Miracle Week and the return of K. and B. (dun du dun dun)......September 9, 2013

So I guess you could say this week was pretty fantastic. Similar to most other weeks on a mission. Guess how many new investigators we found? The most we've ever found in a week before is 4 I believe. This week? 13. Yippee! 10 of them were found using the prayer approach. I think I told y'all about that.

Monday- M. and her grandson E. We invited them to be baptized and they said yes but we haven't been able to meet with them again this week.

Tuesday- We brought the Bishop to our appointment with our excommunicated investigator which I think helped a lot because the Bishop was really nice to him and talked about how wonderful repentance is.

We had a lesson with the D. family (active husband who is very old and a spiritual giant and his less active wife). R., the wife, works on Sundays and we brought Sis  B., an awesome member. Sis B. basically shut her down like a boss. Here's how the conversation went

Sis D: I don't think I can go to church anymore girls. I'm too old to go to church and then work all day. I'm sure Sis B. understands how that feels *polite laughter*

Sis B: *no laughter* No. I don't. I go to church on Sundays and work on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

oh man. It was pretty funny. Calling people to repentance turns out to be a lot harder than I imagined. I really want everyone to like us and know that we love them but no one likes to be told they are breaking the commandments. S Har. and I have been working on being bolder. In our lesson with the D. family it was getting near the end and Sis D. was not really having it (She usually loves us but that's when we teach nice fluffy stuff. We aren't there to teach nice fluffy stuff, we are there to invite others to Christ through faith and repentance.) I prayed really hard that I would know what the Savior wanted me to say because I had no idea. So I opened my mouth and promised blessings as a representative of Jesus Christ. Afterwards Bro D. said "The Lord has truly loosened your tongue." That was a cool answer to prayer :)

Wednesday- we finally got one of our less actives to tell us she doesn't want to come to church because she feels guilty about smoking. I've been teaching her for about 3 months and never even had a clue that she smoked. She still didn't come to church but she said the Saturday before she even went and bought a skirt so she's thinking about it!!

We did the prayer approach with M. and while doing so this dog runs up to us and obviously I'm excited because that's a super easy way to start talking to whoever the owner is but when I look up I see K...... Oh no.... S Har. knows about him but she didn't know what he looked like so she starts talking and asking if we can pray with him. He says no and when he was out of ear shot I whisper "Bible basher!!!" ON top of that we had M. with us. He goes on to tell us that if he prayed with us that would be like praying with a Muslim. "And many other things did he say unto us that I can not write at this time." (<---Haha funny scripture reference.) While walking away M. said "he's golden."

Later in the week, during companion study I said

"So when I read this scripture I was thinking about K.--"

S Har.- "Nooooo! In my prayer this morning I said, God if we need to go back and talk to K. have S Knowlton say his name during studies."

hahahahaha so- we're going back and we are going to boldly bare our testimonies that Joseph Smith is in fact a prophet.

Thursday- rough day. All our appointments before dinner fell through. But hey, that's because God needed us to be somewhere else so I'm not complaining!

Friday- we told SW that if she didn't start reading and coming to church we couldn't keep coming by. (nicely and with the spirit of course ;) )

We had dinner with T., R., D., and S. They're our investigators if you don't remember. It is really painful to teach them because I care about them so much and want it so badly for them and R. will not pray about the BOM. So we are teaching them tonight and hopefully things go well. We will be inviting him to be baptized for the 3rd time haha.

Saturday- 6 new investigators!

We found a family through the prayer approach. It's a mom, C. and her 3 kids, S., D., and T. We invited them to be baptized October 5th and they all said yes but we aren't counting them as on date yet because I don't think they understand well enough...

S Har. and I have really been trying to work on teaching clearly and simply. I feel a lot of times the people we teach don't fully understand the Restoration and that is something that everyone deserves to understand because it is amazing!!!!!

We also taught briefly about the BOM to a single mom named V. who we said a prayer for last week. She said she has been looking for a church and is willing to read. She mentioned a Mormon friend she had in High School who brought her to church a couple times. That friend has no idea how much she helped both us and V.!

We were 10 minutes late to ward correlation and Bro L. gave us a nice big talking to. That was not fun. Missionaries must be punctual! Lesson learned!

We had a good time in companion study. We decided to scripture chase to every scripture that we read together. S Har. beat me most of the time which was kind of upsetting.

Sunday- We sang in church. We told EVERYONE to come support us and no less actives or investigators came... That was the whole reason we sang haha. We sang I need thee every hour with the Webster Lake elders who are both really great singers.

Did I tell you about that wedding? I can't remember but anyways we taught them and picked them up as investigators. The husband is pretty interested.

Remember that family we helped move one night? We went and taught them. M. is REALLY interested. She kept saying how she has been thoroughly studying the Bible for 22 years and just feels like there is something missing. When we started talking about Joseph Smith she said "wait let me get something" and I was afraid it was going to be anti stuff but she came back with a pen and paper and started franticly taking notes on everything we said. When we gave her the BOM and asked her to read 3 Nephi 11 she said "That's what I just opened to!! I'm covered in goosebumps just holding this!"

Every Sunday Elder Mc. does "Malley district radio call-in" and he gives a challenge and the first companionship to call in with the answer and their weekly numbers gets a candy bar. 2/3 week that we won ;)

I forgot to mention some things last week and I have zero time.

1. I got a ticket for going 11 over last Monday............. First ticket ever :( Sorry Mom and dad! I don't know how to pay it so I'm using that emergency cash you gave. You can take it out of my bank account or something)

2. I gave another training in District Meeting. I don't know how after being out for 3 months I've managed to train 3 times.... I've had a new DL every transfer. Maybe I should let the new ones know that I already trained....

3. A general authority is coming to our mission on Tuesday and I was asked to sing!! I'll let you know how that goes :)

Love you all!! Congrats Aaron and Amy! you are the best!

p.s. shoutout to Aly and Izzie for that incredible package. S Har. and I LOVEEE the CDs I would tell you more specifics but I ran out of time. I will next week :)

p.p.s. S Har. and I have so much fun. We are really great friends and I will be really sad to not be her companion in 3 weeks :(

Awesome....awesome...awesome.....September 3, 2013

Most commonly used word as a missionary? "Awesome" We do so much listening to people and the immediate response is always "awesome...." To the point that if someone said "My dog just died today" I would probably say "awesome." Sister Har. and I always say things at the exact same time in lessons and one lesson we both said in sync, "That's awe-" and then just stopped and looked at each other out of the corner of our eyes. We made an agreement that if one of us says awesome in a lesson,  that person has to invite someone to be baptized at the door that day haha ;)

This week was another great week as a missionary :) We did a lot of work with less actives this week. When we called in our numbers on Sunday Elder M. said "The Zone Leaders are not going to be happy because you got more less active lessons than they got total lessons." The Elders are always commenting on how hard we work. On Sunday they said "Alright sisters this isn't fair anymore- either we all have to start working harder or you need to stop working hard so we can balance this out." I appreciate the encouragement but sometimes it's hard because even though we work really really hard everyday there is still so much for us to work on. In the mission it feels like there is so much pressure to get baptisms and I know, I know, baptisms do not show success but it's hard to not think that way.

We had a couple trainings this week and throughout them I just kept hearing all the things I'm not doing and all the things I need to improve on. We need to be better teachers, better representatives of the Savior, work better with the members, I need to train better, etc etc. When we got in the car to leave I asked Sister Har. if we could pray for help in becoming the missionaries we need to be. The instant we prayed and turned everything over to the Lord I felt so much peace. I know that I don't need to let myself be overwhelmed- that's what the Atonement is for. The Savior is there to help us become what we need to be. I often forget that I've only been out for 2 transfers and I have so much time to learn and grow but I just don't want to waste a single moment of this year and a half. 18 months is so short!

We are really trying to balance our finding and teaching. We do a lot of teaching because there are so many less actives but our finding efforts lately have been dependent on working with the members which is going! Just not quickly enough so we gotta step up our game :) Since tracting isn't effective, we now do what is called the "prayer approach." We knock on people's doors and ask if we can come in and leave a blessing on their family and their home. When we are in there we write down everything they need prayers for: friends, family, illnesses, work, peace, etc. then we kneel down with the family and leave a blessing on the home. For the times that we tried it this week be were completely guided. The first doors we knocked on each time became a potential or an investigator!

One of my favorite things and one of Sister Har.'s least favorite things is talking to random people that we see. (Sister Har. is getting much more comfortable with it. It's great! :) ) When an appointment fell through we saw a family moving a bunch of furniture and offered to help.   They said no like they always do but we kept on insisting till finally we just took the furniture and started carrying it. The mother had three kids and was moving out with help from her boyfriend. She seemed on the verge of tears the whole time and before we came we could hear her yelling at one of their boys. She was so excited to give us her new number and address for us to come by and talk with her and the family. We had more experiences but I'm running short on time and I want to answer some of mom's questions.

What is Denver like? It's a lot like Utah as far as weather and geography. We don't have a great view of the mountains but we can still seem them. We can see the skyline of the city really well from our area. We see about 10 airplanes a day because we are so close to the airport. The sky is HUGE and so beautiful. The sunrises/sunsets are phenomenal!  Our car is a white Chevy Cruze and his name is Kevin :) All the mission cars are really new. We live in a small room at Sister P.'s maybe I'll take a picture of it one day, and a picture of Sister P.'s home :) We don't live in a neighborhood because Sister P. owns a self storage place so we are just around that. My area has a ton of apartment complexes. People in this area are not super wealthy which makes it a fabulous area. I never ever want to leave the Malley ward I love it so much! The weather is wierd, it changes every 10 minutes from pouring rain to sunny skies. There are a lot of ghetto stores and the roads are a little beat up but if you drive right into the neighboring ward/area, everything becomes really nice haha. I would guess that we are the lowest income ward in the stake. I still sing! We sing all the time! We are singing in church on Sunday with the Webster Lake ward elders. We sing at nursing homes every Saturday and sometimes we sing in lessons. Hope that answers some questions about the Denver area. Our mission is REALLY small now but still 250 missionaries! It's all the metro area.

I absolutely love being a missionary. Even though this week I got more discouraged than usual (don't worry that means I was discouraged for maybe an hour on two days. I still am so happy :) ). I found that when I am discouraged it helps me turn to the Savior and it helps in lessons because I feel his love so much stronger. I love this Gospel and I know that it's true. Like just get this---

IT IS THE TRUTH OF GOD!

Okay got that out of my system. This week our invesitgator D. dropped us. I called and she said "I'm not going to be a Mormon." I asked her if she had read and prayed about the Book of Mormon and she said "yes, God told me that it is true but I can't be a Mormon" I didn't really know how to respond. I wasn't sure if it would be rude to say "you're telling me that God revealed that the Book of Mormon is true but you do not believe the things it teaches?" I kept asking if we could just come back one last time but she said no /:

I know the Savior lives, that the Book of Mormon is true, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. How do I know that? Because I asked God. It just makes sense, if God had prophets to guide his children before he will have prophets now. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He loves his children so much and I know he loves me. I can feel the happiness that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings. There is nothing like it and I will never deny it. If something you read or learn brings your confusion or sadness it is not from God and therefore it is not true. If something you read or hear brings you pure joy and revelation it is from God and it is true. I feel so blessed to know that we have absolute truth, there is a purpose to this life, this life is a time for us to keep the commandments and in so doing, be happy. :D We can find answers through prayer! There is one God and he will give you the answers. I love you all and appreciate all the prayers that are sent my way :)

I got a letter from someone named V. who just got baptized in Escondido. Is she in the Felicita Ward?

Have a wonderful week and share the Gospel! You all are such incredible examples to me and I admire everything you do :) Thank you :)

Love Sister Knowlton!!!!

"Luke 2:52"...................August 26, 2013

Well, here we are again. It feels like yesterday when I emailed. I didn't get as many emails this week and I was sad but then I got over it :) What a fantastic week. Are there such things as a bad week on the mission?

We dropped K. a little while back because we hadn't been able to meet with her for about 2 months and it was ridiculous. We would go by and she would say "Oh come back in 4 days at 2:00" but of course she was never there so S Har. and I would always quote her, throwing out random numbers "4 days.. 4 days!" We went to see her b/c we were in the neighborhood and set up another random time that probably won't happen but she was telling us about some scripture that has been sticking in her head all day "it's one about depending on God and finding strength in him... I can't remember... where was it.... OH Luke 2:52" We looked it up afterwards and were just like -_- yeah K., 4 days, 4 days... Luke 2:52...

I forgot to tell you that I got 16 bug bites. Lesson learned, no more teaching 8pm lessons outside. During comp study one day S Har. and I were watching the District and one of the sisters made a really funny face so we spent about 3 minutes laughing and imitating the face. Oh man- with 2 hours of companionship study you get a little crazy.

We are teaching an excommunicated woman named L., I can't remember if I've told you about her but I absolutely LOVE her. She likes us a lot but sometimes it is hard to get to our lessons because she just talks and we try and teach off of what she says. Last time we went over she was sorting through her jewelry and had a huge pile for us to go through and take whatever we wanted. It was legit. I got some super hipster bling ;) Speaking of hipster- S Har. and I went thrift store shopping last Monday and we're going again today. You can find some solid stuff in thrift stores. I think I will only shop at thrift stores for the rest of my life.

Wednesday we went to the TEMPLE! YEAHAAA!! I can't believe we get to go once a month. I just love the temple so much. I didn't want to leave. Our session was at 6:30 so we had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning /: By the end of the day my head was literally spinning, I was so tired. I love when I'm exhausted at the end of the day because I feel like I worked hard and did my best. It was a great day, we taught 6 lessons. It must be the blessings of the temple.

Thursday we were teaching our investigator R. (boyfriend of less active member T. I can't remember if I've told you about them). I absolutely love them. He is really really funny and makes us laugh a lot. But we invited him to be baptized-again- and he nicely told us that he is not getting baptized but we can keep coming back. BUT here's the good part. He always does his Book of Mormon reading, he just hasn't prayed, so we aren't giving up :) T.'s two kids are also our investigators. Anyways we were explaining baptism by immersion and he said "immersion.... sounds like some sort of ethnic group. Like I'm getting baptized by an Asian." hahahaha oh my gosh. We were laughing so hard. When we taught them yesterday R. PRAYED! We have been trying to get him to say the closing prayer for an eternity and he finally did it. He said "dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the chicks coming over and sharing their little.... mission." He always calls us the chicks. I was so happy. We read with the whole family Moroni 10 and I could feel the spirit strongly in the room.

We thought we were being super creative coming up with this baptism lesson for B. (the 9 year old) how we would boil an egg then have her draw all over it to represent sin then crack off the shell to represent being baptized. But apparently we didn't boil the egg long enough and it was kind of an epic fail but it got her to pay attention more so it's okay :)

We passed off TW to the zone leaders because they are over the YSA branch and we feel like that is what will help him the most. It was really sad but we still teach S. so we still see him often. They are truly changing. They haven't quit smoking yet but I remember first meeting them and making an immediate judgment that they couldn't change. Teaching them is definitely a tender mercy from Heavenly Father. It is helping me see how Christ sees people and their potential.

S Har. and I are trying to think out of the box and come up with new ways to get member referrals. Right now we are working with the ward mission leader on a "Member MTC" fireside where we will have fun classes on how to share the gospel. I'm way excited! I absolutely love the Malley ward. I finally feel like I know people really well and am starting to get a connection with a lot of the members.

Saturday we taught the Restoration to this newly wed couple in our ward. We are trying to get them sealed in the temple. They are SO DANG CUTE! Can I just please get married already? They came up to us on Sunday before Sacrament meeting all excited and said "We just got callings!! We're Primary teachers!" Afterwards S Har. and I were like, I don't think know they weren't supposed to tell us that yet haha.

Sunday- BEST DAY EVER! We had 3 investigators at church which is the most we've ever had and B. brought her friend N. who is taking lessons from missionaries in another ward. We had about 4 new less actives there, not just ones that have been coming back the past few weeks, but 4 brand new ones coming back. Including SW!! As we were singing the opening hymn and I was looking around, my heart could not have been more full. Bishop even got up after sacrament and made a comment about how many people were there and he started crying and said "please know your Bishop loves you and wants you to be here all the time." It was really awesome. S Har. and I taught the 9 year olds for Sis P. because she was gone. As we were sitting in sharing time the Primary president gets up and says "Since the Sister missionaries are with us why don't they come up and talk to us about prayer." So we gave pretty much the entire sharing time on the spot haha. People seem to think that they can do that, because it happens a lot ;) We have taught almost every class so far. I really really loved teaching Primary, I hope I get that calling one day. All the little kids love us. We get mobbed every Sunday by the whole Primary. Our investigator D. left after the first 2 hours because she wasn't feeling well so we didn't get to talk to her but she texted her fellowshipper and said "tell the girls I did their assignment. God told me to pray and ask if the BOM is true and I decided yes." SAWEEET Can't wait to see her this week.

Later in the day we ran out of gas so we had to break the Sabbath and we texted the zone leaders to ask if that was okay and they replied "#oxinthemire" hahahaha. Also, while we were contacting we met a girl named C. and I freaked out. She said she'd never met another Collette before.

I write waayyyyy too detailed emails. It's probably annoying. I didn't get any response to my question last week so don't forget about that please! :) I was wondering, siblings who served missions- what was the longest you were in an area/with a companion?

Shout out to Cheyenne! I will be writing you a letter today. Love you!

Funny moments:

When Sis P. said "Cabbage patch kids. I remember those. They were ugly as sin and everyone wanted one."

Friday I woke up having crazy nightmares about sleeping through my alarm and I kept getting up all night afraid it was past 6:30 #missionnightmares. S Har. was told me how at 1:30 she got up to close the door (She can't sleep with it open) and when she was getting back into bed I got out of bed and kneeled down to say my morning prayers and then started making my bed. Hahaha.

Malley Ward Round 3! August 19, 2013

I love responding to the emails I get.  Well it's transfer day!!!! Can you believe that I've been out for 3 months and only have 15 more? That is just not long enough. Elders are so lucky. Sister Har. and I are staying in the Malley ward. I feel like after these 4.5 months here I'll be transferred but who knows! Sister H. is getting transferred to the neighboring stake :( SO SAD. It's because STLs are going to be companions from here on out. The Sisters are taking over, just like zone leaders now. Elder B. and U. are both being transferred so we will have two new elders in the Malley ward with us. It will be weird not having Elder U. because he has been in the ward for 6 months. I'm also sad about Elder B. because he was such a great District Leader and it was fun to have a friend from BYU. The Denver North zone is really close so transfers are sad. Thank goodness both the ZLs are staying because they are awesome :) We got together at 8 Saturday night to announce transfers and I told the ZLs we should give away awards to everyone and that they better make mine good. Do you know what they gave me? "Girl who can get whatever the freak she wants because of that weird crying face she makes." Thank you. Thank you so much Elders. I can make this really ugly face and every time I do the ZLs will do whatever I want just to make me stop making the face. Charming, I know.

There is a member in another ward who referred us to a friend in our ward. We asked her to set up an appointment and then we would come. This member (A.) is AWESOME. We called before to let her known we invite people to be baptized on the first lesson and she said, "That's perfect! I think everyone should be baptized!" In our lesson yesterday she told D. (our investigator) that she had some friends she wanted her to meet and maybe we could meet at their house next time. This morning she texted us and told us she found a family in our ward that would let us teach D. in their home. I told S Har. and she asked "Is she one of the 3 Nephites?" hahaha. Why can't every member be as fearless as A.?

S Har. and I had a lot of funny moments this week. Have I mentioned that we laugh a lot? One night I was saying a prayer at the end of the day and we were super tired and I prayed "Please help Sister Ho. stop smoking coffee" and in the middle of the prayer we both just busted up laughing and it took a good 5 minutes before we could finish the prayer. I don’t know why it was so funny- but it was.

We were teaching the W. family and I don't know what the heck was going on with T. but it was hilarious. I think he was on something. We brought the ZLs because they are over the YSA ward and he might have been trying to be funny for them but he was saying the most ridiculous things. Here are some quotes of AMW:

(After asking what he learned from reading) "When I read the BOM it just all turns into wisdom and goes back here (motions to back of his head). It's just like wisdom teeth, in the back you know?"

"My doctor said I'm not allowed to stop drinking coffee because all my neurons are messed up. I mean- I'm not tryin' to be a scientist or nothin'...." 

(Referencing his obsession with Skittles) "TASTE THE RAINBOW! (Irish accent) Look a pot-o-skittles!"

I dont even know............

A funny moment from last week I forgot to mention. We were teaching this LA lady who is a hoarder and her house is crazy and it was impossible to talk because she talked so much. Halfway through the lesson she was telling about an accident she was in and said, "They took out my spleen. Want to see the scar?" and she lifted up part of her shirt to show us and S Har. and I were just like "uhhh nice..." When we got in the car S Har. started busting up laughing saying "She just showed us her spleen scar!!" We had a good time with that.

Overall this week was great. I didn't take very good notes of things to say. Mom- if you ever send me a package, I could use a lot of those white/black/beige modbod Tshirts. Also we are allowed to wear maxi skirts and dresses now!! So could you please send the ones I have at home if you know where they are? Thank you :) Whenever you get the chance. No rush but hopefully sometime in the next 15 months ;)

We went to mutual to talk to the Young Women (or should I say Young Woman, there's only 1) about Personal Progress and it was so fun! S Har. and I really tried to pump her up. And now we are redoing our PP to motivate her to beat us. So far we are winning.

My favorite part of the day (with going to bed at a close second) is personal study. I feel like I am able to learn so much! This week I was studying a lot about the fall because we have an investigator who believes babies are born with Adam's sin. It is so interesting to study about. Jesus the Christ is pretty much the greatest book ever written. Talmage is a genius. I've also been reading a lot in the missionary chapters of Alma and studying what they do when the people's hearts are hardened. I like Alma and Amulek a lot because that is total member missionary work right there! I'm trying really hard to cut all negative comments out of the things I say. I always remember what Dad said about missionaries leaving an appointment and talking about how dumb the people were. When he told me that I thought I would never possibly say something like that. I don't think I've ever said anyone is dumb, but it is easy when someone rejects you to not be loving towards them. It makes me notice how much more I need to work on my charity. I love how much I am able to learn and grow on my mission.

Question I want you all to answer please!! When you think of the missionaries that have been in your ward which ones would you say were the best missionaries? How did they gain your trust? How did they build a relationship with you? How did they show you that they were working hard? From a members perspective what makes a "real" missionary?

