December 8, 2012

First I will tell you how the office is.  Basically it is completely different from normal missionary work because we are always in the office sitting instead of out teaching and walking all day.  There is a lot to do to run the mission.  A lot more than I had ever really thought about before.  There are a lot of things that have to be done that are just really little things, but if they don't get done then something bad happens.  There are a lot of little things like that.  Also, there are some really big projects that have to be done.  Right now I am organizing all the bills for gas, water and electricity for all of the houses in the mission into binders and creating lists of all the bills in the computer.  So I have to type all the information for each bill into the computer and there are hundreds of bills.  So that is fun.  Whenever we don't have something to do someone calls and asks us to do something more... haha.  It just never ends.  It is definitely different from normal missionary work, but just as important as well.  If the office doesn't run well, then the missionaries can't work.  So its kind of interesting how that works. The people in the office are really cool too.  I get along with the two office elders and the assistants really well, and there are two senior couples in the office as well.   So overall I am enjoying it here in the office.

Also, we are going to have a baptism today of a lady that the office elders have been teaching forever. She couldn't get baptized because she was living with someone, and they weren't married because he was in the process of divorcing his previous wife.  They were finally able to get married and now she is getting baptized today!  wooo!


So, this P-day we decided to get out of the office for a bit.  We went to an art museum that is downtown.  It was pretty cool, but also pretty small.  I actually liked the building it was in more than the actual art.  The building is super old and had art basically built into it.  The pillars of the building are people and there are all these sculptures and stuff on the walls.  It was pretty cool.

December 3, 2012

Well today we had changes in the mission.  Unfortunately I left my sector. :(  Normally I wouldn't be that sad because I wasn't getting along with my companion, but yesterday Janis got baptized !!!  Woooo!!!!  But now I'm not there anymore, so that made me pretty sad to have to leave her and not see her progression in the church.  I never really thought of the connection that I would have with my converts.  It is like she is part of my family.  But you always have to say goodbye in the mission.  I think that is the hardest thing about the mission, is it is a never ending stream of goodbyes.  So back to the changes, right now I'm in the office.  I'm working in the sector that the office is in with all the missionaries in the office, because they don't have time to work in the sector.  I'm going to be helping them with their work in the office and also going out to proselyte with them when they have time.  I'm kind of like the floater in the office.  It's a little weird, but it works.

I guess I will talk a little bit about the baptism of Janis.   It was so amazing to see her progress from nothing, to being a member of the church.  The changes that she has made in her life are so amazing.  She literally changed her life.  She is so happy now, when before she was so sad and frustrated all the time.  She finally can have peace in her life, or a peace of mind at least, even if the tings going on in her life aren't going that great.  I also learned something amazing from Janis, the impact that people can have in your life.  I have talked a little about the impact that we had on Janis, but also Janis has made a big impact on me.  She taught me how to look at life in a positive way when nothing is going good.  I don't know exactly how to explain it.  Just that every person has an impact in your life, and you have an impact in the life of every person you meet, and some that you don't even meet.

I don't really have any more for now, so love you all!

Elder Michael Knapp

November 26, 2012

Hello world!

Well this week has been alright.  So first I am going to start off with a story that happened a few days ago.  We were going to stop by the house of an inactive couple in the ward, but we ended up being really late because we had to go to an interview for someone to get baptized in another ward.  So we were just going to stop by to set up another appointment.  The wife answered the door and we talked for a bit and she said her husband was killing a rabbit.  I didn't really think much of it until she invited us to go watch.  haha.  It was one of those moments where you can't really say no, so we went back and watched.  Thankfully it was already dead when we went back there, but he started skinning the rabbit.  It was kinda gross to watch, but really interesting.  The skin and fur came off, but then there was another layer of skin under that, that holds everything together.  So it just looked like a rabbit with no fur and transparent skin.... yeah it was pretty gross.  The rabbit was a lot smaller without the fur though.  That was kind of interesting.  He was just going to throw the fur away and I almost asked him if I could have it.  Then I thought about it and realized I had no idea what I would do with it, so it would probably be better not to ask for it.  haha.

