NACHOOOO!!! -- Learn Spanish

September 24, 2014

NACHOOOOO!¨

¡Hola Mamacita! 

So I got like three dear Elders last week and a package from you on Wednesday! That was really awesome of you mom! I wasn´t expecting it at all and then my district leader said, ¨Hey! Hermana Twitchell! You got a package!¨ I didn´t even tell you about the packaging system. I have the best mother in the world!

I got my first letter outside of the CCM yesterday. It was the one you sent me a few days before I left and on the envelope it says, ¨missent to Singapore¨That´s odd, but cool! my letter went all the way to Singapore! 

I got to tell you that Mexico City has some of the prettiest skies I have ever seen. Hermana Kaaa says it´s because it is super polluted, so I guess the most polluted cities make the best skies! :P

Last P-day, my district was outside for 3 hours just playing volleyball. It was so much fun! But later, we all realized that we were sunburned pretty good. Our whole district had matching red faces. :P

This week my district has been figuring out each other’s spirit animals, Hogwarts house, and Hawaiian names. Don´t worry, I still find lots of time to study! The other day I remembered that something on my bucket list was to yell ¨NACHOOOOO!¨ in Mexico. I never actually thought I would get the chance to do it, but I did and it was awesome! 

I absolutely love teaching! Before the mission I was un pocito nervous because I am not the best with words and I have always been afraid of teaching, but now I love it! The spirit is so strong and I just love telling investigators what I know and I love trying to explain how the gospel can help their lives!

The other day, one of our teachers had us practice teaching in English because they wanted us to fully grasp a teaching concept. It was so wierd! I´m not used to teaching in English! I had to word hard not to say ¨está bien¨ ¨¿puede leer...?¨ ¨Qué piensa...¨ Although I will say it was nice being able to completely express myself, but I almost feel more comfortable teaching in Spanish! 

Currently, we have two investigators: Juan y Juana. Juan is difficult because he isn´t very open about what is going on in his life, but he loves to joke around and he is really fun in that regard. But Juana! She is so awesome! She tells us everything that is going on and she tells us exactly what she is thinking and feeling! Last week we were able to commit her to baptism and it was so amazing! The spirit was so strong! She´s getting baptized on October 20th! We also invited her to watch conference with us and she is so excited to see the living prophet! 

She made me realize that a lot of times I take this church for granted. We have a living prophet on this earth today! And we get to hear from him and hear his words during conference! The priesthood is restored upon this earth and through it we are able to receive so many wonderful blessings and we are able to be baptized under the right authority so that we can return to live with God otra vez! We have such beautiful temples where we can make covenants with the Lord! 

Today is my last full P-day because next week we should be going to the temple. I hope they didn´t forget about my district :P I am so excited! The only sad thing is that I can´t go inside because it´s under construction, but that´s okay, it is still nice just to see it and be near it! 

On Saturday, we did TRC and Hermana Kaaa and I got to skype our teacher´s brother who is inactive. An actual inactive member to teach! It was really cool! We got him to commit to pray with real intent, read the book of Mormon to find answers to his questions, and come to church. I don´t know if he´ll actually do any of these things because we can´t follow up with him... but he seemed excited and the spirit was there. 

I got a letter from the mission home saying that when we arrive to Sacramento on October 7th, we are just going to be staying at a member´s house that night! Cool! It will be me, Hermana Kaaa, Hermana Porter, and Elder Burwell. Hermana Porter is in a different zone, but I have gotten to know her a little bit and she is sooo hilarious! I love her! Elder Burwell is nice too, although I really don´t know him that well, but we did fly on the airplane together coming to Mexico. Watch out Sacramento! In two weeks you´ve got a Utahan, an Indianan, a Hawaiian, and a fellow Sacramentan coming your way from México!

Baby Brielle is soooo beautiful! I loved all the pictures of her. Do not hesitate to send more!

This gospel changes hearts, it changes minds, it changes attitudes, it changes lives! This gospel is for the individual. It is not for Americans, or for a specific group of people. It is for each and everyone! Heavenly Father loves us and he wants us to come back to him through Jesus Christ. I may look like I am teaching, but in reality it is the spirit. It may have looked like Hermana Kaaa and I committed Juana to be baptized, but it was really the spirit. No one is perfect, we should not judge. The gospel is perfect. Christ and his doctrine are perfect. Christ did everything for me and I owe him my all, my everything.

