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. 

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!! 

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

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

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 (buffeettttt️)
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!! :)

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. 

Shskfjiandkfjgnsn

Heyyy family! Another week has gone by... And now it's basically
September!! Ahhhhh

Snfjghakakfjnskrweie. This is how I've been feeling haha. I've been
trying to think of what I could write for this week, but I'm not sure
how to put it into words. The mission can be hard. Haha. and this has been one of those hard weeks. But I still love it! I'm still so glad
I'm here, but there's always good things to learn from those hard
days.

But anyways, we got a call on Friday from our zone leaders and they asked us to come early to the church before our ward activity. So we went and talked to them and they said that president had called them and that we were going to be switching areas with the other elders and white washing their area. still in Jerez and in the same ward. But it's because our area is pretty chungo, pretty sketchy. We usually don't enter into the most sketchy parts haha but it's mostly because our piso is right on the edge of one of those not so safe areas and some weird things have happened and they sell drugs and stuff right
here and basically it's just kinda sketchy haha. So they think it would be better for the elders (I honestly don't know why Hermanas were ever put here haha). And he said we would be making the switch in Wednesday, which would give us like two days because we are in Malaga for consejo for two days! Ahh. We were super super sad, because we
LOVE our people and are seeing miracles and have just finally have won some of their trust. But it's okay I know the elders can serve them well! But the thing is we don't know for sure yet, we are talking with president today and making a decision. So I'll let you know next week

what happens!

But there were some good and funny things that happened this week
haha. We found a new investigator that is from Nigeria! We always pass
by his Afro shop haha. He's so cool! We started talking and we started
talking about African culture, and then he decided to show us a video
of his dad's funeral, which is basically like a huge party! Haha they
put the caskets of their shoulders and start dancing. Oh man. But it
was a a great opportunity to talk about the plan of salvation! We've
met with him a couple times and it's always a party, but he's super
receptive. We started teaching a couple of his friends as well that
always pass by.

We had some great lessons this week! And ate some GREAT food. Ahh the
best paella with shrimp and seafood with one of our members. And we
had a great ward bbq on Friday!
Jose is progressing well, he came to church yesterday! And his mom is
really happy about it, we're pretty excited!

One thing that we've seemed to talk a lot about this week is the
priesthood authority. It is so essential! I'm so grateful that we have
prophets and apostles that have the AUTHORITY to lead and guide us
today. I'm also so grateful for all the wonderful leaders that we have
that are able to receive revelation for us, such as our bishops, stake
presidents, and mission presidents. God has not left us alone! We just
need to follow their counsel and we will be led the right way:)

Basically, there is a lot that I have learned from this week. I love
the mission, and the lord is helping me to be more humble. And we are
doing good now haha. Thanks for everything though! I love the emails
and letters and stuff:)

Love you!! Have a great week!

Con amor, hermana knowles