A semana voou! (Como o morcego!)

Olá!

This week FLEW by! (like our apartment bat, we havent seen him anymore but the bats live in the trees outside our window and make their bat sounds all night. They send greetings. :) )

Anyway our biggest miracle of the week are two of our progressing investigators, Bia and José. They are SO awesome! They have quit drinking coffee and alcohol no prob, their challenge was with smoking. They smoked a pack of cigaretes (I totally forgot how to spell that) but when we taught the plan of salvation and the word of wisdom and made a plan of conversion with them, they decided to go from smoking 20ish a day to THREE! ANd they're keeping with their goal! The coolest part is they tell us every day that they dont even feel the desire to smoke much! They are so excited to come to church (they went once and loved it) and work towards baptism. Its amazing to see the changes theyre making and the results. We were Reading Alma 5 with them yesterday and talking about the "mighty change of heart" and they said "Thats us!" :) They thank us every day for bringing Peace to their house and every time that someone comes to the door during our lessons, José Always says "No, not now, the servants of God are here and we are listening to them." :)

Funny story of the week: on saturday the 4 of us (Sister Robins, Lockhart, Reis and I) went to clean the church and we ran there. As we were running we received these three diferente comments: some guy shouting "1, 2, 1, 2!", another guy shouting in English " LETS GO!" and another guy shouting "Women, stop running!" haha It was quite funny, people here dont jog or run apparently.

And another funny story/miracle: we called our district president, Pres. Santos, to confirm a visit with him and his wife. When we called, he had his phone on speaker and a friend with him. After the phone call, he commented to his friend that we were missionaries. The friend said, ""Yes, I could tell that the one who was speaking is from São Paulo." (which is funny because it wasnt Sister Reis who spoke, it was me) and he didnt believe it when Pres Santos said I was American! Pres Santos told me story and I told him that he should invite his friend to church to meet me and see that I really am American. ANd the best part is his friend came yesterday!!! :D He stayed for all of church too, and loved it! And is still thinking that Im Brazillian :)

The spiritual thought today comes from Ether in the Book of Mormon. Im studying the part where the Jaredites are crossing the Waters and Heavenly Father protects them from the storms. Likewise in our lives we have big storms and waves and sometimes are in the depths of the sea, but we dont have to fear because God is sending those waves to help us reach our promissed land.

Muito amor,

Sister Knapp

P.S. Today is the day of Piauí, the state Im in. Eu AMO PIAUÌ! :) Fun fact

Milagres e murcegos

Olá!

This email is a day late due to yesterday being a holiday and all the lanhouses being closed. This week has been pretty awesome, as usual, because Parnaíba (in fact, all of the Brazil Teresina Mission) is the best. :) We had lots of miracles finding people, Im going to choose a few of my favorite stories to tell. First of all, our biggest miracle of the week is our less active member family who is COMING BACK TO CHURCH! Woohoo! They've come the past two weeks and are so excited to work with the branch, espeically with us missionaries! The sister, Lorena, is our superhero of the week, she's come with us to teach lessons on FOUR different days in one week AND they gave us lunch on Sunday. They're awesome :) Anyway, the first day Lorena went with us on splits she stayed with me and we were walking past a fancy house by the church when I felt strongly to knock on the door (which we had already knocked on with no success in the past.) I ignored it for like 3 seconds and then said "Wait, Lorena, we need to go back." So we did, but there was no doorbell and the door was the kind you wouldnt hear the knock. So I said out loud "Okay, Heavenly Father, what do I do?" and I looked through the fence and made eye contact with the gardener, who after talking a bit was super receptive and turned into our newest investigator! :) Another cool experience was while we were on the bridge over the river (where it is super windy) we helped a lady with a bunch of groceries and a two year old son, and she super willingly invited us to teach her. And today we passed an adorable lamb and we asked if we could take a picture (because sisters are all about taking pictures with cute animals) and when I gave the owner of the lamb the Restoration pamphlet she LOVED it because the cover has a picture of Jesus Christ holding a lamb. :D

A funny but not so awesome story of the week is that all of us sisters now have a  new phobia: bats. A GIANT bat somehow got in our apartment and when we saw it we may or may not have all ran screaming and jumped onto the safe-ish shelter of my bed (because its the lower bunk) in order to escabe the bat. In the midst of our laughter and fear we decided we needed to somehow get the bat out of the house and we decided the best method was prayer because no way were any of us going to chase a bat with a broom (I know its Halloween but come on.) So Sister Robins said a powerful prayer and we are not sure where the bat went but it disappeared. Moral of the story: bats are scary and prayer really works. :) 

Scripture of the week is 2 Corinthians 5:7 -- For we walk by faith, not by sight. Yesterday we taught a SUPER POWERFUL SPIRITUAL lesson to Luzilene and she asked an awesome question: Why isnt Christ on the earth with us if He lives? This scripture immediately came to mind. Im so grateful to know that we need to develop our faith every day, and that our faith works miracles.

Have a wonderful week! Dont forget to ponderize!

SIster Knapp

Conference Weekend!

Olá!

I hope that everyone had the opportunity to enjoy conference this weekend, because seriously, General Conference is one of the best times of the year! I had the opportunity to watch it at our church with the rest of District Parnaíba (4 branches) and there were lots of people! When we sang the congregation hymns I had a hard time deciding whether to sing in English or in Portuguese so I would trade off between the verses and everyone around me laughed. :) 

Funny/awkward culture story of the week: so this week in Parnaíba was a big Catholic festival of São Francisco. As part of the celebration, many people wear brown clothes. I didnt know that fact when I bought a new dress for Conference which happened to be brown. Sunday morning (the biggest day of the festival) I wore my new brown dress without giving much thought to the fact that brown was the color of the festival. Yeah so.... It was rather funny as we talked to people in the streets because they would look at my name tag and then my dress and you could see their minds wondering whether to believe that I was really a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or to assume that I was participating in the festival.... Oops haha Lesson learned: never underestimate what message the color of your clothes say. :)

Thought of the week comes from Elder Robert D. Hales' talk this conference: "If we are here for the Lord, He will be here for us." I know that this is true! Every prayer we say is heard and our Heavenly Father is always reaching out to us, His beloved children.

Have a great week!

Muito amor,

Sister Knapp

Excited for CONFERENCE

Olá!

I am so excited for General Conference this weekend that I think its all I'm going to be able to talk to people about. We get to hear from God's LIVING PROPHET AND APOSTLES on the earth! Woohoo! I hope that you all enjoy all of the wonderful and inspiring words we will hear this weekend!

This week has been an adventure of trying to find new people to teach. We knock on lots of doors, ring lots of doorbells, and even clap a lot. Culture fact: lots of houses (not too many here in Parnaiba, it was more in my past areas) dont have doorbells so instead you clap your hands loudly for the people in the house to know there is someone at the door. Im not sure if I mentioned that in a past email, but its quite an adventure. :) We've been able to teach the message about the Restoration a lot (seriously, A LOT) this past week, which is great because it is unique and life changing and everyone deserves the opportunity to hear it! 

Funny stories of the week: my companion, Sister Reis, is obsessed with animals. She's always meowing at the cats and talking to the dogs and its super funny to watch their reactions :) Havent been chased yet, so thats good. :)

Another funny story: our district leader told me yesterday that they had been trying to find the family we had contacted the other day who lives in their area. They went to the address the lady had given me only to find out that it was wrong. The lady, Jesus (nickname for Maria de Jesus) had said we could stop by and share a message. SO when the Elders knocked on the door and a lady answered, one of the Elders asked "Are you Jesus?" and the poor lady was so confused and it was a hilarious situation. They clarified that they were looking for a Maria de Jesus and even though it wasnt her ("No sorry my name is Camila...") they were able to share a bit about the gospel :) 

Scripture of the week, in honor of General Conference, is the wonderful Doctrine and Covenants 1:38 "What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same."

Have a wonderful week!

Muito amor,

Sister Knapp

Tem SISTERES em Parnaiba!

Olá!

This week was absolutely an adventure and full of many many miracles! On Tuesday we had our trainer meeting and after lunch we had a few hours to just talk to people and invite them to church! It was great fun, I was with Sister Patrocinio, who is hilarious, so we had a blast. But the best part of the day was when we got to meet the new missionaries! My companion is Sister Reis, from São Paulo, and she is AWESOME! Seriously, she is such a great missionary it doesnt feel like she is brand new because she is so calm and teaches so well. On Wednesday we were able to travel to our new area: Parnaiba! We are working in Ramo 1 (Branch 1) and I know that we are going to see SO MANY miracles this transfer. We share an apartment with Sister Robins (the same sister I was with in Cidade Jardim six months ago) and the new sister she is training, Sister Lockhart. Fun fact: three Utah sisters in one house means lots of pancakes. :) haha Sister Reis is helping us with our Portuguese, but don't worry, in our house its SÓ (only) português! :) Its been kind of a shock for Parnaiba to have us here because the last sisters were in Ramo 3 and over 6 years ago (the last time Ramo 1 had sisters was more than TEN years ago). One guy said to us "You're the first women missionaries Ive seen in my life, I didnt know you existed! I thought it was just men!" hahaha :)

Our house here in Parnaiba is wonderful: we live on the top (third) floor of an apartment and its small but easy to keep clean and the walls are light blue! (The favorite color of the other three sisters, and I aboslutely love blue walls) Its REALLY windy here, so our house makes lots of sounds and we have to be careful with our skirts as we walk :) haha But its wonderful because now is the hottest time of the year, and its like having a giant fan following us wherever we go, so Im a big fan (pun not intended) of the wind. 

The branch here received us super well! I already love everyone here! We havent had any lessons by ourselves yet because we always had a member helping us out and teaching us where to go. Our angel of the week has been Priscila, who went with us three days straight. But seriously, our branch is so awesome and so excited to have sisters here that I know we are going to work really hard. 

Funny Portuguese word story: so my companion, Sister Reis, cut her hair today and now she has a cute afro. When we told Sister Lockhart how to say afro in Portuguese she about died laughing because afro in Portuguese is "black power". Seriously, no joke. :) Thought that you all would enjoy that new word.

Okay, now on a more serious note: I wanted to share a bit of what our district president said in sacrament meeting yesterday. He was talking about how easy it is to get distracted with our technology and smartphones and such and how distraction is one of the most powerful tools of the adversary. It made me think of a conference talk I studied last week that I wanted to share (Ill post the link since Im out of time): https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/stay-by-the-tree?lang=eng

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I know that the Lord works miracles in our lives every day! 

Muito amor,

Sister Knapp

Tchau Maiobão e olá Parnaiba!

Boa tarde!

This email is a day late due to TRANSFERS! Woohoo! I absolutely love Maiobão (the wind, the bakeries, the wonderful people, the AMAZING WARD etc.) and my companion, Sister Espinola, and I am quite sad to leave. BUT I am super super excited for this next transfer because its an adventure Ive been praying for my whole mission: I get to train again AND open a new area! Ive been assigned to work in Parnaiba, a city in Piauí that is a delta and has pretty beaches and is very windy apparently, training a new sister! In two hours I get to meet her, because all I know right now is that Im going to train, the rest is a suprise! :) And I get to open a new area, along with Sister Robins, who will also be training! IM SO EXCITED! And Parnaiba hasnt had sisters in 6 years (since the Teresina mission was formed). I was talking yesterday to a sister from Parnaiba (a member waiting for her mission call who is going to serve in São Luís as a sister for a transfer) and she was so excited and said that all the members pray to have sisters there again. :D Seriously, I am so excited its kind of ridiculous. More stories to come next week!!

Funny story of the week: this was the week that everyone in Maiobão decided to comment on my appearance. I died my hair a little darker and everyone said that I look much more Brazilian now. And the other day we were waiting for the bus when a woman told me that I had the prettiest nose she had ever seen that (direct quote) "looks like it was made by hand". Cool, thanks :) haha My companion laughed a lot about my "pretty little nose" the rest of the day. 

The spiritual thought of the week is something that President Melo is always reminding us missionaries. Its found in 2 Corinthians 3:3 which reads "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." I love this scripture because when we promised to take upon ourselves the name of Christ, we promise to be an example at ALL times and in ALL things and ALL places. We can do this as we beome living epistles of Him who sent us. We can act and speak in ways that those around us will be invited to come unto Christ. And truly, there is no happier way to live! 

Have a wonderful week! Next email will be from Sister Knapp in PARNAIBA! :D

Muito amor,

Sister Knapp

Flautas e feriado

Olá!

Our voyage to Teresina was wonderful, including mission council where we learned a lot and were able to take some great training about recognizing the Spirit to our zone. :) Zone conference was great as well and we've worked really hard this week. We still werent able to mark new baptismal dates with D and M, but we are doing our best and trusting in the Lord's timing. 

Culture thought: this week I was thinking a bit about the names of the people we talk to. I feel like names basically fall into two categories: common names (example Maria, Raimundo, Raimunda, Francisco, Francisca etc) and names that I have to ask "how do you spell that?" at least three different times. :) But either way, I love the names of the people here and especially the people to whom those names belong to! :)

Fun story of the day: today is Brazil's independence day! Our ward is having an all day celebration at the church and Sister Espinola and I were able to participate a bit this morning. We also have a new exciting addition to our lives: RECORDERS! We went to the music store this morning and each of us bought a recorder. We went to the church where (unplanned) we found Hislane, a sister who returned recently from her mission, with her recorder and we played a few hymns together! Sister Espinola is learning fast (which is good because transfers are in a week)  and soon we are going to be playing duets. One of my favorite things about being here in Maiobão has been sharing music with the ward and my companions. :) We gave a message this morning in the activity about the importance of music and hymns and I found a neat scripture about music in Colossians 3:16 :) "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" I invite all to read it and pay special attention to the hymns that are sung in Family Home Evening and all other church meetings this week. 

Have a wonderful day!

Muito amor,

Sister Knapp