I love you all so much and talk about you everyday. I'm so proud to be a Knowlton :) I love being a missionary. I will quickly send some pictures then I have to go say goodbye to all the missionaries being transferred :( Thank you again everyone who writes me. Amy- the week you didn't write me I literally thought it was two whole weeks without a letter.  That is how long a grueling week it was without hearing from you ;)

Love Sister Collette Knowlton

Ps.   M. asked what our first names were and she really loved my first name. I like having a secret name no one knows. But she told us she could never think of me as anything but Sister Knowlton and I thought that was strange haha

I love you handsome buffalo

We were teaching this older couple in our ward this week whom we LOVE. They are a mix of all of my grandparents. S B told us she knows some Lao and then said a phrase and we asked what it meant and she said "i love you H1some buffalo" and S H2 and I were like uhhhhhhh.... Good times....

Honestly I'm getting so lazy at  writing emails because I want to spend all my time reading and replying to the emails I get. I really wish I could write longer responses but please know that I look forward to reading emails A LOT. At the same time though I do love telling y'all about my week. Have I mentioned that I have awesome family and friends? Cause I think that about 20 billion times a day.

I guess you could say Saturday was a pretty exciting day. M WAS BAPTIZED! Afterwards Elder B asked "how does it feel?" Basically I was just so happy and beaming the entire program. A lot of people from the ward came and also most of her family (they aren't members). Afterwards people gave her presents and a lady even gave her scriptures with her name on it! S B who we brought to almost all her lessons got her a cute necklace and a book for her kids. Elder G asked "Do you feel like you did anything?" and immediately I said no and he said "Those are the best ones :)" It really is true. She is so converted to this gospel which is something that can be hard to find in recent converts. She has the cutest little kids; R girl (4) and R boy (2) and they are always excited to pray and are now counting down the days till they can be baptized. R girl is so cute. Every time we are there she shouts "SISTERS" about 50 different times. The funniest is when we were sitting in Relief Society waiting for it to start and we hear outside "SISTERS" There is R announcing that she has entered the building and just assumes that if she shouts we will hear her. M is pretty sad that we wont be coming over as often but we are trying to start teaching her little sister so maybe we will be over there frequently again :) While visiting M before her baptism that evening she told us how she woke up, went into her mom's room and said, "Since I'm being born again today you might want to wish me happy birthday." haha! We were talking about baths in our lesson with her and S H2 said "Bath time! Best night of the week!!" Oh man, we laughed so hard. I'm glad S H2 gives our investigators the impression that we only bathe once a week.

Another funny moment- we were walking to an appointment and there was this older guy and a 20 year old guy out working so we went to talk to them. After chatting for a while the older guy said "Are you two married?" And I said "oh no- I'm only 19 and she's 20" and he said "I'm okay with that." This would be the second time an old man has brought up marriage with me. We gave him a mormon.org card and said adios.

On Tuesday we had zone conference. It was SO GOOD.I love that spiritual uplift. Guess what. President Toombs told us that our mission will end up being half and half, 125 sisters and 125 elders. SISTER POWER. We're taking over the world, watch out. After zone conference I went on exchanges with S H1 until Wednesday night becasue she is my STL :) Apparently STL's are going to be companions starting next transfer, just like Zone Leaders. It was fun being with S H1 again. I'm going to be sad if she gets transferred because we have enjoyed seeing each other almost everyday. We taught a super anti lady and brought the Relief Society President in S H1's ward and, holy cow, was the RS Pres bold. It got a little contentious.The lady told us about all this stuff her preacher had told her and The RS Pres said "Well, that's because your preacher doesn't want you to leave his church" oooo hooo.. The appointment even made S H1 cry afterwards and S H1 does NOT cry. I think it was mainly because they said some pretty incorrect things about agency and S H1 feels really strongly about agency so it bothered her. At the end of exchanges the older missionary always talks with us to see how things are going and I told her my favorite part of training is seeing how much people grow from day 1. She just smiled really big and told me how much I've grown and how proud of me she was :)

On Thursday we met with our investigator T and his less active mom, S. I don't remember if I've told you about them. When I first met them it was really hard for me to see the end result. Their house always reeks of smoke, it is never clean, you can't feel the spirit there, they are always sick, they don't have any money or a car and are living off the government, and are just all around living a really sad life. I've been praying a lot to be able to love them and see them as God sees them. This week there was finally a change. S read out of the BOM finally and she was so excited to tell us! She was smiling! She summarized the whole chapter to us and was really proud of herself. It was amazing to see her have some self-confidence. T didn't read but he expressed his desire to be baptized so we committed him to Sep 22. At the end of the lesson he said the prayer and was very sincere. It was awesome. Later in the week he called and asked what chapter they were supposed to read so I'm excited to see them tonight. We met another lesss active woman this week who I had the same feelings towards. It was so difficult for me to see how her life could get out of the situation it was in. I kept thinking "It will take years to turn this around." She's a hoarder and I've never seen that much stuff in my life, she also has no money or education. I'm so glad God is letting me meet these people because I'm really learning to have  faith in what God can do for them. I know that the gospel is the answer to any problem. As they feel the spirit, they will slowly but surely have the desire to do good things and change their circumstances. The talk "Redemption" by D Todd Christopherson gave me a lot of hope for them and what they can become. God loves them so much and he knows they have the strength to change their lives as long as they decide to turn to him.

Friday we went to see A the schizophrenic woman and it was kinda creepy becasue when we walked in she was whispering to the corner. I wonder about her so much. I wonder what she was like before her illness. She talks about her family but I don't know if they exist. I don't know how she found the church because she knows a good amount. 

