My trainer "died" off. I have a new companion

Pues.. My mom died this last week. It was just her time. We held a beautiful service and the park by our piso. Many a tears were shed. Hahaha but seriously. My trainer “died” (and my half-sister too.. stupid feet of hers!!) She was the best trainer I could have possibly had! and I miss her and Hermana Andrus lots! 

Anyways, I have a new comp!! Her name is Hermana Perez and she is from Uruguay and she is awesome!! (a little quiet.) But she is so sweet. And the great thing is she speaks really good English! Que bendición! But, we speak mostly in Spanish, which is really good for me. My Spanish has come a long way!! 

Well, it was a bit of a rough week for me. Taking over an area is hard, especially when I’m still trying to figure out how to be a missionary. So our first night was rough and no one was home!! It’s gotten a bit better these last two days though. But it’s an adjustment! Just a bit stressful for me. 

Funny story of the week. We locked ourselves out of our piso this last week. haha so one of the things about spain is that you need a key to get in or out of a door (you lock it with a key from the inside.) make sense? Anyways we left the key inside on accident. So we tried all these ways to break in, and had the elders come help, and tried everything and it didn’t work. So we eventually called a locksmith and he came and did the same exact thing we had tried. It took him 2 minutes and we paid him 50 euros.. haha so dumb!!! 

Cool story from last night.. Again all of our plans had fired on us so we decided to drop by Andrea and Sebastian to see how they were doing, and at their home was this reference that Andrea had given us earlier! So we taught him about the Book of Mormon, and then she pulled out the restoration video we had given them and we watched that too. It was so cool! We asked him if he believed it could be true, and he said anything was possible with God. And we asked him if he would pray to know the Book of Mormon was true, and he said he would pray after every verse :) so cool!! We are having a FHE with them tonight, so I am very excited for that:)

Remember to watch and to share the video "He is the Gift." It’s such a great opportunity to share what Christmas is really all about, and to celebrate the greatest gift that God has given us. Christ is central to everything that we believe and everything that we have. I love being a missionary at this time of year, and having the opportunity to bring others unto Christ. 

Hope you all have a great Christmas season! Thank you for the letters and the emails and the love :)

Les quiero! 

Hermana Knowles

A White Christmas !!!

Well, I know it’s not Christmas yet but… it’s been a white December! with a baptism!!:) Rafael was baptized this last Saturday. I love that old man!! Everything leading up to the service was a little stressful and frustrating. But man when it came down to it, it was amazing! and he was BAPTIZED!! He bore the sweetest testimony after. AHHH! I am so happy for him!!

So my comp is dying this week.. :( I am so so sad to see her go!! She was the best trainer ever that taught me so much! But I am getting a new comp this Wednesday, and she is from Uruguay! So basically she doesn’t speak much English. This will be great for my Spanish though :)

I had to translate a visiting teaching lesson for these two members in the ward, my first time translating. I was a little nervous but I did alright :) (I did have a little help from my comp). But since my next comp doesn’t speak much English I will have to translate it all next time! Wish me luck :)

We have seen so many miracles this transfer! We´ve met so many people who are prepared, we´ve seen a less active member change, and now he is working to go on a mission! We have seen people´s lives change because of this gospel. And we have seen Rafael change as he has been baptized! I love this work!!

Thanks for your prayers and your letters and emails. It means so much to me!

Love, Hermana Knowles

Happy December!!!

Another GREAT week in Fuen!

