Holy Goodness!

 (This is me and my new bike-thanks Dad!)

 (Me and my new haircut)

Well hello dearest peoples,

      This week has been sooooo wonderful! My favorite story is that last week we were biking up this beautiful country road and I got really tired so I decided to step off my bike and walk it up the rest of the hill and when I stepped off my skirt got stuck on the seat so I kind of fell over and as I went to catch my fall, my backpack- that was full of scriptures and BOMs- fell over to the side of me causing me to fall completely on my back and I just looked like a turtle stuck upside down on it's shell- I was sprawled out in the middle of the road laughing my head off with my companions coming up behind me wondering what in the world was going on. Good times. 

The old catholic couple we're teaching, Rosie and Donald, are so adorable. They totally remind me of Mr and Mrs Potato head from Toy Story. I love them so much. Donald has now read the Book of Mormon twice within a week n a half but still isn't sure about it- we think he's waiting for Rosie to gain a testimony of it before he says anything. They love each other, it's so precious. Donald has health problems and hasn't been able to come to church and he won't see a doctor so please keep him in your prayers. We brought over our favorite Brother from the ward- Brother Kinney- to one of our lessons and it was amazing and such a hoot! Brother Kinney and his wife served a mission here two years ago and loved it so much that they moved here. Brother Kinney was raised Catholic and didn't convert to the church until 20 years ago. He is a hoot n a half. Donald was telling us that he should have died several times throughout his life but that for some reason God has kept him here and then Brother Kinney looks at him and says "Donald, he kept you here because you're supposed to get baptized into the church before you go!" I was so happy, I love Brother Kinney's boldness! We're teaching them again on Wednesday and are going to watch 17 Miracles with them and are hoping Donald will have enough faith in the Lord to commit to coming to church this Sunday!

We had interviews with President McKee last Friday and it was such a treat! I honestly believe and know that I have the greatest kindest most inspiring Mission President in the whole entire world. He is so wonderful and is always so full of joy and he always leaves you just feeling so happy and so inspired. 

Last Wednesday night as we were planning, Hermana Miner felt like we needed to plan for 15 lessons taught the next day and we were kind of like hmmmm I don't know but if you feel like we can do it, then let's do it! So we were super pumped Thursday to go out and teach and we ended up teaching the longest lessons ever with our two investigators and so we had only taught 2 before dinner. After dinner and checking on another investigator- I felt like we needed to go over to this one apartment complex that we've been to once before. We got there at 6:50 and just started knocking away! Within those next two hours, we had met 15 people, taught 8 lessons and left with 10 new investigators! It was so amazing, the Spirit was so strong all night and there was only one person we met who didn't want to talk and slammed the door in our face. Miracle! I feel so lucky to have had that evening- the Lord showed us what we are capable of and now we just need to help these people to baptism! Please please please keep us in your prayers, we're having trouble getting our investigators to progress but we know that if we continue with faith that we will see miracles. We visited with the Adeeb family again last night and I just love them so much. They teach us a lot about what is going on in Egypt and last night as they were explaining what the Islamic people are like and what happening there, I just start thinking of the Book of Mormon and the Lamanites. It just blew me away last night as they were talking to us- that the Lord knew these things would happen in our days and provided us with this record that we could learn from. The Book of Mormon is so real and my testimony of it grows so much everyday being here. The Adeeb's daughter Maria and her mother read in the Book of Mormon and they invited us to come more often to read with them. Keep this family in their prayers- especially their father Ibrahim. If they only took more time to read and to learn of the gospel, I know they would know the truth of these things so strongly. Ibrahim has a hard time focusing on anything but what's going on in Egypt AND he works full time and he drives everyone around and he doesn't speak English so he can only listen to the BOM in Arabic  so keep him in your prayers.

