What does the Spirit feel like to you?

So I have an assignment for everyone (Yes this means you too Justin). It has been really fun to see people describe what the spirit feels like to them. So in the next letters I want everyone to say what the spirit feels like to you. Two stories go along with this. The first is of Dima. We had a meeting with him but then he called and said he couldn't meet but really wanted to. Then he offered for us to come to his garage. It's a little ways from town. We went and asked him how he's doing and all. He said that he wanted to meet with us because he feels good when we talk with him. He couldn't really explain it but he said it just feels right. It was really cool. Then he asked so have you found anyone else to come to church? It is so cool working with him. The next day he came to church after txting us that he couldn't make it. He came in and I was surprised to see him he leaned over and said I rearranged my schedule. It was so cool.

Next story is with our investigator Edic. We have had a hard time meeting with him but finally we were able to meet. When we asked him about his reading (to be honest I didn't think he had) he said ya I read the first two chapters. We were like awesome what did you think. He said "I just felt a trust" I had never heard the Spirit described like that, but what a good way to put it. He said he read and it just seemed like it was real, like a good friend is telling you a story and you know they wouldn't lie to you. It was aweosme. We explained that it was the Spirit and he agreed. We then gave him a blessing because his back hasn't been feeling good. He hurt it while he was at work.Again he said that the blessing felt different like something he hadn't felt before. It was so cool. Ah I can't believe I forgot. Edic has accepted a Baptisimal date for the 26th of November.

Alright well I will start out by saying what the Spirit feels to me. It is different is certain circumstances. When I feel the Spirit durring a song or a performance I get the chills. When I bare testimony I feel a strong sense of love and devotion. When I hear a testimony born, I feel really warm inside and something sweels in my chest. But the newest feeling is when I feel prompted to do something. It seems that nothing else matters until I accomplish that task. Now I haven't seen a lot of success after following the promptings but I figure that's just the Lord testing me and making sure I will follow when the time comes. Sometimes I feel impressed to talk to a family about prophets but then the guy will yell at me and say that I should go back to America. Or I'll feel like tracting a certain apartment building but everyone will slam the doors in our faces. So I'll just keep following them. :)

So I realize that I use "It was so cool" a lot but that's the only way I can describe it

There is a big difference between going on a mission and being a missionary!

This language is hard but I get better and better every day. Quick funny story. We were by our church building when this guy came by, we started talking to us and he said he knew some of the missionaries before us. Then he started to comment on their Russian saying some was better than others. Now this guy might be crazy but he thought I was from Russia. He said I look really Russian and that I speak well. Now before everyone jumps for joy, I only said like 5 sentences. And I think I looked Russian because I was wearing my big over coat.


We ran into this guy and he was really excited to know more. We prayed with him and he said he felt something. It was so cool. We got to our apartment to drop off some things and he called us and said hey can wqe meet right now. We were like Ya! So we met him at the church and began the lesson. As the lesson progrssed I could feel the Spirit slipping away. But I couldn't figure out why. Then his questions became attacks and instead of nodding his head he began to shake it. I could litterally see this man's heart hardening. He started get hung up on things like the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then at the end he said ok well I'll call you and actually can you cross my number out in your planners? And lets pretend we never met. Woah, I couldn't figure out what happened. It was so crazy. In less than two hours he became an investigator and then dropped. But he wasn't very smart because we still had his number in our phone. But I don't see us calling him anytime soon.


Oh one more story. Mom I found your new best friend. She is a sister in our ward named Sister Finanko, she reminds me so much of you. She has been trying to get us over for food for about a week but we were always busy. Finally she called and said I have Borsch on the stove and I can't eat it all so you better come over. We went over and all she could talk about was her son on a mission right now. He's in Moscow and just left the MTC in France. She showed us pictures and told us all about him. It was so nice. Then she made us eat like three bowls of Borsch and then some noodles and some weird cold hot dog thing. But it was good. She just made me laugh because she if I feed you then maybe someone in Moscow will feed Volva, her son. It was really nice. When we offered to give her a spiritual thought she ran to her room and grabbed her Book or Mormon and quickly ushered us into the family room. It was awesome.  


Note from me - In case you wanted to know...  :) Borsch is a traditional dish that is made in Ukraine and Russia.  Here are the main ingredients:   

Cabbage, beets, sausage, carrots, potatoes, tomato paste, spices.  Sometimes it is eaten with sour cream on top.  It sounds pretty healthy, but I am not a big fan of beets and cabbage. It sounds like Elder Quinn really likes it.  Okay, now back to Elder Quinn's letter...  


