Here I go! Wish me lucks!!! :)

We leave the CCM tomorrow so they gave us time to write our families a short email just to let them know what the plans are! I've been packing all day and I'm finally ready to head out tomorrow! Well, at least I'm ready luggage-wise... hehehe... There's probably nothing that can prepare a person for this kind of experience. Maybe that's part of the fun of it! I'm incredibly excited to get out there and start having adventures. But yep, this is it: the end of my CCM experience. So far, I've been training to be a missionary. Now I actually get to go out and be one, just like all the missionary movies and missionary stories I've ever seen or heard. I must admit that the task is more than daunting, in almost every way! I've done my best to work on my Spanish and learn the doctrines, but at the end of the day, all I can really do is trust in the Savior. Jesus is the perfect teacher. I know that because I'm doing his work, I'll be able to succeed. 1 Nephi 3:7, right? That scripture is SO applicable...

I got the package!!! It was a very joyous occasion indeed. I shared everything I got with the other missionaries, and they are all very grateful. I'd almost forgotten the taste of Skittles... And the vacuum packing was a genious idea, I must say. Especially with the cookies. They tasted just like they did at home! Crispy, chocolatey, nutty and delicious (just packed down as tightly as possible, that's all! ;)

Other missionaries being sent to the Madrid Mission with me: Elders Albretson, Ketchum, McArthur, Jeppson, Froberg and Hermanas Sharp, Ball and Nuckols. We're all way excited and I love all of them so much! Elder Ketchum is especially studly. He's a spiritual giant and he's really humble and he could probably be an opera singer or the next president or something amazing! I can't say enough good about Elder Ketchum.

Well, I have to go now. I love you all so much and am more grateful than I can express for your love and support! :) Till we meet again!

Oh, I forgot to give a report on the park! It went really well this week. I went with Elder Southwick, who has as much energy as three of me combined, loves to chat (especially about soccer, which comes in extremely handy. He was able to name the team of every soccer jersey that we saw!) and knows very, very little Spanish. We turned out to be a pretty dynamic duo, contacting anyone who crossed our path in a blind, flailing, snowballing force of gospel-sharing fury! It was awesome! Elder Southwick has no fear whatsoever, and I had the Spanish to back him up. Some of the special little tidbits: We gave a "Plan of Salvation" pamphlet to a preparing street performer. At the time we were talking to him, he was sitting on the street, wearing nothing but a brown, crusty speedo, applying some eye makeup. As we closed our talk, he started wrapping his legs with saran wrap and painting himself brown. We never got to see the finished product, but that was ok with me! Also, our main strategy was to try to talk about the Church, and if they refused us, we'd at least give them a picture of Jesus Christ emerging from the tomb. They NEVER rejected that, because they're almost all Catholic! Anyways, time's up! I love you!

-Elder Knorr

"Almost out of here, and into there!" - Final email from the CCM

It's good to hear that some of the mail made it through! So far I've replied by mail to every single letter that I've been sent. I'm really grateful for it so I guess the only way to keep it coming is to keep it coming on my end! I foresee a very happy day in the near future with the arrival of that package! Elder Langston's already gotten two packages since he's been here, but I don't feel like I'm missing out because he always shares his Fruit Roll Ups with me. Last time, he got some venison jerky from his dad, off of a deer that he (Elder Langston) killed earlier this year. He has a picture of it. It's amazing! I'm companions with a mighty hunter!

Speaking of companions, I'll be getting a new one in a bit now, with the great launch of my missionary life approaching. The harder I work to prepare myself for the field, the more I realize that there isn't any way to prepare myself for the field. It's going to be way different no matter how I look at it. So the best I can really do here is try to improve on my Spanish, build my own personal testimony and learn the lessons backwards and forwards. I'm sure the rest will come and the Lord has already worked wonders "shaping my back for the burden" so I trust that He'll come through for me again. I'll just give it my best effort and see how it goes!

Thanks so much for the current events! I really like those. I remember when you and I would just listen to NPR every morning going to work and then coming back as well. I miss knowing what's going on in the world a little bit, and thank you! The other missionaries always gather round when I get to that part of my email so that they can also know what's going on.

