(12/28/09)

Alright family!
Well the whole phone call went super fast. I felt like all I could do was say I love ya and then move on ha ha anyway it was awesome! I hope you all have a good Christmas and a happy new year!! It is like a war zone here ever since a couple days after Christmas! No fireworks are illegal so Everyone is setting off what sounds like bombs at whatever time of day or night and where ever they want as well. Its really like a battle field.
So there isn't much to update expect Oscar baptised someone and loved it. He had been studying D&C all day and been writing the words to the prayer all day but it went perfect. He was super nervous and so I was praying for him and he said when her got in the water and positioned the hands he felt calm and relaxed. After the baptism he said he felt amazing. The same feeling like when he was baptised. he loved it and said that he wants to feel that feeling a lot more!! He has been an example to the whole ward! Its going to be tough leaving this area. he comes ever week to our correlation meetings and has been going out with all the missionaries a lot. After the baptism we taught him about family history work and the temples. We told him about baptisms for the dead and explained everything to him and then I saw something click in his head. he looked up at me with watery eyes and said. I can be baptised for my Father. It really got to him. I told him that he could and for the other members in his family that have passed on who arent members. he said he is going to make a list and if he can't go to the temple he is going to send it to them because his family could just be waiting for him. It was awesome, The whole rest of that day I was thinking about the temples and what a blessing they are. I was thinking about how much I would LOVE to go through the temple today. So while you all are there where there is Loads of temples all around, don't take it for granted. They are a blessing.
Anyway I have to get going but I love you all and the next monday i will probably be traveling but Im sure I will they will find a way for me to write. Love ya and have a great week.

Love Elder Knudsen

If you can pray for gerald and natali thanks

(12/21/09)

Alright lets see if I can answer all the questions first! The whole baptismal service was outside. They all are and in Aruba they actually dont have a font so you have to baptise in the ocean!! This time of year is a little difficult to find people because not very many people are outside and when you do find someone they say this time of the year they are too busy but we are working with that and trying to help them see the real spirit behind this time of year. So far the Christmas has been awesome!! The Church had a party which was super cool and yesterday our Jamacin member made a feast for us with all of our favorite foods from home!! It was SO good!! Also this week we have food appointments everyday! The Lions that we heard are actually in a zoo but you dont have to tell everyone that! And the 12 days of Christmas is awesome!! I read a letter or open a present everynight when I get home and I love every second of it!! Thank you so much Family!! I cant tell you how good it is to hear from you all!! I love it!! Also We're thinking of making the test call like the 23rd at around 6pm your time.

So this week was great!! We definately had the help of the Lord!! We always do 12 hours of finding everyweek and this week we prayed about where to go for our finding times. Anyway about everyday we found someone prepared and someone who invited us in and listend!! I love this work!! I honestly feel directly in the sight of the Lord out here and that he is just directing us on where to go and everything!! Thankyou for the prayers!!

Family I love you so much and am so thankful for you. I am so glad to be out here to be serving people!! I wish I could do this forever!! I owe the Lord so much with what I have been blessed with!! I will never be able to pay back but I am trying!! I got to go but you better believe I'm stocked to talk to you all!! (although my comp and I dont mention it and wont untill friday, we have to stay focused) Anyway have a very mery christmas and when you all get together look around and think about how blessed you are you have a family with all the same beleifs and a family that you can happily spend christmas together with!! here that would be unheard of. The members of the church here are the Pioneers in their families and sometimes have to spend Christmas with other people that arent there family to stay strong! I love you all thanks and seriously enjoy this time of year!!

Love Elder Knudsen

Hard week, but it paid off (12/14/09)

Family I'm sorry But I don't have A lot of time this week so I'm just going to hit on the main parts of this week. First off we had a baptism!! Oscar Vinck was baptised and confirmed and recieved the Aaronic Priesthood and was called to be the 2nd assistant to the ward mission leader!! He is awesome. We started teaching him this transfere and it was amazing!! He chose me to baptise him and I was super nervous because he is a bigger guy but I know the lord would bless me with strenght because I do my exercises in the morning. I hope you enjoy the pictures. The baptism was at night but the parrots were still cherping and we could hear the Lions as well it was amazing remind me to talk more about it when we talk on the phone. He was so greatful and sincerely said thank you to me after!! I LOVE BEING A PART OF THIS WORK!! The Lord does everything but it is awesome to at least be a part!!
We also went to Aruba for a day and the church pays for that so no worries and we had zone confrence and christmas confrence and after the presdient took us all to a super amazing resturant like bennihaunas where they cook the food in front of you but even nicer!! It was weird as a misisonary but still cool. Also the ward had a Christmas party which was really cool! The president was here in Curacao for all this so that was always fun as well!! Anyway somuch more happened but I have to go. I love you all and thank you so much for the 12 dsays of christmas!! I opened number 2 today!! Thanks so much!! You have no idea how greatful I am for of you. Oh and by the way we are starting over this week with all of our investigators and everyhting so please pray to help us find people!! I love you all so much! have a great week!!
Love elder Knudsen

P.S. You might want to check into getting a long distance plan or something on your plan because I am going to call you like on the 23rd or something as a test call and have you call me back to make sure it all works but then the real call will be on christmas and we'll work out the specifics next monday!! Thanks so much!!

Dear Family, (12/07/09)

Dear Family,
Well this week was... A trial of faith! We were sick for the first part and it seemed like almost all of our citas fell through but its okay because this next week is going to be awesome!! This week is a little crazy, we're going to Aruba tomorrow for the day and last night we stayed out till ten to watch the Christmas confrence and this weekend we have a baptism and the president is coming to the island.
Oh yeah sister Neff is the one of the only two sisters on the island! She came last transfere!! She is really cool! She is actuall just like Our cousin Sister Brown. I'll have to ask her about Jill!! Its a small world!!
Yeah so we have a man named Oscar that is 100% ready for everything!! He reads the scriptures the Liahonas and goes to the church websites always comes to church and always is wanting to learn more about the church!! He wants to meet with us like everynight!! He reads the chapters that we give him about ten times over and takes notes on every verse!! He is awesomed!! He kept us a float this week!
Anyway everything is going well here and I hope you all enjoyed the Christmas confrence As much as Mom and I. I need to get going but I love you all so much and thanks so much for your letters and DONT FORGET TO RECORD THE HALELUAH Chorus for me!! Have a great week everyone and enjoy this time of year!!
Love, Elder Knudsen

I know this church is true. I know that Jesus Christ came to the earth to suffer for our sins and I know that only through him can we return to live with our father in heaven. I know that because the True Church has been restored on the earh we can know the way back to our father in heaven. Always remeber to have faith, repent and then keep up the keep up the good work. The Savior paid the price for sin on the cross and when he resorected he made it possible to get the bodies we need to enter into the kingdom of God. This is so true. The Savior is everything and without him we're nothing. Remember what this time of the is really about.