THANK YOU young women for the sweet note and candy! it made my day!:) 

RAFAEL IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!:) He's our favorite little old man that we visit everyday at his kiosk. He finally committed to a date for baptism! He has been ready for months, but would never commit to a date. but this last week we felt like we should ask his the baptismal interview questions in our lesson, and he said that those helped him realize that he was ready to be baptized. When we asked him to be baptized on the 6th of December, he said that he had heard that date before.. that it was the day that God told him he needed to be baptized. I'm so excited for him! So the service will be this Saturday:)

Another little miracle we had this week.. all of our citas (appointments) had failed us one night.. so we were having a little bit of a rough night. We sat down on this curb to call some people, and then this guy walked out of the building we were sitting in front of so we got up to talk to him and got his info, and then we decided to leave and go to another area. We got to the end of the street and I realized I'd left the Book of Mormon on the curb, haha so we had to go back. And that's when we noticed this guy standing in his doorway, and all of the sudden Hna Folsom just walked straight toward him and started talking. Come to find out, it was this guy that Hna Folsom had contacted a few months ago but hadn't been able to reach again. But we found him! and he was so ready to listen! So if I hadnt of left that book we wouldn't have found him again.

For Thanksgiving our whole zone went to Malaga and had a big feast! It was good! and I'm glad we still got the opportunity to do it here in Spain:)

Yesterday was the primary program and it was SO CUTE and so well done! ahhh I wish you all could've been there! The sweetest thing was these two little boys who were about 7, and when one of the boys had a speaking part, the other one read it and whispered into the other boy's ear what to say. It was so tender!

AHH I love the mission!

Oh, and we went to a castle today. That was pretty cool I guess... :) Spain is the best!

And the people here are the best!

Les quiero mucho!

Hermana Knowles

Two months completed!!

Okay. We had the COOLEST PDAY this last week! We went to this ancient town that’s set on this gorge that is from before Christ. It’s soooo pretty! Pictures can’t even do it justice. My whole district took a two hour train (where we played lots of phase 10) and got to Ronda. We hiked down to the bottom of the gorge. Then we went to this cool torture museum (the elders loved that) and then we went to this old palace that had these mines that went into the walls of the gorge that were from this Muslim kind in the 14th century. It’s so cool! We were sure that there was a hidden city in the walls of the gorge. And then we found those mines and realized we were probably right! haha it was the prettiest place I had ever been too. 

So, now about missionary work.. 

Our Indian investigator Colgit invited us over for some traditional Indian food. So we had curry chicken, which I love, and this other bread. It was so good! It was a funny eating cita though because well.. she doesn’t speak English or Spanish. But she has a friend who does speak English, and he was there for another one of our lessons which was great! So I’m hoping that will help us to progress with her. 

There are these three kids that we call the paraguayos where two of them are less active and the other boy wants to get baptized but his mom won’t let him yet. We see that almost every day. The oldest is 18 and his name is Ernesto, and up until this last week he has just been a punk and not been interested in anything. But we invited him to come play futbal with all of us one day, and afterwards he said he wants to start coming out with the missionaries again!! He has come with us to a couple lessons now and has been reading the things in Preach My Gospel that we ask him to prepare! It’s so cool to see that change in him! And now he talks about serving a mission himself... miracles! 

Salvador (who has a date for baptism) tried to fetching drop us this week! I think he is having a hard time giving up marijuana and tobacco. But he wanted to go to the evangelic church again. So we told him to go check it out, and see the difference that he feels. He says he feels the spirit with us, so I know that when he goes there he won’t feel the same spirit that our gospel has. So he is going to it tomorrow, and will let us know his answer on Wednesday. We are praying for him! 

It was a great week! Love you all

Hermana Knowles

New photos

Fun on some p-days, with distric, and with a family who let me teach them.

Well, Jesus Loves You

Another great week in Fuengirola!!

So I’ll start out with a funny story. We were knocking on our investigators door when this man from Africa saw us and started talking to us (I’m pretty sure he was high). He tried to give us kisses on the cheeks but we said we couldn’t because we were missionaries. But we said we would love to meet with him and his wife another time. And then he said that he loved us, and that he didn’t love his wife, but that he loved us. Hahaha and Sis Folsom said "Well, Jesus loves you." and it’s been our joke ever since.

Ahh there is so much that happens everyday! So everyday we get up at 7, work out, get ready, eat, study for two hours, and then leave at 11 to go proselyte until 2. Then we come back for medio dia (the Spanish SIESTA time) and eat and study till five. And then we go out and work until 10! And we don’t get dinner... I love it though!

