Welcome HOME!!!!!

Miracles......

So I will explain in more detail when I get home, but on Sunday we had
3 baptisms...


Carmelino, Susana, and their 9 year old daughter, Karen.

It was an amazing week!! Thursday we were on splits because Sister
Rieke who use to be in my zone in Osasco wanted to see me once more so
she came out to our area and we worked the day together. We hadn't
planned on going to Carmelinos but I felt like we needed to go all day
long so we went. When we got their he was excited to tell us that he
had received his answer and that he knew the church was
true!!!!!!!!!!! SO AMAZING. It was a very emotional and spiritual
night so we started planning the baptism for Sunday. There were a
bunch of crazy things that happened to stop the baptisms, but in the
end, it ALL worked out!!! The only set back being that the 8 year old,
Karoline, would have been baptized but she got so scared of the water
thinking she would be drowned, that she wouldn't enter no matter what
anyone said. haha. So she will have to overcome that fear and be
baptized still. The poor thing.

It was an amazing way to end the mission and what made it better was
that Juarez and Simone came to the baptism and are very excited to be
baptized as well when the wedding gets marked!

Last night the ward threw me a surprise going away party. I had no
idea!! It was awesome. Very nice to be able to say goodbye to the
ward since Sunday with the baptism made it hard to talk to everyone.

Well the rest you will hear in person...ATÉ LOGO!!!!!!!!!

Sister Knudsen

So good to talk to you!!

I LOVED skyping with you!! It was so amazing to see your faces!! Its
been so long!! But like Andy and I were talking about, its as if no
time has passed at all!!! I feel like we were just together!!

Things are still going super well with the family I was telling you
about! For blog purposes, let me re-explain:

Last Monday night our Zone Leaders called us asking if Vila Archilla
(a neighborhood) was in our area. We told them yes. They then told us
that they had a wicked awesome referral for us. A man named Juarez
had come to their ward on Sunday because he wanted to visit the
church. We found out later that he has an inactive friend who talked
to him all the time about the church and how true and good it is.
This friend said he would take him to church but never did (funny
right?!) So Juarez decided to go by himself!! The night before, him
and his wife, Simone, stayed up late watching Harry Potter (Sounds
like you guys, fam!) and he went to bed thinking, ´I dont think I will
go tomorrow. I will be too tired.´ Well it just so happened that his
internal alarm clock chimed at 7 am and he awoke with so much energy
and desire to go to church. (The Spirit!) So he got all ready and
walked over to the Barcelone building which is the stake center. He
didnt know about our chapel that is closer to him. He got there about
8:30 and saw the sign that says "visitors welcome: meetings are at
9am" and waited around a little until a member saw him and invited him
in. He said to the member, "this sign says visitors are welcome at
9am....so can I come in?!" The member said of course!!

So the Elders were introduced to him and got him phone number and
address. They marked with him to go on Tuesday at 3pm. That night
the Elders thought about whether he would be in our area or the other
elders in Votorantim. They called us up at that moments and passed
the referral to us!

So on Tuesday we met up with the Zone Leaders and taught Juarez and
Simone together. It was an awesome 1st lesson and we bore testimony
of the restoration! They explained that they were feeling great and
that it felt right! We followed up with them the next day and every
since it has been great!!

Friday was the best though. That was the day that we watched the
Restoration movie and Simone said she still had some doubts about
modern prophets. So I asked her to pray for us and to ask God in that
moment if all the movie and we have taught is true. We knelt down and
I felt impressed to explain to her the situation of Thomas when Christ
was resurrected and how he didn't believe until he saw the Lord and how
Christ said Blessed are those who dont see and still believe. She
then prayed and the spirit was SO strong. SO SO SO Strong. We all
cried and afterwards we waited for the response and she then kept
crying and said, "I dont think I need any more response than this!"

It was amazing!!!

I love this work and it is truly the Lord´s work!!

Next week I will be emailing on Tuesday so look out for that!!

Sister Knudsen

Erin will be home SO SOON!!!!

For those of you who read this blog & are wondering what's going on with Erin's return home....here is the info! She returns home Thursday, May 19th & will be speaking in church the following Sunday! All who would like to attend her talk are WELCOME!!!

Sunday, May 22nd 8:30am at the chapel on Lindsay & Elliot (Windrift ward.)

There will also be an open house that same night at the Knudsen home! Please join us to welcome her home! Beginning at 7pm.

