14 Oct 2013

Hey Mom! 
I got your letter the day before my birthday! Thank you so much. It was really great to hear from you. The emails that I send and recieve here in the mission are important and I will save them all after the mission but the letters that you send me are of a much greater worth. I'm doing well. .... I dont really need anything.... I'm doing great with my companion. I'm teaching him a little english and hes teaching me a little spanish. Its interesting how close spanish and Portuguese are. My week went pretty well but we did a lot of traveling. We spent alot of time on the bus going to Rio (the city) because we had a lot of meetings this week. This past Sunday was StakeConference and we got to go on Saturday night also. It was amazing. Last month I participated in the Stake Conference in Madureira (my last area/zone) and Elder Gavarret that wrote that talk you sent me was there. (see link below) I got to meet him and he particpated in the ordinance of this man that we gave the Melchezidek Priesthood. I stood in the cirlce with him and it was great. I will see him again later this month, But this past weekend we had an area 70 that went to our stake conference and also a general authority 70, Elder Steven E Snow. It was great and I loved his talks. He spoke about rescuing the less actives and strengthing the members and working with the missionaries of course. I got to meet and talk briefly with Elder Snow. I also met his translator, Paul Grahl which is a professional translator and works for the church, He translated one of the talks into portuguese last week in General Conference. Hes such a great guy and I talked to him a little about my interest in translating and improving my portuguese skills. I'm gonna get his email and keep in contact with him. He is a very kind man and it was a pleasure to meet him. I enjoyed the pictures of the missionary in Africa. Must be interesting to be serving there. I'm extremely grateful that I'm here in Brazil and in particular, Rio de Janeiro. These 2 years will shape the rest of my life and lead me into life eternal with our family. We've had some difficulties with some of the missionaries in our zone but we're working hard to help them. I'm not any different than they are but I pray that Heavenly Father will guide me that I may help and bless them. Truly, this is the desire of my heart. I dont have much time left unfortunately and now we need to go and work but I love you so much. I'm thankful for your prayers and your support. I will talk to you soon!
Love, Elder Knotts

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/10/prepared-against-the-day-of-battle?lang=eng