Sé que Jesucristo sabe mi nombre. Cuando Cristo sufrió por mis pecados, Él pensó a cerca de mí. Jesucristo sabe su nombre y los nombres de todas las personas en el mundo. Jesucristo sufrió por todo y podemos vivir con Dios otra vez por medio de Jesucristo. Amo a mi salvador. 

Para Siempre Dios este con Vos

Con Amor

 I know that Jesus knows my name. When Christ suffered for my sins , He thought about me. Jesus knows your name and the names of all people in the world. Jesus Christ suffered for all and we can live with God again through Jesus Christ . I love my savior.

God Be with You

with love

Hermana Twitchell

September 24, 2014  Letter to Ed

Learn Spanish

¡Hola Papá!

Sorry I wasn´t able to email you last week, entoncés I´m emailing you now! :)

It´s crazy to think that my month mark is on Saturday! Isn´t that crazy! Already 1/18th of the mission and I am still in the CCM! It´s going by too fast!

I want to teach you a little Spanish so you can impress Larry and all the people in the ward.

comer- to eat

hablar- to talk or say

amar- to love

vivir- to live

verbs end in -ar -er -ir   You conjugate them like this:
                                                                     comer          hablar         vivir

yo (I) -                                                          como            hablo          vivo

tú (you formal) -                                           comes          hablas        vives

él/ella/usted (he,she, you (informal))            come           habla         vive

nosotros (we)                                               comemos     hablamos  vivimos

ellos/ellas/ustedes (they, you guys formal)  comen         hablan       viven

amar is done just like hablar

double l (ll) sounds like a y 

to bear testimony: 

sé que el Libro de Mormón es verdadero (I know that the BoM is true)

            el evangelio (the gospel)

            José Smith fue un profeta (Joseph Smith was a prophet)

            Tomás S Monson es un profeta (Thomas S. Monson is a prophet)

¡Amo a mi papá! ¡trabaje en su español!

Para siempre Dios este con Vos

Con mucho amor

Hermana Twitchell

Brielle Marie Sink

Brielle Marie Sink

September 19, 2014  9:20 am

6 lbs 13 oz   20 Inches

Autumn's comment

She is so flippin cute! I almost started crying!

Brielle Loves her Auntie

Mas De Mi Distrito

September 17, 2014    

¡Hola Mamacita!

I got your Dear Elder letter right after emailing you last week, I haven´t gotten anything else, but that´s ok. 

A couple days ago I made the mistake of telling an investigator, ¨Heavenly Father has a body of flesh and egg.¨ Oops! Everyone in the discussion caught it except for me! Oh man! Haha I will never again mistake huevo (egg) for hueso (bone).

The past week I´ve been really working on committing people to baptism. So far I have committed Hermana Kaaa, Alejandra (Hermana Kaaa´s otro identity), Elder Adams, Elder Skinner, Elder Perdue, Elder Leyva, and Hermana Savage. Yep, these are all missionaries in my district... but hey! They committed to baptism and now I have the commitment down in Spanish!

On Sunday, all the missionaries watched the Testaments. Man, I forgot how many inappropriate flirtatious scenes there were and they had two kisses! Haha leave it to the missionaries to freak out when a couple kisses. Elder Welburn from my district kept saying¨¡Satanás!¡Cerran sus ojos!¨ (Satan! close your eyes!) Man! I love having a bunch of 18-year-old missionaries! In my district all the Hermanas are 19 and all the Elders are 18 except for one who is turning 20 in a few months. It´s a lot of fun!

On Monday during our study time, we started talking about Avatar the Last Airbender and how awesome it is. Pobre Elder Skinner didn´t know what we were talking about, but the rest of them love it. We started talking about which bending we would want, but I´m still on the fence between water bending and earth bending. They are both just so great! 

On Monday we celebrated Mexican Independence Day and it was so great! We had a Mexican dancing group come and perform for us for two hours! It was awesome! Their dancing was so beautiful and their skirts and dresses were to die for! They had a dance where the women wore white dresses and balanced candles on their heads, then there was one where all the men acted like old men that danced with canes and wore colorful ponchos, masks, and funky hats. It was a little creepy, but it was very fun to watch. I tried to take pictures, but they didn´t turn out very good. 

