Learning Spanish and the Power of the Spirit

Hola familia y amigos! I absolutely love it aqui en el CCM! The CCM is ginormous and it's super beautiful, especially the mountains and all the colorful houses on it! It's insane how much I've learned already and how quickly I'm learning spanish. I can pray pretty fluently in español now! Probably cause I do it like 10 times a day. The Spirit here is so strong and I know its helping us learn. It helps me in my studies and when I teach and I'm so thankful for such a spiritual atmosphere.  Mi compañera se llama Hermana Stout and she's pretty cool! She's from Washington State and we'll both be serving in Chicago.

I can easily already tell that missionary work is going to be the hardest thing I've ever done. Obviously I didn't expect it to be easy, but I'm so thankful I'm here and for this amazing opportunity I have to grow so much closer to our Savior. I pray all the time here. In español of course! Mostly for those I'm going to teach and to be able to do so as effectively as possible, and for everyone back home. The first few days were so long but after we got into the groove of the schedule here everything seems to go by faster. So Hermana Stout and I started teaching our first investigator on Friday! Everyone in my district is pretty sure this is just a guy that works here, but hey! A lesson is a lesson and when the Spirit is there it's amazing and can touch the heart of anyone regardless of their membership in the church or not. Man I love the Spirit! I don't think I can say that enough! So this guys name is Felipe and he's from here in Mexico City. We've taught him 3 times already and we're teaching him again tonight! Each lesson has been absolutely AMAZING! He doesn't speak english so I've learned so much spanish in preparing for each time we meet with him. In the first lesson I taught him how to pray and it was beautiful! I seriously cannot express how well we've been doing with our teaching. The Spirit is always so strong in our lessons and my compañera and I have gotten so good at letting it guide our conversations. It even allows us to bear POWERFUL testimonies from our heart. IN SPANISH! So great! Its so important to put our trust in the Lord and He will bless us with the Spirit to be able to know what to do! La fe es muy importante! We are so blessed here and I'm so excited for what were going to learn next. I know I'm going to do amazing things in Chicago! I CANNOT WAIT to meet these people and to serve and teach them! THIS IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!

 Everyone in my district is super cool. We have a lot of fun but most of all I love the Spirit they bring (there I go with loving the Spirit again). Their testimonies are so strong and last night we went around and shared why we were on missions. It was absolutely beautiful! We did some service yesterday and all the hermanas were singing Disney while we cleaned one of the casas for the new missionaries that are coming today. So fun! I think each week my favorite day is going to be Sunday. It's a little more relaxing than all the classes and such every other day and we get to watch a church movie at the end of the day! So for sacrament meeting everyone is asked to prepare a talk and then during the meeting they tell you who is going to speak. Guess who got picked her first Sunday at el CCM? This kid! Not gonna lie I think I nailed it. I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and en español! Also it rains pretty much everyday here and when it does it pours! Like the power went out while I was in the shower the other day haha. I pretty much play volleyball everyday during our hour of gym time. Its so great! My district and I are going to get together later and get a game going. I love and miss everyone so much but there's no doubt in my mind that I'm exactly where the Lord needs me. I love this church so much and I know with all my heart that it is the truth. If you want to contact me I suggest email cause everyone says it takes way too long to receive physical mail. I love you all so much and I look forward to hearing from you and knowing how everything is going!

Stay strong and keep smiling! 

Love Hermana Knowles