We had some great lessons this week! We set another fecha (baptismal date) for our investigator Carlos, so please pray that he will be able to come to church because he is golden! Salvador is our other investigator with a fecha. And we had the greatest and most spiritual lesson with him this week. And I was able to speak more! But he told us that he thinks that I was sent there to teach him the gospel. And that we were both angels sent there to help him in his life. How amazing is that??  It shows the power that the Lord gives us to do this work because I know there is no way that I could be doing this on my own. 

There is another investigator that we teach that is from India, and she knows NO Spanish and NO English. They are the most interesting lessons ever. They use a LOT of hand motions and a lot of random Spanglish like "husband.. restaurant.. comida.. gusta.. poquito poquito.. husband.." hahahaha. We were about to drop her because we couldn’t communicate, but as we were walking out she stopped us and said "come.. casa.. later. I like.. feeling.. when you´re here." again.. The spirit is so powerful! 

So many stories! We had our first zone meeting in Malaga. Our zone has 40 missionaries! They just combined our district with this zone, because the other one was sooo far away for us. So now we have a giant zone. haha but afterward we all got pizza and that was awesome. Yesterday we had stake conference, in Grenada which is about two hours away haha. But one of our investigators came which was awesome!! 

The Spanish is coming along.. slowly but surely. and now the lessons have been more balanced because I can speak more! But I still can’t hold normal conversations on the street. Last pday, we went to this little pueblo called Mijas, which is a white little town in the mountains and is SO PRETTY! so we got pizza there with our district and made our own chocolate bars at this famous little place! so cool. 

I know that the Lord gives me so much strength and power as I do His work, and that I couldn’t do any of it without him. We really have a power in this calling. It’s not normal for people to give their home address and phone number to some random 20 yr old kids, but it happens every day because they can feel the spirit in our message. It’s amazing to experience:)

Now to answer a view questions.  My comp and I are crazy together. She’s like me on steriods haha. I love my district! There are we three hermanas and six elders. But really only 4 because the other two are the office elders and they never do anything with us. We see the president and his wife like 3 times a week and they’re in our ward! All of us missionaries go to the same ward, so missionaries are like a huge part of the ward! We haven’t eaten anything too weird.. um lental soup that has chicken on the bone. They eat everything on the bone, even when it’s in the soup. But of the 3 eating citas we´ve had they’ve all been good. We haven’t gone door to door, but we will talk to people on our way to each cita (appointment). but we are usually pretty busy with appts! 

Oh, and how I said last week that the weather was perfect.. IT’S FREEZING NOW. Well some days are reeeally cold and some days are perfect. And some days it starts out cold and then gets HOT or the other way around. It’s great. But still probably nicer than back home.. (hahaha sorry family) 

Love you all, thanks for the support! Love, Hermana Knowles

Alyssa with her first assignment in Fuerengirola, Spain.

Alyssa has finished the MTC and has been assigned to her first location. She arrived on 27 Oct. In typical Alyssa fashion it's on the beach. All the photos are from her new assignment. Her new address is:
 

Hermana Knowles

Paseo Jesus Santos Rein Nº 2, 3d-e

Feungirola, 29640 (Malaga)

Spain

If you get a chance I'm sure she'd love a letter. Cheers. Mike

--------------------------------

HOLA! I'm officially out in the field in my first area with my new companion and trainer!! I am with Sister Folsom and she is the BEST! We are already best friends. She's from Seattle and I'm killing her off in 5 weeks:) which means that she is going home next month!! and then I will get a new trainer to finish out the six weeks. I LOVE HER. Fuengirola is our area. It is right next to Malaga and right on the BEACH! haha it's great. From one paradise to the next. Just imagine the best place to vacation in the world and this is it. It's pretty touristy, and this is basically where everyone in Europe goes to retire. So there are a bunch of Scandanavian people here! and also a lot of Africans. I love it!

 

Holy cow this place is GORGEOUS. It goes from pretty mountains with the prettiest towns to the beach and Meditteranean Sea. The homes here are my favorite. They are white with brown roofs with Spanish tile and it's amazing and can't even explain it in words. I love the area and I love my trainer!

