Yes, it’s true! As of last Sunday (November 18th)! I’m so happy!!
So remember this post I wrote last week and how I had no idea how I was going to get my papers in? Well the very next day I received an email from my friend Katie Bell.
Background: I met Katie almost a month ago at church in Nanjing. She’s from Idaho and is teaching English through China Horizons, a program similar to mine. When she heard about the new age change for sister missionaries she immediately decided she wanted to go and started working on her mission papers, which she turned in a couple weeks ago. I met her again when the Branch President’s wife took us to get physicals and I mentioned my worry about when I could meet with the District President. She told me to email her if I ever figured anything out, but I never did.
So Katie emailed me saying that she’s been praying to be an answer to someone’s prayers and she kept thinking of me and how I had no one to travel with. Her program lets her travel alone so she came up with this whole plan on how she would come get me in Bengbu and we would travel to Shanghai together. She assured me that this was something she really wanted to do. I was absolutely amazed and grateful!
At the time I was in Yangshuo so I talked to my Branch President and District President over Skype to finish up my papers and got ready for an interview. Katie came and met up with me on my vacation in Hangzhou where we traveled to Shanghai Saturday afternoon (November 17th), stayed the night in a hostel, went to church in the morning, had my interview, and even made it in time for the train ride home. We ran into a few problems, but everything still worked out perfectly. It was a miracle.
I am just so grateful to Katie. I know for a fact that I would still be wondering what to do if Katie never emailed me. Seriously—what an angel she is and what a great missionary she will make! She was so in tuned to the spirit that she was able to help me out and I will forever be grateful. Plus, she knows a lot of Chinese and it was just a ton of fun hanging out with her and knowing what Chinese people say about us.
So the District President scanned my papers and sent them to the area office in Hong Kong where they will get reviewed. Then they will be sent to the mission office in Salt Lake City and my call will arrive at my parent’s house. The District President was really unsure how long Hong Kong will have my papers for—he said anytime between 1-3 weeks. And then it should only be a week once in Salt Lake City. I hope it doesn’t take too long, but I’m just glad I got it all done.
Also, when I came home the internet in my room started working so now I don’t have to sit outside the library in the cold at night. And the laundry machine (which has been broken over a month now—my clothes were so gross) finally got fixed. The Lord is already blessing me!
Elder Knudsen
Early morning on Thursday October 18th I got to Skype my family for my little brother to open his mission call to…
RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA!!!
He leaves December 19th—the day I get home. I’m missing him by hours. HOURS!! Kind of sad, but I’m so proud and excited for my little brother!! He might even make a good missionary someday ;).
Also, I guessed California so I’m pretty proud of that.
General Conference
I was on a train home from Qingdao during the LDS General Conference so we watched it the following Sunday (October 14th) on a laptop. We tried our best to mimic an American breakfast (such as using brown sugar instead of cinnamon for our French toast) and spent the whole day on the couch listening.
Exploring Bengbu
One of my favorite things to do here is just pick a random street and explore it. It’s crazy the things, food, and people you can find. On Saturday October 13th some of the girls and I spent the day exploring Bengbu. We walked down a random street and found ourselves at the entrance of an amusement park. We rode rides, did an art project, got surrounded by old men, watched a clown, got chair massages, watched a water show, and even found a pirate ship. Yes, a full-scale pirate ship in China.
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