MTC Sep 13, 2011

Family  
                                                                                                                

READ JACOB 4! FAVORITE CHAPTER OF THE WEEK!

Greetings from the MTC! How is everyone? Life is great here. Really it truly is. My last email was somewhat emotional, but please know that I’m wonderful & loving my time here. One month from yesterday Scotty comes!!  You don’t even know how excited I am. Scott you are going to love it here! It is totally your element. I can’t wait for you to talk to my companions in Spanish (he already knows everything about you HA!). :-)

So for the past week we haven’t been able to get Dear Elders because they are changing the mailboxes. So if you had a question, sorry won’t be able to answer! 

Dad – you asked about P-days.  Tuesdays: Get up early to go to the temple, come back & study for 1 hour, print my emails & write emails back, lunch, laundry, letters, devotional, bed. It’s crazy how fast it goes. We call it P-Hours, not P-Day HA!

Mom – Know that I’m thinking about you often & how you would love all these classes about church doctrine so you could apply it to your class!

Thai is coming slowly but surely! It’s been a rough week language wise, and I’m trying my hardest to think of the people of Thailand. It’s easy to think I’m not learning much or not getting anywhere…. But I’ve come so far! Everything is still in Thai, but I basically know what’s going on the majority of the time. My teachers are all RM’s from Thailand & know what’s up. One is native of Thailand & I LOVE her. She’s way hard but amazing. Probably the nicest, cutest lady I know & if all the people of Thailand are like that I will be so happy. Yep. I will die of happiness! She gives us “culture Moments” & it tells us great things about Thailand & gets us all pumped up again. Sitting in the same class room for 10 hours a day makes us all a little crazy at times.  I feel bad for my Elders at times because I get in those crazy moods where I literally can’t stop talking, Thai or English.  

New roommates leave next week.  They’re all from Utah & pretty cool. Its amazing how different all the people are at this place but everyone gets along. Sure most companionships have had times, but people generally love each other here. We all have this missionary connection  and look out for one another. Since I’m a Solo Sister I get to meet so many new people every day. It’s really amazing to learn of the stories & reasons way the missionaries got here. I can literally see boys grow into men on a daily basis. And sisters figure out their potential. We’re told that someday there will be the same amount of sisters and elders out on missions. Can you imagine??!!

I think everyone should go on missions just to learn the basics & simple truths of the gospel. Teaching people what really matters. Oh.. wait.., we can do that EVERYDAY!  Its really incredible how much the Lord’s hand is in our lives. He loves us so much, he wants us to succeed.

Thank you for your support & love. I really would love to hear your testimonies! :-)    They really do encourage & lift me!  

I love you all!

Sister Knutson 

MTC Sep 6, 2011

Family 

                                                                                                                                

First off, thank you for the awesome package. Everyone loved the gluten free cookies.

The Mormon.org project is so sweet! That’ll be such a great missionary tool for all members.

What a glorious week. As always the days are going by faster which is freaking me out because there really is soo much to learn. The older Thai district left yesterday and it hit me that I’ll actually be leaving this place one day teaching real people, speaking Thai 100%. It’ll be beyond amazing. I want the mission experience Elder Holland talks about : “My mission has meant everything to me. I think about it every day”. From Joseph Smith on, this is the time that matters to preach to every nation, tongue & people.  This is the only dispensation that won’t end in apostasy. He goes on saying we are carrying on our shoulders the end of missionary work, with 340 missions & creating more this summer. We are in it for the long haul & won’t walk away from this”.

Every day I think I might burst with information whether that’s from planning in Thai, speaking (attempting) in Thai, great devotionals, full heart of prayer, insights from scriptures, emotional roller coasters or hanging out with 19 year old Elders all day HA! Not sure if I’m physically capable of anymore growth. And with that growth I’ve realized how many weaknesses I do have! Quite the humbling experience! But I really doesn’t matter, the Lord will make up for every weakness we have! As long as we give it all we have, we have no reason to fear if we trust in Heavenly Father. 2 Nephi 4 – READ IT!

New roomies moved in last week. They’re going to Indiana & Michigan. It’s sweet cuz I’ll be meeting way more people cuz I don’t have a khuu (companion). Got called to be the coordinating Sister so I really have been helping/meeting with a bunch of Sisters. It’s been really fun! And helping them get the most out of this place. My little district of 4 is becoming more like family every day.  They call me their sister & watch out for me. It’s the best!

I love you So Much!

