Here's some photos to catch you up. It involves monkeys, Gibraltar, Costco, Christmas tree, and Flamenco dresses.
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Several new photos
Okay. So I've been delinquent in updating the blog. But it's interesting to see all of them together and note the continual progression. We'll do better with the updates.
Here's some photos to catch you up. It involves monkeys, Gibraltar, Costco, Christmas tree, and Flamenco dresses.
Here's some photos to catch you up. It involves monkeys, Gibraltar, Costco, Christmas tree, and Flamenco dresses.
Hermana Knowles (7 Dec 15)
HAPPY DECEMBER!!!! 
🏼
❣
I can't believe it's DECEMBER! And that my second to last transfer has
started! Last transfer flew by! Probably because it was only a four
week transfer.. This next one will be 8 weeks so hopefully it doesn't
go by as quick! Haha
Transfer news! I'm staying in Alcalá with Hermana Vigo! Woo!
So, it's been a really good week here! And we were able to see a lot
of tender mercies from the lord. This week we were able to meet with a
lot of less active members. We had some great lessons and were really
able to help them with their needs. And a lot of them a progressing,
which I'm super happy about!
This week we added four new investigators. One we found as we were
knocking doors, and she happened to be the sister of a member in our
ward! A coincidence? I think not. She didn't have time but told us to
come back another day, so we passed by two days later and she let us
in. We were able to share the new Christmas video "ha nacido un
Salvador" (a savior is born:) ) and talk about her beliefs in Christ
and what Christmas means for her. She has some.. Interesting views on
religions haha but it was good, and we are going back this week to
teach more about the plan of salvation, because she had a lot of
questions about that.
Another new we got is from Peru and has been listening to the
missionaries for awhile. She's come to church many times, but hasn't
accepted baptism yet.. Were not sure exactly why, but we know she
doesn't want to feel pressured into it. Which we understand and
respect. It's a little hard for her to come to church now because she
lives far. But we are working on that!
The other two news are a couple a couple that stopped us in the street
the other day to ask for directions, we ended up talking for a minute
and found out that they had just moved from Jaén, and they said we
could pass by their house another say. So we passed by two days later,
and the wife was like "we were wondering when you would come by! We
have been looking forward to your visit!" It was so sweet! We had a
GREAT lesson with them. We talked about the love of God and his plan
for us, and the wife began to cry. They are going through some hard
things right now, and she said that they had stopped going to church
but that this is what she needs. They were definitely put in our path
by the hand of the Lord. We invited them to church yesterday.. And
they came!!!!:):) Milagros!
We've met with Pedro several times this week and had some great
lessons! He believes that what we teach is true, but he also believes
that all Christian churches are true.. So we've been talking a lot
about authority and the priesthood,, but he doesn't seem to get it
yet. Jaja. poco a poco.
This week we had a zone conference and a member of the seventy came
and spoke! Elder laemer from Germany. We spoke about a lot of
different things, including what kind of Shepard we want to be, the
difference between testimony and conversion, and about how the Holy
Ghost is the true teacher and that we need to get out of the way of
him. One question I really liked was "what motivates me?" What
motivates me to wake up at 7 am, or leave the piso in the morning?
What motivates me to be here on the mission and dedicate all my time
to the lord. What motivates me is not social pressures or fear of
disobeying, but it is the love I have for God, and for his children. I
want to serve him the best I can.
I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season! And if you haven't,
go watch "a savior is born" and share it on Facebook :)
Os quiero!
Hermana knowles
🏼❣I can't believe it's DECEMBER! And that my second to last transfer has
started! Last transfer flew by! Probably because it was only a four
week transfer.. This next one will be 8 weeks so hopefully it doesn't
go by as quick! Haha
Transfer news! I'm staying in Alcalá with Hermana Vigo! Woo!
So, it's been a really good week here! And we were able to see a lot
of tender mercies from the lord. This week we were able to meet with a
lot of less active members. We had some great lessons and were really
able to help them with their needs. And a lot of them a progressing,
which I'm super happy about!
This week we added four new investigators. One we found as we were
knocking doors, and she happened to be the sister of a member in our
ward! A coincidence? I think not. She didn't have time but told us to
come back another day, so we passed by two days later and she let us
in. We were able to share the new Christmas video "ha nacido un
Salvador" (a savior is born:) ) and talk about her beliefs in Christ
and what Christmas means for her. She has some.. Interesting views on
religions haha but it was good, and we are going back this week to
teach more about the plan of salvation, because she had a lot of
questions about that.
Another new we got is from Peru and has been listening to the
missionaries for awhile. She's come to church many times, but hasn't
accepted baptism yet.. Were not sure exactly why, but we know she
doesn't want to feel pressured into it. Which we understand and
respect. It's a little hard for her to come to church now because she
lives far. But we are working on that!
The other two news are a couple a couple that stopped us in the street
the other day to ask for directions, we ended up talking for a minute
and found out that they had just moved from Jaén, and they said we
could pass by their house another say. So we passed by two days later,
and the wife was like "we were wondering when you would come by! We
have been looking forward to your visit!" It was so sweet! We had a
GREAT lesson with them. We talked about the love of God and his plan
for us, and the wife began to cry. They are going through some hard
things right now, and she said that they had stopped going to church
but that this is what she needs. They were definitely put in our path
by the hand of the Lord. We invited them to church yesterday.. And
they came!!!!:):) Milagros!
We've met with Pedro several times this week and had some great
lessons! He believes that what we teach is true, but he also believes
that all Christian churches are true.. So we've been talking a lot
about authority and the priesthood,, but he doesn't seem to get it
yet. Jaja. poco a poco.
This week we had a zone conference and a member of the seventy came
and spoke! Elder laemer from Germany. We spoke about a lot of
different things, including what kind of Shepard we want to be, the
difference between testimony and conversion, and about how the Holy
Ghost is the true teacher and that we need to get out of the way of
him. One question I really liked was "what motivates me?" What
motivates me to wake up at 7 am, or leave the piso in the morning?
What motivates me to be here on the mission and dedicate all my time
to the lord. What motivates me is not social pressures or fear of
disobeying, but it is the love I have for God, and for his children. I
want to serve him the best I can.
I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season! And if you haven't,
go watch "a savior is born" and share it on Facebook :)
Os quiero!
Hermana knowles
Hermana Knowles (30 Nov 15) Mountains to Climb
Mis queridos amigos,
Que locura esta semana. Siempre es así en la misión y me encanta!
Nunca estamos aburridas. :)
Well, nothing too big has happened this week. Just a lot of getting
lost on buses and such haha. We didn't have a week full of quite as
many Milagros as the last, but we had a lot of success in other ways.
Tuesday we had a great district meeting and talked some more about how
we can work better with the members and leaders to keep hold of our
fruits and labors, our converts. We don't want just baptisms, but
people who will stay in the path and endure to the end. That afternoon
we visited with a less active member and talked about temples and
family history week. We set some goals to help her prepare to go to
the temple and make these covenants for herself. She got super excited
as she realized that she prepare and go do baptisms for the dead. She
went on and on about how beautiful the temple was and what she
remembered from when she had gone to see the open house, it was so
sweet! Having his goal is something that is helping her to progress.
Wednesday morning we didn't have much success, we talked with a bunch
of people and got a few futures. In the afternoon we went to do
service for a less active family and helped them paint on of their
bedrooms. That night we had English class, and did a special activity
where we cooked banana bread and learned kitchen words and phrases in
English. It was fun!
Thursday we had weekly planning, and then went to TGI Fridays with an
American couple from Sevilla. They've kinda just adopted all of the
missionaries as their grandkids, and are super super sweet! Afterwards
we went to contact in our area of palmete.. So our ward consists of
Alcalá, which is a pueblo right outside of Sevilla, and also has a
little chunk of the city of Sevilla which is called Palmete and
Sevilla Este. So we went there finally and got a few futures and met a
few awesome people, and then went to our bishops house that is there
in palmete. They had prepared a whole thanksgiving meal for us 4
missionaries! It was so sweet, because thanksgiving is not a tradition
here but they knew how important it was to us and how much we would
probably miss our homes that day, so they tried making it special for
us. And they did! It was so sweet and special! We went around giving
thanks, and then enjoyed the feast! Let's just say I'm still full. And
our bishop is the best!!!
Friday walked to our less actives house which is super far away.. Like
an hour walking there going up hills and stuff and an hour back haha.
But we had a great lesson with him. That not we visited with this cute
older couple in our ward, and they shared heir conversion story with
us. And then we met with Pedro, our awesome investigator from Colombia
that I told you about Last week!
Saturday we went out to work in palmete again.. But got kinda lost
taking the buses haha so didn't have much time to work.. We still got
a future and met a few antiguo investigators. Later we met with
another less active, and then with Pedro again! We taught the plan of
salvation and he completely accepted it. He's great! I'm still trying
to figure him out though haha. We get there and he's just like
"alright what are you gonna teach me today" he's just so focused! He
still has a fecha but we will probably change it because he hasn't
come to church yet.
Yesterday, one of our less actives came to church finally which we
were happy about! And we visited with a less active family and
stressed the importance of reading in the scriptures. We did a little
object lessons, and then afterwards asked if there were any comments
or questions and the dad was like "yes just one.. Can we start right
now?" So we sat there and all read one chapter of the Book of Mormon
together:) it was awesome!!
Anyways to explain my subject line.. We are applying that literally
and figuratively:) I mentioned that Alcalá has a lot of hills, so
sometimes we play the EFY song mountains to climb (that we have on our
phone) to give us strength!! And it works:)
But one thing I am thankful for is trials. We must have these
experiences so that we can grow and progress. As we went around saying
things that we were thankful for, someone said trials because it is
what has made them strong. I know that every experience that I have in
the mission and in life is to strengthen me and help me, and will be
for my benefit if I allow it to be.
Love you all! Have a great week!
Love, Hermana knowles
Que locura esta semana. Siempre es así en la misión y me encanta!
Nunca estamos aburridas. :)
Well, nothing too big has happened this week. Just a lot of getting
lost on buses and such haha. We didn't have a week full of quite as
many Milagros as the last, but we had a lot of success in other ways.
Tuesday we had a great district meeting and talked some more about how
we can work better with the members and leaders to keep hold of our
fruits and labors, our converts. We don't want just baptisms, but
people who will stay in the path and endure to the end. That afternoon
we visited with a less active member and talked about temples and
family history week. We set some goals to help her prepare to go to
the temple and make these covenants for herself. She got super excited
as she realized that she prepare and go do baptisms for the dead. She
went on and on about how beautiful the temple was and what she
remembered from when she had gone to see the open house, it was so
sweet! Having his goal is something that is helping her to progress.
Wednesday morning we didn't have much success, we talked with a bunch
of people and got a few futures. In the afternoon we went to do
service for a less active family and helped them paint on of their
bedrooms. That night we had English class, and did a special activity
where we cooked banana bread and learned kitchen words and phrases in
English. It was fun!
