Shook hand with Elder Bednar

March 16, 2015

Hola Mamacita!

I received the St. Patrick's day package! thank you so much for the Jesus the Christ! I like it, it's a lot smaller than all the other Jesus the Christ books :) I also got the Santa Biblia and it is PERFECT! It's the exact same bible that I had in my head, but Burgundy and therefore it's even better! It's so great that I had to take a picture of it with my Spanish bible. It's quite a bit smaller :P

We had the conference on Friday with Elder Bednar and Elder Robins and it was AMAZING! It was so fun because the whole mission was there! all 240 of us, or however many of us there are. It was so great! The spirit was so strong and I learned so much from Elder Bednar. We are to be agents rather than objects and ACT! I'm starting to see a pattern with this and stake conference... I loved seeing all of my mission friends and I got to give hugs to all the Hermanas! Big ones to Hna Kaaa, Burke, and Bowen of course! Then I also got to give Sister Jardine a hug. I love her hugs, I don't know, they're just so special! Haha I don't give hugs to missionaries very often being in a zone with all Elders, so I get pretty excited about it :P We also had another stake conference with Elder Robins and the Jardines as well. Elder Bednar went to Folsom stake. Awww he should've come to Sacramento. Haha oh well, Folsom hasn't had an apostle since 1981! It was an amazing stake conference!

Fun stuff with the Zone: On P-day we played zombies with nerf gun. I had no idea so many Elders had so many nerf guns! haha it was super fun! On Saturday, one of the Marshallese Elders in our district had a birthday, so we all met at one of the church buildings and had a party with pie, because Saturday was Pi day! One of the companionships in our zone has been periodically stealing stuff throughout the transfer from the Marshallese apartment (they had a key to their apartment) and then at the party they wrapped everything and gave it back to them. It was a ton of stuff! it was super funny! For transfers we always get together as a zone and have a party and the Zone Leaders announce to everyone where we are going to be transferred. It's super fun! We just have to plan what to make for Monday... 

The past couple weeks, our district has had a competition to see which companionship can get the most members to come out with them. Well, I have to admit, the last few weeks we were failing... but this week we really made an effort and we had 6 members come out with us this week. It was great! We beat the Cambodians and the Marshallese this week and it was awesome! 

We've been teaching a woman that is 73 years old, named Carmen, and she has a hard time reading. So we brought a member that is 90 and never learned how to read or write. It was a pretty good lesson, they seemed to get along pretty well. At the end our member asked Carmen if she had medicine for some pain she was having, so Carmen goes in the bathroom and comes out with a big prescription bottle and hands her a few capsules... ummm I think I just witnessed a drug deal. :P 

A few days later we visited Carmen and brought Conchita. We told Conchita that we were trying to help Carmen to see why she needs to be baptized and that she needs to go to church to hear the word of God. She says, "Oh that's easy!" Haha Conchita has so much faith, it's incredible! During the lesson Conchita told Carmen, "I am a poor woman; I don't have a house and I don't have a car, but I will come by your apartment at 8:30am to take you to church." Then she also gave her her phone number. Wow! It was a great lesson!

This week we found a new investigator, named Cynthia!! She is 20 and she is super awesome. We had a lesson with her on Saturday where we watched the Restauration video and the spirit was so strong! I'm pretty sure she cried a little bit, I know I did!

It has been such a great week! Lots of fun, lots of members, lots of mission friends, general authorities, manifestations of the spirit, lots of BLESSINGS! I got to shake a prophet, seer, and

revelator's hand this week. It's not everyday you get to say that. I love the Lord! He is so misericordioso! and I see his tender mercies everyday. If we are just looking it's really not hard to see them.  

REMEMBER: my P-day is on Tuesday next week :)

Para Siempre Dios este con Vos

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell






PS the other picture is when we went on exchanges with our STLs, Hna Webb and Hna Sanchez, the hermanas in Rancho. We had to stop at Dairy Queen to celebrate! 

SUPER Fantastic Week

March 9, 2015

Hola Mamacita!

This week has been SUPER fantastic!! (as it is every week!) I love that about what Halie said because it is so true! Hna. Clark and I have been having a real fun time working together because we have an excited and happy mindset. At the beginning of the transfer we said we were going to make a goal to be Productive and Persistent. How were we planning on doing that? Well, by being happy of course! The work can go on even when we are dreading it, but it is so much more productive when we are happy and are enjoying what we are doing! 

Last Friday, one of the Hermanas in our ward had a daughter that passed away. We went by her home to give her comfort last week and it was so amazing how strong she was! It was so sad to see her because she missed her daughter so much, but she was still praising the Lord and was so happy to know that she was at peace. She had a sing "The Lord is my Light" when we went to visit her. On Saturday, they had the funeral at a Catholic church (because her daughter and her daughter's family weren't members) and all the Hermanas in our branch went to our church that morning and prepared a bunch of food. It was a party! Hna. Clark and I went to help out as well and our beautiful relief society president turned on some church music and we all got to work in preparingthe food for the funeral. The amazing thing was that there were so many to help out and a lot of them were less actives that we have been trying to visit lately. What better way to become reactivated into the church then by trying to serve others? I loved it! We went to the other church so that we could help more and I lead the Hermanas in singing "Para Siempre Dios este con Vos" for the family. It was so great to see the love and support that the branch had for this Hermana and her family! 

This Friday we are having a mission wide conference in Elk Grove because Elder David A. Bednar is coming!!! We're all super excited!!! In preparation, Hna. Clark and I are going shopping for new outfits for the apostle today. It's going to be so much fun! I haven't shopped for anything but food in 6 months! Haha The perks of serving in the states is we got all the good stores, like Old Navy, Target, and Charming Charlie's! YES! I'm super excited! It's going to be great!

So I have the picture of my planning for today. As you can see, it is going to be a great day! Hna. Clark and I made sure we planned our day as well as best we could so that we can run around, have fun, and still make it to zone sports because Zone Sports are the best! Haha Then we are having back to back appointments and a Noche de Hogar with the familia Claros! It's going to be a great day!!!

Something funny this past week is that we had zone training. Haha we talked about how we could get more excited about planning and so we did an activity where we planned our perfect day, vacation, shopping spree, and shotgunning an area. Hna. Clark and I planned to go to Disneyland, Kneaders, boating on Folsom Lake, etc. All the Elders that volunteered to say what they were going to do said, "Oh, well first we're going to pick up our dates!" and do things with their dates. Oh Elders! Being the only Sisters in the Zone, I think they sometimes forget that there are even Sisters there! We don't even think about that stuff, as Sisters we just want to stuff our faces in with good food and have fun! Haha 

Para Siempre Dios este con Vos

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

Love the Jardine's

March 2, 2015

Hola Mamacita!

That's so exciting that I have another niece!!! I was not expecting that, I thought we had at least another week or so! That's so fun! I actually got a letter from Aaron and his family yesterday, so that's really cool!

Interviews with the Jardines were so great! I am so thankful to have President Jardine as my mission president, he truly is an amazing man. He told me that he has been praying as to whether I should go down south or not because of the whole family-folsom situation, but we'll just have to see what happens come July! I was talking with Sister Jardine and she told me that you guys were friends on Facebook and she said that you were very cute and that you remind her a lot of me (or maybe it was the other way around) :P Awww I love Sister Jardine! Thank you for not bothering them, they are very busy, but they are very loving and considerate. If you want to know something just ask me and I can tell you. :P We also saw them on Saturday and Sunday because this weekend was Stake Conference. It was sooo good! We had Elder Johnson from the Quorum of the 70 come and it was SO powerful! He told everyone that they need to repent! He flat out said it, but he said it with a lot of love. Man! It was incredible! 

Some things that I really liked that he said was:

-The standard of trying to go to the temple once a month did not come from God, it must have come from the adversary. If we want to live in the presence of God for eternity, then we should want to go to the temple to be in the presence of God as often as we can! (Hna Clark and I both decided that we need to go to the temple our next transfer P-day :P)

-Alma 29:4 Whatever we do, it is ultimately up to us. If we make excuses for why we don't do something, we don't do it because we have obstacles, it is simply because we don't want to do it! If we really want to do something, we will make it happen and we won't make up excuses. I love that!

-sustaining a Bishop is just like sustaining the prophet. We agree to follow what the prophet says, we also agree to do what the Bishop says and we should not ask, "Who does this guy think he is?" when he says something that we might not particularly like.

They were simple, yet such powerful things! I loved it! President Jardine also gave a talk and it was so great! On Saturday at the adult session he said if anyone wanted to get in touch with him they could and he recited his phone number on the pulpit. As I said before, he's busy, but always willing to listen. 

We had a lesson the other day with an investigator and one of his friends. At first the friend seemed nice, but we tried to teach them the plan of Salvation and they just started bashing on us. They knew the Bible very well, but I knew how to dispute every question, the problem was that he wouldn't ever let me or Hna. Clark speak and I knew that it wouldn't be right to argue. So we sat there as he insulted us and the Book of Mormon. I don't think I have ever felt more defensive about the Book of Mormon than I did at that time. He wouldn't even let us say a prayer without arguing. But if we couldn't say a prayer, I at least wanted to testify. At the end I cut him off and bore my soul that the book of Mormon was true and then Hna Clark pretended like we had an urgent phone call and we swiftly left.  

Yesterday we got a call from Conchita that we sadly missed. We listened to her voicemail and she called us just to say, "Hermanitas! I finished the Book of Mormon! The Book!" She is so amazing!! I love her so much! She's been stuck on Ether for about 3 weeks and I was wondering if she had finished it or not. I know that she got baptized because of that Book. It is the most correct book that we will ever find on the earth. It has the power to change attitudes, change behavior, change lives, change human nature! The Book of Mormon has changed my life in the only way that it can: for the better. Everything that is good comes from God and I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. 

I love you so much! and I am so thankful that I was raised in a family that cherishes the Book of Mormon. It truly is a tender mercy from the Lord. 

Para Siempre Dios este Con Vos

Con Amor Hermana Twitchell

Jacelyn Twitchell

Jacelyn Twitchell

Born March 2, 2015 @ 11:30 am

10 lbs 11 oz   21 inches

She is 2 weeks early

She is welcomed into the family by her siblings

Thayne, Landon, Lena

Parents  Aaron & Joylyn

Bautismo!!!

February 23, 2015

Hola Mamacita!

This week has probably been one of the best weeks I've ever had on mission. It was super awesome!  We had President Martinez give Odalis and Conchita interviews on Tuesday.  Conchita was in her interview for almost an hour and a half and I was so nervous that something went wrong!  But she came out all happy and smiley; she just likes to talk a lot :P  She said that she was inviting a ton of her 7th Day Adventist friends to her baptism and she wanted us to meet them and tell them more about the church.  We haven't even discussed missionary work and here Conchita is, inviting all of her former church friends. A few weeks ago we taught her the law of chastity and the next day she broke up with her boyfriend because he was a 7th day Adventist. She said, "If I get married, I want to marry someone that belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ!" She is so amazing!  The spirit has worked on her so much and I have seen such a change in her. When we first started teaching her, she would sometimes agree with the things we say, but not really agree in her heart, or she would say that our church was so similar to the 7th day Adventist church. Now she truly believes and understands the important differences that make it so important for her to be a part of this church. She has a desire to feast upon the scriptures and share the gospel with everyone that she can! She is such a great example to me!  Her baptism was so great! Hna. Burke and Hna. Bowen came. I had to give them such big hugs! It was so good to see them. I just needed Hna. Kaaa and Hna. Griffith there and I would've had all my companions with me! Then President and Sister Jardine came! It was such a wonderful surprise! They really are such wonderful people and I am so excited that we are doing mission president interviews this week.

Odalis and Francis were baptized as well on Thursday and they are the cutest, sweetest little girls! They got baptized on their little brothers birthday, so hopefully exactly a year from the 19th of February, their brother, Roberto, will be baptized. It was such a fun baptism! It was sad because their mom, wasn't there, but we helped them with everything and it was so fun. We helped them pick out their jumpsuits and tried to convince Francis that it was so beautiful because she didn't want to wear it :P, Hna. Clark braided Francis' hair, we went in the bathroom with them as they were going in to be baptized, and we wrapped them in towel hugs after they were baptized. It was such a sweet experience.

Right now we are working with a couple, Vicki Ramirez and Lalo. They are so ready for baptism, it is unbelievable! We got them as a referral from Salt Lake and it turns out that Vicki actually referred herself so that missionaries could come by. How cool is that! They are super awesome! The only problem is that they aren't married and they are both still married but to different people. They want to get married and baptized so bad! but they have to get divorced first. I've worked on getting people married, but divorce is a foreign language to me. It's going to be a long process and I probably won't see them be baptized, but I am going to do all that I can because they are just so fantastic!!

Para Siempre Dios este con Vos

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

pics: the Claros family,

 All my comps and Conchita: 

Hna Clark - Odalis - Francis - Hna Twitchell
baptism Feb 19, 2015

Hermana Bowen and Autumn with the Claros family

Hna Burke, Hna Clark, Hna Bowen, Hna Twitchell
all of Autumn's companions except for Hna Kaaa and Hna Griffith

Hna Twitchell,  Hna Burke,  Conchita,  Hna Bowen,  Hna Clark

Baptism Feb 21, 2015

3 Baptism coming up this week

February 16, 2015

Hola Mamacita! 

