Tour de Antioch

A couple cool things happened to us this week. The first is we got a Baptismal Date!! She is a part member and she just has never been invited to be baptized so we set one up the first lesson!!! We have some teaching to do but many missionaries have taught her so we don't need to teach much. We also got a referral from the Hermana's who is super dope. He just got out of prison and looks like a total gangster. He is pretty cool and is living with a his member sister for the time being. Other than that it has been a lot of finding and service opportunities.

We helped one of our investigators move and it took us from 9-4 to get her all moved! It was a super hot humid day and I was in the moving truck organizing. The ceiling of the truck was so hot that it would burn you if you touched it. We had members help us move her out and the Spanish Elders move us in. Random thought, there are only 3 sets of English Elders in the whole zone with one of those sets being the APs, so we are surrounded by Spanish speakers and sisters. Anyways, back got he moving, it was just a ton of work. I am still sore from it. We had to move them up 3 stories.... it was a party.

I went on a split with our zone leader, Elder Atkin. He is a super cool dude and a hard worker! We found like 4 new investigators so that was sick! We also biked our tales off so I better be putting on some muscle.

Random facts for the week is we had a BBQ in Elders quorum... only in Tennessee! We got an inflatable throne. I ate some really spicy hot sauce and it made me cry, hiccup, and want to puke. A bunch of peeps graduated! I can't believe that was a year ago. The district has now 2 bappy dates and that is so dope! I got my bike fixed up. The Predators are going to the championship! I think that about wraps that up.

I love y'all and hope life is going well. Hope y'all have a blessed week!

Love, Elder Q

Finding by the way

There has been a huge push on talking to 10 more people outside of knocking doors. Since I have been trying to do that, some people look at you funny and try to run. Most of the time it has been more successfully. On Saturday we came up to a man outside his car smoking. He apologized for smoking and said that he wants to quit smoking. He also started telling us that he wants to increase his spirituality and then asks us for a Book of Mormon! So we will see how that all works out.

I went on a split with the the Cumberland elders and I got to ride the bus everywhere! We were pretty much in Nashville and it was pretty sick. I talked to so many people on the bus and it was dope! A lot of the people where students either graduating of starting work for the summer. Cumberland actually has nicer people than here in Antioch but it's all good. I literally can not count how many people I got to talk all to. That would not be a bad place to serve. They also just had 2 baptisms  so that was sick! I got to do the baptismal interview while I was there and those are my favorites! The spirit is always there and you feel such a close bind with them.

We had some interviews with President this week and that was probably the highlight of the week. We had some really good conversations and we discussed how much I have changed in a year. I don't really see it day to day but looking back I am a pretty different person. I am excited to see what the next year will bring.

Have a blessed week y'all! Sorry that didn't get many pictures this week.

Love, Elder Q

Momma's Day

First off happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful ladies in my life! I had a blast talking with all of you yesterday. I especially give a shout out to the best mom in the universe and that is my mom. I love her so much and I don't know what I would do without her. She literally birthed me so I wouldn't be her without her. She is so strong and I know God put us together to help me out through this mortal life. She is always there for me and loves me so much. I feel her warmth every time I read a letter from her or an email. She has taught me so much and I am very grateful for all the time she has put into supporting me. I miss my nightly tuck ins but I know she is there in spirit.  I am so glad that she would move mountains for me, I love you mom.

This week we helped out this woman who is the definition of a hoarder. We cleaned out about half of her one car garage and still didn't get into the house. Apparently we can't even go in the house because it is so bad. We found a dead mouse in a weed killer bottle and the smell was.... the worst smell I think I have ever smelt. It was like 17 cows died in a sauna and their rotten corps got shot up your nose. I gagged for a solid 20 minutes. Then we found some contractions masks and that was a lot better.

That was pretty much the most interesting parts of the week. We had zone conference and Elder White gave me a sick tie! I have worn it like 4 times. His mom made it and it is super dope. I got to see Elder Ihler again! It has been like 8 months! The rest of the week was just finding and teaching. Pretty good stuff!

I love y'all and hope you have a blessed week!

Love, Elder Q

 

 

Reddi Whip

Have you ever played the game clue? You know the part when you try to find who the killer was, where it happened and with what weapon? Well, I can answer that it was Elder Briscoe in the kitchen with the Reddi Whip. We had just finished with weekly planning and were fixing to have lunch. He opened the fridge and pulled out some Reddi Whip in one of those squirt-able metal cans. He asked me if I wanted some and put the callipitter on my index finger. He threw his head back and started spraying a ton of the white creamy deliciousness into his mouth. It was all too big for him to swallow!! I start to giggle. He started to laugh a little and all the cream got stuck in his nose. He ran over to the trash and attempted to spit it out.  I was dying of laughter at this point and said, "That is classic!"  At that point the crap hit the fan. He inhaled because he was laughing so hard and the Reddi Whip went down into his lungs.  He absolutely couldn't breath and I was laughing so hard that I couldn't see and my abs hurt so bad. He finally got all the whip cream out of his system.  He told me that was the closes to dying he's been. Now could you imagine if he did pass out and I had to try and give him CPR? What a site it would have been for the first responders?  I am so glad he survived!

Other than that crazy event, the week went pretty good. We had a miracle happen on Saturday night. We have been doing a lot of tracting in this area. I have probably tracted more here than my whole mission combined. We were knocking at this apartment complex for a good while because it had been a gold mine. We knock on this one dudes door and he let's us right in. We got to talking and he said that he has been praying for a way to get back into church. We invited him to come to church and the next day, Sunday, we picked him up and there he was, just chillin' with the Book of Mormon in one hand and a Bible in the other. He came in and told us he has been reading and is liking all the things he is reading. We got to church and he loved it! He can't wait for next week. This guy will be baptized if Satan doesn't get in there and mess it all up. He likes to do that though.