Thursday we had weekly planning, and then went to TGI Fridays with an
American couple from Sevilla. They've kinda just adopted all of the
missionaries as their grandkids, and are super super sweet! Afterwards
we went to contact in our area of palmete.. So our ward consists of
Alcalá, which is a pueblo right outside of Sevilla, and also has a
little chunk of the city of Sevilla which is called Palmete and
Sevilla Este. So we went there finally and got a few futures and met a
few awesome people, and then went to our bishops house that is there
in palmete. They had prepared a whole thanksgiving meal for us 4
missionaries! It was so sweet, because thanksgiving is not a tradition
here but they knew how important it was to us and how much we would
probably miss our homes that day, so they tried making it special for
us. And they did! It was so sweet and special! We went around giving
thanks, and then enjoyed the feast! Let's just say I'm still full. And
our bishop is the best!!!
Friday walked to our less actives house which is super far away.. Like
an hour walking there going up hills and stuff and an hour back haha.
But we had a great lesson with him. That not we visited with this cute
older couple in our ward, and they shared heir conversion story with
us. And then we met with Pedro, our awesome investigator from Colombia
that I told you about Last week!
Saturday we went out to work in palmete again.. But got kinda lost
taking the buses haha so didn't have much time to work.. We still got
a future and met a few antiguo investigators. Later we met with
another less active, and then with Pedro again! We taught the plan of
salvation and he completely accepted it. He's great! I'm still trying
to figure him out though haha. We get there and he's just like
"alright what are you gonna teach me today" he's just so focused! He
still has a fecha but we will probably change it because he hasn't
come to church yet.
Yesterday, one of our less actives came to church finally which we
were happy about! And we visited with a less active family and
stressed the importance of reading in the scriptures. We did a little
object lessons, and then afterwards asked if there were any comments
or questions and the dad was like "yes just one.. Can we start right
now?" So we sat there and all read one chapter of the Book of Mormon
together:) it was awesome!!
Anyways to explain my subject line.. We are applying that literally
and figuratively:) I mentioned that Alcalá has a lot of hills, so
sometimes we play the EFY song mountains to climb (that we have on our
phone) to give us strength!! And it works:)
But one thing I am thankful for is trials. We must have these
experiences so that we can grow and progress. As we went around saying
things that we were thankful for, someone said trials because it is
what has made them strong. I know that every experience that I have in
the mission and in life is to strengthen me and help me, and will be
for my benefit if I allow it to be.
Love you all! Have a great week!
Love, Hermana knowles
Hermana Knowles (23 Nov 15) Happy Thanksgiving
Mi querida familia!
I can't believe another week has flown by.. We are already halfway
through this 4 week transfer! And yes, this week has been a lot
better! And yes... We finally have electricity! It only took a week...
Hahah it finally came on Thursday.
This week has been great! We have seriously seen so many miracles
here! We have seen the hand of the Lord in this work so much these
last few days. I feel like he is really blessing us for opening a new
area so that we can get up off our feet. I'll try to explain them the
best I can! But it's still just hard to write it all in emails.. I
have so many stories for after the mish!
So we have been finding a lot of potential investigators.we have found
a lot people who are super prepared! The SHEs (Hermana Nelson, I was
her she before! And Hermana benavides my third comp!!) came and we did
splits. We found quite a few people, but none that became
investigators yet. But Wednesday morning we did a cosecha in which the
missionaries from our district and the SHEs all came to our area and
contacted the whole morning. I went with Hermana benavides and we had
found a few futures, and we were walking down the street and decided
to talk to this young guy.we ended up sitting with him at a bench and
teaching about the Book of Mormon and the plan of salvation a bit. He
was awesome and so sincere!! We set up another cita with him.
Another day, I think it was Friday morning, we were walking down the
street and this police officer stopped us. Hahah, you can imagine we
were super nervous!! But he asked us who we were and what we preached.
We ended up talking to him for about 45 minutes!! We explained about
the Book of Mormon, and he had a lot of great questions! We set up a
new cita with him for tomorrow. So that was a cool miracle!
Saturday we had a cita with this great guy that we had contacted a few
days before. He's about 25 and from Colombia, and we brought out
member Raul with us. It was one of the coolest lessons ever! He just
ate everything up and loved everything we were saying. When we
contacted him a few days before, we gave him a book of Mormon, and he
had been reading it!! We taught him the restoration, and he said it
made perfect sense, and believes that there should be prophets in this
day. So we invited him to pray about it, and also invited him to
baptism, which he accepted! We set a fecha for him on the 19 of
December:) he is such a maquina!!! So prepared:) and his mom has
listened to the missionaries before, and she came in for a mine or
two, but we will definitely teach her in the future:)
Along with our few great new investigators we have found, we have been
working a lot with the less active members. I think this last week we
met with at least 6 different families of people, and are helping them
with their needs. We've seen a lot of cool little miracles with that
as well, and two came to church this Sunday!! Ahh it was awesome. But
none of our investigators came which I was a little sad about. But
it's alright. This week is going to be even better, we already have a
lot of citas set up with new people!!
I have definitely felt guided as we have gone throughout our day.
There will be times where we won't know where to go, but we'll decide
to go down some street, and there find this person who was ready to
listen to us. It's been great to feel the spirit working through us.
So many times in the scriptures it says that they were instruments in
the hands of the Lord. Currently, I'm reading in alma and learning
from the greatest missionaries there were! It says that "they had
searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of
God.. They had given themselves to much prayer and fasting, therefore
they had the spirit prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when
they taught, they taught with power and authority of God.. [and they]
had much success in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth."
That is my goal. To be as the sons of Mosiah, and be that kind of
instrument and bring many to this knowledge and truth!
It's been a great week. I love Alcalá! It's so pretty and the people
are SO NICE! And there's a lot of hills.. So I get some good workouts
everyday.:)
Hope you all have a great thanksgiving! I'd forgotten it was
thanksgiving this week (Cuz claro they don't celebrate it here) until
our bishop invited us over to eat with them, so that we could have a
thanksgiving meal:) the bishop is so awesome! Also, an American family
in the stake is taking all the missionaries in the zone out to tgi
Fridays for lunch! I feel so blessed!
I can't believe another week has flown by.. We are already halfway
through this 4 week transfer! And yes, this week has been a lot
better! And yes... We finally have electricity! It only took a week...
Hahah it finally came on Thursday.
This week has been great! We have seriously seen so many miracles
here! We have seen the hand of the Lord in this work so much these
last few days. I feel like he is really blessing us for opening a new
area so that we can get up off our feet. I'll try to explain them the
best I can! But it's still just hard to write it all in emails.. I
have so many stories for after the mish!
So we have been finding a lot of potential investigators.we have found
a lot people who are super prepared! The SHEs (Hermana Nelson, I was
her she before! And Hermana benavides my third comp!!) came and we did
splits. We found quite a few people, but none that became
investigators yet. But Wednesday morning we did a cosecha in which the
missionaries from our district and the SHEs all came to our area and
contacted the whole morning. I went with Hermana benavides and we had
found a few futures, and we were walking down the street and decided
to talk to this young guy.we ended up sitting with him at a bench and
teaching about the Book of Mormon and the plan of salvation a bit. He
was awesome and so sincere!! We set up another cita with him.
Another day, I think it was Friday morning, we were walking down the
street and this police officer stopped us. Hahah, you can imagine we
were super nervous!! But he asked us who we were and what we preached.
We ended up talking to him for about 45 minutes!! We explained about
the Book of Mormon, and he had a lot of great questions! We set up a
new cita with him for tomorrow. So that was a cool miracle!
Saturday we had a cita with this great guy that we had contacted a few
days before. He's about 25 and from Colombia, and we brought out
member Raul with us. It was one of the coolest lessons ever! He just
ate everything up and loved everything we were saying. When we
contacted him a few days before, we gave him a book of Mormon, and he
had been reading it!! We taught him the restoration, and he said it
made perfect sense, and believes that there should be prophets in this
day. So we invited him to pray about it, and also invited him to
baptism, which he accepted! We set a fecha for him on the 19 of
December:) he is such a maquina!!! So prepared:) and his mom has
listened to the missionaries before, and she came in for a mine or
two, but we will definitely teach her in the future:)
Along with our few great new investigators we have found, we have been
working a lot with the less active members. I think this last week we
met with at least 6 different families of people, and are helping them
with their needs. We've seen a lot of cool little miracles with that
as well, and two came to church this Sunday!! Ahh it was awesome. But
none of our investigators came which I was a little sad about. But
it's alright. This week is going to be even better, we already have a
lot of citas set up with new people!!
I have definitely felt guided as we have gone throughout our day.
There will be times where we won't know where to go, but we'll decide
to go down some street, and there find this person who was ready to
listen to us. It's been great to feel the spirit working through us.
So many times in the scriptures it says that they were instruments in
the hands of the Lord. Currently, I'm reading in alma and learning
from the greatest missionaries there were! It says that "they had
searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of
God.. They had given themselves to much prayer and fasting, therefore
they had the spirit prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when
they taught, they taught with power and authority of God.. [and they]
had much success in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth."
That is my goal. To be as the sons of Mosiah, and be that kind of
instrument and bring many to this knowledge and truth!
It's been a great week. I love Alcalá! It's so pretty and the people
are SO NICE! And there's a lot of hills.. So I get some good workouts
everyday.:)
Hope you all have a great thanksgiving! I'd forgotten it was
thanksgiving this week (Cuz claro they don't celebrate it here) until
our bishop invited us over to eat with them, so that we could have a
thanksgiving meal:) the bishop is so awesome! Also, an American family
in the stake is taking all the missionaries in the zone out to tgi
Fridays for lunch! I feel so blessed!
