19 de março 2012: TRANSFERS

hey familly

well i was transfered. i dont really know what to think about it
yet. im pretty excited but at the same time VERY nervous. i am going to miss
so many people here... saying goodbye is so hard. but i really will take all
of them with me in my heart. tonight we will have a little Familly night thing
so i can say bye to everyone and take pictures. the member that is sending
the pictures is Renato. he is pretty much awesome! he served a mission around
the same time as dad, back when it was memorized lessons. but he helps us out
so much in the work and last monday he took us to an indian reserve, it is like
litterally the lamanite village! it is so cool! but they are pretty modern
too, one of them had satalite tv! but it was really cool to go see! so the
pizza here is pretty good! and it is pretty much a missionary tradition and he
carried it over from the mission to his family too!for the transfers
everyone goes to the chapel by the mission office that is being transfered and
president tells you who will be your new companion and which area, so i dont
know where i will go yet... but it will be all good! i am excited to work in a
new area and meet new people, i think i am finally starting to figure out my
style of working and teaching.no, they dont celebrate st patricks day here.
it came and went and i didnt even know... ha! but oh well, everyday is the same
anyway so i dont know what difference it would make. but i'll get back into all
the holidays in another year and 4 months (roughly).so this week was pretty
cool, we worked really hard and we taught a lot of people! but the highlight of
the week was yesterday! we were walking up a road and we saw Gustavo (the kid i
baptized) and Italo (other YM in the ward) visiting the other young men in the
ward! and they were doing it without any leader being with them or even asking
them to do it! and they said that they were going to do it every
sunday!!!!!!!! i almost cried! it was so cool to see!so it sounds like
dallins project is going good! keep it up and hopefully it doesnt rain too much
for you! i cant believe that in 2 weeks i will have been on the mission for
8 months... it is going by so fast! soon it will be a year! the work is
amazing! the people are amazing! and i cant believe the love that i have
developed for the people here. the hardest thing that we see is when someone
tells us that they dont want anything to do with God... it is hard to see people
lost in the ways of the world and not be able to do anything about it because of
their agency. but i am learning so much! the scriptures are amazing! i am in
alma 10 in portuguese! it is so cool to be able to understand another
language! the church is true! i have NO doubt! stay strong and always
remember who you are and what you stand for!!i love you
all!loveElder Knudson

12 de março de 2012

hey fam!!another week FLEW by! i feel like i was just here writing you!
but so much has happened this last week. so this is my last week in this area,
on the 20th i should be transfered from here. but this last week was pretty
good, but very difficult. so on tuesdays we do a ward family night at the
chapel and it has been going really good! this last week we watched a movie
called 17 miracles. it is AMAZING! if you havent watched it yet, watch it!
and keep the tissues ready! it is a story about he martin handcart company and
all of the stuff that they went through. on wednesday we had a meeting with an
area 70, Elder Carlos Godoy. he is funny! he was baptized when he was 16 years
old and was taught by the sister missionaries. but the miracle was that we
showed up ON TIME!! we left the house at 600 and we got there at 830. it was
the first time that we didnt have complications on the journey. but the meeting
was very spiritual and really neat! one of our baptisms fell through but we
did have one! his name is eduardo and is 11, he is really excited about the
church and said that he wants to serve a mission! and after i confirmed him a
member of the church, he gave everyone that was seated on the pulpit a hug! it
was pretty cool! hopefully he can help reactivate some of his family
members.this week was SUPER hot here in São Paulo! but then on saturday it
decided to rain, it seemed more like a hurricane with all the wind and the DOWN
POOR of rain! but it was cool! we also had a bolt of lighting strick like 30
feet away from us! it was pretty much awesome! i have never heard anything so
loud before! but it was cool!yes we do have daylight savings here, but we
moved back an hour! so it was really nice for us! so that means that we are
only 4 hours apart now instead of 6 hours.oh, so last night we were teaching
some of our investigators, a couple that lives together but isnt married (one of
the most normal things here), but ozvaldo had an awesome question! he was
confused why he needed to be baptized and recieve the Holy Ghost when he was
already feel the guidance of the spirit. he didnt see what difference it would
make. and with much help from the Holy Ghost i was able to explain about the
Light of Christ and the differences there are between the 2. and how the light
of Christ is preparatory for the holy ghost. it was super spiritual and super
neat!i love you all so much!have a great weekloveElder
Knudson

5 de

hello FAM!this week was SO amazing! the last 3 weeks before this one were
SO hard! truely the lord was testing us! but this week we met almost all of
our goals! it was amazing! and, saturday marked 7 months on the mission! i
cant believe it! it is going by so fast!so i dont know where to start... so
this saturday on the 10 we will have 2 baptisms! we are pretty excited and all
of the elders in the zone will baptize together! it is going to be a giant
baptismal service! so last week started out really hard. but we kept going
and on wed we taught 6 lessons and then on thursday we taught 9 lessons! it was
great! we worked really hard this week and you could tell because every night
we arrived at home and planned for the next day we pretty hit the bed already
asleep! but we also found 12 new investigators this week! this really was a
week of miracles! also! i am seeing that the members here in the ward really
like us! on wed night we had a member that bought pizza for us, and on thurs
night we had pizza again, then on fri night we had a churrasco! brazilian bbq
is REALLY good! but the work goes a lot easier when the members help! and we
are always with filled bellies! on wednesday we have a meeting with a area
70, elder godoy i think, but it will be awesome! it is so cool to be taught
right from the leaders of the church! so this week i finished mosiah in
portuguese! i was pretty excited! mosiah has so many amazing lessons for us to
learn! and i am already learning a ton from alma! the scriptures really come
alive for us when we truely study! and the examples that we have are absolutely
amazing! so it sounds like everyone bck home is so busy! i miss all of the
kids in the school! tell everyone that i said hi! and i am working on the
pictures still, but dont worry, they will be there sooner than you think!so
i will be here in this area for 2 more weeks then it is on to the next area! i
dont want to leave this area bt i think i am ready for a change of scenary. but
i will definately miss everyone here! i love you all! tell everyone that
they are free to write me letters whenever they want!love Elder
Knudson