Mexico was very much alive on Monday, there was nonstop loud music the whole entire day that when I woke up and went out of our casa the next morning by 7 am, they were still playing loud music that could very easily be heard. I loved it! Then there were constant fireworks going off that made it sound like some kind of battle field all day long. It was a little scary though because a lot of the fireworks that shot into the sky went more sideways than vertical. I wonder how many of those fireworks were homemade... :P  I love seeing Mexico on fire with the music. You can tell that the Mexicans love their country. So many of the houses that we can see on the hills have Mexican flags all over and it is so beautiful! I am so grateful to be in Mexico at this time! ¡Viva México!

I gotta tell you, my district is so awesome. Everyone is SUPER jealous of my district because we are so unified and just have fun while learning of course! :P We always play volleyball together, we always eat together, and we always sit together during devotional, sacrament meetings, etc. All the people in my district going to BYU are already thinking about making an intermural volleyball team when we go there in the Fall. Haha that will be fun at times the Elders in my district can be pretty immature, but give them the spirit and a nametag bearing Christ´s name and they become spiritual giants. They are such wonderful examples to me and I am so thankful to have them in my district.   11C (is my district)

I kind of sent that last email really fast :P I got too excited with the pictures.

The first one was on 911, I´m wearing my America scarf and watch. We have to remember to represent even though we are in a foreign country.

The second was on Mexican Independence Day, we got our Mexican colors!

The third is us pointing to our Sac-Town mission! Ya!

I just want to tell you that I love this gospel and I know that it is true. I know there will be people that will reject the gospel, but I don´t think I ever could because I know that Christ is there for us. I know that we are Heavenly Father´s children and that we are on this earth to be tried and to progress and gain experience so that one day, we can become just like him. I know that if we pray with a sincere heart and read the Book of Mormon with real intent, we can come to know the truth of all things.

Y por el poder del Espíritu Santo podráis conocer la verdad de todas las cosas. Moroni 10:5

Este Evangelio es para todas las personas en la tierra. Sé que nosotros somos los hijos del Señor. Sé que por el poder del Espíritu Santo, podemos saber todo lo que Padre Celestial nos quiere saber. Dios es mi padre y Yo soy su hija.

Para Siempre Dios esté con Vos

(And by the power of the Holy Spirit ye may  know the truth of all things. Moroni 10: 5

This Gospel is for all people on earth. I know that we are the children of the Lord . I know by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can know everything that Heavenly Father wants us to know. God is my father and I am his daughter.

Forever God is with You  With love)

 Con amor

Hermana Twitchell  

 from left to right

Elder Leyva- He reminds us of David Archuleta and he is our district leader

Elder Perdue- He is a gymnast and can do flips; it´s pretty sweet

Elder Skinner- he has the same birthday as me. He likes to sing to himself a lot and it´s sweet... well really everyone likes to sing to themselves a lot because we don´t have music!

Elder Adams- He is very enthusiastic about everything and has an amazing spike in volleyball

Elder Web- He´s funny and likes to talk like Daffy duck with Hermana Widdison

Elder Pankratz- He has a big heart and is super spiritual, it´s awesome and inspiring

Elder Welburn- He reminds us of Chris Farley and can do impersonations of almost anything. He is a spiritual giant that knows his stuff!

Elder Liddell- He really really likes butter. One time us Hermanas caught him saying to himself, ¨I like butter. I like butter.¨ IT was pretty funny.

Hermana Savage- She knows her stuff and she is very faithful and kind.

ME!!- I didn´t get a picture where I wasn´t laughing! 

Hermana Kaaa- THE BEST PERSON YOU WILL EVER MEET!

Hermana Widdison- Loves everyone and she always counts down to P-day. 

I love these people; they are my family and I am so sad to leave them in 3weeks, but I know we will be going on to bigger and better things! I am so excited these past 3 weeks have gone by so fast! I feel like yesterday was last p-day!

I love you Mama!

Carbon Monoxide - Almost died

Sept 10, 2014

Almost Died

Hola Mamacita!

 I do believe that the Lord watches over his daughters. In the CCM most of us live in casa (houses) that house about 20 misioneros, 4 people to a room. The very first night that I was sleeping in my casa, the Carbon Monoxide alarm went off. So all 20 of us Hermanas’ ran out of the house and someone called for help. Then the help came and said that the batteries were out and the alarm just needed new batteries. This past Monday, the alarm went off again and we all ran out of the casa and called for help. This time it was actually carbon monoxide. We all almost died!!!! haha no, well actually I have no idea how serious it was, but they shut off our hot water and anything gaseous in our apartment so that we wouldn´t all die from carbon monoxide. :P It´s all okay, because I´m still alive to tell the tale.