1067 E. Bruce ave.
Gilbert Az, 85234

Elder Andersen.......

Hello my wonderful Family and Friends!!

This week was quite amazing!!

Lets start with the most important part:

On Saturday morning we were able to have an awesome conference with
Elder Neil L. Andersen, and his sweet wife!!! She is so awesome, by
the way. She is this cute little woman with a super soft voice but
her testimony is powerful and she has a great love of the gospel!

I want to bear my testimony that Thomas S Monson, the First
Presidency, and the Quorum of the 12 Apostles are men called of God.
They hold the keys of the priesthood and communicate directly with
God. Of this I am sure.

The spirit that fills the room when an Apostle of Jesus Christ enters
is incredible.

His words to us were perfect. He joked around, he asked and answered
questions, he laughed, he bore bold, powerful testimony, he showed how
much he loves the Lord, the Prophet, and each one of us. He taught us
what it means to be an instrument in the Lord´s hand. We are all
capable of many miracles as we align our lives with the Lord´s.

It was great to see everyone at the Conferene but they didnt give us
much time to sit and chat so it was just a lot of quick hellos!! But I
was able to meet Sister Adamson who is the sister Sister Felipe is
training. Sister Felipe had said we are a lot alike, but I didnt
realize we would look so much a like too!! Like Avó like Neta!! We
took our 3 generations picture!! That made me happy!!

I also saw Sister Santos and arranged with her our visit to Osasco.
On the Tuesday before we go home we are going to go into Osasco
together and visit everyone. Its going to be great!!

We are teaching some awesome people right now. Pray for them please!!
Regilaine; Luciano; Carmelino, Susana and their kids; Jaqueline & Bia,
Sabrina.

The Pictures:

Taco soup at Richelle´s house! Finally some good american mexican food!!!


Brownies with ice cream, cashews all crunched up, and chocolate
sauce...oh yeah!!


Generations!!! Me, Sister Felipe, and Sister Adamson!! (Sister
Adamson is from a coastal city in Oregon, not too far from Newport!!
She was recently studying music at BYU-Idaho)


My new friend Elder Rolfe who is from Rigby Idaho! I told him that
thanks to my ancestors he has a place to live! hahahaha! He is
hilarious!! He likes to pull out his best hick accent to make us all
laugh!


Getting ice cream with the Zone Leaders real quick after Conference
on Saturday!


Ice Cream continued...Good times!


Love you all very very much!!!

Happy Mothers Day next Sunday!!!!!!!!!

Sister Knudsen

Feliz Pàscoa Minha Família!!!

This week has been a bit of a trial, but there are always blessings
and miracles that come when we show our faith through the trials. I
have been learning a lot these pass 2 months here in Votorantim. We
haven't baptized anyone yet, and its been rough to see so many people
get close but then not follow through. Its so hard!!!!!!!!! BUT we
are working hard. We are self evaluating a lot and looking for the
ways we can be more faithful throughout each day.

Our mission is really focused on Faith right now. We have had some
amazing trainings and I have learned so much about planning and
praying with more faith. I am so grateful to know that God hears and
answers my prayers and that He is with me every moment of everyday. I
just need to call more on Him and His power to make His miracles
happen.

Last night we had an awesome experience. We were waiting at a bus
stop and a man came to wait as well. I asked him if he knew when the
next bus would be passing since we were running late to a FHE at a
recent converts house. He told us and then I started asking him if
he'd ever seen missionaries before, etc. He said he has an old friend
who he hasn't talked to in awhile that is a member and served a
mission. He started asking a bunch of questions and I explained some
things and bore my testimony. I got his address, and then I gave him
a pamphlet about the Restoration. I put our telephone number on it,
the address of the church and when we have out meetings, and invited
him to our English class on Saturdays too. He said he has a brother
that lives in Florida and that they both love English a lot. We
chatted a little bit more about the US and about the church, etc and
then we got to the bus terminal so we parted ways.

Later that night as we were walking home from the FHE, he sent us a
text message saying how grateful he was that we had talked to him, and
that he had been really needing that sign from God. He thanked us
again and wished us a good night.

Then, this morning he called us too! He said he was looking at the
pamphlet and it had only Sundays written for the meetings. He wanted
to know if there were any meetings during the week. I told him that
its just on Sundays but asked him what day we could come by and talk
to him again. He asked if we could tomorrow. I told him yes and we
marked for 2:30 tomorrow afternoon.

