Yo no sé que debo poner aqui

Hoooollllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

How the heck is it Monday otra vez? 

Pues, its been a good week! I started it out in Murcia on intercambios for Monday and Tuesday, because my compie and another hermana´s compie had to go to the mission home to do residency. So we had some really great experiences there! 

Wednesday, we got lost AGAIN taking a bus out to a members house to eat (haha whoops.) and we visited with one of our recent converts, and taught a lesson to one of our investigators from Ecuador who always makes us dinner when we come by! people spoil us here. even investigators! 

Thursday, we had weekly planning and we visited a reference from a member, and it was one of the most memorable lessons we´ve ever had. She was a young mom, who was just weighed down with problems and challenges in her life. She was crying to us as she expressed some of her feelings she was having. As we were sharing our message, she explained that was she has been looking for is an opportunity from God to fix her life, and to get rid of these bad feelings. And she then told us that she knows that this is that opportunity. as we were leaving, we asked if there was anything we could do for her, and she said that this has already helped her so much. ahh! just the perfect example of someone who had been earnestly seeking the truth without knowing where to find it. sadly, she doesnt live in our area so the other hermanas are teaching her, but thats okay:) we are all part of the seach!

We also had a really interesting lesson in a tobacco shop with the owner. (before you all freak out, that's where we have to go to buy stamps. never knew it would be a good finding activity!) he wasn't interested in changing but he said how amazed his was of our courage and our service for what we believe. I hope we were able to plant a seed in his heart. 

We also learned this week that brownies can be a good way to bribe your teenage investigators to listen to you haha:) it worked for us! 

Friday, we had a conference with our stake president about how we can animate the members into missionary work. we can't do it without them!! 

"Missionaries are full time teachers, members are full time finders."

Then we went with Abraham, our RC, to go to find his sister and to eat pizza! Sadly she wasn't there working, so we got ice cream, but its so cool to see how eager he is to share the gospel with his family:)

Saturday, we played futbal with some investigators and missionaries! and I had a really awkard experience avoiding besitos (kisses) from one of the men. hahah oh boy. When men go in for that its like matrix action as we try to avoid it. 

Then there was an activity at the church, festivo de las naciones! where all the members brought food and stuff from their countries, it was so fun! We taught them all the cotton eye joe. it was awesome:) 

Then, funny story of the week! we were walking home, and hna swenson was looking backwards talking to someone, then doesn't see this tree in the way, and trips, hits the tree, and falls to the ground from the impact. hahahaha then i fell to the ground laughing so hard! funny memories! 

Well thats about all! Haha looking forward to this next week! We are working hard to consecrate ourselves to the work as we prepare for some big changes in the mission:) 

Have a great week! 

Les quiero! 

Hermana Knowles

7 Meses

hooolaaaaa. 7 months.. this time is just going by so fast! i cant believe it. and it keeps going faster and faster! ahh! 

Soooo.. its been a pretty good week! i dont have too much to update. Haha lets just say we´ve been working reaaallly hard to try and find NEW investigators! thats what we really need.. we were able to get a few new ones this week, two of which we set baptismal fechas with! in the first lesson! which is exciting.. BUT, they dont live in our area (im crying inside). But thats okay, as long as someone takes good care of them i am happy:) 

Also, i am in this awkward stage where i dont speak spanish OR english.. so i always get everything messed up! haha i was trying to say today, and would say tadoy, and how we got to "eat" the new hermana! (meet) Well these dont sound funny now but i promise they were in the moment aha. I CANT SPEAK ANY LANGUAGE. 

We did get a new investigator last night who is from Africa, and super open. And we were able to set a baptismal fecha with him for the 9th of may! so please play that he will be able to progress and be able to be baptized on this day.

We hit a pretty cool milestone this week.. we finally got our investigator to pray... in the name of Jesus Christ! and if you knew how long we had been trying to get him to do that for you´d know it was a BIG DEAL. He believes in the Book of Mormon, so all we had to do was show him that reference that says that we need to pray in Christ´s name. and he was like.. Oh, Okay! And afterwards we were like.. that was so easy. thats all it took?? haha so we are working hard with him for his baptismal fecha on the 9th as well! 

I love the mission! i grow to love it more and more every single day. i know will always hold on to the truths that i have learned here. and i want to challenge every one of you to strengthen the tesimonies that you already have. A member of the relief society in our ward challenged us to all read in the Book of Mormon, and to use Moroni´s promise, and pray again to receive a confirmation if the book of mormon is true, even if we have received that confirmation before. I did that, and i can just say that i know for CERTAIN that the Book of Mormon is true. It is the true word of God. And i receive this confirmation more and more everyday! so that is what i challenge you all to do. READ, and PRAY. even if you have already done it, and i promise that you will receive a strong confirmation of the truth:)

have a great week!!!

con amor,

hermana knowles :)

Hay que trabajar

The beginning of a new transfer! luckily, i will be staying here in Cartagena with my companion Hermana Swenson! im so happy to be staying! Bu transfers always bring about a big change, and a new start. So we have some exciting things planned for this transfer. 

I dont think anything exciting really happened this week.. haha we have been trying hard to find new investigators, because we dont have any that are progressing at the moment, which is tough! But, we have been able to find five new investigators this week! And one of them seems really great! We found him by street contacting.. We had walked past this guy who looked to be from south america, and looked about 22-23 years old, but we had walked past thinking nothing of it. But then something just kept pushing me to walk back and talk to him. So we did! And we had a great conversation with him, and now he is investigating the church! i love those promptings of the spirit. It is so important to be listening, and waiting, for those quiet promptings to come. And as we act upon those promptings that we receive, the Lord will trust us more, and put more of those people in our path, and we will be even more receptive to the spirit. 

One of our investigators is from africa, and we have been meeting with him for a while. And we are still trying to help him get faith in Christ as our redeemer. Its frustrating, because he believes it is true, and knows what he needs to do, but wont do it! ugh. poco a poco. But we are in need of investigators who are progressing! But we have some good new ones this week that i am really excited for.

One of the things that i have been able to learn on my mission is how to be a better member. I can see the importance of visiting and home teaching, and how important members are in missionary work! We have a great example of a member missionary in our ward. We visited with this member, and when we asked him for references, he easily just gave us five different names! From a couple of his neighbors, to some lady he barely knew, to the people who even sold him tomatoes hah. I realized that they dont have to be the best of friends to try to introduce them to the gospel, but that they can be aquaintances or neighbors. Friendship doesnt need to be a prerequisite. But the gospel can be something that grows you together. So with this member we went to go contact his neighbor, who wasnt there. So we went around for almost an hour trying other neighbors and friends of his! What a great example!! 

It has been a great transfer! i cant believe how fast this time is going.. this week i will be completing 7 months! crazy. 

i hope you all have a great week! and follow the example of the member in our ward, and not be scared in sharing the gospel with friends and acquaintances. And i would love to know of anyones experiences:) 

les quiero muchísimo! 

con amor, 

hermana Knowles

Recent photos

#graciasaqueÉlvive (6 April 15)

mi querida familia, 

I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE. If you havent watched it all yet.. you need to!!! there is nothing quite as spiritual or refreshing or eye opening or life changing as this oportunity that we have to listen to our modern day prophet and apostles. we luckily had the opportunity to watch all of the sessions.. in english! so that was really lucky for us:) and we got special permission to watch the sunday afternoonsession live, which started at 10:00 for us here! haha so we were watching conference till midnight. it was great! and inbetween sessions we had a great missionary easter egg hunt! and prepared an awesome dinner. Haha we were at the chuch from about one until midnight. 

It has been a pretty uneventful week. haha, we are in desperate need of new investigators, so we are working hard to find those! but had little luck this last week.. but, we are continuing to work hard!! 

OH. GUESS WHAT. WE´RE GETTING IPADS!!!! WOOHOO!! in a month! they just made the announcement this week! so we are having a huge conference with the entire mission, and we get IPADS!!! we are so excited! ahhhh!!!!

Also, this week was the semana santa, or holy week here in spain. Which, for those of you who dont know, is a catholic tradition where the remember the week of Christs life right before his death. So everyday they have prossessions with something new each time, carrying around these huge images of Jesus or some virgens. Anyways, if you want to know what really happened in the Holy Week, you should go to helives.mormon.org, and it has a great overview of easter week and the events that happened in Christ´s life. 

This is the time when a lot of the catholics here actually practice their religion, i think this next week they´ll go back to normal life. haha but we did have the chance to see one of the prossessions, which was really interesting. We saw the one on the night where Christ died, and the streets were dark, and silent. It was really powerful! 

But, as sad as this event was, Christ raised from the dead. He lives again. CHRIST LIVES. and because of him, we can live again. So this isnt a time to mourn, this is a time to give thanks, and to rejoice on the Living Christ. Our Heavenly Father gave us his beloved Son to come and to atone for the sins of the world, and to conquer death. We have this opportunity to be cleansed from sin,. and to be worthy to be in God´s presence. What a blessing this is! should we not rejoice? I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. And i know that i will do all that i can to serve him. 

Elder Holland gave a really powerful talk about the atonement of Christ, so if you have not seen that i invite you to do so. He said.. 

"So today we celebrate the gift of victory over every fall we have ever experienced, every sorrow we have ever known, every discouragement we have ever had, every fear we have ever faced- to say nothing of our resurrection from death and forgiveness for our sins. That victory is available to us because of the events that transpired on a weekend like this more than two millenia ago in Jerusalem."

I know that my Redeemer lives. 

Love you all!!

Hermana Knowles

Starting off semana Santa with a baptism (31 Mar 15)

hola mis queridos amigos! 

it was a whirlwind of a week.. i dont even feel like it happened! im not even sure i remember everything.. 

last pday we hiked up the mountain to the castle again! super pretty view of the port and of cartagena. So you know how in utah you can play the game "how many chapels can we see?" here, we play the game "how many castles can you see?" 

Spain is the best:)

It has also been a week of crazy weather! About 4 days ago we were wearing our coats at night.. and it was windy and cold and rainy. but now it is hot as heck! woo. the summer hasnt even started to begin. wish me luck! 

oh.. and did i mention we had a BAPTISM!!! of our amigo Abraham!! he is the most humble and sincere guy i know. we are so so happy for him! he had a great baptismal service this last saturday night. He was so prepared. And he is the best new addition to the church! 

Anf after the baptism we went with him, and and a couple other members and missionaries and celebrated with CHURROS and chocolate! the best! 

The only sad part of our week was that a few of our really great and promising investigators dropped us.. one who said that she had gotten in trouble by her boss (she works in a piso taking care of an older man, so we would talk to her at the door) and said that she wouldnt be able to talk to us anymore, also our other promising one is moving to switzerland! ahh! and a couple others that just told us they werent interested.. that was a little rough. but we are finding!! all is well! 

also, last night we set a baptismal fecha for one of our other investigators! he has a bit of way to go though, we have been meeting with him for a few months and have still be trying to help him find faith in Christ. But, he ended his prayer saying "please help me for be baptized." there is nothing more sincere than that! 

Today, we had a sweet zone pday! visiting all these historical sites in Cartagena. we visited a castle, a roman theater, and some other roman ruins. Cartagena has some really cool history! 

This week is Semana Santa (holy week) here in spain! So there are prossesions and parades everyday. Hopefully we will be able to see one this week!

This is a great time to remember give thanks for what Christ did for us. Becuase of Him, we are able to be clean again. Because of him. we can overcome our shortcomings, and rid ourseselves of these feelings of guilt or sadness that we have. Because of Him, we can have more peace and joy that we can imagine!  Because He lives, we too will live again. I know with all my heart that these things are true, becuase i have tasted of this happiness and felt the hands of his mercy in my life. God loves us so much that He gave his only begotten son to atone for the sins of the world. I hope you can all take advantage of what He did for us, and taste of this joy for youselves. 

Watch and share the video #becausehelives :)

love you all! 

also, watch and enjoy general conference! this is a great time to here the words of our prophets and apostles of God! im STOKED:) 

have a great week! 

#graciasaqueÉlvive

hermana Knowles

Seis messes (16 Mar 15)

For all of you that dont know.. that means ive completed 6 MONTHS as of today! crazyy! haha

Okay but really, im not sure where this time has gone. But also i feel like i have been here forever, its this weird paradox on the mish..

sooooo.. IT HAS BEEN SUCH A GOOD WEEK. ill do a day by day so i can make sure i get it all in:)

monday- pday! we went and played sports at the capilla (surprise, its not like we´ve done that for the last 4 pdays, or like we´re doing that again today. haha jkits fun) then had a FHE at a members house!

Tuesday- we got 2 new investigators, one who is from ecuador, and one who  is from Africa, and we set THREE baptismal fechas with them both, and another investigator! milagro!

Wednesday- PISO PROBS. ill just say one of my biggest fears about training as far as the spanish goes was if we had some sort of piso problems. i know the spanish for the lessons and all, but for piso stuff no.. and guess what! Its been a week full of piso probs. Our above neighbors pipe broke and leaked water into our piso, and then these guys had to come paint this room, but as they were moving the washing machine they broke it and flooded the room with 4 inches of water! that was an adventure. and then we had to get our washer fixed! what an adventure. but hey all is well! and that day we also got another new inv! 

luckily, our neighebor is awesome and helps us out a lot. she also feeds us and does our laundry sometimes, and always lowers it down to us from her window. its hilarous! 

Thursday- weekly planning, plus an awesome eating cita at a members house, with no other lessons.. haha

friday- district meeting! and we got two more news! the mother and brother of my favorite member Leo! im so excited for them!! then we had clase de inglés and a FHE at Diegos. 

Saturday- cleaned the church, ate at a members house (everyone just feeds us pasta now cuz my comps vegetarian..) had some great lessons! and got ANOTHER new that our investigator brought along! 

sunday- we had two investigators come to church!! one has a fecha, and is preparing well for baptism! im so excited for him! 

So in all, we got 7 news! and set 3 fechas!! we saw some miracles this week! and i am so excited to see how everything plays out! i have definitely seen the hand of the Lord in everything i do. And i know that i couldnt do any of this without him. I have been able to see the change in people as they are making these changes in their lives so that they are living in harmony with the gospel. Ive seen the joy that it brings as we live it! This truly is the true restored gospel that we have. And it is the only path to eternal happiness. 

I also believe that that there are even more miracles when there is a new missionary. My comp is great! and is always wanting to work hard and talk to everyone! So we have seen a lot of success from that:) i am so blessed to be here on the mission! 

THE CHURCH IS TRUE.

Les quiero!!! 

Hermana Knowles

Mis amigos (23 Mar 15)

mis amigos!  

What a week it has been.. i have seen so many miracles in my short time here in cartagena! and i have gained such a testimony that the Lord will put those people in your path that are prepared to receive the gospel. 

First of all, we are having a baptism this saturday!!:):) if all goes well. With our investigator Abraham. We found him last transfer, but were able to finally teach him starting two weeks ago. But he is so prepared. He is GREAT! ahh im so excited for him! 

The coolest part about this story, is that we actually found his as we were toqu-ing doors, and he said we could come back and teach him. But he also happens to be a reference from a member! This member from the other ward had given us a reference to a guy that lived in his piso, but we gave his number to the elders in the other ward because we assumed that he lived in their area. But they had called him, and said that two hermanas (us) were already teaching him! It just goes to show that he was ready, and that the Lord was giving us all these ways so that we could find him. 

Short summary of our adventerous week..

monday- pday! played sports with the zone! we also set a fecha with our investigator Najim! pray that he will be able to get work off and come to church this sunday! 

tuesday- we had tri zone conference! my favorite day!! and we had a crazy morning and actually ended up missing our bus.. hahah long story.. but ended up making it there just in time! and then we got to do intercambios with the SHEs, and Hermana Birmbaumer came with me here to Cartagena! she had served in my same area a few months ago, so we went around contacting some of the investigators she had taught! also in our time together we got 2 new investigators! 

wednesday- had a noche de hogar with a member family and our recent convert.. and then had to drop another investigator... who had a FECHA.. because he said he was just interested in me. haha lets just say i was a little pissed! 

thursday- weekly planning! and found 3 more news!

friday- went out to narnia and ate with a member family! funnest day ever! then we had english classes and my favorite noche de hogar with Diego! he surprises us every time.. as an object lessons we made paper cranes.. and he asked "is this a paloma?? (pidgeon)" so we were like yeah sure? then he ran out of the room.. and came back with a real live pidgeon!! GOSH. haha he had saved it as a baby and keeps it as a pet.. he never ceases to suprise us. HAHA

saturday- we had an fútbol activity, and went around inviting all the kids we could see who were out playing fútbol! and we had a great turnout! 

sunday- church! and diego invited us to eat at his house, which was an adventure!

it has been a great week! the work is definitely picking up here in cartagena:) we are seeing so many cool miracles! i know that the harder we work and the harder we try, that the Lord will recognize and he will put more people in our path who are prepared, like abraham! we just need to put in all our effort and show that we are willing to do what the Lord asks of us. 

i LOVE my area and i love my investigators and all the members here! i love the mish! 

one thing a member said that i loved.. was that we shouldnt have fear as we talk to people and invite them, because fear is not of God. he is such a great example of a member missionary! 

Love you all! keep reading.. praying.. and choosing the right:) 

les quiero! 

hermana knowles