27 de fevereiro de 2012

hello again!this week went by very fast. i am starting to think that that
is just how it is going to be. the time goes by so fast i dont know what to do
with myself sometimes. ths week on the 3rd will mark 7 months on the
mission! i cant believe that i have actually been here for that long! i still
feel like i have SO much to do here in Brazil and i am still working to find
what most of that stuff is. this week was pretty hard for us. we are having a
really hard time finding new people to teach, but hopefully this next week
everything goes good and we can teach a lot of people! we are working with a
couple to help them get married so they can be baptized! it is pretty funny how
it all happened! we taught them the law of chastity about 2 weeks ago and they
said that they wanted to get married in like 6 months... then the next visit we
had with them they had found out that she had gotten pregnant and they wanted to
get married "yesterday"! but then on the next visit she was talking about all
of the normal girl's dream to have a fancy wedding and that they would have to
wait intill june... so we talked about the blessings that come from keeping the
commandments and encouraged her to talk to her "husband". then yesterday we
were talking with him in the garage before the visit and he was talking about
how they were going to wait to get married to be able to plan everything, and
then she came down and said, "i want to get married really fast" and he made a
face like, "what... didnt we talk about this?" it was pretty funny! and elder
petersen and i were pretty happy! i think we are going to take them on saturday
to mark a marriage date. also yesterday, gustavo came with us for a few visits
at the end of the day! it is so cool the effect that the gospel has on people!
he talks all the time about going on a mission and he already bought a Preach My
Gospel! it is so cool!other than that not too many cool stories. carnaval
here wasnt that bad, we are far enough away from the center of the city where
you dont see all the crazy drunk people. but my companion was telling me that
there is a street call avenida paulista, where if you see a girl and you want to
kiss her, you can just grab her and give her one... but luckily in our area it
was problem free!so the story about the rat was pretty exciting! go
sophie! did you give her a dog treat?so i have 3 more weeks in this area
then i am off to the next adventure here in brazil, i dont quite know what to
think of it yet. i want to stay here, but at the same time i am excited for
something new! i have been in this area for almost 6 months now! wow... but i
have made so many neat friends and it will be hard to leave. i am able to
say almost anything that i want now in portuguese! it still comes out a little
rough sometimes but it is so cool to look back and remember when i got here
andhow i talked then and where i am at now!i love you all so much! dont
forget to share the gospel with EVERYONE!love Elder Knudson

20 de fevereiro de 2012

hey fam!!!!!i cant believe another week has come and gone! so much is going
on and i am loving it here! wed we went to the temple! it was ablsolutely
amazing, but like always, getting there was a NIGHTMARE!!!! we left our house
at 7am to be able to get to the temple at 9. our session started at 1030. but
because of the transit we got to the temple at 1010... luckily we made it JUST
in time! it is crazy how hard it is to travel to the center of São Paulo! i am
SO glad that i live in a little city and that i have a car! hehe! but the
temple was amazing! it was exactly what i was needing! but afterwards we went
to the temple we wanted to go to a churrascaria (brazilian bbq place) and we
decide to go to this one down the road from the temple called Búfalo Branco. in
the fron it said that it would be 35, so we dicided why not. but when we got
inside we asked how much it costs and he said that the part that we wanted was
really 47! too much for our missionary budget... and as we were leaving i said
to elder petersen, they must serve the WHOLE buffalo, huh? he thought that that
was pretty funny! but we ended up going to a smaller one that was a lot cheaper
but still VERY good!i cant believe that i am going to leave this area... i
have been here almost 6 months and you would think that i'd want to leave, but i
dont want to leave... there are so many cool people here that i have gotten to
know. but it is pretty much for sure that i will be transfered from here in 4
more weeks... the time will go by SO fast! but in a way it is good to know that
i will be leaving because i will have enough time to say bye to everyone and get
everyones addresses! i bought a little folder today to put eveyones addresses
and stuff in so i can keep in contact with everyone.so did you guys send me
my priesthood line of authority with my package that you sent? i really would
like to have that here with me. do you know if Dylan is getting my emails or
anything? if not, can you make sure that he is please! so lately i have
recently finished the part in the book of mormon where abinadi is talking to the
king noah and is killed. he says and teaches some very powerful stuff that we
can deffinately apply to our lives! the best example that he leaves for us is
the willingness that he had to die for the things that he believed in! we all
need to have that kind of a testimony, where we are willing to die to defend the
church and what it stands for! i am still working on that in my life too, but i
know that this is the only true church on the face of the earth! i know that
the Book of Mormon in true and that it is the word of God.stay strong! i
love you all! and thank you for giving Adria that hug for me! Love
Elder Knudson