He seems very excited. I can tell that he could recognize the
truthfulness of our message even with such short contact. He is one
of those people who is away from the truth only because he didn't know
where to find it. Now he has found it and its going to bless his life
immensely!

I am excited to go there tomorrow and keep helping him get to know
God´s great plan for us.

I love the gospel and I know that it has truly been restored in its
fullness! This is Christ´s church. There is no other. It is here and
we that are members must open our mouths and boldly proclaim what we
know to be true or these special children of God that are searching
for the truth will not have the opportunity to be blessed right now,
like we are being blessed right now! Gods work will happen, but we can
accelerate it so much if we will but share our happiness with others.

I love you all so much! Have a great week!!

Sister Knudsen

Pre Easter pictures!

Splits with Sister Macedo, a new sister from the Bahia in Brazil.

She is super calm and sweet! We had a lot of fun together!


Sister White all decked out!


Me. A less active girl we are visiting wanted to dress us up a bit for fun!


Easter presents!!! Sister White made us paper Easter eggs and bunny
headbands. Yep, pretty RAD!! We have a picture of us with them on but
its not opening right now for some reason. The American family in our
ward went to the US to pack up their house and brought us back some
requested presents, peanut butter, taco seasoning, and a tape recorder
that Sister White wanted. YAY!! Thanks Bishops!!! (That's their last
name and I gave them your email, mom & dad, so they will probably be
emailing you one of these days!!) They are pretty awesome!!

Fruit Pictures.....

I don't know if I already sent these pictures, but I know you (Devin) wanted
more fruit pictures so hopefully you like these!!

One more week gone.....

This week the Lord´s thoughts were not our thoughts! We worked all
week on a few people we are hoping to baptize soon, but then Sunday
arrived and none of them went to church. At first I was sad a little
discouraged, but I knew I couldn't stay that way so I focused on the
blessings. A family we contacted on Friday said they would go to
church, so we called them Sunday morning to confirm and they said they
really would come! They showed up and LOVED church. They are from the
"Congregação Cristã" but the lesson about the Church of Jesus Christ
Today was really good and they believe that this church really could
be true. They are going to pray about it. We also had a surprise
visitor!! A girl in our ward brought a friend and we marked with her
to teach her tonight. She seems really interested and elect!!

So even though what we wanted to happen didn't happen, the Lord had
other plans and blessings in store for us. He truly loves His
children and knows what is best!

I will give more details next week, I had to organize some photos to
send to recent converts in Osasco so that took up some time but know
that I love you all so much!!

Sister Knudsen

Hey Family (and Friends!)

This week we had an awesome experience. We went to contact a girl we
talked to the other day and she wasnt home. As we came back I saw a
man in his yard and felt like I should talk to him, so we went over
there and started talking. His name is Douglas. He told us he is a
member but hasnt been going for a while now. He said he wants to come
back but that its harder said than done. He has two daughters and
said they are the principal reason he wants to come back, so they can
grow up in the church. We invited him to come on Sunday and he said
he would. We also marked a return appointment so we could talk to his
wife who is not a member.

They went to church yesterday and loved it. The older daughter is 6
and said she doesnt want to go to her "other school" anymore just
wants to go to "this school" everyday! haha. Her mom had to explain
that during the week she needs to go to her normal school to learn to
read and write so she can do so at the church school!

I seem to have a gift to do contacts with less active members. Its
happened 4-5 times in the last couple of weeks. The Lord knows what
He is doing!

The same night we met Douglas, as we were walking home another guy
stopped us on the street. He also is a less active member, Emerson.
We invited him to come to church as well and he came! He served a
mission and everything but fell away a little after he got home. He
said he doesnt think the church is the only true church anymore but
that it is definitely a good place. That made me sad. We bore our
testimonies of the restoration and invited him to pray again to God
and ask him if this Church is true. He said he will.

We have been working with another less active family too. A woman,
Sonia, and her 7 daughters!! She also has a son, but we have never met
him. There are 2 daughters and one granddaughter that aren´t
baptized. The rest are members but when one gets discouraged and
stops going, the rest soon follow after. We made a goal with Sonia,
and the 2nd oldest (I think...), Daiane, for them to go to church for
2 months straight to gain back their strengths. So far they are
keeping their part!! Sonia gets discouraged because the kids wont go,
but if they go, she is right there. She has a testimony. The older
daughters were baptized when they were little and stopped going soon
after, so they dont really have their own testimonies. We are working
on it. One of the middle daughters, Camilla, finally came to church
yesterday! That was exciting!! We are trying to get them all strong
and baptize the ones that havent made that important covenant with God
yet. They are a really cool family! Tonight we are going to have a
Family Home Evening with them!!

