I Am Growing in So Many Ways!

Sept. 19, 2016

Hey Everyone!

My companion was sick this week but she is healed! It took Monday - Friday for her to get better but she is completely fine now. We didn’t work like at all this week though! Only Saturday and Sunday night a tiny bit. I think it was a little bit of a good break for me and made me more anxious to get working again.

Mission Tour

On Friday we had a “Mission Tour” in Porto Alegre with our entire mission of 180 missionaries. All the missionaries together! Pretty crazy! Eler Rais, who is a member of the Seventy, and his wife were here and it was pretty good! It was fun to see my CTM group again and spend time with Sister Rosser and Hansen. Also, I met an elder from Springville that is going home in 2 months! Elder Hulet (Mom, I already told warned him you might contact him. Lol.) One of the things that Elder and Sister Rais talked a lot about is how we need to realize we are making a sacrifice here, which I thought was cool because sometimes I feel selfish feeling that way. They also talked about being strong and confident and really teaching about the Atonement and Repentance. It was all really good!

Catch Up Day

Saturday was catch up day. We had only taught 2 lessons this week with Sister Santana’s sickness so we had a lot of people to follow up with! Thankfully it was a sunny hot day, not a rainy miserable one because we walked a TON! Lunch was far away and we had so many people to visit that lived in different areas. We ended up teaching 10 lessons in 6 hours! It was great! I hadn’t used my Portuguese to teach all week so it was rough and it was a little hard to get back in the groove. Sister Santana and I also made a goal to smile and make it a good day which worked for the most part.

Member Growth

Sundays area always good days because we have the mornings to study and do things that we need to catch up on before church. President Neunes (the branch president) and his wife Elise always have lunch for us. I love them. They are so great. :) The classes in church were great! They helped me to reflect on my mission and bit and I realized that I have learned soo much already and I’m way more independent and strong and just a better person. It’s going to be amazing to see the change and I will be so much more prepared for the next steps of my life. We talked a lot about temples, which made me soo grateful that my family is sealed in the temple. We don’t have a single couple/family in Sao Chico that is sealed in the temple so Presidente Neunes was really trying to push that. Also, in the classes I saw real growth in our members. They did everything! We didn’t need to! And Dani was called as the new Relief Society president! So exciting. She’s only been a member for four months so she’s freaking out a little but she will do great.

After church the other sisters had a baptism so we did that whole service and then after the baptism headed out to work! We had to run home first to grab a coat because it was freezing again! Then we went to Eliane, Milena, and Paolo’s and while we were there we set a date for them to get married! Woohoo! Not this Saturday but the next (General ConferenceSaturday) and then Eliane and Milena will possibly be baptized the next day (Paolo still needs to stop smoking)…but I am so excited for them! They are the best and I wish we had more like them. I could see them being really strong in the gospel. Also, I love being around them because Paolo is always commenting on my Portuguese, which is really nice. He commented again today and said it’s very good. They are so sweet. J I remember visiting them on my first day in the field…oh boy…that was rough. So they have definitely gotten to see my growth! Also, there was a spider crawling across me and I grabbed it and threw it without freaking out. Go me! I am growing in so many ways, hahaha.

I thought a lot this week about the things that I have that I can use as a missionary since my language isn’t great yet. One thing I realized is that I am beating myself up too much about it. I need to take one step at a time, one word at a time, and have patience. I literally only have 2 months in the field and I’m expecting to be fluent or what?! Calma Cassie. In the meantime, I really can’t use my personality fully, but I can be happy and optimistic and bring the Spirit to people. I have realized too that these struggles have helped me and will continue to help me. It’s hard, but God always has a plan and knows what is best for us.

