Monday, February 17, 2014

Settling in after being out for a whole month

Hello my wonderful family!!
My emails a little delayed because we went to Temple Square this morning just for fun with our Senior couple so that was nice! I say 'it's all good in the hood' all the time here because its a tiny bit ghetto. haha!
I am doing well. It was a good and very fast week.
This Saturday we have my very first baptism!! Two precious kids are getting baptized. One is 10 and the other is 12! They have inactive parents but live with a member and they are so sweet and I just adore and love them so so much! I am so excited to see them get baptized. They are so on fire with the gospel, and it is so impressive. I pray with my entire heart that they will be able to withstand this world and remain faithful and active in the Church. I love them! I have so much fun teaching them, and it's so fun to see their sweet spirits grow. The little boy told us he really wanted to be the prophet and to follow Jesus! it was adorable!
This week I went on splits, and it went well. Sister N, who is our senior couple came with me! We talked about following the Prophet and it went well. Sister N told me I did great! Friday I went on exchanges with sister T! She is sweet. She is from Fuji! She has an awesome accent and was fun to be with. She is who I want to be on my mission! haha She is so good with the gospel and I learned a lot from her especially how to be bold in a very loving way!! So that was good. But, she snored so that sucked. haha! I was very happy to be back home (my mission home that is).
Saturday we had a choir rehearsal because Sunday we had a big mission devotional. It was soooo fun because my whole district was there. (minus the two elders who went to the SLC South Mission--boo we miss them!!) But, oh man, it made my heart so happy to see them again and be able to chat about our missions and our areas!! It was great! I love them and am so grateful I was able to meet them and be in their district at the MTC! :) Sister S is sitting next to me now, so that's awesome! I love seeing her!The missionary devotional is this cool devotional that takes place here. All the missionaries in our whole mission go, and we (the missionaries who want to) sing some songs, and then, they play Mormon Messages about the Atonement, and recent converts or people who were recently reactivated bear their testimonies! It's for all of us missionaries and everybody in our whole mission who live in Magna and West Valley (because yes those are the only two cities in our mission haha), but it was great. The spirit was so strong, and I loved it so much. Our last song we sang was "I believe in Christ" and man, it was powerful. It's really powerful being a missionary and singing in a choir full of missionaries, especially missionaries you have grown with and who you love so much! Then President Swain spoke a little. He sat by me and it was nerve racking! ha ha! I wish you all could have been there. I thought about you a lot, as I do every day, and I am very grateful for each of you! This mission is really the best thing. It is so hard! I'm not even gonna lie, and some days I have no idea what on earth I was thinking, but those thoughts quickly leave when I see my name tag or feel it and when I see people get the gospel and grow and understand the wonderful blessings we can get from it. I love this gospel, and I want you each to know that. It is honestly the best thing ever. It is something that brings healing, peace, joy, happiness, and it brings families together forever. Everything that seems unfair about this life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am so humbled to be his missionary and to be a tool in his hand helping hasten this work and bring His lost sheep back to him. What a humbling experience and I am so privileged and so lucky to be here. I think of that often.
So I have found that nothing is harder than when you see people GET the gospel but they won't keep the commitments you make with them. :( waaaah. that has been a hard part of this. We teach two people and man they get it. They are so good with the gospel, and I can see that desire, but it's not enough. The one is worried about going back to church because she is worried about getting judged, and man, it's so hard! She is so sweet! I love her and just want her there, and she was supposed to come to at least Sacrament this Sunday, but her dad said she slept instead. Man, it kills my heart. And I don't care about the numbers. That stuff means nothing! I care about helping these people come back to Christ and their Heavenly Father who is waiting and wants them back ever so much. I just want them to have that peace and joy the gospel brings!! It's so hard sometimes. Then we have another man who just can't get his priorities right. He had a baptism date set, but this is the third time. We've had to move it back because he won't come to church (work is interfering a lot). He's had a hard time with smoking, too, but he is slowing getting through that, and I challenged him this week to go a week without smoking, and he said he would and really thought he could do it! We have such good discussions with him, but the other day he told us he doesn't care what church he gets baptized into as long as he gets baptized. So, we have to go over the restoration with him again (the Elders taught him that--shakin' my head hahaha! just kidding, our elders are great!) But ya, that has been hard. Those two are killing my heart! They are SO close, and I just need to figure out a way for them to feel the spirit more or something, so they can understand the importance of it and know it's what they need to do, not just think it. But, me and Sister M are working on that!
Sister M is great! We have a ton of fun together. She cracks me up haha! But ya, all is well, and I'm so grateful to be a part of the army of Helaman. This gospel is true! It is 100% true, and I testify of that. I have felt it more and more as I've been a missionary. There is no doubt. God loves us, and we are his children, and he has a perfect plan of happiness. We just have to accept that. I'm so grateful for each of you and pray for you every day, and I pray that angels will constantly be surrounding you, taking care of you, directing you, leading you, and keeping you safe and healthy and strong. There are no words to express my love for each of you and how grateful I am that families are forever!
Thanks for letting people know my address :) Can you post it on my Facebook wall?
I need to buy a bike here soon as the weather has been in the 50's! It's been INSANELY nice haha. I feel for you who have to deal with the snow. I ask Siri on my ipad the weather for PA a lot and every time she says "It's not looking good for Harrisburg PA" hahaha! So sad!! Keep safe and warm!
Know of my love for you always. I can't express that enough. I am so blessed to be a part of this family and to have the knowledge we have. Please never take this gospel for granted, and do all you can to hold to the rod, and get back, if you have let go! I love you all eternally forever and I miss you every single day.
Be safe, happy and strong!!
All of my love forever,
Sister Sarah Knight <3 xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Monday, February 10, 2014