Well, this is going to be it! It's my last P-Day here in the CCM and I have a lot to do. Just this morning Elder Langston got a haircut. I got a haircut a couple of days ago, given to me by our very own Elder Raban. He's an amazing guy! And the haircut is really good too! He cuts his own hair even. He grew up on a horse farm, so he has all kinds of useful, practical skills like that.

Anyway, I'd better get going. I love you all and I thank you for your letters, love and support! Bye!!!

-Elder Knorr

Newsy Tidbits from Elder Knorr

We received 2 envelopes today with letters to Bob's Pop Pop (Ethan), Agent Orange (Dad) and Megan. Here are some short excerpts, answers to questions we've asked:

Greetings from Spain, the home of TRUE Spanish. Just kidding, just kidding. The Spanish here is actually spoken really fast and rather blended together. We just got a new elder from Ecuador headed to Italy, and his Spanish is wonderfully clear and easy to understand. His name is Elder Pastillo, and we're pretty much awesome friends. Oh yeah, and did I mention that he doesn't speak ANY English? I translate for him at meetings. It's fun!

I know the swine flu is basically over already, but word on the street was that handshaking was banned at the Provo MTC and maybe still is. We just want to spread the Truth, not some strain of swine flu!!

We just do endowments in the Madrid Temple, but I like them! I tried doing one in Spanish with the headset a week ago. It was a total mind workout! But I was still able to understand it all and I enjoyed it a whole lot.

It's not even that hard being DL [District Leader] for these missionaries. They make such a great district! Mostly, I act as a middleman between President Hill and all of the missionaries in my district. I've found that I really get into my calling when I'm looking for ways to bless and help them, though. It's wonderful!

For breakfast, we just choose between a wide variety of breakfast cereals, fruits, yogurts and toast. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day, with a soup and an entree which is usually some variation on pork or fish. Dinner is very similar to lunch. then at 9:30 we're allowed to run up and have a little snack if we want to. For all meals, we can select little snacks or desserts out of this little refrigerated section. They have yogurt, fruit, sometimes Jello (pronounced "Hey-Oh") and these wonderful little cups of chocolate pudding with whipped cream on top called La Copa, which I enjoy. I also like this melon that they serve. No one has been able to identify it yet, but it basically tastes like canteloupe, honeydew and watermelon combined. Perhaps it's a SUPERMELON....

I love companion life! It's nice to have someone with you all the time, basically living the same life as you. Me and Elder Langston really enjoy each other's company and are having a great time!

We're getting new elders all the time here. This week, we got Elder Pastillo as well as Elders Kober and Magistro. They're all going to Italy, and between all of them they know about 10 languages. Elder Pastillo knows Spanish and some Italian, along with this crazy Ecuadorian tribal language. Elder Kober speaks good English, but he's from Austria (German). He also knows Latin. Elder Magistro is from Tuscany in Italy and speaks "survival English." All the other elders joke that they're the "Tower of Babel" companionship because the three of them can hardly understand each other. It's hilarious!

The park that we contact in is ENORMOUS. I find new stuff every time I go there. There's all kinds of people jogging or walking their dog or just sitting down on a bench reading the newspaper "El Mundo" or something. We always go for the bench-sitters because they are easier to start a conversation with. Sometimes you'll get a good one, but often they don't want to talk about the Church or religion. We still try though!

We found this discount clothes shop a couple of weeks back. Me and Elder Langston went there and I bought a SWEET tie! It's black and silver stripes and looks deadly-classy when I wear it with my pinstripes. Best thing is that I got it for 4 Euro. It was marked at 5 but the shop lady said "Para vosotros, cuatro" [for you, 4]. I'll bet we're her best customers, "we" being CCM missionaries :)

People ACTUALLY use vosotros [formal form of Spanish] here. From my previous experience, I'm still not totally used to it yet. And people are very friendly too! They are also wonderfully straightforward and honest, which I actually appreciate.

Here is a bird's eye view of Madrid Temple Plaza.

We live on Plantas 4,5 & 6 of the red brick building next to the temple. Floor 4 is where the sacrament hall, classes and secretary's office are. Also, there's the library, which we call the Armory because of it's exceedingly many Book of Mormons. Floor 5 is sleeping quarters, and Floor 6 is the cafeteria. I love it here! I love studying the scriptures so much.