Another highlight of the week was that Austin Tuckett came back into town. He was and Elder that had to go home early. He was in the MTC with me. He came out teaching with us and that was super fun! We also did service at the Nashville library and that was a blast! We counted millions of flyers and I got to talk to this woman also helping out there. She is a ballet teacher there in Nashville and I got to talk to her about dancing! It was a great conversation and even left her with a pass along card to check out Mormon.org.

Have a blessed week y'all and I hope to see some of you on the call for Mother's Day! Just a friendly reminder that Mother's Day is this Sunday :)

Love, Elder Q

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From Elder Brisco:

Wow! What blessings we have had this week! We gave up the car on Tuesday so it was biking week for us (still is till Wednesday). We biked all over and tracted for hours on end. It was good hard work and we were exhausted every night haha. But the Lord has blessed us for our efforts.

On Wednesday we got a referral through mormon.org for a guy named Robert. We tried him Wednesday with no luck. Went back Thursday and caught him home. He had been struggling with the loss of his sister. We were able to teach the wonderful Plan of Salvation to this sweet old man. It brought him much comfort to not have to worry where his sister was going. We will all receive so much grace and be placed into the kingdom that best suits us! What a wonderful knowledge we have! He invited us back.

On Saturday evening we didn't have any appointments so we started tracting this huge apartment complex across the street from us. We had seen some success there earlier in the week. We knocked on one door, no answer, the very next one this African American gentleman named Shawn leaned out the door and we did just any old door approach, "Hey! My name is Elder Briscoe and this is my companion Elder Quiring, what's your name? Have you ever met missionaries like us before?" I was then prompted to ask if we could come in and share our message with him. He gladly accepted! We taught him the Restoration of the Gospel. He said that religion has never been important to him but he always prays but nothing happens. He didn't even have a bible, which is kinda crazy cuz it's the south! So we gave him a Bible and a Book of Mormon and invited him to be baptized by someone holding the proper authority of God and he accepted! We came back later than night and introduced him to a member who lived in the same complex and offered him a ride to church the next morning. He was so excited! When we came with the member to get him Sunday morning he was reading from the Book of Mormon! He was so excited to have 3 hours of church where he could feel the spirit! He even wanted to come to a Wednesday night bible study, so we told him we would come over Wednesday night haha. The member, Brother Ritter, invited him to have lunch with us after church. He seemed to have the best time!

It's incredible to see our hard work and obedience pay off! The Lord led us there to his door to help him, no coincidences in this world.

I love this Gospel and I love my Savior. I hope everyone will take advantage of his Infinite Atonement and amazing grace to lead themselves down the wonderful, hopeful path of this Saving Gospel. I love that I have the opportunity to teach repentance, what a loving Heavenly Father we have!

I sure love and miss y'all. I would love to hear from you!

Elder Briscoe

 

Where to begin this one? Ok, I will start off with what happened last night. We went to a member's for some supper and when we got there he said his neighbor was coming to join us. We have seen his neighbor around but when we got to talking over the table we learned that she is engaged and is 19! Ever since the apostles have been testifying of finding people from 15 to about 28, we have been finding millions! Ok, not literally, but most of our new investigators have been in that age group. We get to talking with her and begin to do some teaching.  The discussion turned more into a Q&A.  Through it all we were able to teach the whole first lesson! The member we were eating supper with was testifying of the Savior's love and when she (investigator), shared her experience about prayer, the spirit filled the room. We testified of the Savior's love for her and asked if she would be baptized and she said, "Yes!" She is going to try and get Sundays off so she can make it to church.

Another really awesome thing that happened this week was the opportunity to hear one of the apostles, Elder Anderson! I felt the spirit so strong in the meeting!  There was a point where he was staring right into my eyes and all I could hear and feel was the spirit. I don't remember what he said but I can now testify that he is a true apostle of the Lord. It was my first time ever meeting an apostle and it was a rich experience. I got to reading all the Book of Mormon references that he suggested to read and Alma 36 stood the most out to me. Alma's conversion story is very similar to mine except I wasn't destroying the church. I felt that Godly sorrow like he felt, and it lead me to repent. After that I felt as if my spirit would jump out of my chest. I have been truly trying to learn more about the Savior and His gospel. I have been going through drudgery because I was just out here to be here. Now I have a vision, I want all to partake of the same freedom as I have. To feel of the same love as I have felt. It has made a huge difference in my attitude about my mission. It has also made it very desirable and I have felt the spirit more abundantly.

Transfers also happened this week and my new companion is Elder Briscoe. He is another companion for Idaho! He is from Pocatello, Idaho and is just a stud. He loves to hunt, fish, and all that country stuff. I absolutely love of it! He is super funny and I about cry every night because I am laughing so hard. I have learned a lot from him all ready in both missionary work and vehicles. He did mechanic work for 5 years and we have helped multiple roadside peeps. I feel like I am with my buddies from Montana. He also know Elder White pretty well and even sounds like him! Elder White and I have to serve together sometime so pray for that. JK! Whatever happens, happens but it would be awesome.

Happy birthday to my stud brother Gman! I hope it is a great 15 years! Also send me a pic when you get your permit. Another birthday shout out to the best sister out there Sister Oscarson! Keep baptizing the hell out of them! Have a blessed week y'all

Love, Elder Q