Received Monday, November 10, 2014

haha I love the idea of sending the 31 spoons. I read it out to my companion. hopefully christopher can fully live it up on his 31st b-day.

G-man's got a good missionary story, good getting people to read the scriptures, thats always good. also super good inviting your friends to all the church stuff for beebee. that is like exactly what the 1st presidency talks about all the time. cant wait to see chase's no shave picture, recieve a package.

while on the topic of packages, i sent one on like last wednesday I think of the SD card from the camera and some bottle caps, hopefully you will get that this next week.

I hardly even remember my first campout either, thats crazy g-man just went on his. and dont worry his playing with fire skills will get much better.

How did your haircut turn out?

it went well, the guy cut it in a really cool interesting way. he had like 5 different razors lined up that he would switch between as he was cutting. also he cut it finger-width just by sight, it was crazy and he did a good job with it.

 

From last week's letter:

Have you done your grocery shopping today? Buy anything different, interesting, exciting?

3 glasses of island soda, next week i will get a kinder surprise egg (those chocolate eggs with a toy inside, remember those?)

What is a "GLASS of Island soda"? How do you get a glass of something at the grocery story. Tell that please. AND I do not remember the Kinder eggs! Did you eat/get them as a child? Did you get one today? What was the toy? Please speak about that!

think of the "glass of island soda" like a glass beer bottle glass like that. they are sweet and cost about 70 cents and taste really good. I remember somehow eating kinder surprise eggs when i was little, maybe just a prophesy of the future from a dream or something. but yes I have a faint memory of biting into chocolate eggs and finding toys inside. i believe that they used to be legal in the states for a while then they made them illegal because people would get a little overzealous and eat the toy too and choke. I got one today, it was a little porche car. From the contents of the kinder egg I prophesy that I will stay in the area of fast cars in toronto.

 

Did you get snow again this week?

not really, just super cold rain several times.

Did you stay warm?

I did with the beautiful large jacket I have, as well as a smaller jacket i bought.

 

Are you thinking of getting a warmer coat at the thrift shop?

so far no, all seems pretty good.

 

I assume everything turned out fine with your health insurance and SS# issue?

yup, it was just funny to have one of the front office older missionary ladies call me and tell me they were just talking to my mom.

 

During the Sunday School hour, where do you go; which class?

last sunday was a weird/crazy sunday. we went tour our sacrament meeting and neither of the 2 people who were supposed to come showed up, then we actually went to the YSA ward with 2 other investigators who wanted to go to church but are YSA age and wanted to decide which to go to that one or the family ward. kind of a weird situation, in the middle of being passed off to YSA or not.

 

Griffin is right now eating a twinkie. Do you like twinkies? (I got them for his campout. Dad asked specifically.)

Twinkies are ok, the chocolate hostess things are much better though.

 

Have you had any interesting conversations this week?

we found this Nigerian guy named Collin who was baptized in Italy in 1987, sadly has not been to church in canada in 19 years. he was very excited to find out there was a church here. since his baptism has been married the last 10 years and has 5 kids now. he is super cool, he didnt have any time when we met him but he talked for a little and we are calling him tomorrow to set up an appointment.

 

Any good bus rides? Do you have a bus pass, or do you have to pay with cash every time you ride?

we have bus passes, normally we dont really ride on the bus much longer than about 5 minutes though to get to other places.

 

Any good food stories this week?

an awesome filipino lady made tons and tons of food for us to just take home which was awesome. Fried rice, spaghetti, red sauce, samosas (super good, look them up). and lots of bread, it was great.

 

Anything funny happen between you and your companion?

lots of funny ones but for some reason I cant really remember much, a quick one was the other night though. elder burton doesnt like deep doctrine, but one night i was reading a little in abraham (about kolob) and telling him about what i read and it made him go crazy (in a funny way). hmmm not that funny in writing... moving on.

 

How are your investigators?

Muhammad is still learning slowly he can only meet once a week, but still learning. Tammy is too scared to quit smoking, lame, she keeps missing her appointments. really excited about collin's family though, they should be sweet.

 

I cannot remember, did you go to your mission with good, warm, winter boots? If yes, have you worn them? If no, do you think you will get some?

yes I came with them, and they should be very good. I have not worn them yet, I'm waiting until it really snows. before i left i had 1 pair of church shoes that i had for a long time and 1 new pair. that old pair of shoes were a pair that i took from chase right after he left on his mission. sadly they finally broke (sole came lose from the shoe), i will go to value village today to find another pair.

alright thats about it, i love you all!
Quinn

Received Monday, November 3, 2014

Crazy stories. Obviously there is some sort of stroke virus going around, maybe it has something to do with this weird ebola thing i keep hearing about. glad sister card is doing fine though.

