quain

June 20, 2016 - Sete Lagoes

I see a belo horizonte

Well, I sent a couple photos of the hike that we did last week today. I hope that they turned out well.

This week it dropped down to sweater weather and I was able to study bundled up every morning. It is quite a difference from studying with a fan. It's nice not to have to worry about the pages flying. I had an unpleasant surprise one morning as one of the elders was taking a shower and started to scream. When he got out he told us that the hot water broke. Here in Brasil they heat the water in the shower head that has a coil in it. Well, it broke in half. We replaced it and it broke again. Our shower head only lets out like three streams of water, so we decided to buy a new head, but the wires weren´t connected when I took a shower; so, it is sweater weather and I haven't taken a hot shower in 4 days.

Our ward decided to do a themed sacrament meeting this week and they made a bunch of pass along cards for us. The theme was the end of the world and the pass along cards were all red with a photo of the second coming and an exploding earth. It was interesting to hand them out to people. I explained thoroughly that the meeting would be about the second coming, but one of the speakers went all doomsday on us. At least the investigator at church said that she didn´t get bored.

Transfers happened last night and the results were that the entire district will be staying the same. I will now be beginning my 3rd transfer with Elder Ribeiro and my forth living in the same house with Elder Buchanan.

uma lei é trabalhar 

Elder Quain

Sweater weather with Elder Ribeiro

June 13, 2016 - Sete Lagoes

Well, I see a belo horizonte.

So, I can now speak Portuguese well, almost. It is really funny how direct Brasilians are. I was doing a split with Elder Catiste and had do a lesson in English. Unfortunately, he doesn´t speak any English. I was teaching and teaching and it ended up that she really wasn´t interested in the gospel, just in English, so we just left and Catiste turned to me and says, "you would make a really good English missionary.... because when you teach in English you have so much more emotion in your voice and don´t sound like a robot." Now my new goal is to not sound like a robot by the end of next transfer.

We also had a zone conference this week. We met with President Fernandes and three zones. It was fun as I got to see some old friends and catch up with them. More importantly, it was really inspiring and gave me new insights as to how I can be a better missionary. President had been in a seminar with Elder Holland and the area presidency of Brasil and he passed the training on to us.

Today we decided to hike the Serra here. It was pretty fun and we got some cool pictures, teaser for next week as I am receiving them from another elder and he forgot the cord to load them. Also, I had an ingrown nail that I had to fix today. It hurt a lot and right now I am walking in dress clothes and slides. But Elder Buchanan had an ingrown toenail even worse than mine and we are both in sandals and look pretty comical.

That´s all for my week. Hope everyone is doing great!!

Elder Quain

Zone Conference with President and Sister Fernandes

June 6, 2016 - Sete Lagoes

I see a Belo Horizonte.

Our p-days are a little boring here. We kind of just clean and prepare for the week, but I guess that´s why we have p-day, the day of preparation. Since we have started really focusing on preparing on p-day I have seen a change in the whole house. First off, the house is a whole lot cleaner and secondly we just feel better during the entire week. This p-day we were planning to climb up the serra, but that plan fell thought due to a new law in Brasil. Now every foreigner living in Brasil has to have a Brasilian I.D. I am now a proud owner of a Brasilian I.D. Their I.D.s are actually just paper that they tell you to cut out and laminate.

We also had a family home evening that went really well. The family that was hosting even invited some of their non member family and we were able to teach them the first lesson. We are now working with one of his nephews.

We work, but our work isn´t super effective on our own. When we work with the members we can be super affective. People are just so much more receptive to friends and family then to us. So, having a member with us gets the foot in the door. Also, it is by the mouth of two or three witnesses that every word shall be established... but three is better. we have actually been able to work rather well with the ward here and it is through them that we havee found many of our best investigators.

One of our best investigators is João Paulo. He has come to church three times already. You wouldn´t ever guess where we met him, at church. His ex-girfriend brought him (he is still friends of the family) and the family is accompanying him. We have taught every lesson to him so far in a members house and he is reading the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. Take it away and what is left. The Book of Mormon is the concrete evidence that God called Joseph Smith to be a prophet, because it is only to one called to be a prophet that God would reveal scripture. And, if Joseph Smith was a prophet he had the authority to call twelve apostles and reorganize the church like other prophets before him. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was called to reorganize the church of Jesus Christ on the earth. I know that he had the athourity to do that and that the authority is held today by a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. Anyone who has the desire to know the same simply needs to read the Book of Mormon and pray to God with faith asking if it is true. Whoever does this will recive a response and the blessings that follow will be uncountable.

Elder Quain

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