Sister Knutson

MTC Aug 30, 2011

Family,
Greetings from the MTC! Thank you for the great emails and updates on the family! What a crazy week - as always. My brain is completely mushy by the end of the day, not sure how else to explain it. According to my genius companion, our brains are more intelligent then the smartest computer? Like information storing - not sure how true it is, but it makes me happy! Speaking of which my "khvv's (companions) are awesome! We're all so different but work pretty well together. They all try really hard and bring in credible insight. They really push me in Thai and have great patience with me - so grateful for that. My favorite roommates left today which was really sad... They truly were supposed to live with me! We already have plans on meeting up w/ after the missions. They think I'm hilarious and appreciate my jokes. It rocks! And they bought me WHEAT THINS as parting gifts! I'm excited for my new roommates, girls are so nice here! Zero drama and cattyness.
Mom you should be happy to know they have a gluten free section at the cafeteria. I have a bowl of cereal with every meal. I love the ice cream on Wednesday and Sunday and the chocolate milk. Why am I writhing this? No Idea.

Random awesome things from this week:

1.    No one wants us to do better than Heavenly Father. H is our #1 fan. He wants us to succeed on this mission - this is his work.

2.    We must make every effort on our part (study, obedience etc...) for the Lord to give us knowledge. I have a testimony of this!

3.    See the way the Lord wants me to be, not others.

4.    True doctrine understood changes attitudes & behavior! This is Mom's quote on her face book!  Understanding is linked to the heart. Mosiah 12:27

5.    Holy Ghost is the best teacher - the ONLY teacher.

6.    Our life is similar to echo’s --- our lives will give back everything we give it. The Lord will give us back everything we put in it and what we live for.

7.    Ask for blessing in prayer! God is waiting for us to ask!

8.    "NEVER let your faith be difficult to detect".

9.    When teaching, don't dazzle then with your brilliance, dazzle with the gospel.

10.  Everything we do it predicated in love.

11.  This gospel makes life fulfilling, not just bearable!

12.  If we have faith in ourselves, it gets us NO WHERE!

13.  Choose to be a missionary, not just someone on a mission.

Hope you enjoy those random quotes. Everywhere I go I feel like I'm writing tons of notes. I don't want to miss a thing!
Thank you so much for all the support and prayers. :-)  I love this work. Even teaching actors, roles plays, bring the spirit. I'm so grateful we are taught to bear our testimonies first. Even if I say something crazy in a lesson and get laughs, bearing testimony always brings the spirit. Teaching by myself is crazy hard, but I know I'll learn the most this way.
The Lord is pushing me, but this is making me rely on him even more.

I love you! Choog dii!
Sister Knutson

PS later this night - Elder Holldan just spoke. More next week. I STILL have the chills. AMAZING life changing!

Pictures from the MTC!!

Here are the first pictures we got from Jenn at the MTC!

 Sister Knutson SOLO



Jenn's New Roomies!

 Class Time &
First Trip to Provo Temple

Jenn's Lessons!

Jenn's District Elders  & the HUGE MTC World Map where her mission is!

Must learn to sit on the floor.... Thai Style!



So nice to see -- some things never change! Here's our Jenny!!



MTC #3!!!

Here are the highlights of her letter, Tuesday August 23rd.

week 2!!!!!! i cant believe it. another massive amount of growth and not being to keep up! its incredible how much we fit into a day and still not have enough time. i love this place. its gotten so much easier with the 3 elder companions, i really do love them. i learn from them everyday and im slowly but surely becoming the kind of missionary the Lord wants. constrantly being humbled and reminded i cant do this on my own. relying on the Lord means everything. there is no way anyone could do this on their own. something i live by these days: work harder than you did they day before. may have made it up to. quote me. everyday i understand my thai teachers better, i am starting to truly love the language. its pretty fun now, sooo happy about that! its not for me, it's for the people of thailand.  we have our fingers crossed for an apostle at the devotional tonight. hope you gave caden a birthday kiss from me!  I LOVE YOU ALLLL!!!!!!!!!! thanks for your prayers:) im so blessed!

The average day in the (MTC) life of Sister Knutson!

6:30 - Wake up, get ready for the day
7:20 - Breakfast
7:50-10:50 - Class (4 of us, in Thai)
10:50-11:50 - Personal study time
11:50 - Lunch
12:35-1:35 - Computer language study
1:45-2:45 - Language study (classroom)
3:10-4:00 - Gym (I usually play 4-square or frisbee)
4:50 - Dinner
5:35-8:35 - Class (4 of us, in Thai)
9:00-9:30 - Daily planning for the next day
9:30-10:30 - Personal time, lights out.

MTC #2!!

Written tuesday August 16th, first P-day


Hello!! It is officially P-day (preparation day) so I can write you without feeling guilty or sister roommates turning the lights off on me. First of all, thank you so much for the dear elders!!!!!! I can't explain how great they are. They come instantly and we check during lunch and right before dinner. So tell people to do that! a.k.a. our family!!! Anyway, back to the good stuff.
Where to start?!! It's been the craziest, most wonderful week of my life. My emotions on a daily basis= (she drew a giant squiggle going up and down really fast.) I don't know how to explain it any better! Well, the first 3 days were like that... The saying is true, 'If you can make it to sunday, you're fine.' As you know, I'm a solo sister and that was a definite challenge. As a missionary you have an instinct to be with someone ALWAYS and it always changes who I'm with, (companion elders, roommates, older thai sisters) so I didn't have someone else who was going through exactly what I was. I think I prayed every 5 minutes for the first 3 days! The mission schedule didn't take that long to adjust to, I love having something to do every minute. Study time is amazing, it goes by so fast and you always have something to be learning or studying. So just sitting here writing in the middle of the day is a strange feeling.
My 3 elder companions are awesome!! I am so blessed. They graduated high school early, wicked smart, attend BYU, all know at least 3 other languages and are here for the right reasons. I've really come to love them and appreciate their quirkiness. Elder Monteus is my favorite. He's my size, looks like Mario/adorable monkey, comes from a humble mexican family, knows 4 languages, quiet, hilarious and has taught me so much about missionary work and the spirit. He's patient with me and helps me with Thai. The others (math major = Elder Buss and ROTC army guy = Elder Staten) get frustrated when I'm slow ha.
As I said before, everything has been in thai! Our teacher, Sister Wangwida Pong is from Thailand and has served there. She's adorable! And hard. The elders would pick up what she's saying fast and speak back. I can understand what's going on (most times :) ) but speaking and pronouncing the tones (there's 5) is a challenge. The second day we were teaching an investigator!! The gift of tongues is so real, but it requires lots of work and faith on our part. The first few days I struggled comparing myself to the elders and their quick learning abilities. Sitting in class 7 hours a day and  not understanding much and speaking back pushed me.
The 4th day, we had a lesson in english about setting goals and it was the first time we spoke in english. The teacher talked to each of us personally and she was so helpful and gave me sections of Preach My Gospel to read and scriptures. She said I don't relate my mission success with how much vocab I can say, but how hard I'm trying and my faith. I can already pray and bear my testimony in thai! So that's amazing in of itself! I give all the credit to The Lord, who knows how to give me peace and also stretch me as far as I can go! I knew it would be hard, but not in the ways it has been. I LOVE it. I've grown so much! I need prayer and scripture study and 100% focus like never before.
We're teaching this investigator (who is an actor) and that's helped me so much draw closer to The Lord. For the first 3 meetings, it's been weird and I haven't said much, and my companion would ramble in thai. (Yes, he capable of that ha) and I wasn't seeing those teaching experiences as teaching a real investigator so it was hard to prepare. It wasn't until my other companionship did their lesson after much preparation and felt the spirit guide them, that I realized I did not see this opportunity in the right way. I expressed to my companion (army guy) that we need to pray to see him as an actual investigator and use this time to prepare for the thai people. I prayed for guidance on what to teach and I had no idea how easy it would be to figure out! My companion wanted to teach on the restoration and I knew he wasn't ready nor do we have the ability to speak about it. I felt unsettled and confused but kept getting drawn back to The Savior. As soon as i suggested it, my companion said, "now that feels right." So now we will utilize the thai scriptures to give him parts to read and us simply testify. It made me so excited! Now for the next language study I'll study for our appointment. It was a little test of what the mission will be like! I know my thai is still broken, but my testimony is strong and it's through the spirit he'll feel and learn.
I will never take my companion for granted! This has been such a blessing! In a different way. Each day I pray to learn from them and I ALWAYS do. I want to be a missionary like them in different ways, and I totally help them focus when they go on tangents about biology or math ha!
I really hope it doesn't sound like I'm complaining about the MTC! I really  love it. It's gotten so much easier and getting used to what to expect is huge. Once sunday came, it was bliss! It's seriously like ultimate sundays here. Allll the sisters met in the devotional hall and listened to the spoken word (Mormon Tabernacle Choir). Then it's personal study (what I live for!) and then relief society. It was amazing! The general primary president came and I swear she spoke directly to me the whole time! She played a video of Christ visiting the Americas and hugging the children. Just music. Beautiful. I swear two of them looked thai :) Then our branch met for sacrament  where we're all asked to prepare a 2 minute talk. They randomly pick 2 of us! Not me this week. Our branch consists of my district, (4 of us) the older thai's, (they leave in 2 weeks, very advanced) and an english district of about 20. All the leaders have been mission presidents of some crazy mission and are incredibly spiritual men. We're well taken care of here.
Sunday night was devotional/fireside. One of the MTC leaders spoke about the success of a missionary. It's amazing, the whole center packed full of missionaries sang the EFY melody! So amazing. It takes obedience, hard work and sacrifice as well as "wanting what he wants." And labor with the possibility, not guarantee of baptisms.

I'm excited for the weeks ahead! I love you, so much. Keep the letters, e-mails, dear-elders coming! :) Chog di'! (good luck, good bye)
P.S. I feel like I have no time to eat! Too much to do!