Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Your missionary´s arrival at the Brazil MTC

Dear Parents,

We are happy to send the good news that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil MTC. What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they come through the front door of the MTC for the first time. We promise to take good care of your missionary.

They now have companions and are settled into their rooms. They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study. The branch presidents and their wives, will soon give them a second greeting. These couples are rewarded in their callings through the love they always develop as they embrace and watch over the missionaries.

The MTC has a full time live-in physician to care for their health needs. He is assisted by his able wife. We are also happy to report that the Cafeteria food is abundant and very good.

Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple. This will be either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on individual assignments.

Your very important young person is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of others. We hope you will be encouraged and comforted by this quote by President Lorenzo Snow: “There is no mortal man that is so much interested in the success of an elder [sister] when he is preaching the gospel as the Lord that sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord’s children.”

Please accept our love,

President Donald L Clark and Sister Zaza Clark

ADDITIONAL information . . .

DO not send packages to the Brazil Missionary Training Center. All packages must be sent directly to the mission where your missionary will be serving not the MTC. If you have already mailed a package to the Brazil MTC and it arrives after your missionary has left for the field, please understand that the package can not be forwarded to his or her mission and will be returned to you. The only other option is for us to open the package and forward the letters and photographs, giving the rest of the content of the package to the missionaries that are here.

WE Strongly eNCOURAGE sENDING HAND WRITTEN LETTERS. Please write your missionary´s first and last name. Your missionary will provide you with his district and box number. Also, please DO NOT SEND ANYTHING BY FEDEX, DHL, UPS, or other private carriers. The cost to get this type of correspondence is exorbitant.

I don't think I have been more happy for Braden or emotional than when opened and read this wonderful news!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Wed 8/24/11 Letter & Photos from Elder Knudson

Ola minha familia!
Well here are the pictures I've taken thus far! There is also something small in here for each of you. (He sent us Armour of God cards) So Friday I have a big "in field orientation" I have to go to, but it is funny cause I'm not going into the field yet! So I may get to hear it again when I leave from the CTM in Brazil too.



Thank you all so very much for all the letters and prayers!! and Trevor, don't get to used to your own room cause when you get here you will get to share a room with 3 other missionaries.

I love you


Always Remember 2Nephi 25:26!


And we atalk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we bprophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our cchildren may know to what source they may look for a dremission of their sins.


Elder Knudson








News from our Elder

Today Braden got on a plane in SLC to go to Brazil! He was able to call home from the airport in Texas. It was so fun to hear his voice! He is doing so great! I think It was a little weird for him at first to be talking on the phone! Sense the only communication we have had till now is letters and email. He can email once a week and write letters. We will talk to him on the phone on Christmas and Mothers Day!
He Is going to Brazil with one other Elder from his mission and 2 others from a different mission in Brazil. He said they felt like celebrities in the SLC airport, everyone was saying "Hi Elder!" and "Welcome back Elder!" They then explained they were not on their way home... a lot. He told us the MTC in Provo is a lot like being at Youth Conf. or EFY for a long time. It was great! The only time he really left campus was to go to the Provo Temple. We also got a letter in the mail today with a bunch of photos, so I will do another post with those attached. There are a lot of pictures of the temple! You can tell that is the only place he has been, besides the MTD. He loves all the letters and emails he gets, keep writing, or emailing him.
He says his Portuguese is going great! I wish we could have recorded him talking in the language. He told us the First Vision in Portuguese. It was was way awesome to hear!
He now has a 10 hour flight ahead of him. He is boarding the plane now 7:30pm in Texas and will get to Brazil at 7:40 am tomorrow (Brazil time). Brazil is 4 hours ahead of California time.
He is doing so great and is very happy! He is excited to get to Brazil and finish his last 5 weeks of training. Then off to work he goes!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Letter from Elder Knudson Week 4

Hello everyone!!!!!!
so to day is Monday! yup, our schedule got changed cause there is so many Portuguese missionaries.
So tonight is the last night I will sleep in the United states for 2 years! Crazy huh! Tomorrow I leave at 8 am and my flight leaves from salt lake at 1250 and I get to Sao Paulo at 740 am on wed.
I am pretty excited to leave and be in Brazil, but at the same time I am pretty nervous!
this weeks email is going to be pretty short cause all the time I've had to spend preparing to leave, but this week i learned the importance of humility! humility is the only way we can receive personal revelation and guidance from the Holy Ghost, because without it we wont listen to the promptings that we receive!
the Book of Mormon is True, read it, and read it often! then after you have read it, pray to know if it is true, and if you pray with a sincere heart, having faith that you will receive and answer, God will tell you by the power of the Holy Ghost that it is true! the book of Mormon brings such joy into our lives! and it is sitting right there for us to search and learn how to have that joy in our lives always!
I love you all!
Elder Knudson!

Sunday, August 28, 2011






Braden will be leaving for Brazil on Tuesday August 30th!! Please start writing him there. His email wll be the same, here is his new address.