Re: Letter from Home (11/30/09)

Hey family how is everyone doing?! Sorry it is going to be really short this week I have very little time! Anyway first off that is AWESOME about the win!! And second off I hope you all listened to that talk last week I know dad did and thats awesome but I hope you all did as well. Third off everything here is awesome and my companion is a stud!! We are really working on the simmons they are struggling a little but tengo fe! Anyway I love you all I hope you all had a great week and thanksgiving! I will write more next week!! Oh and as far as Christmas goes that is perfect, just whatever works! Have a good one this week and remember that the church is true and to listen to the spirit always!! I have seen some super sweet things with the spirits guidence this week!
Love ya all. Love elder Knudsen

This Transfer is going to be awesome!

Dear Family, +
Okay before you do anything look up the talk "profile of a prophet" by Elder Huge B Brown. I think he gave it a BYU or something so you might have to look for it on a BYU site or Through the other church websites. So this week was awesome! We continued to work hard and I didn't think we could get any better than the week before but we worked so hard and crushed last week!! We now have about 7 Baptismal dates. Including the Simmons family!! Your prayers are really helping thank you. Right now it looks like only 4 of those baptisms will be ready and the other 3 have problems understanding everything and with the law of chastity. That's their difficulties but we are going to work with them and get all of them ready and baptised! So thank you so much I know your prayers are really helping and the Lord is really blessing us!! This week in church I saw a guy that I assumed was a member and I went and complemented him on his tie and he really really appreciated the complement but it got us talking and he is actually not a member and so in our conversation I found out where he lives and it was in our area. I Taught him about the book of Mormon and then asked if he wants to be baptised and he said, "no, I will be baptised" So I was going crazy asking myself throughout church why the Lord is blessing me so much but honestly this is His work and I am only a tool. Anyway we have an appointment to go teach this man tonight and hopefully set a baptismal date soon. The branch here is awesome!! It is always jammed packed!! Sadly we struggle getting members out with us because nobody has a car and we have bikes! I have thought about making some sort of buggie that we can pull on our bikes that will carry members to lessons with us and also investigators to church but I don't think that would go over well ha ha and honestly I have NO time to do anything but concentrate on who we will teach next and what and the language and scriptures and goals and all kinds of things!! Also the next big news is this transfer I am with Elder Zanger. he was in the MTC in provo with me. We came out on the mission together and so we are both really young and trying to learn a new language but he is VERY good at teaching and super funny!! Its so cool!! We are really going to tear it up together this transfer! Him and I are like really good friends too!! He is actually Jared Pughs old girlfriends cousin! he is a stud and I am So STOKED for this transfer. BYU won?!? That's awesome!! We have BYU players here and an Airforce player so that was a big game here in the mission. Man the next game sounds like its going to be good!! I hope you all have a great time over at chris and brits!! Another mission call for grandma and grandpa?! That's So cool!!! Congrats and I wish you the best of luck!! I know you'll do great!! I love you all! Thanks so much! And don't forget to look up that talk and listen to it. IT IS AMAZING!! I know this Church is true! Joseph Smith was a Prophet!! and God loves us just like he loved the people in the Bible and the Book of Mormon and blesses us with modern day revelation!! God is the same yesterday today and tomorrow and has not stopped talking to his children here on the earth!! This is it. Thank you for all you do for me family!! I couldn't have asked for a better family and examples!! Thanks for everything! Have a good one!!Love Elder Knudsen

Family

Dear family,
Well I'll start out by answering your questions. I get around with bike. They have island bikes down here that are pretty nice. The climate is.. HOT. I'm constantly sweating and everyone thinks something is wrong with me because I sweat so much! And the "cool ocean breeze" Feels more like satan trying to slow me down on my bike. And the simmons family are still doing good!! They are from a small english speaking island so its nice to speak some english. But they do have short tempers ha ha Anyway on monday we invited all six to be baptized and some accepted and others we need to work with but I think they will enter the waters at some point. This week we called and woke them up for church and told them that someone would come pick them up before church and they basically said we are going to go our fastest and then the member ended up not picking them up so they called me and got really mad ha ha but after sacrament meeting the member went and picked them up. (they are BIG people so they can't really walk to church) But they enjoyed church and I got some cookies for them tonight so hopefully all is well ha ha thanks so much for the prayers I know they are helping out.
So this week went by extremely fast!! We worked so hard. We got about double the highest numbers in this area this week in a lot of the catagories. I know its not about numbers but the goals really help me to work at my peak.
We also found some cool people this week who will be fun to go teach so I'm excited!! Its going to take a lot of work to do better than last week but if we can get all of the simmons ready for baptism it will be really successful!
Thats awesome about the temple!! I can not believe how much I took for granted when I lived in utah. I don't know why I didn't go to the temple everyday or at least once a week and a different one everytime!! I don't know why I didn't go see the movies down town more!! We truely are so blessed!!>
Oh yeah I am in Willmestag. Its the capital because it is basically the only town. there is one more really small one called barber but there aren't missionaries there.>
But thank you so much family for all your love and support!! Oh yeah and we eat about 3 times a week with members and this week we ate at a jamican ladies house and she made us jello... Really jello... Out of cows feet. Also she made me put on her wig... Crazy right.>
Thanks so much. Stay strong!! I know this church is true. I know jospeh smith saw God and his son Jesus Christ. I know that the book of mormon is so true and that the teachings in it can bring us so close to our father in heaven! If you aren't currently studing out of the book of mormon everyday I would challenge you to start. Sink deep into the pages and really find the testimony of Christ on every page!! I know this Church is true and blesses lives!! I love you all and thank hevenly father everynight and morning for your examples!!!>Love Elder Knudsen

BIG CHANGE

Dear Family,


So Mom and Dad I hope you are enjoying your trip and your anniversary!! It sounds awesome from What I have heard. What is this with the swine flu. Is everyone alright?! Whats going on, my family is not dying off right?!


