Feliz Navidad!!!

December 14, 2015

¡Hola Mamacita!

¡Feliz Navidad! Haha I don't know when Miss Spencer is getting baptized, I thought it was the 23rd of December, but who knows? So I'm thinking that I'm going to skype probably around 4pm California time on Christmas... This is the last P-day before Christmas since Christmas and part of Christmas Eve are P-days so we won't have P-day next Monday. I'll just use my autumn.twitchell account and I'm pretty sure that dad is already my "friend" on skype. If anything changes, I'll call you around that time. Haha what's your phone number again? I always forget it :P We didn't get to go to the live Nativity at the temple. I wanted to, but we could only go if we went with an investigator and none of them could go. It sounded like it was a lot of fun though!

Haha you read our minds, we did make Christmas cards! I sent you one, but here's a pic as well. 

I only printed out 20, they're expensive! But it was fun. No one's gotten baptized yet because all their baptismal dates are in January. I'm praying that January 19th will be a good day for baptisms! Alejandra Mora, the one who is going to be 9 on that day is so cute! Every other week my companion and I direct the music in sacrament meeting and she always waves at us. The Pardo girls are amazing as always! We had a lesson with them on Thursday and they were telling us about their experiences with sharing the gospel and having family home evening. We went by to help them decorate their Christmas tree and they invited us to their next FHE! They are such great examples! We literally lost the Ivarra family for about 2 weeks. We went by their house every single day and tried calling them and we had no idea what was going on with them! Thankfully we found them a few days ago and it turns out their phones stopped working and they had to get new ones. Now we are back in contact with them and we made sure they came to church. I love them too much to let them go inactive! 

On a Christmasy note, we bought ourselves a Christmas tree! We also sang with our ward yesterday at the North Sacramento Stake music fireside. It was a lot of fun. Of course, the Tongan Ward blew everyone out of the water with their "Hallelujah" song. They just always have such amazing booming voice so. They never even need a piano like everyone else does! Their singing truly was angelic.

The other day I came across a crisis. Oh my goodness! I have less than 3 months left on the mission! so I started to panic that I haven't made enough goals, I haven't changed enough, I need to think about how I can change myself in the small amount of time that I have left! Then we also had a zone trading all about goal setting and it was all really stressing me out. What have I been doing my whole mission! I haven't been setting nearly enough goals to change myself! After a little bit of time, a bit of self-reflection, and some discussions with my companion, I realized, oh, wow! I am thinking way too much about myself right now! I was stressing out because I was worried about myself, when as it says in Matthew 16:25 "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." The best way for us to become what Heavenly Father wants us to is to forget ourselves and go to work, I've been doing that, but for some reason I had forgotten that for a couple of days. The less we worry about ourselves, the more we can become like Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, our perfect savior! 

Para Siempre Dios esté con Vos

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

Decorating the Pardos' tree

Service last week with Red Cross (picture with the Tongan sisters)

The Grandkids made Autumn a picture it says
You know Landon, and Elaina, and Lena and Austin and Thayne, and Bentley, and Ford but do you recall the newest babies of all Brielle, Royce and Jacelyn.




We celebrated Hna Vergaray's 9 month mark with ice cream of course! And yes she does know that one family in Connecticut

Excited for Avram

 December 7, 2015

¡Hola Mamacita!

Happy Hanukkah! I looked on my calendar and it starts today :P I think my companions would love pics of the family.  Haha I'm not going to the baptism of Miss Spencer, although that would be very cool! Hna Kaaa is still in Folsom and she'll probably be there the rest of her mission because her companion is going home this transfer. I don't think they would shotgun my home Ward!  Haha she's doing so great, though. Hna Vergaray is so awesome! She is such a fun companion! We have pretty similar sense of humor so we have a lot of fun, maybe too much fun. :P Hna Stout is an STL because the Lord called her to be so. Our area is doing great!  We are teaching two families right now and Alejandra Mora.  We are baptizing her on her 9th birthday on January 19th because her family is less active and the bishop wants her to have time being active in the church. One of the families is Juan Carlos and Maria Vasquez. They have two kids and we haven't taught them much, but Juan Carlos is very enthusiastic about the church. Then we are teaching Jeranimo and Faustina  Pascual.  We received them as a referral from the system, so we called them and set up an appointment. We went and visited them Saturday night and the lesson went great!  Jeranimo wassuper sweet and very open, his wife was a little bit more quiet, but very open as well.  We put them on date for the 19th of January and they also came to church yesterday!  It was so cool! It doesn't happen very often where we teach someone and they actually go to church the next day! They are so amazing!We had a Red Cross service project this week where the first day we walked around neighborhoods hanging door hangers on everyone's door that informed them that Red Cross was installing free smoke alarms. 

The next day we went around and installed those smoke alarms into people's homes. Since we can't go into homes without a woman as missionaries, our group that we went with was me Hna Vergaray, Hna Clark, Hna Thomson, and a 22 year-old woman named Trisha who is serving in AmeriCorps.  Woman power!  It was a lot of fun, but a little scary at times :P we went into some sketchy homes!  After about 5 hours, we had installed 19 alarms and gone into 11 different homes.  It affected about 35 people! It was great!

I love you tons! I am so excited for Avram and that I get to go to his sealing!!! What a special experience!

Para Siempre Dios esté con Vos
Con Amor,
Hermana Twitchell

New companion Hermana VegarayChr

December 1, 2015

¡Hola Mamacita!

This week was awesome! Thanksgiving was so great! Since it was a proselyting day, we had to visit people, so of course we visited the members! We basically had about three different thanksgiving dinners. It was so much fun, but painful to the stomach! A lot of things fell through like going to the temple and the baptism, but it's okay. Maricruz's baptism is going to happen, it's just a matter of when. We worked with Karen Pardo on her family history and we were able to get her her grandmother's name for baptism! We can't do her great grandparents though because they were born 109 years ago... So they have to wait a year or get permission from family search... We were so excited though to get her name! Karen got a new job and therefore had to work when we wanted to go to the temple, but that's okay, all the youth are going to the Oakland temple on December 19th to see the lights and do baptisms! I am so jealous! I love that temple! But Nathalia will get to go, so we are very excited! 

Miss Spencer is getting baptized  (Autumn's music teacher)

Autumn's new companion Lorraina Vergaray  

Haha so I just got the card from Avram that has the wedding date :P now I get it! and that's not funny there's no way he could ever get married on that date unless he waited another year. Lately letters have been taking 2-3 weeks to get here. I'm not sure as to whether it's the mission office holding them longer or just the mail... I don't know. 

So as you know, transfers came up and the sad thing is that the Carmichael sisters told us that they have to move out of Sister Schow's house because she's getting too old!! That's so sad! I got a card from her yesterday, she is so cute! 

Okay, back to transfers, I'm staying in the area! Hna Stout was called to be an SIster Training Leader and she shotgunned the Carmichael area with Hna Torres. It's crazy because Hna Torres was Hna Stout's trainer and the only other companion she's ever had besides me. Haha So they should do great! Well, I'm sorry to say that this time you won't be seeing Hna Burke for Skype. I don't know what I'm going to do without my skyping buddy! Hna Burke is currently living my Dream. She is going back to south sac for her last transfer in the mission. Oh my goodness! I about died! Ever since we've left that place we've always said that we were going to come back to "die" (aka finish off our missions). Haha Hna Clark and I were talking and we are going to shotgun south sac together for our final transfer. We'll see what happens next transfer. My companion is now Hermana Vergaray! We are basically the same person. We have the same amount of siblings who are all the same gender, same ages, and same marital status. In a couple months we will have the same amount of grandbabies in the family. She even has a sister who is 27 and lives in Georgia! How crazy is that!! The only difference that I have found between us so far is 6 inches in height and her dad is from Peru. Well, dad is from Payson. They both start with a P, so they're pretty much the same. Haha just kidding they are other differences, but we are pretty much the same. She is from Washington and she met Shelby Twitchell at institute and I'm pretty sure she also knows Steven, too. She's hitting her 9 month mark this month and yes, she said she talked to you on Facebook before coming out on her mission. Haha we are going to have the best Christmas ever!

Para Siempre Dios esté con Vos

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

Drinking abuelita at the Galvez home

Hermana Torra got her own couch

Happy Thanksgiving

Hola Mamacita! 

So this letter will be kind of short because I have to write out the paragraph, but we will see. Yes, I am emailing today. President Jardine announced a few weeks ago that Thanksgiving would be a regular proselyting day this year so as to follow the white handbook better. We were shocked, but of course willing. Now we're just scared as to what he's going to say about Christmas! Haha but it won't affect skyping or anything.

Paragraph:

A year dedicated to the Lord! At the beginning of this year, we committed ourselves, as missionaries in the Sacramento mission, to dedicate this year to the Lord. A full year on the mission, a full year to the Lord. This year, with each time I have had to transfer, I felt like I got closer and closer to home. First I started in South Sacramento, then I moved to East Sacramento where my companions and I have covered the Spanish work in Carmichael, Fair Oaks, Citrus Heights, and Orangevale, right across the river from my hometown! My next transfer came as a surprise when I was called to serve in the La Riviera branch in Rancho Cordova. I shared the same church building as my brother, Aaron, and my nephew, Landon, was baptized while I was there! Not only did I cover part of the Cordova stake, I also was in charge of the Spanish work in the whole entire Folsom stake! It's the weirdest thing in the world to roam around my hometown as a missionary, looking for Latinos. I was only there for 4 weeks when I was asked by my mission president, President Jardine, to go back to Carmichael for 2 weeks. Then for another shock, I was called to serve in English work in Elk Grove in the Wilton ward and Vineyard ward. There I found a bunch of relatives that are all related to my ancestor, Ephraim Twitchell. It was so neat to find family! I told President Jardine about my experience and he laughed and said, "It looks like wherever we send you, you find family!" Now I am in North Sacramento, back in Spanish work. I have been so blessed to have amazing companions and to have baptisms in every area I have been in (I count Landon as one in Rancho Haha) It is the best thing in the world to be a missionary. I can't believe my full year to the Lord is coming to a close. It has been such a blessing and I thank Heavenly Father for every moment I have had on my mission. I am excited for next year; I have a great hope in it.

...it's kind of long... so you can shorten it if you want :P

bullet points:

- It's been a full year dedicated to the Lord

- I love every moment of my mission

...I honestly can't think of anything else... :P

So I lied about the baptism of Maricruz, it's actually this Saturday! Yay! Super excited! We are going to the temple this week with the Pardo girls to have them do baptisms for the dead! We are so excited! We are going to help them find family names tuesday or Wednesday and on Friday we are going on a mini road trip to the temple!!! I talk to you next Tuesday! 

Para Siempre Dios este con Vos

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

Our Apartment's Thanksgiving Dinner  Nov 22, 2015

  

We had ourselves a mini thanksgiving dinner with our apartment

Sister  --  Autumn  --  Hermana Stout  --  Sister

Another picture from the baptism

             All the Hermanas in the mission besides Hnas Webb, Thomson, and Kaaa.