Love you all,

Sister Knapp

What Goes Up Must Come Down

September 12, 2016
I guess that’s true for missionaries too because I was so excited last week but this was a haaaarrrrd week. Lots of new changes and challenging things that made it a rough week. I have had days when my Portuguese was just awful, spent days in crazy wind and freezing cold, knocking on the same doors that have already been knocked on before, and I’m just so tired and exhausted. Sooo tired. And I don’t think I have literally ever been so cold with nothing to do about it in my whole life walking home some nights. The weather here is really bipolar! Also, with only Portuguese speaking roommates around me I have to focus so hard, which is hard because I’m exhausted. They talk so fast now that Sister Clark is gone and more people can understand. Ahh this is going to be rough getting used to. I want to understand and I want to help people! 

But there were good things this week too.

-We taught a lady that told us a story how sometimes she sees us around and she always knows it us because of how we are dressed. I thought it was a pretty cool story and, again, shows that we have all of our rules and that things are the way they are for a reason! We had a great lesson with her!

-We took a 2 hour bus ride to Novo Petropolis, which is so pretty! Also, I love bus rides because it is time to sleep, to sit and do nothing without feeling guilty, to get away from our area for a bit. It was really nice.

-We were in Novo Petropolis to watch a broadcast of Elder Anderson speaking just to our mission. We stayed with some other sisters in a nice apartment (very jealous) and though we thought we were going to have to sleep on the tile floor, a member ended up giving us his children’s mattresses. What?! Sooo nice!

-The devotional with Elder Anderson was good! He knows Portuguese but isn’t fluent so he would sometimes speak in Portuguese and sometimes in English. It was nice! I understood like 98% of the whole thing! My problem is that I understand gospel lingua in Portuguese but I have a hard time with normal things…but I don’t know how to study “normal things.” Haha, I’m trying.

-One thing Elder Anderson said that I thought was interesting was that we will know more about Christ than everyone we talk to. Very interesting because I feel under-qualified! So our purpose here is to help people increase in knowledge and faith of Christ and then repent and come to Him. Very special that we got to hear from an Apostle of the Lord directly for our mission.

Sao Chico Branch Conference

All good things, but overall, it was a rough week. I had some really hard days. In the midst of my sorrows though, I read my patriarchal blessing and the note I have from my setting apart blessing. It helped me to feel at peace and I through pouring my heart out to the Lord, He blessed me with one of the most comforting/spiritual experiences I have ever had. I know it will get better. One day at a time. One word at a time. Pray for me to understand more! And to be patient with myself!

Perfect quote for this week: "...the storm fronts that come into our lives will not last forever. We can surmount the drifts of difficulties and we can hold out if we maintain our perspective and faith. But while we are in the midst of all these things, the experiences that can be for our long-term good are very, very real. We may feel that such are simply more than we can bear. Yet if we have faith in an all-knowing and all-loving God, we understand He will not give us more than we can bear."

Love you all,

Sister Knapp

A New Start Week! Here We Go!

Sept. 5, 2016

Oi!
Last P-day started out awful. I think I was just kind of down and didn’t have the best attitude so after we emailed home I was feeling kinda sad and grumpy. But literally it was alike a flip of the switch. I DECIDED to be happy and I actually felt happy! I started talking to my companion about everything and we were having a ton of fun! So instead of taking naps we decided to make a cake for Milena’s birthday which was the next day​. Let me tell you, making cakes here is a struggle though, since we don’t have a machine or even a mixing spoon. Our first try we couldn’t get the batter to mix in and so we put it in the blender. Lol. Just a heads up…that doesn’t work. So we took that mistake and made our own cake from scratch just for fun to see how it would turn out. Not too bad but not much flavor and VERY dense. Lol. So we tried again and made it like Sister Copa does and it was rough! But it ended up turning out great! Beautiful chocolate cake. J All of this because I CHOSE to act happy and then I felt happy. So I decided to try to do that the whole week. One day after lunch we all came back to our apartment for a sec and we were all very tired and it was hard to have a good attitude and everyone had expressed feelings of being tired, not being excited, not wanting to leave. Although I had those feelings a little, I didn’t think about it much and had a positive attitude and actually was happy and excited. This time I was the one to say, “let’s goooo!” and try to make them excited too. It was a very good step. The whole week just felt better because even when things were hard I would try my best to push away negative thoughts and to smile and be happy. It wasn’t that hard things didn’t happen. I just didn’t dwell on the hard things. Sometimes you just have to plaster a fake smile on your face for a bit, but I promise it works. Most of all, it was just my attitude! So watch out world! This is my turn around! I am going to be happy here!