Other awesome story: (Sorry if I ever repeat myself...sometimes I
forget!) We were early to lunch the other day in a neighborhood by
our house so we looked around for some good doors to knock or people
to do contacts with. We walked passed a house and Sister White saw
some kids inside in wheelchairs and a woman running around making
lunch and taking care of everyone. She felt like she should talk to
her but saw that she was so busy so she just kept walking. She didnt
make it 3 steps before she stopped me and said, lets go back to that
house. So we turned around and got the attention of the woman.

The woman invited us in and we got to know her super amazing family!!
She has 3 sons that are special. They have body handicaps and are in
wheelchairs. They are SO awesome!! She has a total of 7 children,
but we only met the youngest 4 and a grandson who is 4 or 5 years old.
We met the 3 special boys and a daughter. The 11 year old boy in a
wheelchair, Giovanne, is twins with the daughter, Giovana. She is
"normal" but very special too! Of course, you guessed it, I thought a
lot about you guys and especially Erik and Ashley!! I showed them the
pictures of my family and they loved it. The mom, Salete, is a hard
working woman!! She never had formal schooling because she got married
young and had her kids. She doesnt know how to read, but we have
started giving her a few little lessons (we dont know much either so
its hard!) to help her out. She really wants to learn.

They couldnt come to church on Sunday because they already had a
birthday party marked, but they said they will come next week. We are
making arrangements with some of the Brothers in the ward to come pick
them up!!

I am so excited to be teaching them. They are sooooo awesome. Did I
mention that?!

I need to take a picture with them to send to you guys!!

Alright, the pictures that I am sending:
The Zone Pic at the end of the last transfer (Dont worry...I am
staying here in Votorantim with Sister White! wooot!! And Elder
Andraszczyk that is from Laguna Niguel (and was in Andrea's new ward...small world!) was transfered to our Zone. Fun
times!) Poor Elder Smalley´s head got cut off, but in the other
picture of the zone our hilariously inappropriate zone leader Elder
Bird showed his butt off (covered with his pants thankgoodness) so
I´ll just show this more appropriate one for now. The other can be a
...treat?...for afterwards! ;)


Milking Bessy for our District Meeting Snack....Oreos!!! Thanks to
Sam and Amanda for sending ´em!!



Elders go CRAZY for any type of food...especially American Delights!!


Elder Oldroyd´s super awesome powers.


Hope you guys had and will have an amazing week!!

I love you!

Sister Knudsen

More pictures! Hooray!!!

Zone Conference. Sister Steinbeigle and I. She is going home on

April 6. I will miss her dearly. She is a great example to me!!


Some of the sisters with Sister Cooley and the Assistents. The one
of the far right is Elder Matthews. He was Sister Felipe and my zone
leader in Osasco before he turned Assistent. He is awesome and we are
grateful for our nice connection with the Assistents...good for
getting inside information. hahaha!


Package from Sam and Amanda. That was me pulling out all the
little candies and putting them on my desk until it turned into a huge
mountain of sugar!


Arranged nicely by Sister White for a more organized shot! I had
forgotten about oreos....we took one of the packages to general
conference and shared them with a girl named Bruna who speaks english
and was listening to conf. in english with us, and with the elders
that share the chapel with us. They were a big hit!! We even bought
pasterized milk from the bakery to dip them in. I´d seen the milk
before but this was the first time I bought it...its almost like
American milk! Almost...but close enough for delicious wettened
oreos!!


Zone Conference on Friday was fabulous. We are focusing more on
really have Faith and in trusting the recipe for success in Alma
26:22.

We are also going to make our Baptismal services more special and help
our investigators invite their family and friends to their baptisms,
so they can feel the spirit and become investigators too!!

I love President Cooley and Sister Cooley. I am SO pleased by the
fact that we live to close to one another and that I can continue
learning from them after the mission!!

General Conference was incredible like always!! The whole time I
thought about our investigators and how the words were so perfect for
them!! Of course, I also learned a lot of things that I need to be
applying in my own life too!! Pretty sure that talk about accepting
correction was exactly for me...I have such a hard time with that!
Pride is the worst thing ever...I pray everyday for help to not be
prideful!

