Thursday, September 6, 2012

September 4th

Well this week has been pretty successful and really funny. Haha man do I have a story for you. But first I’m going to start off by telling you a story I don’t think I told you yet from like the first day of my mission. So we left the MTC Monday ya know? And so I get to Colorado and I sit my carryon with all of the other missionaries and go to make my phone call to you guys. I talk to yall for awhile and then decide to go get food ya know. I come back and ask the Elders where my backpack is. They told me security had taken it and my plane was starting to board at this point!!! So I had to run as fast as I can to find a security person... they tell me I have to go to this certain place. I show up and ask them for my bag and they said that no one has been able to go through it yet so ill have to wait. I’m freaking out at this point because like I really need to get on my plane!!! So the lady comes to check in and sees me in a panic and she was like it was left unattended and its really heavy and you didn’t have a tag on it so she asked if I could say what was in my backpack and I’m like scriptures and preach my gospel and just all religious stuff and so she opens it up and sees it and politely gives it back then I had to run 100 miles an hour to catch my plane.... hahaha..... ya... I forgot to tell you that in my first email out here.... SORRY CHARLIE!!!! haha

Well today was a pretty good week. I don’t really know where to start like always. Um let’s start with Vicente! Probably the classiest nicest guy I have ever met in my life! We had a really good lesson with him on... Friday?? Ya I think it was Friday. Like he had one earlier in the week with him, but it wasn’t very good because we haven’t really had a chance to teach his wife because she’s always gone so she was home that day and so she was asking questions and just getting off topic, but Friday was just great. We retaught him the Restoration and it was pretty good. We just wanted to review it with him. But before the lesson he was like hermanos (brothers) I’ve been reading like you asked me too... and praying... and just thinking about it wondering if it’s true and one day the thought just came to me that it’s true. And then with tears in his eyes he’s like I don’t have a doubt that this church is the true church on the earth and I know that the Book of Mormon is true too!!! Elder Warner and I were blown away. Then at the end of the lesson he brought up baptism. He’s kind of nervous because it’s a big step in his life and he really just wants to know all that comes with it, but we set his date for September 23. So he will be getting baptized in less than 3 weeks. Our goal is to get him baptized and then get him ordained a Priest and then he would be able to baptize his wife!!! I think that would be really cool. But he’s been amazing. He couldn’t come to church on Sunday because his son was sick and ya.

Eufemia... man where do I start with her. So this week is the week she’s going to quit her job. She always brings it up and so we're really hoping she will go through with it. We’re just trying to get her spiritually jacked and increase her faith so she will do it so she can come to church and then be baptized on September 23 also. We have applied at places with her so were going to try and apply at more places just to give her some optimism that it will be ok if she quits her job. So everything is going well with her. Now I have to tell you a story about her. She feeeeeds ussss soooo much food like it’s not even funny. She’s makes us a feast for 6 and expects us to eat it all and if we don’t she’s like appalled!! It’s always grey rice, some sort of meat, a huge pitcher of juice, a salad, and then something else usually. Like the rice not even kidding is probably like 4 lbs of rice. But anyway ya she wants to feed us like every chance she gets and she won’t eat.... she just makes it for us and sits back and watches us eat its awful. It was also her 55 birthday on Sunday so we went over there and said happy birthday to her. She said they had moved her party to Monday and that we should stop by so we said we would. So yesterday.... Elder Warner and I decide to go to Texas Roadhouse (yes I got grandpas gift certificate!!! Thanks) and so we went there at like 430 because it opens at 4 out here. We eat until we are stuffed and get done at like 6. Then Eufemia calls and tells us to stop by at 7. We stop by and she has made sooooo much food! Elder Warner and I were already stuffed beyond belief. And her husband is kind of crazy. That’s a story for later on in the letter. But she made so much rice and then ribs that were over cooked by like 5 hours without any sauce, yucca marinated in vinegar (YUCK) and then a salad with a bunch of juice... Elder Warner and I just start trudging along eating it. Like we’ve eaten a lot and she’s just like eat more and more and more and we're like hermana were full. And then she gets all mad asking if we don’t like her food. So I take another rib and she’s like no elder and gives me more ribs!!!! Ahhh like I really wanted to throw up with every bite. I finally finish that and I really felt like the food was up to my throat. And then I made the mistake of telling her I haven’t been feeling well.... so....she goes and grabs Alka-Seltzer..... (awful way to end a meal) and like I had to drink that. THEN!!!! She starts like criticizing my faith saying if I had enough faith the Lord would have healed me by now and like yelling at me!!! IT WAS CRAZY!!!! Like I really don’t even know what happened. Then she gave us like a ton of leftovers.... we just threw it away..... and we were trying to get the dog to eat our food while she wasn’t watching haha.