Elder Braden Knudson
Missão Brasil São Paulo Interlagos
Rua Eusébio de Souza, 121
Jardim Londrina
São Paulo, SP
05638-100
Brasil


Please write.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Week 3

Óla Everyone!
this has been a pretty awesome week! i don't even know where to start!
yes, all the elders in my district are going to brazil, and all but 3 are going to my area! i'm not sure about the stamps and envelops bc i don't know how all that is supposed to work down in brazil so we'll see about that one
we get to go to the temple once a week! it is awesome! i love it!
we have devotionals every sunday and tuesday evenings! on sunday we had a general authority speak on the importance of obedience and following the spirit, it was a great talk, he was a pretty funny guy too!
don't worry, my clothes still fit! hehe! but there is always SO MUCH FOOD here! it is very hard to portion sometimes! but the downside is that the food gives you pretty bad gas... and when you stick 11 Elders in a room together... you get the idea! hehe!

so this friday i found out i got my VISA!!!!!!!! i was so happy! so this is how it went!
our district leader got the mail for us around lunch and walk in for during our study time and said that 2 people got their visas and told us to guess. immediately my heart went to my throat and some one guessed me and one of my companions, he said one of them was right and since i knoew my comp was having a little trouble with his i knew it was me!!!!!!!!!! and the other one that will be comeing with me is Elder Nielson! so later that day i went to the travel office just to make sure that it was real and not some practical joke, so i went in and asked a ladie who was a little busy if my travel plans means that i got my visa, she said no, and that that could just be a optimistic thing, immidiately my heart sank and i almost felt like thowing up, but then i talked to a different guy who went and checked on the computer if i got it and he came back and said that i did have my visa! i felt like i was floating out of the office!!!!!
so i leave from SLC at 12:50p and get to dallas tx at 4:30p
then i leave from Dallas at 7:40p and get to Sao Paulo at 7:40 am... long flight!!!!!!!!! but i am so excited! i cannot wait to be in brazil! i am pretty nervous! 1 cause of the super long flight time 2 cause i haven't been out of the country before!

so my basic schedule here is
630 wake up
800 breakfast
1245 lunch
545 dinner
and between them i have and hour of gym, 2-3 hours of personal study, two 3 hour blocks of Classroom instruction, an hour of TALL (tech assisted language learning), and 30 min of daily plannig time

i am beggining to realize just how much our Heavenly Father loves us! the Book of Mormon is amazing! it has such potential to bring joy into our life! Scripture of the week! 2 Nephi 32:3

i love you all!!!!!!!!
Elder Knudson

Monday, August 22, 2011

VISA... AT LAST!

Friday, August 19, 2011


Querido Familia!

Hoje, I got my........VISA! It was a pretty crazy day and it is late so I can't write much, and you'll prob get my email before this too! But I leave on August 30th. 13 hours of flight time! I'm so excited and nervous all over again! I love you all so much! Thank you for all the Dear Elders and the package! Don't worry more info to come about the Visa!

I love you all!

Obrigado!

Elder Knudson!



Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Week 2 Letter @ the MTC

hello everyone!!!!
this week has been pretty eventful, and i probably wont remember half of the stuff that went on this week, but i'll do my best. so my companions names are Elder Ogasawara, he's from japan, and Elder Cox, from Seatle Washington.
it is really hard to think back on a specific day and tell you about it cause all of the days are muddled together... i'm starting to get into the swing of things and figuring out how i study best! the spirit here is so amazing and so uplifting! we have a fireside every sun night and a devotional on tuesdays, this sunday we had the mtc director speak to us, he spoke about doing everything we can that PERHAPS we might bring people unto Christ. he talked about how success is not measured by how may baptisms we have or how many lessons we teach, but how pleased the Lord is with our efforts! he said that missionaries tend to think that there is a formula to missionary work, that if they put in X amount of hours they will get X amount of baptisms or whatever, he said their is NO garunteed baptisms, he talked about how all the great missonaries in the Book of Mormon had their attitudes while on their missions, they did all that they coud so that "perhaps" someone might come unto christ and listen to their words. it is difficult to have that type of attitude to give everything you have and expect nothing in return, but i am working on it and i hope by the time i leave for Brazil that i have got it down pretty well! I am doing this so that those people that i talk to will have the chance to choose to come unto Christ, but because they have their agency they can also choose not to. i feel so blessed to know that my Savior has trusted me with the responsability to take his work to the people of São Paulo Brazil!
this past week my testimony has grown so much! it still amazes me how you can feel so strongly about something one day and then the next you feel even stronger! i love this gospel and the message that it brings and the joy that comes from living those teachings!
the language is moving right along! slowly and surely along with lots of hard work! But again, the Lord continues to bless me! He has enabled me to learn so much in 2 weeks that it is quite shocking! yesterday we taught 2 lesson, one was a surprise spur of the moment and one was planned, but both ernt very well, me and my companions were strengthened and were belssed to have the guidence of the Holy Ghost and we were able to successfully give a 30 min lesson about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith in broken prtuguese, but the investigator was able to understand what we were teacking and the spirit testified of the truthfullness of our teachings! it was truely amazing to feel the Spirit of the Lord work through me and my companions to touch the hearts of our investigators!
I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lords church restored in its fullness here upon the earth! i know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that through the power of the priesthood he was able to tranlate the Book of Mormon! i know that everyone can experience more joy from this gospel than through any other means!
I love you ALL!!!!!!!
Love, Elder Knudson

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Elder Knudson Spotting at the MTC!

