Challenge Accepted

Conference in the mission field is like New Years Eve for missionaries! We stocked up on some goodies and waited for the count down for conference to begin! I can't say any of the talks where my favorite but I was most impacted by Elder J. Devn Cornish. Like him, I felt in adequate to get a new companion and take over an area. I was discouraged because all of our progressing investigators decided to up and vanish. I felt like I let Elder Ihler down and the ward down. It was the night before conference and I got to talking with Elder Davis, my new companion, and he helped me realize that it wasn't me that let people down. Everyone has their free agency and slow weeks will always get better. I had the impression that we should do a special fast. I asked if Elder Davis would participate with me and he willingly accepted. We watched conference and Elder Cornish's talk came on and it brought tears to my eyes. I know now that all I need to worry about is what Christ and Heavenly Father thinks of me. They love all of us beyond comprehension and will always be there to help carry our burdens. They won't just take them away but they will help you learn and progress. Every mission has it's own beasts and ours is that people don't like change. I have recommitted to be more obedient and work harder to find souls ready for harvest. Saturday night we got a text right after priesthood to go to the hospital to visit a lady from a part member family. She seemed to be doing better and she told us that she is ready. We were like what do you mean? She said that she wants to be a better mom and wife so she has decided to quit using drugs. Then she went on saying that she wants to be back on track for baptism! She had never been taught any of the lessons so we taught the first and it brought tears to both our eyes. She started right away in the Book of Mormon! I have a huge testimony on fasting now. We went from like 0 people to teach to about 5 in one day!

A little about Elder Davis is he is from Idaho... (another one) but he is pretty cool. He is like opposite than Elder Ihler but he still wants to be very obedient so I am not complaining. Nothing is worse than an disobedient missionary.

Elder Davis goes all narrator style when he starts to read or testify. I don't know how to explain it but maybe I will get a video sometime ... haha! He was in drama and debate in high school. He also did a lot of boy scout stuff. He was a camp commissioner for like 3 years at a boy scout camp. He is pretty legit!

I finally get to drive on the mission! whoot! I miss sitting behind the wheel. We like to listen to gospel music and try and sing along! Nashville Tribute Band is our favorite by far. Actually, the Pentatonix Christmas album is our favorite.

That is pretty much all this week. I love you all and have a Blessed Week!

Elder Quiring

 

The TakeOver

First off, if any of y'all sent me a letter this week we have lost our mail key so we haven't been able to check for like a week.

Well calls came in.... I am STAYING!! Whoot! But sad thing is Elder Ihler will be leaving. I am gonna miss that man. He is going to be one of the Zone Leaders in the Nashville zone. So he is going to the city! He is a great companion and a great trainer. I have learned a ton from him and he really helped me get used to this mission thing. He is very patient and he knows the gospel well. He has also taught me how to be more outdoorsy. Ha! I am going to be receiving Elder Davis and I will be taking over my area. I am excited to be able to drive, hopefully.

For this weeks exchange I stayed in Paducah and got to drive! I thought since I haven't driven in months that I would have totally forgot how but it was like riding a bike. Spiritual thing happened during the exchange. We had ran out of people to try and so we decided to tract. We got done with a couple of houses and as we were crossing the street, I got this impression to stop and try this house down the street on back from where we came. I though, " We already did this road." But then during personal study that day I was reading "Recognizing the spirt" in Preach My Gospel and learned that anything good is from the spirit so I was like ok, fine why not? We get there and I just knew that the door would be answered. A man answered and he had tears in his eyes and we asked if he was alright. He tells us that his mom had just passed away that morning. We briefly shared a little bit about the atonement and families are forever. The spirit was prominent. We plan on seeing him later and I hope he is doing alright. This experience has now showed me how to recognize the spirit because I hadn't really figured it out before. I am still learning but everyone has to start somewhere.

It was BBQ on the River! Van took us out to lunch there. So every year all these restaurants, businesses, schools or whatever have a huge BBQ cook off. Everything is priced the same but they are just cooked different or have different sauces. It was super good! I saw the High school dance team and I wanted so badly to have a dance off but they were in a hurry so I didn't my chance.... I will someday show them what's up! Shout out to the Lone Peak dance team for getting me ready for that moment when it happens. Oh by the way we couldn't proselyte but I did sneak something in. The local news was filming at where we were waiting so I pulled out the Book of Mormon right behind the reporter and showed it behind her and was showing it off ...haha! They didn't even catch me.

Other little highlights was we set up to a birthday party and I got to learn how to make this pumpkin dip stuff. I would have to say it was pretty dang good.

We serve at the Community Kitchen every friday and this time the pastor actually wanted to talk to us so we made good relations.

We finished the deck at the schniders! Also, we left the back door open so we thought there was someone up stairs.