Okay so sorry I didn't write you last week I was traveling!! Yeah they sent me to curacao!! Crazy right?! It feels like i just got turned upside down, shaken really hard and then thrown into a pot of boiling water!! Its crazy!! First off I am trying to learn two new languages and it is hard Papiamentu is a fairly simple language but its still a new language I have to learn and learn to understand. It is basically english dutch spanish and portugese mixed up. Its hard. Once I get that down I'm going to have to start learning Dutch!! Its hard. I dont even know spanish yet and I'm trying to learn two more. But I have faith that the Lord will help me!! The climate here is like St. george. Its really dry and they have Cactus EVERYWHERE!!! The people are basically black but you usually have to guess what language to speak to them when you see them. The colored ones is usually spanish or Papiamentu and the white ones are Dutch. So... yeah everyone tries ot speack dutch to us!! So I got here monday night and met my companion and them worked for a day and then wednesday I flew to zone confrence for a couple days which was Sweet! Then came back and continued to work! Anyway yeah I'm way close to venezuela. I actually saw it on the flight to aruba and on a clear day in aruba you can see it as well. I will be here for about 3 months (or as long as immagration will let me) and in aruba for another 3 then back to puerto Rico. I met Elder Alisa who grandma and grandpa white know! and they are right he is a stud. My companion is Elder Christiansen from Alpine and he is a cool cat. He is huge so no worries for my safety. When I got off the plan there was 3 elders who were all more than 6 foot tall. It seems like all the elders here are huge!! (including me). So there are 8 missionaires here and 2 in bonaire and something like 14 in aruba. And My bike I left in puerto rico along with my suit and a suitcase. I guess they store it somewhere and here they just have bikes that the missionaries share.
Okay so thats the update ha ha anyway the church here is... STRONG! We just have a branch but the chapel was full to the brim with about 120 people! It was fast sunday and right when they opened up the time every little kid there i think went up and got in line to share their testimony. I couldn't understand but the spirit was there SO strong! Church was awesome!! However the work is hard. My companion and I are working hard and so we should have some success sometime soon. Like I said my companion is huge so we eat A Lot of food which is not helping my weight issue!


Anyway I'm not sure what else... The iguanas are crazy here! ha ha they try to get into our house sometimes!!


Anyway family I love ya. Thanks for your love and support and please start feeling better eh! I look forward to talking to you next week. Hey and there was an article all about the importance of women in the Liahona I think maybe 2 months ago or something... Its the first article in the magazine and its AWESOME. You should check it out!! I know this is the true gospel and that we as a family will be together forever if we keep working like we are!! Thanks for the good example!


Love elder Knudsen


P.S. A really cool present sometime would be a NICE jump rope or something like that ha ha and ignore the charges on my credit card, I just forgot my church money for a week so I'll get reembursed.>

Penuelas!!

Hey Family!


Sounds like you guys are all doing good! What was Jareds Golf score and what kind of dog did they get?! I hope the St. George trip was fun!! Byu won again right?!
Anyway so yeah I got transfered to Penuelas. Its just to the west of Ponce (where I was before) But its in the mountains!! Its a little town tucked away between huge green mountains!! Its really cool I like the area a lot!


My Companion is Elder Roggerman From Spanish Fork. He is a cool kid and likes to have fun and be happy so we will have a good transfere.


The work is a little different in this area. They do more working with the members to try and get the members to do more missionary work. I really like it. The problem is we get fed a lot!! The first and second day here I think I ate like three different meals in 4 hours or something. So much for trying to get rid of some of my fat. My companion told me to just give up but I do not want to get any fatter!! So yeah not too much happened this week. We got two new investigators, one is like 98 and the other is 91 ha ha. Oh yeah and we have a car. But we try not to use it because we don't have any miles!! And the apartment... Its discusting but I'm going to get it looking good!!!


But thank you for all you do!! Mom thank you for the package that was waiting for me at transferes and Justin and Linds thanks for the letters!! I love you all and will talk to you next week!


Love Elder Knudsen


P.S. We have really been studying the Christlike attributes in the Preach my gospel and they are awesome!! Check them out and work to be like our savior Jesus Christ!! Check in the back of the chapter they have a cool little "Reality Check" is what I like to call it. ha ha

How's it going?

Family,


It sounds like everyone is doing great!! I am glad to hear that you all watched confrence and had dinner after! And Dad wow you have lost that much weight?! I think your giving it to me. I got a chance to weigh myself the other day and I have gained about 15 pounds now!!!!! I don't know what I'm going to do ha ha we don't eat dinner and we ride our bikes all day and i work out way hard in the mornings!! oh well. And mom it sounds like you have a pretty cool little job. Are you getting paid for that or is it a hobby? So basically your like the judge of the judge?! Interesting.


Anyway this week was good. My companion and I tried to do everything we possibly could to make it the best week every so we worked So hard but came up a little short! Its okay though because we still felt good that we did all we could. like it says in preach my gospel.


The best new of the week was a less active member came back to church!! His name is Hno. Ponce. He lives way up in the mountains but one day we rode our bikes like and hour and a half to get there for a lunch with some members. The members told us about him and so we thought we might visit him but on our way back we were extremely tired and when we saw the peak that his house was on we looked at each other and said should we go and I said... Why not... ha ha anyway we went there and his house over looks all of Ponce!! Its beautiful and we talked to him and my companion called him out on drinking and smoking and overall he said he is not coming back to church but he shared his testimony and it was STRONG! Anyway so he has been in our prays for awhile now... like four 1 month and a half and he was part of our fast on fast sunday and the sunday morning of fast sunday he called to as what time church was!!!! We told him and he came and come to find out he said to the members that he would come back when the Lord gave him a kick and he said that day that we passed by was his kick!! It was awesome!! This guy is so cool! He had us over for lunch the next day where he explained that about 10 or so years later he used to go out with the missionaries every day. Literally. He said he missed like two days a year and one day he just decided to stop coming because he got affended in the church!! I feel amazing that we were a part of his reactivation. he has a daughter that lives in Sandy The family name is DAVIS and they say they know me but I'm not sure!

I wish I had more time to write about that but I hope you get the idea of how cool it is!! Zulma our awesome investigator was sick this week but she called us yesterday and told us to come by because she is felling better. (for an investigator to call you is a big deal).

Oh yeah I'm getting transfered!!! And to say the least it was HARD saying bye to everyone! I had a goal this last transfere to get to know the members and I got to know pretty much all of them and to love them!! It was so hard!! And expecially to our investigators!! The family of the kid I baptised gave me a present and he drew me a picture!! They are awesome!!


Anyway I got to go but you all sound awesome and thank you so much for your support!! I have a picture of ya'll in my book of mormon and when I pull that out and testify of the Family I think the ground shakes!! This family is amazing!! Thank you so much!!


Love Elder Knudsen


P.S. Mom I thisnk I have your insurence card or something. I found it in my walet. it is the United American Insurance Company card... Do you need that! Love you all talk to you next monday.>Oh yeah I'm not sure yet where I am going. I leave tomorrow. But it isn't the island no worries!!

Conference!

Dear Family,
I hope you all watched all of the conference sessions!! Okay I understand if you didn't but know that I actually pay attention and Try to learn I don't know how you wouldn't want to watch all the sessions!! This church is awesome!! I agree with you mom I feel the main topic was love!! For sure!! Okay okay okay the best talk... ELDER HOLLAND!!! like always he is awesome!! That talk was so powerful!! I can't wait untill the liahona comes out and we can read through it again and study all the other talks!! Our awesome investigator, Zulma, Came to the last session and really liked it. She was a little bugged that we didn't tell her to bring something to take notes ha ha When we talked to her about it after she said it was really good and also that she met someone she knew and he said that when she gets baptised he will sing at her bauptism meeting!! She still doesn't feel ready but she knows its coming!! Hopefully I get to see her enter the waters!! I love teaching her! It makes everything awesome!! She likes to see us and learn its awesome!! Everyone she knows basically doesn't agree with her going to church and all and she has had 5 deaths in her family in the last 5 weeks but she is still strong!! She is a great example!! So transfers are a week from tomorrow so I guess we'll see what happens... Anyway sorry I dont have much time but I love you all and thanks for you support!! Be ever faithful!! Study the basics of the gospel regularly with pray!! I know life is awesome when we feel the spirit everyday!! Sincerely pray!! I know our prays are answered!! I love this gospel and I love this family!! Have a good week and I'll talk to you next week!!!!!!!
Love Elder Knudsen!

I love the mission!!!

Dear Family,
This week has been awesome!! Its like a different world out here on a mission. A world that I've always wanted!! It seems like everyone knows us and everyone wants to talk to us. When we're ridding from appointment to appointment we see people that we have contacted and they are always happy to see us. Everyone is always giving us stuff wherever we go! Like is a banana man who gave us like 20 or 30 bananas and like a guy that sales hair gel that just gives us like tubs of it even thought we don't use it. I love knowing everyone and almost everyone having good feelings to us!
So The father of the kid I baptized isn't really progressing still. We're still going to work with him and tonight we have a family night with him and his family at the house of our New investigator, the one who prayed in church last week (Zulma). Zulma is progressing loads. She is always keeping her committments and really studying! She writes down the scriptures and studies them when she has time! Its awesome! And her husband works on a farm so everytime we go over there they load us up with Mangos and applebananas (bananas that taste like apples) avacodoes and all sorts of stuff!! We can barely carry it home! We keep telling them to not give us so much but they say they are going to throw it away! Anyway to say the least she is really doing good right now. Her husband and family don't really support her in her decision to investigate but she is still pulling through!>
My Companion is doing a lot better and we have a lot stronger relationship now!
We had a funeral in our ward this week and our ward really came together it was awesome! We had like 70 people in church! (alot) Also a less active came that said his daughter or someone lives in sandy and she came to puerto rico and they expected to see me but we visited this less active man like 3 days after they came and left. I think there last name was like Davi Or davis or something.
Its been a great week! I love it out here! I love learning more about the gospel and I love seeing it bless people! Make sure you all are having family night and praying together every day! Its awesome! And study the scriptures too, not just read them, study them ha ha Anyway you all know that just a quick reminder!
Yeah the Ipod is awesome! I love it! Those little speakers sure get loud. Sometimes I Blast AL GRAN PROFETA and many others!
Mom good work with the Primary program it sounds like a success and Dad it sounds like choir is coming along nicely without too much stress for now!
Does anyone ever get the chance to go out with the missionaries???? Its awesome!! Do it if you ever get the chance!
Thats awesome for BYU are they already in confrence play!?
Anyway I love you all and thanks so much for being examples in my life! I was blessed to be the youngest in the family and have everyones example to live by!! Thank you and have a great week!
Love Elder Knudsen

Picture from the Baptism

What a week!

Dear Family,
Thank you for all your support and prayers! They are really helping out here. Its really cool being a missionary because its like your in this bubble with the Savior and the guidence of the spirit everywhere you go. I had the opportunity to baptise one of our investigaters this week. It was the ten year old boy who has the mother who was inactive for 20 years but is coming back to church now. It was so cool. It wasn't the baptism that was so cool though it was the events that led up to it. This kid is EXTREMELY hyper and everytime we teach we can't get him to listen and so I was a little hesitent about the baptism but I talked to the mission president and he said to baptise him and so we kept working for the baptismal date. Anyway Later that week he was interview by another elder to be baptised. After the interview i was talking to the elder and he told me how eddi had explained tithing to him and how he should treat his body and what things are bad and he explained how the law of chastity is to not kiss a girl untill he is married ha ha It was SO cool to see are hard work pay off even when we didn't think it was. At first Eddie wouldn't pray but I Would whisper in his ear the prayer and he would say it ususally. The cool thing is throughout this time of getting Eddi ready for baptism his father would never pray at any of the lessons. Anyway Eddi would always tell his dad to say it but he never would. This last week before his baptism his dad finally prayed because eddie went over to his father, Folded his fathers arms, Shut his fathers Eyes and bowed his fathers head and whispered the words into his fathers ear. That was so cool to see. This kid is going to be an awesome example for his father and now all we need to do is help his father be baptised now.
The baptism was pretty crazy. Like I said this kid is really hyper. Well I got into the water and he followed but he stood on one of the steps and stayed stiff as a board and just fell into the water!!!! Then he swam a lap and I finally grabbed him and but him in the middle to say the pray and baptise him. After he was baptised it was a struggle getting him out of the water!! He was splashing and yelling like he was in a full size pool and nobody was watching. The witnesses finally just closed the doors on the font so not everyone was watching and I grabed him and made him get our ha ha it was crazy!
The Lord is really blessing my companion and I. The Families we found are struggling a little but now we have time to concentrate on them. So those are just of few of the sweet experiences this week. I dont have time to share them all.
BYU is number 7!!!!!!!!!! Thats awesome. Make sure and Update me on this upcoming game. It sounds like this one is the tester. '54-3 wow thats a statement right!! I only have one thing to say raw raw rawrawraw raw raw rawrawraw goooooooooo cougers ha ha My comp thinks its weird when I start singing that song at our apartment and he even went to BYU!!
I have been playing the piano a little bit for church here and that has been fun. Anyway how is everyone at home? Patrice got her van, thats cool. Jared is taring it up in Hendersen and Chris is saling some houses what else?! Anyway everyone write me and give me an update on your life! The weather is heating up... it feels like but its okay. So I heard 24 has started back up!! They have it in spanish too i guess. And we usually get more lunch appointments than anything!
Hey mom or dad will you get the reference form steve hoskins. he said before I left that he had a reference for me but I never got it.
Anyway everything is good and thanks for all you do. Have a good week and I'll hear form you next monday!
Love Elder Knudsen>>

Hello, Hello, Hello

Dear Family,
BYU WON?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Thats awesome!! They had been preparing for that game for a long time! The had a count down calendar in the locker room when my Old Comp was playing for them!! That must have been quite a game 14-13! Pretty close! Thats so cool. What is BYU ranked?! Its a good thing I wore my Sweet BYU shirt for our P-Day activity!! Keep me updated on all the BYU stuff!
So this week has been pretty good. A member just returned from a mission so that got the ward a little more animated and we should have a baptism this saturday so that should help as well. I'm Really loving it out hear and yeah time is going by way fast.
We Found another family this week! I love teaching families! And we are teaching an older guy who came to church on his own a few weeks back. He has came now for three weeks in a row and his wife came this last week and she wansn't interested at first but I think she liked church and so hopefully we have some success with them.
Mom, you bore your testimony?! Good work! How'd it go?! Did you cry ha ha its okay crying is good. Oh and my talk last week went really well! I talked on faith in Christ and shared and analogy and then tried to motivate the members to help the misson work more with an article in the Liahona. The Article talked about how the missionaries baptize about 1 in every 1000 homes they contact but if they get a 400 or 600 (I can't remember the amount exactly) in every 1000 people that are through the members. I think everyone understood me ha ha The language is rough. Its slowly slowly coming but honestly it is coming SLOWLY.
Oh yeah I got my debit card and the addresses thanks so much for getting those for me. Ha ha dad that was a pretty sneaky way to give me my PIN number. Thanks for the little notes you wrote as well. Oh yeah and you gave me Devins email but I'm not suppose to email anyone but family... Are you guys trying to tempt me? No just kidding anyway sorry I ask you guys to do so much but will someone email him for me and as him for his physical address. (he can email whoever) DevinIHerdmpm@myldsmail.net Thank you so much. oh and thanks so much for the i-pod i can't wait to have some music finally!!!
Did you guys get that letter from elder Rolston? thanks for forwarding that to me!! It was really cool to hear from him!
Anyway thanks so much for everything I love you all and thanks for your support. Stay strong in this gospel! Its true! We know it is. We need to remember our blessings and spiritual experiences! Check out D and C 6:22-23.
Have a great week and talk to you next week!>Love Elder Knudsen>

Crazy week

Hey family.
Hows everyone doing?! Okay well this week was a little crazy! Especially the last part! To start off we had to drop one of our baptismal dates because he was lying to use and was having trouble with the word of wisdom. So to answer your question dad yeah we have had some trouble with the word of wisdom. But they have this sweet stop smoking lesson that we use that really works if they follow all the steps. And we taught him that lesson and we took his cigarette boxes and covered them with pictures of the savior and sayings and then we filled the boxes with rolled up pieces of paper that had motivational sayings on them and then gave it back to him so he could carry it everywhere with him for support but I guess he was a little unstable in the mind and was using other kind of drugs so we had to change his baptismal date.
We still have the other one and man i love going over to this families house and teaching them. I can feel the family love. The family unit is definately ordained of God.
So this week was transferres and I got Called to labor...... in the islands!!! To help you understand how big of a deal this is let me explain. Going to the islands is like a different mission call. You have to learn 2 new languages, new culture, new money and once you go to the islands you are there for awhile. like a year or so. And the Mail takes a lot longer. So as you can Imagen when I got the Call to go down there I was a little stressed out knowing I would have to learn 2 new languages when I dont even know the first. So after about 24 hours of getting ready to go and stressing i got another call telling me that there had been some changes and they closed an area in the Islands so I will actually be here in Ponce for the next six weeks. And that is fine by me. I really just want to get the spanish down good. But the funny thing is i gave a talk in church and said by to loads of people and stuff and then ended up staying ha ha oh well now i will be able to see our investigator Eddie Manuel be baptised. ( Oh yeah Micheal Alisa is in the island, he is the one grandma and grandpa know, so I haven't been able to talk to him yet but if I get called down there next Transfere i will be able to talk to him).
Also it was my Companions birthday this week and I made him a Chocolate on chocolate cake with TANG powder writing. I tried to make that day exciting but it just wasn't too exciting ha ha. i think birthdays might be pretty hard on the mission. So did I tell you how my comp likes to eat weird things like bread cereal and tortillas with speggetti sauce and stuff. Well anyway I keep reminding him of Justins companion in the MTC who made a PB and J sandwhich with M and M's on it and then left the MTC. I tell him he better be careful. My companion and I are really getting along now.
Mom I got the Letter and the shirt!!!!! Thanks so much thats sweet! Educational week sounds awesome. Are you guys taking classes or anything?! Oh yeah so I'm at my apartment for another 6 weeks so if you send anything physical send it to my apt. address which is:
Cond. Las Americas
2197 Ave. Las Americas
Apt 703
Ponce, Pr 00717-0727
We Also Found 2 sweet families this week who will be really fun to teach! I'm really excited for them. One of them had a keyboard hooked up to some sweet speakers so I got to show off a little bit on the piano.
Do you all Read the church magazines?! They are sweet!!! I love them! I never realized it before but they are so spiritual and have such great messages. Anyway I should go. I came prepared today to study some stuff while my companion finishes his emails.
I love you some much family! Thank you for all your love and support. I'll be sending a video sometime soon so you can all hear and see me sort of but mainly for the Sobrinas and the Sobrino so they can know me a little better.
This church is true! I know it without a doubt. Remeber before you read the scriptures or study the gospel SAY A PRAYER. It makes a HUGE HUGE diference. It invites the spirit and everything! Love you and have a good week!>Love Elder Knudsen

8/24/09

Dear family,
Hows it going?! You all sound good! Okay to start off the work has slowed down a little since last week. We only had one investigator in church yesterday. But its okay, we got 7 new investigators this week and we still have our others tambein. Joselito is working to over come some of his problems and we're working along side him. Eddie Manuel is still a hyper 10 year old but he wants to be baptised still and we're teaching him all about the gospel. Tonight we are having a family night with him and his family. This week we rode our bikes to a members house that was way up in the mountains. It was like riding form mom and dads house all the way up to snowbird. It was so cool! It was like going on a bike ride at home and when we finally got there the food was amazing. I love those members. They are an older couple that are so happy and content. Anyway the views up there are awesome! Its beautiful. The members gave us a menos activo name and so we figured on our way back we would visit him. so we were running late and way tired from ridding all the way up there and when we got to the menos activos street we saw that his house was further up the mountain. So we took serious consideration to just keep going and not visit him but I decided why not lets do it. Am i glad we did. He has a super strong testimony still and is really spiritual. he is older and really really stuck in his ways but he admitted to smoking and said that maybe now is the time he needs to start coming back to church. It was an amazing experience! The mission is full of little experiences like this. I wish I had time to write them all! Anyway I love this work. Its way hard but i love it. The words of my brothers are always in my head, "the mission is awesome but you have to work HARDER THAN YOU EVER HAVE IN YOUR LIFE" I love this mission, I love the people here, I love being a servent of the lord. I love this gospel.
So you guys got me an i-pod?! WOW you really went all out. Thanks so much that'll be so nice to have. Because i havent heard music in so long its normal for me to pick up my hymn book whenever we're home and just start singing hymns. I love the Hymns. Dad, I now understand why you like "a poor way faring man of greif" so much!! I read that song the other day and it is so spiritual! But thank you so much for the package. I havent gotten it yet but thank you anyway!
Okay so whats the big idea about my scripture on my plaque ha ha I have hear that it is... Interesting. Isn't it cool?! I love those verses! Its like saying BRING IT!!! Its like saying give me hard times and trials and all kinds of problems because the Lord is on my side and my strength will only grow in him through trials.
So it sounds like you guys are doing a little too much golfing... Maybe that time would be used better studying the scriptures or something... ha ha okay nevermind golf as much has possible! You guys are practicing a lot but from the scores justin gave me it sounds about the same. Dad first, then.... justin and chris somewhere behind ha ha no just kiddin. But family I love you so much. thanks for all your support. And if anyone ever wants to share some of there mission experience with me or just spiritual experiences I'd love to hear them.
Mom and dad hows the classes at BYU? How is the home and my dog and my room?!... be honest. Oh and thanks for catching that with my card! i dont know what happened. When the office called me and said that he just talked to my mom my jaw dropped and i was like WHAT?! My mom, Robin Knudsen really, you just talked to her, What did she say ha ha it was kinda a different experience.
So the spanish is coming slowly. I understood a whole conversation this week and answered and everythinig and i have to give a 10 minute talk this sunday so we'll see how it goes. We're advertising it to our investigaters as come what me make a fool of myself, it'll be really fun!
Anyway thanks so much for everything you do gor me i love you all so much and it was great hearing from you!!!> Love Elder Knudsen>