 Any extra candy you have from halloween that shouldnt be eaten can always be sent to me as well, it will be disposed of at rapid speed. 

good feet stories too, sadly they go by the metric system here so i dont got too many of those.

Happy birthday to Christopher next sunday! hopefully he gets the gift of the redskins (i think thats his favourite team) not stinking it up that day.

sweet about zak and the new keys, i'm glad hes taking good care of my car while i'm away (just kidding). 

And I always love awkward stories and random people saying weird awkward things.

Questions:

how did the time change work for you, how did you remember to change your clocks??

the zone leaders sent out a text to everyone letting us know, it was a good thing too because we would have had no idea. we heard nothing from the ward about it.

 

How was your Halloween?

uneventful, not much happened. just a regular day then we went in at 6 and did our weekly planning.

 

suggestions for conversation starters: ask people if they have heard of 1D, or 5sos; then ask what their favorite song is. That will get a good conversation started. Then you can talk about The Killers and mention that the lead singer, Brandon Flowers is a Mormon, do you know what that is?? (Your welcome).

I will try that, the only thing is that i have never heard of this weird 5sos thing. i will have to be wary with who i am talking to as well, it might be a little weird when an old chinese woman has no idea who the killers are. I will report next week.

 

do you do much visiting of less active ward members? I went to the early morning church meeting again today and was so impressed by all the visiting that our sisters do.

do you mean like during church or during the week. we normally visit a couple during the week, and during/before we normally try to talk to all the recent converts and returning less active people.

 

By my calculations, you usually email around 3:00 your time. By then you have to have finished your sports for the day. Is that true? If yes, what exactly did you play today? Do you walk to the church in your missionary clothes, change there and change back (all sweaty) into your missionary clothes?

I am pretty sure I normally send my email around 1. I have been finishing a little later the past couple weeks because i have just been getting distracted. I have also heard that sometimes when you send emails from myldsmail it takes a long time to get to where it is sent every once and a while. so no sports done yet today, just the same regular thing, i will get my haircut today though. i am going to go with a 5 on the sides and finger width on top. but yes when we do sports we change at the building, all sweaty.

 

Have you done your grocery shopping today? Buy anything different, interesting, exciting?

3 glasses of island soda, next week i will get a kinder surprise egg (those chocolate eggs with a toy inside, remember those?)

Do you have a dinner appt tonight?

nope :(

 

what did you eat for breakfast this morning?

cereal

 

did you bear your testimony yesterday in church?

nope, i try not to as a missionary, 2 sister missionaries did though.

 

do you stand by the back door and great the people as they walk in?

if by great you mean complement them on how great they are then yes. normally we do, this building only has 1 main entrance so we get to see everyone.

 

Any great stories from you this week?

it snowed! it was pretty cold this week, the day it snowed it got down to 2º (about 36ºF) i broke out my huge coat, its a little over poofy but kept me very warm, it was nice.

 

how are Tammy and Mohammad doing?

Tammy is being lame and keeps pushing back when we meet, but we should be good to meet tonight. We met with mohammad last saturday and he actually basically set his own consistent appointment for every saturday, so he is pretty sweet.

i love you!

Quinn

Received Monday, October 27, 2014

I did hear about that shooting, and you are correct that it did happen in Ontario. The only thing is that Toronto is in Ontario as well. The shooting was in Ottawa which is the capital of Ontario (or all of canada I cant remember). but yea that is pretty far away, Ottawa actually is one of the few parts of ontario not in our mission. I'm not actually sure which mission it is, it possibly might be part of the Quebec, Montreal mission.

Wow I wish our ward had a halloween party, i love chili. Luckily here I've learned about a whole ton of other things that are better though, like roti, and shawarma pizza.

Excited to see what G-man's rex kwon do outfit. Also I thought his pushup story was very funny, read that one to my companion.

Wheelchair basketball is something I have actually wanted to try for a while so that sounds super fun. 

wow its lucky i wasnt playing in that football game or I wouldve scored all my teams touchdowns.

You have never before talked about a new area that was created. You mentioned that in your last letter. So, does your WARD have 2 area's in it now?? That seems like it must be a large map area for one ward! So, will you have 2 sets of elder's going to the same ward?

So our ward covers the entire downtown section of ontario, which is tons of people. So before there were actually 2 sets of missionaries, now there are 3 sets, Toronto North (sisters), Toronto South (us), Toronto East (New sisters).

 

If missionaries don't come and play sports for p-day, what do you think they do for fun that day?

really not sure, probably eat, sleep, or shop. dont worry i make fun of missionaries that do that.