Until next time! Have a blessed week!

Elder Conner Quiring

Elder Ihlers Note:

 Hey everyone, so first off. About last week with that one email from Shannon Mortensen. Shannon was my last companion and he was just messing around and trying to be funny. No need to worry y'all. Haha So I have had mixed emotions this past couple of days :/ I love the people so much here in Paducah, Kentucky. However, I got a call from President Stone on Friday and was told that I am being transferred. I am going back to Nashville to be in the Zone Leader Bellevue area. I am not totally excited for this move. I am leaving a great companion, great area, wonderful people that I love, and I am going back to the city where I started at the beginning of my mission. But to make the move better, I am going to be serving with Elder Watt who came out with me and is from Snake River, Idaho. Also, him and I will be training a kinda new missionary. Elder Watt has already trained him for the first 6 weeks, and I will be follow up training in the trio. Anyways, that is my exciting and sad news for this week.

Today we are going to Garden of the God's with the sisters and a family in the ward. It is going to be a ton of fun. Then I am going to say bye and have dinner at the Ward Mission  Leaders house, the Strykers. After that we are going to be visiting a couple families to say goodbye. It is so hard to leave an area that you feel like you have become a part of the family with. The mission is flying by. To think that I have already done 10 transfers and only have 7 left is kinda scary. I probably only have 2 areas left in me. Maybe 3 but the areas would have to be kinda short. 

I have a strong testimony on Member Present lessons and having members be there to help teach people. The investigator Sherry that I told y'all about who saw horns on the people in that one church, Sister Frederich came with us to teach her. I also have a testimony that God makes things work out when he needs them to. We had an appointment at 4:00 with Sherry and we showed up and she wasn't home. So we called her and no answer. Sister Frederich and us sat there for a few minutes waiting and nothing happened. Then we started talking about other things for about 5-10 minutes and as we were getting ready to go, here pulls up Sherry! We went in with her and had a super solid lesson. Sister Frederich was a perfect member for her. In District Meeting we all went into different rooms and prayed with our companions for a specific investigator and who the member should be to come with us, and it was Sister Frederich and it truly was perfect. Sister Frederich invited Sherry to Women's conference and she accepted. Unfortunately she had to get called into work though, but next Sunday she is hopefully going to be at the Frederich's home watching conference with them. 

I am also very grateful for the priesthood. I have had the opportunity to give a few more blessing this past week. My favorite one was to Price Coakley. Him and I talk about hunting and outdoors and we are good buds. He got in a motorcycle accident and. Broke a couple ribs and was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. We were already up by their house doing service for his mother in law and so we went over and. He asked me to give him a blessing. It was very special and he said that that was the first blessing he has had in about 15 years! It was a great experience. I am so very grateful for God's trust that he puts into us to have his authority and power here on earth to bless people in ways that others cannot. 

Last but not least. This past week we had 6 members come out with us and that was the best I have seen it ever since I got here to Paducah. We have a great Ward Mission Leader and I am not afraid for this area at all. It will be well taken care of I think. 

Well we have to go. I love y'all and wish you the best this week!

Love,

Elder Ihler

 

 

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

We are Flatbillies

We did butt loads of service this week!! It was the weirdest week of my mission yet! I felt like Ammon talking to The King when I was walking up to the Mayor's office to ask what we could to service the city. We got in touch with the guy over that stuff and now he has our phone number if anything needs go get done. We did stuff like sand floors, destroy rooms, paint rooms, mowed lawns, clean up a fence and cut down branches. With it all though, The Lord blessed us and we had 2 less actives, or in other words, in actives, come to church! This scripture comes to mind when I think of the week.

Alma 17: 11. And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.

I did my first training during district meeting this week. I had one morning to prepare because Elder Ihler needed someone to do it and no one else would so I decided I would do it. Our President and the Zone leaders were there for interviews, so I was a little nervous. I think it went well! I was just excited that people participated and it lasted the entire 45 minutes. The training was on, How the Book of Mormon teaches repentance, so super easy! Repentance isn't just abstaining from sin but it is changing our views on God, life and self. I see why we can all repent everyday. Once I was done with the training I got to go into the my interview with President Stone and I shared with him my repentance scripture that I like to use when I teach and it is Jacob 6:5. It is super awesome so go read it. He also told me I am going to have a new companion for the next exchange. I will be sad to leave Elder Ihler. He has taught me exact obedience as a missionary and how to live the missionary life. He is really good at coming up with lesson plans and trainings so hopefully I can learn a bit more before one of us leaves.