On Friday we went to Porto Alegre for training for all of the missionaries that had been out 6 or 12 weeks. We stayed in a house with like 30-40 sisters. It was crazy! It was so fun to see my CTM district. Ahhh seeing them was so happy. The three of us girls spent as much time as we could together talking about everything and we all agreed that it feels like we are childhood best friends or something. The training went great! We talked about working with members (Sister Santana and I were laughing the whole time during this part. I wanted to raise my hand and ask, “what if you don’t have members?” haha, but I didn’t.) We also talked about not being scared to talk about the Book of Mormon or to give invites. I think that’s something I really need to work on. During the last part with president he bore his testimony and let us ask questions and everything. I can’t even explain how much I love my president. I just feel so loved and happy with him and when he talks my whole heart is just filled with love. Ahh he’s so great.

The best news this week is that the President isn’t closing the branch. Today was transfers and I am staying here in Sao Chico with Sister Santana and Sister Santos will get a new companion ‘cause Sister Clark was transferred! We still have 4 sisters though! I feel like the last transfer was like... let’s warm her up and get her to like her mission a bit with extra help from the Copas and Sister Clark and being able to speak some English. Now both are gone so the the 2nd transfer we will get her working harder on her Portuguese and better with doing everything and being more diligent. No more English at all!!! It’ll be really good for me. Now I am used to a hard area and need to focus on the language and improving in everything! I think I will improve a lot this transfer and I am ready for it! It's like a new start!

Thanks for all your support!

Sister Knapp

Saving São Chico

August 29, 2016
Well! Another week already! This week was pretty basic and I don’t have much to say that’s new or exciting! Just lots of work, work, work!

A Little Piece of Home and Heaven

I don’t know if I have written much about the Copa’s, the senior couple serving here. They take such good care of us and help so much in our area. Being in their home, being fed American food, playing games with them, and staying at their house on P-days (which we have done a couple of time) is like heaven! They have really helped me and our branch sooo much and I don’t know what we will do without them! But they have to go home in a couple of weeks (senior couples can only serve 23 months) and I am so worried about it. Sister Copa always makes me laugh. This week she was trying to convince me to marry her grandson because we would make “beautiful babies” Lol. The whole p-day she would tell me random things about him and every time she asked me a question it felt like a test. So funny. They also took us out for fondue this week and it was amazing! Plus, we got to tour around Gramado again and went to a fun wax museum. This week we also had a little going away party for them and there were so many people there! Members, investigators…sooo many. It was actually pretty depressing for me to watch. I’m going to miss them so much.

Saving  São Chico

On Tuesday we had a big day when all of the missionaries in our zone (20 of us) came to São Chico to help! We set up a bunch of things outside the church and then all headed out to talk to people to explain that our church was open today for people to learn more about our beliefs and then, if they had five minutes, we would walk to the church, give them a five minute tour, and then ask to teach them more later. By the end of the day we had 107 people come to our church! That’s pretty good.

Mission President’s Visit & Big Decision

We also had a zone conference with President Campos this week and each of had an interview with him. I pretty much cried through the whole thing, but I was very impressed with my ability to express myself and to understand him. It was very good. I talked with him about everything and he helped me make a few goals. But something that was cool was when he asked, “you have been out 12 weeks, right?” Nope…only 6! He said that I am doing better than other missionaries who have been out 6 weeks and that my Portuguese is good. That was nice to hear. It’s hard. But one day at a time I can improve little by little. I cried, he understood, we laughed, I joked a couple times. It was all very good. J I was really lucky to get an interview this early in the mission too. It was definitely a blessing. Definitely.

One of the things that President Campos talked about is what to do with the São Chico branch. He is seriously considering closing the branch. He said he put 4 sisters here, the Copa’s here, and even the Assistants and there was not really much progress…and he also asked if 2 sisters would be able to handle it. WHAAAT? We all think that is what is going to happen though. Two will stay, two will go, and I think Sister Santana and I will stay. I’m terrified. I have NO idea how 2 sisters will be enough to handle all of this! I don’t even know how we would handle it without the Copa’s Ahh… but it does make sense. There are great members, but 10 members is just not enough, especially when none of them are ready to lead or teach. But then I go to church and everything is so good and the Spirit is so strong and I realize that they can’t close São Chico! These people need it! But the Lord knows what is best and he will guide the President about what to do.

First Dogs, now Frogs

Funny side note: We were walking home one day when there were a bunch of big frogs in the road. It was gross! Normally I just see them squished in the road and I had never seen an alive one until last night! They are everywhere…along the road, dead and alive. Blahhhh!

Sticking Out is Good

I’ve decided that sticking out is good. When mom wrote about how people in Finland just assumed they were Finnish and speak the language to them it made me grateful to be here. People know I am different, which helps in several ways…(1) people know I don’t speak the language very well (or assume) and are more patient, (2) People notice us more and then want to know why we are here and what we are doing, and (3) if you draw attention to us, you draw attention to our Church! Soo…overall, it is a very good thing.

My Favorite Scriptures

Thank you all so much for your support! Also, if you guys want something to do this week then read chapter 4 of Mosiah. It’s amazing!! My favorite part (or one of) is in verse 9 “believe in God.” He has all wisdom, all power, and can comprehend way more than man can comprehend. Why is it that we have a tendency to forget that? If we understand this, then why don’t we rely on Christ more? We need to humble ourselves and rely on Christ for everything! Why not? What is holding you back? Why wouldn’t you want help from someone who knows everything? Christ is amazing and I am so grateful for the Gospel and the Book of Mormon in my life. Read the whole chapter…it’s great!

Also, another challenge for everyone…bear your testimony I church on Sunday! You know this gospel is true! Help lift those around you and let them feel it is true too! Lead by example!

Love and miss you all! Keep the branch of São Chico in your prayers!

Love, Sister Knapp

Longest Week of My Life

June 20, 2016

Wow I am actually here! And wow it is actually p-day! 

I have t-20 mins to write this email so sorry if its kinda short! SO much happened this week though and I love to share details so if I don't get everything in today I will write it next week.

First off, yes my comp is Sister Hansen and she is great! She is catching on to speaking the language super fast!

The CTM is CRAZy and everyday feels like a life time and this week felt more like a year.... but it was great anyways!

We are SUPER busy. They schedule every minute of our lives for us out here... 

By the 2nd day EVERYTHING  was in Portugese. Crazy right?!?! Everyone here is Brazilian or Spanish and very rarely know english. Brazilians are VERY nice but speak wayyyy too fast to understand everything. 

This area is super sketchy and apparently we are a high target for getting robbed on p-day so that's pretty exciting.

We learned SOOOO MUCH in just a few hours! But even by the 3rd hour I understood about 90% of what she was saying! Spanish helps a lot in understanding but it makes it harder to learn how to speak cause you get all the words mixed up. Our teachers talk in only Portuguese but they talk slower and use their hands a lot so that's really nice and easy for me to understand... but then you get in the real world and they talk so fast and you can't understand anything. Hahahah it's great. 

Having a comp with you all the time is weird... haha. I have some funny stories about that if I have time. 

I have been told a lot that it is very cold in Porto Alegre. YAY!!!! 

8% of people in Brazil are fluent in English. and about half of those are already Mormon... hahaha.. so pretty much we HAVE to learn the language before we leave otherwise we are dead. 

An instructor once told us "You will come American and in 6 weeks you will leave Brazilian!" and I completely believe that. You are just thrown into everything all at once here. 

I have been able to really help our class understand our instructor a lot. I think living in Spain helped with that. 

We had to teach an investigator in Portuguese on our 2nd day here....YUPPP. And now we do it pretty much every night. Its insane. 

I have been able to be myself a lot and I love it! Super confident and happy and its all been great.

I have a ton of funny stories but no time for them! I will tell you them next week!

The Elders in our district call me Sister mail key... cause I am asking to check the mail ALL the time. Send me letters people! I love them!

Our saying here is " Its like ____.... but not...." Pretty much everything here you can relate to something at home... but then it's different from that thing. If that makes any sense. hahaha

Sundays are the best days. So spiritual and in English! So I just have to make it to Sunday... then to p-day... then to Sunday... etc. Its working out alright.

We have Brazilian roommates and they are the cutest, funniest, most kind people ever. I have a bunch of stories about them too that I will have to tell you about later. 

FIRST TRIP TO THE PORTO ALEGRE TEMPLE

Me and my companion, Sister Hansen

Sister Hansen and I with our Brazilian companions

Our district

My district is GREAT, 6 girls. 3 elders. They are AMAZING and we have gotten super close just the past couple days. I love them all and we have a good balance between fun and studying.  

We aren't called Irmãs because that is what they call the sister Nuns here or something like that.... So they just call us Sister _____. Lammmeeeee. 

I gotta run though! I LOVE YOU ALL!!! I will write more next week

Thank you for everything.

Love you DAD! Happy Fathers DaY!

LOTS OF LOVE,

Cassie 

I Made It!

June 15, 2016

Alright well... I only have 10 minutes to write on a foreign password where it confuses me cause it says I am spelling everything wrong.... But yes, indeed. I did make it! 

Things have been pretty normal but my emotions have been pretty crazy. Its like that scene in Tangled where she keeps saying "I cant believe I did this!!!" then.... "I cant believe I did this?!?!?" YUP. That explains my feelings right now. I miss you all already so much! Driving in Brazil is pretty crazy but overall it looks kinda like a mixture of Spain and America. 

THE GOODBYE

Meeting Sister Hansen for the first time...little did we know that we would be companions in the CTM.

THE FLIGHT

On the first flight I sat with Sister Hansen and we talked the whole time about home, family, and of course boys, haha. We also sat by this guy on the plane and had an hour conversation about different churches and he is sooooo into looking into different religions. He has even read the Book of Mormon and likes it for the most part. But he was mainly SO PASSIONATE about the Bible. He went on and on and on about how he knows God is real no matter what other people say. I wish I could explain more about him but hes a golden investigator for whoever finds him. It made me realize why I am here. This is why I came. I want to become as passionate about the Book of Mormon as he is about the Bible. He talked about how he would study it EVERY DAY for a long period of time and he learns something new every time! I want that! 

The second flight the 5 of us girls from Utah met up with 1 other girl and 3 elders. They are all really great. We have had fun together for the little bit of time we have been together. I think the couple that brought us up is the CTM president or something. Hahaha not really sure. But they are super nice! Pretty much I am just ready to get busy. I am going to go crazy and start thinking about home too much. So even though I got no sleep on the plane last night... PUT ME TO WORK! 

THE ARRIVAL

We just got here and I got my tag (which has been the best part of the whole thing) and my companion is Sister Hansen! They sent us straight up to email and to tell you that our P-day is on Wednesday.... Thats a while week before we get to email again. Dang.... 

Miss you guys so much already. Freaking out about the language a little bit already... I wish I could talk to you guys on the phone, but I guess that will have to wait 6 weeks! (If I get to do that when we head to Porto?) oh also! 4 of the 9 of us are going to Porto. Crazy! 2 to forteleza, 1 forteleza east, 2 to Rio. 

Alright I gotta go eat lunch now. Thanks for everything and I will talk to you guys in a week! 

LOVE YOU!!!!!

Love, 

Sister Knapp? Weirdddd......

OKAY BYEEEE!!!