Okay I'm going to try and answer all of your questions. :P  Hna Clark is super awesome! If no one told me she had went home and then came back from her mission, I would never have guessed. She is such a great missionary. She is from Alpine, UT. She went to BYU and we have some of the same t-shirts :P   I was getting nervous having Hna Bowen as my companion because she's a hardcore Ute fan.  Haha nah she was great!-   We technically pretty much have the same missionary age or at least I'm pretty sure we will go home together. Her Spanish is really good! Going home has set her back a little bit because sometimes she can't understand very well and she'll ask me, "What did they just say?", but she speaks really well. It's kind of fun being the companion that understands the most Spanish (and a little scary :P) Since I've been in the area longer I get to drive!! It's so much fun! I forgot how much I love driving :P   The drivers are crazy here, but they are California drivers.   haha not as bad as Utah drivers :P 

We are having two baptisms this week! One on Thursday night with Odalis (10) and Franceis (8) Claros and then we are having the one for Conchita Silva on Saturday. We are super excited for them! Odalis and Franceis are from a part member family where their father and their grandma are members, but their mom is not. Their dad gets to baptize them and we are super excited!!!! It will be so sweet. The other day we taught them the Law of Chastity and it was actually super fun! We taught them by doing the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in Spanish and it was a ton of fun. I've decided that I love teaching the law of chastity to kids.   Conchita is doing so great. We had a lesson with her the other morning and she said "Oh, let me get you guys some of my coffee." What!? I panicked for a second, but then she gave us atole (not sure how to spell it :P) which was basically hot milk, oatmeal, sugar, and cinnamon. It was pretty good! She has come such a long way!  

 This week has been amazing and I know that next week will be even better. The Lord is on our side. I just know it!

Para Siempre Dios este Con Vos

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

Transfers

Feb 10, 2015

Hola Mamacita!

So I am staying in Sacramento for my 4th transfer!! It should be super awesome! Hna. Bowen got a call from President Jardine last Wednesday, calling her to be an STL, therefore she had to go to the Missionary Leadership Conference on Friday. Because We are the only sisters in our zone, I had to go with her and that's why I got to see a bunch of other missionaries and Sister Edmondson on Friday. It was funny because all the leaders in the mission were there and it was me and another Hermana that came because we had no choice :P It was fun! We had no idea where Hna. Bowen was going to serve, but we knew that we wouldn't be companions this transfer because President Jardine has been wanting to put the Spanish STLs together in the mission. Hna. Bowen gets to serve in Lodi with Hna. Moffett. She's sad to leave, but very excited to serve in Lodi. My new companion is Hna. Clark. The cool thing about her is that she was Hna. Bowen's MTC companion and that a few weeks after she finished her training, she went home. But after 4 months, she came back to the work today! We thought we would have to pick her up at the mission office tomorrow, but we got a call from Sister Jardine saying, "We have your companion, Sister Twitchell, when can you come get her?" So we picked her up from the mission office at 11am this morning, fresh from the airport! So now, Hna Bowen, Clark, and I are in a trio for the day and we are going to drop off Hna Bowen in the morning. FUN!

Our zone is changing a ton this transfer! Out of the 16 of us, 8 of us are leaving and only one companionship is staying together, crazy!

This week has been super awesome! So much progress with Conchita Silva! We had a powerful lesson with her yesterday with one of our members, Hno. Ramirez. She's been slowly but surely quitting coffee and Hno. Ramirez had a coffee problem before he became a member as well. He shared a story about how the missionaries took his coffee away and then Hna. Bowen asked her if we could take away her coffee. She said that we could and so of course we had to take a picture of the coffee that we took away from her :P She has progressed so much!!! She knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet and believes that while Ellen G. White might have said some things that are true, she is not a prophet because she doesn't have the priesthood. Ahhh!!! She is so amazing! I love her so much! 

I know that the Lord doesn't need me, I need him. None of this work or the progress of the work is influenced by me, it is all through the spirit. Conchita Silva is such a testimony of that. All of her breakthroughs and changing have been through her studying and her praying and relying on the Lord. It is so amazing how the Lord works!

Para Siempre Dios este con Vos

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

Hermana Sarah Clark Autumn's new companion with Pres & Sister Jardine 

P.S. The pics are (1) Hna. Bowen and I with the coffee we took from Silva and (2) our district at our transfer call party; the 2 Spanish Elders, Cambodian/District Leader/Portuguese Elders, us Hermanas, and the Zone Leaders. It's been a lot of fun working with these missionaries!

Hermana Twitchell and Hermana Bowen

The District before transfers