Once again, I have no apostrophe, so you will all have to forgive me. I decided this time, rather than just write things like isnt, cant, etc, I would just try to not use any contractions or do anything else that would require an apostrophe. So, sorry if I come across sounding a little bit like Commander Data. :)
Firstly, the reason why I am writing a day early: Preparation Day was changed this week to accommodate a special zone conference tomorrow. We will be visited and taught by Elder Kopischke (that may be spelled wrong) who is a member of the Seventy and also the Europe Area President. It will undoubtedly be a wonderful, edifying experience. So, today, we are taking care of the shopping and email writing and all of that good stuff. We plan on going to the Temple today, and then sleeping over in Madrid for the zone conference tomorrow. Exciting! Unfortunately, this unforeseen change in schedule has made it so that I receive no email today. :( Oh well, I guess this means I will get double email next time. :)
Well, since I have nothing to respond to this week, I suppose I will give an in-depth look at our area and missionary work right now.I have been in Segovia now for... um.... a long time. Almost 8 months. That means I have lived here longer than I have ever lived anywhere else besides home. Interesting, eh? I have grown very fond of the members of the Church here, from Presidente Galera and Hermana Loli to our recently converted Cardenas family. I enjoy teaching them, serving them, and helping them fulfill their missionary responsibilities. We all love each other very much.
Working as a missionary in Segovia is not a cakewalk. The region is famous for its people being very serious and closed off to strangers (even more than usual.) The people here typically do not like talking to us, even so much as saying "hello." As a result, it is quite difficult to find people to teach who want to hear the message of the restored gospel. But, in spite of all this, we give it our best effort every day and try to find that "one soul" who will want to hear and accept the message.
The weather in Segovia is nice during the summer, but it gets very cold during the winter. I no longer know if this is a Spanish cold or a true American cold, but it feels cold nonetheless. My companion and I have decided that Segovia is most likely the "most precipitating area in the mission," frequently getting rain, snow and hail. That title will
most likely change when the mission boundaries do, but for now it stands. It makes things interesting though, so we do not mind it all that much.Currently, we are teaching Alfredo, a Colombian immigrant, and working towards the 27th of March for his baptism. His son, William, will probably take a little longer to get baptized. As for Mercedes, our new investigator, we have not seen her for almost a week and a half, despite our best efforts to meet, and we are a bit worried. We have continued giving her readings in the Book of Mormon and she says she has been reading them and likes them, but just by reading she will not be able to progress. She needs to come to church.
We also recently received a missionary couple here in Segovia. Elder Jim and Hermana Pat Jewell. They are both great and have been helping us out in many ways with the work here.
We have a Guatemalan couple in our branch. There names are Jose and Claudia. They are in a very hard situation with work, and they are not married. We have been working with them on the marriage thing, but in Spain, if you are an immigrant, getting married is very, very difficult. We are getting close, though. We love them a lot and want to help them, but our hands are tied in a lot of ways (being full-time missionaries). Elder and Hermana Jewell should prove very useful and helpful in getting them married and also supporting them in this time of their difficulty.
Transfers are coming on the 22nd of March. I do not know yet if I will get transferred or not (we never really know). If I do not get transferred, I will still be living at the same address as I am right now, meaning that I can still receive mail at it. If I do get transferred, however, my address will change and I will miss any mail that was sent to that address after the 16th of March. With this in mind, I will now give you this address. If you want to write me at it, please do so quickly as I do not want to miss your letter. My current address is:Elder Christopher Knorr
Plaza Mester de Julgaria, 2 1A
40006 Segovia
Spain
Keep in mind that this address may or may not work in 2 weeks. If you would rather play it safe, send it to the normal mission address and it will get to me eventually. However, sending it directly will get it to me in about 6 days (Kristen sent me one and that was about how long it took) which is much faster than the other way.
Well, that is the "wiz fiz" right now! I will keep fighting for the Lord here. The adversary never takes a break, so neither can we. I love you all! Thank you for your love and support. It really does help.
-Elder Knorr
