Week 11 Last Day of 2018

Elder Pulu and Elder Knowlden -New Years Eve Day

Talking with the Fam on Christmas

Having a good laugh with the Family

Talking with the Family on Christmas

Week 11- Dec 30th 2018

This weeks letter will be pretty short. I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas, I sure did. I had the amazing opportunity to call and video chat home for an hour. Even though I've been gone less than 3 months I can tell so much has changed.  I love my family so much and I am always happy to see how they are all growing.  Sunday was great! We had 2 of our friends we're teaching surprise us and come to church! We can tell they have great progress coming along, Hopefully we can set a baptismal day up soon!   

Earlier this week I saw a video my high school wrestling coach made of a story about Ammon. It's on my Facebook page and I would invite all to go watch it.  Ammon went into the city of an enemy and all he wanted to do was serve the king. The king was a wicked man, but Ammon just wanted to serve him. As the king let him serve him he was astonished with the power Ammon had, because God had helped him in his doings.  The king later became baptized and he and Ammon became best of friends and the greatest of missionaries.

This weeks scripture is Alma 17:31

"And it came to pass that he flattered them by his words, saying: My brethren, be of good cheer and let us go in search of the flocks, and we will gather them together and bring them back unto the place of water; and thus we will preserve the flocks unto the king and he will not slay us."

As this New Year starts I hope I can be more like Ammon, and as I find these lost sheep, I hope I can guide them back to our Savior so they can know of his love that he has for each and everyone of us! As we all go into the New Year ask yourself how can I be more like Ammon and be in the service of our Lord.

Christmas Eve

Xaiver as the Grinch

Elder Hogkinson

African Grey Parrot named Turkey

Getting his eyebrows waxed

Sadie

Snowflake

December 24th 2018
It’s Christmas Eve!
    I hope everyone is doing well, and Merry Christmas! This week was really well and had lots of fun! It’s officially the second transfer in and its been great! Elder Pulu and I and are staying in the Madison ward!
     Last P-day we spent the day with the Cromwell Elders and played some basketball and it was really fun! Monday we had the opportunity to give brother LaRose a blessing, he has 3 tears in his retina and he was blind for 48 hours. Wednesday we had an amazing study session with Elder Hogkinson our service missionary companion.  We had a great 2 hours of roleplaying, asking questions to get to the root of the concern. Later that day we met up with Liz and had a lesson with her on following the spirit. We have been their 5 times and I just found out she has a beautiful African Grey Parrot named Turkey. That night we went to Keldon LaRoses wrestling match to support him, it was crazy he had his 100th win/72nd Pin!
     Thursday we had a couple appointments cancel on us but we had an opportunity to go up to the Yale Hospital to give a blessing to a member in the Waterford Ward who just had emergency brain surgery. Twice this week I witnessed the power of a priesthood blessing, it truly is amazing.
    Today we had a district service project and we all went up to the boys and girls club to help watch the kids for the Holiday party. I met Xavier who had his face painted as the grinch. He was a really cool kid. He told us all not to forget to wish Jesus a happy birthday.
     The young women had a Book of Mormon read-a-thon in under 24 hours! It was crazy insane.  Elder Pulu and I had a 3 chapter cameo with the 2000 stripling warriors, and how truly amazing it was because of their faith in God.

"Saturday night was fun we went to the Rodriguez family, it's a wonderful part member family who we are teaching. She does eyebrows so both Elder Pulu and I got our eyebrows waxed! They have 2 cute dogs Snowflake and Sadie. When we went to the pizza place I was walking by their youngest son who is 7 and a customer asked if he was my son haha it was a funny time"


The Sunday before Christmas is always amazing, this time it was a wonderful musical talent show from many members in the ward, and it was just so amazing to see all these beautiful songs of Christ.
                   
                       Alma 37:6-7
   6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.
  7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.

