April 8th email: turning into a "Superstar"

well  G C was amazing i really enjoyed elder packers talk also i think elder oaks gave a cool talk, very unique. anyway i have a hunch the end or the world is coming soon...... so um do missionary work. i challenge someone in our family to get someone to meet with the local missionaries. its the greatest work we can be apart of in this life. its even a comandment go ye into all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the holy ghost who is one god without end. you are prolly thinkin man elder k is turning into a superstar hahah but really almost every talk was based on missionary work in some form or another so do it. anyway we are having lots of success here, our teaching pool is now 12 people and when we got here it was 3 so we are pumped on that and one of those 3 got dunked. we are now teaching all of lindsays family so thats super cool. we shoudl be having baptisms soon we are just having a hard time getting them on date. man its really crazy hearing how crazy the missionary work is going in some parts of the globe are mission goal is 140 baptisms in this year and most missions have 200 a month. we are really trying hard to changes this mission but its hard cause so many missionarys lose the vision god has for the people here. but with all these new elders coming out i think we will see lots of changes. man that swing is awesome i saw a magnet the other day that made me think or you haha it said man if i would have known how much fun grandkids were i would have skipped having kids. or something like that hah anyway ive been bored latley so ive been thinkin who would be the most even fight in the world and i think it would be ellen degeneris and oprah winfrey. one has lesbo strength and one has african strength. the deciding factor is how much oprah weighs right now. man i hope the package makes it it had some sweet stuff in it

 

We got the package!!  Everything was wonderful!!

"its the bomb. those cute little gloves are from Lindsay's mom. the shot shell was made by a 73 yr old guy who is super cool. those gloves were a gift from a member in my last area those ties are home made by a mentally challenged guy named gil. if you have any requests on some homemade ties let me know he can make anything"
 

April 1 email: I'm kinda a maverick

Fun to hear about Easter, you should hide one (a basket) in the gun safe next year. maybe you could do it to my package cause it has tons of candy in it. but i got a good deal sending it cause the girl we just baptized works at a post office. anyway life is super good here we are teaching lots of people now and staying really busy now i get to go on exchanges once a week so i get to go to all sorts of fun places. today im going with a Spanish missionary. anyway sounds like things are going good at home. OH and i think my watch broke so im trying to find a member who could maybe fix it or something. anyway everything i own is just braking im the biggest struggle fest there is. after General Conference i dont have to wear a suit anymore so i dont think i will buy one yet ill wait tell i loose a little more weight. maybe dad could buy me one from Paris... or is that only for the NEW favorite child. anywho we were supposed to move into a new house but the owner just found out she needs a kidney transplant so we get to stay in our ghetto farmhouse. oh this week we asked a lady if we could do any service for her and she said only if she could do service for us after, so we did her dishes then she did some crazy vodoo stuff on us. she told me that i have a fear of success and that i need to focus on the present. then she balanced my body so i could run faster. and my running speed the next day was ten seconds slower then usual but thats probably cause of Easter supper. anyway it was really weird she even kinda grabbed my companions bum haha it was really awkward. anyway the package is totally on the way home! oh ye of little faith. its a freakin good package too. im a little scared it wont make it into the US though because kinder suprises are illegal to send to the US but oh well and there is some real maple syrup i dont know if thats allowed either but im kinda a maverick. anywho i opened all birthday presents early. they are awesome! man that painting is beautiful. and ive already watched like half of conference. im going to use it in my district meeting tomorrow. well i dont have much else to say but i love you lots and hope all your wildest dreams come true :D see ya on the 12th

 

March 25th email:

well I'll maybe buy a camera today, that will be fun.  I'm gonna send a package today i feel like this is when everyone's Birthdays, are so it will be for everyone. just try to spread the stuff out evenly. today we got transfer calls and we are both staying in this area. but I'm the district leader now, so that's fun. i get to go on lots of exchanges and stuff so it will be a jolly ol' time. I'll eventually get a picture with people in this area. but since I'm staying I'll wait till I leave so that its more normal. anywho want to hear something funny?  My follow up trainer elder Carson, I'm now his district leader, haha pretty funny. it will be kinda awkward trying to train some one who is about to go home. oh well. man that seems really weird that Evan is eight. tell him I'm proud of him. Tell Logan he doesn't need to learn dads trade because me and him will open up a gun shop. well, life is good here we are hoping to have some great things happen in the future in this area.  I'll chat with ya later byeeeeeeeeeeee sure love ya

March 18 email: My camera broke!

Hey my camera broke is it under warranty? anyway life is going great my comp is in a bunch of pain cause he needs a root canal it reminds me of mine. but he is lucky because there are 3 Mormon dentists here. i think he got it to humble him hahaha, he is totally the missionary who talks about how he was state champion in everything and was gonna play college ball but got too many concussions hahahaah anywho there are 18 yr olds in the mission right now and also some weems too. i havent seen them yet though. transfers are next week. im hoping i stay here its a great area. you should go to the temple more it would be super fun. also do you have a copy of my setting apart blessing? i think i lost mine..... well Lindsay is doing super good she is working on getting her patriarchal blessing pretty soon. also i cant write more then one e mail per person anymore so sorry about that. but we can now write anyone we wont to, so you should get me a bunch of peoples email addresses.  well tell baby scar i love her and hopefully all is well at the home front. byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

A cute email from Elder Lee:
 Knaphus Family

hey how are you all doing? I lost your mom's email address, and i receive a letter from your mom.

I was about to write a letter to respond to Sister Leslie Knaphus but Im going back to home on June which means, not very much left.

So I want to say, Thank you for the letters and all the love and advise for me.

She also asked about my address and i got little confussed about that. Im not sure if she asked about my mission address or back home address cuz since im in CEM with Elder knaphus, it will be a same address for 2 years.

but anyway, sounds like Elder Knaphus and his boy are doing good(if one missionary trains new missionary, we call it as you got birth, so new missionary is Elder knaphus's boy), and im doing also good, i have 2 companions now which is 3 Elders. It is pretty nice.

 It was great experience with Elder Knaphus for me. We both learn a lot, It wasnt always easy for both of us, but that strengthen both of us too. His is a great missoinary. I also miss all the conversation that we had all together.

 It is ok if something doesnt make sense, cuz i dont know how to write good haha.

anyway you all have great day and see you again

Email March 11th:

Hey hows life going? things are going well here. how was your B day? what did you get? did loggy get lasik yet? transfers are coming up in the next couple weeks so one of us will be going:( but thats all chill. Innisfail is a really cool area with lots of things going on. we should have another baptism this next month. maybe i can score a birthday baptism. ha it would be pretty cool but unlikely. my birthday falls on a P-day so I'm super excited about that, we have a member in our ward from Antigua a little island in the west indies and he is so freakin funny he only eats cute animals haha he is the opposite of a vegetarian. his son is the one who will be baptized soon so it will be cool seeing him with his gnarly long dreads in the waters of baptism. and his name is bro Joseph so its like talking to a black Joseph Smith. well not much is new Lindsay was confirmed and her mom is feeding us this Saturday. oh her mom is gonna send you a letter, it will be a great missionary opportunity for you to write her back and talk about how the gospel has blessed your family so prepare yourself. if you do a good enough job she just might be baptized. she has a son who is a bit of a rebel so she is super impressed that we would serve two years so i think she will write you about how awesome i am hahahahahahah anyway i hear America is supposed to get bombed today so that would be a bummer hopefully that wont happen. you need to tell Logan to update me on the gun world. i hope all is well i sure do love you and I'm grateful i was raised in a home like ours. its crazy how many people don't have a good family anymore. Satan is trying hard to destroy families. well keep up the good work          eat drink and be merry- elder knaphus

We got this picture from the mission home today... It is from Christmas!!

Looks like a great bunch of missionaries!  Can you find Elder K and Elder Lee?

Right in the middle!!

Email March 4th: The Church is True

Well ill tell you about Lindsay's baptism a little bit.her mother came and brought a chocolate fountain it was pretty cool. Lindsey bore her testimony after the baptism she said i know from the softest part of my heart and the most logical part of my brain that this church is true. it was really cool. her mom started to cry and stuff it was nice. her mom is having us over for supper this week and we will teach her the plan of salvation so we are super excited about that. and we are starting to get lots of members really excited about missionary work so its really cool lots of people are giving us referrals and stuff so this area is really cool. throughout teaching Lindsay we have talked about her being the pioneer for her family and so at her baptism we gave her a plaque that said pioneer and had the definition on it, it was sweet. there were lots of people crying and what not. but its been a good week now we just need to find our next victim hahahahha

oh and Lindsay fell off a cliff while hiking and broke her back and leg and healed in 2 weeks because she was hikin with the young buck who baptized her and he gave her a blessing

 For my birthday Riley finally sent some pictures!!  Best present ever!!

 Beautiful Innesfail, Canada

 Funny Elder Knaphus

 Our study room!! (the basement of a members house)

 Here is my bed!!

  Crazy haircut "I did it myself"

Valentine treat from Tammy!!

 

 

Email: Feb 25th "Obedience"

 I'll let you know how Lindsay is doing. she is super pumped for her baptism and our last lesson with her was just going over the interview questions and set up the baptismal service. she is praying right now about who should baptize her and talk at her baptism.  im hoping she has some members from here do everything because then she will have a closer bond with the members. but i have a feeling she will chose one of us, oh well. but it's really neat because her family was very against her being baptized and they had lots of anti material and her mom decided to come meet with us and we taught her the restoration. and it was super powerful and she wants to meet us again. hopefully she will get baptized as well. she wants to have us over for supper and take a tour of the church with her whole family. but it will be exciting, ill be able to take my first pictures with someone I've taught getting baptized. im glad you have been reflecting obedience. it is the very first law of heaven. and is the only way to experience true joy in this life.  we have really been focusing on 100% obedience but it is a very hard thing. as missionaries we are expected to forsake all and follow Christ. as elder Holland said at judgement day we will be asked if we loved Christ if we really loved him and we are taught that if we love him we must keep his commandments and he that keepeth my commandment is loved of the father and by Christ and Christ will manifest himself unto us.  thats  a very special promise and god always keeps his promises. if you think about charity it really has many meanings we must love like Christ but also love Christ, that's why charity is the greatest of all of gods gifts. and like it says in Moroni if we are found possessed with charity we will become purified even as he is pure. well there is proof that i haven't been just wasting all my study time thinking about guns and stuff. you will have to tell Cody i love him. Well have a great day!!!!!!!!