Two weeks in West Valley City...done!

Talofa family!!
Thank you so much for all the emails and love and support and prayers. I do feel them!
I got my package mom and dad :) I loved it! It made me SO happy getting something in the mail especially from home! I love your letters and the words of encouragement and support. I do need them a lot. And mom the skirt fits wonderfully! All the sisters I live with are very jealous, and the lady I live with was very impressed! :) I love it! Thank you so much. If you have time it would be great in every color! ;)
This week has been a bit better. Some cool news: me and sister M are leading our District...I guess we are doing pretty well. But, I am not letting that go to my head. We have a lot to learn still, especially me...our sister training leader was over for exchanges, and we role played with her and she is exactly who I wanna be in a few months. She has the spirit and does awesome talking about the gospel!
We've been teaching a lot. The past couple days we have been on the go go go and have taught a lot of lessons. Some have been difficult...well mainly one. For the most part the people we are teaching are inactive. They are all very kind! But, on Saturday night we taught an inactive and his gf and they have two little boys. He just kinda told us he hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon because he doesn't believe it's true and feels like it's all made up mainly because he hasn't gotten an answer about it yet. That was the first time I've gotten something like that so that was kind of hard for me to help him, but I tried my best. We challenged him to keep reading the Book of Mormon and to truly pray with a sincere heart and promised him he would get an answer.
The other day we were teaching another inactive sister. She's 19 and so sweet! Her dad comes to church, but she doesn't often. They lost her records so she will probably have to get re baptized. We taught her about the commandments and the main part we wanted to focus on was prayer. So, we did that and talked about it and showed a Mormon Message and she told us that everything we said to her was an answer to her prayers and just what she needed, so that was way cool! It makes me feel like I really am getting it, kind of.
It's been hard. Sometimes I just don't know what to say. I'm still trying to adjust to clearing my mind and letting the spirit guide me. I think I'm getting there.
Sister M sweetly reminds me to read the Book of Mormon again, because I'm really not as smart as she is when it comes to the Book of Mormon..oops. hah.
Tuesday we took a very sweet family to Temple Square! They are recently reactivated and their son just got baptized and now they are working on getting to the temple to be sealed...When they do Sister M and I will be able to be there :) They have three boys and one girl: beautiful, beautiful kids! They are a family from the Martial Islands! It was a good experience. We watched the video about the Plan of Salvation that they have in the DC visitors' center, and it made me cry. It made me miss my family! But, I was able to bear my testimony to them, so that was good! We taught with the sister missionaries on Temple Square! One sister was one of my MTC teacher's sisters! haha That was cool! So, we are hoping that they will get to the temple soon~ we sat with them at church on Sunday!
This weekend was Stake Conference. It was really great! It was all on hastening the work! Our Stake President is a sweet emotional older man! We have 48 missionaries in our stake out right now. He read some of their testimonies since they've been on their mission. I'm loving the people more and more here. The members are really great. Stake Conference really pushed members to get into the work!! Members are a huge strength, and I can testify to that!! The Samoan people are wonderful, so sweet and hilarious! The ladies always pull me into them and give me enormous hugs and kisses on the cheek!! They are very loving. It's hard when I don't understand, but I do love the people!! We taught a lesson all in Samoan the other night -.- that stunk. haha But, I said the closing prayer. We are thinking of going on splits now since Sister M thinks I'm ready for that, so we will see! There is a missionary devotional this Sunday! Our whole mission is going to be there, and everyone here is invited: members, non member, and inactives, so it should be really great! I'm excited and can't wait to see the people from my MTC district! haha. and it should be very spiritual! I still love being a missionary for my Heavenly Father. In fact I think that love is just growing. It's a blessing to be in the Army of Helaman and to bring people closer to Christ!
This Friday (Valentines Day) I am going on splits and going to the Hunter area with one of my sister training leaders-sister lala (that's a nickname can't remember her whole name hah) She is from New Zealand! So hopefully that will go well! It goes from 4 PM Friday to 4Pm Saturday!
We have an elderly missionary couple in every stake in our mission and ours is the sweetest! They are Elder and Sister N! I love them! They are just like our grandparents. They take good care of us and always tell us how much they love us!! Very grateful for them and for the wonderful people I am meeting here. We had dinner with the 6th Ward this past week and they were nothing but incredible strong members. I was very blown away by some of them! They are sweet, strong, humble people!!
I went to Golden Corral after District Meeting on Friday. It made me think of you daddy. haha It was so good! I ate way too much though! lol
One thing that's been hard for me here is worrying about you guys. I know I shouldn't, but I do! It's just me! I've been praying hard for you since I've been here and expressing my concerns and worries, and the other night I turned to Doctrine and Covenants 100:1 It's an awesome verse that helped me a lot! Go read it.
Sammy, I found a little turtle in my scriptures that you drew me forever ago. It was so cute! I love it!
Pdays are actually rather stressful with too much to do in one day. That was my week basically.
Stake conference talked so much about hastening the work as I said. I just wanna challenge each of you to make missionary work a part of your every day life!! Pres. K challenged us to take 1% of our time each day to do service for others: just a phone call or something. We were also challenged to be in the scriptures every single day and to make sacrifices to do so! It will bless your live tremendously, and you will see huge changes!
Well family, I can't think of anything else I was gonna say haha. I hate that. But I love you all so much and pray for your protection and guidance always! You are in my thoughts and my heart. I miss you all every single day and hope every one is doing great! Know I am in the Lord's hands and doing his work! He is taking care of me and there is nothing more exhausting than missionary work! It is the greatest calling on the earth and I am humbled and blessed to be a part of it!
I love you all forever and hope to hear from you soon.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Sister Knight

Monday, February 3, 2014

First email from West Valley City - Out in the field now!

Talofa lou aiga (Hello my family! It's Samoan! you'll see why soon haha)
I am here in West Valley City!
My first week has been good. I have been kind of home sick and MTC sick. I miss my District a lot. It was sad saying bye to them. But, we are all close except two of our elders who sadly went to SLC South, but we can email them so that's been nice! Me and my MTC companion Sister Seaman are in the same zone :) so every P day we get to see each other cause our zone goes to a church and plays games! haha so that will be super nice and I'm so grateful for that. I have missed her so much!! We only have one Walmart in our area haha so we run into each other on p days when we are shopping!
My new companion's name is sister Maiava ( My ava) She is straight from Samoa! It's her first time in America and she has been out for 8 months! We found out we have the same birthday, but she is one year older than me! She is funny. We get along well. She says Oh my hannah all the time after I say oh my lanta and its funny the way she says it haha. We live with two other sister missionaries (one is from my zone from the MTC :) Their names are Sister Moore and Sister Howard. And we live with a member named Sister XXX. She is so sweet and has a precious dog named Bailey!
So Sister Maiava and I cover three wards: the 3rd ward, 6th ward, and the 11th ward. We are in Church 9 AM- 4 PM. Its a long day, but guess what. The 11th ward is a Samoan ward...all they speak is Samoan and Sister Maiava is from Samoa so she understands and I'm trying to learn the language! haha. It's been very interesting.
We get fed A LOT to say the least. I am praying I don't get fat because they really feed us! Nice humble people though!! Guess how many people were in the Samoan ward... 269! That is so much!! And that is the only ward we go to all of the meetings! (The 3rd and 6th ward we only go to sacrament meeting.) Luckily in Relief Society they split up into Samoan and English. It's kinda hard not knowing what anyone is saying all of Sacrament and Sunday School.
Tomorrow me and Sister Maiava are taking a reactivated family to Temple Square! That will be fun!
Mom, we exercise for 30 mins in the morning, and I have no idea what to do. Can you like send me an exercise something haha! Idk, I need help!! I'm gonna get fat if I don't exercise hard in the morning haha.
We already have 3 baptisms this month and one on March 1!
I looove teaching the kids here. We teach a lot of younger kids. Their families are inactive and they sit in with our lessons, but it's precious. The kids are so cute! Seriously almost every one we teach is Samoan, Tongan, Mexican or from the Martial Islands. It's really neat. they are beautiful people! haha. but, anyways the one little girl we teach tells me every time she sees me that I am pretty! haha Its so cute and then there is this family I love so much! She has 3 girls. One just went to the MTC Wed and is going to New Mexico, but they are so sweet. I love them. Her little girl loves the sister missionaries, and she made me two bracelets! haha That's been fun.
The one hard thing about being here is there are so many Polynesian people and I can't say ANYONE'S names. haha its awful! but I guess kind of funny.
We have taught a lot of lessons...I'm still trying to get a hang of teaching and going by the spirit and working with a companion. This is real life now, so its a little bit different. We teach all day every day. If we don't have an appointment, we have referrals. There are a TON of inactives here...a lot of this mission is reactivating, I think. For the most part people have been very kind. I haven't really met anyone mean yet, but we have had some awkward experiences. The one night sister Maiava and I went to a referral and a Tongan boy answered the door and we weren't sure how to say the last name. haha Anyways, Sister Maiava asked if his wife was there...and he said 'um I'm like 14'...lol It was hilarious! So now, that's our joke. We are always like 'Sister I'm only 14'. haha. But all the Tongans look older! It's funny. but teaching has been good so far. We walk everywhereeeeee. It's so cold-especially last night was absolutely freezing. I had to put hand warmers in my pockets and boots it was so stinking cold. We don't get as many rides as I thought we would haha.
I've met a lot of members as well! They are pretty good. The 3rd and 6th Ward were kind of small to my surprise...the 3rd ward looked smaller than our Ward back home! I bore my testimony in the 3rd ward! I'm still trying to adjust and get to know everybody. The culture out here is so different. I guess I didn't realize all the ethnicity out here! But there are hardly any white people it seems. I've gone to a lot of lessons with Sister Maiava and a member from the Samoan ward and we teach Samoans and the whole lesson is in Samoan, so that's kind of hard, but what can you do. There has to be a reason I'm here. Though I can't see it yet, I'm sure there is. We have three lessons tonight after P day! So hopefully those go good.
No bike yet! Thank heavens. I don't wanna ride a bike lol!
My mission president and his wife are very sweet. They mean business though, but it's all good! I got my little ipad mini. It's awesome. Everything including our area book is on it!
All is well. I do miss everyone and am feeling a bit homesick, but I am trying hard to not think about it and just keep moving forward. Lots of things remind me of home and all of you, but then I try to remember that I can bless other families so they can be together for eternity like we are already blessed to have!

Alofa ia te oe ( I love you)
i love you all for eternity! and pray for you always to have angels surrounding you to protect you, guide you and keep you safe.
Share the gospel this week! we are so lucky to have it in our lives!!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Sister Knight <3

Last email from the MTC

My amazing family. I miss you all so much!
This week has been a good week, but it was tough all the same. I'm so grateful for the district I have. We have had some absolutely incredible experiences together.  Our teachers are incredible and know what they need to do when they need to do it and I am so grateful for that. I'm forever changed because of it. I just am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and for the spirit. Going on a Mission has already been the best thing I've decided to do. It truly changes your life for the better.
I leave the MTC tomorrow! How crazy is that! I'm really nervous, but I feel and know it will be okay. I'm so sad to be leaving my district I wish I could take them all with me. We are all going to the same mission but two of the elders are going to SLC south. We'll miss them for sure.
I guess I'll tell ya a little about my investigators.
I wrote you about the Russian girl. You'll get that letter soon if you haven't. she was our trc and was a harddddd one at that. She was very intimidating to say the least, but the spirit really helped us get her to open up. Our last lesson with her was on Monday. we didn't get too far with her, but we found out she is LDS anyways, married in the temple and isn't even Russian! haha too funny. We were so glad to hear that. 
We are teaching a cute Japanese old man. He is so fun and sweet. we only taught him once but, he invited us to come again today!
Tuesday night we heard from  Gerald Causse he is the first Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric! that was a good devotional and just on Sunday in Relief Society Janice Kapp Perry was our speaker! She was awesome!! and so sweet. She sang a song for us and I loved it and we also sang the primary songs she wrote with her. She also changed 'As Sisters in Zion' to 'The Sisters in Zion' and changed the words so it could apply to sister missionaries. It was awesome. I couldn't sing any of the songs without crying. We had our departing devotional last night. It was sad. I remembered when I first got to the MTC and we had our welcome devotional sitting there with my companion and now we already have to say bye. It was a good devotional though. The MTC President spoke to us and reminded us how we are somebody's missionary. I think that's so cool. I have to say that this is hard, and i know it's only going to get harder, but it's so rewarding. I haven't felt more sustained by my Heavenly Father in my life. He is really taking care of me and strengthening me and my heart. I feel so blessed and humbled to be here and to have had the experiences I've had.
We went to the temple this morning. It was really neat! I loved it, and the sisters were so sweet. The one older lady told me she didn't want me to leave! haha She was so cute and sweet. It was a good experience. 
I'm so blessed to have you as my family and am so grateful for the support I wish I could express how grateful I am. I want you all to know I pray for you constantly throughout the day and pray for angels to be protecting you. I miss you all a whole bunch. It's hard to be away, but I know the time will fly and it will bring us all blessings.
I'm so grateful to be here at the MTC and to be a missionary and representative of my Savior. 
Thank you all so much for supporting me and sending me love. I couldn't do it without any of you.
I love you all more than I can ever express.
Remember whose you are and smile every day. we are so blessed to have the knowledge that we have. stay safe and know angels are surrounding you!
All of my love for eternity,
xoxo
Sister Knight
ps. I saw Kimber and Dani Nadal! It was so good to see them and hug them! They are so sweet and seem to be doing so good!