Saturday- BAPTISM DAY. But also, there was a referral I got from a member the first week of my mission (I think that is the only member referral I've been able to get thus far). She told us never to give up. I lost count of how many times we knocked on her door but I think it was about 20. We have been trying to contact her since that first week of my mission. We went to try again one night and prayed really really hard that she would answer the door. Of course, she didn't answer like every other time. This time we wrote a note to leave on her door. While writing it I saw a mom and two boys across the road and so we walked over to talk to them. We chatted for a while and they weren't really interested but we left a BOM anyways. On the way back to the car there was a car pulling into K (referral)'s driveway. We wouldn't have made it in time but thankfully some neighbor stopped to talk with her so we were able to get to her before she pulled into the garage. She let us come and talk with her and basically we spent the whole hour listening to her teach us about her church. We didn't get to share a message because we had to go home. She seemed really against the church and laughed at anything we told her but agreed to let us come back Saturday. Honestly all week I was scared becasue I knew she would be prepping some crazy questions. I prayed and prayed to have faith that we would know what to say and how to help her. I found a quote in my MTC notes that said "feed your faith and your fears will starve to death" Long story short because I'm running out of time and I write way too long of emails- we went back and shared a little about the history of the BOM and answered some questions about what we believe and she sat and listened. When we were done she said "Are you sure you're Mormon? You really believe that? I am amazed and surprised. You two are just the sweetest girls. You really know what you're talking about." She made clear quite a few times that she was not joining the church but we are going back again to hopefully clear up some more misconceptions. Heavenly Father really answered our prayers and gave me faith to listen to the Spirit.

I better send pictures! I love you all so much and I'm sorry my emails are so dang long. I even wish I could tell you more!

One more funny story- You know how I said everyone in the ward knows I love potatoes so we eat them like every night? Well at church S H1 (their ward is right after ours) told me that at their Relief Society activity they had potatoes and she overheard a lady say "It's too bad that sister from the malley ward isn't here. She LOVES potatoes!" Wow- you know it's bad when even the women in the other ward know.....

Have a fantastic week! I truly love you all more than you know and think about you everyday!

Sister Knowlton

What to expect when you're not expecting

This week we met a teenage girl who didn't know she was pregnant for the entire 9 months and found out the night she was going into labor. Here is the crazy thing, She is short and super skinny! Don't ask me how that happens, apparently she had a back pregnancy? So anyways, Later the evening I told S H2 she should write a book called "What to expect when you're not expecting" and I laughed really hard at my own joke- like I was crying.

Another fantastic week as a missionary! Can you believe it's already a month into my second transfer?This one is going by faster that my first transfer.

2 P-days ago S H2 and I swore of Chick-fil-a because we don't want to gain weight but last P-day we decided it was okay and we would ignore our oath. As we were eating there S H2 said "I think we need to be at Chick-fil-a every Monday. These workers know us and soon they will be curious and want to join the church." We concluded that if we come back fat it is becasue the Holy Ghost prompted us to go places with really good food. Also we went home to take a 30 min nap and accidently woke up 2 hours later. 2 hours of precious P-day time gone :( We won't make that mistake again.

On Tuesday we were trying to see an investigator and there was a mom and daughter in their apartment cleanig so we offered to help and chatted for a little then they let us come in to share a message. As we were teaching the Restoration they said some pretty interesting things. They were telling us about all the signs of the second coming they had seen. They asked if we had heard 3 of the 4 trumpets becasue they had. I don't even know that sign but I was just like "mhm. awesome. cool." And then they showed us a picture of some puffy clouds and excitedly asked "What does that look like to you?" And S H2 and I looked at it blankly and said "um. I'm not sure..." And they went on to explain that one was Gods face and the other was a tiny little angel. And that no one would believe them that it was a sign. Good times as a missionary. Then it got awkward when we had taught about Joseph Smith but not the Book of Mormon yet and they start talking to us about all the religions that have other books "...and the mormons have a book...." And so I was just thinking, this is about to get really awkward because you haven't made the connection that we are mormon and we are going to give you that book. haha!

-side note- Ali Chumbley: When are you getting married? I want your announcement! If you don't read my emails, mom can you ask about that? Thanks!

Thursday was a slow day where all our appointments cancel and we can't teach a whole lot. After about 50 billion cancelations I just drove off epicly shouting "Onward Christian Soldiers!!" We were able to teach the gf of one of our investigators who is less active and I think the lesson was really helpful, she was able to open up more without her bf there. At night S H2 was really discouraged that we had only taught one lesson but I told her never to be disappointment in a hard day's work. Even if we didn't meet goals, we did our best to spend all day inviting people to come unto Christ. Goals are important and help motivate us but they aren't means to discourage us :) ALSO! Two things I do now that I never did before: run and floss. Sorry if me never flossing was gross but really, no one does it anyway. Also we run every single morning! excpet Sun and Mon. Not very far but we do it nonetheless. Mom and Dad- can I use money to buy a journal? Or should I use my own. Either way is cool with me just thought I'd ask :)

One Friday we did service at the Arts and Culture Center here is Thornton and the volunteer coordinator was asking tons of questions! I was with S H2 and S G (S H1's new greenie) and they did a great job answering her! She asked how we get to Colorado and S G told her about prophets and then later S H2 slips in "well we believe that this is the same gospel Jesus Christ had when he was on the earth..." I was such a proud mama ;) Later we committed M to live the law of tithing and even though she really has no money she said she would :) I always feel bad for S H2 becasue by now the whole ward knows I love potatoes so they ALWAYS feed us potatoes. It's awesome. Melanie- I still read out of that temple journal you gave me. It is really specail to me that you took notes on my baptism and confirmation. I love reading it and also you are such a good writer. I was reading it like "wow- that was poetic."

