First Letter Mailed from Spain

One month down, 23 to go! But who's counting?

Life is challenging but still good here in the Madrid MTC. They feed us a lot of white rice, a lot of fish, and a smorgasbord of other foods. I've put on 10 pounds since I started my mission. I'm thinking of scaling back a little, because it would be really lame if I started to not fit into my clothes.

I've been working hard here with my studies. I've learned to really appreciate the scriptures and I'm finding that they have a whole new plane of relevance now that I'm a missionary. So far, I've memorized the First Vision in Spanish, Santiago 1:5, D&C 4 (in English, not in Spanish yet...) and the first tres Artículos de Fe [three Articles of Faith]. My Español is really coming along too! I love listening to and trying to speak to native Spanish-speakers. I feel that I'm getting a better and better grasp on it. Also, I've been learning how to let the Spirit guide my teaching and how to focus on the needs of the investigator in the lessons. Basically, it's an all-around Gospel Boot Camp and I'm loving it!

I'm looking everywhere for Elder Ogden. A friend of Hermana Martinez said that he might be in Caraces (not sure if that's the name - it's SW of Madrid). I couldn't find a picture of him in the big CCM photo album. I'll keep looking.

I admit it would be wonderful to get mail from ANYONE right now. Mail is by far the most desired and sought-after stuff for any of the missionaries.

Speaking of which, a certain Elder Siddiqui over here gets no mail from his family (or support, because they're all Muslim and they don't approve of what he's doing.) Could you maybe send him something? That's Elder Siddiqui.

Anyway, it's good to hear that you're all doing fine. Thank you for the uplifting stories and the family photos (even if I look a bit queer in some of them). Could you maybe send me come current news events so I know more or less what's going on in the world? That would be killer.

I look forward to hearing from you all again.

Take care!!!

Love,
Elder Knorr

P.S. I'll make a CD of pictures and send it next P-day.

Mothers' Day Phone Call from Elder Knorr

Click below if you'd like to listen to the 25 minute phone call that Elder Knorr made home today from the Madrid CCM.

More Info from the CCM

I saw a lizard today! A HUGE one!!!! It was in the building too, in the stairwell! One of the Hermanas almost stepped on it, and then it scurried up the wall and we tried to catch it but then it just hid in this little alcove on the ceiling and wouldn't come down. But it was way exciting! It was a big one too. It would fit just perfectly into your hand, legs and all, but it's long tail would probably flop over the end.

Right now I'm at the Brigado getting my residence permit. We have a nice lawyer named Javier who helps us. He's really close to our age. He's a pretty cool dude. We so have to convert him...But seriously, that would rule.

I've really been digging into the doctrine here in the CCM. I love the scriptures! There's a lot in them that I've taken for granted before that is really applicable to me in my life right now. I'm never going to have the opportunity to be this studious of the scriptures ever again in my life! We get about 4 hours a day just to study doctrine! So I'm trying to make the best of it.

Spain is a beautiful country; all-in-all, it isn't that different from Utah climate-wise because Madrid is in a desert area so it's pretty arid and it's all the same latitude so the temperatures are about the same. It just all feels older. The skies look like paintings out of some kind of storybook. It's really wonderful. Plus, the temple is literally right next door. I can see it from my bedroom window. And this temple seriously has the most beautiful celestial room ever!!! We get to go in once a week. I wish I could do more though!

Fresh Email from the CCM - only 15 minutes old!

Thank you for the email!! And I can't wait to get some mail from, well, anyone! I sent the family a letter. I'm sorry if it wasn't very long or comprehensive: I was counting on writing a long email. Also, I put photos onto two CDs which I'll be mailing, along with another letter, maybe letters to individual family members. At least, that's the plan right now!

Yes, we will get to talk Sunday! I get the phone at 6:00 PM, which will be 10 AM your time, and I'll have it for 30 minutes. I thought that would be good timing, because it's right before church so everyone should be home and hopefully together. Expect a call!

Thanks for Elena's parents' address. I kind of doubt she's still living at home, but I'll mail her a short letter in Spanish and maybe they'll forward it to her current address. It would be nice to see how she's doing!

Don't worry about Elder Ogden's address. I learned that I can just take it to the office here, with his name written on it, and they'll send it to him from there. Easy beasy! Light and breezy!

