So this week was great and not blazing hot. Our week was really busy and we taught tons of new people and met some really nice families. I've been working out more in the morning and doing my exercises so thats always a plus. I 100% will not be one of those missionaries that comes home heavier! Taking care of our physical health definitely helps our spiritual health. Next week is the transfer and this Saturday will be 10 months in Brasil! I cant believe how fast the time has flown. Its been a great 10 months and the next 14 will be even better! So its starting to cool off a little here and for you guys it must be getting a little warmer. My baby brothers graduation will be here soon and that makes me feel incredibly old. I cant imagine how my brother Adam must feel. Unfortunately time flies even faster when you're busy but I am reaffirmed daily that this is absolutely where I should and need to be. Incredible how the Lord teaches us through trials, challenges, difficulties and new experiences in general. I was just thinking and sorry for all the spelling and grammatical errors. The only time I write in english is each Monday for these emails. 

So the Spiritual message of the week is actually a hymn. It became one of my favorite hymns after an emotional talk by President Jacobson at church more than a year and a half ago. Its number 105, Master the Tempest is Raging! I remember often the talk and inspired explanation given by Presidnet Jacobson and the Spirit that I felt as he read the lyrics. Unfortunately it would be a lot of space to put all of the lyrics here but the message that I would like to share that in the moments of disappointment, depression and despair, our Savior, Jesus Christ, will always be there to comfort and rescue us. Our beloved living prophet, Thomas S Monson gave an elequent message about this same scripture/hymn in the liahona. Always. Always remember that through the torrents and trials of life, our Father in Heaven will never abandon us.

http://www.lds.org/liahona/2013/03/peace-be-still?lang=eng

Well I've gotta go but I hope that you're all well. I hope you enjoyed the short update and I will write here again next week.

Elder Jared Knotts

Por todo mundo,

Infelizmente, tenho 5 minutos para escrever rapidinho. A semana foi show de bola. Ensinamos muito e conhecemos pessoas muito legais. A transferência vai ser a semana que vem mais acho que eu e Élder Ferreira vamos ficar aqui de novo. Esta sábado farei 10 meses no Brasil!! O tempo foi muito muito rapido! Estou muito feliz que tenho muito tempo ainda servir. Quero trabalhar mais para mostrar o Senhor que realmente amo ele e Seus filhos. Realmente amo as pessoas aqui e vai ser difícil sair aqui um dia. Li um discurso muito bom esta semana de Presidente Monson, nosso profeta. Ele é um homem muito inspirada. Na Liahona de Março tem a discurso chamado,  "Sossegai". Fala um pouco sobre um de meus hinos favoritos. Sei que quando vocês lerem, vão sentir o Espirito e ainda mais amor de nosso Salvador, Jesus Cristo.

http://www.lds.org/liahona/2013/03/peace-be-still?lang=por  Amo vocês e agradeço pela ajuda que eu e meu companheiro recebemos. Realmente o Senhor está conosco. 

Élder Jared Knotts 

Para todo mundo,

Uma boa semana que terminou com um dos dias melhores de minha missão! Muitos lições com famílias maravilhosas e conhecemos muitas pessoas novas esta semana. Vou mandar algumas photos por minha mãe que ela vai colocar na facebook. Estamos trabalhando muito para ajudar as famílias que estamos ensinando. Domingo, a família de Marcus e Elaine foi batizado e é um dia nunca esquecerei. Cantei um hino da igreja "O Meu Pai" e sentiu o Espirito muito forte. Realmente sei que famílias possam ser eternas. Tenho muitos amigos nos EUA que vão servir missões e algumas aqui no Brasil também. Estou muito animado pelas jovens que estão preparando para servir o Senhor. Tudo está último com minha família e estou animado para falar com minha mãe no Dia das Mães. Vai chegar logo! Estava pensando exatamente sobre o que devo compartilhar aqui e quero agradecer pelas pessoas e amigos em Rio e também em casa que ora para mim e me ajuda bastante. As problemas e dificuldades da missão parecem muito pequena quando estou ajudando outros e nosso Pai Celestial me ajuda. 

Uma mensagem espiritual por esta semana é sobre a influencia que nos temos com nossos amigos e familiares. Se você é feliz por causa o evangelho e o amor de nosso Salvador, a mais importante coisa que façamos, é compartilhar. A alegria e paz que o evangelho de Jesus Cristo traz não pode ser escondido. Abri a boca e compartilhar a mensagem da Restauração com um amigo. Realmente felicidade é incompleta quando as pessoas que amamos não têm as mesmas bençãos que temos como membros da Igreja de Jesus Cristo do Santos dos Últimos Dias. Eu amo este evangelho e sei que nosso Salvador nos ama.

Então, até a semana que vêm! Espero que tudo dê para entender. Amo vocês.

Èlder Knotts

So with this weekly letter I'll be sending some pictures too! Sorry I havent sent any in a while but its been busy here. February is almost over and its gonna start cooling down and raining more here soon. This week was really great. My new companion and I are working well together and we're meeting with some great people. This week we had a baptism with an amazing family! They had lived close to the church for years but never new any about it or had much interest in frequenting a church. The first time we met with them, a little more than a month ago, they started coming to church and we taught them regularly. As they saw the difference the gospel was making in their lives, they grew in their desire to be baptized and follow the example of our Savior. Yesterday was one of the best days of my mission as I saw a family be baptized by my companion and myself. The joy that they expressed to me and my companion after the baptismal service was so powerful and helped me to know that I had truly made a difference. I had the privelege to sing a song for everyone before the baptism and it was great to feel the Spirit. I sang one of the church hymns in Portuguese. The name of the song in english is "Oh My Father". 

Just for a short message real quick, I was thinking about the impact that we have on our familys, friends and everyone else around us. Never be afraid to share your testimony, or invite someone to church. Never be afraid to help a friend or do an act of service or kindness. Never second guess a prompting from the Spirit to share the gospel with someone. Feelings of doubt, fear and loneliness are tools of the Adversary that inheed our desires to invite others to come unto Christ through His restored gospel. I love my Savior and I feel my Saviors love. One of my favorite Primary songs is "I feel my Savior´s love" 

I feel my Savior's love in all the world around me. 

And when I kneel to pray, my heart is filled with peace. 

He knows I will follow Him and give all my life to Him. 

I feel my Savior´s love. The love He freely gives me. 

I hope that everyone is having a great new week and enjoying the end of winter! I look forward to hearing from you guys soon and will be back next week to share another blog post about my week.

Elder Jared Knotts

So Carnival here was pretty crazy and unfortunately I wasnt able to send email last monday but thats ok. So I'm still in Irajá and the work is going well with my new companion Elder Ferreira. Hes brand new in the mission and right out of the MTC. Hes a great missionary and its been a good first 2 weeks with him. So we've been working with some great families here in our area and are excited for this next week when we will have another baptism! A great family that we met about a month ago has been going to church and we're excited to say that they're ready for this first big step in following our Savior and His perfect example for us. So I'm super excited to hear about all the great missionaries that are going to be serving here soon. Sarah Shrack will be learning Tagalog! Harrison Inman will be a couple hours away from me here in Brazil! And if other people got their calls, let me know! We have a sister leaving from our ward here in Irajá for the MTC to serve in São Paulo Norte! I'm so excited to here about the growth and the other youth that are deciding to serve our Heavenly Father and His children. Well its been super hot as always but I'm hoping that it'll start to cool down a little bit here in March and April.

So the Spiritual message will be super short today because of the lack of time but I'd just like to share a great scripture that I read this week for about the 100th time but I'm still finding new things. In Enos 1: 11 in the Book of Mormon. He talks about his experiences in the verses before and he says that his "faith began to be unshaken in the Lord." I love how he phrases this and discribes it as unshaken. Truly our Savior, Jesus Christ, loves us and as we grow in our testimonies and become more confident in our conversion to the Gospel, our faith will become like Enos'. Unshaken in the Lord.

Well thanks again for everything you guys do and thanks for reading. I think I'm doing a little better at this weekly blog thing. Até logo, cara.

Elder Jared Knotts

Por Todo Mundo,

Então, realmente Carnival foi uma bagunça e que bom que ela acabou! Agora, podemos voltar para trabalhar um pouco mais normal. Esta semana foi muito bom e estou gostando muito das famílias e pessoas que a gente está visitando. Èlder Ferreira e eu estamos trabalhando bem juntos e a semana que vem só vai ser melhor ainda. È quente demais mas O Senhor ajuda que podemos aguentar. Então, desculpa de novo se eu escrevo uma coisa errado. Felizmente estou melhorando! Domingo ontem foi muito bom e gostei muito das discursos falando sobre nosso linguagem, a importância do relacionamento em nosso lar e sobre como nossa escolhas têm um impacto nas vidas de nossos amigos e familiares. Realmente sou muito grato pela amor e Espirito que eu sinto cada vez na Igreja. 

Só para encerrar rapidinho, eu não seria um missionário de sucesso sem deixando uma mensagenzinha. Li nas escrituras esta semana um pouco sobre como Enos (no Livro de Mórmon) recebeu a resposta dele através a oração muito poderoso. Em Enos 1:11 ele fala que, "minha fé no Senhor começou a tornar-se inabalável." Gosto muito da palavra inabalável. Devemos buscar a orientação de nosso amoroso Pai Celestial e crescer em nosso fé que ela pode tornar inabalável. 

Infelizmente, não tenho muito tempo para escrever agora mas espero que todo mundo tá bem. Amo vocês e até a proximo Segunda (Pday).

Elder Jared Knotts

So this week went really well and we had a new family at church yesterday. They're great people and its been awesome getting to know them and helping them. Ive been in this are for almost 7 months and I found out yesterday that I'll be here for at least 6 more weeks but probably 12 more. I'll be helping a new missionary who just got done with his training at the MTC (Missionary Training Center). I'm excited for the chance to train a new missionary and help him to get used to the every day life and walking, teaching and studying. Its been an amazing almost 9 months and I'm glad I still have tons of time left. Its been raining a lot lately but luckily its only been super duper hot a couple days this week. 

So for the spiritual thought, I've been thinking about how Heavenly Father wants to talk to us but sometimes we dont wanna listen. Its tough for sure. Its hard to accept things we dont always understand. Fortunately, I've gained a greater testimony and understand that God will never give us a problem that we cant handle. He will always provide a way that His plan will happen. 1st Nephi 3:7 is a famous scripture in the church and one of my favorites. I will go and I will do. Regardless of the challenge and problems that we may have, we can be confident that the Lord will never abandon us.

So we'll see what keeps happening here in Irajá. Its been a great 7 months and I'm excited to see the miracles continue. So the next part will be in Portuguese for my friends from Brasil so dont be worried if it looks weird.

Então, isso não vai ser perfeito gramaticalmente mas por favor me pordoe. Vou escrever muito rapido hoje mais prometo que as outras semanas eu vou escrever um pouce mais em portuguêse pra vocês. Estou muito animado pela oportunidade ficar em Irajá de novo. Vou ver vocês esta semana.

Elder Jared Knotts