HOLY TRANSFERS!

Wow, these transfers destroyed our district haha. I am now in Dolores Hidalgo and im in a trio!! Both of my companions are sister training leaders (the leadership position for sister missionaries), and they are amazing!! One is from colombia and the other is from baja california and they are both super sassy and funny. One of them goes home after this transfer so I can tell that we are going to work suuuuper hard!! One of my neighbor elders got made a zone leader in Salamanca, the other is staying in San Miguel as a district leader and my companion also got transferred and they closed our area!

My new area is really big and we share it with Elders again...but I dont think they they are really good friends with my companions haha. San Miguel was wayyyy prettier than dolores haha, but my companions told me that the members here are super awesome and that they have 2 baptisms planned for this month!! woohooo!!

I am kind of stressed out to be companions with leaders haha. I had like 0 real training with my other companions and I have no idea what Im doing. With my first companion, I was just getting used to Mexico and the mission life, so I didnt do much to hasten the work haha. My second companion never talked...so I didnt learn much from her...but I learned a lot because of her hahahah. This transfer I am ready to help, teach, and love the people!! I can already tell that I am going to learn so much from them!!

This week was pretty good. It was my comps bday on wednesday, so we went to a hamburger place and she got free food! We said goodbye to a lot of people just in case we got transferred...and Im really glad we did that haha.

I am so pumped and scared for this transfer!!

Love,

Hermana Knudsen

Kourt added this to her letter to me (Mom):

i love my friends here sooo much! everyone ive met on the mission is amazing and totally worth all of the hard times. i remeber when i got set apart that the stake pres blessed me to be able to make friends, but i never imgained i would love everyone this much haha

Last week before transfers!

This was a pretty good week. We live in a new house now and its huge! We have two floors and its super clean haha. We dont have a washing machine like promised though :( we also dont have gas right now...so ive been taking freezing cold showers.

Our investigator who will be gettting baptized soon worked allllll week, so we havent visited her in a while and Im not sure when she can be baptized!

On Thursday we went to Querétaro to hear Elder Paul B. Pieper speak to us. He did a really good job and a got to see a bunch of missionaries! My friend from the MTC was there and I saw my old companion, Hermana Cruz! We had to be at the bus station at 5:50 am and then on the way home we found out that there is not a direct bus from queretaro back to San Miguel...so we had to take a train to Celaya...which means we got to go to costco haha! It made for a super long day,  but it was great! Elder Pieper taught us how to work with less actives and how to focus more on the work. I guess his lessons helped us because on sunday 2 less actives came to church!

This weekend was some kind of carnival in down town san miguel. Im not really sure what they are celebrating, but there are tons of flowers all over and the streets are full of people trying to sell stuff. Saturday and Sunday night people could buy painted eggs that are hollowed out and filled with confetti...you are supposed to crack them on people´s head hahaha, it was super funny to watch. My companion and I bought some and it was super messy haha...its also kind of painful, because the eggs are really sharp when you crack them, so i have a bunch of cuts on my hands.

On sunday night the whole district got invited to eat dinner with the lady who washes our clothes, and that was really fun. It was probably the last time we will all be together. This weeked we have transfers and I honestly have no idea what will happen. For sure some people will change, but we have all only been here 3 transfers or less, so it could be anyone! 

I love and miss everybody!

Hermana Knudsen

2 Baptisms!

This was a pretty good week. We had 2 baptisms in our ward! (It´s just too bad that none of them were because of me and my companion haha.) On friday an 8 yr old girl was baptized, and it was really cool because the family feeds us breakfast every friday, so it has been fun to see her progress. During the baptismal service, her 10 year old brother was asked to bear his testimony and he couldnt do it because he was crying so much, it was really sweet.

Saturday the Elders in our ward baptized an investigator and that was pretty cool for me too because the investigator speaks english and he always helps me out haha.

One of our investigators is progressing really well and we are hoping for her to be baptized on feb 13!! It will be really cool if I get to be one of the missionaries at her baptism because I helped find her and have seen her entire progression!

We are going to be moving houses tonight...its going to be sad to not have neighbor elders anymore haha :( We are also going to celebrate the birthday of a really nice member with the Elders tonight.

This week a general authority is coming to the mission, and I think on Thursday we get to go to Queretaro to see him! (which also means that we might get to go to costco! :P)

Love,

Hermana Knudsen

15 weeks down!

This was a pretty good week. On Tuesday night we went to a family home evening with the Elders. The family is really cool and the kids brought some of their non-member friends. After the lesson we had really tasty tamales and dessert, and for some reason we were all on fire with funny jokes. When we left the house, the mom was crying from laughing so hard haha.