Elder Scott is the cutest man...his talk was super special. I want to
have a marriage like him and his wife have. One day!!

Elder Holland = Iron Fist
He actually didn´t "burn" too much but he brough the spirit so
strongly as always. He has a way with words...He is amazing.

President Monson...so wonderful! I just love him! His life story is
amazing. If you havent watched On the Lord´s Errand, Watch it. He is
a man of God and it shows in the life he has lived!

Love you all so dearly!!

Sister Knudsen

Exhausted!

This weekend was very exhausting!

Saturday we had an INTENSE lesson with Maria and Manoel. We got there
and Maria starting tearing us down....telling us we are not from God
that we have brought sadness and horrible consequences for manoel and
their relationship. That she knows we cannot be from God because of
the terrible atmosphere they have had since we began going there, etc.
A LOT of stuff....

I bore my testimony to her that we are servants of God and that we
have not broughten these feelings, but that Satan has.

She began to cry and ask forgiveness saying that she knows we are
trying to do our part but that she doesn't understand why Manoel is
being the way he is and why he makes sarcastic comments about going to
church just to see us (the sisters), etc. He had made a comment like
that to her just to make her mad and it worked. She used some
disrespectful words towards us, and I told her that she was not being
respectful.

The feeling was truly terrible in their house and I felt the power of
hell there...so strongly that I started bawling my eyes out. I
couldn't stop or control my emotions.

When she saw me crying so much it really softened her heart because
she started crying harder and started asking forgiveness to us and to
God. She pleaded and pleaded for forgiveness and said she really does
know that we bring peace. She was a bit hysterical. And I wasn´t
much farther from hysterics myself.

When I finally calmed down enough to talk I started testifying more
fervently of God´s love and of his plan and of how He wants to help
them and how He has sent us there to teach them. Then the spirit came
in. It came so strong as well and took away the evil that was there.
We sat them down and we said a prayer and we sang Where Can I Turn for
Peace?

The spirit intensified and we again bore testimony. Maria admitted
that she was at peace in that moment and again that she knew we were
sent from God. She said she had fallen into the hands of the devil
that day and really let him work through her. She said it was awful.
We invited her to pray and she said a most humble and pleading prayer
for forgiveness and for peace. It was very special.

I gave her a huge hug at the end and she hugged me back. We held
each other a bit and cried some more. She thanked us. I told her to
come to church, not for Manoel, but for her own sake and for her own
salvation. We testified that the Church of Jesus Christ is on earth
and that we need it to be saved. We scolded Manoel a bit for not
acting on the answer that God had given him. (Did I tell you he
received his response and knows that the church is true?) He said he
knows but that he is rebellious and doesn't know if he wants to give us
his beer and other drinks that we uses once in a while.

At the end of the night we had them both happy and laughing. And they
both confirmed their presence at church the next day.

It was a spiritually and physically exhausting lesson, but one that
showed me just how powerful the devil is and how much more powerful
the Spirit is.

Then on Sunday they didn´t go to church and I still don't know
why....but it made me terribly sad. Not discouraged, but horribly
broken at the fact that they are not taking seriously the amazing
miracles that God is putting in their path.

No one went to church. We had planned and confirmed with 6 and had
another 6 that were probably coming to. Satan is the worst....but he
will not win! We are stronger and we will not give up!!

We need your prayers and your love!! I know you are sending it already
and I do feel it giving me strength in the hardest moments. Thank you
for that!

But yeah...its been an exhausting weekend and I wanted to rest today
but then we had the zone activity already planned so that didn't work
out...but I will sleep really well tonight!!

The craziness of a mission!!!

Love you family!!

Sister Knudsen

PIctures of the apartment.....

Well our apartment has a few....problems. Its a good place but it has

lots of material for good stories!!

For example...
This was in the morning...a small creation beginning to grow.
What is it exactly? Hmm...



That night....its grown a bit...he´s getting bigger Little Bobbie!

The next night....Full Grown and ready to be eaten! That´s
right...that would be our little MUSHROOM baby!!! He is growing out
of the broken bottom part of our door frame where inside is quite
nasty and humidly wet. Gooooood times!!


Today we had an awesome Zone Activity. This Brother has a pizza
oven and made us some amazing pizzas today.




We are all sweaty and gross because we played a
dodgeball like game at the chapel beforehand. Good stuff.


