4-22-13 Milwaukee

(This entry is like many others in that we're exchanging emails. I'm asking questions and she's responding, so sometimes it can be confusing on why she's saying what she is...all part of the fun here or putting this blog together)

Thanks for getting an email to me! I love hearing about your adventure packed weeks. Life here is really good! I mean I am a little worried about losing all my Spanish but I know once i am immersed it will come back. I have been trying to teach my companions and they are learning a lot and when i pray with them it is always in Spanish and they really like that. I also have been memorizing a scripture mastery scripture in Spanish every day. I started at the beginning of the book of Mormon so I just got to 2 Nefi 2:27. And I have section 4 memorized and i still remember the first vision. I actually memorize things during personal study because that is the only way I can stay awake! Yeah and then for language study I write a little and work on my grammar. Yesterday I was trying to better understand por/para. I think I get it way better but it still has its difficulties. Yeah but this week was hard teaching wise because we taught a lot of random lessons to people on the street and families who let us in, but we teach singles only soooo yeah it has been really hard getting a hold of people and most of our second lessons fall through, like we give away a ton of referrals though. So yay for the other missionaries, but we had one guy who has agreed to be baptised on the 11th, and he went to church last week and then a baptism, but he won't call us back now. The only appointment we had was when we dropped by unannounced. Yeah I am hoping he starts keeping his appointments. this week should be really good though, I am excited to find some new people and hopefully get a second appointment or two. I just realized I hadn't sent you anything to let you know I'm online, Love you! I will keep writing in another email.

Hermana Quick

Sorry for the really late response we went to play sports with the other missionaries for an hour or so. which was super fun! Basketball was actually really fun today. Yeah my companionship is going really well!  My companions are both just super chill and yeah i really like them. So for the whole visa thing...We were told that it used to take only two weeks to process but they are super behind because i heard that the embassy was closed for the month of January. Soooo I don't know. there are a few people waiting here. one has been here for a month and there is a sister who has been waiting longer than that. I hope i get my visa sooner rather than later though. I still have moments when people ask me a question and my first thought is how can I say that in Spanish. Nope I do not get to drive. Only senior companions do that, but me and Hermana Wilcox switch on and off watching the backing up piece, it is actually who remembers because one of us inevitably forgets every time. Oh my goodness the weather has been great today! Oh so this morning I woke up and I was crazy dizzy. Like i have been kinda nauseous whoa! how do you spell that! anyway I am pretty sure I am really dehydrated but when you drink water then you have to go to the bathroom more and well there aren't many bathrooms around when you are tracting.

Oh so the sister and elder that I came here with have already been transferred from their trios into different areas. I am the only one who stayed with my companions! I am glad because I really like my companions but at the same time I wonder if I am just destined to be in a tria my whole mission.

whoa got to go again, but i love you tons! thanks for sending me that letter about our ancestors. it was amazing! tell the family i love them and i will try to send a letter today. oh and i helped a lady push her car out of the road this week and it was sooo much fun and then i gave her a bom(Book of Mormon) of course! love you!

First P-Day in Wisconsin 4-15-13

This is a compilation of emails to mom and dad so it's a little broken up.

Hey!!!! I am totally alive! I am gonna just send this email real quick so you get it and then I'll continue, but heads up I'm online!

Yay! so you were right I have two companions and they are both super cool and like sports, but they are not Spanish speaking but I was told yesterday that we can have language study so it is my goal to teach them some Spanish so we can teach together at least a little bit. apparently they met a Spanish lady last week so we were gonna stop by tonight and see if I can get her interested. Yep first door approach the lady cracked the door and said "I'm Lutheran and really not interested" and closed the door really fast! Super funny I thought, but the second door was a Mormon so that was a surprise. Oh i am a missionary at a young single adults ward so like we don't teach families so that is kinda sad, like we contact and can make appointments and then we send them to other missionaries. I don't like that because i wanna teach everyone, but its all good we can still try to set appointments with them.

So life is awesome! I finally have the opportunity to talk to real people and although I haven't taught any lessons we have had a good discussion or two. It actually has been pretty slow because my companions have been kinda in a dry spell. Oh, my companions are Sister Case and Sister Wilcox. They both don't know a lick of Spanish, but we get language study now because I am their companion, so now I am attempting to teach them. Oh our ward is a Young single adult ward so we literally only teach single young people, which is strange, but I am slowly getting used to the idea. I wish we were in a family ward, but i must be needed here instead. My first day here I got to go to a baptism, but not from our ward and that was cool. Oh dad just sent me an email so I'll continue this in is second. Love you!

yep it was snowing my first day here and it was suuper cold and thankfully we didn't have a ton of time for tracting. It is starting to warm up which is nice, but I am so glad now that I bought suuper warm boots and that I packed a few layers! Seriously though my boots are so warm I was considering getting a new pair when i was in Argentina but now i know i bought them for a reason! Oh so last night was awful! I had a bloody nose that would not stop. so i ended up sticking tp up my nose and putting a towel down on my sweatshirt (because i don't have a pillow yet apparently state side missionaries bring all their bedding) Yeah i am suuuuper tired!