Leaving the MTC and leaving my district was hard! But I'm sooo happy to be out here! We left the MTC early last Tuesday morning and took a train to Malaga that took about 3 hours. President and Sister Deere and some other missionaries picked us up and we headed out to this pretty area (which turned out to be in our ward's area) and started proselyting right away! and we had some pretty amazing experiences with that. And then we got to the mission home- which is probably the prettiest home I've seen- and had some orientation and got to meet our trainers! Sis folsom and I got along instantly. She is hilarious! 

 

We stayed at the mission home that night, and had to do some things in the morning, but then we had to take everyone else to the train cuz they all had like 4-8 hour train rides to their area. But ours was right here hahaha. My piso is pretty nice! we all have our own room for our stuff, but sleep in the same room. but I have my own bathroom! We live on the ninth floor, and can see the ocean from our balcony:) haha We are only a couple blocks away. Oh, we have a sorta third companion Sister Andrus. She has feet problems and might go home but lives with us and works in the mission office. She's awesome. None of our drains have been working in our piso though.. haha our sink was so clogged that we had to wash the dishes in my bathroom sink. please pray for my piso!

 

K I love misisonary work!! My first day, we got 6 new investigators! and I set my first fecha (date) for baptism!!! We should actually have three dates, but Raphael needs to quit drinking and Andrea needs to get married. But Salvador has a date for the 22nd! so please pray for them! So my favorite investigators are Andrea and Sebastaion! and their baby girl! Sebastian is less active but coming back, and Andrea is so ready to get baptized but it takes a while for marriages here in Spain. But we love them and the ward loves them a lot, so we call them Los Perfectos! cuz they are perfect:) Raphael is this old man that works at this little kiosk by the beach. So we go visit him in his kiosk every day and he always sets out candy and stuff for us. He is the sweetest man ever! 

Gosh, there have been so many things I don't know what to say! We have about 4 progressing investigators. But we've been teaching a lot of investigators and a lot of lessons! There is a lot of work that needs to be done here! 

We have four future investigators that are all named Ali and are all from Senegal. so we call them Ali 1 Ali 2... we had a cita (appt) with Ali 2, but I think we had the wrong address so we wound up at this appt with 6 other men from Senegal and they let us in and we taught them a little bit and gave them a Book of Mormon in French and they said we could come back later! So they were our six new investigators. But when we went back they ended up dropping us.. hahah. But Ali 2 was there and he wanted us to still call him and another man kept reading in the BofM, so I think they are both still interested! we will see!

So they sorta celebrate Halloween here. It's really funny cuz it's just becoming big and they don't really know how it's done. But we went to the ward Halloween party and that was good.

Sorry this is so long. This week was great and I love the work!!!! and I thought i knew Spanish but I really don't.

Love you all!

Hermana Knowles

Alyssa in her first assignment -- on the beach of course

Hermana Knowles in Fuerengirola, Spain with her new companions. Fuengirola is of course on the beach of the Meditterean coast. Sister Folsom is her new trainer (one with dark hair). Sister Andrus is another companion for a little while too.

Last week in the MTC

This has been such a good week!!! But it has started getting sad. We
had to say goodbye to our favorite teacher early because he is going
back to Ecuador for school. So we threw him a surprise "party" with
balloons and stolen treats from the kitchen haha. Hermano Larrea
is the best. At the end, before he left, we all sang "God be with you
till we meet again." Wow. That was the hardest time I have ever had
singing that song. None of us were even able to get to the chorus,
because all of us got too choked up and were crying. We were so so
blessed to have him as a teacher. The same goes for all of our
teachers. They are all amazing! It's crazy how close we get in such a
short time, and how much love that you grow for people! I can't even
imagine how hard it will be to say goodbye to my district in four
days. They are all headed to Barcelona and I'm headed to Malaga. We
told president it's not fair to stick us together and make us love each
other so much and then rip us apart!! 