Saturday morning S H2 and I woke up and she said "do you want to-" and I said "not go running?" So glad we can read each other's minds. We still have to work out for 30 minutes so we decided to "stretch" and that turned into "yoga" which consisted of us laying on the ground in different positions and naming them so we felt like we were working out. Some examples were "ashamed dog, I want my back scratched dog", and many others. Emma Phipps!- Did you leave on your mission yet? I suppose I could check but if you haven't I want you to know that I use those stickers you sent me with my younger investigators :) We had dinner with S Peel and her daughter and grand kids came over and it was SO FUN. We love S Peel. I told her she has to call my mom after I leave her house ;) And she said "I never even thought of that!" Then she also told us that we are never allowed to leave or she will be making a phone call to the mission president.

Sunday was M's first time in the Malley Ward because she had been going to her brother's ward. She got up in sacrament meeting to bear her testimony- oh man talk about a missionary pay day. She told the ward how her whole life has changed within a month and when she was walking down the two ladies next to me were both like "wow..." People kept coming up and telling her they were coming to her baptism and it made her feel really special. We told her we try to see people getting baptized everyday the week of and she said "Are you kidding?! I've been trying to get you guys to come everyday this whole time!!" M's baptism is a gift from Heavenly Father to the Malley ward. We have been working a lot on helping the members do missionary work and I think this is getting them more excited. S H2 and I set up appointments all this coming week to teach the members the message of the Restoration. We already did it twice this weekend and it helped a ton! After we teach it we give them a BOM/Family Proclamation, have them pick a person (through the spirit they felt in the lesson), a day that they are going to give out the BOM, invite them to meet with us and then we follow up. I'm excited to see how it goes! We focus most of our studies on new ways to find and work with the members. We are trying to get a missionary choir going. Also I'm singing in Zone Conference tomorrow! I don't know what yet. And I'm singing with S H1, G, and H2 at M's baptism. Bishop also asked me and an Elder in our ward to sing in church so we will probably do that soon too :)

I had a cool experience with a lady we meet with. I've probably mentioned her before- her name is A and she lives in a nursing home. She suffers from schizophrenia but is the sweetest lady you'll ever meet. She has met with missionaries for a while and they always stop coming by eventually so she puts in a media referral so we come back and that's how we found her. If we don't sing in a lesson she says "Well are you going to sing me a song?" It's cute. We taught her the Plan of Salvation before (she's heard all the lessons but still acts like it's new information) but this time I had a special experience with it. Since she isn't accountable I've wondered if it is a good use of our time meeting with her weekly and decided that she needed love and visits so we should continue. When we were talking about the resurrection and how our bodies will be perfect the Spirit reminded me that A and I would meet after this life and she would no longer be mentally ill. As I looked at her with that thought I wanted to cry because I know that we will be good friends and she will appreciate the time we took to come talk with her about the Savior. It was a very memorable moment and I can't wait to meet her after this life :)

2 hours is not enough time!!! AHH can't I email all P-day?

Lately I'm obsessed with marriage and family. I find every excuse to bring it up in lessons, study about it, talk to S H2 about it. I don't know what it is, but I can't wait to have a family. S H2 and I have A LOT of fun together. We laugh so dang much. We absolutely love listening to our music and try to resist blasting it but sometimes I just can't. OKay I gotta send pictures! Did I mention I love taking pictures? I'm sorry I send them weekly I feel like I'M THE ONLY MISSIONARY THAT DOES BUT i CAN'T HELP IT! dang Caps. I'm too lazy to change it...

I love you all more than you can ever imagine and I think about you every single day! thank you for your prayers and letters. I thrive off of communication with y'all.

read the BOM, pray for missionary opportunities, I love you!!

Sister Collette Knowlton





"Denver, we have a problem"

Sister H2 thought of that email title and I thought it was really funny because it was after one of our investigators "dropped us like it's hot" as I like to call it. I will explain in detail later.

I LOVE email time. Mainly because I get to hear from people. Writing about my week is becoming less exciting because it is just so overwhelming to think of everything that happened. I feel like for my mental well-being on P-days I will start taking notes again. I can barely remember what was this week and what was the past two weeks. But honestly if all we did on P-days was email and then go work I'd be fine. I just thrive off of communication with you all :)

Sister H2 and I have been trying really hard to talk to every single person we see while walking to appointments and it's been a lot of fun. I was thinking about how sad it will be when I get home from my mission and it will be 10x weirder so I'm pretty sure I'll just put my name tag on and pretend I'm still a missionary. I always like when people are walking their dogs, it makes it less awkward to approach them because then I can say "OH! Cute dog! Can I pet it?" Then after small talking you sneak in a little "By the way- we're missionaries and we share a message about Jesus Christ and we know that it can bring you happiness no matter what you are going through. And we know that God loves us and so he has called a prophet to guide us......." deep deep down people enjoy our "pet-restoration message" approach.

One cool story- Remember that little boy N who asked us "How can I get missionaries to come to my house?" and we gave him a BOM and a pass along card? Well when we gave it to him we said "If you call this number you will get this DVD for free (Lamb of God DVD. I've never even seen it)" So this week Webster Lake ward had a baptism and all the missionaries try to go and support so there were some elders who came up and said "Did you guys give a little boy named N a pass a long card?" And we said "Um.. yes?" Apparently he did call the number and when they came to his house they were asking the Grandma who N was and he runs out and says "That's me!" And when they tried to give him a BOM he said "Oh I already have one of those, I want the Lamb of God DVD!" Haha. So now they are teaching his family!