13 de fevereiro de 2012

Olá Família!
mais uma semana veio e foi! i cant believe how fast the time is going by! the month of feb is already half over! this week was a pretty rough one for us. recently we are having a hard time finding new investigators, and so this week we knocked a LOT of doors, with little results as of yet... but that is just how it goes sometimes, you have to put in the work and then the blessings come, like in Ether 12:6, we only recieve the witness that we want (or results) until AFTER the trial of our faith! i am learning so much every day! my love for the scriptures is getting stronger every time i open them! it is pretty funny/cool when my companion will say something and i can remember exactly where it is in the scriptures! the promise is real that says if we treasure up the words of life, the Holy Ghost will put into our minds the things that we need to say! i am LOVING speaking portuguese with the people here! it is so cool to be able to speak a language so different from your own! so i dont know if i told you about Juan yet, he is Gustavo's little brother that is 10 years old. we started teaching him about 2 1/2 weeks ago, and when we gave him the Book of Mormon he opened up to the pictures in the front and looked at the one where Alma is baptizing all the people at the waters of mormon, and he said "oh, this is the baptisms in the waters of mormon right?" Elder Petersen and i we pretty shocked that he knew that! and he said that his Grandma had a book of mormon at some point. he has a baptism date for the 25 of Feb! but yesterday, Gustavo was passing the sacrament!!! it was so cool to see! it is amazing that in a month and a half he went from the normal teenager to passing the sacrament! i cant wait to hear all about his mission someday!!
oh, did you know that they can go on missions here when they are 18?
the work is moving along, we are finally recovering from our sicknesses and we are determined to pass this little bump in the road that we are at with new investigators!
so tomorrow is Valentines day and no they do not have that holiday here, at least at the same time, elder petersen was saying something about it being later in the year but he cant remamber when it is. But someone should make sure and give Adria a hug for me!
so they have quite a few holidays here that we dont have there, but no one really knows the reason for them, i imagine they are kind of like Cezar Chavez day or something like that. but carnaval is next weekend and i am not really looking forward to it, but hopefully President puts up a few restrictions for those few days, but we'll see!
yes it is still raining here like CRAZY! it is so strange! because it is like a hot rain sometimes, like you would think that is would cool everything down when it rains but it doesnt, it is just wet. hehe! i think soon i am going to need to buy a new umbrella! mine is holding up pretty well, but id like a bigger one.
so guess what! Wed we get to go to the temple!!!!! YAY! i am so excited! i need a visit to the temple really bad! so today isnt really our pday, we only get to email today, but our pday was moved to wed because of the temple trip.
i love you all so much! i think about you all the time! you guys might want to learn portuguese while i am gone so you will be able to understand me when i get back!
love
Elder Knudson

6 de fevereiro de 2012

ola família!
this week went by really fast! on monday and tuesday my companion got sick with the flu and because he has asthma he could hardly breath too so he was in no condition to work, so i got to read and rest a lot. on wed we worked normal and then on thursday i woke up sick... but i have been taking medicine and i am able to work through it. but right now i have like no voice so it is pretty funny! it is really hard in the heat here, this week has been really really hot, and when you have a big lunch it is hard to stay awake! but it is all good because this week we had the baptism of GUSTAVO! it was absolutely amazing! elder petersen baptized him and i got to confirm him a member! and yesterday he got up to bear his TESTIMONY!!!!!!!!!!! it was so amazing and very strong, everyone in the ward said they could feel the strength of his testimony! the cool thing is that we found him knock doors EXACTLY one month before his baptism! he is truely living proof that if we put the lords works to the test, he truely will keep his promises! and gustavo found that out because everything that we asked him to do he did and he got an answer REALLY fast! the church is true! and when we have a testimony of the gospel and the plan of salvation we have hope for the future that seems so scary without the answers that we have with the gospel.
on friday, elder petersen and i hit the 6 month mark! we burned a tie to celebrate! and today we went to a restaraunt to eat too, it was good and i felt like i was back in the US. i cant believe that i have already gone through 1/4 of my mission... it is going by SO fast!
so we had transfers this week, and i ALMOST got transfered! when we had interviews with pres we talked to him about me staying here in the ward for one more transfer and he said i could. but yesterday i got a call and he said that i was transfered so i asked about what president said and he (the secretary) said he'd look into it. but he said that i should plan like i was transfered. so i began to tell everyone i was leaving. then at about 6 or 7 i got a call saying that i wasnt tranfered! yay! so i get to stay 6 more weeks here! and with that i will be here 6 months! wow how the time flies!
well i think thats all. i love you all so much!
Elder Knudson

23 de janeiro de 2012

hey family!
so the pictures and stuff got there super fast!!!!!! i sent them like 2 weeks ago i think. this week was a pretty cool week, but very wet... the rainy season has arrived! so we have an investigator named Gustavo, he is so amazing! we found him knocking doors and we have visited him 3 times and he told us that he knows that the church is true! he went to church with us on sunday and he absolutely loved it! he is preparing to be baptised on the 11th on feb! the cool thing about all of this is that we had a fast 2 days before we found him! my testimony is growing every day! the lord is just waiting to give us the blessings that we need, but he is just waiting for us to act! as it says in james 2, faith without works is dead! we have to show our faith by our works and then then little things that we do turn into great miracles!
so the pizza here is pretty amazing! but it is a little different too. they normally dont have pizza sauce but they make up for it with the stuff they put on it. and yes, normally i eat pepporoni or muzzarella with bacon. and the coolest part of the pizza is that they do chocolate stuffed crust!! it sounds weird but it is so good!!!!!! the food here really isn~t that different, normally rice and beans and meat and pasta. but i eat tomatoes and cucumbers and other stuff like that pretty regularly, and i am liking them so that is good!
i am glad that trevor liked the shirt, when i saw it i knew that that was what i needed to get him. and a lot of the pictures that i took of the city are from the training center, it is like a 5th story window, it was pretty cool! i will work on getting some pictures of the area and stuff like that, it is a little harder because we have to avoid looking like a tourist here.
i am pretty sure that i will be in this area for one more transfer after this one, we talk to president and he said that he'd make it happen. so i will be in this area for 6 months! i cant believe that 6 months have already come and gone! the time is FLYING! i am really starting to get comfortable speaking portuguese now! i am working on knocking down all of the mental barriers that i have had that were holding me back.
i can feel my testimony growing so much every day! but the thing that has help so much is the foundation that i got in seminary. seminary is there to get us through high school in one piece and to give us the spiritual foundation to build on for the rest of our lives, and using a scripture mastery, Helaman 5:12 build your foundation on the rock of our redeemer. seminary gave me a firm foundation that i build on every day! when we get used to looking for "missionary moments" every day in our everyday lives, the spiritual experiences that we have on the mission open our eyes to the wonders of the gospel and the blessings that are available in the eternities!
i love you all!
have a great week!
Elder Knudson
2 Nefi 27:23

