Week 9 & 10

hey family!
i~m here! in the field! it feels like a dream! and again i am lost as to where to begin... i am in Jardim Campinas right now, and my companion is Elder Vasconcelos, he is amazing, he is such a help and a great support to me! he is also very patient with me as i learn and grow. oh and did i mention that he doen~t know any english? yup, talk about crazy huh? but the cool thing is that while i can~t understand really anyone, i can understand him and what he is saying most of the time. the Lord is truely helping me in this work, i feel his hand helping me daily! i can~t believe how much i can understand and comprehend, but sadly that is much more than i can speak. i have such a hard time relaying how i feel and how to portray my thoughts... this past week has been the hardest week of my life. every moring i have to work so hard to not be down on myself and work hard. it is so hard! it feels like the whole weight of the world is on my shoulders sometimes. i really miss you all! thank you so much for the prayers and support! i can~t wait till christmas when i get to call, i~ll probably still be here in this area so i should be pretty comfortable by then and hopefully by then i will be able to speak pretty well! tell Adria hi for me and that i miss her too!
so last tuesday we left the ctm at 7 in the morning and got to the mission home at 8:15ish, and we had a little meeting where we introduced ourselves and stuff like that, then we did interviews with President Pinho. He is really cool! he knows english and lived for i think 10 years in the US. then after we had luch with him and his wife, it was really good! then we went to the mission office where we had little orientation and got our new companions, i was pretty nervous when i found out that mine didn~t know english! then we went to our house! and that evening we taught a lesson! i didn~t say too much (of coarse) but it was neat! the style of living here is so different from back there! but i~m starting to get used to it, the only thing that i wish was different was the showers. they aren~t very warm if they are at all! but i guess i~ll just apreciate it that much more when i get home! i really do love it here! the people are amazing and most everyone is really nice and polite. oh, and the public transportation is pretty much an adventure every time! as soon as the doors close, the bus is moving! so hold on! hehe! i almost fell over a couple of times, but i am getting used to it now. and the people on motorcyles are pretty much fearless, pretty much if their bike will fit between the cars, they~ll go through, wether or not they are moving! its pretty crazy!
our days are filled every day! there is always something to do! and we walk everywhere!! dad remember walking up some of those hills when we were hunting? some of the roads are like that! i think i will be in pretty good shape when i come home! but my poor feet! they hurt... hehhe! we~ll see how that goes... but it is some much easier for me to be in a better mood when we are out working, the gospel truely brings a joy to our lives that nothing else can! i am so thankful for my testimony, it has truely helped me through this week!
conference was amazing last week, i got to watch it in english thankfully! i took so many notes! i pretty much wrote a book! it was such a help for me!
OH! on saturday we had a BAPTISM!!! it was so cool! Her name is Aline and is 11 years old, but is very excited about the gospel! share the gospel with everyone! don~t be afraid to let people know you are MORMON! this gospel can change their life! and you have the power to bring it to them!
ok, well my time is up. don~t worry i will take lots of pictures mom! hehe!
i love you so very much!
love
Elder Knudson