M is still on fire. We next lesson we taught her after committed her to August 10th was AMAZING. We sat down and she looked like she was going to jump out of her chair she was so excited. She said "I have to tell you guys something. You told me to pray about the BOM and if I should be baptized so I did and when I finished my prayer I opened the book right to this page (3 Ne 11)" She continued by reading to us verse 24-32. She could barely get through them she was so excited. By the end she was crying and said "I KNOW this book is true and I can't wait to be baptized!" Later in the lesson she asked if we could come over for dinner and we set up August 9th and she said "That's the night before my baptism!!!" Wow. Being a missionary stinkin rules. She was able to come to the Webster Lake ward baptism and there she started crying againa and said "My brother (Who's a member) told me that you guys leave!!" She isn't very happy about that but we promised that we will be back in a year to go through the temple with her :) A member we brought to the lesson told her about FHE and she is super excited. She told us last night "Tomorrow for that Family thing, we are going to drive down to see the temple" I can't believe she is already doing FHE! Then she told us how she can't wait to bear her testimony next Sunday in church. She accepted the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity. I can't even tell you how awesome she is. I almost feel bad counting her as a baptism because I honestly did nothing. We just are lucky enough to be the missionaries that get to watch the Spirit teach her.

G didn't come to church this week so we called around 9 to ask where he was and he said "I'm driving my son to the babysitter and then I will be there!" But he never showed up. So after church we stopped by his house twice and then later I said "Let's just try G one more time." He opened the door and had tears in his eyes. He explained that he took his son to his fiance (the mom) and she called the cops or something because she didn't get enough time with her son and now they have to go to court. He said "I'm so sorry I didn't go to church." I think the cops coming is a pretty good excuse so we let him off the hook ;) Then we talked to him about the Atonement and he just cried the whole time. He said "I am trying to do what God wants but these things still happen to me" We told him that this gospel will give him the chance to live with his son forever and no one will ever take him away. He said "I want to see my son grow up. I want to be there when he falls. I don't want him to fall but he will." I said "That's how Heavenly Father feels towards you!!!!" He is only in town on the weekends so we set up a time to come back and he said "I want to see my angels Friday, Saturday, and Sunday" So presh <3 He always calls us his angels.

J.......... The worst part of the week. We met with him this week and his ex-wife was there and I don't even want to get into that because I'll be too negative. So We don't make appointments when she's there because we don't want her there and we normally call to set on up. She we called and J said, "I'll be at church we can talk there." So he came to church on Sunday and we said "When can we come by?" and he said "I don't think I'll be coming anymore." I didn't even understand for a second. My heart really felt completely broken. I LOVE J. He was showing no signs of wanting to drop us. It was a complete shock. I didn't really know what to say so he just tried to explain that T (ex-wife) doesn't approve and he really cares about her. When he was done all I could say was "Well..... that's a bummer...." All of the members we brought to lessons were there and they were crushed. Brother L said "I respect your decision, we are always here if you ever need anything." After Sunday School B W was chatting with him in the hallway and telling him "We will sure miss you coming. Just keep reading your scriptures and listening to the Spirit." And J just looked at him and said "Yeah, I know, I'm just really lost right now.." It was heartbreaking. He is so confused because of the crazy things T says. I taught J for so long and absolutely love him and J. After Sacrament meeting we shook his hand goodbye and J comes up confused and asks "Are you not coming over anymore?" :'( I kept telling myself to get over it because there was work to do but then I felt bad because you can't just get over someone turning away from the gospel. I'm not "over it" but we did end up having a great day with a lot of happiness :) Heavenly Father helped us out.

Sister H2 and I spoke in Sacrament meeting about member missionary work. I was so happy to get them all in one place so I could tell them how important it is!! Also it was a kinda like my last little testimony to J. It went really well :) Did you know we are asked to get 3 member referrals a week?! yeah, I think I've gotten 3 in my whole 2 months so far. There is a lot of pressure to get members more involved now. Sometimes in lessons with members I feel like I need to just get on my knees and beg them to do missionary work because nothing else is working! After we spoke Bishop got up and said "We are so thankful to have wonderful sister missionaries in our ward" and it kinda hit Sister H2 and I- we are the sister missionaries!!!!! How cool is that??

Mom- your calling is Public Affairs right? We work with that committee a lot! I always think about you when we are with them :) I love that we do 10 hours of service a week. It is so much fun. Mom and Dad- are you going to pick me up from my mission? I know you have quite a while to think about it ;) but Sister P asked if you were because I was raving about you and told her she needs to meet you.

Funny moments- (I need to write them down more so I can remember)

-M has a dog she wants to get rid of so we told her we'd ask Sister P. So during weekly planning we walked into Sister P's office and said "Sister P? We have a question." She could see what was coming and said "...what...?" "Can we get a dog???" She started laughing and said "I've been looking for a dog! But that's why I got you two remember" She went to meet the dog but he was kinda spastic so she said doesn't want that one but it was still really funny.

-we sing at nursing homes and S H2 and I were the first ones there for about 10 minutes so she played the paino and I just sang some hymns by myself to them haha

-Quote from our Zone Leader Elder G"I'm telling you guys this because you're my homegirls- but I've got a mad crush on Abish from the Book of Mormon" hahahahaha what??? Who says that??

-"My God is a republican"- 91 year old man we taught

-"If Sacrament Meeting ends early, we'll be heroes!!"- B L (Ward Mission Leader)

Sad moments

-elders and sister are no longer allowed to hang out on P-days. I wanted to cry when I heard that. Our zone is really close and we love playing sports on P-days.... So we are going to try and do something fun with the Sisters today since the elders called the church to play basketball

-I got my first door that literally slammed in my face! We never go tracting really but we were visiting a part member family and both Sister H2 and I felt strongly that we needed to knock on a door so we did. An fatter, shorter, meaner Gandalf opened the door and said "What do you want." We cheerfully said "We are sharing a message about Jesus Christ!" He started at us and said "and your both fools." *slam* it wasn't really sad. It was actually a little funny. I can't wait to get to the other side and find out why we were supposed to knock on that door ;)

Well I love you all. Not a day goes by that I don't think about you! I love having all 5 of us kids on my planner to look at everyday. Siblings- I know you are all busy but you should write me every now and then ;) I love being a missionary. The church is true!! Now everyone go read the Book of Mormon and then after that go give one to somebody! Love you!

Sister Collette Knowlton :D