(This is me and my companions at the temple with our District Leaders and our favorite- Sister Clarke)

Last night we had dinner with Sister Barnes who has two daughters on missions right now and it was so much fun because she invited the Bowers over too and the Elders. It was so much fun! First of all- the Bowers are amazing- Brother Bowers is a hoot. Second of all, Sister Bowers brought her parents and her mom sat next to me during dinner and we were just in our little corner laughing our heads off for an hour. Before we left I told her that I feel like I've met my future self and I love her SO MUCH! She was so cute and wanted to ride with us on our way back to our next appointment and just sat and cracked jokes and talked about The Middle and Paul Newman with us. I want her to be my new best friend, I love her so much. Her and her husband aren't members...YET. We'll see what happens soon ;)

I love y'all so much and miss y'all so much! I have such a true testimony that I KNOW that this is truly the restored Church and Gospel of Jesus Christ- how lucky we are to have it on the earth at his time. How lucky we are to have modern day prophets and know that the Lord has not forgotten us. I hope y'all have such a beautiful Easter and take the time to really think about what we are celebrating. The Atonement and Crucifixion of Christ would mean nothing without the Resurrection. 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true, I know this with all my heart.

Hermana Knight

(This is one of the cat gangs at the trailer park)

(more photos of us at the temple with Sister Clark)

(This is me with my "Toddlers and Tiaras face")

(This is a lovely Coors Beer Easter package at Krogers - ha ha)

(Our favorite trailer park on Cheyenne Blvd.  We joke that in our mission calls it says "You have been called to serve in the Old Hickory Trailer Park Mission.....")

(This cat followed us for 35 minutes. We named him Binx.  We finally found his house and gave his owners a   Book of Mormon- hopefully Binx will be baptized soon...)

Hola everyone!

Hola!

  I could just cry right now thinking about how hard this week has been. I could just cry thinking about how amazing this week has been. I found out early- missions are hard. Really hard. BUT miracles are real. Very real.

This week Sister Clark and I were on a split and were knocking doors and we knocked on Angel's door. Angel immediately let us in and started bearing testimony of her love of Christ. She also shared with us all of the things she has been going through in her life. Angel has had a rough life. Really rough. She had to hit rock bottom a couple months ago to come unto her Heavenly Father and Christ. We just sat in her kitchen for over an hour as her and I took turns sharing our experiences and our testimony of Christ while completely balling our eyes out. I don't know if I have ever felt so connected to someone within 10 minutes. She is just so broken and every time I think or pray about her I just know that of all things right now, she needs the constant companion of the Holy Ghost so badly. Last night I bore testimony that I know wasn't coming from me-as I was speaking to her with tears running down my face I just knew that through the Spirit, her brother Christ was speaking to her asking her to come unto Him. I feel the love that Christ has for her so much that it hurts and I just hurt so badly for her and the things that she has been put through in her life. But there is SO much joy because I know that I can share with her exactly what she needs. We talked of baptism and the Holy Ghost last night and she said she just felt so much peace as we were praying about those things together. Keep Angel in your prayers. We visit with her again on Wednesday.

Sister Miner and Sister Hendrickson were knocking doors the same time Sister Clark and I were that day and they met Rosie and Donald- the cutest old Catholic couple who weren't very receptive at first but the second the Sisters stepped into their home they just opened right up I guess! Sister Miner went on a split last night to visit them and guess what? Donald read the entire Book of Mormon since they had been there Wednesday! I always hear of those things happening but never believe them! I get to meet them on Wednesday and I'm so excited! So keep Rosie and Donald in your prayers too! Especially Donald because his health hasn't been so great lately.

Brothers and Sisters, the Atonement is real. The love our Savior has for us is truly infinite, I have the amazing blessing of feeling this love that He has for each and every person I come across and it is overwhelming. "I know that my Redeemer lives, what COMFORT this sweet sentence gives."  There is so much comfort, so much joy, so much peace and so much hope in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This gospel is true. Why are we not sharing it with every single person we come across every day? Why would we not share it with those that we love? Share this knowledge and love with everyone through your actions and through your testimony. Never be afraid to share your testimony to others- it is something so powerful that the Lord needs you to share.

I love all of you SO SO much and I feel your love and support everyday.

Sister Haley Knight

P.S. I'm getting a lot of my hair cut off right now- don't get mad dad- It'll grow back by the time I get back. Also we are going to have a fierce of dodge ball and four square today! I'm so excited! pray that I don't get hit in the head because that ALWAYS seems to happen!

Hi, I am in love with Tennessee and Chickys....