15 de janeiro de 2012

hello again!
another week has come and gone and another week closer to 6 months on the mission! the time is going by so fast! i am really enjoying the life as a missionary and i have reached the point where i dont really want it to end. this week was pretty good for us and we had some pretty cool experiences! so a couple of weeks ago we found a 16 kid named Gustavo, and we marked a visit with him for tues, but he ended up not being at home. so we went back on thurs and we found him at home! we explained about the gospel of Jesus Christ and baptism. and at the end of the lesson we set a goal for the 11th of feb with him! then as we were leaving he said that he was greatful that there were people like us to help people learn about the truth and that he is going to search out the truth with us and that he is going to ask Heavenly Father if the things were are saying are true! elder petersen and i were so excited leaving his house!! we couldnt believe what had just happened, but this experience shows that there are people prepared to recieve the fulness of the gospel, we just have to find them. and satan tries to keep us from opening our mouths and talking about the gospel to our friends and family because he knows that if we dont even open our mouths we will never know when someone is ready. OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND SHARE WHAT YOU KNOW TO BE TRUE! i know that this is the Lord's work and that we are here to serve Him. i am continually learning about our responsibilities as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, listen to the sacrament prayers, and listen for the things we are covenanting to do and then, think of how you can really show that you are fulfilling that covenant! i know that as we continually strive to keep our covenants of baptism and the temple we will be blessed. i promise that as you seek out ways to help those around you learn more about the gospel, our own live will be better, our testimonies will be strengthened and we will have the joy to see our friends and family join the gospel!
today we had a zone activity and it was pretty sweet! we had a bbq and we played capture the flag! and i also got some pretty SWEET pic! oh, i don~t remember if i said last week, but i sent my card and trevors Christmas present last week, so it is on its way!
the language is going great! i can understand almost everything that people are saying! sometimes it is still hard when the people talk REALLY fast, but it is getting better! i am so greatful for my blessings and for the oportunity that i have to learn portuguese! i am really excited to come home and be able to talk to everyone that i can in portuguese so you better tell bro Hodnet to freshen up on his portuguese!
i love you all and thank you for the prayers and all the emails!
Love
Elder Knudson

9 de janeiro de 2012

hello family!!!!!!!!!!!!
this was a pretty good week! nothing extremely exciting happened but it was a good week of work. there is always those little miracles that happen every day that there really is no way to describe. but one experience was pretty cool this week that demonstrates blessings that come from willingness to serve, we were walking and it started to rain, really hard (those of you who have served or lived here know how it is), and there was a vw bug stopped on the side of the road and me and my companion asked if they needed a push to get the car going, he said no, just a part that takes a little to get going. so we continued to walk down the road. then when he got the car going he pulled up to us and asked if we would like a ride. of coarse we accepted! it is amazing how fast the blessing come when we are willing to follow the Lords commandments to serve our fellow man! so the challenge for the week is just that, seek out someone, anyone, that you can give an act of service. and afterwards pay atention to how you feel. remember that the Savior said, when you are in the service of you fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God. the Lord will use you to bless the lives of His children when we are simply WILLING to give loving service to others.
daniel got baptized! woo hoo!! so daniel you need to write me and tell me all about it, how you felt and what was your favorite part! and dont forget to write down how the baptism was in a journal! i still have my journal from my baptism when i wrote in it and it is really cool to remember how it was! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!
so how was the winter break for everyone? missionaries dont have holidays or breaks! but thats ok, it will just be that much nicer when i come home!
so on thursday this week we had a really hard time, it is what we call on the mission "the day of NO" which simply means that every appointment fell through. and that is exactly what happend, we taught 1 lesson in the whole day. it just goes to show that we need to have our difficult times to show our faith, because if it was always easy then it wouldnt really be nessissary to show owr faith. the trials that we have in our lives are to show that we trust in the lord, even when it isnt goiing too good.
so mom i had a thought this week that you should teach about the restoration in seminary. we learn in Preach My Gospel that we should teach this to the members to help them remember the feelings that they had when they became converted to the gospel. i know that there are probably some kids that dont have a very strong testimony about the restoration or maybe dont even really know how it happened. and i am sure that it will help too! maybe you could invite the missionaries in the ward to come and teach it to them for you!! that would be so great!
so i got an email frrom the elmers this week about a spiritual experience that she had! it was really cool! but im still waiting for the rest of you! your all back in school now so it should be pretty easy now!
i love you all!
Elder Knudson

2 de janeiro de 2!0!1!2!

hey family!
i felt really special when i got on the computer today! i had 18 emails!!! wow! thank you everyone for the emails and the love! so, it sounds like you guys had a pretty good christmas! hehe! (its ok macie, you can laugh) adam felt a little left out there for a little huh? the pictures were great! i loved it! i missed being home for christmas but the work must be done! but it was good here too, new years was absolutly crazy, t here was a lot of drunk people on the streets. it was weird having to be at the house at 5 in the afternoon. we had hot dogs and chips and 7 liters of soda! woo hoo! but we havent drinken them all yet! we played uno for almost 2 hours and then the craziness happened, we didnt get to sleep till almost 2 in the morning, its weird to think that that was only 8 oclock there! but it was fun!
the work is moving along, this week was a little sad and the at tendance at church was much less than good... but everyone here goes to the beach on new years, so hopefully everyone is back on sunday! i am starting to understand more about the love that Christ has for us and the agony that he feels when we are doing self destructive behavior. the feels of love that He has for us is more than we can comprehend, but when our only focus is others, we are able to understand a little better that love.
we are seeing many many blessings in the work, this week was really hard to find people in their house, but right now we have 10 people marked for baptism for the month of january. so we have a lot of work ahead of us to help these people enter the waters of baptism! but i am excited to start the new year and devote all of 2012 in the service of my Savior!
this week was pretty cool! we visited a budhist temple! it was SO cool! i took a lot of pictures and i am working on sending it asap! we couldnt take pictures inside but it was pretty sweet! i felt like i was in Kung Fu Panda! hahahahaha! it was pretty sweet!
i love you all!
so all you kids with NEW ipods that can send email! send me some of you missionary experiences that you have during the week, try to talk about a scripture that you read recently with you friends, introduce the Book of Mormon to someone! and then i want to hear about it!
love
Elder Knudson