There are a lot of funny stories from this week but my favorite was Tuesday morning. haha we were in class during personal time and had opened the window, and a bee
flew in. So we were trying to shew it out but it kept flying into the
light. So someone had the bright idea to turn off all the lights and
then maybe it would be attracted to the light of the sun and fly
outside. So when we did, it went super dark in the room, and the bee
made a beeline (hahaha) straight for Sis McWhorter's face. She
screamed BLOODY MURDER. Not just an ahhh like an
aaaahhhhaahhhhahahhhhhh. hahahah and everyone ran out of their
classrooms to see what happened. It was too funny. Anyways I ended
up being the hero because I hit it mid air with a book and it died, but
that's a whole other story. 

We went to the temple this morning, and watched (most of) the session
in Spanish!! Which was soo cool! And it was my favorite session we´ve
been too. And then the temple pres and his wife took us on a tour of
the rest of the temple. It's been a great morning.

So there is a sister from Tahiti! So you know me and Sis lee were like
“Polynesian!!” We were so excited!! And we had her teach us tamure. It
was a good taste of my Hawaiian home to have here in Spain!

Anyways.. I'm going to miss everyone here so much! BUT, I am so so excited to serve the people of Malaga in just a few days!! This Sunday was amazing, and the most spiritual day we've had here yet. We watched the Joseph Smith movie, which I have seen before. But I felt the spirit more than I had ever before felt when watching it. I was able to go visit all those church sites this summer, and that was amazing, but nothing compares to the spirit I felt watching it as a missionary. I challenge you all to watch it, and think about the miracles and the responsibility we have now. You will be touched! 

Love you all so much! Thanks for the prayers and support. I'll send my new address as soon as I get it:) 

Love
Hermana Knowles

New address--MTC almost complete

Hermana Knowles completes the MTC next week. Her address at the mission home in Malaga will be:

Sister Alyssa Knowles
Spain Malaga Mission
Av. Jesus Santos Rein No.2, 3 D-E
Edif. Ofisol
Fuengirola
29640 Malaga
SPAIN

She'll be in the mission home for a couple of days and then will go to some assignment in the mission. But the mission home will always know where she is. She still loves letters.

One Month!

Hola! 

I have no idea how the heck it is already pday again.. Time is so weird here!! Days feel so long but the weeks flyyyy by! Oh. I have been here for exactly one month! And in less than two weeks i will be out in the field…. WHAT. 

So, there are a LOT of  things that i have learned in my first month in the mission and at the MTC, and here are a few…

#1 Missions are the hardest, but most rewarding thing in the world. I am absolutely loving it here! We spend 10 hours in class everyday, and run off little sleep, but honestly, it is the best thing i have ever done.

#2 Russians love two things.. nutella and whipped cream. And they put in on everything. And LOTS of it. Haha. Also do not ever play dodgeball with them. Its terrifying. Same with basketball, or really any sport. I LOVE THE RUSSIANS. 

#3 Peanut butter is our saving grace here. The food is even worse than the caf at byuh (which is saying a lot). 

#4 There are 3 universal languages.. love, food, and charades. (and the spirit. For sure) 

#5 i think i brought too many clothes (yes mom, you were right. hahah) its been a month and i am still wearing new things almost everday! I guess its not such a bad thing though right?

#6 your ability and capacity to love grows so much as a Missionary! I have so much love for people! For my comp, my district, my teachers, and random people on the Street! And i just want to help them all!

#7 General conference is like christmas for missionaries. So is receiving letters ;)

#8 There is no such thing as personal time on a mission. 

#9 Spaniards are the most beautiful and kind people i have ever seen! I am so excited to get out of this building  and serve them! 

#10 When you are doing the Lords work, He will bless you ten fold for everything that you are sacrificing. I was struggling so much when i first got to the MTC, and it was really hard for me! For about the first week or so. And then i was called to be an STL, and i had no idea how i was going to serve and comfort all these others sisters when i needed it so much myself. But the amazing thing is that since then, i have had no troubles with learning the language, no moments of dispair, or stress, or anger, or anything of that sort. I have honestly been so blessed! And because of that i have been able to focus on others instead of myself. I HAVE BEEN SO BLESSED. And i know that when you turn to the Lord, that he will help you through anything, and that he will bless you in so many ways. 