Ok back to her husband. So we show up and he’s like come in. We could tell he’s a little drunk cause we see some beer and stuff (don’t worry eufemia doesn’t drink) but then he starts like offering us beer, Were like no sir we can’t drink it and he’s like I know you’re not supposed to but just have 1 just to refresh yourself and we were like No haha and so we had to get Eufemia to finally tell him. Then.... he starts karaoke. He’s kind of deaf by the way so he turns it up as loud as you can and so you can’t hear anyone in the room. He starts singing this romantic song (all Hispanics love the romance) and he starts like serenading me!!! Elder Warner was like on the ground laughing. He just was like looking at me and pointing at me and it was so awkward.... I wanted to laugh, but like I couldn’t and like I couldn’t just look away and finally when he stops looking at me I look at Elder Warner and he is just like crying his eyes out!!! It was soooo funny apparently haha but then he started dancing like a machine by himself and then Elder Warner thought it would be funny to tell him I want to sing.... good thing we got out of there before that happened, but anyway.... yesterday was crazy!!!!

We also have started teaching a guy from Brazil. It’s really sweet. His name is Dijonio and like he knows enough Spanish that we can communicate pretty well, but like Portuguese is crazy!! Good luck Preston haha. It’s pretty much Spanish with a French flare. It’s a way sweet language and I don’t think it would be too much harder than Spanish but ya. He’s doing well. Actually the English Elders are the one that found him and taught him for like 2 weeks and then finally asked if he would rather have Spanish elders come and he said yes so they turned him over to us. He’s been to church 2 with them and had a bap date, but it got dropped. But we will probably be setting one with him this week for October 7. He’s super legit though. He’s only like 24 and just the nicest guy too!!

We also have been super busy with this lady named Micaila the last 2 days. So she just decided to come to church on Sunday. Like she somehow got the numbers of the Zone Leaders, but she’s in our area and she came to church because she really needs help. She’s from Guatemala and apparently she’s supposed to be getting deported this week. So she asked if there was anything we could do. She gave us like no time to work! She’s known for like 3 months but she had just found our card and she was crying in church because she really felt the spirit and really wants to stay. So there is actually a member that is an immigration lawyer, so she met with her today so we're going to see what’s going to happen, but really we need a miracle. But if somehow she stays.... she will for sure get baptized. So that’s been really hectic the last few days.

Um Rolando and Yasmin have kind of fallen off the deep end. He’s started drinking again and they just don’t return our phone calls and so we haven’t "dropped" them, but like there is nothing we can really do with them. We see them like 1 a week now and it’s just like there not keeping their commitments. Same with Ronal. He says we can visit him and then he’s never home and so he’s been really hard to get a hold of, so this week we really have just been trying to find new people to teach and try and get some new solid investigators.... it hasn’t really happened yet.

We also had something really cool happen with a lady named Mora. So she’s been having a rough time financially and she’s a member. She asked for money from the church, but they wouldn’t because she’s kind of inactive and doesn’t pay her tithing and we have caught her smoking. So we show up at her house and you could just tell something was wrong. We start talking and she is like "I decided I’m leaving the church because no one can help me and no one comes to visit me and stuff like that" At this point I’m freaking  out not really knowing what to say, but Elder Warner handled it like a beast. We pretty much just showed her that she has a testimony and that she knows that its true and by the end she was feeling pretty good and asked if we could read something with her in the Book of Mormon. So we will see what happens with her. She said she was going to come to church, but then she called and said she was at the hospital, Elder Warner thinks she has started going to a Catholic Church. Because she told us she had gone a 1, but we think that’s where she was and not the hospital.

I think thats about all that has happened with  me haha.... ya...

Love
Elder Knudsen

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