Hermana Knowles (16 Nov 15) Life Lessons
alrighhhhttttttt. first of all, disculpe for taking so long to write today! it has been a crazy day (well, crazy week!!!!!) and we didnt have time to write until now, and we have been searching around alcalá for an hour trying to find wifi! the church doesnt have it.. weird huh.
let me summarize this by just saying we finally have a piso, and FINALLY have furniture, but still no electricity or hot water! ahah yep. so when i got to the sevilla train station on transfer day, we learned that we didnt have a piso yet! something about the contract, and we didnt have the keys. so my new compie and i waited in the train station for a few hours, and then ended up staying at the hermanas piso for the night. the next day, we finally got keys and headed out there! and when we get to the piso... it wasnt furnished or anything yet. .which is not normal haha. even if you are opening an area and getting a new piso, its required to have certain things like a bed.. table.. couch.. etc. but the members were going to donate some of that stuff for us. which they did! and honestly i am so grateful for them and for the love they have already shown us. they brought that later that night, but the mattresses were super gross and smelled like smoke.. the couch was falling apart (and gross) and the table and chairs were borrowed from the church. we didnt even know how we were going to sleep that night cuz we didnt have sheets or pillows (or decent mattresses). but we couldnt help but laugh at our situation (maybe so we wouldnt cry hahaha jk) but the elders became our heroes, because they not only brought us blankets like we thought they left to go get, but they brought us two mattresses from their piso! they were life savers!!!
oh, and on top from all that, we didnt have electricity yet or hot water.. and we actually still dont have that!! hahah all we have for light is one flashlight, and some light bulb that is connected to this cord that is plugged in somewhere outside. its been an interesting few days.. living off of seriously only very basic needs.
these days have been full of us searching around alcalá trying to find stuff for our apartment, and traveling to and from sevilla, becasue weve stayed with the hermanas in their piso a few nights. and literally, we have been so busy trying to get all this stuff that we havent had any time to actually work. its been really weird. i feel like it would be so much different in the states to do all this. you just get in your car, go to walmart or target and just pick up the stuff you need and then go home. but spain is not like that! we have to take a train, then a bus, then another bus, and walk forever, and search around everywhere for hours. haha. thats what all our time has been spent doing. and honestly ive learned a lot of real life stuff!! such as budgeting, focusing on what your needs really are (like for example, what do we need TODAY so that we can get by? hmm-- a pillow so we can sleep, and some bread to make a sandwich.. etc.) haha and on choosing good items for your home that are good quality yet inexpensive! so these are the good life lessons i have learned this week!
today though, our mission president came and took us to ikea, and we were finally able to buy all of the things that we need! we finally got mattresses, dressers, tables, pots and pans, plates, glasses, etc. and then afterwards, he and his wife came and helped us put everything all together. it was so sweet of them to help us, cuz there is no way we couldve gotten anything without them or their car. we have honestly received so much help from them, from the elders, and the hermanas, and the members. its been awesome!
and like i said.. as far as the work goes we havent been able to do hardly anything. we were able to plan with the elders and they talked to us about the people we should go visit, and we were able to visit with a few members.
church was the best! its a smaller ward, with only about fourty, but i already love it! the bishop is so great! and so is our ward mission leader. they are very loving and so on top of things. and the members were so excited to have hermanas finally! everyone got so excited when they saw us, cuz there hasnt been hermanas there for over 30 years! i can tell we will have a lot of support from the ward.
and my comp hermana vigo is the best!! shes from peru, but has lived in spain for a few years. shes a convert of about 4 years, and has the best conversion story and the strongest testimony. im so excited to be with her and learn from her.
well, i hope i was able to explain myself okay, there was a lot more i wanted to say to explain this week haha. but i know it will be a better week! because we will finally be able to work, we have furniture finally, and we should have electricity and hot water tomorrow!:)
spiritual thought for the week.. so there has been a lot i have learned this week, such as patience and to be happy in every situation that life throws at you. also that God is very aware of us, and he is always looking to bless us. we have seen so many tender mercies, from the members bringing us food, the elders sacrificing their stuff, president coming out to help us, and so much more. he is always blessing us! i love the verse in 1 Nephi 1:20 that says "but behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance."
love you all. i hope you can exercise your faith, and see thes tender mercies that the Lord showers upon us all. have a great week! and pray that we get elecricity tomorrow!:)
love,
hermana knowles
Hermana Knowles (9 Nov 15)
Hoooolllllaaaaaa que hay.
Pues, this week was definitely not as crazy as the last (luckily, I
wouldn't be able to handle that) haha but nevertheless it was a good
week. And I was able to learn a lot.
The week started out with pday and consejo! Since we had to travel to
Málaga, and we had car this time, we decided to stop by Ronda for our
pday on the way! It was just as beautiful as when I saw it almost a
year ago! Then we got to the mission home, ate dinner, and started our
consejo. It was great! We talked about a lot of topics, and focused
especially on ways that we can plan better.
Tuesday morning we got up and ate breakfast at the mission home, and
president called me in to his office. Our new president says that he
likes to call missionaries to be leaders as they are a little younger
in the mish, and then as their last few transfers, send them to open
an new area or train, which is a little different than our last
president. But he thanked me for all my work as a SHE, (STL) and said
he had a new assignment for me! That I would be opening up an area in
Alcalá de Guadaíra!! A pueblo of Sevilla. I'm super excited because
I've always wanted to go to Sevilla, and this area has never had
Hermanas before. I'll be going with hermana Vigo, who I've only met
once or twice. So I'm excited! I'm also a little nervous because
opening an area can be a little hard at first.
Every transfer I've been pushed a little more. After my first
transfer, my trainer left and I had to take over the area, I was
scared beyond belief! Then right out of my training, I went to go
finish the training of an hermana, then train a brand new missionary.
And then I was called to be a SHE, and halfway through we white washed
an area! And all that time I thought "well, that's gonna be hard, but
at least I don't have to open an area." Hahaha but look where I am
now. But I am also very excited! So this Wednesday I head there!
This week has been great! We've taught the most lessons we've taught!
We were also able to do some more service, and say some hard
goodbyes:( so we have this great new investigator named Richard who's
from the Dominican Republic. We had a couple lessons with him this
week, and he is progressing great! He's been reading, and guess what,
he came to church yesterday!!!:):) and loved it! He also became
friends with some of the recent converts:) we also set a baptismal
date with him for the 28th of November. I'm so excited for him!
As for other investigators, we don't have to many haha. We had found
Richard through another investigator of ours, and he is progressing a
little, but not as much. Poco a poco!
Sunday was great, we had an inv at church, and ran from house to house
saying goodbye to members and eating A LOT of food! And we have two
more days full of farewell citas! Woo!
We also had my last intercambio as a she with the San Fernando
Hermanas. It went great, except that the hermana that came here with
me had accidentally brought their keys for the piso! So we had to go
back there that night and bring the keys, and just ended up staying
overnight haha. Then we had zone meeting the next day.
Hope you have a great week! I'll let you know how my first week in
Alcalá is! :)
Con cariño,
Hermana knowles
Mosiah 3:19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from
the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to
the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and
becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and
becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love,
willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict
upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
I have been working to fight off the natural man, it is a process that
we all have to go through. I have a lot of imperfections, and a lot of
things that I need to work on. But we must conquer the natural man and
become a saint through the atonement of Christ.
Love you all!
Pues, this week was definitely not as crazy as the last (luckily, I
wouldn't be able to handle that) haha but nevertheless it was a good
week. And I was able to learn a lot.
The week started out with pday and consejo! Since we had to travel to
Málaga, and we had car this time, we decided to stop by Ronda for our
pday on the way! It was just as beautiful as when I saw it almost a
year ago! Then we got to the mission home, ate dinner, and started our
consejo. It was great! We talked about a lot of topics, and focused
especially on ways that we can plan better.
Tuesday morning we got up and ate breakfast at the mission home, and
president called me in to his office. Our new president says that he
likes to call missionaries to be leaders as they are a little younger
in the mish, and then as their last few transfers, send them to open
an new area or train, which is a little different than our last
president. But he thanked me for all my work as a SHE, (STL) and said
he had a new assignment for me! That I would be opening up an area in
Alcalá de Guadaíra!! A pueblo of Sevilla. I'm super excited because
I've always wanted to go to Sevilla, and this area has never had
Hermanas before. I'll be going with hermana Vigo, who I've only met
once or twice. So I'm excited! I'm also a little nervous because
opening an area can be a little hard at first.
Every transfer I've been pushed a little more. After my first
transfer, my trainer left and I had to take over the area, I was
scared beyond belief! Then right out of my training, I went to go
finish the training of an hermana, then train a brand new missionary.
And then I was called to be a SHE, and halfway through we white washed
an area! And all that time I thought "well, that's gonna be hard, but
at least I don't have to open an area." Hahaha but look where I am
now. But I am also very excited! So this Wednesday I head there!
This week has been great! We've taught the most lessons we've taught!
We were also able to do some more service, and say some hard
goodbyes:( so we have this great new investigator named Richard who's
from the Dominican Republic. We had a couple lessons with him this
week, and he is progressing great! He's been reading, and guess what,
he came to church yesterday!!!:):) and loved it! He also became
friends with some of the recent converts:) we also set a baptismal
date with him for the 28th of November. I'm so excited for him!
As for other investigators, we don't have to many haha. We had found
Richard through another investigator of ours, and he is progressing a
little, but not as much. Poco a poco!
Sunday was great, we had an inv at church, and ran from house to house
saying goodbye to members and eating A LOT of food! And we have two
more days full of farewell citas! Woo!
We also had my last intercambio as a she with the San Fernando
Hermanas. It went great, except that the hermana that came here with
me had accidentally brought their keys for the piso! So we had to go
back there that night and bring the keys, and just ended up staying
overnight haha. Then we had zone meeting the next day.
Hope you have a great week! I'll let you know how my first week in
Alcalá is! :)
Con cariño,
Hermana knowles
Mosiah 3:19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from
the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to
the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and
becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and
becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love,
willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict
upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
I have been working to fight off the natural man, it is a process that
we all have to go through. I have a lot of imperfections, and a lot of
things that I need to work on. But we must conquer the natural man and
become a saint through the atonement of Christ.
Love you all!
Hermana Knowles (2 Nov 15)
Hooooolaaaaa!
So we always have crazy things going on every week with intercambios
and traveling all.. But I think this week might have to take the award
for the craziest week I have had on the mission. There were a lot of
unexpected things!! I have a lot to write.. I'll see if I can explain
it well enough without making it 848 pages. :) and on top of
everything, I'm sick with a cold and don't have much of a voice. Haha
but it's not bad so no worries!
So.. Pday!! One of the coolest I've had!! We went to gilbraltar, which
is about 1.5 hours away. First we went to the church and the Guffey's
made us all waffle! Best senior couple EVER! Then we went to actual
Gibraltar, which is English territory, and a really cool British
styled town! It has this ginormous rock the just sticks up, haha it's
a mountain! I'll send pics to explain better haha. And we hiked up,
and they have wild monkeys everywhere! SO COOL!
Several funny moments of the week..
-A monkey jumped on my head! And another one stole my Book of Mormon
and attacked me when I tried getting it back.
-Another monkey stole one of the elders chapas and tried eating it!
-after pday we did intercambios with the missionaries there, and we
had a great time! But, on our way back to Algeciras to take them back
and pick up our comps, the car broke down!! In the middle of
nowhere!!! So we waited two hours for a tow truck, stayed in the car
shop for a while, then ended up having to stay in Algeciras for the
night. Then the next day we went back to Jerez in taxi. Yay for
adventures!!
-And when we got back, we had fifteen minutes to change clothes and
grab stuff for our next intercambio! we ran to an eating cita, and
then ran to the train station, and then the hermana who was supposed
to come with me didn't get off on the train when she was supposed to,
she ended up getting on the wrong train! But she came eventually haha.
Then we had another great intercambio! So those four days were crazy!!
This week, there were also some big things that happened in the ward.
Two members of the ward passed away this week. Both had been very
sick, but one was younger and a very loved member here in Spain.
Yesterday, we had her funeral in the morning before church. It was a
very special service. We were also invited to the burial. Afterwards,
we had sacrament meeting but no classes. It was really neat to see the
members come together with two very hard losses, and see their
testimonies of the plan of salvation.