#11 i think i have an even worse memory than before, because i cant remember all the other things i wanted to say (oopsies) (hahaha hermana Lee is my favorite, and she has gotten our whole district to say oopsies. I love her) 

#12 I HAVE THE BEST COMPANERA IN THE WORLD. 

#13 Everyday feels the same. I never know what day of the week it is  or what the date is or what year in even is. (except that last one is always true for me.)

Anyways, i am doing great and loving my mission! And i am so excited to get out to the field in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS. Love you all! 

Yo se que Jesucristo es nuestro Salvador  yyRedento , y que Dios es nuestro amoroso Padre Celestial. Yo se que Thomas S Monson es un profeta llamado de Dios. Yo se que las familias son eternas. Este conocimiento nos ayuda a vivir feliz. 

Hermana Knowles

Third week in Spain

Good week for Alyssa. Sorry this late. 

Another great email from Alyssa. She enjoys emails but has little time to read them and would love letters.  

I've attached a link to her blog and remind you of her facebook page which shows her contact information as well. Those will have more photos. 

We appreciate all of your support. We're very proud of Alyssa. 

Mike 

Sister Alyssa Knowles 

Spain malaga Mission

Spain Missionary Training Center

4a. Planta

Calle del Templo N. 2

Madrid 28030

SPAIN

email address:  alyssaknowles@myldsmail.net

blog:  sisteralyssaknowles.blogspot.com

---------

¡Hola familia! and friends:) 

This week has been great! My time here has gone by SO FAST. Like I have no idea how it is already p-day again!?

Good news, my Spanish is improving! haha we are actually able to give lessons like fully in Spanish! we used to always have what we wanted to say scripted out, but we haven't had to do that anymore:) slowly but surely it is happening..

Nothing really exciting happened this week.. except for General Conference!! Oh my gosh conference is the best thing ever! Especially as a missionary. It is so amazing that we have modern day apostles and prophets that lead us today. I think President Monson's talk was my favorite! about walking the path that Jesus walked. Christ walked the path of disappointment, and temptation, and pain. And he also walked the path of happiness and obedience, and the path of prayer. He understands EVERYTHING that we are going through. He has felt the joy and excitement we have felt, as well the suffering and pain. And because of that he can help us through anything! President Monson said that we should "walk the path of our Savior and follow his perfect example." He has provided a PERFECT example for us to live by. And his path will lead us safely home. So if you guys have not heard that talk yet, I recommend that you go listen to it now! And if any of you want to understand a little more about why I am doing what I'm doing, listen to the talk by Elder David A. Bednar [I've attached the talk she's referring to.] https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/come-and-see?lang=eng&media=video#watch=video 

These last few days have been especially funny! I think we are all just losing it.. haha but the funniest one might have been in a lesson with an investigator when Sis. Lee accidently said the f word in spanish... hahaha and our teacher didn't tell us until after the lesson. But it was so funny! So my morning teacher, Bro Larrea (he's from Ecuador and he is so funny!!) is my favorite! We were in class when this Russian elder walked by and was making these sounds like errrrrrr really deeply. and Bro Larrea just said under his breath with the same voice "errrr I'm a missionary." haha it probably doesn't sound that funny, but we all found it hilarious! He says so many funny things everyday. But yes, we are all going crazy. haha

crazy thing is that we are half way done with our time at the MTC!! Time is flying!!! 

I love you all! I hope you enjoyed conference. (and if you haven't watched it.. go figure out what your missing out on.)  :) 

Love, 

Hermana Knowles

Week 2 down!!

