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.

I love to see the Temple

October 26, 2015

¡Hola Mamacita! 

Haha that's funny I was actually thinking it would be a fun idea to go into foreign housing. Haha I do great with Spanish when talking about the gospel, but outside of that I'm not too fluent. I got that dress when Sister Lalomanu and I were cleaning out the Wilton Hilton. There was a ton of old missionary clothes! Haha

I told Jose that he should be your friend on Facebook, he's so funny!

The Pardo girls are for sure being baptized in the 7th of November and we are planning for Jose to baptize his dad, Jesus, on the 14th. Jose has his interview for the priesthood on Wednesday and we are praying that everything goes well. Not too much has happened this week. It was busy as always, life as a missionary is never not busy! We got our flu shots this week, Hna Stout was hilarious! She's afraid of needles. 

We had a lesson with the Ivarras about the priesthood and we brought our old Ward mission leader, Johan, who is a recent (sort of) return missionary. All the boys in the family were there and it was so powerful!! Johan made me realize how much I don't know about the priesthood, but he helped us teach it in such a simple way! Then he was able to share experiences that he had on his mission with the priesthood. It was so awesome! The priesthood is so amazing and I am so thankful that we have it on the earth again today!! It is so important and vital to our salvation! I am so thankful for the priesthood holders in our family and that they are living worthily of it.

Para Siempre Dios esté con Vos

Con Amor

Hermana Twitchell

Not being transferred

¡Hola Mamacita!

This week has been great! This transfer has probably been the most uneventful transfer of my entire mission. I'm staying, my companions staying, woo! So we went to work and didn't have to think too much more of it. All the missionaries in our Ward are staying except for Elder Tena, but he just switched to English work to be our Zone Leader and his replacement is Elder Ortega, who I served with in Elk Grove a transfer ago. So not too much of a difference. Hna Kaaa was called to be a Sister Training Leader! But since Hnas Clark and Torres are staying here as STLs, Hna Kaaa is now in English work! Crazy! There weren't any Hermanas in English work last transfer, but now she's in English work and there's a trio of Hermanas somewhere in the mission. Fun stuff! 

So, I attached a picture of my schedule last week, so if you really want to know what happened, there it is! All the green boxes are trying to find people, all the blue are appointments we had. It's different on the iPad than on the little paper planners we used to have... I miss those. But the iPad is really useful! 

Last P-day, our district leader brought a bunch of Thai peppers for our zone to eat, so I also have a video of that, it was pretty funny, my companion was crying, another sister threw up later, everyone was rather red in the face. It was silly.

We are also going to the temple today! And I realized that I don't have more family names... Oops! I'm so excited though!

So a miracle happened on Sunday. First, the whole Ivarra Family came to church! It's been a struggle with them because ever since the kids were baptized, they've kind of lost the fire and desire to keep going. So we've been working with them a ton and we have been stressing going to all 3 hours of church! We might have to back up Jesus Ivarra's date because it's been harder to find a good time to come by his house and Jose just barely got an interview with the bishop about the priesthood. We'll see. The second miracle is that we came to church and the Pardo girls were already there. We asked them why they were there so early and they said, " Well, we couldn't make it to sacrament meeting at 12pm, because we have to pick up our mom from work, so we thought we would come to take the sacrament at 9am." Oh my gosh! They are the most amazing investigators I've ever had. Most members don't even do that!

I'm super excited for this transfer, miracles are going to happen! I know that the Lord is fighting with us as we strive to bring his children unto Christ!

Para Siempre Dios esté con Vos,

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

PS take a family picture! It doesn't matter if I'm not in it. I want to show my whole family off to people I meet! All I have is the old one that doesn't have the new grandbabies on it

Hermana Clark, Hermana Torres, Hermana Stout, Hermana Twitchell

Hermana Twitchell and Stout

All the Spanish missionaries in our Ward, plus José in the middle, plus some kids, and Elder Ward who is now an RM who came back to visit with a beard :P lots of missionaries like to come back and visit.

Us singing at a baptism

Columbus Day

October 12, 2015

Hola Mamacita!

To be honest, I'm only going to be on my mission for 2 more months after Christmas... sooooo I really don't need anything.  Seriously.  Thank you for being so thoughtful though!  Everything is going well with our investigators on date! We stopped by the Pardo's home and Nathalia and Karen were painting their fence. So we talked with them and they were just talking about how much better their life was since we have been visiting them. They are so darling! 

The Elders in our ward had a baptism and it was so beautiful. The woman being baptized is named Zaira and she had been taught for 7 months. So there were 5 Elders that came that had all previously taught her. Then President Jardine baptized her (she got the idea from Jose's baptism). There were senior office missionaries there and the APs were there. Half the people there were missionaries! One of the Elders came from Rama 7 in South Sac and he came with a member, Hno Ramirez!  

He baptized the Claros girls back in February when I was there!  I was so happy to see him!!  Anyone from Sacramento Rama 7 makes me happy!  Hna Stout and I gave the missionary moment.  Hna Stout is doing so well with her Spanish!  I am so happy for her!  She has become very discourage about her Spanish lately, but everyone that I talked to after the baptism commented on how good her Spanish was.  I am so proud of her!  She has only been out for 5 months and she is so good at really bringing in the spirit!

If I am transferred next week, everything will be okay.  I'll come back for the baptisms!  Haha I'm at the point where I really don't care if I get transferred.  Bring on packing and moving number 7 if needs be!  I love my area, but if it's not where the Lord wants me next transfer, then I don't want to be here. 

Para Siempre Dios este con Vos

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

We did service on Saturday where we raked leaves at a camp site. This fun native Central American thing was going on! It was so cool! They were doing it from 5am to 8pm!

The Tongan Ward having a party....  like Always!!