Week 8 in Uruguay

10/2/17-10/9/17
Hola mi familia y amigos,

Tuesday-Wednesday
Well, today my companion and I played this game of who can talk or contact 5 people first. When we started, we went up to everyone. People thought we were crazy. We taught this group of kids and they called themselves Satan… so lame! We taught this one lady, don’t know her name, and she drank so much alcohol, it was insane. We could smell her from like 10 feet away…so gross. She couldn’t even walk straight. We went to the bike guy, Carlos and he wants to do splits with us but doesn’t want to get baptized, so lame. This one guy we taught said he thought all his sons had to be named Elder, ahh so funny. That night Elder Arias and my companion told me that I have this light and spirit that just attracts people and that they want to be around me. It was a cool thing to hear from them. Then they drop the you just need to learn Spanish lol! Yes, I am trying. I read Alma 56 (have to read) so good! It gave me more motivation and a better attitude on everything! Wednesday was the day Elder Bailey and I did not get along. We sat in our house for like 6 hours because we are moving!!! It was a rough day, definitely not good at all. If you have to know how to fix a bad thing/relationship it’s with humility and charity. You need to grow up haha and be the person to change it. So, I bought some ice cream for us, which we never ever have. It was so good and our problem was fixed. So, when in doubt, buy ice cream!

Thursday-Friday
We moved!!! We spent the whole day moving with the Wankers. It was the longest day but our house is so nice! We literally traveled all over Uruguay grabbing and putting stuff into our new house. The Wankers bought us the most luxury meal, McDonalds!  I got a chicken wrap, ahhh so good! We spent the rest of the day cleaning.  Our room gets so dark that you can’t see anything. My comp goes, “It is the same if you close your eyes or open them.” So funny! Friday, I lost the phone , go Knelly haha but lucky we found it. We also taught Maicol, he is getting baptized tomorrow and picked me to baptize him. Ahh, so excited! On the bus ride home, I jammed with this random dude on the bus. That night my comp burned the rice so we didn’t have any food and ruined the pan lol.

Saturday-Sunday
Today was the best day and worse day. Carlos told me how I am a very good missionary, haha, I love that guy. We woke up cooked beans, ran out of gas, had no lunch, and hot water heater broke. My comp and I were starving and went to an almacea that’s where I lost my wallet. We looked for it for like 3 hours. Satan does not want us to baptize lol. We left to fill the font for Maicol baptism. It takes 6 hrs to fill and we only had 4 to do it because we had to clean it first. We filled it with half cold half hot water, it was manageable haha. A total of 5 people came  to the baptism.  When we walked into the font together all I could think of was my Dad and how he did this. Well, I said he full name Maicol Daniel Valdenegro Lacaueva and I baptized him on the first try. When I baptized him, it was like a light came upon him out of the water.  Like I could see a light that no one else saw. He was illuminating, it’s hard to explain. It was amazing! I felt complete peace, joy and such happiness knowing we were able to baptize him! I bore my testimony after and told him how I will never forget this. It was awesome! The Bishop had the idea of having Maicol baptize Leonardo next Saturday. We gave him the Priesthood and baptized him all in the same day.  After, Bailey and I practiced our British accents while cleaning up haha. We finally went home and a guy fixed our water heater, got gas for us and food. Blessings happen if we endure the trial of the day! Sunday was a funny day. Leonardo came and bore a 25 minute testimony. It was hilarious, no one else got up! The funny thing that happened was our Bishop forgot the actual Sacrament and started testimony sharing, ahh so funny. Well, I love you all and thank you for all your prayers and emails!

Elder Knelly

Feliz Cumpleaños

Hola a todos,

What are the odds my comp and I have the same Birthdays haha.  Here are some birthday pictures and a video of the Bishop and his family.  They're the best!!

Elder Knelly

Week 7 in Uruguay: Beach Birthday!

9/26/17-10/2/17

Hola mi familia y amigos,

Tuesday-Wednesday

Well, today was my birthday and I had just learned a couple of days ago, it was my comp’s birthday also! It was awesome! My comp, Elder Bailey, woke me up at 12am to be the first one to wish me happy birthday, haha. Well, a lot happened, we went to the zone leader’s house, Elder Grigor and Elder Guerra, and picked up 20 letters that finally got here and a birthday package, it was awesome! We then went to the beach and there are so many turtle eggs that have already hatched. The eggs fill with water and we throw them for entertainment. Elder Grigor and I went exploring into this sewer where there were so many homeless people that live there. There is water everywhere and I slipped and yes, I split my pants haha! After the beach, we went to an investigators house, familia Gopar, and ate pizza and BANANA BREAD(not as good as my moms but good) and listened to music (some rap haha). It was a blast! We then had to book it to the Bishop’s house, familia Gandalfo because they threw us a party. The whole family sang happy birthday and we had more pizza and cake. I died, I was so full!  We listened to music and James the Mormon, it was so awesome! The Bishop danced and it was so funny. We went home and got a call from President Eddy (our mission president), who sang happy birthday to us. I opened my package from my family. They are the best and I have the best family! Ahh, such a good birthday! The next day my comp made me eat pork liver,  so nasty! We then taught Leonardo, the man we found that told me he has been waiting for someone like me. He talked about how happy he gets to see me smile haha. He is such a strong dude! My comp and I think he is too good to be true. After that, we taught Maicol, the kid that smoked. He has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and I told him people in the states were praying for him. He thought that was so cool.

Thursday-Friday

I got the best compliment ever from the bike man, Carlos. He said my reading pronunciation was perfect Spanish! We had such a good lesson with this couple. She was asking very hard questions. She targeted her questions to Mexico, Miami, and Texas and her dad that was dead, saying, “Where is God?” She doesn’t think he is real because so much bad is happening. My comp really didn’t know what to say. I felt the spirit so strong to say, “ok, who did you turn to when you felt sad or hurt?” She said her dad. I was hoping it wasn’t someone crazy lol but I related that to how Heavenly Father puts trials in our lives so we can turn to him, so we rely on him, and remember him in everything we do. We need to always remember his blessings in our lives and what he has done for us. I told her how He is with all those people. She was crying, and the spirit was so strong. After that my comp and I went to the Jehovah’s Witness Church haha so funny. The spirit was nowhere to be found lol. They stared at us so hard and then greeted us and tried to convert us lol. We are going to exchange books, our Book of Mormon for their false book. I weighed myself finally and I weigh in at 196lbs! lol crazy! Breaking 200 soon!

Saturday-Sunday

We went to a place that had the closest thing to chicken cordon bleu because we wanted to eat before conference. I bought two in case I was hungry later because we usually don’t ever eat dinner.  They were huge! When I got done eating I was about to put the other one in the fridge when a member comes up and says “lucky I haven’t eaten all day.” I just read my bros letter on charity and the spirit didn’t whisper to me it shouted to me to get him my food!  I gave him my food and he was so grateful! He had tears in he eyes because he was so hungry. He said I would be blessed. It was such a good feeling. Conference was awesome! The best was when I didn’t understand what they were saying about 99% of it and everyone is taking notes and I’m like,” Wow that must have been important haha.” We didn’t go to bed until 12 ambecause of the time difference. Don’t worry I understood a little, families were talked about a lot and how important family is. Think about this… what would we be like without the Book of Mormon? We need to always read the B of M every single day! You find answers you have never found before. It’s a special book given for us. It’s a guide so why not read it?!?!  Love you all!

Pride is concerned with who was right.
Humility is concerned with what was right!

Love Elder Knelly

PS  Happy Birthday shout out to Drak ( Taylor Smith) ! 

Week 6 in Uruguay!

9/18/17-9/26/17

Hola a todos!!!

Tuesday-Wednesday

Well, we have found Maria. I have really been trying to act upon the spiritual promptings given to me. This week I had the feeling to go and find the lady (Maria) that went missing for the last 2 weeks. Now she has a baptism set for the 30th, we used my birthday as a push haha. For lunch, I had tuna and wow I’m not 100% sure I’m sold on it. It smelled and did not looked cooked, bad fish haha. After our weird experience with tuna, we taught Chicito Carlos. He is a stud. He told me my Spanish is a lot better than the first time we met him. I straight up asked him if he would get baptized in two weeks. He said “No thanks.”lol. He is super close just not ready yet. My comp told me later that when he looks at me he sees someone with a strong testimony and someone close to family and Heavenly Father. He told me to never lose that and that people all over can see that. Ahh, that made me so happy. That night we taught Annabelle and Michael. It was my turn to share so I talked about one of the best chapters in the Book of Mormon, Alma 32. The spirit was so strong. We had to catch an uber because we were going to be so late getting home. That next morning the tuna did not sit well with me or my comp and we slept in lol and my comp forgot his meds so we went back and got them. We knocked on like 10 houses but no one wanted to hear us so went to our last charla. I gave the baptismal interview to Maicol, the kid that smokes. He is so ready and I am so excited.

Thursday – Friday
Today was so funny. There is this guy that thinks he is a traffic guard. He has a whistle and vest, and so he went off on us because he said he saw God and Satan. He said he cast Satan down to hell and he is made king over a world. So funny, we were like well, that is fantastic, thank you. He told us that we don’t need to go around preaching anymore. I have been rereading Alma 32 a lot. Faith is  first believing, than acting upon the promptings given. The Book of Mormon is so amazing and my testimony grows more and more about it. Also, Alma 36, so good! I had a prompting to go to one of our investigator’s house and it turned out she wanted to kill herself. Wow, the spirit helped me out. I told her we are here for her salvation. She changed and she is now coming to church and we are close to setting a baptism date with her. I am so excited and thankful I get to grow and love the people here. 

Saturday-Sunday
I had a feeling to call the kid who smokes and he has stopped smoking. He wanted to join us for the last charla. The spirit works in so many ways, it’s amazing and all we have to do is listen. We set a baptism for a guy that is already ready. He is so perfect for baptism. I am excited! In church, I was feeling the spirit so strong and it was amazing but 2 seconds later a phone goes off, kid starts crying, and this mom right in front of us slaps her kid so hard on the mouth. It was crazy haha! Well, that’s about it. Hope all is well back in the states. Miss you all!

Love Elder Knelly

PS I finally played ball with people here. They thought it was the coolest thing ever that I could make a shot. haha

Week 5 in Uruguay

9/12/17-9/18/17

Hola familia y amigos!

Tuesday – Wednesday
Well P-day was Tuesday so emailing was the best thing ever.  The day went by so fast!   Later that night we were asked to go give a blessing, ahhh it was awesome!  I was so nervous like sweating so much lol.  I anointed the mom and son.  The son had like 6 different names lol.  After the blessing, the little boy jumped up and gave me a hug, ahh it was so cute!  Wednesday we had another blessing to give and it was so spiritual :) We then taught the first lesson to Maicol, the kid that smokes.  I started it and the spirit was so strong!  We were fasting and every time we do something or some trials happens.  I was down because Spanish was just hard and I tried to contact, but no one would listen!  So in this charla/lesson, it was powerful.  I felt the words just coming, Spanish words haha.  When we finished, my comp said bro, that was the best lesson!  Like your Spanish bro, awesome haha.  Ahhh Fasting works! I have the strongest testimony of fasting and how important and powerful it is.

Thursday – Friday
We ate at a member’s house and I asked if they had a basketball or watch basketball.  They had NBA TV.  Oh my gosh, I miss playing.  I was watching the plays from last year!!  I got so excited to come back and play.  I can’t wait.  I didn’t realize how much I missed it. Also, we had tooth picks made of bamboo, so much better.  Friday was good.  We went to a meeting and had mashed potatoes! Oh I miss those.  Then we had a talk from Pres. Eddy about baptizing.  Our goal is to baptize! We teach repentance and baptize converts.  Such a good talk.  Later, I started the lesson for Maicol again.  I brought mints for him to help stop smoking.  I talked about the Book of Mormon so he can gain a testimony.  Wow, the spirit was so strong.  I wish you could feel how strong the spirit was. I know I was talking through the spirit no doubt!  I gave the little boy m&m’s, lol Julio, I’m such a sucker for him.

Saturday – Sunday
Today we had a service project from 8am to 4pm, 8 hours!!!.  We painted, power washed, laid concrete and did yard work for an elementary school.  It was fun!  I love servicing others, it’s the best.  I got all the kids to take a video of us saying “Cougar Nation” haha.  They don’t know English but it was awesome!  Later we had a lesson with Miss Uruguay.  She doesn’t believe in God but I know we will baptize her.  She speaks English.  I love talking English!  The spirit was amazing.  We got Maicol and a guy named Daniel to come to church.  Daniel has a dog that waits for him at a certain spot every day.  Just like “Hachi”.  Sacrament was awesome!  We had 32 people there instead of the 17 we’ve had.  Later that night, we taught Michael, Annabelle and their cute little girl Mia.  They have been inactive and had been talking about getting a divorce.  So we are teaching them and we sing hymns, even though they laugh at us, the spirit is so strong.  They have been coming to church and Michael talked to us at the service project and told us that they are not getting a divorce now.  He said ever since you Elder have come into our lives we feel the spirit and have wanted to make this work.  He said they are also working on getting to the Temple.  Their little girl, Mia is adorable. She legit has a crush on me.  She keeps trying to kiss me, so funny.  Well, I love you all.  Thanks for all your love, support and prayers.

Elder Knelly