     Going into this New Year remember the small and simple steps you have made to where you are today. God is in every part of our lives. He works in all things the Big and Even the Small and simple things. I am grateful for all the small miracles I have seen in my life, each one is just a step closer to who God knows I can be. Merry Christmas to all and have a wonderful New Year.

Service Project raking leaves

Zone Conference

My Friend Duke 

Week 9 Dec 17th 2018
     I can’t believe it’s already been 2 months since I left home to start this amazing journey! I forgot my journal back at the house so this letter will be shorter than usual. This week has seen some ups and downs for sure. Monday was great we went to hang out with the Waterford Elders for p-day and had lots of fun playing volleyball, basketball, and chair soccer. There were 8 of us all together.
    Tuesday we had a great Zone Conference. President Mavromatis (my mission president) shared a great testimony on planting seeds even in the ones that are hard to get to. We had a great example for us and it helped me be prepared better for these situations.
   Three times this week our 3 big appointments, all got canceled 2 of appointments are our friends with baptismal dates, and the others we were gonna invite them to be baptized. Luckily we got to talk to one of them at church and we set up another day to meet with him.
   Wednesday we met with Elder Hogkinson and had a good study session. As we got to District Counsel we had a great lesson on gifts and how they take time and it had meaning in them. We got our transfer information and luckily Elder Pulu and I are staying together in Madison Connecticut area! The people I have met are so amazing.
   Sunday was great. In Sacrament we talked about Christ’s attributes and how amazing they are. As we follow Christ we can receive these as spiritual gifts. That night as we were coming home from our dinner appointment I had followed the spirit and Elder Pulu and I went to one of our friend’s house to see how they were doing. As we got there we had the promptings to ask to give them a blessing of comfort and both Elder Pulu and I gave blessings of comfort to the two of them. As we were about to leave one of them said the prayer and she said “Thanks for having us over there” because she said they truly needed it.
 As it is the Christmas season my scripture is
        Alma 26:8 "Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give thanks to his Holy name, for He doth work righteousness forever.
 As we teach others about Christ it can be hard to understand at times, and I have seen how through music it can touch the soul. This holiday season share with others, songs that tell of Christ I promise it will mean a lot to you and the ones you teach!

Ugly bug

With other Missionaries

The Ocean in Connecticut

Lunch Time 

The beach at sunrise

Having some fun

Week 8.docx
Brayden Knowlden


Last P-day went great, we hung out with the Weaver family in their new house. They were also our dinner appointment, we all had a little time, and because I haven't been to the ocean in Connecticut we had a short 5 min walk to the beach. It was cold but so beautiful! For the Christmas party last week we had a portable service center (little information displays), another set of Elders last minute we had to take it all the way to Springfield Massachusetts. Lots of history in that city, even the Basketball Hall of Fame, I saw it as we passed by on the freeway.   

I hit day 50 this past week, it's so crazy to think I've been gone that long! That day we helped Kelly and Domingo (the couple we are teaching) deep clean and organize their basement. It looks so much better now, but still has a long way to go. I had interviews for the first time with President Mavromatis and I set some goals to work on for this next little bit to be a better missionary and to better fulfill my purpose. The Waterford elders and us went to Pops and Sweeties house for some wholesome fun while we waiting to go to dinner with others in our Zone. We all went to "99" an east coast restaurant. We celebrated Elder Pulus 99 days left in his mission on his actual 99.

Friday night we had planned to have dinner with a couple in the ward and with Kelly and Domingo so they could get to know them more, unfortunately Kelly broke a toe and wasn't able to make it. It was a wonderful bonding time with an amazing home cooked meal. Our short message was on “every member a missionary, how we take upon the name of Christ we should be ministers to all and Light the World. “

Saturday came and we helped finish up moving the Weavers out of their old house and officially in the new one. Elder Pulu and I along with brother Weaver took many things to the dump, we had a good conversation with one of the workers. He is a born again Christian, and he asked us if we were members of "The Church of Joseph Smith" it was funny! He said he really respected what we do as missionaries.