What!? a wedding date!? How long have they known each other for? I don't even know that I know how they met. Haha I guess time has gone by fast. I pretty much have no conception of time anymore, it's scary. (is that the right word?) It depends what time of the year they want. If we are going spring, I would say April 26th, the perfect day according to Miss Congeniality. or July 16th, That's the day Hna Burke went on her mission! or February 27th, my 18 month mark. or... I don't know sometime after February. I have to be there of course :P I like the snowman boxes since they are the ones I grew up with. I'm working on typing up that paragraph right now

Jose's baptism

November 16, 2015 

¡Hola Mamacita!
This week was awesome as always! Samuel Godoy is my first recent convert! Of course you should be friends with him!! I sent him a letter a month or so ago, I hope he got it. My iPad is an iPad mini...I'm pretty sure that's as specific as it gets. :P I'm not sure what a

Lots of fun stuff happened this week! On Wednesday we went out to eat with a member that lives in our area, but goes to the Spanish Ward in East Sac, so we ate dinner at the border of our area and ate with Hna Webb and Thomson, too! It was so fun to see them, Hna Webb is going home in two weeks! It's crazy, I remember when she had just barely hit her 6 month mark while I was in training and I told her I thought she was old in the mission... Time flies! On Friday we had an amazing zone conference with Elder Hamula of the seventy. It definitely pumped us up to go out and find! I got to see Hna Burke! I probably could've tackled her I was so excited to see her! While there I also received
the Liahona that you sent me, thank you so much! We ate lunch at the conference and we ate chili! President Jardine told me that him and Elder Hamula got The Twitchell pot of chili and he was wondering if they were related to me. They ate Joylyn's chili! He said it was very good, so be sure to pass it along :) I also talked to some missionaries in Elk Grove and they told me that Maricruz is getting baptized!!! On the 21st! They said they would invite me to the baptism! I'm so excited! She is so ready and so prepared! I knew she was! After the conference Hna Stout was chosen to be interviewed by Elder Hamula, it was really neat. It was a long and amazing conference, probably the longest one I've ever had. We left at around 7am  and got home at about 6:30pm. Lots of spiritual power! On Saturday we had the baptism and it was so amazing!! We invited President Jardine to come, so he did and it was so neat to see Jose baptize his father, what a sweet experience!
Later that day we also had a miracle We were at a stop light when a woman was waving at us to roll down our window, so we did. We had a picture of Jesus Christ on the window and she asked us where we got the picture and that she wanted one. So we told her we were missionaries and to pull over. So she did and she told us she's been looking for a church that's not corrupt and that people are nice and welcoming. She spoke Spanish and lives in the apartment complex that neighbors ours! She said she wanted to come to
church and that she wants us to come over and teach her and her daughter. It was so neat! A complete miracle! She said that she thought the picture of Jesus was a sign from God and she couldn't let it pass by! Moral of the story: always have a Jesus pass along card on your window. We don't know how she saw it because this was around 7:30
at night and it's dark! But it was definitely a miracle from God! Later that night we got home and found that one of our tires was flat.  So we called our district leader and 4 Elders came by to help us change our tire. So all of Sunday we were driving on a spare tire.
We also took Karen, our super recent convert out with us to go contacting. She was so amazing!! Her 19th birthday is next week and she says she is thinking about a mission! Her and her three sisters are truly amazing!
This week has been full of miracles! I know that the Lord has blessed us so much and without him, we wouldn't be able to do anything!
Para Siempre Dios esté con Vos
Con Amor,
Hermana Twitchell

3 Baptisms

Nov 9, 2015

Hola Mamacita!