 

Do you have a favorite outfit you like to wear? or a favorite tie?

yes, i love my white shirt, slacks, and tie! oh and my name badge too, that one is sweet. I actually do have a favorite tie though, well its kind of a tie between the ties (pun entirely intended) I love my turqoise one but the orange polkadot fish one you gave me for my birthday is awesome too though. I would like the orange one better except that the tie material is not as nice, it is more thin and wrinkles really easy where i tie the knot.

 

Do you study the PMG every day? Do you just read different parts, or do you start at the first, go to the last?

I try to read from it every day, sometimes I forget though. Normally for personal study, the first half hour I study from PMG/scriptures specifically things that I will be going over that day, then the next 15 minutes i read from the bible then the next 15 i read from the BoM

 

Do you always do Companion Study? How do you decide what to study together?

yes companion study is every day. normally we study a little about what we are doing that day as well.

 

Do you find it is getting easier to start conversations with people? Is it easier to bring up the gospel? I think having that badge is a GREAT advantage! Hmm, maybe I should get a shirt that says "ask me about my 5th son".....that could be my "badge".

It is pretty easy on the street, the only thing i have a problem with is talking to people on the buses and the subway. that one is a little awkward when someone isnt interested at all and you end up sitting right next to them the rest of the trip.

 

Did you have any rain last week? Are you prepared for rain? Meaning do you have something to protect your suit? If you don't I think your suit will stink if it gets wet.

it did rain last week, it rains like every week its crazy. I don't have anything to protect my suit except a broken umbrella, but i almost never go anywhere in my suit for very long so its not that bad. i do have a good rain jacket too that would fit over my suit.

 

When is your next zone conference?

I think next transfer so at least like 4 or 5 weeks.

How often do you meet as a district?

every week that we dont have a zone meeting, so most weeks.

What time are you supposed to be in your apartment at night? Have you ever been late? Do you text or call someone and tell them you are in?

we are supposed to be there at 9 or we can get back at 9:30 if we have a lesson. but yea i have been late before, we have to call our district leaders if we are late.

 

Are you happy with the number of socks you have?

yes I'm all good. In my last apartment the last missionary left a bunch that he didnt need so i took those too. so I have plenty.

 

Are you happy with your ties?

Yes they are great, thank you.

 

What was your best meal from last week?

On saturday a member took us to this restaurant called Swiss chalet. they are all over in canada. they are famous for their chicken, it was great.

 

Do you and your companion both set your alarms? Maybe you only need one to go off, then you both wake up.

yes we both set our alarms to help us wake up and then remind us to wake up.

 

Anything on your Christmas Wish List? Start thinking!

wow, ok i need to start thinking actually, ask me again later.

 

Playing sports as usual today?

of course! always

 

Meet any new people last week?

yes, we met this guy named muhammad who is from some place by kenya, hes pretty sweet. he was busy but he was excited to have us back. and we are helping a lady named tammy quit smoking.

 

Anyone come to church?

nope we had stake conference which is far away so no one wanted to come :(

 

Do you and your companion always sing the songs at church?

yes

alright thats it, i love you all!

Quinn

Received Monday, October 20, 2014

are your bed bug bites lessening?

Yes, All should be good from now on.

 

Our Ward Halloween party is this Saturday. Will your ward have a Halloween party?? Have you heard much about trick or treating?

Our ward is not having a halloween party! I didnt even think about that, thats sad/kinda lame. I think halloween is a real holiday though. On halloween we need to go inside back to our apartments at 6!

 

anyone give you free food this week?

tons and tons, it is great. we are loaded with food right now, it is awesome. I havent had to cook anything for about 2 weeks. just tons and tons of leftovers and meals. lots of turkey, also a filipino lady gave us tons of fried rice (not as good as yours, no meat but still good.)

 

Talk about FB and your mission. Are you allowed to do missionary on your FB? Is that talked about? Are only certain missionaries allowed to do that kind of missionary work?

well I dont really have an ipad yet so I have no idea. I dont think we will get any sort of information like that until we get our ipads, i dont know. but I am pretty sure any missionary can use it. an elder I am emailing from my MTC district in oregon has ipads and he does facebook stuff all the time.

 

Have you heard anything about you getting an ipad? Daniel (your cousin) leaves for his actual mission; I think VA; he is definitely getting an ipad.

Nope heard nothing. oh man that is sweet for daniel, when does he leave again? I forgot to say that there is a portuguese speaking missionary here who is in the ward or stake named Elder Langren. its pretty cool he knows the whole hansen family.