Thats the sign of a super full stomach...I ate 5 pieces of
Brazilian pizza and 2 slices of dessert pizza....yeah. Full and quite
happy!


You got to stuff yourself sometimes...its healthy. ;)

Love you guys!!

Sister Knudsen

Funny, spiritual, amazing!!!

The mission is full of so many different types of experiences. It is wonderful!

Funny.
On Saturday night, a member invited us to come over to her 9 year old
son´s birthday party. A few of our appointments fell so we headed
over to wish him a happy birthday (and lets be honest...so eat some
cake too!). Well when we got there we realized that this was the 9
year old birthday party of the century!!! She had all these Brazilian
party foods, soda, and loud music playing as all the kids from the
neighborhood danced around, ate, and chatted together. The
decorations were Halloween/Monster themed and way amazing. The cake
was beautiful and looked like a huge spider web. She of course said
that she had done very little...but she is that way! A little of her
effort and a "small and simple party" are equal to about 6 weeks of
preparing if I would to do that same party!! She is pretty amazing!

Anyway, so Sister White and I get there and we are eating a little bit
and talking about how the parties will be that we throw for our kids
one day. We just so happened to be talking about how we don't want to
be those types of moms that are "party poopers" when a song came on
that says the phrase "I´m in Miami, B*****" Yeah...***** meaning bad
word!! We looked at each other and tried to decide what to do. If we
should tell her since its in English so they don't know or if we should
just let it go. Well as it kept repeating the phrase over and over
again and then had a part that just says the phrase about 15 times in
a row (AHHH...clean missionary ears CANNOT hear that word!!!) we
decided we should probably mention it to her. When she came out of
the kitchen again she saw our faces (I guess we had a worried look or
something...dont know) and asked what it was. We laughed and told her
and she ran into the room and switched the music saying to the whole
group of children and her son in particulary that the song "has a bad
word...The Sisters said so." We heard her from outside and just
looked at each other...UH OH!! Now they are going to hate us!!!! What
were we just saying about not wanting to be party
poopers???....yeah....that went well!! He got a little mad since its
one of his favorite songs and he didnt know. But when Sister White
asked a little while later to listen to Justin Bieber, he got over the
madness real fast. He LOVES Justin Bieber so that made his day!

So funny. Gotta love it.

We also got to celebrate earlier that day, the birthday of two super
cute twins. They are the kids of a recent convert, Adriana, who is
amazing! Sister White made them crowns and we stopped by to give them
to them. They are ADORABLE!!! And soooooo full of energy.

Spiritual.
We have been teaching a couple, Maria and Manoel. Sister Santos and
Sister White had met them knocking doors and taught them about the
restoration. They had gone back once and Maria had been pretty
uninterested, while Manoel was very interested. We taught them our
first week together too and they agreed to go to church. That Sunday
they didn't go though. So we went by again to see why and Manoel said
that Maria woke up and said she wasn't going and started to fight with
him about it. Manoel started to fight back and so they just stayed
home mad at each other the whole day instead. LAME! Well Maria
continued saying that she wouldn´t be going to our church and would be
returning to her church and didnt want to talk to us anymore. Manoel
said he was giving up too and wouldn't go.

Well...that is when the Spirit came in and helped us A TON. We began
to bear our testimonies of the importance of the Restoration. That
God has truly restored HIS church on the earth. We testified that
they could know this for themselves. We also testified of the reality
of Satan and how he will do everything in his power to keep God´s
children from the truth. We invited them to follow Christ and not
Satan and to go to Christ´s church on Sunday. I´ve never been quite
so bold in all my missionary life....but the Spirit was so strong and
their attitudes completely changed. They committed to go to church.
We tried stopping by on Saturday but they weren't home, so we left a
note saying we would stop by there in the morning to go with them to
church.

We came by about 8:30 in the morning and much to our joy, they were up
and getting ready. We waited while they finished and eat breakfast
and then we all got in their car and went up to the chapel. It was a
good thing we went with them because they though it was a chapel for a
different church that is close by. That could have been bad!

We took them inside and sat them down and a man from the ward came by
and greeted them and told us he would get a member to go sit with
them. Awesome! Love the members here! So he sent over our dear
friend Maria Lucia and she helped them during sacrament meeting. It
was an AMAZING Sacrament meeting. A high councilman spoke and brought
the spirit super strong talking about how we are SO privileged to
have a prophet and inviting us to really prepare for conference and
remember that when the Prophet speaks it is scripture. I was blessed
to be able to sit behind the American family that is in the ward and
translate for the wife. It was super hard but gratifying to be able
to help her finally understand what was being said at church!!

