Hey everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and were able to enjoy this wonderful Holiday Season. Christmas was really something different here, not in the holiday, but in how I was able to experience it. But over all, this week has been pretty good, and fairly quick as well.

I wish I could be there to shovel the whole neighborhood haha! I’m glad that Christmas was good for you guys. Our Christmas was pretty good. We had a good lunch with some members. It’s called pozole, but all the google images look a little too perfect. None really show what it looks like haha; its giant corn kernels, meat, and lettuce in some kind of soup. Not too bad :)

Leading up to Christmas, we received the assignment from our Branch president to visit about 20 different families in the branch, and wish them a Merry Christmas, as well as give them a small goody-bag the branch members prepared. So we spend all week trying to contact as many as we could. Most were really short visits because they were busy with Christmas activities, but a few we were able to have nice lessons with. We gave out our last gift the night of Christmas. Well, that is the last gift that hadn't gone bad. The bags had mandarins and a few didn't last very long... There are green oranges, but these weren't supposed to be like that. But it was still really good, and kept us very busy walking from one end of Ocotlan to the other trying to contact everyone.

Elder Cuessi and I talked to our families Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. That was soo awesome! It’s soo great to actually hear their voices. That alone made the day pretty great. We also had a few gifts from home and members, so it was actually pretty great.

We were invited to have lunch with a family, but we found ourselves almost exactly on the opposite end of Ocotlan, and with very short time. So we gave them a call saying we were going to be late. And a few minutes later, Elder Cuessi decided to go for a swim, so we were definitely going to be late. We were walking past a small landscaping pond when we saw two dogs splashing around in the water. Then we realized that they were not playing, but trying to escape from the steep, slippery bank of the pond. We decided to go to the rescue of these two dogs. Elder Cuessi got a little too excited and I ended up pulling all three of them from the nasty stagnant water. It was a pretty exciting adventure filled with much laughter on my part.

Christmas was very great, and we were able to spend some time with of few of the incredible families here. And feeling the Christmas Spirit in their homes was great. Having the opportunity to bring messages of love, hope, and happiness, especially about Christmas, is so amazing. Christmas was very different from the past years, but it was still incredible.

This week I'll be ponderizing D&C 67:10 "And again, verily I say unto you that it is your privilege, and a promise I give unto you that have been ordained unto this ministry, that inasmuch as you strip yourselves from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me, for ye are not sufficiently humble, the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am—not with the carnal neither natural mind, but with the spiritual." 

I hope you all have a great week, and Happy New Years!! Love you all, and thank you for your support in the Lord's work. Until next week!

Love,

Elder Quinn

Us with the Becerra Family

 Our Christmas!

The City plaza.

December 22, 2015

Merry Christmas!!!!

Man, this week has been so fast. It feels like it’s only been 3 days since the last time I wrote. This week has been full of Christmas.

The Church put out a few videos for Christmas this year. If you haven't seen them, they are at christmas.mormon.org. They are awesome. We've been sharing the message of Christmas with everyone this week. Basically every lesson is about Christmas and it has been really awesome. 

We also had our Branch Christmas Party here in Ocotlan. It was pretty good. At first we only had like 15 people. But true to Mexican fashion, we had about 60 people about two hours after it started. There was a great message, and we sang a few Christmas hymns. A few of the members made tamales, so we ate pretty well.

Another one of our highlights this week was yesterday. We had our Christmas dinner with President and Hermana Egginton, and afterwards an awesome Christmas program. There are pictures on Facebook of many of the happenings. Hermana Egginton spent the whole time taking photos the whole time haha. The whole activity was awesome. And the program was soo great. It finally felt like the Christmas season, without snow of course.

We had one experience that I want to share. We were talking about Christmas with one family, and very quickly we found out that the mother of the family did not enjoy Christmas, and she only celebrated for her children. Her brother past away Christmas day some few odd years back. At first I was wondering how we could manipulate the message of Christmas to fit her needs; to bring joy when she only thought of sorrow and loss. And then I realized that this is the exact reason why we are sharing this message. We have a Savior. We have a way to heal from our pains, from our trials, from our sins. And I don't know; it just made a little more sense this year. We continued with the lesson, sharing the same thoughts, but it was just a little bit more real. And the Spirit was definitely a lot stronger. Yeah, and from that lesson, I've just been feeling a little bit better. This Christmas Season is a wonderful time, and it’s a time that we should sincerely rejoice! Because truly, unto US, a Savior is born.