Sunday was wonderful, it was the primary program, and there are like 50 kids it's crazy! Even though they are young they still brought the spirit so much. That night was a Christmas musical fireside, all the songs were so wonderful! We ended up coming down to Waterford to spend P-day with 2 other companionships in our Zone to be with the Elder who leaves this week.

Finally
This weeks scripture is Alma 2:30 "And it came to pass that Alma, being a man of God, being exercised with much faith, cried, saying: O Lord, have mercy and spare my life, that I may be an instrument in thy hands to save and preserve this people."

This made me think as missionary how can I better be an instrument in thy hand. With the new home centered church supported program starting in January, this made me realize it's starting to be about self revelation, and as missionaries we are able to better understand how we personally receive answers to our questions we have for our Lord. One thing I can do, is to be an introvert  (I think he meant to say extrovert) In thy hand is to help others recognize how they can receive the answers they have. With this amazing new program coming I invite all of you to pray about how this can benefit you and listen closely to how it will help strengthen your relationship with God, and our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Week 7 December 3, 2018- I will light the World

Activity Day Girls gave us Stockings at the Ward Christmas Party

Crazy picture with Christmas Sweater

Connecticut Temple

Connecticut Temple 

Ward Party -I will Light the World

Week 7
December 3-2018


Its finally December, I hope everyone has had an amazing week, I sure have and I am so excited for this week to come. With it being December LIGHT THE WORLD has started! This year is more about service, and it is great!

As I am getting to know the ward better we went to a family in our wards house for dinner. They made it a green meal, because I am a greenie in the mission field and it was great! Later on we had some fun times helping others move again, one time was with my old companion Elder Bond and his companion Elder Heness. Both times were really fun! That night we taught Liz again, this time it was “The Gospel of Jesus Christ. “

My first Zone conference was great! We had Elder Bennet a member of the quorum of the 70, It was amazing! One thing I learned is to go by faith and follow the spirit. As we follow the spirit we will have blessings. As we did more service this week I read Mosiah 2:17 "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God". I love how it says "only in the service of your God" as Jesus taught about love and helping others that's service! As we learn to love others for who they are, and helping them by love, we are following our Saviors example and we are serving our God.

District counsel was great and once again this week it was a lot about loving others and following the spirit. As we do those two simple things we will bless others and even ourselves. Our ward Christmas party was great! It was full of service activities! Elder Pulu and I rocked our ugly sweaters and had a room full of helping others find out what they can do to light the world! As we had dinner we had an awesome moment, the Activity Days girls made both of us stockings. It was awesome to see how they can make our day and the smiles they had.

Fast Sunday was awesome but even better it was the Christmas Devotional from the First Presidency of the Church, it made me think how can I prepare myself for eternal blessings not just ones here for our mortal life.

If you haven't guessed the biggest thing I learned this week was to love others and to follow the spirit. I want to say -I love each and every one of you. Anyone who has helped me to become the person I am today, growing and learning life experiences. Anyone who has made me laugh and smile, even those who gave me a hard time.

I LOVE YOU ALL, so thank you for all you have done for me.

Elder Knowlden

Week 6 Thanksgiving and Keeping the Family Tradition Alive

Cutting wood with a member of the ward and keeping up with the
Knowlden Family Tradition of Moving and Stacking the Woodpile

Elder Pulu and Knowlden

Elder Pulu & Knowlden's duplex in Clinton Connecticut

Well I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving week! This week was a great experience. We have a new person we are starting to teach, and working on a couple’s baptismal date for December. In the spirit of Thanksgiving I gave my Thanks though letters.

     

Throughout the week I met a man, one of the members with dinner appointments. Unfortunately Elder Pulu had a huge migraine on Tuesday so not much got done as I would of hoped, I finished the Second book of Nephi in the Book of Mormon! Once again we had companion study with Elder Hodgkinson, our service missionary companion. It was great he has so much insight!

