March 18, 2013

Hi my Family!

Happy St. Patrick's Day yesterday! (Although we didn't really see any celebrations going on. It's really only Ireland that celebrates it.) The most St. Patrick's Day- ish thing that happened to us was we met a man from Ireland on the streets and his accent was so fun to hear! So much different than the Irvine accent. It's very sing songy. I thought he was just putting on a silly voice when we first started talking to him but he was serious. It's a pretty neat accent.

Sister Passey and I are doing well! We're keeping busy these days. A lot of good stuff is happening that we're excited about. Sister Passey is a dream companion. We get along so well. You would never guess she is only 19- between her height and her maturity! She's great. A new addition to the mission is that we are able to text people now! Before we were only able to receive texts, but now we are allowed to reply back. It has been so nice for the work! I'm glad we're slowly getting more in tune with the technological age. It helps a lot, especiallly when it comes to just needing to confirm a appointment or remind someone about reading the Book of Mormon daily if they want a reminder, or whatever it is! It's so nice to send a quick, wee text. We've found that investigators are more comfortable with texting than phoning so they are in contact with us more often now which is really good. We're excited to have it. It's nice too with coordinating with missionaries so we can easily figure out meeting times or quick questions about phone numbers or what not. It seems kind of funny to be texting out here though. It makes me feel normal. It's kind of weird, but it's really nice to have!

A lot happens each week and it's so hard to squeeze it into just one email- so I just want to share one experience this week that was a big highlight for me! Back when I was with Sister Tylka, we met and taught a man named Jon. He was so solid and he had so much potential! He had some doubts about the Plan of Salvation but he prayed about it like we asked and he said his doubts were wiped away. Then we was having some doubts about Jospeh Smith but he said that as he read the Book of Mormon that those doubts went away as well. He was able to resolve on his own all of the conerns he was having! He was so good. Then we lost contact with him and anytime we tried calling, his phone was doing something funky and we didn't have his home address to try by him! We tried calling for about 3 weeks before we gave up. It really broke my heart. We would find ourselves kind of keeping my eye open for Jon as we were walking through town, hoping we would run into him! And we were praying we would. Well, a couple of months went by and I would still find myself thinking about him and how sad I was that we lost contact. With most of the investigators we have that don't end up going anywhere, I usually feel fine moving forward because it seems right, but with Jon, I just felt like it wasn't finished with him. It has really bothered me. Anyways, last week, 5 months later, we crossed paths with him!!! I was so excited! We talked about what had happened when we lost contact and I asked if he would be interested in being taught again. He said he would and that he had been thinking about us the past couple of months actually. We taught him right then in the library and then set a return appointment. In the return appointment, we asked him at the end if he would pray about the Book of Mormon and he asked us if he still needs to pray even if he thinks it's true. He is just solid. We asked him if he would come to church this Sunday (yesterday) and he said probably not and when we asked him if he could next Sunday, he said probably not. So I was really confused! It didn't match up with how well the lesson went and much he's been reading and enjoying the Book of Mormon. Well Sunday rolled around and we were greeting our investigator, Eric, at the door, and over Eric's shoulders, I see Jon walking towards the building!!! He came!! Best sight ever. He didn't even tell us so he had walked there and he was absoultey soaked and freezing, but he sacraficed and came! He never came to church the last time we taught him so this was a big step for him. I'm happy our investiagors Eric and Joseph came to church as well, but Jon's was just so unexpected! We were planning on Eric and Joseph, but Jon was a nice surprise. Ah. Best feeling in the world seeing investigators walking towards the church! I love it. Being a missionary is so fun. Those moments are so worth all of the tiring days, the freezing days, and the not so successful days.

I love being out here. I really do. Missionary life gets better and more fun for me every day.

I hope you have a good week!

Love,

Sister Knab