Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Leaving the Office...and PICTURES!!!

Hello Family and friends! This is Elder Knorr, your favorite Spanish Missionary (and that is now an uncontested title because Elder Ogden is now home).

I'm using a rather dysfunctional computer that has a half-broken space bar, so I'm sorry if this one is shorter than normal. I now relate with the difficulty Mormon experienced as he tried to engrave his words on metal plates. My words will be few, bu
t I will try to make them valuable.

It was a rather good week. We are now making all of the arrangements for transfers. We know who is going where now, which reminds me....I'm leaving the office! Yes, it's wonderful, I'll finally be
out in the normal field again to work as missionaries do. My replacement, Elder Driggs, will be coming from up north to be trained to do my job. I'm looking forward to slipping back into a pure missionary life without having to worry so much about the extra and unique stresses of the office.

We went to Guadalajara early this week in order to ta
ke care of some residency papers. It was a fun road trip. Today, we visited Toledo and got to see the sights, go to some museums, and take some pictures. So it's been a week of traveling and road trips.

About Freencky, he actually got rejected at the airport due to visa issues and they made him fly home. It was good to see that he was still with us, but he's been going through a lot of stress an
d disappointment lately due to that. He loves the United States just as much as we do (he grew up there) and he was really looking forward to getting to go back. Fortunately, he still comes to visits with us, which I'm sure takes his mind off of it to some extent.

The seasons are changing here. As my companion and I ate some nectarines today, we noticed that their quality was waning. Soon it will be time for oranges and the nectarines and peaches will disappear. It's been cold enough for the past few days that we
have been obliged to put on our jackets and long sleeve shirts. It's strange to think that I may never work in just slacks again...

I had the chance to go back to Barrio 4 and Barrio 2 during companion exchanges this week. I worked with Elder Oscanoa in Barrio 4 and introduced him to a bunch of less active members that I had taught during my time there and that he had never met before.
I also had the opportunity to be there for one of Barrio 2's baptisms in the morning. (This is a story of its own.)

I remember several months ago, Elder Benson and I were working in Barrio 2, in the big city of Madrid. We were walking away from a great lesson, after having set a baptismal date with J
osé Alfredo, when we ran into an elderly woman on the street. We introduced ourselves, and she responded well. Her name was Ana María, and she was a Spaniard woman born of German parents. We took her name and number and set up a time to visit. A few days later, I was transferred to the office.

Ana María was baptized last Saturday, and I had the opportunity to be there to witness it!

It has been strange for me to think about
how what to me was nothing more than a brief but good contact in the street that day has now become a baptism. I was not there for any part of her teaching, I did not take her to church or follow up on any of her reading or other commitments, but she was ready for the Gospel and the Lord needed me to find her. He didn't need me to teach her or to commit her, just to find her. Had I not opened my mouth and spoken with Ana María, she never would have gotten to where she is now. This is an example of what one contact can do.

We found some really good investigators t
his week, investigators that had been taught before in the past and had some obstacles, but are now willing and ready to fully accept the Restored Gospel. It's very exciting. They are Beatríz, David, Diana, and Leo.

Well, that's just about all the time I ha
ve. Thanks for all that you do to help me fulfill my calling as a full-time missionary. I'm loving it! Take care, I love you.

-Elder Knorr

(P.S. There is a letter coming soon, and it is just for Mom and Dad.)


Pictures!!!

Sebastian, Dean and I,
taken when I went to visit Barrio 4

The photographer of Photo 1
Our trip to Toledo today The Cathedral of Toledo
Shackled in the Prison!