Thanksgiving we had dinner with the Folgulman Family, We are so thankful for their willingness to feed us. It was strange not being home for the Holidays, but I still felt the Love of a family setting. 

   

As it is now Friday and in the spirit of Thanksgiving I wrote everyone in my family a small letter of what I am thankful for them that has helped me grow. Also for those of you reading this if you want to write me back and forth just email me your addresses! My Email if you don’t know is Brayden.knowlden@myldsmail.net.     

Friday was awesome we had a member feed us a nice steak lunch, and it was really good! Later on in District counsel we had a great lesson on the importance of the Book of Mormon and bearing testimony of it! Saturday came and was a day full of service helping out Lars with moving logs around. (Yes I moved the wood Pile)... but it was great spending time helping him and getting to know him better.  Finally Sunday, Church was so great we had four speakers talking about the importance of the two hour time change to come in January and focusing on a Home centered, Church supported program. I soon came to find out as we had dinner at the bishops house that he is a professor at Yale University!   

In the spirit of thanksgiving I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon, through it ,I know that the Gospel truly is restored, as I read it and I pray for guidance. it answers my question, through the Holy Ghosts direction, it helps me know what to say in lessons and how to help others come to know of the truth of the Book of Mormon for themselves.    

If I could sum one Thing I learned today is something Domingo told me (one of our friends interested in the church) He said " I love when you read from the scriptures, you take brief pauses and its amazing, I have never heard it that way before, so thank you." As he said that it made me think, then I realized why it’s effective. As we take our time and not rush through it, we slow down remember that these are words of God and we should remember that it is important. If we are slower and take brief pauses we allow the Holy Ghost to help bear witness of the truth and the Book of Mormons truth. 

     

Kelly and Domingo are doing great we have had a few great lessons with them, they are so ready to learn so much more. They came to church and accepted a baptismal date! Lars we are still working on, as he said he isn’t ready YET. it gives us hope to help him along his Journey and help him when he truly is ready. Liz is great, we have had two lessons with her, and her husband is now going to start meeting with us! Liz has so many great questions and wants to better understand what is being taught. As we visit her this week we are inviting her and her husband Ron to attend church this week!

I love my First area so far it has been amazing. I love the people as well. I know that I am called to be here for a reason, and I know that Elder Pulu is suppose to be my trainer. As I go through this journey I know that God will put me where I need to be, and as the Holy Ghost leads me as I act on its words I can better bear testimony of our beloved Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Week 5 Brayden Letter Greenie in Connecticut

WEEK 5 November 19^th2018

   It has been a wild week! I have had long, long emails and ill try to shorten them. I’ll be giving a summary of the week and not a day to day thing. Next I’ll talk about the area and the people and a little more. Also, one thing I have learned through the week. Last, end with a summary and testimony. 

   This week we did two exchanges!, one with the Cromwell Elders and one with the Zone leaders from Norwich. Both were really fun and I got to have more experiences with other Elders! There were two sisters in the ward and we had the chance to help both. One of them had a Harp and it was really cool to see one up close. 

   I got a package from home called the "Greenie package", it was filled with green candy and letters and pictures from my family! Later on in the week, It Snowed! I am not a fan and it was extremely cold, luckily it’s mostly melted at this point. This week I hit One MONTH!, It’s crazy it’s already been that long and I am loving every minute of it.

     This week with exchanges we did more work with members in the ward, it was great. I got to meet a lot more of them! Two families we visited the boys do wrestling and we get along really well.  Last nights Dinner appointment the Young family had an actual mat in the basement so, as bonding time I taught the 2 boys some moves I did in high school. Earlier this week we hung out with Brother Martina and he always has such amazing testimonies on obeying the Holy Ghost. Along with those three families I went to church and met many more members who I cant wait to get to know more about.