Alright, TWO WEEKS DOWN! We are already on our third week here at the CCM! That means I only have like 3 and a half more weeks left to attempt to learn Spanish. Haha the language is such a struggle for me!! Its cool though, I didn’t want to communicate with people here anyways. Just kidding, its coming, just very slowly:)

So big news of the week… my companera Hermana Lee and I got called as SISTER TRAINING LEADERS! So basically we are the zone leaders for all the sisters here at the MTC! We don’t have that many set responsabilities, but we hold interviews with all the sisters to make sure they are doing alright and see if they need any comfort or have any other needs. We are also supposed to mediate if there are any issues between companionships or anything! Our last sister training leader just left this last week to Russia! And she was such a blessing, and seriously helped me out so much my first week because it was so hard for me! Fun fact she is from Meridian. Her name is Sister Killpack and she is awesome! So it was scary for me to think that I would have to go from being the one needing a lot of comfort to being one who would provide that for others. Ether 12:27 right! All I know is that the Lord will provide a way for me to do this. :)

So the Portugese missionaries and the Russian missionaries all left this week and it was so sad! Since it is so small we have seriously just become such a big family. And you just grow to love everyone SO MUCH! And it is so cool because we get to see our MTC President and his wife everyday, and get to have a close relationship with them. I was honestly not so excited to come to this MTC because it was so small, but I love it so much!! We just got like 20 new Russian and Ukrainian missionaries this week, so our number is up to about 30 or 40! Its so interesting and so cool.

This MTC is also cool because we get to go to downtown Madrid for P-Days!! We went and saw this palace and then went to the Plaza del Sol or something like that.. haha it was so pretty. SPAIN IS SO COOL. And we get to go back today!:) P-Days are the best day of the week!! We start out with a temple session in the morning, then we get to email home, and then go out and explore Spain. Haha we feel like we are like royalty in this palace called the MTC, but we just want to go out and explore the world like those princesses do in those Disney movies. I love it here! But I am so excited to get out on the mission and be able to talk to real investigators:) and I feel like I have no time for anything here.. especially with my calling now. But my president said that anything that we aren’t able to do will be made up by the Lord ten fold. Which is pretty cool!!

We got to go to the park again this week, and I had a lot of really cool experiences! We taught like the entire restoration to this Taiwanese  girl, and she said she’d meet with some more misisonaries. But then some guy asked if we believed in elves and witches.. HAHA.

 So, they don't have Dr. Pepper here in Spain, but I was talking to two elders who are going to Russia and we were talking about how much we loved it. So on P-Day they got to go to this American store...and they brought me back Dr. Pepper!!!!:) Haha week made!! They are the best!

Oh, and I basically have the BEST companera in the world. I have no idea how she puts up with me all the day:) but we are like the same person and get along really well! Which president said was necessary to be able to be a sister training leader. I LOVE HER.

Anyways, I am doing great! BUT, I would appreciate letters pleeeease! I have hardly any time to email, plus getting letters is the best:) LOVE you all!! Thanks for all the love and support!!

 

Love, Hermana Knowles

First week in Spain

¡Hola!

Holyyyy cow! this has been the craziest week and a half of my life!! Sorry we don't get much time to email, but I appreciate everyone's emails!! and I will find some time to respond to everyones I promise! Love you all!

This has been such a humbling week for me! It has been really hard, but I have received too many blessings to count. I am constantly reminded of how I could do nothing without the Lord, and that he is always there to help me.

My adventure started off super crazy, since my flight got changed to 6:40 am last monday morning, so I definitely didn't sleep at all that night. and then I had a four and a half hour layover in Salt Lake, where I met another sister that I'd met before that's going to my mission in Malaga! Her name's Alyssa too. She's basically my favorite person.  We waited four hours till anyone else showed up, and then there were about 5 other sisters and one elder heading to the mtc! So all those flights were.. great.. and I did not sleep at all on our overnight flight, so that was two nights without sleep!

So we finally all got to Madrid!! and guess what, both my bags were lost. haha. I didn't get them for another three days. so that was fun! but luckily, sisters offered me everything I needed! but when my bags came I seriously cried cuz I was so happy!!!

