Bon Voyage MTC!

Hola loved ones!

     How did I last 6 weeks here? What's happening? Is this real life? Well, according to Elder Holland, this is the realest my life will ever get. We watched a talk Elder Holland gave in the MTC a couple months ago and he is just one of the greatest people ever. EVER. He said that often times we as missionaries feel like this isn't real life and we can't wait to get back into the real world, but he said that this IS the real world, this is what life should be like and we are so lucky to have these 18 months or 2 years. We will NEVER be more like Christ or closer to God. I feel so lucky to be serving the Lord at this time in my life, I know that I will never ever have this opportunity again and that makes me want to work so much harder.

     One tender mercy this week was because I chipped my tooth on the weird cafeteria food and had to go to the dentist. I finally got an appointment for Tuesday and as I was filling out paper work I saw the date and was like oh my goodness, it's my Pop's birthday! Then right before they started to work on my mouth I asked if they were going to call my pops to let him know what they did and the nice dentist man told me that I got to call him!! So I got to call him and wish him a happy birthday and that I had a filling replaced :) I felt like the luckiest Sister in the world!

    Let's be honest, I can't wait to fly out on Monday! The only part of the MTC I'm going to miss is having Devotionals and Firesides weekly and my teachers. My teachers are so incredible and I feel so lucky that our district was blessed with them. They are so passionate in the Lord's work and are so good at pushing us to be better in a very loving way. They have humbled me so much and have taught me to have such a fire within my soul for this work.

    We had a lovely Devotional this week, Elder Christensen of the Seventy and his wife spoke. I was especially impressed with Sister Christensen's words. She said that we need to think of humble and obedient as being one word- they go hand in hand. Christ came to this earth and He knew that ALL things would come unto him if He was truly humble and obedient. Brothers and sisters, I want to share Sister Christensen's observation with you: WE are "all things." Christ did what he did because He knew that if he was completely humble and obedient to our Heavenly Father that all things (we) would come unto him again. How great is this work that I get to be a part of. That I get to help all things come unto the Savior. That I get to feel myself come closer and closer to Him. The only way we can come closer to Christ is if we lived as he did, if we are ALWAYS serving others and sharing the love of God in all things that we do and say. It is my testimony that all things are possible with Christ. All things. IF we have the faith and the trust in Him. Trust that He can perform miracles on our behalf but also trust in His and Heavenly Father's will. As long as we keep an eternal perspective and remember that all will be made right through the Atonement after this life, nothing can really seem that bad or that sorrowful. So have hope, have joy, have faith and have trust in your Savior.

    I love you all so much and next time I write I'll be in Tennessee!!!!!

Con Amor,

      Hermana Knight

P.S. Now is the time to send me dear elders before I leave!! I LOVE hearing from all of you so much so try and find some time to send me a little note before Saturday ;)

Happy Valentine's Day Precious People!

(Happy Valentine's Day in Spanish)

Dear family and friends,

We started our day off in the temple at 7am so our day can't get TOO much better! Except I woke up at 5 am to take a shower and it never warmed up so I had a beautiful cold shower. Gotta love the MTC! Also, I am SO sick of the food here...last night they only had steak and mashed potatoes at every food bar. I'm 98% sure they put pink dye in the steak to make it look good and the mashed potatoes looked like play-doh. Sooo I just had 2 bowls of fruit loops and 2 bowls of captain berry crunch. I had a huge stomach ache during class after but it was the best I could do. My poor body. I think I'm most excited to get out into the field so I can buy my own organic, local and fresh food. Everything here comes from cans or it's not ripe or too ripe. And can anyone say mystery meat? Okay I'm done complaining. As Caitlynn would LOLZ. I feel so loved by your beautiful letters and I can't even tell you how excited I get when I get a package slip! Aunt Jill you are AMAZING! I almost died when I saw that you had sent me celestial brownies! Here at the MTC we call anything homemade and fresh celestial! I am in love with my moustache mug mom, how did you know it would make my life complete? Chelsea Nicole Knight Hertig, I was beyond happy when I got those yummy valentine's day cookies and the cutest valentines in the whole entire world- I put them up around my bed :) I'm saving the martinelli's for our last night here ;) Which is in ten days!!

Oh my goodness, I am so scared but so excited to get to Tennessee! I'm only scared because I probably won't know what anyone is saying the first little bit I'm there. My language has already improved so much this week. Hermano Zuzunaga has been drilling into our head that we're not learning Spanish for ourselves, we're learning it for the people we'll be teaching and it finally hit me last week and it makes learning so much more meaningful. I did a language fast yesterday where I didn't speak one sentance of english until dinner time and I was nervous but I actually did it and I was able to communicate all day! I have so much more faith now in my ability to learn and LOVE this language. Hermana Olson and I had such a beautiful lesson with our investigator Mario yesterday. He actually spoke the words "I believe in the Book of Mormon" and my heart lept! He tried to turn us away so many times before because his Pastor told him he wasn't allowed to listen to us. I love being able to see the change in our investigators and being able to see Jesus Christ in them more and more everytime we see them! Our teachers are REALLY good at playing true to these investigators, at first it was really really awkward for me but then Hermano Zuzunaga and Hermano Llund explained that these are real people they taught in their missions or some of them are people in their family. They're really good at making it really difficult for us, which I was really mad about at first but now I am so grateful. I've learned so so much these past few weeks, it's crazy how much the Lord blesses us with in such a short amount of time as a missionary.

Have I told you that I love my Disrict? Because I LOVE THEM. On Sunday we just went around the room and everyone shared why they're here on a mission and the Spirit was so strong and we all have such a greater understanding of one another and a deeper love. Then we went around and everyone explained who they're favorite Disney character was a child and why and then they had to relate it to the Gospel and it was so incredible! Mine of course was Kermit from the Muppets. Kermit is so Christ like and he always helps everyone stay on the straight and narrow and my favorite song is The Rainbow Connection because I feel like the rainbow connection, for me, is just the love of Christ and the Gospel.

(I was the "sorting hat" character for Harry Potter day)

We had Harry Potter Monday this week and we had to dress up as something from the first day at Hogwarts. Everyone thought I was Professor McGeez but I was actually the sorting hat! Hermana Knecht was the Hogwarts Express because she's the cutest. I always hear about how people meet some of their best friends on their mission and I feel so lucky because I've alread met one of mine. Hermana Knecht is one of my favorite people ever. She's super weird and funny and cute and sometimes I feel like we're twins but not really. We sit in my fort/bed sometimes at night and eat treats and talk or read our letters to each other and I just love her! We always talk about how we want to be companions when we get to Tennessee but we know that we would just goof around and never get anything done. I want her to marry Trevor so we can be best friend slash sisters forever! Everyone do whatever they possibly can to keep Trevor single until we get back. Thanks :)

I don't have a whole lot of time because the computer literally keeps freezing every 30 seconds and it's litereally taken me 35 minutes just to write this much! Our devotional was so so good this week. Elder Schwitzer of the Seventy spoke and something that really stood out to me was how The Lord carries his sheep back to the flock. He said that the Lord doesn't chase or scare them back into the flock, he picks each sheep up and places them gently on his shoulder and then he carefully puts the sheep in the MIDDLE of the flock. Brothers and Sisters, are we putting these lost sheep in the middle of our flocks? Are we helping those that are new to the Church or less active feel surrounded by our love and support? Members in the ward are the most important part of missionary work- you are the ones that help those sheep to feel loved and to feel like the Church is somewhere they can grow and develop. Somewhere they feel comfortable and needed. The most important thing we can share with others is our love for them and of the Savior. Love is what helps us to have a converted heart. I want you to know that I love all of you so so much. You are constantly in my prayers. I hope that you are finding ways to constantly have the Spirit in your lives. Make sure you are continually converting your heart to the Lord daily. Thank you for your prayers and love!!! I feel it everyday!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Hermana Knight

P.S. at first it was strange to hear everyone call me Hermana instead of Sister but now I cannot ever imagine it being any other way. I feel so blessed to be an Hermana.   

Thank you Connor and Porter for the Valentines!  I love my nephews!

Thank you Uncle Rod & Aunt Jill & sister Chelsea for the goodies!

Thank you mom for sending my moustache mug

Elder Harris and I

Elder Hjelms, now in Indiana

Elder Golladge, now also in Indiana

Elder Lloyd (favorite), now in Texas

Elder Hunsaker who reminds me of cousin Sawyer

Elders Jensen, Spears, & Young

More of my favorite elders who have already left for their areas: Elders O'Hara, Parker, Walker, & Kelly

Elders Lloyd with his companion Elder Brinkerhoff

Elders Ellison & Mills both now in Guatamala

This is from the day we dressed up like characters from Pixar movies, I was "Edna" from the Incredibles (this is about all we can do here at the MTC lol)

Another Disney day at the MTC

California Adventure Day from Disneyland - I dressed up as "Ursula" from the Little Mermaid

Disney Princess day- such as it can me.  I was as close to "Snow White" as I could get and Hermana Knecht was Pocahontas.