Also, we got a call Friday night hearing that our recent convert had
gotten in a bad accident and was in the hospital. She had gotten hit
by a car as she was crossing he street. We went to visit her Saturday,
and she luckily doesn't have any broken bones but was in a lot of
pain. Crazy stuff..
So Tuesday night during intercambios it was almost the end of the
night, but we decided to pass by this guys house, and he was finally
there with his wife and friend, and they let us in and we taught all
three! Three awesome news! He's listened to missionaries before, and
it was cool because he was like explaining everything to his friend
and testifying about it! I love when that happens!! When investigators
testify to other investigators, it shows themselves that they do
actually believe this to be true, it helps them to realize their own
testimony.
I spoke last week about the awesome new investigator Isabel that we
have! So sadly, we had to miss our cita with her because we were stuck
in Algeciras 😑 and she was busy the other days so we couldn't meet
with her. But... SHE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!!:):) and she loved it!!
She said she came with questions and doubts, but that she left so full
of the spirit! Ahh it was an answer to our prayers! And the all the
fun moments we had this week, the happiest moment I had was when I saw
her walk through those doors. We didn't teach many lessons this week,
but I'd prefer that over teaching 30 and not having anyone come to
church or want to progress. We were so happy!
This week, we have also been able to find more service opportunities.
There is a member in the ward who is in a nursing home, and we went to
go visit her on Friday and yesterday as well. We were able to talk for
a while and help feed her dinner, and it was so cute as she talked all
about the missionaries who would always come to her house and how she
was baptized only four years ago! That doesn't happen much! But she's
so cute!! We've decided that we want to find more service
opportunities, because we just leave so happy. As I've said before,
I've been a little down because we just can't seem to find people to
teach, and we have received so much rejection! But service is
something we can always do, and it has helped me to just be happier. I
hope everyone can go search out more service opportunities!
We have been talking a lot about how grateful we are to be on the
mission. It really is the mtc for the rest of your life. I've learned
so much, and everything just seems to click now! I'm like "oh, that
makes sense!" Haha like the gospel for example. It's something I
understand so much better now! And also the importance of every
calling, and of temple covenants and keeping the sabbath day holy and
paying tithing and reading the scriptures daily.. I wish e dry one had
the opportunity to serve a mission, because there is so much that I
have learned here that has changed me.
Oh, and I have the best companion ever!!!!!
I hope we can all focus on those things that matter most in life,
because our time here is short. And choose to be happy! Happiness is a
choice, and the gospel truly brings us happiness. We know of God's
plan. We know that it doesn't end here. We can have hope through this
knowledge that we have! But, we also know that we cannot procrastinate
the day of our repentance, so we must work now, today, to fix those
things that need fixing, and mend those relationships that need
mending. And we must share this glad message to everyone we know!! The
gospel is a message of love, of peace, of joy, and of hope. I hope we
can all experience a mighty change of heart and all of the blessing
that this gospel brings. Choose today to make that happen!
Love you all!!! Have a great week!
Hermana Knowles
Mosiah 5:2 And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe
all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of
their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent,
which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we
have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.
So we always have crazy things going on every week with intercambios
and traveling all.. But I think this week might have to take the award
for the craziest week I have had on the mission. There were a lot of
unexpected things!! I have a lot to write.. I'll see if I can explain
it well enough without making it 848 pages. :) and on top of
everything, I'm sick with a cold and don't have much of a voice. Haha
but it's not bad so no worries!
So.. Pday!! One of the coolest I've had!! We went to gilbraltar, which
is about 1.5 hours away. First we went to the church and the Guffey's
made us all waffle! Best senior couple EVER! Then we went to actual
Gibraltar, which is English territory, and a really cool British
styled town! It has this ginormous rock the just sticks up, haha it's
a mountain! I'll send pics to explain better haha. And we hiked up,
and they have wild monkeys everywhere! SO COOL!
Several funny moments of the week..
-A monkey jumped on my head! And another one stole my Book of Mormon
and attacked me when I tried getting it back.
-Another monkey stole one of the elders chapas and tried eating it!
-after pday we did intercambios with the missionaries there, and we
had a great time! But, on our way back to Algeciras to take them back
and pick up our comps, the car broke down!! In the middle of
nowhere!!! So we waited two hours for a tow truck, stayed in the car
shop for a while, then ended up having to stay in Algeciras for the
night. Then the next day we went back to Jerez in taxi. Yay for
adventures!!
-And when we got back, we had fifteen minutes to change clothes and
grab stuff for our next intercambio! we ran to an eating cita, and
then ran to the train station, and then the hermana who was supposed
to come with me didn't get off on the train when she was supposed to,
she ended up getting on the wrong train! But she came eventually haha.
Then we had another great intercambio! So those four days were crazy!!
This week, there were also some big things that happened in the ward.
Two members of the ward passed away this week. Both had been very
sick, but one was younger and a very loved member here in Spain.
Yesterday, we had her funeral in the morning before church. It was a
very special service. We were also invited to the burial. Afterwards,
we had sacrament meeting but no classes. It was really neat to see the
members come together with two very hard losses, and see their
testimonies of the plan of salvation.
Also, we got a call Friday night hearing that our recent convert had
gotten in a bad accident and was in the hospital. She had gotten hit
by a car as she was crossing he street. We went to visit her Saturday,
and she luckily doesn't have any broken bones but was in a lot of
pain. Crazy stuff..
So Tuesday night during intercambios it was almost the end of the
night, but we decided to pass by this guys house, and he was finally
there with his wife and friend, and they let us in and we taught all
three! Three awesome news! He's listened to missionaries before, and
it was cool because he was like explaining everything to his friend
and testifying about it! I love when that happens!! When investigators
testify to other investigators, it shows themselves that they do
actually believe this to be true, it helps them to realize their own
testimony.
I spoke last week about the awesome new investigator Isabel that we
have! So sadly, we had to miss our cita with her because we were stuck
in Algeciras 😑 and she was busy the other days so we couldn't meet
with her. But... SHE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!!:):) and she loved it!!
She said she came with questions and doubts, but that she left so full
of the spirit! Ahh it was an answer to our prayers! And the all the
fun moments we had this week, the happiest moment I had was when I saw
her walk through those doors. We didn't teach many lessons this week,
but I'd prefer that over teaching 30 and not having anyone come to
church or want to progress. We were so happy!
This week, we have also been able to find more service opportunities.
There is a member in the ward who is in a nursing home, and we went to
go visit her on Friday and yesterday as well. We were able to talk for
a while and help feed her dinner, and it was so cute as she talked all
about the missionaries who would always come to her house and how she
was baptized only four years ago! That doesn't happen much! But she's
so cute!! We've decided that we want to find more service
opportunities, because we just leave so happy. As I've said before,
I've been a little down because we just can't seem to find people to
teach, and we have received so much rejection! But service is
something we can always do, and it has helped me to just be happier. I
hope everyone can go search out more service opportunities!
We have been talking a lot about how grateful we are to be on the
mission. It really is the mtc for the rest of your life. I've learned
so much, and everything just seems to click now! I'm like "oh, that
makes sense!" Haha like the gospel for example. It's something I
understand so much better now! And also the importance of every
calling, and of temple covenants and keeping the sabbath day holy and
paying tithing and reading the scriptures daily.. I wish e dry one had
the opportunity to serve a mission, because there is so much that I
have learned here that has changed me.
Oh, and I have the best companion ever!!!!!
I hope we can all focus on those things that matter most in life,
because our time here is short. And choose to be happy! Happiness is a
choice, and the gospel truly brings us happiness. We know of God's
plan. We know that it doesn't end here. We can have hope through this
knowledge that we have! But, we also know that we cannot procrastinate
the day of our repentance, so we must work now, today, to fix those
things that need fixing, and mend those relationships that need
mending. And we must share this glad message to everyone we know!! The
gospel is a message of love, of peace, of joy, and of hope. I hope we
can all experience a mighty change of heart and all of the blessing
that this gospel brings. Choose today to make that happen!
Love you all!!! Have a great week!
Hermana Knowles
Mosiah 5:2 And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe
all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of
their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent,
which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we
have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.
Hermana Knowles (26 Oct 15) Choose Happiness
Hola! So, it's been quite the week here. I'm not sure how to put it
into words! But, it was a bit of a hard week mentally and physically
and with the work. There were lots of ups and downs. Basically, as an
overview of how most of our days went, we had a lot of great citas set
up, but every single one, every. Single. One. Failed. We ended up
growing through almost everyone in our area book, and no one wanted
anything. So we knocked a lot of doors! We ended up getting a lot of
futures, or potential investigators. I think we got 38! More than I've
gotten any other week! So that was great. But other than that, we
didn't teach much. But it's getting better. I know there are a lot of
prepared people here, we are just searching them out!
I spent a lot of time pleading with the Lord to guide us to these
people that are ready, to help us recognize who they are and how we
can help them. I had let the stress of the mission get to me last
week, and I was getting a bit discouraged because it just didn't seem
to be getting any better. I was sitting there praying and asking what
else I could do, what more I could improve on. That point I just
decided not to get discouraged, and to keep going because there were
people hear that were waiting for us, truly searching for the truth!
And guess what...we had the greatest miracle last night!!
Last week we had intercambios and I went to Cádiz and hermana rowley
stayed here, and while they were out they passed by this lady and both
stopped each other. The lady pointed at the Book of Mormon in hermana
rowleys hand and said she had one and that she had been reading it!
She works in chiclana and a member there had given it to her, and bore
her testimony to her. They set up a cita with her, and we passed by
last night. It was one of the most powerful lessons I've had! She said
she has gone through a lot of trials in her life, and that her father
had passed away, she was a single mom, and her mother has cancer. She
said in that time she got angry with God, and drew away from him. But
she says she has had his void in her life, and is searching for this
peace, and she believes that this gospel is what she needs! She was so
sincere, and so open and receptive. I can already see her as a member.
She's coming to church this week with her six year old son! And we
have another cita with her this week. :)
I know that God was answering all of our prayers, mine as well as
hers, and her friends in chiclana. Hermana rowley and I just hugged
each other after because we were so happy!
Not much more happened last week, we had intercambios with the Cádiz
Hermanas and had district meeting yesterday. Today we are havin pday
here in Algeciras and we are going to Gibraltar to see the monkeys!!!
and then intercambios!
In our presidents letter this week he said something that I really
liked, he said . "Happiness is an act of faith. Happiness is
a choice. Happiness is the fruit of the knowledge of the
gospel. Happiness is what God is reaching out to give us and
yearning for us to receive and embrace in our lives. We
have reason to be the happiest of all people on the earth!
Each of us must choose to receive happiness and embrace it´s
marvelous influence. "
That was exactly what I need this week! We can all choose to be happy,
and choose not to get discouraged or anything. And the gospel give us
this happiness and this hope! We have reason to be the happiest
people! So let us be happy and let our light shine. :)
And yes, I am happy! I love being on the mission every through the
hard times. It is the best thing For my life. I'm so happy to be here!
Love you all, sorry that this is short but I'm gonna go see some monkeys!:)
Have a great week!
Love, hermana knowles
into words! But, it was a bit of a hard week mentally and physically
and with the work. There were lots of ups and downs. Basically, as an
overview of how most of our days went, we had a lot of great citas set
up, but every single one, every. Single. One. Failed. We ended up
growing through almost everyone in our area book, and no one wanted
anything. So we knocked a lot of doors! We ended up getting a lot of
futures, or potential investigators. I think we got 38! More than I've
gotten any other week! So that was great. But other than that, we
didn't teach much. But it's getting better. I know there are a lot of
prepared people here, we are just searching them out!
I spent a lot of time pleading with the Lord to guide us to these
people that are ready, to help us recognize who they are and how we
can help them. I had let the stress of the mission get to me last
week, and I was getting a bit discouraged because it just didn't seem
to be getting any better. I was sitting there praying and asking what
else I could do, what more I could improve on. That point I just
decided not to get discouraged, and to keep going because there were
people hear that were waiting for us, truly searching for the truth!
And guess what...we had the greatest miracle last night!!
Last week we had intercambios and I went to Cádiz and hermana rowley
stayed here, and while they were out they passed by this lady and both
stopped each other. The lady pointed at the Book of Mormon in hermana
rowleys hand and said she had one and that she had been reading it!
She works in chiclana and a member there had given it to her, and bore
her testimony to her. They set up a cita with her, and we passed by
last night. It was one of the most powerful lessons I've had! She said
she has gone through a lot of trials in her life, and that her father
had passed away, she was a single mom, and her mother has cancer. She
said in that time she got angry with God, and drew away from him. But
she says she has had his void in her life, and is searching for this
peace, and she believes that this gospel is what she needs! She was so
sincere, and so open and receptive. I can already see her as a member.
She's coming to church this week with her six year old son! And we
have another cita with her this week. :)
I know that God was answering all of our prayers, mine as well as
hers, and her friends in chiclana. Hermana rowley and I just hugged
each other after because we were so happy!
Not much more happened last week, we had intercambios with the Cádiz
Hermanas and had district meeting yesterday. Today we are havin pday
here in Algeciras and we are going to Gibraltar to see the monkeys!!!
and then intercambios!In our presidents letter this week he said something that I really
liked, he said . "Happiness is an act of faith. Happiness is
a choice. Happiness is the fruit of the knowledge of the
gospel. Happiness is what God is reaching out to give us and
yearning for us to receive and embrace in our lives. We
have reason to be the happiest of all people on the earth!
Each of us must choose to receive happiness and embrace it´s
marvelous influence. "
That was exactly what I need this week! We can all choose to be happy,
and choose not to get discouraged or anything. And the gospel give us
this happiness and this hope! We have reason to be the happiest
people! So let us be happy and let our light shine. :)
And yes, I am happy! I love being on the mission every through the
hard times. It is the best thing For my life. I'm so happy to be here!
Love you all, sorry that this is short but I'm gonna go see some monkeys!:)
Have a great week!
Love, hermana knowles
Hermana Knowles (19 Oct 15)
Hola mis queridos amigos! Ha sido una semana súper buena. Y ha llovido
un montón. Pero seguimos trabajando :)
Well. It's been a great week! We've seen a lot of great little
miracles. It has also rained A LOT. And the rain caught us a few times
without umbrellas! Yeah, my shoes are still wet. Haha but it was
great. I'll start with the usual day by day..
Monday- we played airsoft! Again... Haha it was good. Then we taught
this guy in his door and talked for a long time.. He doesn't want
anything, and he's a little crazy so it was an interesting
conversation haha.
Tuesday- district meeting, then we had a cita with our recent convert
Israel, and it went well! Then a member accompanied is to a cita with
this guy who ended up failing on us.. I hate when that happens. And
then it started to rain A TON.. And we didn't have umbrellas and we
were super far from piso, so we kept going in the rain! And then no
one wanted to talk or let us in.. So it was in interesting night. But
finally we passed by this lady the elders had taught before and she
let us in! And she became a new. Woo!
Wednesday and Thursday we headed to Jaén for intercambios! So yes, the
usual five hour train. Yay. But, I got to see hermana Hurtado again
and it was awesome!!:) she's the best!
On Thursday we got back at around 8, and still ended up teaching 3
lessons! One was to the friend of our evangelist investigator.. We
passed by and she had some church friends over for a bday celebration,
and this lady just came out and started attacking our church and
everything, and not let us talk or defend or anything, which was
honestly so frustrating! But we testified, and that's all we need to
do on situations like that. One day they will know:)
Friday- it was Pablo's baptism! Mirians husband:) as we were on the
way to a baptism, we walked by a couple on the street and they saw our
chapas and said "jesucristo! Who are you guys?" We explained that we
were missionaries and they had a bunch of really good questions!!
They're evangelist, and we have a lot of the same beliefs, but they
were so open to learning more (such a big contrast from the other
lady..) then the wife invited to sit with them and drink some cola cao
at the cafe we were right by, so we sat down, taught about the Book of
Mormon, they're dying to read it! And then invited them to the
baptism, which they came to! Sad thing is that the baptism started an
hour late and they had to go early.. So they didn't stay. And also..
Another sad thing.. They aren't from Jerez! So we were able to get
their info and pass it to the elders in huelva. That always happens to
us hah:( but it was a cool miracle!
Saturday- ugh Saturday. Haha well, it rained ALL DAY. Luckily we had
umbrellas this time. So we were out all day, and only one person was
home that we tried! And all our other citas failed.. Or no one wanted
to talk.. Haha it was a really rough day. But the one person we did
meet with was an old investigator. And we visited with her, and it
turned out that she's from Bolivia, and part of that huge Bolivian
family here! She's related to our recent converts. So that was cool!
She seems super interested:)
Sunday- it rained again! And no one wanted anything.. Haha I was
hoping someone would at least take pity on us and let us in.. But we
ended up visiting with our less active member and she's the best! She
took care of us and let us dry off a bit in her calentita casa :)
Well, it was a little bit rough this week, but we pushed through the
rain and wind and saw a few miracles! And I think I need some new
shoes.. Haha.
But I love this work! Even when no one wants to listen or we are
soaked head to toe, with shoes that won't dry, we just laugh and have
a good time and it doesn't matter! I know there are people here who
are prepared, so we just gotta find them:)
Love you all. Have a great week:)
Con cariño,
Hermana knowles
1 Nephi 7:12 Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord
is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of
men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be
faithful to him.
un montón. Pero seguimos trabajando :)
Well. It's been a great week! We've seen a lot of great little
miracles. It has also rained A LOT. And the rain caught us a few times
without umbrellas! Yeah, my shoes are still wet. Haha but it was
great. I'll start with the usual day by day..
Monday- we played airsoft! Again... Haha it was good. Then we taught
this guy in his door and talked for a long time.. He doesn't want
anything, and he's a little crazy so it was an interesting
conversation haha.
Tuesday- district meeting, then we had a cita with our recent convert
Israel, and it went well! Then a member accompanied is to a cita with
this guy who ended up failing on us.. I hate when that happens. And
then it started to rain A TON.. And we didn't have umbrellas and we
were super far from piso, so we kept going in the rain! And then no
one wanted to talk or let us in.. So it was in interesting night. But
finally we passed by this lady the elders had taught before and she
let us in! And she became a new. Woo!
Wednesday and Thursday we headed to Jaén for intercambios! So yes, the
usual five hour train. Yay. But, I got to see hermana Hurtado again
and it was awesome!!:) she's the best!
On Thursday we got back at around 8, and still ended up teaching 3
lessons! One was to the friend of our evangelist investigator.. We
passed by and she had some church friends over for a bday celebration,
and this lady just came out and started attacking our church and
everything, and not let us talk or defend or anything, which was
honestly so frustrating! But we testified, and that's all we need to
do on situations like that. One day they will know:)
Friday- it was Pablo's baptism! Mirians husband:) as we were on the
way to a baptism, we walked by a couple on the street and they saw our
chapas and said "jesucristo! Who are you guys?" We explained that we
were missionaries and they had a bunch of really good questions!!
They're evangelist, and we have a lot of the same beliefs, but they
were so open to learning more (such a big contrast from the other
lady..) then the wife invited to sit with them and drink some cola cao
at the cafe we were right by, so we sat down, taught about the Book of
Mormon, they're dying to read it! And then invited them to the
baptism, which they came to! Sad thing is that the baptism started an
hour late and they had to go early.. So they didn't stay. And also..
Another sad thing.. They aren't from Jerez! So we were able to get
their info and pass it to the elders in huelva. That always happens to
us hah:( but it was a cool miracle!
Saturday- ugh Saturday. Haha well, it rained ALL DAY. Luckily we had
umbrellas this time. So we were out all day, and only one person was
home that we tried! And all our other citas failed.. Or no one wanted
to talk.. Haha it was a really rough day. But the one person we did
meet with was an old investigator. And we visited with her, and it
turned out that she's from Bolivia, and part of that huge Bolivian
family here! She's related to our recent converts. So that was cool!
She seems super interested:)
Sunday- it rained again! And no one wanted anything.. Haha I was
hoping someone would at least take pity on us and let us in.. But we
ended up visiting with our less active member and she's the best! She
took care of us and let us dry off a bit in her calentita casa :)
Well, it was a little bit rough this week, but we pushed through the
rain and wind and saw a few miracles! And I think I need some new
shoes.. Haha.
But I love this work! Even when no one wants to listen or we are
soaked head to toe, with shoes that won't dry, we just laugh and have
a good time and it doesn't matter! I know there are people here who
are prepared, so we just gotta find them:)
Love you all. Have a great week:)
Con cariño,
Hermana knowles
1 Nephi 7:12 Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord
is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of
men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be
faithful to him.
Hermana Knowles (12 Oct 15)
Not sure how it's Monday again.. This week has past by super week and has been really full! Consejo weeks are always loca, because it means two days in Malaga, zone meeting, and normally at least one intercambio! And this week was llena de traveling, planning, contacting, and a baptism! Of Jose Eduardo! Daiana's boyfriend, the one that we started teaching before we switched areas. I'm so so happy!
So a short overview of the week.....
Monday- consejo!! We went to Malaga, played some futbal with all the missionaries then, then ate some Taco Bell and headed to the mission home and started the consejo, which went well!
Tuesday- we finished consejo in the morning, and then headed back to Jerez in CAR! Whoo! The zone leaders got a car. So stoked.
Wednesday- we had interviews with president, which I don't know how it was already time to have those again since we have them every other transfer! I love being able to talk with president. I can definitely feel the love he has for each of us.
Thursday- we planned, and planned our taller for zone meeting, which was honestly so fun! They asked us to do a training on family history and temples. At consejo, a member of our stake came and spoke to us all about the importance of family history work and temples in missionary work. And it was so cool! Our purpose is not only to get baptisms, but to help our converts go to the temple so that they can receive all the blessings of the lord. Without temple ordinances, it's incomplete. Ahh also while we were planning, I finally took a look at my family tree on My Family Search, and I was so intrigued. It's so cool to look back at all those stories and pictures.. and theres a lot there! It has really changed the way I look at missionary work.
On Thursday we also did intercambios with the chiclana Hermanas, and I went out to chiclana to be with hermana Dueñas! It was so great! We saw a lot of cool miracles and added a few investigators. We also had a cool experience talking about temples and eternal families with a person we contacted:) we were walking by a house, and it had this song that we both liked blasting in the house, so we were like hey! Let's knock this door. When we did this younger lady answered, and she began by saying that she wasn't interested, and that she didn't have any faith. As we kept talking to her, she opened up and told us it was because her mother had passed away recently. We them testified of the temple and eternal families and the spirit was so strong! And she changed completely. She allowed us to teach her that day and wanted the Hermanas to come back another day:)
Friday- zone meeting! It was really good. Then that night we talked to a bunch of people and taught a few lessons in the street!
Saturday- was the baptism of Jose Eduardo!! Ahhhh I'm so happy! It has been so amazing to see him in this process, and compare who he was when I first met him, and who he is now. And his parents came to the baptism:)
Sunday- we had church, and then ate at a less active members house for her birthday! And then had a noche de hogar with Sara and Lina, our recent convert! We watched elder nelsons talk from conference. They are just the best!
So poco a poco we are finding people here! We added a few new investigators this week, but we got a lot of potentials that seem really good! And we are working super hard and talking to everyone. EVERYONE. so I know soon that the work will pick up here! We have one investigator that is great, and we want to start teaching her son as well. Anyways, it will come if we keep working hard, and it has so much potential! Our area just hadn't been taken care of for a while and we basically had to start from scratch.
Also, we were finally able to see the last session of general conference, and I loved elder Durrant's talk about ponderizing a verse of scripture every week. His son is in our mission and is our AP, which makes it even cooler haha. But we have a goal to have a new ponderizing scripture every week. And I invite you all to do it to, and to have it burned into your hearts the message that it has.
So a short overview of the week.....
Monday- consejo!! We went to Malaga, played some futbal with all the missionaries then, then ate some Taco Bell and headed to the mission home and started the consejo, which went well!
Tuesday- we finished consejo in the morning, and then headed back to Jerez in CAR! Whoo! The zone leaders got a car. So stoked.
Wednesday- we had interviews with president, which I don't know how it was already time to have those again since we have them every other transfer! I love being able to talk with president. I can definitely feel the love he has for each of us.
Thursday- we planned, and planned our taller for zone meeting, which was honestly so fun! They asked us to do a training on family history and temples. At consejo, a member of our stake came and spoke to us all about the importance of family history work and temples in missionary work. And it was so cool! Our purpose is not only to get baptisms, but to help our converts go to the temple so that they can receive all the blessings of the lord. Without temple ordinances, it's incomplete. Ahh also while we were planning, I finally took a look at my family tree on My Family Search, and I was so intrigued. It's so cool to look back at all those stories and pictures.. and theres a lot there! It has really changed the way I look at missionary work.
On Thursday we also did intercambios with the chiclana Hermanas, and I went out to chiclana to be with hermana Dueñas! It was so great! We saw a lot of cool miracles and added a few investigators. We also had a cool experience talking about temples and eternal families with a person we contacted:) we were walking by a house, and it had this song that we both liked blasting in the house, so we were like hey! Let's knock this door. When we did this younger lady answered, and she began by saying that she wasn't interested, and that she didn't have any faith. As we kept talking to her, she opened up and told us it was because her mother had passed away recently. We them testified of the temple and eternal families and the spirit was so strong! And she changed completely. She allowed us to teach her that day and wanted the Hermanas to come back another day:)
Friday- zone meeting! It was really good. Then that night we talked to a bunch of people and taught a few lessons in the street!
Saturday- was the baptism of Jose Eduardo!! Ahhhh I'm so happy! It has been so amazing to see him in this process, and compare who he was when I first met him, and who he is now. And his parents came to the baptism:)
Sunday- we had church, and then ate at a less active members house for her birthday! And then had a noche de hogar with Sara and Lina, our recent convert! We watched elder nelsons talk from conference. They are just the best!
So poco a poco we are finding people here! We added a few new investigators this week, but we got a lot of potentials that seem really good! And we are working super hard and talking to everyone. EVERYONE. so I know soon that the work will pick up here! We have one investigator that is great, and we want to start teaching her son as well. Anyways, it will come if we keep working hard, and it has so much potential! Our area just hadn't been taken care of for a while and we basically had to start from scratch.
Also, we were finally able to see the last session of general conference, and I loved elder Durrant's talk about ponderizing a verse of scripture every week. His son is in our mission and is our AP, which makes it even cooler haha. But we have a goal to have a new ponderizing scripture every week. And I invite you all to do it to, and to have it burned into your hearts the message that it has.
Well that's all! Pray for us so we can find some good investigators. :) you're all the best! Thanks! Have a great week! Go to church, ponderize the scriptures, do some family history work, take those names to the temple, and say your prayers! Love you all.
Con cariño,
Hermana knowles
14 And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? (Alma 5:14)
Hermana Knowles (5 Oct 15)
Heyyy fam!! Did you all have the most inspiring weekend ever?! I hope so, cuz I sure did. I just love conference weekend. I felt as if every word was directed at me and was exactly what I needed. The spirit definitely spoke to me and I learned a lot, and left renewed. Ahhhh I love conference!!
So it was a good week!! A little crazy (like always jaja) so I'll just do a short summary.
Monday we went to San Fernando for a zone pday! We made hot dogs and played basketball (woooo!) and games! It was a fun last pday for the zone.
Tuesday we finished packing/ cleaning, and did some service for a member who was cleaning out and selling her store. Then we had a cita with daiana and Mirian and Hna Hurtado was able to say bye to them. And it poured rain on the way home which we were so happy about, and we danced in the rain! Gotta find the good in everything.
Wednesday we left at 5:40 am so my comp could take her train for transfers, and I ended up going to puerto to be with the Hermanas, and we took one Hna to the train station and then headed back to Jerez to say bye to some other missionaries, and to eat some kebab. (Kebaptism for the newbie!) then went pack to puerto as we waited for Hna portas new comp, who ended up not getting off the train when she was supposed to, so we called like the whole world to try to find her, and then about an hour later she eventually came. Turns out she missed the stop so had to get off and back on going the other way. Haha, it was a crazy hour. But all is good! Then I headed back to Jerez, yet again, and got my new comp Hna rowley!!
She's awesome! She's from Middleton, so we know a bunch of the same people! And have a lot of connections. And turns out she only lives like a mile or two away so that's super cool! I love her and she's seriously the best. We get along super well.
Thursday we planned, then met with a less active member.
Friday we had district meeting, which was great. Then we went out to find!! And saw a lot of miracles!! All this little things happened that led us to these people, and everyone kept stopping us to talk to us!! We were walking by this cafe bar, and this guy started asking us questions, so we stopped and talked with him, and soon found he wasn't really interested haha, but this other guy was and we sat down and talked with him, and he was super interested! We taught the Book of Mormon, and he committed to reading it and this week we have a cita with him and with his whole family!!:) so cool!! Also, as we were talking all these people came and pulled up chairs to listen, and we got two more news with it. Haha WE FINALLY GOT INVESTIGATORS.
Then we were on our way to see this investigator, and we were walking along side this guy, so we decided to talk to him. Turns out he's from Columbia and was super interested! So we got his info and are planning on meeting up soon. Yay! And then we dropped by this investigator who normally has been super busy so we haven't been able to meet with her yet, but she was there and actually let us in!! And we had the coolest lesson with her! Her husband is a less active member who wanted to come back to church, and so she became interested. She expressed some of her concerns about the Book of Mormon, which we were able to help a little. And we committed her to reading he Book of Mormon, cuz she knows that she can't judge it without reading it. We set up another cita to meet with the whole family this week. Ahh! Then as we were walking home, another group of people stopped us and we got their info and set citas with them!
So then Saturday, we watched conference!!
So it was a good week!! A little crazy (like always jaja) so I'll just do a short summary.
Monday we went to San Fernando for a zone pday! We made hot dogs and played basketball (woooo!) and games! It was a fun last pday for the zone.
Tuesday we finished packing/ cleaning, and did some service for a member who was cleaning out and selling her store. Then we had a cita with daiana and Mirian and Hna Hurtado was able to say bye to them. And it poured rain on the way home which we were so happy about, and we danced in the rain! Gotta find the good in everything.
Wednesday we left at 5:40 am so my comp could take her train for transfers, and I ended up going to puerto to be with the Hermanas, and we took one Hna to the train station and then headed back to Jerez to say bye to some other missionaries, and to eat some kebab. (Kebaptism for the newbie!) then went pack to puerto as we waited for Hna portas new comp, who ended up not getting off the train when she was supposed to, so we called like the whole world to try to find her, and then about an hour later she eventually came. Turns out she missed the stop so had to get off and back on going the other way. Haha, it was a crazy hour. But all is good! Then I headed back to Jerez, yet again, and got my new comp Hna rowley!!
She's awesome! She's from Middleton, so we know a bunch of the same people! And have a lot of connections. And turns out she only lives like a mile or two away so that's super cool! I love her and she's seriously the best. We get along super well.
Thursday we planned, then met with a less active member.
Friday we had district meeting, which was great. Then we went out to find!! And saw a lot of miracles!! All this little things happened that led us to these people, and everyone kept stopping us to talk to us!! We were walking by this cafe bar, and this guy started asking us questions, so we stopped and talked with him, and soon found he wasn't really interested haha, but this other guy was and we sat down and talked with him, and he was super interested! We taught the Book of Mormon, and he committed to reading it and this week we have a cita with him and with his whole family!!:) so cool!! Also, as we were talking all these people came and pulled up chairs to listen, and we got two more news with it. Haha WE FINALLY GOT INVESTIGATORS.
Then we were on our way to see this investigator, and we were walking along side this guy, so we decided to talk to him. Turns out he's from Columbia and was super interested! So we got his info and are planning on meeting up soon. Yay! And then we dropped by this investigator who normally has been super busy so we haven't been able to meet with her yet, but she was there and actually let us in!! And we had the coolest lesson with her! Her husband is a less active member who wanted to come back to church, and so she became interested. She expressed some of her concerns about the Book of Mormon, which we were able to help a little. And we committed her to reading he Book of Mormon, cuz she knows that she can't judge it without reading it. We set up another cita to meet with the whole family this week. Ahh! Then as we were walking home, another group of people stopped us and we got their info and set citas with them!
So then Saturday, we watched conference!!
Some points that I really liked from conference.
-exaltation is our goal. Discipleship is our journey.
-The question they asked a lot, of "what lack I yet? What more can I do? What is keeping me progressing?" And to remember that God will take us as we are.
