Mawidge

This week was really incredible, I am full of happiness and ecstatic to share the news with all of you: MARIA IS LEGALLY MARRIED TO HER CURRENT HUSBAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I nearly pulled an Ammon and fainted with joy but I managed to compose myself and was totally chill 

 for the whole lesson :)

I'll start at the beginning... On Tuesday we did service then saw the G family. They are less active, the mother hasn't been to church for about a year and what worries me is that she does not see a difference between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the other churches. Also, a Jehovah's Witness showed up and started with her "What's God's name?" thing. She finally left so we carried on with the lesson. We also saw Paola. Paola's brother is on a mission right now, she is a former investigator but she felt pushed by the last missionaries so we are taking it slow with her. She is really cool and makes very deep observations that make me think about life. We also found out that Yasmin was in the hospital so we visited her after dinner. Poor thing!

On Wednesday we saw Maria:) [I call her maria smiley face because we teach a lot of marias and this maria in particular always smiles and is super kind] anyway, we planned to teach the law of chastity and since she had mentioned that she was not married to her husband we really planned out what we were going to say and how. We started by showing her a picture of the temple and explaining what it was and about how families really can be together forever and not just for this life. She absolutely loved it so we talked about some of the things we need to do to prepare for the temple like living certain commandments. She told us about her previous marriage and about how important it was to be faithful to your spouse then she mentioned that her current husband had a similar past and that is why they had decided to get together. At this point I was just dreading what was coming but then she made a comment about how they had gone to Salinas to sign the papers and I just asked her "so... you are legally married to the man you live with?" It might not have been very tactful but she just said "we are not married in the eyes of God because the Catholic church won't let me get a church divorce from my previous husband." So I repeated the question and she explained that she WAS legally divorced from husband #1 and is legally married to husband #2. Ohhhh man! Then she brought up how much she would love to get married with her husband in the temple and now she wants to wait to be baptized so she can be baptized with her husband. I'm a selfish missionary and want her to get baptized now but she has a very good reason so I'll just swallow my pride and be happy for her.

On Thursday we saw Yadira and Norma at 11:30 a.m. but Yadira had just woken up and was still kind of out of it. We were talking about how their camping trip had gone when Norma mentioned a little creek that they had seen with a critter living in it. Yadira said "oh yeah! it was a lobster" to which Norma responded, "Trust me Yadira, if it had been a lobster I would have eaten it." Yadira looked super shocked and said, "You can't eat that mom, you don't know where it's been or what it's pooped!" I laughed about it the whole day :)

The weekend went by super quick and was highlighted by finding a new investigator. Her name is Maria (I'll name this one Chuy) and she is a friend of Hermana Josefina. We visited with her Friday and Sunday. She prays to the Virgin Mary and she gives her the credit of her husband surviving cancer for 10 years so that might be a little hard to explain to her, she also has a bit of a memory problem but she is great and has an awesome member friend already :)

This week I have been thinking a lot about the power of the small and simple things that make a big difference in our conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I thought a lot about prayer and scripture study but the one that really stuck out to me was church attendance. Every week I get to see a physical change that comes to the people we work with when they go to church on Sunday. When we ask them about their week, those who attended church use words that are more positive and uplifting. I was reading the Ensign from this year's April conference and there was a quote from Elder Donald L. Hallstrom about church that reads "We meet with confidence that His Atonement gives every one of us- no matter our weaknesses, our frailties, our addictions- the ability to change." I testify that this is true. Church is not just something we do for fun, for social opportunities, or to check off our to do list. We go to church because we know that it is an essential part of our spiritual progression and our eternal salvation.

Please remember that Heavenly Father loves you, that He sent His son to atone for our sins and because of that, we CAN change. There is hope!

I love you all, 

Hermana Quintana

lower lights

This week was really different from any other week I've had on my mission so far. It started out with the Meet and Greet for President and Sister Mella in San Jose on Tuesday morning, then on Wednesday we were finally able to set a baptismal date for Yadira because Norma was able to talk to her boss and ask for Sundays off so she could come to church. On Thursday morning the Seaside sisters showed up and I left with Sister Thornton to go to Seaside for exchanges. As we got on the freeway to leave King City the weirdest feeling came over me that I had forgotten to do something very important. I felt uneasy and impatient and just weird but what was really freaky was that Sister Thornton asked "do you feel like we forgot something? because I feel really weird!" We checked we had everything and kept going but the feeling went away as we got further away.... who know what it was!