Wednesday we went to Celaya for a world wide missionary training video. The video was really good and helpful and then we had splits! I had Hermana Guevara as my companion from wednesday until friday afternoon and and it was awesome! She was really helpful with my teaching the investigators and learnig spanish! She is an awesome missionary and it was nice to have a companion that I could actually count on!! I was only with her for 2 days, but I think she really like me because she invited me to her wedding in El Salvador hahaha. On Wednesday we also got to go to Costco again, so that was super awesome!!

Friday night we set a baptism date for one of our investigators and I feel good about this one! We also visited our investigator who couldnt get baptized in December, and his testimony is amazing and he reallly wants to be baptized, so I hope that can happen soon!

Love,

Hermana Knudsen

Coscto!

Highlight of this week was definitely going to Costco haha. On Monday night we met this lady who speaks English (and I think is from the states) at a little store and I talked to her for a few minutes. She yelled to us and said ¨hey missionaries!¨ and said that all of her brothers went on missions. Then on Tuesday at costco we ran into her again! It was kind of embarrassing because we were acting ridiculous on the carts and singing and taking funny pictures, and she stopped us and took pictures for us. I talked to her a little bit more and she told me that she wishes that I could be her daughter haha.

The rest of this week was not super interesting. We found out that we have to move houses next week. I am really sad about this because I will lose my awesome neighbor elders, which are pretty much the only good part about the mission right now haha :( The good thing is that our new house is really fancy! Its pretty big and has a washing machine!!

We went to a baptism on saturday for the other missionaries in the district, and on sunday our whole district ate with the nice lady who washes our clothes, so that was fun!

Love and miss everyone!!

p.s. there is a small chance we get to go to costco again this week!

OH Man

This was a pretty crazy week. On Monday we went for tacos and I had tacos de lingua y cabeza haha. ( tacos made out of cow tongue and the face muslces...) The cool part is that they weren´t even gross! I guess I´m a real Mexican now haha.

Tuesday we went to costco!! I got 12 muffins and they are all gone now :( It´s ok though because we get to go again tomorrow! I also got a berry sundae and a bunch of pizza!

We have contacted a lot of new people this past week so I hope something good comes from that! One of our investigators finally came to church yesterday too! All of our other investigators have craaaaaazy lives though, so we aren´t planning on any baptisms in the very near future haha.

On saturday night I found out that my grandma Karla passed away. :( My family got to call me and it was awesome to be able to talk to them. My mom was in Arizona with her family so I got to talk to some of my aunts and uncles too! Haha, it was really cool to hear everyone speak english without super thick spanish accents.

I can´t even believe that my grandma is gone. It´s crazy to think about because my life on the mission is exactly the same, but when I come home everything will be different. My grandma was amazing and I know that she loved me and our family sooo much. I am not worried about her at all, I know she is in a better place and that the plan of salvation is real. It was really cool because I was studying the plan of salvation a lot this week, without even knowing what was going on at home. I read that death is only pre-mature for those who are un-prepared to meet God, and I know that my grandma was super prepared, so I´m happy for her!

I´m really sad for my family, but I know that they all know the truth too. I realllllly wish that I could be there for the funeral, but I know San Miguel is where I should be. I want all of my family to know that I love and miss them and wish that I could be there to support them this weekend!

Love,

Hermana Knudsen

P.S. for those who are counting I have been on the mission for 90 days now and I only have 464 days left haha :P

Alma 22:14

Hermana Knudsen wearing a little tee shirt belonging to Grace that she mailed to Kourtney because Kourtney had said she liked that shirt 

An elder wearing the tee shirt too

New week in San Miguel

Uh, this week was a little bit stressful. I showed my new comp all around San Miguel and introduced her to all of our investigators and ward members. That doesn´t sound too bad, but it was really hard because I barely speak spanish and I don´t really know my way around town or the people super well. We got really lost one time because we have to take a bunch of buses, and we took a wrong bus. We were so lost that we just paid a taxi to take us back home haha.

My comp is realllllly nice. She makes food and letters for me, but she doesn´t know anything about the mission haha. She has only been here for 2 transfers longer than me and she is my trainer and the senior companion, but she doesn´t talk at all or take the lead on anything. I plan the whole day and its kind of hard (but at least we get to do what I want haha). Whenever we have to do something she always says "can you do it?" or "you first". Haha, its been really good for me though. I have learned and grown up a lot! The only thing I can´t help us with is the awkward pauses in lessons. I still cant speak spanish to save my life, and my comp doesnt talk...so there are a lot of awkward pauses when we talk to people, and I just have to sit there hahaha.

New Year´s Eve was nothing special. No one was home so it was a pretty slow day and we had to be home at 9. On New Year´s Day we had a little party as a district and grilled a ton of meat at the church.

Yesterday we found out our official transfers! Im staying here in San Miguel with the same comp and my neighbor elders are staying too! The other companionionship in our district is changing because one of the missionaries gets to go home this week and the other missionary is going to be a trainer.

Tomorrow we are going to Costco!! Woohoo!!

Happy New Year!!!

Hermana Knudsen