My favorite Spanish food is this white rice they cook with a little bit of oil. When they put this red tomato sauce on it, it's DELICIOUS. I always ask for seconds, and our Spanish-speaking cooks always reply "Si, por supuesto" [Yes, of course]. I love those wonderful old ladies...it's true. They're good at what they do. And I'm grateful they do it!

My favorite scripture at this point in time is probably the story of Ammon the missionary, just because it's so applicable to my life right now.

I'm still doing really well here. I'm nervous and excited that I'm actually going to be in the field in two weeks! [Less than one week now.] So far I've just been in training. In 2 weeks, I'll be in the field for real! I'm really nervous, but I know Heavenly Father will help me do the work that He's called me to do.

I'm loving the mission! I never knew there was so much I could get out of the scriptures! This really is the True Church, and it can help everyone.

Elder Knorr

Spanish Officials Hear Elder Knorr Sing

Elder Knorr's vocal quartet "4 Ordained" sang on May 19th, 2009 for government dignitaries as they visited Madrid Temple Square to celebrate the Church's 40th anniversary in Spain. Click HERE for the Church News article, including a photo.

4 Ordained, Elder Ogden, and blessing others through the Priesthood - 2 weeks to go at the Madrid MTC

It's always so good to hear from you! :) Just a quick little thing that I thought you guys back home might find amusing: I've formed a men's quartet here at the CCM consisting of me, Elder Ames, Elder Brian and Elder Ketchum. We've been having a blast! Last Sunday, we sang "Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy" in Spanish for sacrament meeting. Elder Ketchum sang the melody (he sings really well; he has a rich, operatic voice), I sang the bass line, Elder Ames sang the tenor line, and Elder Brian took the way-up-high descant line and did a great job with it. It went so well that we soon found the CCM personnel were asking us to sing it for all kinds of other meetings! Hermano Arjona asked us to sing a song about Jesus Christ for his Doctrine Devotional on Wednesday, so we picked "I Need Thee Every Hour" in Spanish. We can only really sing songs that have men's arrangements, but when we do, it sounds quite good. I feel so blessed to have been put in the same place as this talented bunch of Elders!

I forgot to mention last time: thanks for the news bytes. It's good to know kind of what's going on. That's great that we are making interfaith bonds. That's where it's at! Just this week, actually, they hosted some high level dignitaries from the Spanish government on Temple Plaza here in Madrid in order to celebrate the 40th year anniversary. They got tours of the temple grounds, the stake center, and then the CCM. We were all waiting in the Sala Grande (our main meeting room) and singing hymns when they came in. The dignitaries said a few words to us in Spanish, telling us how happy they were to be hosting us in their country and how blessed they feel to have religious freedom, and then they had our quartet get up and sing "Brillan Rayos de Clemencia" (Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy). The members who were also part of the tour said that it was the highlight for them, and we can only hope that the dignitaries were able to feel the Spirit as well.

More big news: I SAW ELDER JONATHAN OGDEN!!!!!!! Right after I got out of the temple this morning, Elder MacArthur told me to wait because someone wanted to meet me. Then, out of the Stake Center came a beaming Elder Ogden! We ran up and hugged each other and I have to admit I must have sounded like quite an idiot because I was at such a loss for words! We mostly just stood there smiling and tried to have a short conversation before he had to go into his meeting. He gets out of his meeting at 5, at which point I plan to head out and meet him again, and maybe say something useful this time! :) I feel so blessed.

Today has been an awesome day all around. Elder Langston got his ties dry-cleaned, Elder Ogden, emails from my family and also FAJITAS for lunch! They're delicious! I smother mine in guacamole. Yeah, I know, that may surprise some of you because I'm normally not a huge guac fan but I've really gained an appreciation for it here! The only part about today that wasn't great was the fact that Burger King was closed. Elder Langston and I found it last time we went to the mall and also got some coupons for it. We were planning on actually buying some American-style burgers today, but they were closed! At lunchtime! This country is pretty crazy sometimes. We were just excited to eat some charbroiled 100% beef burgers because honestly, the burgers they sometimes feed us in the comedor aren't that great. They're half beef, half ham, but because no one likes them, all the elders call them "Cat Burgers" as a joke. It's always fun to actually convince the newcoming elders that they are, in fact, made of cat flesh.