Great week

Dear family,
This week has been great! The Lady that came to church last week for the first time in twenty years, Nancy, her son has a baptismal date and now her husband and her daughter are investigators. They are a pretty cool family and the son is way way hyper active but we have fun with him.>
Also the guy that just showed up to church last week also has a baptismal date!! It’s great! He has read the whole Book of Mormon and stopped drugs and alcohol and now we're just helping him with smoking and to stay away from alcohol and drugs.>
We also have 6 awesome investigators!! They are all really nice and actually seem interested! Pretty much all of them look like gang members with sleeve tattoos and earrings and corn rows but they are cool!>
So in comparing this week to last week is like night and day. We have two baptismal dates, and six sweet investigators! I'm stoked! The Lord is really is blessing us. I think it’s because our president asks us to get 140 contacts a week that we contact when we're just doing our daily activities and we have really been concentrating on that. So for the past four weeks we have met that goal and seen the blessings!>
My comp is being more on time now (it could be because I set his watch fast one night when he wasn't watching) but it helped.>
We had trade offs this week and I was in charge of my area!!! It was crazy! I had to call the members to come out with us, lead the lessons and contact people and the whole thing!! It was so hard! But it made me appreciate my companion because I saw that not all missionaries are as obedient as him!>
So I found out that my mission president was actually an interrogator in Vietnam!! Ha so those interviews area really intense ha ha But my Mission president is extremely smart and way cool! He and his wife are awesome!>
So you guys need to slow down on the golf!!! Ha just kidding practice all you can now and maybe someone will get close to beating dad and I. You guys are crazy for going with Lindsey’s dad! I've heard a lot about him. Oh and Justin, if your using my driver still you might want to check the driver head, I think it has a dent and that can mess you up a lot.>
Mom you would love the fruit here!! There is so much and it is all so good! I had a guanabana and a kanapa this week and they were delicious! We also have avocados and lemons mad mangos like mad!>
Those classes that you guys are going to take sound awesome! Keep me updated on those and that’s awesome about Patrice's car!! That is going to be sweet to see her driving a mini van when I get back!!>
Anyway thanks for your love and support and all the examples! Talk to you next week.>
Love Elder Knudsen>>
P.S. Dad her name is actually Marie and it’s actually Brody that has the plaque ha ha>

Pictures at CCM

Me and my Comp Elder Oden

Living Quarters

Views from the Windows

Temple

More Provo MTC Pictures

The Zone singing us Goodbye...yeah I was crying
My new haircut...

Finally Pictures from the MTC

Me, Elder Radmall and Elder Zagner
Me and My Comp

My MTC District

The Temple with my Comp

Check out me as a missionary!

Last week in training...

Dear Fam,
So I didn´t think I was going to get a letter today because when I checked this morning there was nothing!! But it sounds like everyone is doing awesome. Hows jared's job. So you went boating eh... I was wondering when I would hear about the first boating trip. But that's too bad the water wasn't good! Or was that just something to soften the blow.
So this week has been awesome! We are teaching the last of the five lessons this week which isn´t my favorite but it is still good. Time really is flying. I cant believe I´m really almost out in the field. I am WAY nervous but I know that the lord is with me and will bless me. So I´m am struggling with the spanish, I can't always get my point accross and I can read and understand it but I can´t speak correctly. So that is why I am kinda sad to leave the CCM I need more work!! I´m also way nervous for my first comp. If he is lazy its going to be really hard.
So my Latino roomates amaze me. Elder Pena served in the navy where he met a lds girl so he listened to the missionaries with her and got his own testimony and after dating her for five years he asked her to marry him and she said not untill you serve a mission. So now he is here. The other day we saw him with a blue temple card and come to find out his brother died a year ago and he did his temple work for him. The cool part was he was only happy about doing the work not sad about his brothers life. Then we found out that he is a dad because his brother that died had a kid so he took coustedy of the kid. The kid calls him dad and everything, but right now his mam is taking care of her. I love these elders. They always have so much animo!! Sorry I dont remember what I already wrote about them.
Oh yeah the universtiy... So we said bye to are buddy victor and as far as the goal goes... we only got 16. The thing is we didn´t have as much time this time and most of the people we contacted were interested. Its alright though because 16 is our best and our districts best and probably the best of the americanos.
So I think it is about 10 missionaries here going to the Puerto Rico San Juan West Mission.> This week was so fast its hard to remember much. I love the book of mormon. I wish I just had all day to read it. I feel the spirit so strong everytime I read it. It anwsers questions that I have every MDT. I hope I still have a lot of study time in the field.
Thanks for all your love and support. Thank you for your prayers and mom, dad, grandma and grandpa thanks for the letters. I love when I have the chance to bare testimony on families because I always get teary eyed and the spirit seems to always come. I love this family so much. The church is true. I haven´t had one of those carzy cool experience that testify to me that this church is true but my family life is a testimony in itself. Thank you. Have a great week eh. I´ll talk to you from the feild.
Oh yeah I got a hair cut today and its a buzz ha ha what did they do.
Love,
Elder Knudsen
P.S. Wish Jared Pugh a happy birthday for me. Oh yeah and if you ever see any of my friends somewhere make sure you stop and talk to them for me. they are a big reason I´m out here.
Hermanoes. Porque usteds no escriben me eh! bolutos. Ustedes tiene experiencia yo necesito. Compartir su experiencias con me y compartir su sentimientos con me eso ustedes tiene cuando su entrado el compo de mision. yo escribido en espanol porque posible ustedes tiene mas animo cundo su leen eso y possible yo doy ustedes motivaccion a querer escribir me. Yo se es no correcto perro esta bien si... Y stac! Leera esta a jared por favor. Gracious. PAZ

2nd to Last Week of Training

Hey Fam! Good to hear from you! So yeah Time is flying!! This is crazy! So this week has been awesome! I told you that 27 new latinos came to the MTC (which doubled the people here) And so everyone got 2 latino roomates. HA, ha, wow they different. Ours are way cool though. It's awesome! He's way positive and always happy! I'm already closer to these lations than I am to some of the people in my zone!
So I have been working so hard this week! I feel so good at the end of the day! Every moment I try to be doing something that will help me. The spanish is struggling. I can get my point across, but not using the right grammar. The grammar part so hard! My comp and I are getting up early to work out and its awesome.
So the university experience this week... Our buddy victor was there again so we went to talk to him for a bit trying to make it only 5 minutes so we could practice contacts with other people, but he had so many questions and so it ended up being 40 minutes, but we gave him a book of mormon and he was way way excited. Anyway after that we had like 40 minutes to contact ten more people. We ended up contacting 11 people all together. The best in the district. But we had a lesson on talking to EVERYONE because few will be ready for the gospel and so the more you contact the more possiblies you have to get people that are ready. Our goal for this monday at the university is 34 which is like unheard of but that way we do our part to get 100 contacts with our district. Its going to be hard but anything is possible with the Lord. You'll hear about the result next week. Oh yeah and we get refferals for the missionaries here.
So you sound like you've had a pretty fun 4th! Why didn't you hit up the rodeo or the demolition derby. And the real question is who lit off my fireworks?! I paid good money for those! I have to admit I'm glad I wasn't there for the work part of the cabin! So what happened with mushrooms at the cabin... Remember the word of wisdom family! And Linds why did you let that lady take the pizza!? That doesn't sound like You ha ha. You went golfing eh. That is something we will definately have to do when I get back. Good job on the closest to the pin though dad. The river sounds awesome!! Its so fun!! I will never forget the time Justin and I and Lindsey went down that when it was like lindseys first time with the family. Hey!!! no lunch for you!!! (Justin tell the family the story if they cant remember). Dad you got another motorcycle?! sweet! Chris is the motorcycle nice?!
Oh and the temple. Yeah Mom I've been three times already! Its awesome! I have pictures of the temple and me and everything but i'm trying to figure out if it'd be safe to send my memory card or not. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Oh and i have heard all about the BYU news with my comp!! I guess they have a count down thing in the lockeroom till oaklahoma.
Dad, Why are you writting so late!? get to bed eh. You know what they say early to bed early to wise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise.>
So anyway not much new this week. I have noticed myself getting more mature and... well... I don't think I like it but I guess I have to. I love the temple. I learn so much there. Just like things come in my mind where its an ansewer to things I've been thinking. Its crazy how your mind set changes here. Like I no longer try to do stuff for myself, I do things so I can better help the people in Puerto Rico. Really. Like I used to just say that in Provo but here I really mean it. For instance I have been wanting a stronger testimony and when I was in the temple I was just thinking I don't need a stronger testimony, I'm never going to leave the church. I know its true. But then I realized I could probably help the people in Puerto Rico Better with a stronger testimony and so that's why I want one. Everything is like that! Even working out. Its weird.>
Anyway family I love ya and thank you so much for your love and support. I will send you my address in puerto rico when I have it. I'm pretty sure I leave here the 21st of this month. BUt I love you so much Have a great week! Remeber to keep the sabbath day holy. Its way more important than I think any of us understand.> Love Elder Knudsen

The DR #2

Alright well I have 10 minutes. What has happened?! So this is probably going to be short because I only have ten Minutes and I was told to watch my spelling and capitalization so it will not go very fast.Thanks for the letters y'all. I get so happy when I get on Thursday morning and I have mail. I guess I need to cut straight to the points. This week has been fast. Yes, I am still sick but I just choke the food down then pop some Pepto Bismoal and some Tylenol for the cramps and I'm good. Yeah email is probably the best way to get me so spread the word. They said that if someone was going to send you a package to tell them to not send it because you probably won't get it.
So that return appointment at the university was on Monday and our man Victor came through and brought five of his friends. The problem was they were more interested in learning English then the gospel so we shared our testimony, passed out some pamphlets and bounced. Our time is important. What else?What do you guys like to hear about? let me know. Picture hour is this Tuesday so I'll try and send my memory card home sometime next week. Thanks everyone for your support and your love and your letters you all mean so much to me. I think i got to go. Peach out!I love you all.Love, Darin
P.S. I will give my scripture to the bishop, I have to write him back

THE DR

Dear fam,
Okay so this is crazy. This place is so poor. Good thing the church is loaded and I live on temple grounds because as soon as you leave the 15 foot wall around us its crazy!! I don't know where to start. The food here is horrible. It is like top of the line food for people here but for me it is horrible. Lunch is the big meal and we usually have LOADS of rice with beans on top and some chicken then some mystery meat that nobody knows what it is, also we have some hard bread a banana and fruit punch. I usually fast lunch ha ha I´m so sick of this food. I have had diarrea for about 2 days now. Breakfast is usually pretty good, the milk is sorta salty though its weird. But breakfast is actually the best meal for me. What else, So this MTC is a little bit more lazy but I´m still pushing myself way hard. I´m still way stressed out about time all the time so I think that's a good thing. My new comp is Hawaiian. He red shirted last year for BYU. He is pretty cool and 100% obedient, and works hard as well. He is pretty smart. Its funny to hear what happens in the BYU locker room and to hear about all the guys we watch on TV. Dad you won in quipt toe huh wow good job I didn´t think the day would come when mom or grandma or Stacey didn't win. And mom you cleaned out the gutters eh that's impressive. yeah it does stink and it gets all over you. Thanks everyone for the letters I´d write you back but I don´t have very much time. So I´ve had some missionary experiences... I told you about the one with the born again lady, but then on the plane to here, the DR, I sat next to this guy that had a go-T and was black and dressed well and wore a lot of rings and stuff and had sunglasses. To say the least he was scary. Finally by the end of the flight I worked up the courage to talk to him. I found out he has a family and he is catholic but everyone says their catholic and it doesn't mean anything. He found out I was nervous to go through customs because my Spanish is bad but as we were getting off the plane I bore my testimony to him and game him a pass along card in Spanish, he then said if I need any help with customs he has my back. I felt cool that that guy had my back. Also while waiting for the plane that day I practiced my Spanish with a lady and did the same with her even though she said my Spanish is horrible. Here we go to the university that has about 120,000 students and practice making contacts once a week. Its on Mondays so this Monday my comp and I made 5 contacts and got their numbers and addresses and set a a return appointment for us. which is weird because we are getting these referrals for the full time missionaries here but the guy, his name is victor said he wanted to meat us again. So why not, we´ll probably baptize him while in the MTC. So I´ve seen 2 stray dogs and been hit on a lot. This place is crazy. I´ve seen the sinks that Chris and I´m sure Justin as well washed their clothes in and everything. everybody drives crazy. like the traffic lights here mean nothing. Oh yeah and the classes are all taught in Spanish so its super hard to learn anything. Whats new at home? I´ve gotten one DearElder from Jared this week but I think they only give them out once a week, Don´t send packages here because I won't get them. I would say number one thing to do is email on this or write on dearelder. What is everyone up to, tell me whats going on there. oh and we´re not allowed to take pictures so I don´t know what I´m going to do about that. Maybe sometime later they will let us take pictures and after I do I´ll send my memory card home, maybe even with some voice recordings on it. I love you all so so so much. Thanks for everything. I couldn´t ask for a better family. Sorry I didn´t get to talk to everyone on the phone as much as I wanted so sorry but there is always Christmas right. Anyway that's that and i hate the food, I´m surviving on the candy from the packages in Provo except my comp eats a lot so there are diminishing fast. LOVE YA ALL
Darin Knudsen

Talking to Darin

So the Family got to talk to Elder Knudsen on Friday and also a quick call on Thursday. He was supposed to leave the Provo MTC on Thurdsay June 11th, but after he got to the airport at 5:30am he found one of his flights canceled because of a storm. So he called and told my mom so she wouldn't worried. Then on Friday during his layovers he was allowed to call us. Here is a list of some of the things we talked about;

• Going back to the MTC was hard because his district and everyone sang goodbye to them and he didn't want to go get clean sheets just to take them off again the next morning so he just slept on the mattress with the bed spread.
• His companion and all the other elders he knew went on earlier flights so he wasn't flying with anyone he knew, but he didn't feel too bad because there was also a sister without a comp.
• He loved all the pictures in the MTC hanging on the walls of the family. It kept him going and gave him motivation.
• He loved the MTC food and probably had 3 cups of chocolate milk and 5 glasses of orange juice a day, however, it wasn't treating his system very good.
• He was excited to leave the Provo MTC and be in new surroundings
• He worked out harder than he ever had in the MTC. His District Leader was all about physical fitness.

Anyway, we talked for a while and he seems like he is doing well.

MTC 6/5/09 Swine Flu

So I hope this works and I hope I got the right e-mail address!! Anyway what up fam!? Hows everyone doing?! So from the story of the cabin it sounds like Chris and Justin still haven't grown up yet. It sounds about like chris to blame a rock for starting the fire. Ha Ha just kidding. So the MTC is crazy! I'm doing a lot better now and I'm not really homesick. I mean I still love you all but I think I can actually concentrate a litte better now. > Have you guys heard about the swine flu?! Ha Ha its like a zoo here! Nobody dares do any bodily function for fear of being sentenced to 4M!!! (4M is like the prison for all the sick people. they have taken a whole residence building and made it isolation!!! Its crazy, our zone leader said he felt a little bit sick and we haven't seen him all week! Its the same building as the barborshop so today when I got my haircut we went up one flight of stairs and signs were saying DO NOT ENTER UNLESS YOU LIVE HERE. MISSIONARIES STAY AWAY. I talked to someone who talked to one of the missionaries in there and he said they had to talk through a small window but the kid in isolation said I feel fine but they wont let me out!! They are all so lonely in there. they just stare out the windows ha ha you can see them at night. we actually got a letter form our district president from the inside that said its like a zoo in there. A lot of the Missionaries are not keeping the rules!! ha ha I was actually way sick last week but i never told anyone for fear of 4M. Whats the news in the outside world on the swine flu. I'm not worried i'm tough as nails. Its actually way way funny!! Its totally helped lighten the mood here. And they equiped us with inhailers ha ha to fight sickness!! Its pretty serious. you can't even leave your room if your sneezing or coughing or anything!! Its funny. Oh and it helps that mom sent me with all this allergy medicine and EMERGEN-C's so thanks mom.) Sorry this letter is kinda scattered, this little red clock in the corner that is counting down is stressing me out!!!! > Anyway, my flight plans and travel plans have stayed the same. originally they weren't going to let us out of here untill the 15th but I think they know it would be best to get out of this MTC de Muerte!! but they gave me a call home pass to tell you this so let me know if you want me to call home and when. It can only be five minutes though, but when I travel I can call whoever whenever so make sure EVERYONE is by there phones on the 11th!! So how is everyone?! Is my dog still kickin? does bode still like me better then justin? Thanks so much for the packages everyone!! The spanish is so bloody hard for me!! I can't get it but I know it'll come and even if it doesn't I'm leaving for the DR on the 11th so I will be fully sumbmerssed in spanish!> I love you all. I really am SO SO lucky to have such a tight family!! Everyone is such a great example to me. Mom and Dad you really did it right! You should be proud!! I'm Going to try and write some hand written personal letters if I have time so be looking for those! And justin the eagle has not landed. I would be totally in but it might be hard... anyway I know I have so much more to say but this little red clock in the corner is killing me!! I'll try and write some hand written letters!! I love you all Thanks so much for all the great examples and for all you do for me. I will always be greatful for you all. My love for our family has been so magnified being here. Oh year and my hair..... chou! I look so goofy. I will send pictures as soon as i can. And i got a digital voice recorder to listen to the BOM in spanish so i might be able to send some voice clips. DAD i'm getting really good at singing base!! My whole district is Way good at singing and I'm doing what I can. Thank you so much for everything!! I'm doing great now. I can now look at pictures of the family and read letters and write letters without it affecting my whole day. LOVE> Elder Knudsen, Darin Dar Darwin "D"

First Letter MTC 5/21/09

Mom, Dad, Everyone
5/21/09
Well, I’m here. It’s CRAZY! I was supposed to write you a letter last night but I have been crazy stressed and I haven’t had time for anything! I have so much to do and zero time! Anyway I’m super homesick and really stressed out, but that’s about it. (I only included that so you would pray for me…) I am staying positive and trying to have a little fun! It’s hard to have fun when you have so much other, more important stuff to do.
Stuff that I want to be sure to say in this letter is as follows:
My companion is pretty cool and same with my district.
Tell everyone to check out dearelder.com (I hear I can get same day letters)
I am thankful for every person individually in our family and love everyone VERy much!! (I will expound when I have more time)
Grandma knew what she was doing when she hung the pictures of our family up they keep me going!
Time is short so I would be able to write very often. Sorry
Thanks for the Journal! (I haven’t read it or looked at the family pictures yet because I don’t want my comp to see me cry, yet)
I love the FOOD!!
Tell Chris and Justin that not only do I always hear the “Welcome to the jungle” sound track but I heard the “Star Wars Theme” today during class and it was awesome! (They will know what that means)
I could write for pages but have no time. I love everyone, thank you so much!
Love, your son

Darin Knudsen

Going to the MTC

Wow, it was hard to leave Darin! He will be greatly missed by everyone, but he is in the right place. He will grow and learn so much.