Well thanks for all of the letters. It is so great to hear from everyone. I love you all so much. This has been the coolest month of my life. I love being a missionary and just recently I have really found out the difference of going on a mission and being a missionary. They are VERY different. Going on a mission is easy, but being a missionary is hard, difficult, and challenging, but at the same time really rewarding. I am so glad for my trainer Elder Wells, he really makes us get work done. There is no time for us to rest and sometimes no time to walk between meetings. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here in Ukraine. It's almost scary to think that I have been in the counrty for a month already. It went too fast. But I guess that's what happens when you don't have time to look at your watch.


Just something quick, I have yet to remember my head hitting my pillow. I get up off my knees after praying, then the next thing I know the alarm is going off. It's great, I've never slept better in my life. Also if you want to lose weight, come on a mission to Ukraine. I think I've lost 15 pounds already. 


Melissa I got the pictures you sent by mail. Last night we had a fun game of guess which baby is which with one of our part member families. They loved the pictures. Now that I believe they can make it here everyone should send more. :) 

Isaac and Andrew Black - two of Elder Quinn's nephews 

Love you all,  Elder Quinn

"Mobsters deserve the Gospel too."

....We started out doing as President said and praying with people on the street. It went really well. People really softened their hearts after we prayed!We walked up to these two guys who looked like mobsters but we decided "Mobsters deserve the Gospel too." But we started to talk with them and they didn't really want any of it. Then we asked if we could pray. Just by asking the whole mood changed. They said yes and asked if we could pray for them to find work because their families are in Armania and they came to get jobs. So we did and they were really thankful. They both took Books of Mormon and said they would read.


Now for a tracting story. This one is really cool too. We decided to go tracting in a Dom which is just an Apartment building. But we couldn't decide which one. Finally we felt like going all the way to this far one. There were two doors and to get in you have to be buzzed in. So we were about to call someone to let us in when the other one opened so we quickly grabbed it before it shut. We started at the top and said were going to go until 8:00. At 7:55 with no luck we decided to do one more door. When the lady came around the corner for some reason I though "Relief Society President." haha she was a nice poofy haired lady. She let us in so we could talk to her sons. But after talking to them for awhile she became interested and wanted to know more as well. It was so cool to see all that went into finding this family. They were way nice and super interested. They each took a Book of Mormon and said they would read it. 


Dima was gone all week but we kept calling him and seeing how he was doing. We met with him Friday night and it went awesome. We asked strait out what do you think about Joseph Smith. He said Well the Book of Mormon is true so then so is he. It was so cool. We pushed his baptisimal date back to the 12th of November. This is so we can teach him the commandments in lesson 4. But other than that he's doing great. It's so crazy to think that I ran into him on my first day here. 

She laughed until she cried - nice confidence booster.

Here are a few snippets from Elder Quinn's last letter, Chase has been in the Ukraine for three weeks now...  Ok so for the language. I can't understand anything people are saying to me. While on exchanges a sister in our branch called. I could barely hear her because of the static. I thought she said "It is hard to hear because of the phones I'll call back later" So I said "Ok I understand, thanks, bye." But what she actually said was "Give the phone to Elder Wells, I have a question for him." When I saw her the next day she could barely tell the story without crying from laughing so hard. So ya that was a nice confidence booster. There are so many rules to remember and people talk way too fast. I keep trying to stay positive but it's so discouraging. I just don't get it.  


So this week we haven't been able to meet with Dima. We went over to his house to give him a blessing but he couldn't let us in because his wife wasn't home. Apparently her parents gave it to them so she decides who can and can't come in. Then the next day he went to Kiev and is gone through this week. We may have to move his baptisimal date back. But on other news we got two new investigators this week. One is Ura (sounds like youra) and the other is Edik (like Eddie but with a k). They are both great guys. Ura has met with the Missionaries before but feels he has never got an answer. Edik is new and has never read the Bible. But hes way nice, he has been the only person to call us a appologize for not being able to come to our lesson. But we met with him the next day.

This week my companion went on exchanges with another Elder. Which put Elder Welch and I together. If you don't remember we have both only been here for three weeks. But we did what we could and unfortunately all of our lessons fell through, but we contacted a ton of people. So that was good. So now for the funny story. We were at to the store to buy bread for tomorrow. We got to the check out line when suddenly he had a sudden realilization of where we are. He was like "Woa we are in Ukraine" and I was like "Ya" then he starting talking about how three months ago we didn't even know each other and now we are in a foreign country in a super market in a language we don't fully understand. He asked me "Why is this normal?" I just started to laugh because I had never thoguht about it that way before. It was so funny telling our companions about it.