I'm going to get mail??? YAAAAY!!!! Mail always makes me very happy. And I haven't gotten a whole lot here, but I suppose that's to be expected considering the whole trans-Atlantic thing. But it doesn't necessarily bother me that people send mail before I've been able to send them any *hint hint*. There's nothing in particular that I miss from the United States (except for Dad's chocolate chip cookies) though I do miss lots of people. How about sending me a couple of my friends and maybe Ethan in the mail? :)

Yes, I've met Elder Ketchum! He seems like a pretty awesome missionary. He only arrived yesterday, so I'm still getting to know him. We both think it's pretty weird that our mothers know each other and we don't... :)

The missionaries here are awesome, especially my district. We've got a new Elder Ames who's been 'assimilated' into our district. My companion Elder Langston and I are getting along even better, which is really saying something because we get along great already! And then there's the 4 Hermanas: Sharp, Gum, Oliphant and Nuckols. The fact that we have more Hermanas than Elders has really helped keep us more on task and well behaved, because they are generally more mature than us. It's a known fact.

Either way, I've really been enjoying my time here. It's a rare opportunity to be able to study the scriptures so frequently. I realize that I'll never be able to do this again, so I'm doing my best to 'suck the marrow' out of this experience. Also, my ability to teach simply and in a smooth manner, in the Spanish language as well, is improving greatly. I'm starting to gain a great appreciation for missionaries out in the field and their ability to teach by the spirit, in Spanish. I'm normally OK at teaching in English, and I can speak Spanish pretty well, but put the two together and I start having some issues!

Alright then, time for the futbol update. We won against the natives again!! It was amazing. Difficult, but amazing. These ones looked scary! These ones were all 26-30, shirtless, tatooed, and growing ferocious looking beards. In between games, they took swigs from their beer bottles and took a couple drags on their cigarettes. They were basically anti-missionaries. But they were really fun to play with and hopefully we made a good impression, if they weren't too crushed by the fact that we beat them! :D I'm sorry, I shouldn't boast in my own strength. It was just a big deal.

So I hear that there's some kind of Mexican Swine Flu going around. I haven't heard about any nearby occurrences, but then again, I don't hear a whole lot in here. We're still kind of partitioned away from mainstream society.

EXCITING NEWS!!! I have located Elder Ogden. He's serving in Cacares. My mission president and his wife, Pres. and Hermana Farnsworth, came to address the CCM missionaries a few days ago and Hermana Farnsworth told me that Elder Ogden was very excited to hear that I was in Spain! I sent a message back down the grapevine that I was also very excited. Hopefully I'll get to see him at least once while I'm here. I feel like I've been on his trail this whole time. Hopefully that results in me finally finding him.

The work is wonderful here! Last Saturday at the park, I talked to an accordion playing man and asked him to come and listen to us sing on Madrid Temple Square on Sunday. He seemed really interested, but he didn't come! I think I'm going to follow up this coming Saturday and ask him why he didn't show. Maybe I can get him to come. Who knows!

I went to the Brigada today and signed the papers that make me an official resident here in Spain, at least for a year. I'll need to go in again halfway through the mission and then I'll be all set.

I'm so excited to get out into the field! President Farnsworth seems like an amazing man and I already have a lot of respect for him.

Well, time is running short. I love and miss all of you! Take care of yourselves and each other. The Church is true!!!

-Elder Knorr

Thru the Grapevine...

One of Christopher's best friends, Elder Jonathan Ogden, has been serving in the Spain Madrid Mission for over a year now. He wrote the following home in his weekly email:

"Sister Farnsworth [mission mom] sent me a small note from Elder Knorr saying that he is in the CCM, that he had met President and Sister Farnsworth and that he is excited to come out to the field. He will enter the mission on June 2 (the transfer starts June 1). That will be the last transfer for President and Sister Farnsworth."

Here are a couple of pre-mission pictures of Christopher and Jonathan. Elder Knorr really hopes to see Elder Ogden in Madrid and maybe even serve in the same area!

2nd Email from the CCM

Ok, I'll start by answering all your questions:

Yes, I know two Elders who are still stuck in Provo without their visas. However, talking with them I heard that they really waited to put their paperwork in. I think I got mine on time because we were so on top of it. I don't remember exact numbers... there was one Hermana and one Elder from my district who were coming to Madrid with me, but the Elder got delayed. Our travel group had 8, all of us going to Madrid. There were others in our district going to Guatemala, Chile, and Anahiem. The composition is basically all American, over half of those are Utahn, and then we have two British Elders, Elder Phillips and Elder Siddiqui. Elder Siddiqui is a convert from the Muslim faith: extremely rare.

