Hello Knorr Family and friends! Thank you for all of the birthday wishes. It's me, Elder Knorr.
Doing email here in Villalba, waiting for the train to come so that we can got to Segovia and meet with some members for my birthday.
It was a good day. I got an excellent cake mix from Grandpa and Grandma Knorr, which we cooked up in a jiffy. We gave half of it to one of our ward missionaries, who's birthday was on the 17th of January, so it worked out perfectly. Besides that, we made bacon and eggs this morning, and I think Segovia is setting some kind of surprise party for me (though I can't be sure.)
But the BIG news is that Mario and Michelle both got baptized! Mario is now the coolest possible Recent Convert, wanting to help us and accompany us to all the visits that we will allow him to, and has set the Temple as his next goal. Michelle is the 3rd member of her 4-person family to get baptized, so we're now working bit by bit with Sadith, her father, who is showing some pretty good desires and interest to get baptized. They're both very happy. The baptismal services in themselves went well: we had one in the morning and one at night, to accommodate the individual circumstances of each. Both services were very spiritual, and special experiences for us, the people getting baptized, and all those in attendance. They both asked me to baptize them, so we had some logistical problems when it came to clothes... which we quickly resolved. We also baked some brownies for the morning baptism. All in all, great.Isaac and Andrea came to Church for the second time this last week, even though Isaac was tired from his late-night work (that always seems to be a problem for people we teach.) Interpreting this time was extra difficult for some reason; I think I've plateaued in my learning and need to start putting some extra effort into my studies in order to keep progressing. We're also starting to make long-term arrangements so that Isaac and Andrea will be able to continue in the Church even after I'm gone. We've asked the bishop to assign a member of the Church to do it. We'll see if he responds to our request. Besides that, we'll be teaching some basic sign language to the youth during this week's mutual so that Isaac and Andrea have more people to talk to. We got a simplified Book of Mormon for them (the one made for children with the pictures and simplified explanations underneath). They like it a lot, especially Andrea, because they can actually understand what it's about now. Elder Thurston is picking up on Sign Language very quickly.
In the meantime, we're looking for new investigators, due to the fact that the majority of our good ones just changed from investigators to members. We're talking with lots of people on the street and searching for people who want to hear the message of the Restored Gospel.
OK, now let's talk about the stuff that I'd rather not talk about. Mom, to answer your questions: [I had asked him a few logistical questions about his plans upon returning in April, which he answered.]
Alright, enough about those worldly things. I think I'm doing a pretty good job not thinking about going home and focusing on the NOW, but I can always do better. Things are going great here in Villalba and I hope to stay here for the rest of my mission, if the Lord wills it so. I'm glad to hear from you all and appreciate your support and love. Take care, and DON'T FORGET what's really important!
-Elder Knorr
