Again, I am posting the entire email. Wow! What an amazing mission! We, Kaitlin's family, cannot express enough our gratitude to the Lord for blessing Kaitlin with this experience. We have benefited greatly and have been inspired and humbled by our sweet daughter/sister and her faith, her testimony, and her "come what may and love it" attitude. Well done, Hermana Knapp! We cannot wait to wrap our arms around you in just a few days!!
Dear family,
It's completely surreal that I'm sitting down to
write you the last email you'll receive from Paraguay. Oh boy. I don't
like "lasts" sometimes. But with every good "last", there's a great
"first" that follows, right? On Thursday, I had my exit interview with
President Callan, and it was such a good experience. He told me
everything I needed to hear. I know he was speaking for the Lord during
that hour. I left renovated and excited about the future. So that's
why I say that even though doing things for the last time is hard, I
pray that the Lord won't stop using me as His instrument and that He
sees fit to have me serve wherever I'm needed in whatever way
necessary. Knowing that He will grant me opportunities to serve and to
progress all my life makes this upcoming change exciting.
The week in review...
We found a few really great new
investigators. Last week, we visited an inactive family, Mariela and
Luís, for the first time in a long time. I hadn't ever met them in my
five and a half months in the area. We had a short visit with them, and
then last Sunday, they showed up to church! It was great. I don't
remember if I told you that last week. Anyway, Mariela's older sister
and younger brother are living with them currently, and this week we
started teaching them. Carlos, the 18-year old brother, is especially
impressive. We taught them the Restoration of the gospel, and after
sharing the First Vision, the Spirit was very strong. After a pause so
that they could relish that Spirit, we invited them to pray that night
to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. Carlos had been pretty silent
the whole time. He was looking at the floor, and by his face, you could
tell he was thinking deeply. When we extended the invitation, he
looked up and said, "I believe it's true. I believe that
this...Smith...was a prophet of God." Wow. That's the first time
that's ever happened in my whole mission. He is a young man of great
faith and spiritual sensitivity. I love it when the Spirit
teaches truth to a person's heart. It is one of the great miracles of
this work. It's such a privilege for me to be able to witness that
process. Sometimes I feel like I'm only an onlooker, watching the hand
of the Lord work miracles in the lives of His children. It's a great
blessing. Carlos and Maribel (Mariela's sister) were going to come to
church yesterday, but due to Father's Day, they weren't able to because
they went to visit family. But next week they'll come for sure.
Maribel shows a lot of potential as well. The Lord definitely led us to
her last week in her time of need. She lost her 1 1/2 year old son
about a month ago to pneumonia. It came as a huge shock, and she still
hasn't come to the full reality of it yet I don't think. She sits in on
the lessons with far-off look and doesn't eat anything and shows us
pictures of her little boy on her cell phone that she took shortly
before he fell ill. My heart hurts for her. But knowing her has made
me so thankful for the eternal Plan of Salvation that the Lord has
prepared for our families.
I don't know if I've told you about Jazmín Paiba yet... She was new
investigator about two weeks ago. She's hilarious. She's 22, she's
studying law, and she lives with her mother, who has Alzheimers. We've
taught her a few times now, and each lesson has been a spiritual one.
This week, we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and invited her to
be baptized on July 7th. The Spirit has told her she needs to take that
step. She herself told us, "I know I need to get baptized. But I
don't want to." When she told us that, it kind of surprised us, so she
explained, "Okay. I'll be honest. I like to go out on weekends to
party. I drink beer. I really, really like beer. And I can't say that
I'm ready to give that all up right now." She's quite the character.
But she reads all that we assign her. And yesterday, she came to
church! It was fantastic. Coming to church is such a huge step in a
person's conversion, and it's something that many people here struggle
with. It's one of the hardest commitments for them to keep for some
reason. So we're really grateful she came yesterday. She came without
her family knowing about it (she also lives with a couple brothers and
sisters and their spouses) because they're all Evangelical and aren't
too pleased with her decision to listen to us. So it was an act of
faith on her part, and the Lord will bless her for that. Really, that's
all she needs right now... a little more faith. I have confidence that
as she continues to read the Book of Mormon and come to church, she
will experience the change of heart that the people of King Benjamin
experienced (Mosiah 5:2) and will start desiring the things of God more
than the things of the world.
Eli and Gustavo... Whew. It's been quite a week with them. We
taught one of the most intense lessons I've ever taught in my mission
this week on Thursday. We prayed and planned all week, and we were able
to come up with the lesson plan the Lord wanted us to follow. We
taught them very clearly about the Law of Chastity. In former lessons,
they had both expressed a desire to be happier, so this time, we read
Mosiah 2:41 and explained very directly that getting married was one of
the commandments of the Lord--that living the Law of Chastity would
bring them this happiness they so desire and that not living it would
deprive them of the blessings associated with that commandment. We read
4 Nephi 1:11, 15-16, which were powerful in the context of Eli and
Gustavo's needs. The Spirit was present, and Eli and Gustavo were both
able to open up and express feelings and concerns that perhaps they
hadn't expressed before. When we invited them to live this commandment,
Gustavo told us, "I don't have a problem with it. Getting married has
been an idea that's always been present... we just haven't taken that
step yet." But Eli shook her head and said, "Hermanas, I know it's a
commandment of God, but I have to be honest. I'm not prepared to get
married. Nope. I won't do that." Well...we were shocked, to say the
least. We were expecting two different reactions, but we thought
Gustavo would be the one that was anti-marriage. But then Eli began to
explain why. She said that she feels like Gustavo doesn't love her
anymore because he barely talks to her and spends much of his free time
with his friends in the soccer field drinking. He thinks it's more
important to sleep than to come to church (these are Eli's words
exactly, by the way). Eli said that they're not happy together, and
that she's in the process of deciding whether to continue to live like
this or to leave. She said her daughters were the only ones keeping her
in that house. Quite frankly, I didn't know what to say to that. In
my mind, I was thinking, "Eli, it's just a matter of faith! Have faith
in the promises God is making to you!" But I knew it would be more
effective if she could receive that knowledge for herself, so we
suggested that we consult God in the matter and kneel down in prayer.
At this point, Gustavo was pretty angry for what Eli had said, and she
was upset with Gustavo as well. Gustavo refused to pray, so Eli said
the prayer, and it brought the Spirit back to the lesson. It was sweet
and heart-felt and emotional. Afterwards, we talked a little bit
more--mostly just bore testimony and promised blessings--and then
Gustavo said the final prayer, in which he promised God that he and Eli
would talk seriously and try to follow Him. I hope and pray that
Gustavo is sincere this time. Because that is just a beautiful family.
Maybe one day you'll be able to meet them. I'll continue to pray every
day of my life that they will enter into the temple to be sealed for
time and all eternity. I'll pray for that every day until it happens.
Yesterday was a good day. My last Sunday in Paraguay. I said
goodbye to a few families for the last time, including to the Abuela
Fernandez. She grabbed me with more strength than a 94-year old woman
should have and hugged me and kissed me. "You better give me a phone
call once in awhile," she said. She's very sweet.
Well, my time is running short. The Spirit has taught me a lot this
week, for which I'm grateful. He has taught me a lot about the
Atonement and about the doctrine of Christ. May I just say that I am
thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that His Atonement is
real. I know it because I have felt in my life its purifying and
enabling power. I am grateful that He has made possible my eternal
progress. Every day presents us with new opportunities to not only avoid
the bad, but also to do good, to be more like Christ. I love that. I
love life. I'm grateful for the love and patience of a perfect Father
in Heaven. And I am grateful for each one of you. I'm sure you can
imagine that leaving Paraguay will be hard for me. That is the truth. I
love it here. I love the family I have acquired here. But I am
especially grateful for the father and mother, the brothers and sisters
that the Lord has blessed me with in this life and for all of eternity.
I'm grateful for your faith and courage, Mom and Dad, in bringing me to
the world and teaching me the truths of the gospel. I'm grateful to
you, my sweet siblings, for bearing with me and teaching me by example,
even though I'm the oldie in the family. Thank you all for all the
encouragement you've given me during this year and a half. We have a
lot of living and loving and laughing ahead of us I think. I'm
excited. This work is the work of our Lord, Jesus Christ. This is His
church. Joseph Smith was His prophet, and Thomas S. Monson is His
prophet today.
It's just the truth.
See you in a few days.
Love,
Hermana Knapp
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