Monday, February 23, 2015

Milagros

hey mi familia y mis amigos!

It has been a great week here in Cartagena full of some miracles!! Well, the truth is we see miracles every day on the mission.Its true that the Lord will put people in your path who are prepared. 

Our investigator, Juan Pedro, is progressing and preparing really well for his baptism next week!!:):) He came to a baptism on Friday, and came to church again yesterday, and had told us of the impact that the gospel has had on him. He says that now he feels complete, and feels the hand of the Lord in his life! He is so great! And he is working hard to overcome his addiction of smoking so that he can be baptized! Im am so excited for him. This shows the impact that the gospel can have on lives. Through the gospel we can feel more complete, we will always feel the love of the Lord, and see his hand as He blesses us. Please pray for him! :)

This week has been a special week for our mission, we had a goal to set 250 baptismal fechas, when normally we can about 115. And we were working hard to invite everyone we could!! I was in intercambios with Hermana Adrian (an mtc amiga!) and we saw a neat little miracle! We were going out contacting while we were waiting for our comps to get back from intercambios, and we passed by this guy waiting at a bus stop. But i felt like we needed to go back, so we went back and talked to him, and started sharing the plan of salvation with him. He was really receptive, and well, long story short, Hermana Adrian asked if as he learned more, if he would prepare to be baptized, and he said YES! And we talked to him some more and set up a cita and stuff, but it was a really cool experience!! 

On Thursday we did intercambios with the SHE´s (sister training leaders) and i was with Hermana Ancalle here in Cartagena. We were trying to visit an investigator, but she wasnt there, so we ended up toque-ing like the whole 10 story building.. and got 7 futuros out of it! 7 people who we set citas with to come back and visit this week! and one of them gave us 3 references!! it was so cool! its our edificio de oro. (golden building) haha that was a cool little miracle as well! out of about the 10 people we talked to, 7 said we could come back. ahh! milagros! 

We also set another fecha with this boy Bryan! He´s 15, so we will work with him to get him prepared for baptism as well:)

There were also FOUR baptisms this last weekend!:) one for our ward, of our good friend Sergio! and the other three was this cute little family for Barrio 3. :)

Lets just say it was a week full of milagros, i know we will see even more coming up these next few weeks:) 

les quiero muchisimo!
Hermana Knowles

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Recent photos







Holaaaa!!!

ahh this week went by way to fast. i have no idea how it is already another pday??? anywho its been quite an interesting but good week. it started out with a little miracle on monday...
We finally set a cita with one of our investigators that i had never met before, and we went monday night to see him. Well, he lives in a house with about ten random people, and we went there at our scheduled time but he wouldnt answer his phone or the door (even though we could hear his phone ringing inside..) but there was this other girl who was locked out of this house and was waiting to get in too. So we were like hey, lets talk to her! and we started talking, eventually started up on the book of mormon, and she was interested! but just as we were explaining it someone opened the door, but then this girl invited us in and we sat with her and finished explaining it! and she is so awesome! So while we were talking, we saw our other investigator come down the stairs, see us, and turn around to go back up. but hna benavides called him out and made him come down. haha so it comes to find out he had been drinking, thats why he wouldnt answer us. He said he had just found out some stuff about his wife and kids, so he was upset. Long story short, we talked to him for a while and said how this gospel can help, but he has to be willing to do his part. and he said yes and that he was wanting to change and wanted us to help! it would just take a lot of patience. So that was a miracle to be able to find this girl, who is golden, and talk to our other investagator and help him out. 
With him we set a fecha for baptism to work towards! and yesterday he had promised to come to church.. but he never showed up.. UGHHHH. that is the most frustrating thing. We can do all we can as missionaries, but people need to do their part in order to change. i just want to smack that into place hahahah. but i cant. so.. 
Well, a lot more things happened this week that i dont remember. It was a week with a LOT of walking in this freezing cold wind, a lot of frustration, a lot of rejection, and a lot of miracles. So basically a normal week for us:) oh, and a lot of churros!!! (i love spain and their churros con chocolate trucks) 
We are super excited for everything we have ahead of us though. and i know the lord is helping us every step of the way. 
have a great week! love you all!
con amor, hermana Knowles

Week 2 in Cartegena

So it has been an interesting week! We finally got money so we have been able to survive!

We had a special day this last week called "Dia de Diamonte," where basically we didnt plan any citas and we went and contacted the whole day! it was a lot of work. but we had some help from the members here! Our mission goal was to get 2015 futuros, meaning each companionship needed about 20. We lograred our meta and got 2414!! milagros! (i hope you enjoy my awful spanglish) Hermana Benavides and i didnt get as many as we had hoped for.. but we did get more than 20! we did have some pretty interesting experiences that day.. hahah we had a lot of old men YELL at as.. while this one man was yelling at us and walking away, this other guy came up to us and starting saying how he had been taught by misisonaries and that he was wanting to be baptized a few years ago.. so we were thinking "oh wow, this guy is golden! this is great!" but then he continued on to say that he wasnt baptized because he had been sent to prison.. and he was only out for two days for medical reasons. and then proceded to ask us for money. hahah so.. he wasnt so golden. 
But we had some other good contacts that we are hoping to turn into investigators, because that is what we need right now! we currently dont have anyone progressing, the work is a little hard right now. but we are working hard to get it moving!! 

Well we had a pretty great pday with our zone hiking up this mountain to a castle! It reminded me a little of table rock, with sage brush and all.. except for theres not a super sick castle at the top haha. I LOVE SPAIN. 

I am growing to love the work more and more everyday. Even when its hard, or when im tired as heck, or when im just hungry (thats basically all the time, its a mission curse) and just want to rest, we keep pushing through, and have received blessings. I dont kow if i have ever been as happy as i am now. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. 

I never remember all of the things i was wanting to say.. just know that The Lord will never leave us alone. Even in moments where we forget him, He will never forget us. He is so forgiving, and is waiting for us with open arms. He invites every one to come unto him, no matter their circumstances or past. Trust in the Lord with everyone! and he will pour out blessings upon you. This is something that i have been learning thoughout my life and especially in my mission. The Lord LOVES each and every one of us. 

LOVE YOU ALL. gue tengan una buena semana! 
Con amor, Hermana Knowles