Seaside is beautiful! We had district meeting on the beach. The Marina sisters brought chips and salsa and there were a few blankets to sit on. It was cold but it was perfect for the lesson which was about "the lower lights" and how all know the purpose and importance of a lighthouse but that not many people realize how vital the lower lights are on the shore. They are needed because many times there are rocks or reefs around but the lower lights let the ship know where there is a clear path to get to the shore. Brother Harris related this analogy to us as missionaries and how our purpose is to help others get to Christ. We have to always be shining that light and never let it go out or it could be very dangerous for those who are still out at sea.

After DM we did service and ate lunch at a sandwich shop called Ike's that is Sister Thornton's favorite place ever. Then we walked around for 2 and a half hours trying to visit people. No one was home but we found a new investigator and dropped in on another family. I had no idea who were members and who were investigators so I'd just start chatting and trying to listen for clues that would suggest who they were.

For dinner a member dropped off panda express and we took it to a really nice hill right on the beach with benches where we sat down to eat and watch the sun set. It was gorgeous! 

Then we visited a less active member who has the cutest little girls. We were trying to teach the Plan of Salvation but I didn't really feel like I was getting the message across.The 6 year old girl said the last prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for "sending the sister from...mexico? and please bless that she returns safely and that she can come live here soon." My heart melted. When we left the mom said, "we'll pray really hard that you get transferred here." I felt really bad for stealing Sister Thornton's lesson... I really do hope I get to serve there someday. 

The next day was the 4th of July and the whole Monterey zone volunteered to help out at the parade. We got free t-shirts!!! It was super fun. It was kind of weird to come back to King City after seeing so many people because the streets seemed even more deserted than usual. There were absolutely no human beings on the streets, even on the main ones and it was kind of creepy but we did find Maria :) and we reviewed the Restoration. We read a bit with her in 1 Nephi and she loved it. She is going through a hard time right now but she said she would read and pray to know if it was true, I'm just a little worried that she didn't come to church twice in a row now and this time she didn't call ahead to excuse herself... :/

BUT Sonia came AND she stayed for second hour AND she participated the most out of anyone in the class. I was so happy :) Also on sunday we went to the outgoing fireside for all of the Missionaries who are going home tomorrow because Sister Bair's trainer is going home and she asked Sister Bair to sing a song with her. Traffic was absolutely horrible. It was literally stopped in some parts and we were really afraid we would miss the whole thing. But due to a lot of prayers and His mercy we walked in a minute before Sister Monical (Bair's trainer) gave her farewell speech then she called out for Sister Bair to "get [her] butt up here" to sing with her. It was funny and they did a really great job.

Yesterday we got to go to the old fishermen's wharf our on Monterey. It is super touristy and cute and doesn't even smell like fish. I got crepes and the other sisters got clam chowder on a sourdough bread bowl. While I was waiting for my crepes a Swiss family walks up speaking French and I got to say hi and talk to them and it made me super happy. They asked where I was from and where I learned French and why my tag was in Spanish so I told them I was a missionary.

This week was really fun but it was also really hard. We struggled with lessons more than we did when we first opened the area and it was a trial of my patience and perseverance to keep going on to the next door. I was reminded a lot about the Savior's atonement as I thought about obedience. It would have been so much easier and less painful to give up or to only do a little but Jesus Christ endured through all of the pains and suffering because of his love for us. He obeyed the Father because of his love for Him and I need to develop that type of love so that I can endure and persevere even when things get hard and it would be so much easier to quit early and call it a day. The blessings we saw this week came as we pushed through the yawns and the pain in our feet and kept going and I can promise you all that as you put your faith and trust in the Lord and obey because of love, you will find more joy in the journey and more peace in your heart.

Lots of love,

Hermana Quintana

Week 17?