I hope you all have an amazing Christmas week. May you all have joy with family and friends, wherever you are. And always remember that we have a Savior, who is Jesus Christ.  I love you all, and I wish you all a Merry Christmas!! Until next week.

Love,

Elder Quinn

Pres and Sister Egginton



Our branch Christmas party

Wow... this week has been one of the longest yet shortest weeks ever. We had a baptism, I sent Elder Taveras home, and got another one! It’s been a pretty busy week.

On Thursday, we had the baptism of Federico. It went really well. He was super ready to be baptized, as of basically the first week. It was a great night. After the baptism, Elder Taveras made a weird dessert from the Dominican Republic. To say enough, it was literally called Frijoles Dulces, or "sweet beans" haha.

Thursday was basically Elder Taveras' last day as a missionary. We took him to the mission offices on Friday and he leaves for home tomorrow morning. So for the rest of the weekend I was with the Zone Leaders. We had an awesome time! They are some great guys. My Zone is super small, but with that, we have become pretty good friends. It’s really weird not having Elder Taveras here. And it’s definitely going to be different these coming weeks because I'm not longer a junior companion. But I'm really excited for this transfer, and I’m super excited to work with my new companion.

Elder Cuessi is from Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico. That’s a tongue twister if you want one haha! He’s super awesome and super energetic about being here. I've heard only good about him, so I’m super stoked to get going! He has about 17 months on the mission and he's been a Zone Leader for about the past 9 months. It’s going to be great.

This week I'm going to ponderize Isaiah 9:6 " For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God,The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." As we're getting close to Christmas, we are sharing the story of Christ with everyone we can. It really is a great message. We have a Savior; literally someone who came to save us. What an amazing gift of love. And in this season; it’s the perfect time to celebrate, especially with family and friends. I hope you're all enjoying the Holidays and I wish you an amazing week! I love you all, and I'm so grateful for all your support! Until next week!!

Love, 

Elder Quinn

Federico was baptized by his son, Federico.

Elder Cuessi and I. It’s pronounced like Quest, without the T and with "ee" at the end.

Panoramic from the roof of the Zone Leaders’ house. Chapala and the lake.

Hey everyone, another week down. This week was a little hectic. We've been trying to prepare for baptisms, contacting less-actives, and a slew of other meetings. But it’s still been very good.

We had the baptism of Hermana Guadalupe this last Saturday. We've been visiting her every day this last week to try to get her ready. It went pretty smoothly, and was actually really great. Right after, we had the Young Women in Excellence thing, so it worked out perfect. She was baptized, and then everyone just shifted rooms for the next activity. But it was a great night with some great treats!

We had one of our lowest attendance weeks this last Sunday. I'm not sure if it's just the season, but a lot of the families didn't come. We'll see how these next couple weeks leading up to Christmas turn out.

Elder Taveres leaves for home this next Monday, but he leaves Ocotlan on Friday. I'll be spending the weekend with the Zone Leaders and probably receive my new companion next Monday. Man, it’s gone by crazy fast. And it’s scary that I'll soon be without a trainer to pull me out of all the wholes I dig myself. But I have high hopes, and I know that all will be well. We also had another missionary from our district head home this last week too. We had a nice party with tres leches and it was oh so good!

This week I chose to study Matthew 25:21 "His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." I think I'm still inside the time to choose what kind of missionary I will become. And I want to make it the most satisfying two years of my life. I know that this Gospel is true, and I want to truly exemplify this time.

I hope you've all had a great time this last week, and I hope that this coming week with be a real treat for you all. I'm always wishing the best for all of you! Love you all!! Thanks for all the support!!

Elder Kaden Quinn

The Christmas decorations that I got from my parents!

 The baptism.

Also, I think I'm starting to go bald... I got a haircut a few weeks ago, and the member that does it asked me if you guys have less hair on top. Also, this morning I was brushing my hand through my hair and then I realized that the table was covered in hair.... what do I do?????