Give Thanks!

Hello all friends and family,

This past week we've been talking and thinking a lot about gratitude. I don't have a lot of time today but I do want to share one miracle that I am SO grateful for!

So, there is an investigator here named Mark and he is amazing! 3 years ago when Mark was in Afghanistan with the US Army, he was bunked with a soldier who is a member of the church. This soldier talked to Mark a lot about the gospel and ever since then he has thought a lot about it. He did some investigating on his own the past few years and then last month he referred himself on mormon.org and asked for missionaries to come by. The Sisters met with him a few weeks before I got here and he was on fire! We visited with him once the week I got here and had an amazing lesson about the Plan of Salvation. We asked him to pray about baptism and when he thought it was time for him. Well, for about two weeks we didn't see him and he didn't reply to anything so we were getting really nervous. We drove to his house on Friday and his car was there but the lights were out. 

We happened to be in the area again on Saturday and as we were driving through the town I had a thought pop in my head and I quickly looked at Hermana Carrell and said "Mark!" We stopped by again and the lights were on! When we knocked another guy answered the door and as we looked past him there was Mark sitting on his couch playing video games! He told us that he had just been working a lot and whenever he's home he just sleeps and sleeps and he's been really bad at answering his phone. We had a good conversation and invited him to church but weren't completely sure if he was still interested or not. Well the next morning was amazing because we had 3 of our Hispanic investigators come to church! And they loved it! Well, in the middle of the sacrament hymn Mark came into the chapel! Miracle! He sat down next to us and he seemed super happy to be there. We sent him to the English Gospel Principles since he understands more English than Spanish and went our way to the Spanish class. 

After church I kept having this thought that we needed to go look for Mark before he left church so we quickly swept the halls of the church looking for him, We finally walked past the Relief Society Room and found him with the other missionaries! When we walked up one of the Elders told us that Mark had some good news to share with us. Mark told us that he decided to get baptized around New Years! At first I was taken back and like "what? did you pray about it?" He told us later that he had been praying about it and felt like he received an answer and needed to be baptized, then he had a dream the night before that confirmed his answer! So cool! We had a really good discussion with him and one of our members afterwards and I cannot believe how prepared he is for the gospel. He truly understands the importance of the gospel and he can see the blessings that it will bring into his life. He's going through a lot of transitions and changes right now and he knows that the gospel of Jesus Christ is what will lead and guide him to happiness. 

Brothers and Sisters, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. I invite you all this week to look back and to recognize how it has blessed your lives. How has the teachings of our Savior shaped you into the person that you are today? We are SO blessed to have truth restored to the earth and to have the peace and hope of our Savior in his true church in these last days. I know that the gospel is what keeps us together as families, it is what carries us through tribulation and is what helps us see the light at the end of the tunnel. I know that Jesus is the Christ, he is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. How grateful I am to have this testimony and have the gospel in my life. I know that the gospel has the ability to bring every single person the happiness and peace that they desire. 

I leave these things with you with great great love and gratitude for my Heavenly Father. I am grateful to have a Savior and I write to you these things the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Hermana Knight

Tornadoes and raw milk!

Zone Conference! Elder Motes who serves in our ward with us is a giant!

Hello darling people!

This week has been so random but so good!

I'm just going to share a few things because we don't have a lot of time today!

Exciting happenings in Hoptown:

-We had dinner with the Fears in this adorable building on Main St downtown- It used to be their cute loft where they would have line dancing and activities for their friends. I just thought it was so charming and the Fears are such lovely people!

-We had an incredible Zone Conference on Tuesday! Elder Pino from the Seventy and his wife came and spoke to us. They had so many amazing things to share with us and I felt so inspired and I never want my mission to end! We were combined with other zones so it was fun to see some other missionaries that I don't get to visit with that often!

-Sister Weldon took us out again this week to her neighbors and we met more people to teach! She is so incredible! I love her so much!

-On Saturday night we went to dinner at the home of one of our members and it was so much fun! We had an amazing meal of breakfast for dinner- everything made from scratch- delicious! We went with them to their Amish neighbors to get milk and it was so neat to see how they live and to talk to them with their Pennsylvanian Dutch accents! They were milking the cows with lanterns in the pitch black. I wish we could have gotten some pictures because it was one of my favorite memories! We had such a lovely dinner as we sipped on our delicious fresh raw milk! and I hope my future family is as happy and loving as they are! 

-Late that same Saturday night, Hermana Carrell and I heard people outside our apartment and we FREAKED out! Hna Carrell had her mace and I had a can of hairspray in my hand. We called the Senior couple that lives in the same apartment and Elder Smith came over and checked it out. He said that our neighbor saw some teenage boys snooping around and trying to get into the mailboxes for some reason. We finally felt okay to sleep and then the wind started picking up super crazy! Around 12 we got super paranoid and packed our most precious belongings and some clothes in case a storm hit. So much for sleep! The next day after church we got a super weird feeling and felt like there was a storm coming. We got home and climbed in our beds to take a lunch nap and then the tornado sirens went off! We hurried and grabbed out supplies and drove to the church which is literally 30 seconds away. The sky got super scary and we set up camp in the sunbeam room! After 3 hours of being on tornado watch we finally were safe to go out and to my knowledge no tornadoes touched down in Hopkinsville even though they hit down every where else around us- we got lucky! 

So that was our amazing random and scary but wonderful week!

If you haven't already heard, I have a new adorable baby niece! Gwenneth Rose Twitchell came into this world last Wednesday and I can't wait to cuddle with her in 8 months!

 I know with all my heart that before we came here to earth that we lived with our Heavenly Father. I love holding babies because you can feel the peace of heaven in their presence. I know that part of God's plan was for us to come here to gain bodies and experiences that would help us develop more faith and appreciation in Him and in our Savior Jesus Christ. Every single person on this earth chose to come here and whether they feel it or not- they chose to follow Jesus Christ before this life. We all shouted with joy as we heard of Heavenly Father's plan and learned that we would be coming to this earth that was created by Christ for us. That decision that we made before this life to follow Jesus Christ is ongoing. We must continue to choose him everyday with trust and hope that he will lead us into eternal happiness, back in our home with our Father in heaven and our families forever.

I know that families are forever. I know that God has restored the power for families to be sealed for eternity. I know that God intended for the love that comes from our families to reach past this mortal life. We don't need to settle for a "till death do us part", we can receive the blessing of being with those we love for time and all eternity. I can't think of anything else that would bring me greater happiness and peace, can you?

I love you all with all my little heart!

Hermana Knight

P.S.

We taught a group of men last night who are leaving to go back to Mexico today. We had an amazing lesson with all 9 of them as we taught the Restoration. We watched the movie with them and they were all watching so attently- scooting their chairs to see and hear better- it was amazing! We gave them all Libro de Mormons before we left and got some of their information to send missionaries to their homes in Mexico. I hope they bring the gospel home to their families! (see the photo below)

Matching headbands

Me and Hermana Carrel

Elder McCray and Elder Shiner - we served together in the Madison Zone! (How did Elder Shiner know that I have always wanted to be a bunny?)

The cool old theatre here that they turned into a bar - haha

Me giving a Book of Mormon to an elf

Taking refuge from the tornadoes inside of the church building 

Tornados forming outside of the church building

....bye 'yall until next week......

Are these Barbie dolls or Sister Missionaries?...

Hello! I am now in Hopkinsville Ky and I LOVE it!!! I still miss Paducah and the people there but Hoptown is so amazing! The members are amazing and the people that we teach are amazing!

My new companion is my twin! Hermana Carrell and I were a little nervous to be together because we both heard that we're a lot alike but it's been a dream come true so far! We're the same size so we can share clothes and we like the same things and we think the same way so we're pretty much BFFs already! Everyone always asks us if we're twins- 4 people asked us this week so far. Our ward mission leader calls us Mary Kate and Mary Kate. (Neither of us wanted to be Ashley. Mary Kate all the way!) Someone in our ward asked if we were Barbie dolls and I laughed so hard. Then he gave us pieces of candy out of his pocket- this really is the promise land! 

Hermana Carrell and I teach pretty well together so far. It's so natural and I think our investigators are very comfortable with us so that's been a huge blessing of being together. She goes home next transfer so I'm pretty bummed that we only have 5 more weeks! We naturally bought matching duck dynasty night gowns which we're wearing right now as we email! 

There is an army base about 30 minutes from here and on Saturday our ward mission leader Brother Polluck took us down with them just past Nashville to do service. We worked with Habitat for Humanity who builds homes for people who are less fortunate and in need. It was such an amazing experience! We were working on a home for TG, a woman from Euthiopia. We got to do a lot of painting and we had to dust down the whole house before which was a lot of fun. We were able to give away some pamphlets and Book of Mormons to the men we were working with and invited them to church. It was a day I will never forget!