26 de dezembro de 2011 (último e-mail do ano!)

hey everyone! i feel like i just talked to you all! oh wait, i did! HA HA HA (happy macie (; )
so how is everything going? how was everyones Natal? it was just starting when i talked to you! and mine was just ending. it is so weird that there is a 6 hour difference between us! so everyone needs to write me and tell me what they got!
i got a lot of candy and i can~t wait to eat it alll! we were going to go fishing today, but it rained so that didn~t happen... good wether fishers i guess! but only when we are fishing for REAL fish! so my new companion is Elder Petersen. he is really neat and is a great missionary! the funny thing is that we have the exact same time on the mission! we both started on the 3 or august. he was born in utah, but when he was about 1 and a half him and his family move to brazil. and they lived here till he was about 15. so to say the least he knows how to speak portuguese pretty good! so this is why i didn~t see him in the CTM because he only stayed there for 3 weeks. but we are getting along really well! i am still trying to improve everyday with portuguese and being the best missionary possible. i think i need to learn to not be embarrassed about my language skills... but it is hard. i really want to be able to talk perfectly but i need to have patients, and i have to make a few mistakes to get there. just like sports i guess!
so this morning we did a deep clean of our house! it took us about 2 and a half hours and in total we killed (murdered) 4 cockroaches, 6 spiders, and some weird centipide looking thing that my companion said was pretty dangerous. so our morning was pretty eventful! haha! but mom you would be so proud of how the house looks now! haha! the problem is that other missionaries think that they will only be there for a little and that it is not that important to clean the house, but when the floor is not mopped for more that 7 months it gets pretty bad... so the house is looking great, the floor is back to the normal color and we call feel the nice clean air!
so it is about time to get back to work, we haven~t done anything for like 2 days now with christmas and now p-day. but hey its all good!
it was pretty neat in church on sunday, we got to give a talk, we blessed the sacrament, and we helped sing in the chior (don~t know how to spell) coral in portuguese!
thank you for the emails Adria! ( so you know that i am getting them!)
christmas here was a little weird to be honest, it is so different! it was hot, away from home, fireworks, just different! hehe! but we got an email this week saying that on the 31 we have to be in the house at 5 o'clock for safety, i guess it gets pretty crazy here on new years! haha!
I LOVE YOU ALL! and have a happy new year! the next time i write to you it will be 2012! so crazy! (i wonder what it will be like here on 12-12-12)
ok have a great week!
Elder Knudson

19 de dezember de 2011

hey everyone!
another week has past and one more week till i will be talking with you! i am pretty excited about it! this lask week was a pretty good week! i am starting to feel more comfortable teaching the people and talking with them. i still have difficulties understanding everything sometime, i have to focus a lot! which is hard after lunch and it is hot and you are fighting to not fall asleep! hehe! we didn~t have any of our investigators at church again this week... we are having a really hard time with that, so far in this transfer we have had a total of 4 investigators at the church... not a good number... but we need to work more with the members to have them have friends that are at the church too. it is a little more difficult becasue hardly anyone has a car and they have to pay to use the bus, but i think that hardest part is that it is christmas season and everyone is busy with other things. i~ll let you know how it all goes and how we are trying to cope with all the challenges.
this morning was pretty cool, i don~t know why but i just had this feeling when i was talking with elder vasconcelos that the lord has something big in store for me here in brasil. but i also feel like that will come with a better mastery of the language. i want to bad to be able to help all of these people learn and recieve the blessings of the gospel. Mosiah 28:3, i am definatiely starting to feel that very stongly. and i get the most frustrated when i cant help someone because i dont know very much of the language, but i am ttrying to be patient. it is amazing the strength that we can get throught the scriptures! every time i am feeling that i cant go any further i read the Book of Mormon and i feel so much better about everything, i feel rejuvinated and i know that i can go a little bit further. our mission president said something pretty cool, he said that the lord can only guide our feet it they are moving. we have to put in our part first before the lord can do anything! my testimiony is growing so much, i dont know how to describe how i feel about the church and everything that happens, but i am learning more aobut myself and about my savior every day! i know that this is the only true church on the earth today and that we have live with our heavenly father again!
so the big news for the week! my companion was got a call last night and is being transfered tomorrow... oh boy! normally it would only be next week but there are missionaries going home this week so it is an emergency transfer. but he also got called to be a zone leader. we~ll find out tomorrow where he will go and who will be my new companion! i am pretty nervous about it all but i think everything will be fine. and i will try not to get us lost! that is the main thing that i worry about... for example, we were talking with someone and i wrote down his adress, and i wrote "estado por" and when i told elder vasconcelos that he didn~t know where it was but then he thought for a little and he said "estrado do porta?" yup, that was it... hehe! names of streets are this hardest to learn. imagine a maze, and then give a name to every turn, thats about how it is here! crazy... but oh well! hehe!
i love you all! ill talk to you soon!
merry Christmas! or Feliz Natal!
Elder Knudson

