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.