Miracle this week!!

Jan 26, 2015

Hola Mamacita!

Well we did actually have a miracle this week! We went over to Tia Silva's house and we had a lesson planned. But then when she was talking, we felt impressed not to interrupt her (usually we have to interrupt her to teach her anything because she always tries to teach us about what she read in the Book of Mormon). After she talked to us for a while she told us that she had a bad night the other night and couldn't sleep. She couldn't figure out which path to God was the correct one and she pleaded with the Lord to know what she should do. Then she fell asleep and had a dream. In this dream she saw an Elder who was a part of her 7th Day Adventist church and she was very fond of this Elder and thought very highly of him. But he was inside our church and all he said to her was, "You're Welcome." Then she told us that this dream told her that she needs to get baptized in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. What!?! So we fixed a date right there for Febrero 21st. I am so excited for her!! We still have to work with her a ton because while she has the desire, she still has too make some life changes, but I know that through the Lord she can do it and she can be baptized by this date. 

Funny story. So Hna. Bowen likes to park wherever she wants, or at least if there's no free parking, she will park in a reserved parking spot. :P So we were in an apartment complex and we parked in covered parking to go contact some people. After about an hour, we came back to find that there was a car parked right behind our car so we couldn't get out. What?! As a mission rule when the driver is backing out the other companion has to be behind the car and direct them in backing out. It looks really silly, but sometimes it is helpful! We were not going to sit and wait for the car to move, so I helped Hna. Bowen back up and pull forward enough that we could dodge the poles of the covered parking and the car that was parked behind us and be free. Thank goodness there weren't any cars parked next to us! Once we were free, we noticed that there was a bright neon orange sticker that said we were going to be towed in 30 minutes. That was very nice of that car to try and trap us in. :P So we almost got towed, but with the Lord's help we were able to get out of the situation! The Lord really is on our side! If we strive to do what is right and follow him, he will lead you from tight situations. We just have to put in a little effort, obey the rules, and repent when we make a mistake. I love repentance! I wouldn't be content if I knew I had to stay the same as I am now. The opportunity to change is so wonderful and it is only made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ! 

Para Siempre Dios este con Vos

Con Amor,

 Hermana Twitchell

Happy Martin Luther King Day

Hola Mamacita!

This week was pretty good. Yesterday our we had a Branch Conference and I saw Sister Garvin because she is in the Stake Young Womens! It was really fun to see her! Hna. Bowen got to translate for the stake people when the people spoke in Spanish, so that was fun! 

We had the opportunity to help one of our members, Hna. Islas with her driving test. She told us that the DMV said they weren't going to have anyone speaking Spanish for the exam, so she really wanted help with understanding English and knowing what to expect during the test. It was a lot of fun. We taught her what the tester would say like, "turn right" "where are your emergency lights" "turn on your windshield wipers" cosas asi and later we got in the car with her and directed her where to go only in English. It was a little scary, but now I know a ton of driving vocab in Spanish! haha She took her driving test the next day and didn't pass... but she's going to study and practice more and I know she will do great! 

We've been teaching a woman named Conchita Silva for the past couple months and she is SO amazing! We've asked her to be baptized a few times and she always says no I want to study more, but I know that she will get baptized. She loves reading the Book of Mormon, she is always praying, and she goes to church as often as she can (she doesn't have a car, so the family she lives with has to take her and they are members). She is trying to read the whole BoM and she is in Alma right now! The only thing that we are a little worried about is that she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that a woman named Ellen G. White is also a prophet from the 7th Day Adventist church. We've told her many times that she can't be a prophet because she doesn't have the restored priesthood power and many other reasons, but it hasn't stuck yet. It something that the spirit needs to tell her. 

We are also teaching a part member family. The father and the grandma are less active members and the mom and the 3 kids are not members. I've never met the mom, but they have 8 and 10 year-old girls who are just the cutest things! They are so excited to be baptized and I am so excited that they are excited! I absolutely love teaching these girls because it reminds us how simple the gospel really is! You can go deep, but it's so simple!

