Sunday, December 13, 2015

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.

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