Week 97, August 24 2020

  Hey y'all! It's been another pretty busy week over here in Norwich Connecticut! We once again started to teach 4 new friends, that is, two weeks in a row now, it's pretty unheard of for the area. But hey, God has been able to guide us to those who are ready to hear the Gospel!

     We are currently teaching 9 friends! When I got here we were teaching 5 with two areas Now we only cover 1 area. Earlier in the week we met with Brother Mosley, and he had a pretty awesome conversion story. He gave us permission to share it with our family and friends back home, so that will be my message this week so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

     Earlier this week we had interviews and it went well, no big changes. I will be staying here in Norwich and Elder Thurman will be going up to Cambridge and starting a Tagalog program. That is so cool! I also got stuck under my bed when I went to reach for the extension cord. We also started service this week, I am so excited to do service again! Last but not least when I was in Newport Rhode Island, I taught a friend of a member named Dante. On the 22nd of August he chose to be Baptized! He is now a member and I am so proud and happy for him!

     Brother Mosley has been a member for about 5 years and he is part of a business that sells cleaning items. One time he had to be at an event in Utah to give a talk, and he lived with another person in the company. While driving around he had a prompting to look out the window and he saw the Salt Lake Temple. He then asked about it and shortly after they parked and he went to go see it. At the time it was gated and he was confused because he thought it was a church and thought " if this is a church why is it gated?". The man he was with just so happened to be a member and helped explain it to him.  This member then invited Brother Mosley to join him and his family for Church that Sunday. He liked it so much that the member asked if he wanted to learn more. A week or so later after Brother Mosley returned home the missionaries came and they taught him the lessons and eventually he was Baptized! He got talking to another worker in this company and he was surprised that he chose to be baptized, but hey, to sum it up God works in mysterious ways! Hope you enjoy his conversion story!

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Elder Knowlden                                 

Elder Brayden Knowlden Mission Letter week 96

 

Week 96,  8-21-2020

     It's been another Crazy week, Monday we hit some more golf balls and even did it at night! It was so cool to watch them disappear. This past week we started to teach 4 new friends!!! That's so awesome for this area, last transfer it was only 1 for Norwich, so you find and start teaching 4 in 1 week was a miracle!

     Wednesday we went up to Weston to pick up my new companion Elder Thurman from Idaho Falls, Idaho.  He is my tallest companion at 6'5". When I asked President as a joke "why do you keep giving me tall companions?" He responded with "so maybe you can grow”, Ahh, I love my Mission President! Nothing really different other than I am no longer in a trio and I have a tall companion, Norwich is an awesome area and I love it! Friday we had District Council in person. We found a frog! We also went to downtown Norwich and saw lots of Ducks and Geese, I loved it!

     The other day we met with a member and he said “Church is like a washer and dryer”. I really liked that, as we go through out the week we get dirty and worn, but as we are able to go to Church and partake of the Sacrament we get washed! As we talk with others and "rub shoulders" we are drying off each other.  I know it’s not the best explanation but I thought it was cool and I hope you enjoy it like I do! I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen 

Week 95 in Trio and Hurricane

 

Week 95    Aug 10, 2020

 For this weeks email we actually start ok. Tuesday and it's been a crazy week for sure! Tuesday is when Hurricane Issias was passing by and we got a lot of rain and wind. We still had fun and hit Golf Balls at the Church Property during the rain! While on the way home we saw two large trees fallen over blocking us so we had to go home the long way. One of the trees landed on the hood of a car! If it would have gone a few feet further, it would have killed the man driving. Shorty after the police and fire fighters got there. We then came home relaxed and called home. Elder Reids Dad Grub hubbed us some seafood. He got us crawfish, shrimp and some crab legs.

     With the storms from the Hurricane, many apartments lost power so the Ashford Elders were with us for about 3 days. It was pretty fun this past week, because we were juggling three areas and kept pretty busy! For the Norwich side not too much but texted a lot of people. Friday we were able to have an “In-Person” District Council!!! It was so nice, later that day we started to teach a man named "Jamesly" he was someone taught in the past, he is pretty cool! Nothing too much other than that. This upcoming Wednesday I will be getting another new companion but this time he is a reassigned missionary but that’s all I know! 

     I simply want to bare my testimony that "Joseph Smith Jr" truly was a prophet called of God! As he went into a grove of trees in1820, he prayed to know which of all the churches were true or were they wrong all together. From this prayer he truly did see God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ in the flesh! They indeed did speak to him by name and let him know that none of the churches were true! A few years later a Heavenly messenger appeared to Joseph Smith and told him of an ancient record of Christ’s dealings with the people on the American Continent, These were called the Gold Plates! By the power of God, Joseph Smith was able go translate this record written in "Reformed Egyptian" into English.  We now know it as the Book of Mormon and it is written in over 100 languages! I have read this Book and I truly do know from the bottom of my heart that it is the Word of God, WITH the Bible its whole purpose is go help others learn what Christ’s Gospel is! I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen                 

A Crazy Week

Week 94, 8-4-2020

   This for sure has been a crazy week, it's the new transfer I said goodbye to Elder Maldonado and Hello to Elder Briscoe. He is an awesome missionary from Chicago Illinois! He is also one of my previous companions cousin (Elder White). Unfortunately by the end of the week he made the decision to go home, it was hard to say goodbye but I hope he gets the help he needs.

     This past week was full of training and texting people! One for trainers, One for District Leaders, another District Leader training, and finally District council. Monday we had Zone Conference and I gave a training on the importance of appropriate dress and grooming. While I was in Zone Conference Elder Briscoe was packing up. Shortly after Zone Conference ended the West Westerly Elders picked us up and we drove up to Belmont to drop off Elder Briscoe at some other Elders apartment because he leaves in the morning to go home. I will be in a trio with Elder Reid and Elder Davis for about a week. On the way up we stopped by the Boston Temple!

     If there is one thing I learned this past week it is that "No effort is wasted". I had a great time getting to know Elder Briscoe before he went home and right now it is an extremely tough time to be a missionary! He gave it his best while he was here and I am beyond proud of him for what he did. He was young and not quite ready but his testimony is strong!  The Lord loves effort and he gave it his all.  I hope and pray that when the time is right he will be able to come back out and get more ready! In all things that we do it will never be perfect to a "T" but it's worth the effort we were able to give. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen