June 25th email: Cougars and Bears every day!

 Hinton is going great i might be attending a wedding soon, so that's fun. just to give you an idea of our branch, here our the names of the active members: the Stills the Tuinukuafes the Holts the Bratts brother Honch the Reays the Calihoos the Daniels and sis Bennet.  that's the entire branch. yesterday was branch conference and the stake presidents and there families came and it doubled the attendance at church. my comp is from twin falls, and wont let me listen to music. its pretty rough but watevs. um his mom was less active and the rest of his family was catholic and he decided to meet with missionaries and they asked him to pray to find out if it was true, then the next day he was eating at panda express and opened a fortune cookie and its reply was "ask your mom" so he called his mom and she said that she wanted to start going to church again and so he got babtized three weeks later. pretty funny. he was only baptized when he was 19 so he came on his mission fresh from the waters. we don't have a microwave so we eat a bunch of these things called parogies it like an eggroll with mashed potatoes in it. we have bacon flavor and cheese. they are pretty good. lots of really good chips too, bacon chips are amazing. our appt is pretty ghetto yesterday a man was beating his dog on the floor above us then the dog ran outside. it made me pretty mad. the lady that lives next to us told us she died and came back and saw all of her friends and jesus. so she is neat. she is a native and her last name is Beaverbone. all she does is smoke and walk her dogs. hmmmmm everyday i have been here it has rained so we go tracting in the rain to get sympathy aka priestcraft mwah! mwah! ha!  I bible bashed with a guy yesterday, it was great cause he started his own church, but then left it cause it started to change, and i told him that our church is from god and will be the same yesterday today and tomorrow cause he said those exact words about the bible and how the BOM is false. he got really frustrated and by the end he agreed that the BOM is about Jesus and not Joseph Smith so it went pretty well. ummm this Wednesday i will get any mail you have sent cause we are going to Edmonton for a meeting. in my next area or when i get a new comp i will give you an address but my comp is really strict and because the mission pres recommended to just use the mission address thats all he will let us use. anywho, people here see cougars and bears every day. the walkway we were going to go on today was closed because there is bear chilling on it. and 2 months ago there was a cougar sitting on the welcome to Hinton sign for a week. i bet you could find pics of it on the interwebz. anywho, one of the less active guys in the branch that we visited is an ice road trucker and he has guns so i got to play with them it was nice. he has a pretty sweet sks that he was cleaning when we went over. brother and sister Tuinukaufe are really cool they might be the only polys in Canada but he comes and teaches with us all the time and it makes me feel cool to have a big poly with us teaching people. he has 2 little kids that are really cute too. today for lunch we are going to go eat these things called donaires which aren't legal in the states because they are so unhealthy. its like a gyro on steroids. we email in the local library we even got library cards. every person here has at least 2 dogs they have one husky or some other type of wolf dog then they have a little yappy rat. im not sure why but everyone does. the JW people here are actually pretty kind and will talk to us for awhile.   they have to do missionary work before they can be baptized and they don't know the name of there leader and they don't celebrate anything. and at church kids cant talk to other kids they can only talk with there family. its a pretty neat cult. and i think their church is called like the grand master hall or something. the branch members who are active are really cool though they help us a ton and feed us regularly. on of them works at KFC so we get a good deal there. hmm we have pretty much tracted every house in Hinton. the problem is that everyone works and when they aren't working they are camping. so its really hard to get appointments with people. we had about 20 lessons canceled this week. so it was pretty rough but the 2 lessons we had went really well. and i can tell that Hinton is ready to explode with success. well bye, my comp is nagging me. send this to err body tell stu i love him. and did coleman come home? tell nick that he is cute.

June 18th email: first from Canada!!

So I'm in an area called Hinton, its really small and in the middle of nowhere. its like an hour away from jasper. which is like a national park or something. 1/5 the population is Jehovah witness and the rest are addicted to meth. our branch here in Hinton has about a solid 25 members who come usually. but since missionaries haven't been here for awhile, lots of people showed up to see us so it was fun at church.  there were about 40 people there,  including the 4 investigators we brought. one was in a swim suit so that was fun!  then we have a a really old couple who should be getting baptized soon cause they say they know everything is true, they just don't want to get married. and then a girl named Felisha who is mots definitely on meth. then craig the guy who were a swim suit he is awesome he has three kids and no money but he wants to change really bad. he is getting baptized on the 28 of July. everyone here works at a coal mine haha!  it reminds me a little of the town in  justified, there is even a member here named Lue Bennett and all here kids are less active. so ya its fun here, lots of people go camping and hiking and stuff like that cause is in the middle of no where. but i am kinda by the mountains so that's fun.. my companions name is elder Watt he's from Idaho and he sounds like Willow. and he is really short. come to think of it he might be part midget or something but he is really nice and is a convert of 3 years so he's a stud and has a strong testimony. I think im gonna just buy my winter stuff here cause i dont get mail ever. we dont have a mail box so i only get mail when we have zone meetings and stuff like that so if you have mail just send it and I'll get it sometime in four weeks.

  Lots of members feed us sheperds pie so thats fun. there is lots of really good food here like candy bars and chips. also one of the members is the Filipino girl who Logan should marry she is way nice and when we went to visit her she gave us a whole load of groceries it made me remember how nice Pinoys are. she also made us eat ice cream. anywho in about an hour im gonna go ask our investigator named Craig to get married so that's fun. i didn't think i would be marrying other people my first week.  anywho ill talk to ya l8er

Three weeks at the MTC. . .

 My district

 Me and my Comp Elder Ricks

 Elder Tempest

 The Barbacoa made it!

 Thanks Mom

The Oly Kids

Phippen's, Me, Tempest, Riley Nelsen, Izzy, Stu Pace, Mason Thatcher

Finally heard from Canada...

June 12,  2012

Dear Knaphus Family,

Elder Knaphus arrived in Edmonton on Tuesday, the 12 of June.  He arrived with 12 other missionaries that he worked with closely at the MTC.  They looked a little anxious when they stepped through the doors, but thankful to be here. We were there to greet them at the airport, President and Sister Campbell and the assistants showed up shortly after they arrived with the van and trailer.  

It was a pleasure to finally meet your son, Elder Knaphus, after studying his picture for the past few weeks.  The assistants helped them load their luggage into the van and we were on our way to the mission office.  

Once at the mission office we introduced them to the office staff and had a bite to eat.  They were very tired and hungry and appreciated the lunch we provided for them.  We had the opportunity to sit down and eat with them and enjoyed the time to just visit.  They filled out and signed the necessary forms that would allow them to get right to work.

After the office we went to the mission home, where the missionaries were able to sit and rest while President Campbell had the privilege of interviewing each one of them.  We welcomed them into our home and saw that they were well cared for.  During interviews they received their first training by the assistants. 

We provided dinner and then had a fireside where they watched a DVD of sights from the mission.  Then we had the privilege to hear testimonies from each of the new missionaries. 

Thank you for raising such an amazing son and preparing him for the work.  We look forward to serving with him and watching him grow in testimony and purpose as he serves the people of the Canada Edmonton Mission.

Enclosed is a photo of your son with us on the day he met his new companion.  May God bless you and your family during Elder Knaphus' service here in Edmonton.

With warm regards,

President and Sister Campbell

June 11th Letter: "He sounded like and Angel"

Hey, things are going good, I'm really stoked to get to the field.  I leave the MTC at 3 am where I meet a driver who drops me at the ariport pretty darn early.  I got a short hair cut, Mandy will probably hate it.  So we have been teaching Nickson and we just taught him for our last time and it was way rad, I think he is very interested.  My comp is singing weird Al Yankovich aka his favorite singer.  I'm struggeling with taking pics, I never have my camera with me, but I'll try to get some good ones.  The Tongan missionaries do the Hakka every night, it is exciting.  I miss Max, is he doing ok?  Tell Stu to go to church or email me, but one of the two!  I don't know why but someone stole my hangers today while I was doing teh wash so that sucks.  The MTC is awsome, we have had some really cool speakers and have learned lots.  I get bored a lot so I study crazy docterine and when we do fake teaching I always teach about big foot and stuff!!  We have a thing where we pretend to be investigators and the girl who teaches me is Austailian and really pretty.  But I'm really mean to her and talk about poligamy and blacks with the priesthood.
the guy in the temple today said he served with a guy in Norway.  Who in our family served in Norway?  He was really old too.  this is the last time I can write you until I am in Canada!  that's pretty crazy.  It's crazy the amount of prayers that go out to missionaries.  Literally every minute there are prayers going out to missionaries.  A sweet lady at the temple told us that the church wouldn't be around without all those prayers.  haha!  but it's cool to think how many people are praying for this work to continue!  I've learned so much since I've been here it's crazy!  This gospel is awesome because in this life we will never know all the truths and doctrines because it's so vast and has so many meanings.  I've been pondering alot the true meaning of things, it's really cool.  Like if you ask yourself why did God want me to read this or have this experience.  It changes how you look at things.  Coleman emailed me.  I keep wondering what my first companion will be like, it's gonna be a goon, I know it.  I've seen miracles already in the MTC.  One kid who we live with had no testimony when he came, he just went cuz he parents wanted him to, but my buddy Elder Hawkes said this prayer and he literally sounded like an angel or something, and then he told the elder who was struggling to open the BofM and read and he started crying because the verse he opened to was about missionary work.  Elder Hawkes has more faith than anyone I know.  this is his second time through the MTC and he has the strongest testimony.  Any who, I love you and want to let you know this church is true and Heavenly Father knows all of his children.  I hope everything is going good back home.  One of my room mates can fart the national anthem.  it is the craziest thing I have ever seen.  Send me some pictures of Max I miss him.  Love you all!!

airport

And he's off!  Logan and I went to the airport today at 4:00 am to see Elder Knaphus one last time.  He said he only got one hour of sleep last night.  It was so good to see him.  He loved the MTC and is so excited to get to Canada.

June 7th email:

Yes, Scarlett misses your belly!

My room mates are awesome.  all of us are complete opposite, my comp is a huge computer guy but dosent like video games, elder Hawekes is a free runner who can do double back-flips on the ground elder gold has inappropriate thoughts about cars. elder Black has never talked to anyone before. and elder Tompson is a starcraft player but can also dunk a basketball and he is korean Canadian. but we all have the same purpose as missionaries so we get along really well, so thats way rad. my comp is way knowledgeable about anything so he rocks in teaching but he also explains things in a really weird way. but any who, i really love getting your letters they make my day. i cant believe its already been almost three weeks i feel like it was just yesterday i left.  Remember how pres Parkinson said that the spirits of my ancestors would be watching over me? well he was right.  I know that i couldn't do this on my own and i have literally felt the presence of someone helping me in my lessons with our real investigator named Nickson. we went in there with no game plan so all we did was bear testimony and we all started crying and he said the closing prayer and it was really cool. i think that he will maybe try to actually meet with the missionaries in Provo.   i really love you guys, hope everything is going well. does baby scar miss my belly?  love Elder knaphus.

May 31 email

 you asked me who ive seen. i see Anderson every once in awhile. and i see Sam Tempest and Izzy D like everyday. but i never have my camera so i haven't done that yet. but i tried to take some pics of the room and my comp and stuff like that. oh send me a sim card for my camera and ill send you the one i have. i get to go to the temple in a couple hours so im way stoked for that. and right now im just waitin for the laundry to get done. mtc life is crazy but i know for a fact that everything i do here is inspired by god and i feel so blessed. reading the BOM while on a mission is a completely different experience. when you read it you don't think about how it helps you, you think about how it can help everyone else and its truly amazing. im sure its really similar as reading it as a mother. right now we are doing this thing called TRC were we teach a real investigator but he gets paid to be here, so its hard to teach him cause he even tells us he is here for the money  and that he already believes his church is true and stuff but its a cool opportunity cause most people just teach members who pretend to be investigators. hopefully i can help him feel the spirit and maybe ill baptize someone in the mtc that would be crazy. well anywho my letter says alot so im gonna go put my cloths in the dryer. love you write me back yay!!!!!!!

may 31st letter

Hey missions are neat.  I'll try to tell you everything today.  So I walked in the doors with my really nerdy host missionary and he kept speaking to me in spanish so I was kinda confused but it's chill.  Then I ran into Izzy D and we talked for awhile and helped me know what was going on.  Then I went and met my comp.  His name is Elder Ricks.  He is from Rexburg Idaho and he is the compete opposite from me.  He is a math freak and is super smart.  His hobbies are like learning the binary code.  But he's way cool.  We have 3 bunk beds in our tiny room.  We barely fit.  Two of my roomies are from Canada.  My comp is talking about how fast he can type on his modified keyboard at home, so that describes him best.  My residence and classroom and cafeteria are right next to eachother so I never had problems learning where stuff was.  Um I'm learning super fast.  We have this thing called T.R.C. where we get to teach a real investigator.  The only problem is he gets paid to come to the MTC and listen to us so its way hard cause he just sits there.  But he's from Kenya and we were talking about baptism and in his tribe for baptism you climb a mountain to a spring, get baptized, then circumcised, then left alone with all the other kids until you kill a lion.  So he has killed a lion.  At age 12.  Oh yesterday we had a photographer come take pics of us learning so I might be in the ensign or lds.org or something so thats cool.  It's weird, it's been a whole week all the newbz came in yesterday.  It was good to see them and realize I've made it a week.  It's fun to hear from the Canadians in my room.  They tell us stories and stuff all the time.  We did not get any breaks on Memorial Day.  Just no mail.  My typical day is arise & prepare, breakfast, classroom, lunch, classroom, zone teaching, dinner, gym, TRC, workshop.  But it always is different.  I am learning the language pretty quick cause the Elders I live with talk Canadian.  Garbage disposal is garburater and bathroom is wash room, beanie is tuk.  Stuff like that.  My room is small.  It only has 2 desks but 6 people, food is okay.  I get salads alot cause the lunch lady's scare me.  I go to the temple on Thursdays.  Which is today aka my P day.  We get to go on temple walks on Sunday where we just walk around the temple and take pics and stuff.  My fave scrip is D&C 35 or something.  I left my scrips in my class so I can't get them right now.  80 percent of what we do is just role play teaching so right now I have like 6 fake investigators and real one.  Haha we taught this really old guy who was pretending to be non LDS but he was too nice so we challenged him to be baptized first lesson and he said yes.  It was funny cause we saw him as a host like 20 min later and asked him why he was at the MTC.  Today is the first day we get to do laundry.  So I was running out of clothes fast.  How's Max?  Still alive?  I'm getting hella good at four square so thats neat.  -Elder Knaphus

May 24th letter - first letter

Sister Izzy Diederich, Elder Knaphus

Hey everything is well!  My comp is the coolest guy ever.  I saw Izzy D in the first 30 seconds.  It was funny.  I love you all.  It's gonna be a fun 3 weeks!  We are fitting 6 elders in a tiny room!  Its awesome though.  The church is true.  - Elder Knaphus

set apart...officially a missionary

Riley's Farewell

 Hannah, Dallas, Graham, Nick, Riley, Jaxon, Jake, Carson, Cute Girl, Stu

 Riley and Scarlett

 Riley and Hannah

Nick and Riley

Riley had his farewell on May 13th, Mother's Day