This week truly has been amazing! We had Jesus Ivarra's baptismal interview on Wednesday and he is ready for baptism this upcoming Saturday. Earlier that day we went to the Ivarra's home where we helped Hna Ivarra make a bunch of tomales. Ya, you could say I'm a pro at making tomales now :P The night before the baptism with the Pardos, we went by their home to have a final lesson about teaching, learning, and enduring to the end. They are so great, they are going to be such amazing members, we already have a plan to get them doing baptisms for the dead in the temple as soon as possible, we're hoping they can get an interview with the bishop next week or the week after that. What was so sweet is that after the lesson, they said they had made brownies for us and they also bought ice cream because they knew that brownies and ice cream were my favorite! Haha I didn't remember ever saying that, but then they reminded me that we were talking about food last week and I mentioned it. They are so sweet!  Karen, Nathalia, and Diana Pardo were baptized on Saturday! It was so amazing! Those girls are so prepared! They love the Lord and they are such a good support for each other. During Sacrament meeting yesterday, the announcements went on until about 45 minutes into the meeting because first, the bishop announced that Jesus was being baptized, second, the three girls received the Holy Ghost, and third, Jose Ivarra was sustained to receive the aaronic priesthood in the office of a priest and our bishop announced that he would be baptizing his dad, Jesus, this weekend. When he said that, there were quite a few gasps in the congregation. It doesn't happen too often that a son baptizes a father. This is going to be a baptism that will be remembered. It was such a sweet experience. We are so thankful for these two families. The Pardo girls' mom, Ana Pardo, came to church for the first time so that she could see her daughters be confirmed. She was so happy for them and she wants to be baptized so bad, but she works every Sunday and hasn't found a different job. Our hearts break for her because we want her to be baptized as well, but we know that one day the time will come. I thank the Lord every day for this area because it truly is magical. 

Para Siempre Dios este con Vos,

                                                                                                      

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

North Sacramento Zone

Angelos Compos loves to take pictures

I'm coming home Feb 25th

November 2, 2015

¡Hola Mamacita!

Well, I forgot to tell you, but a little over a week ago I got my first trunky email that says I'm going home the 25th of February. Yikes! I hope it's still okay with you that I go to the SLC airport and that I tell them that your email is still the same :P it's scary how time goes... Haha yep Hna Burke is getting so old in the mission :P it's almost been two months since I've seen her! That's the longest I've ever gone without seeing her! There's a member of the seventy coming in a few weeks, so I'm praying I'll see her then. And if not, I keep telling her that she's coming to North Sac. It might happen her final transfer, who knows. I'm pretty sure they will hold our presents again in December. Yes I did get the pictures of the babies, they are so cute! 

Jose had his interview with the bishop yesterday, so now he is getting the priesthood next Sunday and he will be good to baptize his dad on the 14th! The girls had their interview on Wednesday and they are also ready to be baptized this Saturday! We are very excited!!! 

We had exchanges this week and I went to the other Hermanas' area with Hermana Clark. Haha we were just reminiscing about our time together in the Sacramento Rama 7 and how magical that area is. This area is pretty amazing, too! It was fun being with Hna Clark!

Halloween was fun, all the missionaries met at the church at 6pm, we did a little sabbath day training, then we played games and ate baked goods and candy. Some of the Elders got a little too much sugar, but overall it was pretty fun. 

One of our members, who was baptized in March, signed up to feed us, but ended up having to go out of town. So he thought it would be fitting to give each of us Hermanas  a $25 gift card to a restaurant. He wouldn't let us give it back. And what restaurant was it? Oh, ya, it was IHOP! $100 worth of pancakes! (Don't worry, we didn't spend it all at once) So we went all out on pancakes! We were soooo stuffed, I think it affected our proselyting. :P 

Well it was Hna Stout's birthday yesterday and a bunch of the women in our Ward went crazy! All the members that knew were super excited and all the ones that didn't were really mad. We got lots of cake and goodies. All the people that gave her cake would start singing "¡Que la muerda! ¡Que la muerda!" and would try to stuff her face in a cake. Haha I love the Latino tradition, they're so silly! 

My companion is great! She has so much passion for this work and so much love for everyone! I've never seen anyone feel so deeply about other people. She is such a great example to me! 

I love you tons mom! I hope you have a great week!

Para Siempre Dios esté con Vos,

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

Pics: 

1. the Ward Halloween party was so much fun! We had so many investigators come! The little girls are Lucero and Alejandra. They're mom, Elizabeth Mora, was baptized a year ago and she's been less active, but she's coming back to church so Alejandra can get baptized! Her date is for the 21st of November! They are so sweet!

2. Surprise party for Hna Stout at Elizabeth's house.