Me Encanta Ver el Templo

Hola Familia y Amigos! 

Monday night got pretty crazy as soon as pday ended! We had three appointments in a row starting with our dinner appointment with la familia Cousiño. We see them every Monday it's great! So they fed us and then we shared a quick message before we sprinted over to our next appointment which was a family home evening with a returning less active member. 

I'm not exactly sure why or how but our entire district and our zone leaders got permission to be there. So it was a full house for sure! Well we got there and they were just about to start DINNER. So of course Hermano fixed us a plate and gave us a nice big glass of jamaica. That was pretty rough but we got through it. Hermana Starnes ended up sneakily putting the majority of her food on an elders plate so props to her! Then we moved to the spiritual message and we were only able to stay for about 10 minutes because we had to run to another appointment but it went really well. Hermana Starnes and I kicked off the FHE by singing Mas Cerca Dios de Ti (Nearer My God to Thee) and what the Hermano said afterwards really touched me. He said that while we sang he felt the Spirit just as he does whenever he feels like he needs to come back to church. So that was a very sweet experience. We ended the evening with our investigator, Lucy. We didn't have a lot of time with her but the Spirit was there and we know she felt it too! She has a real desire to come closer to our Savior and we're so excited to keep working with her.

Tuesday was super busy too which was awesome! We went over to a less actives house to help her clean her home and pull some weeds from her garden. She was so thankful for our help and we very much enjoyed serving her, listening to her, and getting to know her better. We also sang to her and her daughter too before we left. Singing really brings the Spirit we love it so much!

Then we had lunch with a member in her beautiful home! She basically made an entire pot of this meatball soup and had Hermana Starnes and I eat the ENTIRE thing. She had a couple bowls too but still it was a ton haha! She literally poured more soup in our bowls herself when she saw that we were running low and did that until it was gone. Only a little absurd but what can you do? ¡Con confianza, sin vergüenza! She's super cool. We were also helping her plan an activity/lesson that she has to present at a stake event next month so that was fun too! 

On Tuesday we also taught a lesson to a little 10 year old boy, Danny, who we now have on date for baptism for the beginning of next month! His mother is a returning less active member and they are such an adorable family! Danny said the closing prayer and it really touched my heart when I heard him thank Heavenly Father that the Sister Missionaries are able to be here to teach him about the gospel. We taught Danny again on Thursday and we made him 10 cookies to talk about how tithing works. It went super well! He was a little hesitant to pray on Tuesday but on Thursday he offered to say the closing prayer before we even asked! He's such a sweet kid! 

We had dinner at the bishops house on Friday night. He has such a beautiful family! So during dinner he asked where I served before so I was telling him all about the Chicago 4th Ward then he asked if I knew the Rodriguez Family. I was like, "OBISPO I LOVE THAT FAMILY! We had dinner with them every Monday night!" It was so nice to talk about the beautiful ward I served before Chicago 2nd with our bishop! 

 So the other day we had a little extra time so we picked a couple people to stop by and on our way to the last person we met a really sweet lady named Rosa! Well the person we tried to visit didn't end up being too interested but since we were able to meet Rosa we set up an appointment and were able to teach her entire family about the message of the restoration! It was awesome! We're going back on Thursday! We've got lots of work right now and I'm loving it! It's exhausting but I love it! 

I absolutely loved our district meeting on Wednesday. Elder Gomez had us do this activity where we closed our eyes and he told us to think about our happiest moments and the things that lead up to it and what happened afterward. For me I was thinking about a moment I will cherish forever and that was during a lunch break when I was working at Firehouse. My mom called me and told me that when I come home and go through the temple, we would be able to do that together and I just started to cry of pure joy. Then of course I thought of the experience I had when I went to the House of the Lord for the first time with my mom. As I thought about the experiences that lead up to and followed that event I thought about a lot of hard things I had been through but I also recognized that I had the Savior by my side the whole time. Then of course, I considered how all these experiences have equipped me to be able to serve the Lord as a full time missionary. My sweet family and friends, our Heavenly Father knows us perfectly and He has a plan. He finds joy in our happiness and wants more than anything to have us return to live with Him again someday. In order to reach that goal "He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). I testify that we have a Savior, who is Jesus Christ, and through Him we can overcome all things and one day return to live with Him and our Father in Heaven in a fullness of joy even as eternal families. I love you all so much! Stay strong my beautiful family and friends! 

Keep smiling,

Hermana Knowles :)

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Me encanta ver el templo

1.	Me ̮encanta ver el templo; un día ir podré.
	Me ̮enseñará ̮el Espíritu Santo ̮y oraré.
	Pues el templo ̮es Casa del Señor,
	lugar tranquilo ̮y bello.
	Desde niño me prepararé;
	es mi deber sagrado.
2.	Me ̮encanta ver el templo; un día entraré,
	y ser fiel a mi Padre, allí prometeré.
	Pues el templo ̮es el lugar sagrado
	donde la familia puede ser sellada
	en unión y ser familia ̮eterna.

Zone Activity!