First, everything went well with Jose Alfredo's interview. He'll be getting baptized the 17th. He's a great guy! I realized as we were teaching him the law of tithing that he is VERY capitalist. Dad, you would get along really well with him, I think. He's lost everything several times, had businesses go under time and time again. When he moved from Nicaragua to Guatemala, he showed up with no more than $10 in his pocket and worked up to having his own business and a good amount of wealth. One would think that this capitalist mentality would make him more prone to cling to his money, but as I'm sure Dad can imagine, he doesn't really behave that way. 
His behavior has made it much easier to part with money. In fact, he really views tithing as a kind of investment: following God's commandments and then getting returns in blessings. He's a very good man with a lot of faith and great desires to follow God.Secondly, I just have one little thing to say. YEAH ALEX!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! YEEEEEEEAH!!!!! Congratulations on your call to Australia!! :D :D :D I just read that today and I almost stood up and cheered right here. I'm so pleased to hear about this....wow. Alegría total. You're going to love it. Write me and tell me all about it. Kirtabicteam pride.
Thirdly, we were kept up very late Sunday night by the honking of car horns and the sounding of air horns and shouting and singing and clapping and fireworks and trumpets and all kinds of noisemakers you can possibly imagine.The streets were a constant fast-moving parade of cars honking, with the passengers halfway out of the window holding out Spanish flags and cheering and singing. From what I hear, this is the first time that Spain has won the World Cup, so it's a very big thing for them.Oh, yeah, one last little thing. I'm the new mission secretary.
Now, you're probably wondering why I waited so long into the email to tell you all this and didn't include it in the subject line. Well, let's just say that I did it to be funny. But, in all honestly, it changed everything overnight. I got the call Saturday Morning from President, telling me I was going to have a "nueva asignación." And that's when he broke the news. I had until Monday morning to pack everything and say goodbye. We used the circumstance as a catalyst to teach lessons with our investigators and members and were able to teach a LOT. Then, Monday morning, I left Barrio 2. We dragged the luggage through the Metro and then got a ride halfway from Elder Dredge and Elder Whitesides (the current secretary). There, in the office in San Sebastian de los Reyes, we had a mini transfer meeting and got our new companions. I am now companions with Elder Whitesides. Anyways, this is an irregular transfer because it happened with two weeks left to go in the regular transfer cycle.
So, more or less this is what's going on now: I've got two weeks to learn everything that Elder Whitesides knows, which includes residency, numbers, references, reports, and a variety of other little tasks. I'm taking studious notes in a fresh new notebook on just about everything that I see Elder Whitesides do so that I can learn how to do his job correctly and subtilize [word of the week = refine] my secretary skills. It's quite the task. I've only been at it for a few days though, and it doesn't seem to be impossibly hard or incredibly unenjoyable. It will be a change though, that's for sure. I won't be doing a lot of traditional proselyting like I've done up to this point; there won't be enough time for that. Elder Dredge and his new companion Elder Holub will be staying in Alcobendas with us to start working as full-time proselyting missionaries to keep up the good success that has been happening here lately. Elder Whitesides and I will likely spend the majority of our time in the office, working, though we hope to get out during the late hours to be able to teach at least a few lessons.
Other than that, things are going well. I'm still trying to get used to the idea of my new reality as the mission secretary, as well as trying to accept the fact that I am no longer a Barrio 2 missionary who is able to work as such all day. The new apartment is a little one, made for two, and we've got four of us crammed in there. The elders I'm with are awesome so it's not miserable at all. All of this is kind of a big thing to wrap my mind around still, but I'll be doing everything I can to learn my new job and keep my spirits up in the midst of change.
I love you all and am very grateful for your support and love. As I've always believed: I'll go where He wants me to go, I'll say what He wants me to say, and I'll be what He wants me to be. I know it will be hard but with His help I'll do it. Thanks again for everything! Take care.-Elder Knorr