Quiero compartir mi testimonio, pero en espanol porque es lo mejor! Yo se que esta iglesia es verdadera. Dios nos ama y quiere lo mejor por todos sus hijos. Si, muchas personas en la iglesia sufren muchos aflicciones y todo, pero ellos saben que son oportunidades para demostrar su fe y para sacrificar por Dios. Por que sufriria mucho una persona a menos que la iglesia es verdadera? especificamente, Jose Smith. El fue matado "como cordero al degolladero". Yo se que Jose Smith restauro la iglesia de Jesucristo. Es la misma iglesia que fue en la tierra con Adan y tambien con Jesucristo. Que padre! Como usted dijo en su correo electronico, si usted tuvo desafios en el templo, pero porque usted tiene un gran testimonio de la verdad. Estos desafios no quitan su fe. Estoy muy agradecida que tengo una mama que es tan fuerte en la fe! 

Google translation, so it might not be right:  I want to share my testimony , but in Spanish because it is the best! I know this church is true. God loves us and wants the best for all his children. Yes, many people in the church suffered many afflictions and all, but they know they are opportunities to demonstrate their faith and sacrifice to God. Why would suffer much a person unless the church is true ? specifically , Joseph Smith. He was killed "as a lamb to the slaughter ". I know that Joseph Smith restored the Church of Jesus Christ. It is the same church that was on earth with Adam and also with Jesus Christ. That father! As you said in your email, you had challenges in the temple, but because you have a great testimony to the truth. These challenges do not take away their faith. I am very grateful that I have a mother who is strong in faith !

Para Siempre Dios este con Vos

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

PS Hna Kaaa and Hna Burke were wondering where Mukuni's (the sushi place Dad loves) is located because I guess it's in their area. They really want sushi. 

I had told her that I went on splits with the missionaries in our area and we just went to a YW activity and just sat there.  I was sad that it kind of wasted their time.  This was Autumn’s reply.  Just a side note about the missionaries in our area.  We have a set of Sisters right now and they cover 3 Stakes (18 wards) just them.  CRAZY

Autumn’s reply:  haha I love you mom! sorry you didn't have a very good time with the sister missionaries, it's actually kind of hard to make plans work with members, that's weird that you went to an activity and didn't do anything though :P

here's some pics of my exchange with my STL Hermana Moffett!

Hermanas wear suit coats!!!!

District Meeting Jan 15, 2015

President Jardine challenged the missionaries to go the extra mile and where suit coats to all meetings. Sacramento Zone District Meeting. Even the Hermanas !

Autumn’s comment on it is : haha that meeting was our district meeting and since we're the only sisters we joked with the Elders that we had to wear suits because all the Elders do, so we got suits and took a zone pic haha

Family

Service Project at an Elementary School  12/22/14  Autumn's Zone

Autumn's Zone the day of transfers  12/29/14  Lucky Autumn to have all Elders in her Zone

Here's some pics of our zone last transfer (finally!) haha We actually got to do a service project for an elementary school that took us 3 days, but it was a lot of fun!
Hola Mamacita!

This week has been pretty great! We've been trying to eat food with members every single day of the week so as to get to know them better and it has been a lot of fun! A lot of rice, beans, and tortillas, but I wouldn't have anything else. I love how sometimes members will apologize because they don't know how to cook anything other than Mexican food, but I think they're food is amazing! Haha on Saturday we stopped by one of our church buildings and we saw that the Marshalese and Tongans were, as usual, planning for a party. One of them stopped and asked, "You want some BBQ chicken?" of course! So we followed them where they were grilling some chicken outside the church building. It was so good!! I love having the Marshalese in our stake! 

This week we talked a ton about the Family: a Proclamation to the World. I feel like every other lesson we've had this week, we have had the opportunity to pull out our pamphlet about the family and talk about it. It really is an amazing proclamation. It really emphasizes just how important the family is! and I think a lot of people lose sight of that. It also reminds me of how blessed I truly am. I was born and raised in this gospel, to goodly parents who love the Lord and through the lessons they have taught and their good examples I am able to be the person that I am today. 

Another thing that I thought was funny is that a bunch of the people we have been teaching lately, are studying and taking tests to be able to drive. I didn't really think much of it until someone told me that they just passed a law in California that makes it legal for those who are not US citizens to get driver's licenses. Huh, interesting... :P A ton of the people we visit have the driving book on their tables or they will ask us to quiz them on some of the questions. Our recent convert, Franco, was sad yesterday because he told us that he didn't pass his driving test. Then I told him we would pray for him that he'll be more prepared for when he tries again :) haha I'm sure the DMV is swamped right now!

Well at the moment we are teaching a lot of great people and I love them so much! It's so fun to teach people more about Jesus Christ or how they can build they're faith in him. I love talking to people on the street and even if they're not interested in our message, I still love to see what they believe or try and offer to help them in some way. Haha a lot of people are a little shocked when we ask them if we can clean their house and just do any kind of service (the mission's really been trying to emphasize service lately). I'm hoping we'll be able to do more service this upcoming week :)

Para Siempre Dios este con Vos

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell 

PS do you mind ordering me another General Conference ensign in spanish? I kind of gave mine away to an investigator... :)

Match Maker

January 5, 2014

Hola Mamacita!

Our zone really didn't change that much at all. We lost 3 members of our zone during transfers: Hna Burke, Elder Wilson (one of our Cambodian DLs), and Elder Van Leeuwen, who had been here for 4 transfers. It was sad to see them go, but they all needed to leave, they'd been here for 3 or 4 transfers :P To replace them we have Hna Bowen, Elder F (he's Polynesian), and a trainee from the MTC. So our Cambodian DL is training! His trainee is actually a visa waiter for Brasil. I think he's going somewhere south because I told him Avram went to Curitiba and he knew where that was. So that's probably pretty fun, a Cambodian and a Brazilian doing English/Cambodian work! Then we also added the Marshallese/Tongan/Liahona Elders to our zone (they used to be in South Sac). It's really not as different as I thought it would be. We already saw the Marshallese Elders a lot because whenever we had a baptism or something, they would be having some kind of party at the church. The Polynesians love their parties! and their food! They were having an Eagle Scout thing and they had cooked pigs sitting in the kitchen. Haha they're fun. 

I think by far one of my favorite things about this area is that it is so diverse! In our stake/zone, we have English, Spanish, Cambodian, Hmong, Tongan, Marshallese, and there's a Vietnamese guy that always comes to our Spanish congregation. It's really cool how the church has missionaries all over the world, and yet even in places like this we still try to find a way to preach to everyone in their own language. It's really beautiful. 

Hna Bowen is super awesome! She is super enthusiastic about the work and therefore I'm super enthusiastic about the work! not that I ever wasn't :P She is from Farmington Utah (pretty far from Fruit Heights, right?) and she just hit her 7 month mark yesterday. So she is two transfers ahead of me. She really likes to clean. Haha the first day she was with me, all we did was clean before we had to have a zone activity for the New Year’s Eve. I think that's pretty cool, cleanliness is next to Godliness! I am learning a ton from Hna. Bowen. She's my follow-up trainer, but I kind of feel like she's a little more like a trainer and that my training got postponed a little bit. Haha I love Hna Burke, but I think we can both agree that we had no idea what we were doing last transfer. :P I know the Lord was helping us and we couldn't have done it if we didn't have such great support from the ward and our zone. Our baptisms last month were not because we were good missionaries, but rather because the Lord wanted it to happen and he made it possible through us. I think I'm starting to get a better idea of what I am doing and how I can help this area improve. I'm really glad that Hna. Bowen is my companion because I know she is going to help me learn so much this transfer. She said her area in East Sac was hard and after every lesson we have here, she just gets so excited because of all the people that have so much potential and are so willing to increase their faith. Our area has so much work! It's fantastic! Yesterday we had a lesson with a member and the father of her children that she has been living with for a long time. It was really neat because a lot of missionaries have tried to teach them, but weren't able to progress because the father was not willing to talk about marriage. But yesterday we invited him to be baptized (and possibly married) on February 14th and he said, "I can't because we're not married." But after talking with them a little longer we could tell that the member wanted to get married so bad because she knew that what she was doing was not right and that she wanted to change. They didn't commit to anything, but they told us without us asking that they would pray and that they would talk about whether it was something they needed to do. Then we had him pray and it was such a sweet prayer. He said he was grateful for his family and his "future wife". That got us so excited! Haha I have so much hope for them! I think it's neat that so far all of my baptisms have been linked with weddings. I feel like we're match makers or something! I love this work! I love Hna. Bowen because she is really helping me to understand what missionary work is all about! It is exhausting, but it is so rewarding!  