Our good friend Nick Bond works at the MTC in Provo, He has been on the hunt to see Braden all week! He finally tracked him down today at lunch! Thanks so much Nick! We love this pictures! So glad you found him!
I tracked him during his lunch time. He sounds like he's doing great; he's loving the language and teaching. He also said he cried when he read your letter and for me to thanks you for sending it.

I took this right before he knew I was standing there... he had like three different drinks on his plate (taking advantage of all the free food :-)

HAHAHA!! This is great!!

Everyone write Braden a letter. :)

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Provo, UT, MTC Aug 3, 2011



My Sister Anita picked Braden up at the SLC airport!

She met Sally for breakfast then took him to the MTC in Provo!

He was SO ready to go and so excited to get there!!





































































Departure day! Sacramento Airport Aug 3, 2011

Arriving at the Sacramento Airport! 5 am


















Braden's flight was EARLY! 6:20 am! We had to have him there by 5 am. We were all so excited to see him start his mission to Brazil, but saying goodbye was HARD!










As we drove to the Airport I started to worry about Braden having never flown before! He did Fly once with me when he was 2 but can't remember it!



So I was telling him all you have to do to go through security, like take off your shoes, & Belt and Watch. Get a tray and put everything in it, your bags and everything have to go through the scanner... It was at that point I realized he was just going to have to go for it & I couldn't be there to help! He is an adult after all! So I prayed a silent prayer in the car that he would have help if he needed it, That I was turning him over to Heavenly Father now and Please send him help if he needs anything in the airport.


As we were saying goodbye and he headed off to security a woman in a blue security uniform came up to us and asked us if we were sending our son off for 2 years?

"Yes" I cried! She said she had a daughter that just got home. Then she asked if he had eaten breakfast? My tearful reply, "I don't know" ( I forgot he had me make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before we left).

So she said she would take care of him!


I cried even more as I watched her go around and wait for him, He says she called him Elder and it surprised him, Then she told him what he needed to do.




She took him after he got through security and bought him a little breakfast, then took him to the gate! Sometimes Heavenly Father answers my prayers in a way that leaves me speechless! I was grateful for that answer!

It was probably more for me than Braden I know that & I feel so grateful!



We love you Braden!












Missionary Hair Cut Time!

Time for Mom to give Braden his last haircut! He has always liked his hair SHORT so a missionary cut is what he always gets! Macie what the photographer here. :)












Week 1 Email from Braden! 8-9-2011

hello everyone!
well it has been one hole week here at the MTC!!!!!!!!!! it has been absolutely amazing! the spirit here is so strong! i have 2 companions, Elder Ogasawara and Elder Cox. Elder Cox's real companion never showed up for some reason and we don't know why... but that is ok cause we are having a great time here! so wed when we got here we we had an orientation and all the beginning Missionary stuff. it was very cool how everyone says WELCOME ELDER to the people with the dork dots! hehe! it was fun! thursday morning we were told we would have to teach a lesson on friday in all portuguese!! so our 3rd day here we had to teach! our lesson was very sktchy and i understood slim to none of what our "investigator" was saying. but it was a good experience, it was neat to see where i could be in not too long of a time! it was so cool! we also taught again on sat, our lesson went better that day, but we were doing something wrong cause our investigator was falling asleep during our lesson! hehe! but i think i spoke better that day. sunday was AMAZING! here in the MTC you don't really have a choice but to fast cause they don't serve breakfast and lunch. but there are vending machines so i guess there still is a choice, anyway! we had sacrament meeting at 8 and it was so much fun singing hymes in portuguese! everyone bore their testimony in portuguese too! it was pretty cool! even though i didn't understand too much i still got the gist of most of the testimonies! and guess what! i was even crazy enough to get up and bear mine! talk about scary! if any of you are afraid of bearing your testimony, try doing it in a language you have been learning for 3 days! hehe! but it went well and everyone said i had a good accent! no word on the visa yet, but i don't think i will until it get here, oh well. but my district is awesome, there are 11 of us and everyone has a very strong testimony for being here! sunday nite we also had a fireside where Elder Bateman came and spoke to us! it was amazing! the spirit here is so amazing! it is hard to believethat you can continue to feel the spirit stronger each day when the day before was already so strong! i love it here! this is truely a calling from God! it gets a little overwhelming at times but i know it will start to get easier as we go, or maybe not.. but either way, everything will work out if i work hard! thank you for all the prayers! i love you all! don't forget to write!
Elder Knudson!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Mission Farewell Sunday July 31, 2011

We had a wonderful day on sunday! July 31, 2011 Braden gave his farewell talk in church.





Joey Collazo

Trevor & Braden






















Grandma & Grandpa Knudson were able to come out from Utah to be here for the Farewell.

Family Photos



While in Utah over the 24th of July holiday, we took family photos before Braden leaves on his mission.

We spent a fun day in Park City!



























Recieving the Call

Bradens mission call came at the beginning of February! We had a huge party to hear where he would be going!