Us before walking to the library

Us after walking in the rain to the library- ha ha

Hola! This week has been so crazy! We got a call Monday night from one of the assistants telling us that we were getting a new companion! Sister Miner is waiting for her visa to go to Argentina and I love her so much! I freaked out when I saw her because we were totally four square friends in the MTC and she is hilarious and loves to laugh just as much as I do. We laugh all the time about absolutely nothing and it feels so good. We had to give the car to the Elders this week so we may or may not have walked 3 miles in the rain to get to the library and I was laughing so hard because Sister Miner doesn't have a hood and she was just soaking wet and didn't even care because we stopped to get donuts and everything is okay in her world if she has a donut in her hand.  I never want her to leave and I want to be companions with her and Hermana Hendrickson forever and ever. Good thing we still have 4 more weeks!

 

We have done a lot of work with the non active members in our ward and branch this week and it's so amazing. They have the most amazing and humble spirits and it just makes my heart hurt that they don't have the desire to come back yet. We visited a member who hasn't been to church in 4 years on Saturday night. He lives with his sister and their family who are really strong members. They're all from Guatemala. He was super welcoming and kept telling us that he would always listen to the missionaries because he served and knows how amazing missionaries are. He told us that we were the only people in 4 years to ever visit him. I got the impression that other people in the ward had tried to visit him but he wasn't as welcoming to them. We had an amazing conversation with him for about an hour-I was crying half the time because he has had the craziest last few years and has been through some really tough situations. BUT his testimony is SO strong still- he doesn't think it is but it really is. You could see that he was fighting a battle within himself. Before we left I asked him if he would pray about coming to church and that if he felt prompted that he would listen and act upon what the Spirit was telling him. Yesterday when I walked into the chapel for the Spanish Branch my heart lept out of my chest when I saw him sitting with the rest of his family! Such a miracle! His brother-in-law is my favorite person ever because he always gives us Chickys whenever we're over and they are our favorite treats ever. They're these little biscuit cookies covered in chocolate or strawberry from Guatemala and I just want to eat them all the time. Good thing we're walking this week ;) There are some non active members who keep promising us they'll come to church and then every week they don't come, it breaks my heart. We're having Noche de Hogar (FHE-Family Home Evening) tonight with one of the families and I am really excited.

 

We're meeting with the Adeeb family again this week because they missed our appointment last night. Keep them in your prayers- they are so ready for the gospel. Keep Vicky in your prayers too- she's having a really hard time believing that we have a prophet on the earth now. We might have to say bye to her this week :( because she isn't following through with any of the commitments we've been leaving with her.) Keep her in her prayers- pray that she'll take the time to read in the Book of Mormon on her own. The Book of Mormon is the most important thing we have to share with others. I challenge all of you to hand out one BOM by the end of the month. Prayerfully think of someone you can share it with or pray for an opportunity to be guided by the Spirit and share it with a stranger. I'll go more into why the Book of Mormon is such a power in conversion next week but right now my computer is telling me my time is up.

 

I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH!! Danny, I am SO excited for you! You are going to LOVE being a missionary! Trevor- don't be weird or awkward and please grow your hair out! I'm so happy you're home!

 

 

Looooooove,

 Hermana Knight!

 

P.S. if any of you have time send me treats please!!!! We could always use more treats!

Aunt Julie, thank you for the beautiful cards, I love them so much!!!!!!!!

ALSO: They just officially changed the rules and I am allowed to email ANYONE now as long as it's not an Elder in my area! yay!

p.s. the pics are of me and hermana knecht on valentines day eating a valentines donut and then that's my class and my teachers- my district in the mtc that I miss so much!!!!

Hola and Hello from Tennessee!!

Oh my goodness, this week has been so crazy but SO amazing!!! There's a lot to share and so I hope it all makes sense somehow!