I have to tell you that memorizing scriptures is literally a weapon. I have a couple down and when I recite them during a lesson BAM! there is power and the spirit. It´s also really fun to recite it to the Latinos. Well really it´s just fun to talk to the Latinos in general. They want to learn English, we want to learn Spanish, it´s perfect! They are so nice, I absolutely love the Latino missionaries!

On Saturday and Sunday while I was fasting, I also fasted from English. It was a lot of fun! Only about half my district did it, but I could tell that those that did do it got a lot out of it. We had to try and find ways to say what we wanted to in Spanish or we would just stay silent.:P It´s really easy to learn so much here though because most if not all the people here can speak only Spanish if you want them to.

Well next Monday (sept. 15th) is Mexico´s independence day! Everywhere is decorated for the special day and ever since my first Sunday here they have been trying really hard to get the English speaking missionaries to learn their National Anthem. It´s a beautiful song, but it´s hard to learn because of the many words and the fast tempo. What a great time to be in Mexico!

In my district, all the Elders are going to one of the Lima, Peru missions (there are 5 of them) and in the intermediate district they are all going there as well. The elders said there are about 30 misioneros going there that came on august 27th.  Most of the sisters are going stateside. The other Hermanas’ in my district are going to Texas Houston South, which I´m pretty sure that is where Hermana Emily Hull is right now. I´ll have to tell them to tell her Hi!  

I am so excited for Cody! I really hoped that he would go back out and I´m really glad that you told me!

There is an Elder in our district who got a letter yesterday from his mom and he saw her send it the day before he left (Aug. 26th). So it takes about 2 weeks to get a letter. Also! We can just use American stamps here in Mexico, so ya! ´murica! We can´t print emails, so I think Dear Elder is good. I don´t know I haven´t gotten anything yet :)

I know that Christ lives and the more I think about him and his sacrifice the happier I feel and also the more indebted I feel. I couldn´t imagine my life without this gospel because it is the truth! There is so much love and happiness everywhere because of Jesus Christ and because of this gospel. I hope that I may be able to help others realize that Christ is there to take away all our sins and that he weeps with us when we make mistakes and that he rejoices when we do what is right! 

Sé que Jesucristo es nuestro salvador y Él morio en la cruz porque nos ama. Él pago para todos nuestros pecados. Sé que Dios es nuestro Padre Celestial y nosotros podemos saber todas las cosas con el Espíritu Santo, la oración, el LIbro de Mormón, y fe en Jesucristo. 

(Translation:  I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and He morio on the cross because He loves us . He paid for all our sins. I know that God is our Heavenly Father and we can know all things by the Holy Spirit, prayer , the Book of Mormon , and faith in Jesus Christ.)

Mamacita, I would just like to take a little time to tell you that you are the greatest example to me. We´ve been talking a lot about Christ lately and when I think of him, I think of you. You are the sweetest, kindest, most loving person I know and I know that if I ever make mistakes you will be there to comfort me and to push me to be better. You are the ultimate peacemaker and I never feel the spirit of contention around you (unless it is self-inflicted on my part). I love-a-love-a-love you the most!

Para siempre Dios esté con Vos

Con amor,

Hermana Twitchell

P.S.   Uncle Frank,

I am so happy for you and your wife to be celebrating your 50th anniversary. That is such a beautiful example to me and I hope I can have that much love when I get married myself. What a blessing that marriages are forever.

Con Amor

Hermana Autumn Twitchell

EarthQuake circle, they get a lot of earthquakes so when there is one we all gather at these circles.  There's about 50 of them on this campus. 

The fire hydrants all have mirrors, I think to hide a hose?  so we do a "skirt check"and make sure they are long enough.  "YES!"my skirt is long enough.

Hermana Twitchell is excited to be a missionary.

Hermana Twitchell "singing in the rain" 

Hermana Autumn Twitchell

Sept 3, 2014

¡Hola Familia¡

Life is so great here in Mexico! I have the best compañera in the world, my distrito is awesome! I play volleyball everyday, the weather is always gorgeous whether it´s clear skies or thunder, lightning, and rain. I am studying the beautiful language of español and most importantly, I am training to invite and help others come to Christ! 

First of all I just want to tell you how thankful I am that we were able to find those compact separate scriptures! They really are a lifesaver because they are so light and small and perfect!! 

My compañera is Hermana Ka'a'a (pronounced Kaw-aw-aw) and she was born and raised in Hawaii. She is going to the Sacramento mission like me! I have to tell you that she is so beautiful in every way, inside and out! I wish I could send you a picture of her, but I´m not quite sure how yet. I´ll make it a goal to figure it out this week. She didn´t know any español previously, so I´ve been trying to help her a lot with that, but it is awesome! It makes me realize how much español I actually know! 

So I guess they sent out an email to everyone beforehand asking if they were to be in the intermediate class or the beginner class and I´m pretty sure I did not get that email, but that´s okay because I love Hermana Ka'a'a too much! 

Coming to the MTC we were on a bus and it was funny because the Elders would not let the Hermanas do a thing! One Elder said that if they had the Hermanas lift any of the suitcases they would be struck down by the hand of God. I thought that was a bit much, but oh well! Mexico is so beautiful! While we were descending in the airplane all the buildings were either topped with a red roof or a soccer field. At that point I knew that I was no longer in the USA. Driving through Mexico City was beautiful because there is so much culture! All the houses are different colors and they are all so close together! They aren´t afraid to show off their style and personalities. The CCM is like a safe haven because the houses on campus aren´t actually touching each other.  

The food is great! I feel bad for the people that don´t like spicy food though because nothing has flavor unless it is spicy or a fruit. The cafeteria is a lot different from the one in Provo, but it is really nice. The workers are so friendly and one day they actually had American food, so I told one of the workers, "¡La iglesia es verdadera!" I think they thought I was crazy. :P 

MY district has 4 hermanas y 8 elderes. I love them so much! Mamacita, I think you would like one of them because they look and act like David Archuleta. Then there is another Elder that reminds us all of Chris Farley and he is very funny! 

Starting last Friday we have been teaching a man, named Carlos, about the gospel in español! It was funny on the first day because we really weren't that accustomed to speaking only Spanish that first day. But on Monday, we taught him the restauración and it was such a spiritual experience! I wasn´t very comfortable with teaching the lesson without notes until Carlos said that he thought the church was discriminating because not everyone has the opportunity to be baptized and that in the Catholic faith they believe that little children go to Hell if they are not baptized. I had to help him understand even if it was not in my notes. So I told him a little bit about one of my favorite things in this entire world: the temple! I told him that everyone has the opportunity to be baptized whether it is in this life or the next because we have the right authority and temples! I also told him that little children are perfect and don´t need baptism until they are 8 because then they can think for themselves. It was such a great experience! I could feel the love that the Lord has for Carlos and I know that he could feel it, too. I also didn´t even realize that I knew all the words that I did! I felt bad because I was talking most of the lesson, but Hermana Ka'a'a is still learning español and doesn´t know that much quite yet. I know that she will get it and she will be an amazing missionary! I know that through Heavenly Father I can receive the gift of tongues and so can mi compañera. 

On Sunday I gave a talk about La apostasía. Every week we have to prepare a talk, but we don´t if we have to give it until a minute or so before we actually have to give it. When they called my name I was extremely nervous, but then I put myself in the mindset of: I want to give this talk, I want to share my testimony and what I know about the apostasy! It was great! It was very simple because I really can´t say much about the apostasy in español. But when I started to bear my testimony, I was able to feel the spirit so strong, especially when I told them that I know that families can be together forever. I know that this is true. I wouldn´t be here if I didn't think that. 

Sé que Jesucristo es mi salvador y sé que José Smith fue un profeta de Dios. Sé que las familias son eternas y las familias puedan vivir juntos para siempre. Amo a mi familia para siempre.

Mi español is far from perfect, pero Jesucristo es perfecto y consigo puedo hacer todas las cosas!

Para siempre Dios esté con vos       Con amor,      Hermana Twitchell

Translation  I know that Jesus Christ is my savior and I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know that families are forever and families can live together forever . I love my family forever.

My Spanish is far from perfect , but Jesus Christ himself is perfect and can do all things !

God Be with you With love ,