Work for Christ, He has great retirement benefits

I felt like this week was so fast .... so much has happened! Most my email will be from our experiences on Tuesday. I felt like a real southern missionary, or I guess I could call it a Bible Belt missionary Tuesday. We got up and went straight to service. We helped a lady who is super nice and she stopped by later and gave us pizza and some awesome clothes! She gave me this really cool jacket and a hollow weekend costume! She asked  a lot of questions about the plan of salvation which was super cool. After that we get on our bikes to go to the nursing home and my chain fell off and Elder Ihler's bike blew up. Worst bike day ever! We struggled to get to the nursing home, but finally made it just in time to teach one of the workers at the nursing home. She believes that it is blasphemes to look at pictures of Christ because He said not to worship false images. I can't tell you how many times people get annoyed at the Jesus is white in pictures. She actually cut the Jesus card in half so she couldn't see His face. We were so shocked, like what do you do in those situations? We started walking home and decide to stop at this investigators house and whala.... she was outside collecting rocks! She loves rocks, I have no idea why, but they are all over her porch in nice rows. She is super solid and we believe we could be seeing a baptism from her. Right as we were finishing up with her, a member drove by and was like "Hey Elders!" I yelled for them to stop so we could get a ride since our bikes were still giving us trouble. The Lord always provides and makes things work on His own time. Next, we went to a part members home and the non member man said he would think and talk about getting baptized. He is one of those dry Mormons.

Now this is where the fun stuff begins..... I had a similar experience this week with bible bashing (more like Mormon bashing) like Sister Oscarson did a couple of weeks ago. As we were walking home from dropping off the car at the sisters apartment a man pulled up next to us. We started talking and found out that he we a Lutheran. He had read a lot about Joseph Smith and Mormonism. First off, we where pretty stoked! Then thecrap hit the fan. He said, "I am so intrigued how one man could lead so many heats to the devil. I have to applaud him for that." I felt the prompting to leave but we stuck it out a little longer and that was a bad idea. He went off about how Mormons believe in a different Jesus and how the devil was the one who gave us the feeling that the Book of Mormon was true. He believed that the Book of Mormon was just the bait on the hook and how Joseph Smith made it impossible to reach heaven. He said many other things to us that just made me want to grab him from inside his car and through him out and leave him there bloodied. Elder Ihler and I just bore powerful testimony of the priesthood and ended up leaving. This moment gave me a even stronger testimony that I know Joseph Smith is a true prophet. I know that we have prophets here today. I know that through Heavenly Father, Joseph Smith translated the golden plates. I know that with every fiber of my being that God loves us and would not leave us here to perish. We have an eternal plan that is possible through the priesthood. I have seen to much to ever deny that. That night I felt just a little bit of what Joseph Smith and the early saints felt. I know that salvation is not easy, but we try everyday to become better.

Sorry that was super long, I will be quick on my next highlights. I went on exchanges with Elder Ado and got to eat a fried macaroni and cheese burger. It was ok but when I saw it on the menu, I new I had to try. I was up there with Elder Ward who goes home next transfer.  We had an awesome heart to heart one night. It was like talking to an seasoned man and I was just beginning my journey.

I served about 291 hotdogs at the community kitchen.  While we were there, we saw this homeless dude we started teaching. Quick back story, he wrote a note and left it on the church doors asking for a Book of Mormon. We gave him one and he showed up to church on Sunday! He has a lot of questions and is really investigating the church. We also moved a family into a new house and I happened to go into the largest doll collection in the world! My grandma Dean would have loved this place!

This one kid and I made a new game which is like a mix of ping pong but with a racket ball and a cement driveway. It was super fun playing and we started making karate grunts every time we would hit the ball. We were dying of laughter!

That's it folks! Have a blessed week!

Love Elder Quiring