A couple weeks ago we went to a place to have shirts made for our sector.  They are pretty awesome.  We got them this last week.  The t-shirt says, te maginai?.  Which just means, can you imagine?, basically, but it's more of an inside joke.  It also has our names and a number on the back.

A cool experience I got to have was to give Janis a blessing this past week.  She has been going through a really rough time so we gave her a blessing of comfort.  It's really difficult to give a blessing in Spanish.. haha.  It's just talking, but you have to use a different form of language then we use every day as missionaries, so I'm not as accustomed to it.  I had to think about almost every word I used.  But it was a really neat experience.  Janis is doing really well.  Hopefully she will be able to be baptized this next Sunday before I get transferred.  I think that she will.

Not much really happened this week other than that stuff.  I don´t know if I have said this before, but we get to go to the temple once a year at Christmas time, so we should be going soon.  The temple is in Santiago, but not the part that is in my mission.  That will be a really cool experience.  It's really weird that Christmas is here already.  It doesn't feel like I have been in the mission very long because I left in the summer and well... it's still summer here.  haha.  All the days kind of blur together because we do so much of the same things every day.  I really missed being home for Thanksgiving.  I didn't even realize that it was already that time of year.  The mission is just like a bubble, you don´t hear or see anything that goes on in the world.

Oh, something that is really funny about the people in Chile, is that they all think that the United States is worse than Chile.  But they also want to be like the U.S.... it doesn't really make sense.  It does kind of get annoying when people are always talking about how awful the U.S. is though, but you get used to it. You just have to agree that Chile is freaking AWESOME!!!!  haha.

Well, that's all for now folks.  ¡choa choa!

Elder Michael Knapp

November 19,2012

Well things are going alright here.  Still having troubles with my companion that don´t look like they are going to resolve themselves.  So much fun there,but transfers are in another 2 weeks so I can make it till then.

No we didn't have Janis's baptism.  She isn't totally ready, so we will put it off until she is ready.

As far as the language, you have to learn Spanish or you can´t really do anything.   I feel like I am learning it well, but I just want to know it all already, seriously.  I understand almost everything.  The native missionaries are supposed to learn English, but they don´t care.  I have yet to meet a native that really has the desire to learn English.  Okay I have met one.

Today we climbed this massive hill that is the middle of Santiago.  It's called Renca.  It took like 2 or 3 hours to climb.  It was super hot too, so that part wasn't fun, but overall it was a fun trip.  It was really cool to see all of Santiago.   There is a giant cross on the top of the hill, I will send some pictures.  It is almost the only tourist attraction in Santiago, well, there is one other hill, but not much more.  Kind of lame right?

The other day we met some people that were literally the nicest people that I have met here in Chile so far.  Well, that weren't members.  They were just friendly and we had a fun little conversation that was just that.  Them asking questions about what we believed and us doing the same to them.  It was awesome.  It was such a relief to see that there are still good people in the world.  Sometimes I wonder with how many rude people we meet.  I was so happy the rest of that day.  Just goes to show you, that how you treat someone really has an impact on that person.

I will talk about food again cause I am hungry and I like food.  haha.  We eat with the members for lunch every day.  Normally there is a salad which consists of lettuce (a lot less then what you would think), and tomatoes, and sometimes other vegetables like corn or peas or something like that.  But the salads really aren't salads like we are used to, they just call them that.  There is usually a main course of rice and some type of meat, or soup.  They eat a lot of soup here, or pasta.  Those are the three main dishes that we eat, pasta, rice and meat, or soup.  It's pretty bland, but hey, food is food.  We cook on our own on Thursdays and sometimes Mondays, and if we want anything in the morning or at night.   We don´t really cook fancy at all, like rice and eggs or something super lame like that.  They have this spicy sauce here called aji that is super awesome and we basically put it on everything.

Well, that's all for this week.

Elder Michael Knapp

November 13, 2012

Okay, so this week has been a little more of a downer week.  Me and my companion have not been getting along very well.  Mostly because he tends to insult me when he is trying to help me, but I can take some of the blame too in not being very patient.  But oh well.   It is amazing that how you treat other people can have such a huge impact on how you feel yourself.  I think it's cause your actions reflect your emotions, as well as your emotions reflect your actions.  So change one of them and both are going to be affected.  I know from experience, especially here in the mission, that the way that someone treats you can make you feel so much better or so much worse.  It is so refreshing when we meet someone who isn't completely rude.

Things with the mission work are going pretty well.  We don´t have as many investigators as we have had before, but we are really focusing on the investigators that we do have to get them progressing.  Right now we are really focusing on three people.  Janis, whose baptism is planned for this next week, but she has been having problems with the word of wisdom, so we may have to push it back a week or two.  But she is awesome and still progressing.  We don´t know yet who is going to do the baptism and confirmation.  Her boyfriend left because she told him if he wanted to be there he couldn't do drugs anymore.  A man named Juan that is super awesome.  He loves the Book of Mormon and learning about the church.  And a girl named Francisca   She is only 12 but her mom is an inactive member who served a mission and everything.  She is amazing and the girls in the ward really made friends with her this past Sunday.  It is great to see people progressing in the gospel and the change that it can have in their lives.

Lets see... I don´t know what else.  I guess I don´t know if you all knew this, but we don´t speak English at all, except with the president's wife cause she doesn't speak Spanish.  It's because there are so many native missionaries that it would exclude them if we spoke English.   I don´t know why, but the native missionaries don´t really have a drive to learn English.  They know it could totally change their lives, but they just don´t do it.

I had my mom send me the weekly weather forecast cause we have no way of knowing what the weather is going to be like.  It is really nice to actually know how hot it is.  It feels so much hotter than 87 degrees.  Wow.  But we can never cool down either.  There is no air conditioning anywhere.  It is also humid here.  It was funny when I first opened my scriptures here, the pages started to curl up because of the humidity.  So yeah, that doesn't help how hot we feel either.  I'm jealous hearing about your big snow storm there.

I don´t really having any more for now.  Love you all!

Elder Michael Knapp

November 5, 2012

Hey ya'll!!!  so another week has come and gone.  Well... not much has happened... hmm...

This week has been lots of work.  ¡estamos sacando la mugre!  Yeah for those of you that don't understand, that means, we are taking out the trash.  Kind of a weird phrase in missionary work considering we are actually bringing people to baptism, but still.  Think of it as we are taking the trash out of people lives?  Yeah, let's go with that one.  haha.  We have been working really hard.

It is really hot here.  I am jealous of all of you that have winter right now.  It has been like 32 degrees Celsius this past week.  I don't know what that is in Fahrenheit, but it is really hot.

This past week Janis finally decided she is ready to be baptized.  She will be baptized on the 18th!  Woot!  Finally!  She is so awesome.  We had a family night with her and another family from the ward last night and it was so much fun.  I'm so excited that she is finally ready.

Other than that, it has been fine here.  Me and my companion argued a bit, but what do you expect when you are with someone 24/7, and you are outside boiling for most of the day.  haha.  But we are cool now.  Not really anything else to report.  I guess I will talk a little bit about random stuff here.  The most common street food is completos/italianos.  It is basically a hot dog with diced tomato (lots), palta... (I don't remember the name in English ..), oh yeah, guacamole (lots), and mayonnaise (quite a bit),  and ketchup and mustard if you want it.  Pretty much every place has completos.

One more random fact is that the people always greet each other by giving besos, a kiss on the cheek.  Except for one man to another, unless they are family.  It is really funny because the girls always try and give us besos, but we can't as missionaries so we always have to say, "disculpe, solo podemos saludar con la mano como missionaros", or sorry we can only greet you with the hand (direct translation is kinda odd), but yeah.  So we have a lot of really awkward situations with that.

All the new missionaries going out is crazy.  They are opening an MTC-like place here for our mission alone to handle the new missionaries.  So they will leave straight from the U.S. to the mission to be trained.  They are doing that in a lot of other missions too.  That is their first plan to be able to handle all the missionaries.


That's all for now.  ¡Chao!

¬Elder Michael Knapp

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