Elder Quinn holding a chinchilla. One member of his Branch breeds them 

Elder Chase Quinn standing on the Odessa steps.  He said that his mission president ran up and down them 10 times!  You can see the Black sea in the background.  Elder Quinn is looking great with his name tag on and a Book of Mormon in hand.  We love you
 Elder Quinn and are proud of you.    

Don't worry all is well with Elder Quinn.

Today we didn't get a letter/email from Elder Quinn, like we usually do on Mondays :(    It turned out that his companion was sick and so they were not able to go out.  It is funny though... I received an email from another missionary to tell me why Chase was unable to write.   The subject line read: "Don't worry all is well with Elder Quinn."  and the first thing I thought was "Oh no, what is wrong."  There's a mother for you.

Taking His Name Upon Me - Advice from Dad

Dear Elder Quinn

Before receiving your last email, I read the following article in the Ensign.  I thought it contained several lessons that you might find valuable.  Again, I am impressed with the  great attitude you have displayed since beginning your mission.  I remember a few lonely days early in my mission as I was working to learn the language.  Perhaps this article will be helpful to you or another missionary you work with:

Taking His Name upon Me     

A few weeks into my mission, I began to feel lonely and a bit homesick. I loved being a missionary, but the work was much harder than I had anticipated. I missed my friends, my family, and all the familiar things I’d left back home. During my personal study one morning, I sat quietly, turning my missionary name tag over and over in my hands, thinking about how I longed for familiarity. I wished I could just hear somebody call me by my first name.

As I looked at my name tag, I noticed that although my first name was absent from the tag, I saw my family name, the name of the Church, and the name of the Savior printed on it. Suddenly I recognized something that changed both my outlook and my attitude. I realized that as a missionary I wasn’t there to represent myself. Instead I was serving to represent my family back home and, most important, I was representing my Savior and His Church. I put the name tag on my shirt pocket, right over my heart. As I did so, I promised my Savior that I would more fully give Him a place in my heart and mind.

I didn’t miss hearing my first name after that morning. From then on I worked and served the best I could, proudly wearing my name tag every day. During the times I began to feel discouraged, I looked at my name tag, and it reminded me of my responsibility to follow Jesus Christ’s example.

I made an effort to take His name upon myself more fully and to become more like Him. As I did, I felt more love for my companions and those I served, my testimony was strengthened, and I found joy in missionary work. I began to forget myself and to focus on serving the Lord.

I’ve been home from my mission for several years now, but I still have the opportunity to take the Savior’s name upon myself. In fact, as members of the Church, all of us commit to take upon ourselves the name of Christ each Sabbath day when we take the sacrament. As we do so, we promise to represent our Savior the best we can and to strive to become more like Him. As King Benjamin taught: “I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ. … Whosoever doeth this shall be found at the right hand of God, for he shall know the name by which he is called; for he shall be called by the name of Christ” (Mosiah 5:8–9). By taking His name upon us, we can each find more purpose and joy in our earthly missions.
Ensign pg. 8 August 2011


Love, Dad 

quick update and a few photos

Hello family and friends
...So now about Dima. He is awesome!! On Monday we met with him and asked if he read. He said ya I read 10 chapters it;s really cool. He asked why did Nephi kill Laban. I almost started to laugh because we went over how to answer that question like 40 time in the MTC. But the cool part was that he said that The Book of Mormon felt like the Bible. So we asked is it because the way it is written? and he said no it just feels good, even better than the Bible. I was like YES!! but not out loud haha. He is awesome. Unfortunately his wife is uninterested and is always gone when we go over. But this week he goes to Kiev for Cancer Treatment. Tomorrow we are going over to give him a blessing. Please pray that it all goes well. The doctors are really hopeful so it sounds like it should be ok. But ya Dima came to church yesterday for testimony meeting and the Members did great. They all shared their conversion stories and blessings from the church. There hasn't been one person born into the Church from our branch. 
So this week was pretty tough we got like 15 numbers and addresses and 10 of them were fake. I wish people would just tell me no instead of make me walk all over the place. But I learned in the MTC that if we get dogged on a lesson then we need to talk to the first person we see because God knows why he wanted us there. It has turned out pretty good. We got a couple more numbers and they seem genuinely interested. We have learned to call them as soon as they give it to us so we can hear their phone ring. So hopefully we get a lot of lessons next week. 

Elder Quinn and his missionary companion

The Temple in Keiv 

Beautiful sunset in Ukraine over the Black Sea

Group of Missionaries Elder Quinn traveled to the Ukraine with. 

Service project

Group from the branch serving together