Elder Ammon Knaupp: Beautiful weather

The weather has been really nice. Today we played soccer with some neighborhood boys, it was fun! Too bad I'm the only kid in the family that doesn't know how to play soccer! I still have really enjoyed playing the few times I've played. This week we had a couple dinner appointments, both families with a couple recently returned missionaries each! Other than them, their are seven other families that have children. One of them has four kids and their mom is from Tennessee, she married a dutch man. They all really like visiting the US to visit family members and do it often. So there are about four families with kids that we have dinner appointments with often. We do get treated very well here.

Not much out of the ordinary this week, just knocking doors and centrum contacting. Contacting in the centrum is often pretty difficult, there are a lot of different types of people and they're often more willing to listen for a minute, but being in such a public place can be really intimidating. It's usually pretty interesting though. Yesterday, we had an appointment with a less active, met up briefly with President Bunnell and his wife who had let us know during the appointment that they were passing through for a quick interview on how we're doing things here, and then we went centrum contacting. After making our way though the busier parts we took a side street and started taking to a man sitting in the shade of a building on a side street. He said he wasn't interested in religion or God or anything, but he seemed a bit troubled and we kept talking to him, trying to figure out something we have in common. He comes from Suriname, a former dutch colony right above Brazil. He doesn't have a family of his own. He offered us some juice as we stood in the shade outside. He said his parents taught him to always offer what ever you can to the people you meet. He said we can come back for food sometime. As we headed for home a sort of bum addressed us with "hey elders". He was really friendly and just started talking about how he's met elders a few times. A few minutes later we heard someone behind us say "Islam is truth". The man we were talking to laughed and called the girl over that had said it. She came along with her girl friend. It seemed like he had talked with them before because they started having a friendly and lively conversation. It was hard to follow entirely, but it was really enjoyable to listen to the way they were enjoying themselves. The two Muslim girls asked who we were. The conversation was mostly between them and the man, but one of the young women asked us a number of good questions. There was a feeling of mutual respect and appreciation which was so releaving and enjoyable. Hearing them speak so passionately and apprecatively about their beliefs and practices was very intriguing and impressed me. Those two really know and live what they believe and it is really a good thing. A couple things that came up is that they don't listen to music and they do not allow themselves to come in any contact with men (they explained that after politely refusing a fist bump from the man). And it went without saying, they keep everything covered except their faces and hands. I just had a really good feeling about them. I asked if or when we are allowed to address muslim women on the street, and she replied that we just shouldn't for a few reasons that are respectable.

We actually also had a lesson with a muslim man that morning. He told us among other things about how he came to really become a true and practicing muslim and what it means to him. He's been studying the Koran for twenty years. He is really applying what he learns and it's making him happier he says. Meeting these muslims has really changed my view on their religion. From what I've seen, they're just like us Christians. Many Christians don't really understand or live by what is really in the bible, often they will do wrong things based off of an incorrect or incomplete understanding of the scriptures like discriminating or judging people or just believing that they'll be forgiven no matter what they do. It's the same with muslims. Not all of them, really have a good understanding of what their religion actually teaches.

Anyways, some cool things we learned from the muslim man we had an appointment with are that they don't believe in debt or rent, they believe in paying the full cost to own things so that they aren't plagued by debt or other schemes that come from certain types of payment plans. He's also learning Arabic, something all muslims must do so that the words of the Koran keep their original meaning. They believe that the koran is the word of God and that if it is translated that it doesn't have the same power anymore. To be legitimate, the Koran must be read in it's original Arabic. This man also claims that muslims are encouraged to read the bible and study all sorts of beliefs to gather and compare the truths that mankind has received, although most other muslims I've talked to are either unwilling to hear about other religions or they say that they're not allowed. He also says that muslims are not supposed to force their children to believe. So, it was great to meet with these wonderful people. They are so committed to God and such good people, it's really impressive. I'm still not sure about the muslim doctrine on studying other religions, the man we had the lesson with said that he wanted and was grateful to listen to our message, he appreciated that we come all the way from america to share it. He is going to start reading the Book of Mormon and the Joseph smith pamphet we gave him. He is super open to it all, which is pretty unusual. He wants to learn.

Last thing, we got to know the husband of the family I told you about last week. His name is Dion and he is now a stay at home dad. He's the lead singer of a decent rock band that is winded down now, he showed us some videos of their performances. It was fun, he told us about how he's become very committed to his family through learning from his mistakes. He said he was very ill for a time and that after making it through, he dedicated himself to being more responsible to his family. The wife was on her way out to help with the school prom. Their two sons are 10 and 7. Dion is a really nice guy, he said we can come back any time.

We're trying to get more time each day and week with "our line out on the water" to use a fishing metaphor. We're trying to spend more time talking with people and inviting them to come closer to Christ. It's hard work and easy to get distracted, but I'm trying to focus on the Savior and exercise faith by giving up more, being more obedient to the missionary handbook, getting out and talking to people, and being more effective. It's easy to not want to do any of those things, but I'm grateful for this trial. If it were easy, it wouldn't be worth it.

Even though being aware of our mistakes can be painful, I have learned that it must be done if we want to become better. I also know that we are not bad people for making wrong choices. This life is about making choices, and the only choice we can make that we will regret is to choose not to let the healing power of Christ's atonement into our lives. There is nothing we can do that He is not willing to help us make right again. It also doesn't matter how long it takes for us to accept His help. I know all of this to be absolutely true. I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He loves each one of us infinitely, more than His own self, that He would do and actually has done absolutely everything or anything for us, no matter how many mistakes we make, we only have to let Him heal us. It may seem like a mountain to climb, or even that we are buried by a mountain, but I know that His power will get us there.

Love, Elder Knaupp