President and Sister Thompson have arrived!

Shortly after Brett arrived in South Africa, President and Sister Zackrison were released from their mission, and President and Sister Thompson were called. (July 2016 - 2019)  

Brett welcoming other missionaries as they are coming for the District Conference in Ezakheni.

Brett's current companion Elder Smith from Peyson, Utah.  (July 2016)

The front two rows are the choir.  They acapella and are amazing!

Brett greeting members as they arrive for the conference.



Members of the District Presidency

Brett's zone - July 2016

President Thompson is traveling around the mission to interview the fabulous Elders representing Jesus Christ. These are a handful of the 110 in this mission.

President and Sister Thompson have arrived!

Shortly after Brett arrived in South Africa, President and Sister Zackrison were released from their mission, and President and Sister Thompson were called. (July 2016 - 2019)  

Brett welcoming other missionaries as they are coming for the District Conference in Ezakheni.

Brett's current companion Elder Smith from Peyson, Utah.  (July 2016)

The front two rows are the choir.  They acapella and are amazing!

Brett greeting members as they arrive for the conference.



Members of the District Presidency

Brett's zone - July 2016

President Thompson is traveling around the mission to interview the fabulous Elders representing Jesus Christ. These are a handful of the 110 in this mission.

New Companion! July 18, 2016

Man this week was awesome!

Elder smith and I are getting along great! He did long jump in high school just like me and really loves basketball which is great. We just have alot of things in common and work really well together. I can already tell this transfer is gonna be great.

So this week we worked super hard and were able to find alot of people to start teaching the coming week which was great. Also we went and got Elder smith introduced to our members here. a couple of them pranked him which was pretty great haha. 

On Friday we came home and some how two birds had gotten stuck in our house so we had to figure out how to catch them and get them out. it took over an hour and it was so funny. I got a ton of video of us trying to get them but eventually one of the guys we live with from Mozambique got them. he literally grab them out of the air while they were flying! it was insane. 

Besides that nothing too eventful happened, we have some power investigators which is great and we are working super hard. Im excited to be in Ladysmith, it really is an awesome place!

Have a great week everyone, 

 

Love

Elder Knutsen

 

Merry Muslim Christmas - July 12, 2016

These past couple days have been crazy! Transfer time always is. So about an hour ago I picked up my new companion named Elder Smith. Im excited to get to know him more. 

So this week on Wednesday we went with a guy from our branch to some of his friends house who are Muslim, Ramadan had just ended so we had a giant feast with them, our member described it to us like Muslim Christmas haha. The food was so good also, it was all Indian food and some of it was so hot I thought my lips were going to fall off haha, but it tasted so good! I talked to a guy from Pakistan for like 30 minuets and it was so cool to be able to talk to him about different things. we laughed and had a good time talking. 

Then this last monday we went hiking with the missionaries we live with and members of their branch. we stared around 9:00 and got back around 13:00 It was to far but there weren't really trails and it was up this huge mountain. we took a ton of sweet pictures but I forgot to bring my camera today so you will have to wait till next week. I took this one picture where my legs are hanging off this cliff that is like a 500 foot drop. its a sweet picture but it was super scary to take because there was literally nothing beneath me. It was so much fun!

Thats pretty much all for this week! Today starts a new chapter of my mission so I am super excited to work with Elder Smith!

Have a great week, I love you all!

Elder Knutsen

July 4, 2016 - To Mom

Its crazy thats its already July, and that I have been out for 3 months now. Time certainly does fly! Just think, next time I call home Ill be 9 months and almost halfway done!

Its incredible here. Durban is amazing! When we went to the beach it felt like the middle of summer on a beach in California. they have huge piers on the beaches that you can walk way out over the ocean. It was cool to stand out on them and watch people surf and just enjoy the sun. I forgot to grab my camera when we went to the beach but it definitely wont be the last time im there so I will be able to get more pictures next time Im in Durban.

A good chance to send stuff would be asap. when the transfer ends the guys coming from Durban to "Outer Darkness" (anything out of Durban) bring packages and mail to missionaries out here.

 

Driving is crazy here. Taxis are insane. They arent little cabs either, they are like sprinter bus or Volkswagen bus sized. they carry like 15 people to a place for pretty cheap price, but the drivers are crazy. they follow absolutely no rules of the road. you would refuse to drive here because of them haha. They will just drive in front of you when you are stopped at a red light and people run red lights like crazy, so you have to watch when your light turns green to make sure no one is coming. It was a little crazy driving in Durban last week but it was fun. Im a way better driver now then I ever was back home. All the misisonaries get in trouble when they go home though because of the lack of rules here, so dont let me drive for a little bit when I get home haha. We have a rule that we dont go above 120 kmh or 70 mph. its sounds fast but when everyone around you is going 160kmh or 100 mph you are one of the slower drivers. Everything is going great here. I love it,

Im way more responsible than I ever was back home. having to budget money and make sure you always have food to eat can be quite hard sometimes but we make it work. I love you and hope you have a great week.

