October 29, 2012

20 years old!

Wow, I'm not a teenager anymore.  How weird is that?  Seems like just yesterday that we were all back in junior high or high school.  Those were some really good times, when we didn't have to worry about anything but school and stupid drama that was usually our own fault anyway, haha.  But we are all grown up now. How weird is that.

Well, this week was definitely .. different.  It started out amazing.  I was in a trio with Elder Metcalf (my old companion) and Elder Soto (my new companion).  It was so amazing the energy and excitement that was always there.  We had an amazing week with all the teaching and contacting that we did.  It was also weird how much success we had when we had so many other things going on.  We lost about a day and a half, if not two days, worth of work because we had so much stuff going on.  One day, I had some post training in the mission home and Elder Metcalf had a conference with all the missionaries that were leaving.  Another day, Elder Metcalf had an interview at the mission home, and then on another day we had to take him to the mission office when he was leaving.  It was crazy.  But we had more success this week than any other week so far.  It just shows how much potential there is.  Friday, Elder Metcalf finished his mission here in Santiago.  It was really sad to say goodbye.  He became a really good friend of mine.  I will always remember the things that I learned from him.  Saturday was my birthday!  Woo!  It started out really good, with opening my package from my mom. I had luckily gotten the package on Friday when we took Elder Metcalf to the mission office.  Normally I wouldn't have gotten it until the next Tuesday.  After that I kind of forgot that it was my birthday until the night time.  Haha.  But it was still a really good birthday.  One of the members baked a cake for me on Friday too. :)  Not much else happened.  Just a lot of teaching.  We found a lot of new investigators too.

One new investigator we found by a member of the ward who invited her boyfriend to come listen the lessons with us.  There are so many opportunities for missionary work as members.  Please, please, please, always be looking for them.  They are there, you just don't realize it.  Also, I am going to recount an experience that Janis (an investigator) had.  She went to church one Sunday a few weeks back and not a single person talked to her.  She knew people at church, she sat with them the time before when she when to church.  We told people to go talk to her and all they did was say hi.  She felt horrible after that experience and almost stopped letting us teach her.  I want to share a little of what I learned from this experience, because I didn't know this before my mission either.  There are people that go to church all the time that are investigators, that stop going because of the members.  I just have a little bit to say about this.  WATCH FOR THOSE PEOPLE IN CHURCH, and go and talk to them.  Become their friends.  It doesn't matter if they are dressed weird or not like everyone else, because let me tell you something, a lot of people don't have dressy clothes like we wear to church.  Something that I read in a talk said, those who really understand the Atonement and its significance will do all they can to share the gospel. All I have left to say is, please, watch for these opportunities, and have the confidence to act.

A little bit about my new companion, his name is Elder Soto and he is from Peru.  He is super awesome and an absolutely amazing teacher.  I'm so excited to get to serve with him and learn from him.   Everything it good here with me.  I'm happy and we are working hard.  Hope you are all well!

¬Elder Michael Knapp