 

Do you come home at night and record in your area book the visits that you make? Our sister missionaries use their tablet for that. It seems so nice and easy.  

we should and that is what usually happens but we forget sometimes. we will do that after we get back and plan.

 

What sports did you play last week, what are you playing this week for p-day?

basketball and soccer, kinda lame though, not many people showed up.

 

Any talk about you moving apartments?

nope we will not move apartments, I think i said that last week. that new apartment was going to the new area they made in the ward.

 

where do you do your emailing?

the church or the library, normally the church

 

How was church on Sunday? Any investigators come?

good, the bishop's son is leaving on his mission to spain this next sunday so he gave a good farewell. we were supposed to have a couple at church but they couldnt make it for lame reasons :(

 

How often do you wear your retainer?

uh oh, hmmmm probably about once a week. I will try to do better.

alright thats about it,

I love you all

Quinn

Received Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Good to know that Forte at least is still awesome. apparently there is a guy in the spanish ward here who gets real sports jerseys for super cheap (like 20$), not sure how he gets them though, i've chosen not to look a gift horse in the mouth. So I might see if i can get a Forte jersey.

glad your facebooking is going well also dad. On this side of canada there is no fry sauce to speak of, but it wouldnt surprise me too much if there was fry sauce in Alberta.

funny story about G-Man too, if thats what he likes then go for it, i bet griffin got a bunch of little slaps on his stomach because he was shirtless though.

also some cool stuff about kylie, so i expect her to be president by the time I get back.

Is the movie playing close by your?

are you allowed to see it?

Could you bring investigators to it?

The only thing I've seen/heard about this movie is from me going on Mormon.org on preparation day. a sister from alberta told me yesterday also that her ward back home had a big showing about it. but really I know nothing about it, so i'm guessing neither me nor any of my investigators will be seeing it any time soon. I'm glad it was good though.

apparently Monday was Canada's Thanksgiving. Did you celebrate at a member's home?

no but a the relief society president (who is tongan) had all the missionaries in the ward over to the church and she and some other people cooked up a ton of food, it was pretty awesome

If yes, what did you eat? 

turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, shishkabobs (filipino woman made those), gravy, other delicious thanksgiving type stuff.

Did seem like the same sort of holiday as it does in America?

very very similar, it seems like most people got their celebration traditions straight from America.

did you ask anyone what Thanksgiving means for the Canadians? (No pilgrims and the Indians, I suppose).

yes, response: "I really dont know" apparently it really isnt that big of a deal to Canadians. 1 Sister from Alberta told us that no one back home ever really even celebrates it. so basically no one really knows, canada just likes holidays. the funny thing is that it seemed like the Americans were the ones who really celebrated it the most here.

Did you have other appts that day?

1 but he canceled. it was this one guy who just came to church and told us he would like to be baptized and apparently he was taught by missionaries before us but those missionaries made no teaching record of him. we were going to meet him that day but then he told us that he realized he had work that day. He was a little crazy but I've seen much worse, really hes pretty awesome.

When did you find out that Canadian Thanksgiving was Monday?

the zone leaders texted us on thursday and told us preparation day was changed to tuesday because of thanksgiving.

Do boys go out and play flag football?

i saw 1 family out playing football but aside from that, no. that family is American I'm guessing. no turkey bowl in this ward or anything.

Last week you were going to look at the thrift store; did you? did you find anything good?

we did not make it to the thrift store that day, we will get there eventually, i dont know.

have you asked anyone to help you with your GPS yet?

i keep forgetting, I will get to it eventually. I wont really need it until I get to a car area again and that is at least 5 weeks away. also we (the zone) met with President on friday and he said that he is going to intentionally try to keep people in the same place for a longer time so they can get to know and work with the ward better.

have you had your bed bugs sprayed again?

we did, and we think/hope they are all gone. it normally takes a couple days for them to really show up and start itching, and I already have a bunch of bites all over me so its hard to tell, I will know in a week or 2. (what a pain to pack up and move all your stuff...)

Anything exciting or different happening today, or this week?

This last week I decided to start learning a specific phrase in every language. I currently know how to say I am handsome in 8 different languages. English, Spanish, French, Mandarin, Arabic, Japanese, Turkish, and Cantonese.

Have you had rain this week?

yup, it rains pretty much every week. also this week has been cold. sadly the time for short sleeves is over (did I say that exact thing last week?). I wore a sweater every day last week except for today its pretty warm actually, so just long sleeve shirt.

eat at Tim Horton's this week?

nope, a woman early in the week gave us a ton of turkey and mashed potatoes and home-made mac n' cheese so we have been eating a lot of it.

Alright thats it,

I love you all!

Quinn