This is me in my bunk bed with my nephew Connor's and Porter's Valentines on the back wall.

 Happy Valentine's Day! - again and bye for now....

Hi Haley

We just sent you a care package, keep you eyes open for it.  Is that a picture of John Lennon on your desk?

rod and jill

Halfway through the MTC...

Well hey there!

     This week has gone by so incredibly fast! We're halfway through the MTC (Missionary Training Center) and I'm freaking out because I don't know the language that well and I'm also way excited because I just want to be out in the real world! Sometimes we joke about how we're probably in some big dome stadium like in Hunger Games and it just looks like there's mountains around us and that the sky is fake. I chipped my back molar while eating the chips in the cafeteria so that's really cool. At least now I get to go to a real dentist and go out into the real world for a couple hours! Last night I was eating dinner and I saw an older woman at one of the food carts and I thought I knew her but I was like, no way that couldn't be her, so then I walked over to where she was and pretended to get food so I could get a better look at her and then I told her she looked really familiar and she said "well I'm Kathy Marler?" and then I said "CAN I PLEASE HAVE A HUG??" and then she hugged me and then she remembered who I was and then she ate dinner with me and it was SO nice to see a familiar and friendly face here. Her husband has been called as a Mission President and so she's here to learn Spanish because they've been called in a Spanish speaking mission! Although I don't think they find out where they're actually going until March. I also just barely ran into Kim Bennet and gave her a giant hug too- I'm really into giving people hugs because they have this no touching policy right now and so if I ever have the smallest excuse to hug someone I just get so excited. The Elders from one of out districts in our zone left this week and it was sooo sad and I cried when we all sang God Be With You Till We Meet Again because they were just SO happy and excited to get into the field and it's just such an overwhelming feeling to be united in so great a cause. All of the Elders who leave have journals that they have everyone sign and it's kind of like a yearbook, it's really cute. We've already planned a zone camping trip and Disneyland adventure for when we get back. Oh and me and some of the Hermanas from my mission are going to start a band, we already have a manager and we discuss our future plans during meal times. I'm going to play the banjo and harmonica.

Serious Time: This week Elder Clarke of the Seventy spoke at our devotinal and it was incredible! It was like a second wind for me, it was just what I needed to continue full force through these next few weeks. The most powerful moment in the meeting was when he asked if there were any missionaries here that had family or loved ones that had fallen away from the gospel, he then asked us to all stand up. Over 90% of the missionaries stood up. He then made us a very powerful promise- If we take the time to worry about someone else's loved one, The Lord will find someone to take the time to worry about ours. I'm pretty sure that every person standing or sitting had tears in their eyes and we all felt the spirit so strong and knew that this man of God spoke absolute truth. I encourage all to go out and find someone to serve, worry about another's loved one, find ways to touch the heart of those around you who are struggling with their faith. I feel so honored to be able to serve at this time and I hope that I will have the opportunity to worry about someone else's loved one. I know that there are countless families who pray DAILY for their loved ones, please make the effort to help the Lord answer their prayers. Be that instrument for The Lord. I know that this promise was true because I am an example of the power of prayer and the power of having a brother serve The Lord. I know that my family prayed for a really long time for me, years, and I know that the Lord answered their prayers through others around me in Salt Lake City who followed the spirit and helped me return to the fold. I know that my brother's service to The Lord played a huge part in that. The Gospel is real brothers and sisters, it is true. I know that our Savior loves each and every one of us in the most personal way. I know that through Him, not only can we be forgiven of past transgressions, but that he can carry our sorrows and our worries away. We don't have to suffer as He did because of his great and neverending love for us. I have felt that this week. I have had a hard time putting some things out of my mind that are distracting me and my Redeemer has carried these thoughts and sorrows away and my heart feels so light. I LOVE this gospel, I LOVE this church and I LOVE my Heavenly Father and His Son, our brother, Jesus Christ. One more thing that Elder Clarke said was that there are countless numbers of people praying daily for us as missionaries and that we need to live up to those prayers. I feel all of your prayers, and I thank you so so much. I promise that I will do my best to live up to those prayers. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

With Great Love,

     Hermana Knight

P.S. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all of your lovely Dear Elders, they make this experience so much greater and it means so much to me that you take the time to write! So keep them coming por favor :)
I love you all!!!  (write to me at www.dearelder.com )