But, in order to preserve the missionary-ness of this email, I will start by talking about the area and how things are going in that respect. We have four missionaries here, still. We had five: Elders Dredge, Whitesides, Holub, Anderson and me. Monday, Elder Dredge went home, Elder Holub went to Villalba and Elder Whitesides went way up north to be Branch President in Leon. Since the work in Alcobendas and San Sebastian (our 2 little cities) has been SO GOOD lately, President decided to keep the compliment of elders at 4.Since Elder Anderson (the new financial secretary) and I are so new at our jobs and still have so much to learn, we've been spending 12-hour days in the office, sometimes more, and have no time to leave. We understood how important it was to keep the work up in our area and take care of our investigators, but our jobs in the office were so crucial to keeping the mission from blowing up that we have probably taught 1 or 2 lessons this entire last week. It isn't very fun but if we don't do it, no one will. If we had been the only missionaries left in Alcobendas, the situation would have converted into a despicable mess.
Because of these conditions, we were very pleased to hear that two more missionaries were coming to work in our area: Elder Bartholomew and Elder Saune. Our best friend Freencky, the best ward missionary in the universe, has been showing them
around and helping them learn the area and meet the investigators. Seriously, Freencky (pronounced Franky) is a stud. He's a 19-year-old guy who has lived in Venezuela and New York, speaks English and Spanish, and loves to go out and work with us. He's becoming a great teacher and finder. He will be a tremendous missionary.We have many baptismal dates right now and many progressing investigators. The sad part is that we don't know hardly ANY of them! :( The office is really sucking my life away right now, but I know that if I don't, the mission will melt down. The first of my joys in the office is called Residency, and it actually is pretty fun. Well, it is a bit daunting because it's a neverending pit of time-consumption mixed in with tedious government procedures and neverending administrative silence, but I enjoy the challenge. We've really had to put our heads together to find out how to get everything done in a realistic and timely manner, but it looks like it's going to be ok.
I really wish I could tell some more interesting stories, but it would be somewhat tedious to tell you about my tedious schedule. Suffice it to say that I have done a TON of tiny little things.
I seem to be the call-if-you-have-a-problem-and-don't-know-who-to-call guy. Now, I don't want anyone to go thinking that I don't enjoy this assignment - I do a lot. But at times my heart yearns to teach a lesson and make some contacts and not have to answer the phone every 2 minutes. I'm sure I will go adjusting and that with time I will be able to do everything faster, which will allow me to go out and teach and preach and work as missionaries should do. Elder Saune is from the old Bilbao mission, so it's been interesting to see how the cultures of the missions differ (or shall I say clash?). Elder Anderson is from the old Malaga mission, so we have a very diverse piso.
Oh, we also live the law of consecration: everyone's food is everyone's food. I personally like it, though we don't eat in the apartment very much. As a matter of fact, we don't eat very much at all. Also, I won't have to drive anytime soon because Elder Anderson has a permit, though if I am called upon to drive, it won't be very hard to get the license because we found a much faster and cheaper new way to do it. In any case, I would prefer not to drive.
That's all I've got right now. Yes, I'm a bit boring. Yes, I wish I was still a normal missionary. But I'm here now, and as long as I'm here I'm going to dedicate myself completely to this.Thanks for your support and love. It means a lot.
Till next time,
-Elder Knorr