So the mtc.. this one is TINY! There are only 25 of us missionaries. with 11 elders and 14 sisters. 7 are going to Russia  (which makes all us Spanish learners sooo happy that we are learning Spanish and not Russian!) and 5 that are going to Portugal, they are from Africa and they are my favorite! and the rest of us are heading to missions in Spain!! The MTC is right on temple grounds, which is SO COOL. It is literally twenty feet away from us! There's this big window by the stairs where you can see it perfectly, and it's amazing. There are only 3 floors of this buildings that we use (the 4th, 5th, and 6th) and the fourth is where our classrooms are, so we call that the telestial kingdom. The 5th is where we sleep, so that's the terrestial kingdom, and the celestial kingdom is where we eat:) haha

The food here.. is not that great. They only have one option for every meal, but they always have fresh fruit! There's always kiwi which is my fav, and this little fruit that we don't know what it is, but it's amazing. oh and theres always nutella:)

We wake up at 630, get ready and eat breakfast and then go to class from 8-1, then we have lunch for an hour, then class for 3 more hours, then we get to play sports everyday which is my favorite! so we´ve played a lot of soccer and basketball and dodgeball which is super fun!! and then we go eat dinner, and then end with two more hours of class and then go to bed at 1030, and start all over again:)

My compañera´s name is Hermana Lee! She's from South Korea and I absolutely love her. And GUESS WHAT. She went to BYUH too AND she was a tour guide! The same time I was there! But she was a Korean guide and worked the other shift so we didn’t know each other before but we have mutual friends. And she is the best. We get along so well!

My district is all sisters, haha that’s the first time they’ve had one with all girls here at this mtc! I love them all, they are all my best friends! Haha we have had some pretty great times, we´ve laughed together, cried together, and we taught our Spanish teachers some “American slang” that are just things we´ve made up. Like freaky creaky. Haha one our our night teachers reminds us of Olaf from Frozen, and he doesn’t know that much English, so it is so funny!! We just love them! We have the BEST teachers.

On our second day they asked us all to prepare talks, in Spanish, Yeah. Didn’t go so well. Haha and they also expected us to teach a lesson to an “investigator” on our third day, IN SPANISH. Keep in mind that they had not taught us a single Spanish lesson yet. Haha and I have no Spanish background! Shouldn’t have taken French. It was awful. And my Spanish still hasn’t gotten any better haha ;)

So every Saturday we get to take a metro to this park and start proselyting to people! It was way hard but so cool! We found a couple people who spoke English, but yeah I couldn’t communicate with anyone in Spanish! I didn’t understand a single word! Luckily my companera knew quite a bit, so she did all the talking! It was hard. And at the end all the missionaries got together and sang some hymns by this fountain. That was my favorite part! We were all just happy to get out and get some fresh air. Haha literally our whole life takes place in just three small hallways. And every Sunday we get to sing on the steps of the temple. Its amazing! A lot of people would stop and listen, and it was so cool!

Anyways, I have so much more to say but am completely out of time! Thank you for all your love! I am doing great! Its been really hard, but I've seen so many blessings too. Talk to you next week!!   Love you all, Hermana Knowles.

First day in Spain

hey familia!
guess what. i made it. FINALLY. haha this is the first thing they are letting us do! we havent even gotten our nametags yet! haha. i wont have pday this week, but it will be on thursdays here at the ccm!
Soo. i am exhausted! i have had no sleap for two days.. haha i took half a unisom, and slept a little but not enough, so i was super groggy afterwards! oh. and my bags are lost. and their system is down so they have no idean where they are! i was the only one with lost bags.. so i may get them tomorrow, or the next day.. or the next day. i guess we will see. so its been a frustrating two days, but also really good! and i am so happy to be here!!
Madrid looks a little like utah and idaho.. dry with sage brush! its funny! i mean we havent seen much of it yet, we havent toured any of the rest of the ccm yet either! but all that matters is i am HERE where i am supposed to be! (even if none of my stuff is here yet)
miss you! and love you! and i will talk to you next thursday:)
love hermana  Knowles