Thanks dad! i will study as best i can. my companions have let me pray in Spanish with them instead of English but i will write you a letter today in Spanish to keep it up. Yep if i get my visa i will leave immediately. that's why they kept me close to the airport. I love you and should probably get going. I emailed mom a little more detail so you can look at those oh! I didn't email Austi yet but I'll do that right away! Have fun at your meetings! Love you so much! tell the rest of the family too!

So Yes my ward is a little different, like i feel like everyone that i have met who is from Wisconsin is a convert. Like it doesn't feel the same as any other ward we have been too, the building is old school but it has a super huge intense organ. But it feels just kinda old and rustic. I met my mission president on Sunday but only for a little bit because we had ward counsel. They seemed really nice though. Oh my companions are sporty so score! we are gonna go to the gym at the church today for pday. Oh so my first door approach involved a door in my face but it was alright as i was braced for it. I really know of only one investigator who we are really focused on but i am excited for this week to pick up so we can get so more teaching appointments set up because so far it has been really slow and every one has been cancelling on us. We have a brand new car, like literally they got it the week before i got here and we are on the outskirts of Milwaukee. there are a lot of trees and the houses are mainly like old school stone, they are super cool! Um yeah i think it is relatively flat but i really haven't been paying attention. i will take some pictures soon and send them your way. Oh so the guy who showed up to church yesterday is kinda strange like apparently when he feels the spirit he shakes and cries and kinda has a freak out...my companions have been trying to break him of that, but i have a new email so i am gonna check that real quick. Love You!

Okay I ran out of time! but i was emailing you and dad so together i think you both have the gist of it :) I love you sooo much! tell Connelly and Austianna that I love them too! I hope everything is going great and I am so glad that we could talk Friday, Love you mom! thank you so much for everything that you have done for me. You have helped me sooo much!

Final MTC Day 4-12-13

So big news i leave the MTC tonight! Yeah I will be calling dad at 11ish my time so be ready! if that doesn't work email me back right away so I can plan accordingly but i can also call you in the airport. I am gonna send this now but i will be on my email for a few minutes more and then i have to go pack and little and then i will be back on so I love you all sooooo much! I am soooo pumped right now! I couldn't sleep last night because i had gotten my travel plans and well yeah i am gonna send this now

Hermana Quick

So life has been awesome! I went to the consul on Tuesday and so now my visa should be being processed. but i did have to say goodbye to a 5 people from our district and that was kinda sad but really i was just so happy for them that there real adventure could start. ;) I had such a good week though! thank you all for your support it really has helped. I realized this week that i was so scared of ruining my companion's train of thought when teaching that I wasn't using the gifts and talents that God has given me. Dad you scripture in D&C 60 really helped me, but that night i had a dream that God was disappointed in me and yeah so sleeping was hard after that and i woke up and then i search the scriptures for more on fear and talents and yeah...So the rest of the week i just strove to be more brave and well yesterday was soo great because i did and it was so spiritual. I first taught with an elder because we were gonna switch up companionships but there is only 4 elders left and 3 sisters so I was partnered with my twin in elder form. We have both been told that when we teach our companions teach the doctrine but they feel it is true when we speak but we don't speak often. so we are the two quietest people, but we rocked! like it was amazing and our investigator really felt it and invited us back and well it felt great! Oh i have a new email in my inbox i will continue in another email. Luv ya!