Last Tuesday during Transfer Meeting they had each of the new missionaries stand up one at a time and open their cute little envelope that had their call and I was called to serve in the Madison SP area( West of Nashville) with Hermana Hendrickson who just happens to be from La Mesa in San Diego! Then as we were leaving I found out that Hermana Hendrickson had only been here one transfer and we have been called to open a new area for the Sisters....wait what? Oh and we don't have an apartment yet! So the Elders in our area were so nice and gave us their apartment until we find our own. They are living with the Zone Leaders down the street. We have actually been called to serve in the Madison Branch and the White House Ward, so we will be speaking Spanish and English this transfer. I guess eventually our area will be a "Spanglish" area and they might have one Sister who speaks English and one Sister who speaks Spanish. We are "white washing" the area, which means we have a fresh new Area Book that hasn't been touched so a lot of the first few days were spent tocando (knocking). Our fellow Elders in the Madison Branch were so kind to give us some referrals they had received so we had a little bit to start with. We knocked a lot around these trailers 5 minutes away, where a lot of the Hispanic community live. I LOVE the Hispanic community because no matter what they will invite you into their home and talk with you. I love being in their homes but let's be honest...I only pick up like 10% of what they are saying! But it's so amazing how I can know what they are saying not by their words but by the Spirit. I won't understand a word they are saying but then I will feel the Spirit of their words and 9/10 times my promptings are correct and I can contribute what I can to the discussion. Keep me in your prayers because I have a long ways to go with this language! The White House ward is incredible, they made a goal as a ward to hand out a 1000 Books of Mormon this year and they are just on fire! Sister Wolferts who is my favorite person ever has already handed out 16 and I'm pretty sure she was called as a ward missionary because of it! Both our Bishop and Branch President are so humble and so helpful. We are so lucky to be where we are! We're living in Madison right now but we're trying to find a place to live in White House, we think we've found somewhere but we'll see what happens. We share a car with the Elders in the White House ward but since we're not in the same area we get to keep the car 24/7 right now :) Thanks Elders! It's kind of crazy because there are two sets of missionaries in the White House ward and THREE sets of missionaries in the Madison Branch because the area is just so spread out- we have so much work here! Since we're in both we get to go to 5 hours of church, which I absolutely love! We were at church for 7 hours yesterday which is kind of crazy! All of the Elders here are so amazing and are super helpful and are so much fun to work with.

I am having a hard time finding the words to say because there's just so much going on here and in my mind! I'll just share two miracles that I am so grateful for this week:

Miracle 1: We felt prompted to stop on May St on our way home Thursday evening and we started walking up to the fist house we felt drawn to and Hermana Hendrickson mentioned she wanted to sing a hymn, How Great Thou Art, and so I went back and grabbed my hymn book and when we knocked this nice woman named Vicky answered and said that she had company over but that we could visit another time. We asked if we could leave her a song and she replied "Is it going to take long?" and we said no, we'll just sing one verse! So we sang her the hymn and afterwards she was quiet for a moment and she said "That was my mother's favorite hymn and we just lost her in 09." We know that we were prompted to go to that house and sing that song. We returned Saturday and she welcomed us with open arms and we sat and talked to her for a little over an hour. During that time she revealed to us that not only had she lost her mother, but that she had lost her husband in 07. She had been dating a man for 3 years, they lived together for over a year and they had just broken up last month. She said that she felt that she needed the Lord more than ever in her life (She's Christian) and that she really felt like He led us to her house and that she needed us. I am so grateful that she was able to recognize and feel that miracle. The Spirit was so strong. We talked a little of the Plan of Salvation and a little of the Restoration. She told us that she would read and pray about the Book of Mormon. The faith of Christ is so strong in this woman, even as she was smoking her cigarette as we were teaching (uhhhhhhh) we felt the Spirit touch her heart and it was amazing to witness her heart open more and more to what we were sharing. We are seeing her again tomorrow and I cannot wait. I am so grateful to have witnessed the truth that the Lord truly does prepare the hearts of the people and he prepared people specifically for us. I know that he prepared me specifically for her. I related to so many things that she had been feeling and going through recently. She had two little adorable dogs(Pretty and Mio) and so we bonded over our love for our dogs too :) 

Miracle 2:

We prayed that the Lord would guide us last night on our way home from our dinner apt and we were led to a little side street off the main road by where we live. The first house we knocked was hilarious because the woman opened her blinds, looked us in the eyes and sat back down on her couch and continued watching tv haha. (I'm so grateful for the sense of humor the Lord has blessed me with!) Then we both felt like we needed to go to her neighbors and when we knocked a teenage boy answered the door and I started talking to him in Spanish and then when he opened the door I realized that he was not Hispanic! Ha, his family was actually from Egypt! The Adeeb family is so amazing. They had moved here in 07. The mother was so warm and so inviting. She was holding her 3 month old son Steven and asked us to please sit down. Soon her husband, two daughters, her two sons and her were surrounded around us on the couch. They told us that they were Catholics and they had to leave Egypt because it became more and more (as we see now) unsafe for them to be there because of the Muslims and their acts against the Christians. Everything we said would be interpreted to the father who only spoke Arabic and then they would translate his response for us and he would just have the most incredible things to say to us- he would always just find ways to build on top of what we were sharing and make our message even more powerful. He said that he and his family would listen to anyone who spoke in the name of Christ and that he really appreciated us for coming into their home to speak of Christ. We had a really interesting and beautiful discussion about the Book of Mormon and the father said that they would definitely read from this book and find out for themselves if it is of the word of God. We showed him how to get onto LDS.org and translate the scriptures into Arabic and we also promised that we would bring him an Arabic hard copy soon. I just felt the Spirit so strongly in their home and the faith that they had in Christ was incredible. They had given up so much for their faith in Christ. They asked us to pray for the people in Egypt, especially the father's brother who is still there and trying to get out to America to get away from the violence. They allowed us to leave them with a prayer and there was just such a powerful and sweet Spirit and I have such a respect and love for this family. They invited us to come back this week and share more with them. I will never be able to express the Spirit that was there in that home, in that family.

I kind of felt like I was dropped into the shark tank at first- such a crazy experience my first few days here. I wouldn't have it any other way though. I was so blessed to find joy in every moment. I feel so blessed that the Lord trusted Hermana Hendrickson and I to open this area and to get the ball rolling for Sisters here. The Lord knew I would need to be put into this situation to really grow and to really rely on Him. I feel the Lord everywhere I go, I feel him on the doorsteps where we knock and in the homes that we teach. I see Him in the children we meet. I see Him in Vicky and in the Adeeb family. The second I looked down from the airplane and saw Tennessee, I had a feeling that I was home. This is my home. I know that this is where the Lord has been preparing me for- for probably my whole life. We are teaching a woman referred to us from the Elders- Telma. The moment we walked up to Telma's door last week, I recognized her house. I dreamed of this house 2 or 3 years ago. A little two story pink town house with Lions at the bottom of the stairs. I was filled with so much peace because the Lord testified to me through that dream and in that moment that I was exactly where I needed to be. I am so grateful for the faith that the Lord has in me. I feel so blessed to be here and I am loving every single moment of it. I even loved when a crazy cat lady slammed the door while I was in mid-sentence!(We walked away singing There is Sunshine In My Soul) I have been humbled so much in this last week but the Lord has helped me to grow so much. I feel that the Lord has prepared great work for me here and I find so much joy in that. 

I can't believe it's been TWO YEARS!!! I can't believe he'll be stepping off of the plane in just a few hours! Everyone back home give Trevor the biggest hug for me! 

My dear dear dear brother,

I don't think I had a clue what your mission would be and would mean to me. Because of your example I found myself back in the fold of our Savior. I found myself answering the call to follow in His footsteps. You are a huge part of why I have the testimony that I have and why I'm here on a mission. I just want to thank you for your example of faith and your example of courage and joy in this work.

I love all of you so much! You're all in my thoughts and prayers daily and I hope that you are finding ways to come closer to Christ and come closer to the children of God that you have been created to be.

With so much love and so much joy,

   Hermana Knight

P.S. Thank you so much Rocky for sending me the program from our ward! I feel so special to be featured on the back! And I love that I have a picture of my MTC zone to look at everyday now! My address here in TN is:

Sister Haley Elizabeth Knight

Tennessee Nashville Mission

105 Westpark Dr Ste 190

Brentwood, TN

37027

Also I get to go to the Temple on Friday and I'm sooooo excited! It is such a little temple because I guess the people here made it really hard to build but it is so beautiful!!!!