I need to share something that was SO INCREDIBLE! Sister Weldon, who is a member here, called us up and asked if we would go out with her on Thursday morning. She has REALLY caught the wave and is willing to do what she can to share the gospel! She took us door to door in her neighborhood and shared her testimony, shared a card with her link to her testimony on mormon.org, introduced them to us and then invited them to church- it was AMAZING!!!! She was a little nervous at first but the more neighbors we talked to the easier and more natural it became! Everyone was super nice and everyone thanked us for coming by even if they weren't interested. We met two new investigators and one of them was Spanish! It was such a testimony to me that we truly need to be working side by side as members and missionaries. The Spirit was SO strong and I know that this is the best way we can be sharing the gospel. I hope you are finding ways to go out with the missionaries and introducing them to your friends and neighbors!

I love you all so much! I love being a missionary, it is the greatest thing ever! I love this work! I hope and pray that you will find ways this week to become more involved with it and feel the happiness that it brings!

Hermana Knight

 Photos of Sister Carrell and me

 Members of the Paducah branch before I left

 With Sister Anderson from Paducah

 Sister Larsen and me

Tornados and Music Boxes! Moving to Hopkinsville KY

Why hello!

This week we had a tornado warning and the week itself has felt like one big tornado! Hermana Idso was very very sick all week. Just hunched over in bed huffing and puffing from the pain. It started last Monday night and it's still going on. We went to the ER on Wednesday and after 7 hours of being in the coldest room ever they kind of told us what it could be but they didn't know! Sister Koonce was so nice to take us and stay with us a while AND get us something to eat! She really is the best! The next day we went to a specialist and he told us what he thought it was. Well, now they're thinking it might be something else- the mission nurse and missionary medical- so she'll be seeing some more specialists this week and President Andersen said she's receiving the best medical help here. We keep praying that they'll be able to pin point exactly what is causing the pain in her stomach.

We were able to get out a little bit and see some of our investigators so that was good. We had 3 of our investigators come to church on Sunday which was such a miracle because we didn't even have a chance to teach them that whole week!

We got "the call" late Saturday night and guess what..............I will be heading over to Hopkinsville KY! I will be serving with Hermana Carol who I hear is a real fire ball and it's her last transfer here so I'm excited to go work like crazy over there! I could be wrong but last I heard we're the only Spanish missionaries in the stake so it will be such a great place to be! So much work to be done and so many people to teach! I'll tell you more about it next week! I'm so excited that I get to go to the transfer meeting tomorrow! I haven't been to one in over 6 months and I'm hoping I'll get to go and see some of my friends that are on the other side of the mission! 

It was rough going and saying goodbye to so many people that I love last night. The Pastors, Ivan and his family, Sister Haney and especially the McCraws! There are so many amazing families here and I'm going to miss all of them so much. I am so grateful for the examples they have been to me and the things I have learned from them. Most of all I am grateful that they made me feel so welcome here. It's hard to be homesick when you are surrounded by people that make you feel so loved!

To top off my experience in Paducah, one of the Elders that is leaving for home this week made all of the Sisters homemade music boxes! Mine is green with a cheetah and it plays the Friends theme! I'll send pictures next week!

I am so grateful for the testimony that I've gained these past 9 months. I have learned so much about my Savior Jesus Christ and have had my heart opened to so many truths that I know I could have only found here on my mission. I am grateful that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He called a prophet in our day and restored His Son's true church upon the earth so that we could have the peace and the hope that the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the plan He must have so carefully and so lovingly prepared for us. I know that God is our Heavenly Father and that we are His children. I know that all He wants for us is to become like Him and have true happiness forever. I know that none of this could come to pass if it were not for our Savior Jesus Christ who Heavenly Father sent here to prepare the way back to Him. I am so grateful to know that the power to seal families forever is again on this earth. I find so much comfort in knowing that I will be with my family that I have now forever and that I can be with my future family forever as well! How loved are we? We are so blessed.

I love you all so much and truly appreciate your thoughts and prayers that you send my way.

Hermana Knight

The Pastor family and us having fun with one of the Bingo prizes!

-in the ER killing time because they would ignore us for an hour at a time!

Tornado time!

I put all of the owls on a light switch so it looked like they were standing there!

This is me and cute Sister Haney that we visit every week- she says she's too old and sickly to come to church so we visit her on Sundays and tell her what we learned! We love her SO much!

Also this is our investigator Ivan and his three kids who I love and some of their crazy cats!

Bishop and Sister Harper!

Saying goodbye to my favorite McCraw family :(

c