Hermana Quick

So I told dad, but if you don't already know I am headed to Milwaukee Wisconsin...Yep I forgot that was even a state, and the only thing I know about it is that it is crazy cold in the winter and they have good cheese...I don't know either of these things from experience, but that's what I'm told. I am so excited though! Like my email before was about my awesome teaching experience with Elder Mathov, but after that like later that night we were teaching and right before I had gotten my travel plans and I was super distracted and crazy excited so I eventually calmed down and we taught Eloy about faith. It felt sooo good! I am teaching him again before I leave the MTC, but right after I will be getting my bags and we are departing the mtc at 9pm and then I don't fly out until 12:55 am...Yeah and then I fly to Atlanta and wait for 2 hours and then I will finally arrive in Wisconsin at 9:55am, so I will then have a whole beautiful day of teaching ahead of me, well probably not because there will probably be some sort of orientation process. Oh! So you should watch Earthly father, Heavenly Father on the Mormon message page and mountains to climb (They're both posted temporarily on the front page of this blog), well actually you should just go crazy and watch a bunch of them because they are amazing! But those two are a couple of my favorites. Oh and General Conference was soooo awesome! I have never sat through all of the session before like that especially taking notes and it was hard because my brain was so tired from taking in soooo much, but I am excited to get the ensign so I can review them. Oh so this week I think the thing I learned the most about was faith. I always thought was faith was just a belief, but now I really see that it is more about the actions you take according to that faith. I am glad I was not sent out last week because last week I was scared, but now I know going on a mission is an act of faith. I have faith that everything will work out and if I continually work according to my faith the Lord will bless me and protect me and keep me strong so I can endure every trial that will head my way. I kinda knew these things before but now i  am so sure. The MTC has helped me grow so much closer to Christ and I am so grateful that I have a year and a half more to go! Oh but I loved Elder Holland's talk, well I loved them all, but that one really stood out to me because it was all about faith (Also temporarily on the front page of the blog). It didn't totally sink in though until a couple days later. Oh I finally memorized the first vision in Spanish and then i started memorizing D&C section 4. I really hope I am Milwaukee Spanish speaking...Well I love you all so much! I will be on my email for a few more minutes so if you wanna chat do so quickly! I love you all and I cannot express to you all how excited I am to bring people closer to Christ! Talk to you later!

Hermana Quick

PS I don't have my address yet but If it is different from the main mission address i will let you know :)

Reinna's Headed to Wisconsin

We just received a phone call this morning from Reinna and she is headed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for  a month while waiting for her Argentina visa. She leaves the MTC tonight at 9:00PM...yes, 9:00PM and takes a red eye flight that doesn't leave SLC until 12:55AM that heads to Georgia and then to Wisconsin. Apparently she's flying with two other sister missionaries and at least one Elder who are doing the same thing. Reinna is super excited. I'll post her letter later today. We do get to talk to her tonight while she's hanging at the airport, so that's super exciting!

4-5-13 Emails from Reinna

Yes so on Tuesday this week I went and got my fingerprints taken again and on Tuesday I go meet with the consul and then on Thursday I will get my reassignment...Yes so I will be here another week...I am excited and yet not at the same time because i really wanna teach a real investigator but this does give me a great opportunity to learn more before I get out in the field. 

This week has been super hard, but I got laryngitis this week and I literally didn't have a voice. It is super hard to share the gospel without talking so I was literally the mute of our district and I went to the doctor and he informed me that the best thing I can do is not talk at all. I have most of my voice back now, but it still hurts a little. The doctor kinda freaked me out because he told me I could easily damage my vocal cords and develop node things. yeah. It was hard but I got through it, but that wasn't what really made my week hard. For the last two weeks my companion has been in a lot of pain and we have been going to the doctor a lot so she could get a bunch of different tests done. Yesterday we found out for sure that she will be going home next week and she will be getting her gallbladder removed. It has been extremely hard watching her suffer and not being able to do anything. She could barely eat because of the pain and then my other companion was also sick at the same time. I didn't have a voice and well I have definitely been tried. It is better today because my companion is coming to terms with going home, but it was super hard to see her struggle and know that nothing I said would make a difference.

I will send this now so you know I'm online. Oh and I won't be able to call today but I will be able to next week after I get my reassignment.

So my last email pretty much summarizes my week. Oh! Easter! We got to hear from a member of the presiding bishopric which I didn't know what that was until now. It was just a really good day because in the morning we had the sacrament meeting with 3 thousand of us and it was amazing! They had 100 elders passing the sacrament. Later that night we then heard from Sheri Dew and it was a fantastic talk! I learned so much about the atonement and how to better apply it in my life. Seriously though I didn't have the strongest grasp of the atonement but now i feel even more grateful and more blessed to have a knowledge of Jesus Christ's sacrifice for me. Oh and Tuesday we had another fantastic talk by Elder Ringwood of the seventy and it was about enduring to the end. It was amazing! I can't fully describe how amazing it was, but afterwards we were having a district review and I totally started bawling! I was embarrassed, but the talk meant a lot to me especially because we have had a rough time as a companionship. I do feel closer to my companions now more than ever. Well it is about time for me to wrap it up, but I love you all and appreciate all of your support! I am looking forward to this next week because it will be better! Because i am gonna only focus on the positive and well Jesus Christ suffered all things and that includes the MTC stay :) Love you sooo much!

Hermana Quick