17 June 2013 (this post is out of order....sorry)

In my new ward. We have a new Bishop and hes really great. Hes been the stake president before so he has a lot of experience and hes excited to work and help out. We're gonna have lunch with him tomorrow. We have lunch and sometimes dinner with the memebers every day except on Monday. We usually get some money though to buy food. My companion knows how to cook decently so I'm getting over my fear of cooking and breaking/burning everything in the kitchen. Our house is nice and I'll send you some pics of it when I can. We dont live in our area but its only like 10-15 minutes walking. The Relief Society made a care package for us yesterday and they put some basic food stuff in it for our house. I'm not sure what we're gonna do for lunch but whatever it is should be good. The time is going by really really quickly. This week was pretty good though. Sometimes I feel like I'm learning more than I'm teaching. You grow a lot personally and realize whats really important and think about your priorities. Yesterday at church was really interesting! The family that was supposed to give the first 2 talks in sacrament meeting got sick and right before sacrament meeting, they asked me and my companion to give the talks! It was a complete surprise. Luckily my companion went first haha. I wasnt really sure what I would talk about until 30 seconds before I stood up. President Lima (the mission president) had talked a lot about one of President Monson's talks from General Conference. I felt inspired to talk about that talk, focusing on the 4 principles that help us to be "more useful servants". Dilligent scripture study, teaching with testimony, planning your life with purpose and serving with love. I talked about these 4 points and gave some personal experiences and other stories that I remembered from other GC talks in the past. It went really well and had some members that said they really enjoyed it. I just stood up and talked for about 15 minutes and the Lord helped and guided me. After church, I had some members that asked me to sing for them and that was fun. I just sang a couple church hymns but they really liked it. Felt good to sing. I really dont have too many opportunities like I would like to. I read and studied a lot this week about some other talks from General Conference recently and also in the past. I feel inspired to be better and to help others grow when I read the experiences of the prophet and apostles. I especially enjoyed this promise/counsel from President Eyring when he said, "My promise to you who pray and serve the Lord cannot be that you will have every blessing you may wish for yourself and your family. But I can promise you that the Savior will draw close to you and bless you and your family with what is best.    Sometimes we feel as if we deserve blessings just because we are faithful and obedient. Sometimes it is difficult for us to comprehend that life isnt always fair. We know that it isnt always fair but especially in the moments of trials and difficulties, we begin to doubt and question. We rationalize our complaints and lack of faith because we may feel that "maybe God doesnt love me". This is common and unfortunately it is easy to fall into this trap. I am glad to say and find peace in the principle of hope. Hope is powerful. We can all be sure, as I am, that truly, Heavenly Father does love us. President Eyring promised us that we may not recieve exactly what we want or what we feel we deserve, but that we will be blessed "with what is best". I know this is true. We can find great peace and comfort in the knowledge that even though we cant see future, we can have hope that the future will be bright, independent of the problems and difficulties we will have. 

Job, who had many problems, was counseled by a dear friend when she said, "Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; 7 Yet man is born unto trouble" (Job 5: 6-7)   

Trust in God. He love us. Mom, I love you and am grateful that we can have hope in the Savior. He is the light of the world (John 8:12)

25 June 2013 with LOTS of pictures

from Elder Knotts 25 June: I did get to see the training and I even watched it in English! It was really great! I'm super excited to see all the new missionaries and new things changing. At the meeting there were probably over 200 people that watched the meeting at our stake center. It was great. I loved that Boyd K Packer talked that the most important teaching is done by mothers. I loved that part. There were tons of great things and I took notes but I just dont have them with me right now. ...... I've been working a lot on improving my Portuguese. Its getting there. Some missionaries from my group and I went to the air port yesterday to renew our visas. We ate a buffet and I'll send you some pics. (pictures are below) At the air port I had a really great experience. While I was waiting for everyone to finish, a man came up to us. His name is Stuart and he is a member of the church from Scotland. His accent was awesome by the way. Hes been in Brazil for a couple months and speaks a little Portuguese. To make a long story short, he needed some help to talk with people and explain some stuff. I worked as his translator and helped him figure some stuff out. .......it was great to help him and translate with English and Portuguese. It was a really cool experience. This week was good though. We've been visiting a lot of families and are trying to help some less active families to return to church. My companion only has a couple weeks left on the mission but we're really trying to work together and meet our goals. So, I'm sending you a bunch of photos so you can put those on fbook and on the blog. And please share all of the great experiences you're having. I'm excited to hear about whats going on at home and how (everyone) and the family are doing. ........

Elder Jared Knotts

3 June 2013

My first week here (in Madureira, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) went pretty well. We visited a bunch of members and the first Sunday here was really nice. We had almost 100 people at church and was glad to meet even more people. Well my new area is a about 3 main areas that are all pretty close together. This new area is much smaller than Irajá which is good because Irajá is huge. My new area is about 30 minutes away from Irajá. The first week has been good. I met a lot of members and the Bishop and some other local leaders. Sunday was pretty good. Church attendance was a little smaller than average this week with 96 people. Usually its about 110 or so. Its a nice area and has tons of people who live here. My companion, Elder Motta is on his last transfer and then he goes home to São Paulo. Hes a nice guy and we get along pretty well. Hes an incredible artist. He sketches and draws super well. I havent had the opportunity to sing here yet but I'm excited for sometime in church when I'll have the chance. We've been working hard and teaching more. Its good to have some change. We dont use the bus very often here. Tomorrow I'll go to my first Mission Counsel. Its once a month when all of the ZoneLeaders and the Assistants and President Lima get together and we recieve a special training and then pass the training on to our Zone the next day. Today is my first PDay here and we're gonna clean the house and maybe go to the church with the some other missionaries. I'm feeling good and glad to be making a difference. I've been reading a lot of talks from General Conference and am grateful for inspired leaders that are so experienced....... Its great to see pics of Jordan's graduation. Seems like mine wasnt that long ago. I love the scriptures and pray for understanding and wisdom so that I can understand and apply the lessons I'm learning........ The weather here right now is really nice. Its been raining a little bit but its been in the high 70s. I'll try to send pics next week. Its been a while since I've sent any for you. Sometimes I just forget my memory card at the house but I'll send some next week. .......I read a great talk this morning by President Boyd K Packer and he said, "I have come to know that faith is a real power, not just an expression of belief. There are few things more powerful than the faithful prayers of a righteous mother."

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