 Recently we have been visiting with less active members trying to figure out the reason for not coming to church. The ones who talk to us give us excuses of work, family, health, or some other answer of that sort. In the beginning of my mission I would have accepted their excuses and have left them with a thought about reading their scriptures and praying every night but these past couple of weeks I have realized the true impact that activity in the church has in the lives of the children of God. 

It all started when I read the talk by Elder Bednar "And Nothing Shall Offend Them" and continued as I studied the talks delivered in the past Priesthood sessions of General Conferences. Elder Bednar shared his experience in visiting with "less active" members when he served as a stake president. What really impacted me was the bold way in which he spoke to them. He would begin with the question: "Will you please help us understand why you are not actively participating int he blessings and programs of the church?"

As he visited with more and more members he came to realize, as we have, that most of the reasons stem down to pride, more commonly in the form of taking offense.

This past week we visited several of such members and it is heart breaking (and honestly really frustrating) to go from house to house and hear the same thing. "Everyone was so cold and no one greeted me", "the teacher called me out and offended me", "I don't agree with what so and so said". These are just some of the responses we have received, before I did not really know how to answer back, how to help them. I wanted to solve the problem so that they would feel comfortable at church but what I have come to realize is that that is not my job. My job is to invite them to come to Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end. The way I fulfill my job is by reminding them of the covenants they made at baptism and the blessings they received. Elder Bednar, after listening to their story, would say something to the effect of "Let me make sure I understand what has happened to you. Because someone at church offended you, you have not been blessed by the ordinance of the sacrament. You have withdrawn yourself from the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Because someone at church offended you, you have cut yourself off from priesthood ordinances and the holy temple. You have discontinued your opportunity to sere others and to learn and grow. And you are leaving barriers that will impede the spiritual progress of your children, your children's children, and the generations that will follow."

His response is much bolder than I could ever be brave enough to muster but it woke me up to the seriousness of the issue of inactivity. I fear that I never paid church attendance much thought. It was something that we just did but now I realize how essential it really is. Our eternal salvation depends on it! There is nothing on the earth, no excuse that will be accepted when we come before God and try to explain why we chose to separate ourselves from Him.

I leave you with a scripture from Jacob 2.

 14 And now, my brethren, do ye suppose that God justifieth you in this thing? Behold, I say unto you, Nay. But he condemneth you, and if ye persist in these things his judgments must speedily come unto you.

 15 O that he would show you that he can pierce you, and with oneglance of his eye he can smite you to the dust!

 16 O that he would rid you from this iniquity and abomination. And, O that ye would listen unto the word of his commands, and let not this pride of your hearts destroy your souls

lots of love,

Hermana Quintana

Week 14

This week has been crazy and surreal and I still can't quite believe that it is happening. Last Tuesday I drove Sister Lindsay to transfer meeting and picked up my new companion SISTER BAIR! It is so great to have her down in Greenfield. I feel kind of bad for her because we are so secluded and isolated from civilization but I am also selfish so I'm still really happy. I have learned a lot from her already, she is a very hard working person and is helping me to get more focused. We are always doing something and I fall into bed completely exhausted. It's not like i didn't work before but now I feel guilty even walking slow down the street, like I need to be doing something productive every second but somehow we manage to have fun... it's weird.

 

Last Saturday we spent an hour contacting on the main road in Greenfield because we were short on contacts. Sister Bair invited everyone and their grandmother to come to church which was super funny because she had never even seen the church so she couldn't give directions but she invited them anyway. The great thing was that someone actually showed up on Saturday. I think it was just because he thought Sister Bair was cute but we got his address so the Elders will try to teach him. Also, Antonio came to church! Remember that one time Sister Lindsay and I had fasted for new investigators and there was a young kid standing in the middle of the road so we went to find his parents and found Antonio? well the Elders have been working with him. He read the Book of Mormon and prayed and received the answer that it is true. He knows he has to be baptized and is working on meeting the requirements. I am so excited for him and so thankful for the miracles we get to witness as missionaries!

 

The stake started some new classes on being member missionaries. Josh and Sarah teach them and they are really great! The first lesson talks about sharing the gospel with nonmembers, the second focuses on recent converts, the third is about reaching out to less actives, and the fourth is about helping other members to get to the temple. The lessons are really well planned out and teach the members about how easy it is to share the gospel and about how we don't have to go out of our way to do it.

 

The Spiritual thought this week comes from an experience we had contacting last Friday. There was a random guy we tried to contact who said he didn't believe in God because he had been let down. He told us of how he had run into boy missionaries before and of how they had been pestering his niece and of how he told them that Christ wasn't a prophet. He went on for a few minutes and I just thought about how sad his life was. How, by his actions, he had cut himself off from God and refused to be helped. I was thinking of him and of many of our less active members when I read a quote by President Talmage in Jesus The Christ, "Acceptance of Jesus as the Christ implies obedience to the laws and ordinances of His gospel; for to profess the one and refuse the other is but to convict ourselves of inconsistency, insincerity, and hypocrisy." So many people say they believe in Christ but of those people few give time to listen to his message and fewer still are those who are willing to make the necessary changes to come closer to Him. I invite you all to reassess your life and figure out if there is anything in it that is keeping you from being completely obedient. It may be the movies you are watching, the music you listen to or even the person you become when hanging out with certain friends. Once you have identified what that thing is, change it! It may be hard, it may be uncomfortable or embarrassing but there is no comparison for the joy and blessings we receive when our lives are in accordance to the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

Peace and blessin's

 

Hermana Quintana

Week 13

Last Saturday I had the priviledge to watch Lupi dress in white and enter the waters of baptism. It was the most powerful, and spiritual experience of my life. There really are no words to describe how incredible it feels to see someone you've come to love making sacred covenants and see her radiate with happiness.

The baptism was really good; we had really great support from the ward. We filled the chairs in the relief society room, brought some over from the YW room and even then there were some people standing around. Hermana Lugo shared her testimony and Sis. Lindsay and I sang. While Lupi was getting dressed we played the last scene from Testaments and everybody started crying when Helam was healed.

After the baptism everyone headed over to Sis. Burgos' house for a party including the bishop and the stake president but we had to stay and clean up. We discovered that the Elder who baptised an 8 year old girl after Lupi forgot to unplug the font and everyone had already left except for our ward mission leader and his wife. We tried pulling it with a hockey stick but it didn't work. Finally our ward mission leader's wife got in and pulled it. It was really funny and we were super grateful that we didn't have to get wet.

Tuesday was transfer meeting so I dropped off Sister Lindsay and got a new companion.... SISTER BAIR!!!!!!!!! We really have the BEST Mission President EVER! Everyone freaked out because they know we were such good friends before the mission and there were even some jealous eyes because all the sisters wanted to come to Greenfield but haha for them!

I am super blessed to be here. I feel like I have grown a lot these last few months and I know that Heavenly Father has many more opportunities for me to grow in the future.

For my spiritual thought:There is a chapter in Preach My Gospel dedicated to the Book of Mormon and I had the opportunity to study it this week. I've read it before a couple of times but I decided to really study it and I am so grateful I did because it really helped me to be able to understand the role it plays in the conversion of those I teach. Joseph Smith said that the Book of Mormon was the Keystone of our religion and I feel like I finally understand why. Reading the Book of Mormon will help an investigator learn about the nature of Jesus Christ, it will help him/her develop good spiritual habits. By  praying about the Book of Mormon an investigator will receive a witness of its truthfulness. There is another quote by President Benson "The only problem the objector has to resolve for himself is whether the Book of mormon is true. For if the Book of Mormon is true, then Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith was his prophet, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and it is being led today by a prophet receiving revelation." I know this is true. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and I invite all to read, to study, and then to pray with real intent. It does not matter if it is the first time or the 45th, you will always receive a confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true.

I love you all,

Hermana Quintana

Week 12

This week has been amazing and I use that term for lack of a better one! It all started with a great Zone conference, continued with Sisters Retreat, a super fun P-day, and ended with merciful answers to prayers. I already spoke a little about Zone Conference last week so I'd like to focus more on Sisters' Retreat. All 107 Sister Missionaries got together for 6 hours to listen to different speakers and go through different workshops. It started with a hilarious skit by the STLs and then we had a much needed workshop on managing stress.
 

