Saturday, May 21, 2011

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

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

Monday, May 9, 2011

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

Friday, May 6, 2011

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

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

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