Week 19, 12 de dezember de 2011

hey família!
mais uma semana veio e foi! this week was pretty cool but also pretty crazy! but first! PARABÉNS MACIE!! it is really weird being gone for everyones birthdays! so macie you will have to tell me how was your bday! do you feel old yet?
so this last week started out pretty rough, it was very hard to find people at their house. and on quinta-feira(i cant think of the day in english...) we had a meet at the mission office for new missionaries, and it takes about 2 hours to get there. we have to take a bus, then the train, then another bus to get there. the meeting was way cool! we learned a lot about the importance of planning. and i say the last elder that we were waiting for to come here, elder lloyd got his visa! woo hoo! so now we have all of the missionaries here that are coming to this misision! i dont know about elder curtis or elder combs but i hope they have gotten theirs also! ok, so to finish my story about the meeting, after it finished i asked if there were any packages for me, and it turned out that i had 3!!!!!!! i wasnt expecting to have more than one at the office right now! and i also had 4 letters!!! make sure you tell the arandas thank you for me!!!!! i got a package and a letter from them too! i was pretty happy about that! but i felt pretty good leaving the office because i was carrying 3 packages and i had 4 letters! (pretty much the best day every for a missionary) ok now the crazzy part, it started to rain... and we had to take the train... and when it rains here EVERYONE takes the train... so we arrived at the station at 5:15 and there was NO way we were going to get on the train with 3 packages and 2 new fans (elder vasconcelos was carrying them). so you know those comercials about the people on black friday? when the people rip the doors to the stoor open and FIGHT to get in? yeah... that is more calm than how the train station was! hehe! and the hour that we FINALLY got on the train was 8:45. it was a pretty crazy day. we didn~t get to the house until 10 oclock! BUT on friday we taught 8 lessons and on satuday we taught 9! the lord really blessed us this week! and we finished the week with 20 new investigators and we taught 32 lessons this week in total! so cool! and friday night when we were planning, i had a thought that we should study ch 5 of Preach My Gospel where it talks about how the book of mormon answers the questions of the soul, and we study about "why the lord lets suffering happen" and on saturday we were teach a woman and she asked that EXACT question! i almost fell out of the chair when i realized what had happened! the spirit is so amazing! we need to seek the promptings of the spirit!
we are having a hard time still with investigators in sacrament meeting, yesterday we had only one, but we are doing all we can.

so how are things going back home? i am going crazy to open my packages! all three, Adria's, Aranda's, and yours! hehe! i~m pretty excited, but it is really weird to be away from home during the holiday season... i am really missing everyone, it is pretty hard sometimes, but it is a lot easier when we are working so hard to help other people!

so scripture for this week is the book of Jonas in the bible, we had a lesson on it in elders quorum, he related it to home teaching and asked "are we fleeing our responsibility to help those we are supposed to visit" but it can be applied to many things, what things are we fleeing that we need to be doing?
i love you all! happy birthday macie! have a great week!
Elder Knudson

Week 18, 5 de dezembro de 2011

hello again family!
it is true, the weeks and the days are truely blurning, running, and mushing together! and it is hard to pull the details from yesterday, let alone last week! hehe! this week was difficult for us, we were hit with a little bit of laziness after wed, when it was around 38 degrees celcius. and it made everything very rushed! but we managed to pull out and we have made plans to stay strong and attain our goals for the week!
i am really beginning to have a hard time with english! i really have to think about the words sometimes! so i'm sure that there will be a few words in portuguese! but while i am doing so much better with the language, i still get frustrated sometimes. i really cant express myself well at all, and this is something i want to do. but the cool thing is how the Lord shows us that everything is ok, yesterday was stake conference and one of the members of our ward came up to me and told me that a different member, that was in one of our lessons, said that i teach very good and very clearly. i didnt really believe her but it made me feel a lot better and was definately a blessing! today we have a zone activity and President Pinho came to it, it was way cool! we played a little soccer and basketball and then he played volleyball with us! we played americans against brazilians, americans won! hehe! but it was great! we had a bbq also! way good! one thing i will look for when i come home, guaraná! if you can find it there, try it! it is great! we have it like everyday here!
dads experience sunday is way cool! and it is way more satisfying when we act on the promptings we get! it is funny that you compared it to inviting people to be baptized! and it truely is nerve wracking! but it feels SO GOOD when they say YES! and if you see him at work during the week, ask him how he felt during church and help him recognize the spirit that he felt at church. the feelings that we have there are so hard to describe and if you dont know how to recognize them, then they are impossible to act on! and that is why it is so important for us members of the church to help our friends and co-workers with these feelings! we have such a great opportunity to help so many people to understand more about the turth!
during the conference yesterday an area 70 was there, and he said something that i like so much and i think it mom should use it in seminary to help the kids live the standards. he said: IT IS BETTER TO BE WORTHY THAN LOVED!! when he said that it hit me so hard and i have to share it. it is so true and we have to be examples to the ones we are around, because if we, the members of the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints, dont show a good example to the world then we are leaving room for the enemy of all righteousness to work with the hearts of those we could have influenced for good. my companion has a phrase that he says a lot, "the devil works 25 hours a day". and it is true. we have to do all we can to help everyone come unto Christ! we HAVE to be good examples!
and Elder Varly, i think i know him! if he is the elder i think he is, he has the same time in the mission that i have and i we spent time in the MTC together! he is really cool! and that will be way exciting if he lives so close! we will definately get together and talk after the mission!
Daniel is going to be BAPTIZED! that is the favorite word for missionaries! hehe! daniel you will have to tell me all about it ok? it will be amazing! and you will remember how you feel when you are baptized for the rest of your live! i love you! dont forget to read your scriptures ok?
i dont know how calling home will work yet but i will do my best to find out for you!!!!!!! i am way excited! but be prepared because i will have a hard time speaking english at first! hehe! the other day i forgot the word for "devolope" like develope photos, here it is "revelar" and i spent almost 2 days thinking of it, and finally i just looked it up in my dictionary because if was bugging me.
p-day is so great, a lot of the time is spent resting! because during the week is so SO rushed! no there are no bikes here, if we did they would get robbed so fast and honestly it isnt very safe either. and with all the hills we would be walking them a lot of the time anyway! hehe! just walking and the bus! on p-day we buy food for the week, i dont have to much food of substance in the house, mostly snacks because we eat lunch with the members and when we get home at 9 o clock all i want to do after planning is crash! so i eat something small and go to bed! hehe!
when we do laundry we have to hang it outside, we dont have a dryer. it is a little tricky sometimes with all of the rain! and yes, i get pretty soaked a lot of the time! but thats ok!
i love you all so much and i think about you a lot! always remember CPR: Church, Prayer, Read the scriptures! 3 things that will NEVER lead you astray!
love
Elder Knudson

Week 17, November 28, 2011

hey família!
sounds like you guys had a pretty busy week last week! and i am pretty jealous of all the food! but i guess ill have to wait on that one! hehe! this week was pretty busy! like every week! but the work is starting to get easier, well not easier, but im getting used to it! this week we taught a lot of people! we teach around 32 lessons a week and walk a ton! this week we had a amazing experience! we talked with a woman on the street and she said we could visit her later on in the week, but when we went there she wasn~t home... but her neihbor was! :D and she is amazing! the lord truely prepared her for us! and on the second visit (the first was us talking in the doorway) she accepted a baptismal date! we are preparing her for the 24 of dec! we are working on making december a "natal branco" hehe! i~m working on making up for the lack of snow with people dressed in white! right now we have 6 people to be baptized in december but we will be talking with someone tomorrow that we will mark for the 17 or 24 too! and maybe more! the lord is truely preparing the people for us, we just have to find them! the portuguese is progressing quite nicely! i am beginnning to think in portuguese and it is a little hard to write in english too, so please forgive the spelling errors! hehe! i am almost finished with the book of mormon in english, i will finish this week for sure! i can~t believe i read it in 4 months! my love for the scriptures has grown SO much these for months! it is pretty amazing!
so macie, you want to know what they eat most here? every day, without fail, we have rice and beans. and it is always acompanied with meat of some kind, normally chicken or beef. but we also eat lots of spaghetti too. and i cant wait for the skittles! hehe!
thank you so much for the scriptures! i love to study them and to see how they can help in our everyday life, but for me, everything is being applied to a mission and how it can help here, it is funny because we find scriptures where the prophets and missionaries did street contacts too! it is cool! but alma 17:11-12 are the scriptures that i left with bishop for my plaque, did that ever make it there? it truely is an amazing scripture!
21 pound turkey! that is huge! i cant even imagine eating that much! hehe! and i will work on the christmas traditions around here, i do know that everyone buys trees here, because they don~t have real christmas trees here, wrong climate for pine trees! hehe! but today i will be buying myself a little one and putting it up in the house! i~m pretty excited!
we didn~t do anything special on thankgiving, honestly i almost forgot it was thanksgiving! hehe! but that~s ok! dad take pictures of the snow for me when you go up to get the tree!
so how are things going back there? it is weird to think that it is getting hotter here as it is getting colder there! it is funny bc i completely skipped winter this year! hehe! summer, a little bit of fall in the US then spring here and now Summer! it is a little wierd but its cool!
tell tom i said "hi" too!
i love you all!
Elder Knudson

WEEK 16 November 21, 2011

hello again my wonderful family!
this week was pretty hard and very very busy!!! we had 2 different times this week that we did exchanges, one on wed were i went to Parelheiros and one on fri when elder vasconcelos had a meeting for district leaders, and i stayed in my area with 2 other elders, one of them had only been in the field for 4 days! i felt good not being the "youngest" in the field anymore! but he is pretty cool and he is speaking really well too! this saturday we had a baptism for Luís Carlos, and i got to confirm him! it was pretty nerve wracking! hehe! but so very cool! i really felt like my portuguese got a lot better this week, i am becoming more and more comfortable talking with people, but i still have a hard time expressing myself and talking about things not very related to missionary work, but its coming! and i am very happy about that! i made a video with my companion on saturday and you will see that i am starting to have a hard time with english! prettty crazy! i can only imagine how it will be after 2 years.
it is really weird to think that i wont be there for thanksgiving, and no they dont have a holiday like it here, that i know of. i will miss all the turkey and mashed potatoes. take pictures for me!
the work here is going good, but it is so very different from the work there in the US, we find a lot of people to teach but we have such a hard time getting them to read and pray and understand why it is so important, all of the religions here have really distorted how the gospel should be. and it is SO hard to get them to come to church, this week we had none of our investigators there... and we have 7 people marked for baptism in december, they have to come to church before we can baptize them...
about stuff that i need, i forgot to bring my priesthood line of authority with me so if you could send that to me in the package too that would be great! i would like to do the names this year for christmas but by now the gift wouldnt get there until after christmas, because youd have to tell me who i have nxt week, but if they are fine with getting a gift a little late then put me in! :D
so i've been thinking about christmas alot lately and how i may not even have a tree... hehe! i think i will try to find a little tree about 2 feet tall or something like that, so i can at least feel like it is almost christmas, it is really strange, because it is getting hotter here instead of colder... and that feeling i get every year about the snow is coming too! i will definately be spending some (a lot) time in the snow when i come back! but ill send a picture of my christmas tree when i finally get it!
I love you all!
thank you for all the prayers and support!
Elder Knudson

Week 15 November 14, 2011

hello familly!!!!!!!
so the space bar is kinda freakin out on me so if there are a ton of extra spaces you know why!
another week has flown by!!!! so each week we send a letter to the president, this week he responded and said i will turn into a great leader in the mission, and when i told my companion he laughed and said i will become assistant to the president. oh, boy... hehe! i think it would be pretty cool though, to be able to work alongside the president every day! talk about spiritual!
the work is continually progressing! we just passed the first transfer sunday! luckily both of us are staying here for another transfer! it is so crazy how fast the time flies! i had a pretty cool experience is personal study today! i was ready ether 6, and i read vs 3 were it talks about the rocks that christ touch and they were able to privide light, and the thought came to my mind, "what kind of rock am i? am i shining to show the people the way to "the promised land"(fulness of the gospel)?" all of us that are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been touched by Christ! we know the path that leads back to our Father in Heaven, and we can be like these rocks, we can light the way for others to come to this knowledge also. but a rock can also be a stumbling block if we are not careful, we need to be sure we are a "rock that lights the way" not a "stumbling block".
we are working with a lot of people and a lot of families here! it is crazy the difference between here and the missionary work in the US, elder combs said he had 4 new investigators this week, to show you the difference, we had 21 new investigators this week. but also the difference is that some people here just say yes to us because of the difference of religion here. there are so many churches! there are litterally almost 15 different churches in about a 1/2 a mile of road... not in every area but in some. the people here really need to know the truth, it makes me think of Joseph Smith, how he was so confused about all the different churches, and i can see why he was so confused. i am so greatful to have the fulness of the gospel in my life! and the knowledge that this is the path that will lead me back to my father in heaven!
thank you bishop and tina for the emails! you don~t have any idea how happy i am to hear about justin and dylan, i pray for dylan a lot! make sure he is getting my emails !
the portuguese is coming along! everyone says that after 6 months you are finally comfortable with everything, speaking and all, but i don~t know if that is 6 months in the field or in the mission... oh well, i~ll just keep studying! dad, what i did when i first started to read the BOM in portuguese i would highlight the words i didn~t know and write the word in english above it, it is very slow moving at first but after time you will notice that you aren~t highlighting very much and you are understanding! about the pronuciacion, you will have to have some one coach you on that... hehe! i~m sure the sanchezes would love you help! you could even suggest having a spanish class at the church and you could have the missionaries invite people to, idk, we try to do english classes here but there are probably a lot more people here that want to learn english then there are that want to learn spanish there...
i love you all so much!!!!!! thank you for all the prayers! this is truely the Lords church! share that knowledge with everyone!
Elder Knudson

WEEK 14! November 7, 2011

hello family!!!!!
another week has come and gone! it is crazy how fast things are going here! this week was difficult with teaching, we had a hard time with "time" during the lessons. people are very busy... this week we found lots of families to teach! it is pretty great! i am slowly getting better at speaking with people and teaching! it is really neat teaching, because i still have a really hard time speaking and such but when we go to teach i have a clear head and am able to explicar pretty clearly and it appears that they enderstand so that is a great blessing! there are so many tiny miracles that happen every day that you just cant describe! i think dad would understand, but for example, last week i think thursday, all of or appointments fell through! and no one had time for us to share a message, so we spent almost 3 1/2 hours knocking doors, at 7ish we went to a house that said we could come back that day and we were able to teach their family! and there are 7 people in their family! it was so neat! it is amazing how a day can be going so bad and then 1 little thing will happen and it is like the whole day was great! here when we find someone that is really excited to learn about the gospel we call them "eleito" and it is so neat to be able to teach!
grandma sent me an email and said i would have difficulties with english when i return, i~m already having problems!!!!! hehe! i think there are a few words in portuguese here and others i had to spend some time thinking wat the word was in english! crazy!
this week we get to go to the temple! on the 9th! i am pretty excited! and don~t worry mom i will take a picture for you, i can now! i love the temple! Trevor, Dallin, Adam, Macie, & Daniel, PREPARE FOR THE TEMPLE IT IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!
mom and dad, thank you for the scriptures you give each week! i study them and i even use some of them in lessons! thank you so much!!!! right now i am finishing up the book of mormon in english and i am in 1ne 18 in portuguese, it is hard in portuguese and slow moving buti understand for the most part! it is really helping me! the book of mormon is so amazing! how many times did you read through the book of mormon on your mission dad?
i love you all so much!
Elder Knudson

Week 13 from Elder Knudson

Óla Família!
this week was pretty great! but very very busy! i'm starting to think that this is a normal thing. but on saturday we had a baptism! it was so neat! i got to baptize him and he afterwards he said, "you only get baptized once huh?" "yup" "I'd get baptized everyday if i could!" he is only 10 years old, but has such a strong testimony of the gospel! his mom hasn~t come around yet but Luíz is always insisting that she come to church and everytime we go over to visit he tells us to ask her to say the prayer! he is going to be a great missionary! the work is going great! we find some awesome people to teach! but lately we have been having a hard time with a second lesson. we teach the first one and it will go really great, but then when we come back they don~t have time or anything or they are too busy to come to the door... we~ll see! keep pushin through! on thursday last week we had a mission conference with Elder Costa, he is the area president for brasil, it was so amazing!!! he has such a strong testimony of the book of mormon and for the church! we are doing our best to impliment all of the teachings, but it is a little difficult because their were a lot! but right now there is me and 4 other missionaries from my group from provo in brasil! keep praying for the others to get their visas too!
no macie i didn~t cry, but i felt the spirit very strong when i read your letter! thank you! keep it up ok? yes i cut my hair this week! i think i did a pretty good job too! hehe! yes we have a cell phone, but it is really hard to get service inside a lot of the houses because they are all cement, but it is nice to have though!
and HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone, i don~t know what they do here for halloween or if they even do anything but we~ll see! i~m gonna be a missionary this year i think!
the work is going great! i love to teach and read the scriptures! i am studying in all portuguese now! it is pretty awesome and is helping a lot! read the book of mormon! it is so amazing! it truely is the word of God! 2 Nephi 32:3!!!!!!!!!!!!! during the baptism on saturday the 1st counselor said that if we read at least 1 verse of the book of mormon every day, we wont be afraid to say we are members of the Church of JESES CHRIST of Latter-day Saints! it truely is a powerful book!
i love you all! have a great week!
Elder Knudson