So, yesterday I had a neat experience. One of the elders here who is normally a pretty fun-loving guy who likes to talk and joke with me, but yesterday he wasn't being quite so outgoing. During the devotional he passed me a note asking if Elder Ames and I would give him a priesthood blessing. I agreed and let Elder Ames know. I knew he'd been having some trouble with homesickness lately and I could tell he was having a tough time. So in between classes, the three of us went upstairs and pulled up a chair and he sat down. I quickly checked the white handbook just to make sure I knew what to do and then we put our hands on his head and gave him a blessing of comfort and counsel. I was the one who did the speaking, but I know that the blessing came from the Lord. The words just came out and I think I said something that he needed to hear because he was crying afterwards. He thanked us for the blessing and I felt really glad that I had the priesthood and was able to literally bless others with it. It was a great experience!

Oh, by the way, I just remembered the name we decided to give our little singing group: 4 Ordained. Pretty sweet, huh? :) Elder MacArthur jokingly said he was going to form a quartet of his own so that we could have a "battle of the men's quartets." His quartet will consist of him, Elder Langston (my companion), our Italian native elder going to Italy named Elder Magnifesto, and Carlos Santana. I tell them that it's ON, but only as soon as Santana makes it here.

I've got two weeks left in the MTC!!! Jitters! I'm trying to work the hardest I can to be ready, but more and more I feel like there's nothing that can fully prepare me for the real mission field. I just really hope that I get an awesome trainer, which I'm sure I will.

I ran out of my American deoderant. I went to Ahorra Mas to buy some more, but they don't have any like we do here. The only kind they have is blue, wet, and it smells like alcohol. In fact, it mainly consists of alcohol, which works well, but I'm worried about possible side effects of having my skin constantly exposed to it. I finally know what it means in the Word of Wisdom when it talks about strong drinks being for the "cleaning of the body." We'll just see what happens, I guess! [Note from Elder Knorr's family - don't worry, we're sending some this week in a care package.]

I'm so proud of Megan! It sounds like she's really taking school seriously, which will get her a lot of places in life. Plus, I imagine that she feels pretty good about her accomplishments. About the dance studio, I've seen Megan bust a pretty slick move before so I have confidence that she can be a great dancer. :) Megan, if you read this, just remember "my" dance move. Thinking about it now? Good. You're welcome for making your day. :)

My second companion, Elder Arnold, was a lacrosse player in high school and he loved it! From his descriptions of the sport, it sounds super fun, maybe even something that I'd be interested in playing when I get back. Of course, by that time Ethan will probably be amazing and will destroy me, but whatever! I hope he has a great time learning a new sport!

Well, I'd better get going now. I love you all very much and I'm very grateful to have you all as family and friends! Take care of yourselves and each other!

-Elder Knorr

Short Email from Elder Knorr

To Friends and Family: Hello!

Yes, it is I, Elder Knorr. Things are going really well for me here at the Madrid MTC. I got a phone call for Mother's Day, which was really very nice! Also, I received a goodly amount of mail this week, all of which I am very grateful for. And, as always, I would be more than glad to receive yet more mail.

I love my family SO MUCH. I can't even adequately express. It's funny, I've realized that Ethan was probably my best friend while I was back at home. :) Let him know that for me, will you please?

A few bits of news: The CCM supervisor finally got me a plug adapter for my speakers. We went up to my room to try it out. At first, things seemed to be going well, then I noticed a strange smell and a humming noise, and then.... POP! The power supply for my speakers burned out. The smell was awful!!! The whole situation was kind of funny. Since they couldn't find an American voltage power supply to match my speakers, they just bought me some new ones. They're smaller than my last, but they work nonetheless and I'm happy to have them.

I had a great experience contacting in the park. We met a wonderful 55 year old woman named Amelia who actually wanted to talk with us! It was wonderful. We got to the first vision and bore testimony of it and everything! The Spirit was so strong! We invited her to come to the temple grounds and hear us sing, but she didn't show up. Oh well, that's just how the work goes. At least we planted a seed!

Wow, very little time today. I love you all and hope to hear from you!

Love,
Elder Knorr