I hope all is going well in Utah and that it's not too cold. Haha I forgot that California gets cold, all I remembered was the heat in the summer and some rain in the winter :) How are you doing on your temple goal? I remember you set some goals for while I'm on the mission.

I love-a-love-a-love-a-you!

Para Siempre Dios este con Vos

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

2 Baptism and a Wedding

January 1, 2015

Hola Mamacita!

Well we had transfers and Hna. Burke is now in the Del Norte branch in East Sac with Hna. Kaaa and I'm still here with Hna. Kaaa's trainer Hna. Bowen. She is super awesome and I am very excited for this transfer! I'm going to miss Hna. Burke a ton!!! But I know she will be in good hands because Hna. Kaaa is amazing. Well, to bring in the New Years, we played sports with our Elders... and that was about it Haha.   Hna Bowen was very surprised to find that we are the only sisters in our zone :P In East Sac she said they have about 9 sisters. That is so weird! I wonder what it's like having other sisters in the zone... Haha

So yes! we had two baptisms and another wedding! It was such a great gift for the holidays. Our first baptism was with Samuel Godoy on 12/19 and he married Christina about 2 months ago. It was the neatest thing to see him finally be baptized, there has been such a change in him. I know the gospel has helped his life become better. Our next baptism was with Franco (Selfido Fajardo Franco) on 12/27 and he married Norma on 12/20. His baptism was super stressful and great at the same time. So our whole mission switched to AT&T and therefore we all had to get new phones. We gave our old phones back to the mission on the Tuesday before Christmas. We were doing daily planning on Friday night, the day before the baptism, when we get a text from the Spanish Elders asking us why we weren't having a baptism the next day. What!? So we talked with them and they said that our branch mission leader talked with the branch presidency on Wednesday and none of them could preside at the baptism, so they decided to cancel it. Our mission leader sent us a voicemail on Wednesday, but on our old phone! We called the mission leader, then we called Pres. Martinez in the mission presidency, and after a few more phone calls and a sleepless night, we get a call from the branch mission leader saying that he could preside over the baptism. Yes! So then we called everyone that was going to be in the program to make sure they knew it wasn't cancelled and one of the Hermanas in our ward was supposed to make the programs and give a talk and she couldn't do either one because she was on vacation. Oh no! So we called the Spanish Elders to see if one of them would give a talk because we were already giving a missionary moment. In a few short hours, we got the baptism together. It was very small and the only families that were there were a part of the baptismal program, so in total about two. Then we had 6 missionaries, 2 of which don't know Spanish. We had an Elder lead the music, our district leader play the piano, another to give a talk, and Hermana Burke and I did the missionary moment and the Bienvenida a la rama (Welcome to the Branch). Our zone leader was there with our district leader and he just sat as an Elder translated for him haha. It was great, super short, small, and simple, but great!

I don't have a pic of Franco's baptism, but Hna. Burke took some pics. There should be one of Samuel's baptism, one of Franco's wedding, one with me and Sis Twitchell at the temple conference, one with us and Hna. Islas (an awesome member) Well I love you the most! It was so great talking with you on skype! Don't worry too much because the Lord is on our side!

Para Siempre Dios este con Dios

Hermana's Twitchell in the Sacramento Mission

Samuel's baptism (Dec 19)

Norma & Franco's Wedding  (Dec 20)

Hermana Twitchell  --  Samuel Godoy baptized Dec 19, 2014  --  Hermana Burke

Hermana Burke, Hermana Islas (an awesome member), Hermana Twitchell

Selfido Fajardo Franco baptized Dec 27, 2014  

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell