Well I don’t really know where to start this week haha. Monday was great. We went to Churchill downs and it was pretty legit. We had a lot of fun there. It was Elder Warner and I, then the Zone Leaders and then the trio in Arcadia. It was kind of crazy and it was not how I had expected it at all. But I’ll be sending pictures today so you’ll get to see a little bit of our fun, Oh and ill send a few pictures on our ride to Holiday Park. It’s my favorite ride because it’s beautiful. And we usually go there at night right when the sun is setting. It’s pretty legit so ill have pictures of that too. Oh mom by the way, that was not our house, I told you we lived in an apartment haha so it’s on the other side of the street.
Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday. Kind of a ridiculous day I’ll be honest. So we decide to go tracting for the first time, and the area we choose is the area we got shot at. I bet you can imagine my joy haha. We started knocking and we didn’t have much success. But then on like the 10th door, it was actually open and there were 2 kids inside (Cuban) and we asked if their parents were here (in Spanish) and they went and got their father. Immediately he tells us to come in. Like this was my door to do, and he said come in, and I was kind of taken off guard so I do the whole were missionaries and he was just like come in come in. So we walked in and just started to get to know him. His name is Carlos. He’s married and they have a son Javier that's 13 and then the cutest little girl that’s like 6. She’s adorable! But the little girl went and played outside and the mom wasn’t home so we taught Javier and Carlos the first lesson. They were really interested. They were like ya... that really makes sense and they were flipping through the book of Mormon as we were teaching and then we read the introduction, like the last 2 paragraphs and he was like whose Moroni so then we took him to Moroni 10 3-5 and showed him its very much set up like the bible. Me and Javier got a long good because he loves his baseball haha. But they were just like ya I know that if I read this and pray that god will tell me if it’s true and just had great questions. Pretty much like super star investigators. They ask if they could come to church. We type in the coordinates into their GPS and tell them the time (sadly they couldn’t come cause Carlos on the weekends work overtime for extra money so he works 12 hours Saturday and then 12 hours Sunday. Like its from 6 at night till 6 in the morning) Anyways, Elder Warner and I were just feeling like champs at this time, so we decide to be done knocking in that place and to go see Jose. Um... THEN I GOT ANOTHER FLAT TIRE!!! And it’s pretty much like kind of the edge of our area almost so were about 11 miles away from our apartment. So we set off in that direction. There is a bus stop and the bus arrives while were walking, bike rack is full. So we keep walking and get to another area that we could catch a bus that would save us a lot. So at this point we have walked 4 miles more or less. Then the bus took us about 3 miles. Then we missed the bus to our house. So we walked about 5 miles and just decided to go to the bike shop because my tube was shot. So at this point, I’ll be honest, I was kind of complaining haha it had been like 3 hours and 92 degrees and I had ran out of water like 2 hours before. We get my bike fixed and about to walk out, when... CARLOS and his 2 kids walk in! Like it was really a miracle! Like they don’t speak any English cause they have been here less than a year so we had to translate for them and then gained a stronger bond with them.
But after this experience like wow. Elder Warner and I knew that we were being led by the Holy Ghost and that the Lord really does play a part in all that we do. We call it our "Walk of Faith" now because really it was hard. And now just imagine if we would have decided to stop at a McDonalds for a water or sit down for 10 min. We would have missed them. Like I felt really bad too that I was complaining. I felt really selfish and really weak at that moment, but I was obedient and did what I had to and the Lord blessed Elder Warner and I and it was a moment I don’t think I’ll ever forget. Now what we want is a baptism with them haha we havent seen them really since cause they have been busy but were planning on going over there tomorrow. Ah I already love that family so much!! They are just great.
Um honestly I don’t really know what happened the other days. Just normal stuff. We pretty much got dropped by Jose, our baptismal date, cause he said he can’t come to church and he won’t be willing to come and so it’s pointless for him to work towards baptism, were going to try and get in touch with him soon. Like not to be mean, but I think he could come to church. So his job is he goes to dumpsters and finds things he could sell/ give to the metal company for money and so I think he is self employed so I bet he could come to church but I don't know... It’s just really hard.
This week has really just been kind of a funny week. We have had some fun times. We will start with... Friday night haha so... I hadn’t contacted as many people as I should have that day and so I was trying to get my numbers up and we were in Holiday Park. There was 2 men that I stopped and talked to them in Spanish you know just saying were missionaries and we have a prophet and it’s good to have a prophet cause the world is changing and so he can let us know the will of God, I’ll be honest, it was a really bad contact haha, but that guy just pounced on my Spanish. Like so he’s a very religious man and we got in our first bible bash haha and elder Warner was just killing it haha he was pulling scriptures out I have never heard. But all and all it was about an hour conversation that was pointless, and elder Warner was just like that was an example of what not to do haha. He was just saying he’s read the book of Mormon so we asked him about it then he said he hadn’t then he said that we don’t need prophets cause God changed the way he talks to men so then we used the scripture in Hebrews that says he’s the same today yesterday and forever and like it really was just making me mad. Then I just decided to end by testifying and all were doing is inviting, and so I shared my testimony of the book of Mormon and how it changed my life, then he goes off saying that a book can’t change your life, only the spirit can. So then I asked him if the bible changed his life and if he can feel the spirit from the word of god... he wouldn’t answer my question but yaaaa haha had my first bible bashing experience. Not good. Elder Warner and I just had to laugh it off.
Saturday was the real fun day haha so we go to the hospital with Joel to see his friend David. David is the most legit man ever. He’s actually in a different branch so I have never really talked to him, but he has hip problems so he can’t walk well so he can’t work so literally he reads the book of Mormon for 12 hours a day!! Every day!! We walked in and he had just had surgery, double hip replacement, and he’s reading the book of Mormon. Like he’s crazy. I think elder Warner said he almost has it memorized. But ya so we did that then we back to our apartment to do our studies and such. We go to the bus stop because we had correlation meeting and it’s far away so it’s about 2 hours on a bus. So were at the bus stop and this man walks up to us. Asks us if we were Jehovah Witnesses (oh and we talked to one of those this week... that was... fun...) but anyway we say no and he asks if we will pray with his family. We say yes of course. They come over and put their hands in like were a football team and just get mad cause we won’t. Eventually we pray. Then he says he’s thinking about being a pastor ( oh he’s white by the way) and were like that’s cool and he’s just like ya, and we all know God doesn’t have a face so I want to dress up in all black so no one can see me so it’s like god talking. Then he pulls out a scream mask asking if he’s scaring us haha and were like no, then he starts dancing with a scream mask on like at the cars haha then right as were about to get on the bus, he says you know god don’t judge you for your works. He only judges you for how much faith you have haha it was really funny. So then we get on the bus. And the next stop 2 people get on.... they start just making out in front of us... it was sooooo awkward! Like wowww haha
Um so then we played futbol... or soccer haha and it got really intense this week. Like my comp is going to probably play college, he got recruited by Ohio State, so he just destroys people so then the investigators get really mad and physical. Then just some random people came and played and they were getting way serious then My comp made a move and this good guy that plays in a league that just came and played with us got in his way and he stepped on his leg, haha the guy just starts chewing my comp out in German. It sounded really creepy but it was kind of funny. So that was our Saturday
Then Sunday... we didn’t have any investigators come again... I don’t know what else we need to do. Elder Warner and I are really frustrated. But Sacrament was kind of empty... so the Branch 2nd counselor comes up to me and asks if I can share my testimony/give a talk if the person doesn’t show up! Ah scared me to death, and me being the missionary I was like ya.... haha and he’s like is your Spanish ok so then I told him I had just started learning it but he was like you’ll do fine. So I’m scared out of my mind going into sacrament, but then he announces the program after the sacrament is passed, and I guess the person showed up so I didn’t have to.... thank goodness.... like my comp has never even had to do that and he’s been out a year haha. Then Sunday night we went out with Joel the new branch mission leader. He is great. We went and saw Tino. He’s this legit like 24 years old. And then his roommates showed up and listened too. It was a good lesson and we're leaving when... Joel backs into his roommate’s car.... like he felt soooo bad but the guy was totally fine with it like it was amazing.
I’m so happy to be speaking Spanish. The Spanish people are so much nicer... no offense. Like Spanish people won’t slam doors in your face. They will at least listen to what you have to say. Every English house we’ve knocked on... BOOM in our face haha
Oh then I got fed so much at Pablo and fabiolas house. They are an inactive family we’ve been working with and they said they want to feed us every Wednesday night. They cooked a feast. They cooked like a huge bowl full of chicken and then this really good spicy sausage. And then you just make tacos with it. It was dang good. You would be so proud of how much I eat now haha I can’t turn down anything so like raw onions in my food and corn and lettuce and everything haha but like I was stuffed and we had maybe got a third of the way done with the meal haha it was really good. They made fresh salsa and had this really good drink and then Hispanics love corn in there rice, kind of weird right?? But ya... way good!!! Can’t wait to see what they cook this week haha.
Well that’s all I have for you this week because I still need to write the mission president. Hope all is well. You should post on facebook to write me haha oh and I’m going to send some pictures real fast in a couple emails.
Love Elder Knudsen
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