Little bit about the work this week. We did service with Van to destroy a room in the nursing home. He opened up to us a lot! He will take sometime to get to church. He believes the Book of Mormon to be the word of God but he is torn with family. We ran into another lady who just had a member of the family pass away. We shared with her the plan of salvation and she was telling us how she has been praying to know what church to join. Her brother is a minister in a Pentecostal church so that will be hard. The Lord shows us miracles everyday! Not only was that lesson awesome but one of the other investigators we were trying is actually reading the Book of Mormon! We are so close to having several people commit to a baptismal date. There is always that factor called agency that they can choose to accept or reject our message. The Lord will always be with us when we preach the gospel!

I want to express so much gratitude to my mom for sending me that amazing book! Thank you to all who wrote me your testimonies and words of encouragement. It has given me confidence and it brought tears to my eyes seeing how The Gospel has effected each of your lives. I will try and respond to each of you who wrote me. Thank you so much again!

Elder Quiring

P.S. I have really random thought processes and I will try and write them down in my notes and share them more at the end like this. 2 funny things stand out to me this week. First, the sisters missionaries here say that I remind them of Andy from The Office, minus the pride. Second, as we were driving to an appointment we saw a man mowing his lawn and we waved to him. That doesn't sound that funny but what happened next made me pee my pants! He waved back but it was so unexpectedly happy that we about crashed because we were so shocked and laughing too hard! His face went from board to cartoon enthusiastic. It was so weird.... haha!

P.P.S I went on exchanges this week with Calvert City

I am Finer than Frog Hairs

This week flew by! I am already half way done with me second transfer and only 3 weeks left of training! I am so ready to be just a normal missionary. Some crazy highlights of this week.

First thing was we got Elder Lytle for the day on Tuesday because the zone leaders went to Nashville for some training. He is newer than me! It was so fun taking to a greenie like!  To top it off he is a Utahan like me! He is super cool and apparently he has a huge stomach because he finished the burrito challenge ( I am still up in the air I ever want to try that again).  He helped clean up the Snieders property and we finished the deck.  I hope to see Elder Lytle soon.

Second thing was when we were talking to Brother Stark at the nursing home we ran into a lady who seemed angry at us for keeping Stark from lunch. She saw our name tags and asked who we were. That is the greatest when someone actually wants to know who we are. We talked a bit
and ended up getting her address because she has been looking for a church. We taught her a couple nights later and she has been the most golden yet! Before we even discussed church she was trying to get work off so she could come. We hope to see her this week in church. We are going to teach her again tonight!

Third cool thing was we got a some training instruction from the Zone meeting and learned that we are now required to do 10 hours of service a week. Well, it's not required but strongly suggested and I was stoked! Service is the best way to talk to people around here in Kentucky. It opens the door to many teaching opportunities.

Fourth thing is I finally got to meet my first bible brasher! I was so stoked hahaha! I was amazed at his knowledge of the bible. I was pretty stumped but I did have fun listening to his reasoning. He would take our words and alter them to sound like we were crazy. As I think back on it now and he asked me a question, "Elder? What makes you and Elder? Aren't elders old?" Instead of looking like a deer in the head lights I wish I had said, "a prophet of God called me to be an Elder and I am a representative of Jesus Christ!" That probably would just set him off so maybe it was good I didn't say that. All you can do is bare your testimony and leave.

Little update with Van. He went kinda off the radar for a bit because he goes to church with his sister every week. We finally got an appointment with him and had an awesome lesson! We are helping him remodel a room tomorrow .... again, service is awesome! The work is going great! I enjoy talking and listening to so many different people. Did you know when Catholics take the Sacrement that they believe it is literally the blood and body of Christ? I learned that this week. I learn new things everyday. Keep up the good work everyone and thank you for sending me emails and letters!

Love Elder Quiring

South Side

This week was full of stuff! On PDay we went to the Long's farm to fish in his pond. The sisters and a member came up with us to fish as well. I didn't do a whole lot of fishing because I was writing letters and contemplating life as the sun rose. I wish I took a picture of the majestic scene. The sun was creeping up behind the rolling hills of corn and grass. Trees were staggered here and there and the sky was so full of pinks an yellows. The lake was out in front of me and the scene reflected off the lake. I just love this planet and I marvel at Gods creation. Funny side note, as I was watching this miracle happen, A spider just caught his breakfast and it was interesting watching him spin his web and eat it.

Remember when I said that Tuesday's seem to be our power days? Well, we went ham! More than half the people we tried actually answered their door. We taught a lot and I was so tired by dinner, I just wanted to sleep. Nope. There is no sleep for this awesome work. I was so tired I fell right asleep and even missed writing in my journal. Don't worry, I prayed before I went to sleep. The work here in Paducah is really starting to roll on. Thank you all for your prayers! We have a scheduled appointment every day this next week so that is awesome!