Our Church Family Services psychologist also spoke about the differences between Self confidence, self esteem, and self worth. She mentioned that the bible dictionary's definition of repentance includes changing the way we think about god, ourselves, and the world. I have never thought about that, ever! Sometimes it is hard to have self confidence when people do not want to talk to you or are rude to you or when you feel like a lesson was just awful but during these times we need to remember the most important truths: 1. Heavenly Father loves me, and 2. He knows my heart is good. Then we repent and move forward.
I've been beating myself up lately because my trainer is going home and i still feel so incompetent sometimes but I am actively trying to change my thought process and focus on things I'm improving on. What I find most helpful is when I serve others and focus on their needs.

Then President Watkins gave us his "Lessons That Life Has Taught Me" speech about dating guidelines. He made us promise to implement these when we return and start looking for a special someone. My poor companion is going home next week so she felt a little targeted but I thought it was really helpful because some of his rules like being alone in public were very new to me but the more he talked the more I understood their importance.


Yesterday we went hiking to Pinnacles with the Salinas sisters and our Elders. It was so much fun! We were crying because we laughed so hard. It all started on the super long drive when we came across several cows. Sister Kofford rolled down the window and yelled "HEY COW!" and a few of the cows looked over. I got extra points because I got one to stop walking and turn her head. Then we found some holes in the ground off the path and went exploring in some caves. Later that night I realized how dumb that was and how merciful Heavenly Father was in helping us get home safely after all the risks we took.


On a more spiritual note,
We had a surprise speaker at Sisters' Retreat ... Sister Dalton (the former General Young Women President)! She talked about being P.R.O.S. as missionaries meaning we:
Pray (twice a day)
Read (the Book of Mormon 5 minutes every day)
Obey (all the commandments, standards, and rules)
Smile

She challenged us to live PROS even after our missions and I extend her challenge to all of you as well. Everyday I talk to people who have fallen away from the gospel or who are less active and the thing they all have in common is that they stopped doing the little things like reading the Book of Mormon and saying meaningful prayers, they then continued to disobedience and are now depriving themselves from the joy that is found in the gospel.

I love you all,

Hermana Quintana

 

Week 11

On Monday night we had to drive up to Salinas because we were sleeping at the Sisters' apartment there for the meeting on Tuesday but we decided to drop in at a less active's house on the way. She told us about her grandmother who was super sick and about how her mother would not let her go and would keep her on a respirator and about how sad she was. We wanted to share a quick message so we asked if we could start with a prayer. She picked me to do it and so I did. I asked for the spirit to be felt and for the family and then I said " ..and please bless Nana's grandmother to be able to rest in peace." We were two minutes in the lesson when Nana gets a text saying that her grandmother had just passed away. She just stared at her phone and then at me and said "Wow. That was really fast.... thanks!" I felt so bad! And that is the story of how I accidentally killed someone's grandma ;)

Yesterday we had a 6 hour Zone Conference. It was about an hour and half away from our area so we got permission to have a sleep over at the Salinas Hermanas' apartment. It was a blast! We had a Q & A portion with the mission presidency and wives as the pannel. There were a ton of questions about the "afterlife" most of which delt with education, work, and marriage.

President Watkins spent a lot of time answering the last one. He said that there were five things that we needed to look for in a future spouce:
1. An initial attraction, BUT be mature enough to look beyond physical
2. A proven testimony (keeps the lesser covenants without complaint or encouragement)
3. Hard worker
4. Commited
5. Happy disposition

I still have forever so I thought that I would be ok not taking notes but the more I thought about these 5 things the more I realized that they are really quite useful for many circumstances and not just to find a significant other.

 As a missionary it is very important to have a good, clean appearance because people form a pretty quick opinion of you. It is absolutely essential to have a strong, proven testimony so that it can become a rock for others who are struggling with theirs. Missionaries need to be able to work hard all day, every day. As Preach My Gospel states "The secret to missionary work is WORK!" As missionaries we also have to be fully  commited to our purpose. This is what drives us to get up every morning and go talk to perfect strangers every day. We also need to be happy! Missionary work is what we make it be and there is no reason why we should be sad. There is no greater happiness on this earth than knowing of the love Heavenly Father has for His children and it is our priviledge to share that knowledge with everyone.

Love you lots,

Hermana Quintana