Then we went into the Gospel Principles class and had an awesome
lesson about the Priesthood. And then Relief Society...the BEST
PART!!! We had an amazing lesson about Charity and the teacher was
very inspired. Everyone was teary eyed and Maria LOVED it. I gave
her a huge hug at the end of the class and she hugged me back super
tight and I felt SO much love for her. Her whole outlook has changed
since that lesson we had with her. I am so grateful for the Spirit.
It is Him who makes miracles happen.

Manoel also loved the elder´s quorum and agreed to go with them on a
service project they are doing this weekend. So awesome. They truly
loved the church and felt the spirit. We are going there tonight to
continue helping them towards baptism, their endowments, their
sealing, and eternal life!!

I love the mission!

Thank you for your prayers and I love. I love you all!!!

Sister Knudsen

Edilson, Rose, and Larissa from Osasco.


















Some of the decorations and the cake
from the party we "pooped" (sorry I didn't rotate this!!!)


















Twins with their cute
little birthday crowns!!!

Pictures!

Sister White and I....yea yea her name is White and she is
Black...she´s already heard that one a million times! hahahaha! She is
a crack up....LOVE HER!


















New Area!!! Pretty sunset...I will take more pictures of the
beautiful greenery here and send them later!

















Back in the Osasco days:
Karol´s awesome miracle baptism!!


















The famous fish face! I do a horrible job with it!


















The infamous zone pictures at the last district meeting before
transfers. That would be Sister Felipe falling onto an Elder as she
ran to sit in the picture....She is always caught doing something
inappropriate in photos...gotta love it!


















Amanda and Vanessa, our soul sisters!


















Saying Bye to Maria, Alteíris and Mariana!


















Playing around at a members house...Had to help our digestion in
order to eat dessert!!


















So I am still LOVING the new area!! We have a great member, Maria
Lucia, and her two kids that help us a ton with the work. Yesterday
she took us around her neighborhood to a bunch of houses and gave a
bunch of references!! We had a really cool lesson and set a baptismal
date with her friend, Rosângela! With her help, I think we´ll baptize
her whole neighborhood! Awesome!

Sister White is pretty much amazing. We laugh all the time together!

Oh and there is an American family in our ward! That is cool! They
moved here about 2 months ago for his work. They are starting to
learn a little Portuguese but are SO HAPPY to have 2 American sisters
in the ward now! haha! They are awesome!! Their last name is Bishop
and they are from St. Louis!

Love you guys so much!! I hope you like the pictures!!

Sister Knudsen

So this weekend was amazing...in all ways shapes and forms!

1. Edilson, Rose, and Larissa. This week after a lesson we had with
the family, Larissa pulled us aside and told us that she had received
her response on the 12th of February but hadn´t seen the chance to
tell us until that night! She said she was at her Grandma´s house
praying to know and she felt a very pure joy fill her heart and got
very emotional feeling the spirit. When she told us she was so excited
to share her experience. It was adorable! It made me get all teary
eyed and feel the spirit too! We asked her if she wanted to be
baptized on Sunday (what is now yesterday) and she said she would talk
to her parents and get back to us because she hadn't told them about
her answer yet. So she talked to her dad and he thought she should
wait a little bit longer but after talking to him again he said if she
really wanted to, that he´d be there to support her. Rose...she didn't
understand as well. She called her crazy and told her she wouldn´t
follow through with the commitment and so shouldn't do it. We have
learned a little bit more about Rose this weekend. Love her to death,
but she has very set opinions about religious things!

Anyway, so we decided to wait and see how the lesson at the temple
went with their family to see if she would actually get baptized now
or later. It was AMAZING!! We invited a stake leader, Adriano, who is
over missionary work to go with us. He did a fantastic job explaining
temple work and bearing testimony. Loved it. We took them into the
waiting room of the temple and talked about baptism - reading from 3
Ne 11. The spirit was so strong and Edilson had tears in his eyes.
He said he is almost positive he will be baptized even though he wants
to read and pray a little more before setting a date. We asked him and
Rose about how they felt about Larissa wanting to get baptized, and
Edilson said he was very happy with her decision but would like her to
wait a little and even be baptized with him when it happened. I felt
the spirit letting me know that I really should let her wait so they
could be baptized together.

When we invited Rose to be baptized she explained that she feels as if
her baptism (catholic) is valid and was wonderful for her and doesn't
have any intention of being baptized again. Adriano explained
perfectly the fact that her baptism was a wonderful decision she made
should have meant a lot like it did, but that it was a step she took
to follow Christ, and that because of that faith, Christ is now
showing her the place that truly has authority from God to baptize.
It was a great explanation, but she didn't want to hear it. Again, I
love her to death, but I am sad at her lack of spirituality. She isn't
even willing to pray about it. :( But luckily she is very supportive
of her husband learning about the church and going there. He has
always looked for the right church but didn't find it, so he became
someone who likes to say 'I don't need a church, I have God in my
heart"...but now he is seeing that the true church of Jesus Christ
exists and he is very excited!

Long story longer...Edilson LOVED the temple and Larissa too! They
will be baptized soon and stay very very strong in the church. Rose
will come around too...I just know it!!

2. Karoline. We prayed even more with Karol this week and gave her
her baptismal sheet to show to her mom. She really wanted to be
baptized before one of us gets transferred so she took it home and
pleaded with her mom. FINALLY her mom accepted. She signed the sheet
but told Karol that she doesn't want any more members bothering her
about stuff from the church or visiting their house. Not exactly the
way we wanted it to be, but at least she is letting her be baptized
now! She told us on Sunday at church so we spent the first 2 hours
(the schedule is reversed here with RS first and Sacrament last)
organizing everything for her to be baptized that afternoon. The
baptism happened and was awesome! The young women sang and the leaders
bore testimony and people cried and it was wonderful!!

3. Vanessa. Our lunch was at a members house who has a sister that is
inactive form a different city. She just so happened decided to drop
her other plans and come to lunch. Sister Felipe, her, and I hit it
off from the beginning and she ended up giving us a ride to the stake
center and staying for the baptism. Then she helped us with a special
lesson that happened after wards which I will explain now.

4. Amanda. She came to the baptism and we found out that she has
been going to church for about a month in other wards and went that
day in the stake center. The Zone Leaders invited her to our baptism
so she could see it and meet us. She came and we decided to teach her
after the baptism. Vanessa helped us because she had made friends
with her during the service. We taught her about the Restoration and
the spirit was incredibly strong. The lesson was truly guided by the
spirit...its hard to explain...but it was that feeling that the ldeas
and words we used were straight from Him. Not our own. We taught the
lesson to them both and at the end we marked Amanda´s baptism for the
12th of March and the 4 of us were bawling our eyes out....I have
never loved anyone so quickly as Vanessa and Amanda...in less that 4
hours we formed a bond that I will never forget. I cant describe how
powerful it was...but I´m pretty sure we were good friends there in
the preexistence!

Loved this weekend...it was incredible. I know God lives and loves us
so much. He gives us way more than we will ever be able to deserve.
We are very blessed to have this life to prepare to return to his
presence and do our best to show him our love and gratitude.

Love you so much Mom, Dad, Andy, Dev, Ash, Erik, Hailey, Andin,
Cam...your love and prayers make these miracles happen!

Sister Knudsen

Short but sweet.....

Nooooo....my super long email just got eaten...that makes me sad
and angry but I cant be angry as a missionary so just sad....

But okay let me try to remember the highlights...

We are teaching some awesome families and one of them we are taking to
the Temple on Saturday so they can see it and feel the spirit there.
It will be awesome!

The YW in our ward are amazing and are awesome missionaries with the
girls we bring to church with us.

I am anxious about transfers next week! March 2 I will probably be
leaving here and it makes me sad!!

I might be training again because we have 4 new sisters arriving!

I love you guys like crazy!!!

Sister Knudsen

New photos!!!

The chapel that is being built here! We went there and the workers
and security guard gave us a tour and we started teaching them. They
are awesome but I will talk more about them next week!

PACKAGE!!!

The baptism!!! Silvana, Raquel, Henrique, and José Quirino! LOVE THEM!!!

The awesome Brazilian flag that José Quirino made for Sister
Phillips. She came here for splits one day and went there and paid
him to make it for her. It turned out awesome!! I am still deciding
what I want him to do for me.

The spiderman he made!

The cake she showed us how to make and decorate. We celebrated PDAY! hahaha!

Esfihas we made the other day with a member who taught us!!
Delicious!! I know how now! its a very popular party food here!!