I haven't really talked about the people out here. They are just angels, haha! I love them! One dude has a glass eye. Another person has

long finger nails. Some have the craziest hair does. Some talk so southern it is hard to understand so I have to pray for the gift of tongues while teaching. Most people have a church. And everyone has faith in Jesus Christ and loves him. We teach in trailers that have fleas and cockroaches everywhere to people in super old creepy mansions. I have multiple thoughts of "Am I actually serving a foreign mission?" It is a whole other world out here and I love it!

I didn't know there is this cool missionary reference library thing.  I found a book called "Our Heritage" and I read it.  It's a brief book about the history of the church. I absolutely loved it! I have heard about all the stories but to actually read them was the best! See, this is now what I do on my free time, read church books haha! I had this really cool thought while reading it. When we bring one soul to the church, it isn't really one soul. That person can bring their whole family to the church through family history! I really wish I did more family history before I left on my mission. I am just drawn to know how my ancestors got into the church and what was there conversion story, what they had to go through, and what their character was like. This is why Temples are so important. The only way to save our dead ancestors is to do family history work for them and bring it to the temple. I honestly wish I could have done more before my mission so my hope is that some of you will find a name and take it to the temple. They are waiting and are just as much as prepared to receive the gospel as the investigators we teach.

Besides all the hot humid air, that doesn't cool down until October, things are doing great! Thank you for all the prayers! I love you!

Elder Quiring

 

God has a Green Thumb

This week was full of ups and downs for me. I thought this missionary thing was simple. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. We recite that every morning along with the Vision of the South. It seems super simple right? It is simply hard! I know I can do hard things but down here the people believe in most of that purpose already. It is difficult to have them read the Book of Mormon an pray about it so then all that we taught them can fall into place. If they know the Book of Mormon is true, they know Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and if they know that, then God's kingdom is here on this earth today. (Last two paragraphs of the introduction) Elder Ihler and I talk about how crazy lucky we are to have been born in the one true church. Think about it, you are one in 15 million members, one in 7 billion people and in this time through out history! We are so lucky! We have the priesthood! Let's exercise that priesthood and grow in it.

This week we built some more of the deck at the Coakley's. When we finished there we went over to the Ravenberg's to mow their lawn.  They are currently out of town. While we were mowing, this old guy, Jim, who is their neighbor, came up to us and told us we were an answer to his prayer. He had been praying for someone to mow his own lawn and right as he was done praying he saw us! The Lord knows how to put people in your path. We got to talking with him and he kept wanting to pay us. We used the missionary currency and told him we couldn't accept money, but he could pay us by coming to church. He thought we were clever missionaries. He agreed but then he didn't show up to church on Sunday. This leads me to my next point ....

I have been so sad that we cannot get anyone to baptism. All the people we have spoken to have some reason not to accept the message. I have been getting pretty frustrated because I feel like we are trying so hard!  Why hasn't anyone accepted it yet? This past week there have been two things I realized that I want to remember. While I was complaining all week I missed the first time the Lord tried to help me. On Wednesday we were studying Enos for our Book of Mormon study.  The first 3 verses talk about how Enos remembered what his father said. The Lord is always working  on people to help them grow. He is the ultimate gardener. Enos was converted because his father taught him the gospel throughout his whole life. We must never give up on people. I didn't realize that because I was too frustrated. The second thought came to me on Sunday, and this one really hit me. A high council men was recounting his story about his conversion. It took him 14 years to be converted. His brother gave him a Book of Mormon and it took 14 years later for him to be effected by that gesture. All those years his brother taught him about how to feel the Holy Ghost but he never pressed it on him. He eventually had a spiritual experience with some missionaries and that was what finally clicked for him. That following Sunday he was baptized. What I learned, and what God has been trying to get through my thick skull, is that even if we are not baptizing a lot of people we are still helping the Lord grow his crop. It took that man a long time but the missionaries, combined with the placement of a Book of Mormon, had an effect on his life several years later. We just never know the effect we have on people. It is all in God's plan. We must never give up and know that one day God will have a way for them to be converted. (D&C 4:4)

This week I went fishing on Pday and I am going again tomorrow. I caught a bluegill .... those fins are sharp! I also had this random thought come to my head while I was biking. I have killed so many bugs on my mission already, do you think they will all be there when I am judged?  Hahaha!! While I was thinking this random though, a bug flew in my mouth while I was singing. I really miss the west where bugs are actually normal size, not these huge ones over here. I feel like if one of those giant black wasps stung me then I might just amputate wherever the sting was because it would hurt so bad.

Until next time! Good luck to all of you going to college! I kinda sorta know how you feel about leaving your home and family. If you ever want to chat write me an email. Also, to those of you starting school today good luck! Let me know how it all goes. Love you!

Elder Quiring