Love, Brett

Happy Birthday America - July 4, 2016

Its crazy thats already the last week of the transfer, at this time next week I could be getting on a bus to go somewhere new or be picking a new companion up from the bus stop.

This week went by super fast because we went to Durban for a couple days, I really hope i get transferred there because it is to nice there. Its the middle of winter and we went to the beach and were walking around in shorts and t shirts because it is so warm. Its alot warmer than Ladysmith thats for sure. While we were there we met our new mission president. His name is President Thompson, he is super funny and nice. Im glad he is my mission president for the rest of my mission. I always forget to take pictures so I dont have a ton but I have some that dont really do it justice in how amazing it is. 

Besides going to Durban we didnt really do to much this week. Today we had to clean our house super well because people will come to check it out but as far as the rest of the day we dont have anything planned. We work hard each and everyday, its so much fun to interact with these people and be exposed to a new culture. oh I almost forgot on saturday I ate goat for the first time. Its a traditional food so you dont eat it super often but there was a party some members went to and they brought us back some. The skin is super hard to eat, you can hardly bite through it. the meat is really chewy though, kinda like gum. It doesnt really taste like anything I have ever had before. it makes you hands and mouth smell for a super long time though. even after you wash them it takes time for the smell to go away. it has a very distinct smell so you can tell if someone ate goat recently.

Thats really all that happened this week. It was weird to not be celebrating today, we wanted to buy some fireworks while we were in Durban but we didnt have time to look around. I hope everyone has a great week this week! I love you all.

Elder Knutsen

 

June 27, 2016

Hello everyone!

This week was another week of just work. nothing to exciting. We were supposed to go to the drakensburg moutains today but we changed it to next monday. Im super excited for that. also either this friday or next tuesday we are going to Durban which is always super fun. Going to the big city is always fun, there is always alot to do and see there. This week I went twice to a town about 45 minuets away from ladysmith called Dundee. I went wednesday for a district meeting and friday I went and spent the night up there for exchanges. For me one of the best things is seeing other areas/ missionaries and taking things that I like that they do and trying to do them myself. Its crazy that I will probably be getting a new companion in 2 weeks. After you have been with one guy for so long it feels weird to be away from them. Also this sunday we had two baptisms which was great. I got to baptize one of them. He is an 8 year old boy named Ntokozo. he was afraid of the water so I had to carry him out after we were done. Him and I are buddies now though. The other person we baptized is named Spamandala. he is 17 he was baptized by his uncle who is our branch president. When we have baptisms it makes it feel like all our hard work is paying off. I hope everyone has a great week this week, Hopefully I will have lots of stories for next week.

Love 

Elder Knutsen

June 20, 2016

HI everyone,

So this was one of the less exciting weeks i have had since ive been here. On Tuesday our Mission president came to say good bye because he goes home at the end of june and then we get a new mission president. That was fun because we got to see a couple other missionaries. Then on Thursday I got to go up for a day to a township called Ozewni. I traded companions for the day with one of the missionaries up there. it actually was the zone leaders (the guys in charge of us)  who we did an exchange with so I got to be zone leader for a day haha. That was cool to see a different place and meet people I had never met before. It was a big holiday called youth day on thursday so while I was up there we got to go to a party which had some really good food. those were the highlights of my week this week. One thing that is cool is this coming sunday we are hoping to have two people baptized so that always is cool thing to see and I get to baptize one of those people so look forward to more pictures. Next monday I may be going to the Drakensburg Mts With my whole zone so look forward to pictures of that too. Then on july 6th we have to go to Durban again. It makes these last couple weeks of this transfer go so fast. its crazy that today is the start of week 4 and at the end of this transfer I get a new companion. Im looking forward to all this stuff we have planned. Love you all and hope you have a great week.

Elder Knutsen

June 13, 2016

Hi everyone,

This week was a great week. Everything just kinda went well. We didnt really do anything to different but things just went well. We have about 10 people we are teaching right now so we stay quite busy visiting them, less active members, and active members. this last week on thursday we went to Newcastle for a zone training meeting. its all ways a great time when you get 18 missionaries in the same room haha. after the training meeting we all went and got McDonalds. It was the first time I had eaten there in SA and I must say I have never enjoyed eating a burger that much. I honestly think it was the best fast food I have ever had haha. The weather this week has started to get very cold and rainy. I feel quite blessed that we are in a driving area and not a walking area. 95% of our mission is driving. we actually have the most cars out of any mission in the whole world. we only have about 5 places that dont have a car or truck. oh speaking of cars on the drive to Newcastle this week the rear bumper of our car just fell off. it was the craziest thing. we had to stop and throw it in the trunk of our car. so right now we are driving around without a bumper. it brings up quite alot of questions with the members haha. our car is just cursed because today we had to meeting the senior couple for some medical stuff and while we were at the doctor our car died. so Elder Hind had to start our car with Elder Raza and I pushing it. He taught me how to start it when the battery is dead also. I think with driving this much stick and learning how to do all these different things im starting to prefer manual over automatic. its funny because I just learned how to drive it about 9 weeks ago. oh how things change haha. Well I think thats about it. I hope everyone has a great week!

Love, Elder Knutsen