   One thing, well two things, I learned this week are about how to teach differently and the power of the first vision. First, with doing two exchanges in one week I got to learn more how to teach with different companions. This helped me learn that everyone is different in teaching styles, and its best to teach how they best learn. Second, the power of the First Vision. We have so many new things, pretty much EVERYTHING we have in the Gospel is because of the First Vision. I learned by reading Joseph Smith History as he began to pray the adversary came upon him, but because he kept on praying the light of God and His son Jesus Christ pushed it away.

     I like to end with a simple testimony, I know this church is true. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet, I am so thankful for the First Vision. I know through the First Vision, we can return with Him again and that the Book of Mormon is ANOTHER testament of Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus Christ Atoned for each and everyone of us, and that if He had the choice to do it for just ONE person He would of done it. I know He loves me and he loves all of us, amen.

Brayden Week 3-4, Letter 3-Leaving the MTC to Boston

 Week-3-4

Hello everyone I know this one took a little longer but I’m finally in the mission field! My New and first area is in Madison Connecticut and so far it’s been wonderful. The MTC was great and all but I’m so glad to finally be out in the mission field! The flight was only 4+ hours but it felt so long not watching anything to keep me busy. Turns out 20 missionaries flew out with us and 2 came from the MTC in Mexico.

     Lets start from last two Thursdays ago November 1st. If I have learned anything from the MTC, it would be teach simply, Jesus Christ’s Gospel is so simple even 8 years olds can understand it. As we teach simply and ask open ended questions it lets the ones we teach have time to think and I’ve a good answer and as it’s silent you can tell the Holy Ghost is working on them and that’s amazing.

     Today Elder Bond and I had two TRC's back to back and it went great!

Our first one Racheal had a lot of good insight and a lot of good questions we helped her to see the truth. Then we had Justin. He was a little more difficult but we got through to him. We invited him to go and read the introduction to the Book of Mormon. As that was our last time seeing both of them we hope the Holy Ghost will help along their journey.

     Saturday the 3rd, Today was the last two classes with our whole district with Brother Duncan and Sister Evans. The next few days were emotional as the week came we went our separate ways. Today in class we had about an hour to share testimonies, and there was so much love in that room. I know that our Savior loves all of us individually. He knows us. As it came to me to share I made it short to have time for others to say what they wanted. (Here is mine) "I don’t really know EXACTLY why I am here, but I do know that I made the correct choice, as I prayed about it I got the answer I NEED to go, and I couldn’t ignore that. I also know its part of my priesthood duty, and If I have learned anything this month, its the power of the priesthood, I have grown so much of an appreciation for, it all comes with Faith. As I know through Faith this is what I should do, I know it is something I WANT to do because of the Love I have for our Savior.

   Sunday the 4th, it was our first fast Sunday and it was our last Sunday in the MTC. There were a lot of devotionals today and all of them were great. As I fasted with a purpose it was much easier to do so, because I chose to Fast I know blessings come along the way. My favorite part of the day was the talk given by Elder Bednar, we watched as a district. He talked about the Holy Ghost, and how can we tell if it’s the Holy Ghost or just our own good thoughts. He simply said WHO CARES, if it is a good intention even if you don’t know why you will do it, DO IT. Blessings will come from it and it might not come immediately. Blessings will come from acting on what the Holy Ghost teaches us.

     Monday the 5th, this morning I woke up early (not by much) to say our final good byes to the 4 that are serving in Richmond Virginia. I know they will all do great. After class all Elder Bond and I did was pack and laundry. We also got our suits from the dry cleaners so they would look nice when we finally met our Mission President. We were so busy and excited we didn’t’ get to bed till 1 am and I regret it so much because I was so tired the next day. 

