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

Pictures of Brayden at the MTC

Week 2

Elder Bond 

November 1, 2018

I cannot believe that it has already been 2 weeks! One more week to go, I cannot wait to finally be in Boston. I fly out on Tuesday morning; there will be 18 missionaries heading out on the flight.

Lets start from P-day last week. We had got a lot done and had the amazing opportunity to go to the Provo Temple and it was the most amazing part of the day! We went as a full district, and unfortunately the sisters got in the session right before all of us Elders. We did get a few pictures of most of us together hopefully today we can get the whole district!

Friday was a very interesting day, as you will find out soon enough. First of all we had an amazing lesson with Preston, we really did get to him and help him with his needs. We let him know about baptism and we invited him within the next 2 months if he would exercise his faith and take that step to come closer to God. After lunch Elder Schults and I helped Elder Montuy resize his XXL belt. Elder Montuy is the opposite, we cut off about 8 inches of the belt and it was still big! Now to the interesting part- an Elder on the same floor as us was walking around and hanging out with Elder Schults, he asked if I wanted a Twinkie, and I didn’t think much of it. About an hour later he comes running up to me asking if I ate the Twinkie. He said, "I gave you the wrong Twinkie, that one had laxatives"! It started because he wanted to help his companion who was having trouble... so the next day became a little easy. That’s the story of the "Twinkie Laxative Incident". So that leads me to this weeks scripture Jeremiah 4:19-20 (have fun reading it).

Friday: today we met with Lawson one last time and it was weird he read the Introduction to the Book of Mormon, and asked us some questions we didn’t expect. He wanted to know the History of where the Nephites and Lamenites line up with Native Americans and the Aztecs so it went... not as expected. We went in trying to teach about agency and one thing Elder Bond said really stuck out to me, "You cant use agency for good until you use it for bad." And its so true, in order to use agency for its full purpose we have to do something we would regret (not intentionally) but that’s why its here today! 

Saturday: The most amazing thing I learned today is why Jesus Christ came, when he came. In Second Nephi 10:3 it tells us why. He came at the most wicked time period there ever was. The hatred towards God was at its highest. That generation was the only time that they would have crucified Him. As it came to the last 30 min of class, Sister Evans went and told everyone in the district why she loves them and a reason why she has seen how they will be an amazing missionary. As she came to me here is what she said (what I remember). "Elder Knowlden, you are such an amazing ball of sunshine and you have a contagious smile. You're such a hard worker and always looking to better yourself, with that you’re looking to help others and help them to be better as well."-Sister Evans.

Sunday came and once again it was really long. Priesthood went really well as I learned more about the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement. I had a great time blessing the sacrament and later I was randomly selected to give a 3-5 minute talk. This week’s topic was "Repentance." I talked about how one time I went to repent because I had a bad swearing problem. I am so thankful for my bishop at the time, explaining it in a way I would understand. As the day went on we had a lesson on who is, how to obtain, and why is it important to have the Holy Ghost. Once again Elder Bond and I went to choir because it would be our last chance to at the MTC. This week’s song was "Be Still my Soul". It was really fun. Last of all Sundays Devotional.

I can’t remember who spoke, but they spoke about the story of Joseph (and the coat of many colors). He was a very righteous man following the Lord in whatever situation he may be in. He was sold as a slave, so he became the best slave. As the king's wife made him look like they were together, he was thrown into prison by the king, so he became the best prisoner. He met a fellow prisoner who had a weird dream and by the power of God, Joseph interpreted. The prisoner became one of the king’s right hand men, and the king started to have crazy dreams, the king’s right hand man let the king know of Joseph’s power to interpret dreams. Joseph let the king know that there would be a feast of 7 years then a famine for 7, because Joseph knew how to help. He saved Egypt and his family; he had not seen since he was sold by his brothers. At that time, Joseph knew God was watching out for him and his family. 

After that, Elder Bond and I went to watch a talk by Elder Holland. The thing that stuck was "If you chose to serve a mission you better give up all your time to the Lord, its HIS work NOT yours."

Monday: today we met Rachael and it went really well. She acted on faith and even said the closing prayer. I know she is a lost sheep. Elder Bond and I are the sheep dogs and her sister will be her Shepard helping along the way. As I was doing personal study, I came across a scripture that talks about how the 12 apostles will be judges and kings over the 12 Tribes of Israel (1st Nephi 12:9). And I thought that was awesome! As the mail came in today my mom sent me a poem she wrote called feelings

FEELINGS

“You may be feeling sad, you may be feeling blue.

Or maybe your heart aches and you feel the Savior too.

Your heart may feel so full at times; you don’t know what to do.

The Lord is always there to open up our heart.

All we have to do is pray, and soon the healings start.

Other times the spirit’s so strong, that all you can do is cry.

As you think of the love the Savior gives, as He answers all our whys.

At this time, what ever it may be, just let the Savior touch your heart,

And fill your soul with love, and comfort and love to your life will be a part.”

It just reminds me of the love my mom has for the Savior and how the Savior loves each and every one of us. It really did make me cry from love!

Tuesday: This morning we had a small devotional from the departing Elders and each one of them bore the testimony. They all said in their own way, get lost in His work and love the people! They shared a song a fellow Elder made before we got there, some of the words "I love you, but Jesus loves you betta" and its true no matter how much love we may feel or have for others, it will never top the love Jesus has for us. No matter what trials we go through Jesus will always be there to help us and be by our side. The Tuesday devotional this time we had Sister and Elder Carpenter (quorum of the 70) and it threw me off when they talked about preparing for an Eternal Companion. It was really similar to having a mission companion with being by their side to help them and they will be there for you and to hold each other accountable for your actions.

Wednesday: Today, we had the amazing opportunity to help host the new missionaries who came in. I helped 3 of them out. They are going to Tuscan Arizona, Barcelona Spain, and the third Elder is going to Sydney Australia. It was fun being able to help the new Elders being a good example and helping them know to expect. Oh yeah, it just so happened to be Halloween! That’s what we did for most of the day. As class came, we had a great lesson and many, many role-plays on teaching simply. I felt and I know that it helped a lot, starting off easy and lots of practice for the field.

Ahh finally I am almost finished. I know from what I have learned and what I will be learning these next two years will be there to help me grow closer to God. I know through the atonement of Jesus Christ that we can all return with him again, no matter what struggles we have. As we choose to follow Him by his example and repent daily, He will be willing to help us in our times of need as we seek to know more of Him and we pray we will one day be able to return to His Holy Kingdom, Amen.