The language is coming great! I feel blessed that I can understand pretty much everything that is said to me and respond back naturally in 75% of cases.

My arm is doing well. It fluctuates, but lately it's almost totally disappeared, so we'll see what happens.

I've been able to attend the temple twice since I got here. It is beautiful. Absolutely wonderful! And it's right next door too. It has the most beautiful celestial room I have ever seen.

My teachers are both native Spaniards. Hermana Martinez and Hermano Lopez. They are both amazing teachers. Hermana Martinez says the most amazing and profound things in English, even though I don't think she knows it because she's still working on her English skills. Hermano Lopez really gets down to business and teaches fast, but he knows how to make it fun and interesting for us too. Both of them are helping me a lot.

Our district is composed of three Elders, and four Hermanas. It makes it really nice because the Hermanas are much better behaved than most Elders so I have the easiest time managing the class. Oh, did I mention they called me to be district leader? Yeah. It's been a new experience but the Lord's helping me out. I just hope I don't mess up or anything.

We get double the email time here in Madrid but we have to take it in two groups of 30. I'm almost out of my first 30 and the window will shut on me, so I'm going to close this email and then immediately send another.

Ok, so here's the second email.

Yes, I have been having a great time here. The food is really good, maybe even too good, because I've put on 7 pounds since arriving a week and two days ago. I've decided to be a little more careful with my portion sizes and such so as to not outgrow my clothing. Speaking of clothing, it drizzled a little today so I wore my Calvin Klein jacket and it works really well, and also looks extremely nice.

I left my shampoo at the Provo MTC cause it was too big and heavy, and I needed more breathmints, spray and wash, sunscreen, q-tips and pez for the way awesome pez dispenser that Kristen sent me, so I went shopping yesterday during our gym time instead of playing futbol or basketball like I usually do. We went to this ghetto looking indoor mall where the air was 50% smoke, 50% real air (remind anyone of our Europe trip?) and found a supermarket where I was able to buy everything I needed for about 20 euro. It was the sunscreen that really killed me: 12 euro!!! Anyway, it was a fun experience. People stare at me a lot when I wear this nametag.

We play futbol at this little coloseum down the street that we affectionately call THE PIT. It's basically a concrete pit with steps on one side, where there probably isn't a 5 foot by 5 foot square of un-graffitied concrete. It's fun though because there's a couple goals in there and there's usually four or five natives there who will play against us. We always have a really fun time! It's always a humbling experience playing the native Spaniards in futbol, but we actually beat them the last time we played because we got an Elder who used to play soccer in High School. He rolled his ankle though and now we're too afraid to play them again without him. I made one of those head-goals last time. You know, when a teammate kicks it up in the air and you knock it into the goal with your head? Yeah, I did that. I felt pretty cool. :)

Every Sabado [Saturday], we all go to this huge park that's closer to the city center and practice our street contacting. It's probably the most terrifying thing I've ever done in my life: just approaching a random stranger who only knows Espanol and striking up a conversation with them about Dios y Jesucristo. We'll be going again tomorrow and I'm way excited. Last time we actually gave out two copies of the Book of Mormon. It was awesome!

Oh, the reason that this email is so late is because el 1 de Mayo is an international Labor Day in Spain and most of Europe. No one works, including the CCM personel, so they decided to move our p-day to today to coordinate with that. It's nice, I can get some laundry done and write letters. We also went to the Plaza de Espana today and also went to this Ancient Egyptian temple that they have here. I don't know why it's here, and I think our temple is better, but yeah, I got some sweet pictures anyway. We rode the metro to get there. It totally reminded me of the Europe trip.

My companion is Elder Langston. He's one of the quietest people I've ever met, and he is generally faster than me at just about everything. It's kind of a flip-flop from my last companionship. He's really committed to the work and I'm learning a lot from him. We also have Elder Silva, who's kind of our pseudo-companion. He speaks almost nothing but Portuguese and broken English. He'll be serving in Lisbon. It's really fun to try and communicate with him, but we somehow manage. It helps that Portuguese and Spanish have a lot of words in common.

Well, my time is almost up! I miss you all, but I'm sure you're doing fine and I'm kept very busy here so don't worry about me! Send more mail!!! It doesn't even matter if you have anything to say, just send mail! Getting a letter makes my day easily.

I love you! Bye!
-Elder Knorr