- ship shaped and Bristol fashioned.
-"and it came to pass that we did live after the manner of happiness." 2 nephi 5:27
- there is no darkness so dense, so menacing, that it cannot be overcome by light.
- as we show that we are willing to obey, the spirit will give us more promptings, more frequently. This is especially true on the mission! And one of the things that I have learned while being here.
- "he knows of our anguish, and he is there for us."
I hope that you were all able to get a lot out of this conference and find some spiritual strength and some things that you can work on. And if you haven't seen the conference, I invite you all to watch it! We still need to watch the last session, because sadly it's too late at night for us to see it live. But this week we will:)
Well, right now we are down here in Málaga for consejo de la misión. So I don't have much time to write! But we have a lot of exciting things planned for this week, so it should be a good one:) hope you all have a great week!
Con cariño,
Hermana knowles
Hermana Knowles (28 Sep 15)
Heyyy fam! Well.. This is the start of a new transfer! I can't believe
it.. This last one flew by! It really does keep going faster and
faster. The crazy thing is that I only have four left, including this
one. WHAT IS THIS. Haha
So crazy transfer news! We got a call from president on Friday, the
day before normal transfer calls, and told hermana hurtado that she
would be leaving and going to Jaén! He wanted to thank her for all she
had done as a SHE. It was a little bit of a shock, but honestly not
that big of a surprise! It is kindve weird cuz I have more time here,
but her mission is crazy. This will be like her 8th area hahah. I'm in
my fourth. But anyways, hermana rowley is coming here with me!! Which
is awesome because she is from Middleton and I've talked to her a few
times before! Ah I'm so stoked! It's going to be such a great
transfer! But I am really sad hermana Hurtado has to leave:( I'll miss
my little Peruvian!
Also, literally almost everyone is training in our zone! I think
everyone besides one companionship will be training (plus the ZLs and
SHEs) and a few companionships got calls where both the companions
would be training, and one would be leaving to open an area and train!
Crazy huh? We are going to have a really young zone. There's a lot of
new missionaries coming in this transfer.
Well, this week has been súper loca! I think we spent more time
traveling than proselyting..
Tuesday- we went to Sevilla and had a tri zone conference with
President Andersen. It was great! We talked a lot about the Book of
Mormon, and we have a goal to read it as a mission in 100 days. The
cool thing is last Monday I just finished reading it again! I love
love love the scriptures.
Wednesday we went on the five hour train yet again to Jaén for
intercambios! It was so fun, I got to go with hermana Anderson again,
I went with her two transfers ago when she was brand new in the mish.
It's cool to see how much she's grown. And hermana Hurtado went with
hermana Verdejo, her new companion! (Crazy, we had no idea during
intercambios haha) the awesome thing is I still get to be her SHE!!:)
Thursday night we got back to Jerez, and Friday we went to San
Fernando and helped with the open house of the new stake center. It
was so fun, and a lot of people came! My comp and I had a lot of fun
sitting outside and making people go in;)
On Saturday, we had to do weekly planning and then we had a great FHE
with a less active member and some of her friends!
Yesterday we had church, correlation, and went to the ward council
with the bishop. We have been working a lot harder to help our ward
and have a better relationship with the members so we can help the
work move on. We have the best bishop who is always willing to help
us! And I think one of the biggest things I've learned on the mission
is what kind of member I want to be. I now understand better the
importance of members in missionary work and the importance of home
teaching and FHE.
And I hope everyone is super excited for GENERAL CONFERENCE! You know
I'm excited! It's the best time of the year, especially for
missionaries! It's a great opportunity that we have to listen to our
living prophets and apostles, and receive personal revelation. One
thing I hope you can all do is prepare yourselves spiritually for this
conference, and go in with a question or two. I know that the spirit
will guide you and that you will receive this personal revelation. I'm
so excited!
Moral of the story, read your scriptures! The Book of Mormon is our
most powerful conversion tool. Seek personal revelation. And watch
general conference!
Love you all! Have a great week!
Con amor, hermana Knowles
it.. This last one flew by! It really does keep going faster and
faster. The crazy thing is that I only have four left, including this
one. WHAT IS THIS. Haha
So crazy transfer news! We got a call from president on Friday, the
day before normal transfer calls, and told hermana hurtado that she
would be leaving and going to Jaén! He wanted to thank her for all she
had done as a SHE. It was a little bit of a shock, but honestly not
that big of a surprise! It is kindve weird cuz I have more time here,
but her mission is crazy. This will be like her 8th area hahah. I'm in
my fourth. But anyways, hermana rowley is coming here with me!! Which
is awesome because she is from Middleton and I've talked to her a few
times before! Ah I'm so stoked! It's going to be such a great
transfer! But I am really sad hermana Hurtado has to leave:( I'll miss
my little Peruvian!
Also, literally almost everyone is training in our zone! I think
everyone besides one companionship will be training (plus the ZLs and
SHEs) and a few companionships got calls where both the companions
would be training, and one would be leaving to open an area and train!
Crazy huh? We are going to have a really young zone. There's a lot of
new missionaries coming in this transfer.
Well, this week has been súper loca! I think we spent more time
traveling than proselyting..
Tuesday- we went to Sevilla and had a tri zone conference with
President Andersen. It was great! We talked a lot about the Book of
Mormon, and we have a goal to read it as a mission in 100 days. The
cool thing is last Monday I just finished reading it again! I love
love love the scriptures.
Wednesday we went on the five hour train yet again to Jaén for
intercambios! It was so fun, I got to go with hermana Anderson again,
I went with her two transfers ago when she was brand new in the mish.
It's cool to see how much she's grown. And hermana Hurtado went with
hermana Verdejo, her new companion! (Crazy, we had no idea during
intercambios haha) the awesome thing is I still get to be her SHE!!:)
Thursday night we got back to Jerez, and Friday we went to San
Fernando and helped with the open house of the new stake center. It
was so fun, and a lot of people came! My comp and I had a lot of fun
sitting outside and making people go in;)
On Saturday, we had to do weekly planning and then we had a great FHE
with a less active member and some of her friends!
Yesterday we had church, correlation, and went to the ward council
with the bishop. We have been working a lot harder to help our ward
and have a better relationship with the members so we can help the
work move on. We have the best bishop who is always willing to help
us! And I think one of the biggest things I've learned on the mission
is what kind of member I want to be. I now understand better the
importance of members in missionary work and the importance of home
teaching and FHE.
And I hope everyone is super excited for GENERAL CONFERENCE! You know
I'm excited! It's the best time of the year, especially for
missionaries! It's a great opportunity that we have to listen to our
living prophets and apostles, and receive personal revelation. One
thing I hope you can all do is prepare yourselves spiritually for this
conference, and go in with a question or two. I know that the spirit
will guide you and that you will receive this personal revelation. I'm
so excited!
Moral of the story, read your scriptures! The Book of Mormon is our
most powerful conversion tool. Seek personal revelation. And watch
general conference!
Love you all! Have a great week!
Con amor, hermana Knowles
Hermana Knowles (21 Sep 15)
Madre mía.. Pues esta semana he cumplido un año en la misión! Qué
rápido no? No lo puedo creer.
Well this week I've officially completed on year in the mish! That's
crazy to wrap my head around. A year without my family, here in Spain,
as a full time missionary, teaching the people here and having amazing
experiences that are affecting my life. Have I mentioned I love the
mission?!
For this weeks summary.. Not to much has happened. We are still
working really hard to find new people, but we haven't been in our
area much this week. We had some crazy intercambios where the both of
us ended up going to their areas, and then it was stake conference in
San Fernando, so we haven't spent much time in Jerez. On Friday we had
intercambios with the chiclana Hermanas, and then on Saturday with the
San fern Hermanas. We just did splits in their area and handed out
flyers and invited people to the open house of the new stake center
they just built! Ah man, the new capilla is so pretty! And big! And
right off the highway and in front of the train station, so almost
everyone we talked to had seen it! And most were interested in seeing
what is inside. It was a fun morning! Then for the afternoon we went
to the adult session, and then stayed the night with the Hermanas in
San Fernando.
Sunday we all went to the new capilla for stake conference. And it was
so spiritual and amazing! President Andersen, our mission president,
came and spoke about missionary work and the Book of Mormon. And there
were some other great talks on giving thanks to the Lord, and not
being so quick to anger. The truth is everyone felt the spirit and got
so much out of it.
Well I'm not sure what else to say. This week is going to be even
crazier and we will hardly be in our area with zone conference and
intercambios in Jaen. But I think it will be a good week! Love you
all! Hope everyone is doing great.
One thing our stake president invited all the members to do what to
prepare ourselves more spiritually for the sacrament each week.
Renewing our covenants with our Heavenly Father is the most important
thing we can do each week. So I invite you all to be more spiritually
prepared as you partake of the sacrament, to show up early to
sacrament meeting, to invite the spirit, and think of things that you
can do better that next week, and to think of the sacrifice of the
Savior.
Have a great week!
Love, hermana Knowles
rápido no? No lo puedo creer.
Well this week I've officially completed on year in the mish! That's
crazy to wrap my head around. A year without my family, here in Spain,
as a full time missionary, teaching the people here and having amazing
experiences that are affecting my life. Have I mentioned I love the
mission?!
For this weeks summary.. Not to much has happened. We are still
working really hard to find new people, but we haven't been in our
area much this week. We had some crazy intercambios where the both of
us ended up going to their areas, and then it was stake conference in
San Fernando, so we haven't spent much time in Jerez. On Friday we had
intercambios with the chiclana Hermanas, and then on Saturday with the
San fern Hermanas. We just did splits in their area and handed out
flyers and invited people to the open house of the new stake center
they just built! Ah man, the new capilla is so pretty! And big! And
right off the highway and in front of the train station, so almost
everyone we talked to had seen it! And most were interested in seeing
what is inside. It was a fun morning! Then for the afternoon we went
to the adult session, and then stayed the night with the Hermanas in
San Fernando.
Sunday we all went to the new capilla for stake conference. And it was
so spiritual and amazing! President Andersen, our mission president,
came and spoke about missionary work and the Book of Mormon. And there
were some other great talks on giving thanks to the Lord, and not
being so quick to anger. The truth is everyone felt the spirit and got
so much out of it.
Well I'm not sure what else to say. This week is going to be even
crazier and we will hardly be in our area with zone conference and
intercambios in Jaen. But I think it will be a good week! Love you
all! Hope everyone is doing great.
One thing our stake president invited all the members to do what to
prepare ourselves more spiritually for the sacrament each week.
Renewing our covenants with our Heavenly Father is the most important
thing we can do each week. So I invite you all to be more spiritually
prepared as you partake of the sacrament, to show up early to
sacrament meeting, to invite the spirit, and think of things that you
can do better that next week, and to think of the sacrifice of the
Savior.
Have a great week!
Love, hermana Knowles
Hermana Knowles (14 Sep 15)
Heyy que pasa!
Pues, it was quite the crazy week! With all the packing, cleaning,
moving, street and door contacting, necessary ice cream breaks, and
trying to figure out our new area, we've been pretty busy! I'll start
with a day by day summary.
Monday- pday! We played airsoft!! And ate at this buffet that was really good!
Tuesday- we had district meeting, ate some arepas, and said goodbye to
some of our people and explained that two crazy elders would now be
passing by.
Wednesday- we spent the morning cleaning and finishing packing, and
then we ate with our district in muerde la pasta (buffeettttt
️)
Thursday- weekly planning! With the elders.. For our new area. Woohoo!
I'll just say we weren't left with much.. With any food, cleaning
supplies, people, or even a single Book of Mormon. Haha but its okay!
Friday- we went area trying to meet the people in our new area, and me
with an awesome less active member, and talked to some former
investigators that didn't really want much. That night we met with our
recent convert rodrigo, and he's great! He's going through a lot of
hard things right now. But we convinced him to come with us to the
party for the young men/women at the church! And he had a great time!
Saturday- we did splits with two awesome members Sara and Fernanda!
They're both planning on going on missions soon so it was awesome! It
was honestly the first time ive done splits with members.. Haha. It
was super fun! We went through a lot of people we had in our area
book, but not many people were home or interested. But we did knock on
a door and interrupted a lesson from the Jehovah's witnesses haha.
Awkward.Then that night we went out more.. To do some more finding..
And got a new inv, who was also a Jehovah's Witness. She was pretty
open and let us share our ideas with her. We have another cita with
her on Wednesday!
And on Sunday no one came to church.. But we got to see Daiana and
Mirian who we had been missing!! I'm so happy that even though we are
in a new area we get to see our people!
Our new area is super different! I don't even feel like I'm in the
same city.. Haha our old area was super pretty and had all the old
cobble stone streets with cathedrals around every corner, and our new
area is newer, and has a lot of commercial areas. It's interesting. We
are trying to find work here. So it will probably be a slow start, but
we'll get there :)
I'm not sure what more to say from this week.. Except that in two days
I will have ONE YEAR in the mission!?!? Crazy right?!? Time is flying
by, but I still have so much work to do!
D&C 112:10 Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the
hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.
It has been a humbling week, and we have been relying more on the
Lord. I know that we must work as if everything depended on us, but
pray as if everything depended on the Lord. If we pray sincerely and
give thanks, and listen to the counsel of the Lord and His servants,
we can be sufficiently humble and He will bless us with His guidance.
Anyways, love you all. Have a great week!
Love, Hermana Knowles
Pues, it was quite the crazy week! With all the packing, cleaning,
moving, street and door contacting, necessary ice cream breaks, and
trying to figure out our new area, we've been pretty busy! I'll start
with a day by day summary.
Monday- pday! We played airsoft!! And ate at this buffet that was really good!
Tuesday- we had district meeting, ate some arepas, and said goodbye to
some of our people and explained that two crazy elders would now be
passing by.
Wednesday- we spent the morning cleaning and finishing packing, and
then we ate with our district in muerde la pasta (buffeettttt
️)Thursday- weekly planning! With the elders.. For our new area. Woohoo!
I'll just say we weren't left with much.. With any food, cleaning
supplies, people, or even a single Book of Mormon. Haha but its okay!
Friday- we went area trying to meet the people in our new area, and me
with an awesome less active member, and talked to some former
investigators that didn't really want much. That night we met with our
recent convert rodrigo, and he's great! He's going through a lot of
hard things right now. But we convinced him to come with us to the
party for the young men/women at the church! And he had a great time!
Saturday- we did splits with two awesome members Sara and Fernanda!
They're both planning on going on missions soon so it was awesome! It
was honestly the first time ive done splits with members.. Haha. It
was super fun! We went through a lot of people we had in our area
book, but not many people were home or interested. But we did knock on
a door and interrupted a lesson from the Jehovah's witnesses haha.
Awkward.Then that night we went out more.. To do some more finding..
And got a new inv, who was also a Jehovah's Witness. She was pretty
open and let us share our ideas with her. We have another cita with
her on Wednesday!
And on Sunday no one came to church.. But we got to see Daiana and
Mirian who we had been missing!! I'm so happy that even though we are
in a new area we get to see our people!
Our new area is super different! I don't even feel like I'm in the
same city.. Haha our old area was super pretty and had all the old
cobble stone streets with cathedrals around every corner, and our new
area is newer, and has a lot of commercial areas. It's interesting. We
are trying to find work here. So it will probably be a slow start, but
we'll get there :)
I'm not sure what more to say from this week.. Except that in two days
I will have ONE YEAR in the mission!?!? Crazy right?!? Time is flying
by, but I still have so much work to do!
D&C 112:10 Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the
hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.
It has been a humbling week, and we have been relying more on the
Lord. I know that we must work as if everything depended on us, but
pray as if everything depended on the Lord. If we pray sincerely and
give thanks, and listen to the counsel of the Lord and His servants,
we can be sufficiently humble and He will bless us with His guidance.
Anyways, love you all. Have a great week!
Love, Hermana Knowles
Alyssa email (7 Sep 15)
Heyyy fam!
Well hey, it's been a better week! I've had some of the most spiritual experiences that that I've had in a while. And I've been trying to be more positive about whatever changes come our way. Haha it may not have been what we wanted or we may not understand why, but the Lords ways are higher than our ways. Ah! I love the mission. I love being able to learn things on this smaller scale that will help me throughout the rest of my life. Missions are the best. :)
Well, we did not switch areas yet! But when we went to consejo this last week we talked with president, and we will be switching everything this Wednesday! But at least it gave us a little more time haha:)
So Monday, we did the normal drill for consejo and woke up at 4:45 am to catch the train to Málaga! And we had just a little bit of time to do email, and then we all headed to the mission office to help them move offices to an office two floors down. It definitely took all the effort of the 20 or so missionaries that went! Haha. And then we headed up to the mission home, ate some really good burritos, and started our consejo. And it was so good! I felt the spirit super strong. So what happens is that they normally assign people to give certain talleres (talk/workshop?) and thats what we discuss. One thing that it seemed to be our focus was the Book of Mormon. But no one was assigned to speak on that, but everything always came back to it! So that is was this we took back and applied into our areas.
Every lesson we had after that was focused on the Book of Mormon. It really is so powerful, and the convincing evidence and most powerful tool that we have! The other day we were teaching a lesson to Jose, and he started out with a couple doubts. But we spoke powerfully of the Book of Mormon, and his attitude changed! He accepted to be baptized on the 19th of this month. Ahh it was so powerful!
On Friday we went to Cádiz for zone meeting, and it was so good! Hermana Hurtado and I gave a taller about working with members, and things that we can do to serve them better. I think I've said this before but it's good to remember.. "Missionaries are full time teachers, members are full time finders." So, all you faithful members, remember that! This work would not be anything without the members. And we are here to help them:) we also talked again about the Book of Mormon, and about being more Christlike missionaries. We definitely left fortalecidos!
And the after the zone meeting, the senior couple serving here made us Mac and cheese and hot dogs and we had American soda! I've missed some good ol Mac and cheese. I was happy:) and afterwards our train we were supposed to take was cancelled, so we were stuck there for a while! Haha
We also had intercambios this week with the Hermanas from Cádiz! Hermana butler came here to Jerez with me, and we had a great intercambio! She's a newer missionary that's still learning Spanish (well, we all still are but you understand) and we went to teach our African investigators. And it was so great! They would get distracted super easily, but as soon as she started to talk, they stopped and leaned forward in their seats and listened attentively. Haha itmwas kinda funny but super sweet! And They were helping her with her Spanish, and seemed really interested in what she was saying. It was so cool! Haha I love our Africans.
Well, it's going to be a crazy week getting everything moved, and trying to learn a new area. Wish us luck!! :)
Well hey, it's been a better week! I've had some of the most spiritual experiences that that I've had in a while. And I've been trying to be more positive about whatever changes come our way. Haha it may not have been what we wanted or we may not understand why, but the Lords ways are higher than our ways. Ah! I love the mission. I love being able to learn things on this smaller scale that will help me throughout the rest of my life. Missions are the best. :)
Well, we did not switch areas yet! But when we went to consejo this last week we talked with president, and we will be switching everything this Wednesday! But at least it gave us a little more time haha:)
So Monday, we did the normal drill for consejo and woke up at 4:45 am to catch the train to Málaga! And we had just a little bit of time to do email, and then we all headed to the mission office to help them move offices to an office two floors down. It definitely took all the effort of the 20 or so missionaries that went! Haha. And then we headed up to the mission home, ate some really good burritos, and started our consejo. And it was so good! I felt the spirit super strong. So what happens is that they normally assign people to give certain talleres (talk/workshop?) and thats what we discuss. One thing that it seemed to be our focus was the Book of Mormon. But no one was assigned to speak on that, but everything always came back to it! So that is was this we took back and applied into our areas.
Every lesson we had after that was focused on the Book of Mormon. It really is so powerful, and the convincing evidence and most powerful tool that we have! The other day we were teaching a lesson to Jose, and he started out with a couple doubts. But we spoke powerfully of the Book of Mormon, and his attitude changed! He accepted to be baptized on the 19th of this month. Ahh it was so powerful!
On Friday we went to Cádiz for zone meeting, and it was so good! Hermana Hurtado and I gave a taller about working with members, and things that we can do to serve them better. I think I've said this before but it's good to remember.. "Missionaries are full time teachers, members are full time finders." So, all you faithful members, remember that! This work would not be anything without the members. And we are here to help them:) we also talked again about the Book of Mormon, and about being more Christlike missionaries. We definitely left fortalecidos!
And the after the zone meeting, the senior couple serving here made us Mac and cheese and hot dogs and we had American soda! I've missed some good ol Mac and cheese. I was happy:) and afterwards our train we were supposed to take was cancelled, so we were stuck there for a while! Haha
We also had intercambios this week with the Hermanas from Cádiz! Hermana butler came here to Jerez with me, and we had a great intercambio! She's a newer missionary that's still learning Spanish (well, we all still are but you understand) and we went to teach our African investigators. And it was so great! They would get distracted super easily, but as soon as she started to talk, they stopped and leaned forward in their seats and listened attentively. Haha itmwas kinda funny but super sweet! And They were helping her with her Spanish, and seemed really interested in what she was saying. It was so cool! Haha I love our Africans.
Well, it's going to be a crazy week getting everything moved, and trying to learn a new area. Wish us luck!! :)
Love you all! Thanks for everything! Have a great week!
Con amor, hermana knowles
“I am called of God. My authority is above that of the kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my Master and He has chosen me to represent Him. To stand in His place, to say and do what He Himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice, and my acts are His acts; my words His words and my doctrine is His doctrine. My commission is to do what He wants done. To say what He wants said. To be a living witness in word and deed of the divinity of His great and marvelous latter-day work. How great is my calling!”
I love this quote! And I love being a missionary. Even through all the ups and downs.
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