    Tuesday the 6th, the day of the flight. If you are reading this just know I am safe I landed smoothly in Boston. Lets backup a few hours at 4 am wake up call. As we only had 30min to get everything packed and the room cleaned, we also waited for the other 2 in our district to get out of bed so we could leave together. We didn’t leave till after the time we had to be at the travel office, but we got there in time to hop on a bus to take us to the Front Runner. We then transferred to the Green Line to the Airport; it was about an hour and a half travel time. As everyone got settled in at the airport we still had about 2 hours before our airplane took flight. In that time I went to go get McDonalds and it was glorious after having MTC food for three weeks. I also had the AMAZING chance to call and talk to my parents for a couple minutes just to hear them again was amazing. Finally the flight, like I said earlier it was really long, best part about is I took a good hour nap. As we all landed safely and got our luggage President Mavromatis was there. It was awesome to finally meet him! With him there were his assistants to help take us all to the mission home for the night.

     Wednesday the 7th, Today was anticipated to meet my first official companion for the field! As the morning went along we learned some of the important stuff about driving, cell phones, medical and all the "good stuff". We soon came to the chapel and got paired up with our companions I am now with Elder Pulu. He was the tallest one there and I am the smallest. It’s okay though because he is also a Spiritual Giant and has so much to teach me. It turns out I am the Driver for the first 6 weeks, and the drive back was over 2 hours. That night I had my first lesson with a recent convert, we helped him understand more about the Aaronic priesthood, in prep to having it soon.

     Thursday the 8th, I have been focusing on just planting a seed, but Elder Pulu helped me realize that "The field is white and ready to harvest ”As a missionary we should also look for those who have a seed planted already and the ones who are looking to be harvested. In the New England states with it being mostly Catholicism, you will get them saying "I’m all set". They pretty much mean no I have my religion and I’m okay with it. I got that quite a lot while tracking. On my first day I got a door slammed in my face and it felt great because it was a reality check saying "hey I am actually on my mission now". Elder Pulu and I taught a lady whose father was a member that recently passed away. She wanted to know more about why people find joy in it. As we helped her realize it was partly because of the Book of Mormon, she wanted to know more about it. We invited her to read the one we gave her and on our next meeting to talk about what she learned.

    Friday the 9th, after Saturday time we had district council and I met Elder Hodgkinson, He is an amazing service Missionary and is our third companion. He is a service missionary and he doesn’t let that stop him from what he knows to be true. Later on that day we had an appointment to go meet a lady who has had a few lessons before and she waned to start over so her husband could be there. We got there and it was just her husband, as she had to work late. It was amazing that I could tell he felt the spirit. As he bore a personal testimony on prayer we helped him realize God is watching out for his children all it takes is asking for help.

     Saturday the 10th, most of today was helping a lady move and helping her pack so she wasn’t all by herself. It was fun talking to her and getting to know her more.  As we helped pack, she has a giant moving crate outside and it was not big enough for all the stuff she wants, Her parents decided to get her a U-Haul. While I was helping out I was in the crate moving stuff around so I could help fix and put stuff in the best place possible. Later on we had a dinner appointment with a cute family with 5 kids. The travel there was kind of creepy in the dark, we had to go through many woods. That is one thing I feel creepy in New England the drives at night look like they could be a horror show.

     Sunday the 11th, Today was Stake Conference and one of the weirdest things happened, they had sacrament during it. I was so confused I have never seen that happen before. It was great that there were many good speakers, but my favorite was one about ""Sneaker Waves". At a beach in Maine there are many, many warning signs and even speakers telling people to not hop the fence and go onto the rocks. A lot of the times waves will creep up and be much bigger than expected aka Sneaker Waves". I asked the owner why you go through the trouble of putting up signs if they were to just ignore it. Now lets put it in a spiritual view, Satan is like sneaker waves he will pull you into the ocean when you least expect it. As we look and listen to the warning signs (the Holy Ghost) we can avoid being brought into Satan’s path and drown in doubt and trails. As we put on our Armor of God, we can avoid life’s sneaker waves.

  I still know I have so much to learn and I can’t wait to be the Harvester to the ones in need, In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen