from 27 May 2013

Well tomorrow is the transfer and I'm leaving Irajá!!!! I will sincerely miss it here but I'm going to another area SUPER CLOSE! Its a different Stake but its really close so I know that some of the members here will come visit me haha. There are leaders in the mission. And there are 15 stakes in our mission. Each Stake has 5 or more companships of missionaries. One of these companships are the Zone Leaders and then the Senior companions of 2 other groups are District Leaders. I was the District Leader in Irajá for about 4 months. Now I will be going to my new area which is in the city of Madureira. My area will be Sulacap. Madureira is pronounced Mah-doo-ray-ruh. Irajá is pronounced Ear-uh-jah. I hope that helps a little bit haha. I'm a little sad about the transfer but I'm also SUPER excited! I've been here for almost 11 months. .......   I have a lot of friends that will be going to the other mission because our mission is gonna split. Its kinda sad and I'll miss them but I'm glad to be staying in Rio. Sincerely, I'm doing really good. We had a week or two that were kinda tough because we didnt have many investigators to teach but this week we visited TONS of people and we also had a baptism for this 12 year girl named Natália which would be Natalie in english. We helped reactivate her mom after being inactive for more than 15 years. I love so many people in this ward ....

from 20 May 2013

first this is part of the email I sent to Elder Knotts:

....so much going on and working hard to complete everything.  I was behind a lesson in RS and spent the better part of the week studying Lesson 8 in the Lorenzo Snow book.  Do you study those lessons too?  When I read the title of the lesson "Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart", I thought to myself, "you really need this lesson, don't skip it!"  So I started studying it and have found it to be most beneficial!!

"I have reason to believe that many of the Latter-day Saints, during a great portion of their lives, could approach the Lord in all confidence and make this same prayer (from Psalm 139:23-24)—“Search me, O God, and know my heart, and see if there be any wicked way in me;” but if we, as a people, could live so as to be able at all times to bow before the Lord and offer up a prayer like this, what a delightful thing it would be, what an attainment we should have acquired in righteousness and good works! … I would recommend that [every person] adopt this prayer of David, and see how near he can live according to the light that he has, so as to make it in all sincerity part of his devotions to God. Many fail in coming up to this standard of excellence because they do things in secret where mortal eye cannot penetrate, that have a direct tendency to alienate them from the Almighty and to grieve away the Spirit of God. Such persons cannot in their private closet use this prayer; they could not unless they had repented of their sins and repaired the wrong they may have committed, and determined to do better in the future than they had done in the past, and to establish a character before God that could be relied upon in the hour of trial, and that would fit them to associate with holy beings and with the Father himself when they shall have passed into the spirit world.

… We must be true men and true women; we must have faith largely developed, and we must be worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost to aid us in the work of righteousness all the day long, to enable us to sacrifice our own will to the will of the Father, to battle against our fallen nature, and to do right for the love of doing right, keeping our eye single to the honor and glory of God. To do this there must be an inward feeling of the mind that is conscious of the responsibility that we are under, that recognizes the fact that the eye of God is upon us and that our every act and the motives that prompt it must be accounted for; and we must be constantly en rapport [in harmony] with the Spirit of the Lord.

 I have spent much time on my knees pleading with Heavenly Father to search my heart and help me with good intentions!  I have had several good missionary experiences this week at school, with Jared Harvey's mother, with a complete stranger.....I am trying!  :)  

love and miss you terribly!

MOM

then sent to me, his mother, in response 20 May 2013

Hey Mommy!

I'm so glad to hear that youre searching the Lord and youre finding Him! How sweet it is to feel the Spirit's embrace. I will absolutely make this prayer also! Plead with the Lord that He may search my heart and help me to abandon feelings of anger, hate, selfishness, pride, sadness and loneliness. He is more than aware of how we feel but asking Him for help opens up the door for Him to teach us what we can do. Sometimes we have so many problems and challenges and we dont know what to do. We run out of ideas or just dont know how to begin and confront the problem. Personal revelation through prayer and scripture study help us that we may know the will of the Lord and what He desires that we do. I am so thankful for the scriptures. I honestly dont think my testimony would be so strong without the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. Just like Nephi, my soul delighteth in the scriptures and my heart pondereth upon them. I read Alma 33 again this week. I've already read this chapter several times but I love it even more with each read. Especially 33:11. I love when he bears his testimony of prayer and thanks the Lord for hearing his cries in verses 4-10. And in verse 11 I especially love when he says, "therefore I will cry unto thee in all mine afflictions, for in thee is my joy." Truly, my joy is in the Lord. I love you mom and am so thankful for your help and prayers. ..... I know the the Lord will continue to bless you because of your faithfulness and service to His children. 

Elder Knotts

from 13 May 2013

Part of a letter to me, his mother, sent 13 May 2013 We had gotten to Skype the previous day for Mother's Day.

It was so great to see you and Jordan yesterday! I love you and thank you for your help and prayers. 2nd Nephi 2:6-8 is so powerful! It is such a great missionary scripture to motivate people to share the gospel. How great is the importance to make these things known! ..... I read 2nd Nephi 4:15-35 several times recently. Nephi is so amazing and his testimony and counsel is full of the Spirit. I liked especially verses 18, 28, and 31. They make more sense in the context of the chapter as a whole but its good to pay super close attention to those verses when you read the chapter. I love the scriptures and just like Nephi, my soul delighteth in the scriptures and my heart ponderth on them. Verses 15 and 16 explain this so elequently. I love it. 

...... I'm feeling fine. We run every once in a while in the morning to exercise. With my shoes and clothes on, I'm at 190 lbs. so thats not too bad. Its a pain that we didnt get to talk very much yesterday. 40 minutes goes by way too fast. This will be one big thing that I will change when I get home. Our family is so important. I love you and cant wait to hear from you again!

Elder Knotts

Hey Mommy!

Its so great to hear from you. Thank you for the fasting and prayers. 1 year in Brazil!!! I cant believe how fast its gone by. I remember everything about those last couple days and moments. I feel so much more prepared to do whatever the Lord tells me to do now. I'm extremely excited to talk to you soon! The time difference is actually 3 hours. 1 there is 4 here. .......So many crazy and great things have happened. I've met some amazing people ...... . Thats good that you're almost done with school for the year. I'm glad youre making goals and planning! Do you have ideas or plans that youre gonna do this summer? I've been reading the scriptures a lot and tons of General Conference talks. I've read 20 different GC talks from President Eyring and I'm gonna read more. I've been reading and taking notes and writing down spiritual impressions into one of the note books you gave me. The other note book will be for notes and ideas for Jesus the Christ that I will start reading on my 1 year mark this Thursday. I'll start it and finish it before I get home. Thats the goal at least. It will be incredible to study more in depthly about the pre mortal, mortal and immortal life and existence of the Savior. Just beginning to understand His role will motivate me to be more like Him and to help others. Read 2 Nephi 2 verses 6-8. Then read it again. And a 3rd time. And after the third time, just read verse 8 until the word Messiah. I was inspired and directed to read this last night before I went to bed and it was very powerful for me. Well I love you so much Mom and will talk to you more on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!