Baptism next week

January 19, 2016

¡Hola Mamacita! 

This week has been crazy! It flew by so fast! I don't know what happened to it! So I discussed my future with Hna Clark because we can do those kind of things and I've decided that I can register for classes and President Jardine gave her and I permission to do so today. Hopefully I pick some good ones! Speaking of, what am I doing for housing? Because I have absolutely no idea. Oh well! 

So Hermana Clark and Hermana Thomson got their new trainee and her name is Hna Niemann! She's a cute little Hermana from Colorado near Denver. She's super nice and cute! The other Hermanas had to help some other sisters in their area (since they're sister training leaders) so we got to spend most of Saturday with Hna Niemann. She is so awesome! She knows about as much Spanish as any other new trainee I've seen (so not a lot) but she's learning quickly and she is very willing to learn and press forward. She's awesome! 

Alejandra is still getting baptized! It's going to be a lot of fun!

I had an epiphany earlier this week that I thought I would share! When someone gets mad, who wins? It's not the person that gets mad, it's not the person that made him angry. It's Satan! What! So therefore we shouldn't get mad because that's what Sagan wants! So I'm deciding to be happy! Sorry the emails kinda short, but I love you tons!!!

Para Siempre Dios esté con Vos

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

PS Hna Burke looks so cute!

Hermana Brianna Burke came home from her mission on January 14, 2016

13th last/final transfer

January 12, 2016

Well Mamacita,

The verdict for my 13th, last and final transfer of the mission IS.......... I'M STAYING HERE IN NORTH SACRAMENTO WITH HERMANA VERGARAY! Cool, huh? Haha it's going to be a great final transfer. The other Hermanas in our apartment, Hermanas Clark and Thomson, have been called to train! So now they aren't just going to be sister training leaders, they're going to be a sister training leader trio! With one of them being a trainee. It will be interesting and now we'll have 5 sisters in the apartment! Haha we are cracking down on only speaking Spanish so that when the trainee comes tomorrow, she'll think it's normal that we only speak Spanish. :P we'll trick her into thinking we are perfect language missionaries! It's going to be fun! We aren't very good at our vocabulary outside of religion :P 

I went to the temple today with Hna Clark and it was a lot of fun! Afterwards we went to Chick-fil-a and I used my free food card. It was so good! Thank You! That was the best Christmas present ever! I did my last family name, so I'm going to need two more because I'm going again next transfer and at the end we get to do a session with the Jardine's :) 

We also have some fun and exciting news! Alejandra Mora is getting baptized the 23rd of January! She was going to be baptized the 19th, but her mom realized it was on a weekday and she wanted to do it on a weekend. We just had her baptismal interview on Sunday and she is ready! I am so excited for her!! Another really cool thing is that she attends the Marble valley school in El Dorado and she is in PGY! She's doing her performances this weekend so she's super busy, but super excited! I think it's so cool that I did that program when I was young, and now I have an investigator that's doing it too! The craziness of serving near your home. :) 

I loved going to the temple today, it is definitely one of my very favorite things to do. I love to see how much love that God has for us as his children. I am reminded daily of that love as I go out and testify of it to those that aren't sure of it or don't know. I love being a missionary because I have never felt such a great desire to show love for people, to make sure they feel that love that God has whether it be through a testimony, a simple smile, a firm handshake, or a great big hug and a kiss on the cheek! I love being able to boldly testify of what I know to be true and it's not too weird, because I have Christ’s name on at all times! I love having the knowledge that if we have the desire and if we make righteous choices, we will live with our families forever and we will live with God again. I love to feel the presence of the Lord, because it is full of rich and abounding love, an infinite love that will never be taken away! 

I love you so much! I hope you have a great week!

Para Siempre Dios esté con Vos

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

Stop telling me how many days I have left or what our future plans are! (Although I am very excited to hear that we are going to the temple) but I like being surprised :) I'm working on my weekly email, so stay tuned in the next 20 or so minutes. Love you!

(I told her this week that we got ticket to the Provo temple open house, forwarded her information about her homecoming and told her she needs to register for BYU, she doesn’t want to talk about coming home at all, I think she would stay a missionary forever)

Happy New Year!!

January 4, 2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR

¡Hola Mamacita!

Haha I don't know if I really have any funny stories this week although you have to admit I am pretty funny :P 

So it turns out that I was only sick for about 2 days, then I got better. My companion on the other hand got sick and has been consistently sick for the past week. ¡La pobre de mi compañera! So I've been giving her all the tissues that I bought that I actually didn't need :P 

Haha Hna Vergaray received a call from one of the APs (Assistants to the Mission President) today about her driving. He invited her to do better :P lately she's been getting a bunch of feedback from our tiwi in the car "check your speed!" and she got 2 "aggressive driving’s in 2 days. :P To the speeding, she just replies, "this is why I like GPS's, they always tell me the speed limit!" We don't have a GPS because I don't like GPS's and I know the area well enough that I don't need one. HAHA! 

For New Year's Eve, we had meetings starting at 6pm with other missionaries in our zone and we set some baptism goals. The APs were there to tell us that we need to repent and be better, so we had to read 35 pages in the missionary handbook and take notes and pray about what we could do better. Ya, Happy New Year!

To start the new year, I went on exchanges with Hna Clark. She's so funny, since we're going home together we occasionally engage in trunky talk because, ya know, we're in the same boat here. Last week we received a letter from President Jardine talking about how we need to keep going and working hard for our last transfer and today we received an email talking about our future plans. :P oh no! I don't want to think about future plans! Haha

During our exchange, Hna Clark said if we are still in the same area next transfer we need to go to the mall and buy new outfits for when we go home. :P I feel like lately everyone wants me to be trunky, it's weird. Sure, there might be trunky comments/moments, but believe me, I am not trunky!

I found a scripture the other day that I like a lot in D&C 128:22. It talks about temple work and doing service for the dead, but it can apply to other things too!

22 Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.

That's what we do, we keep moving forward and not backward, we strive to help others to accept Jesus Christ and be freed from sin whether they are living or dead. "On to the Victory!" Yeah, it's been a good week :)

Para Siempre Dios esté con Vos

Con Amor, 

Hermana Twitchell

Hna Burke says she's excited to give you a big hug :)

Miss Spencer got BAPTIZED!!!! Pictures from Hermana Kaaa of the Folsom Zone

Miss Spencer got Baptized!!!

These are pictures from Autumn's 1st companion in the MTC she is serving in the Folsom Zone.   This is Autumn's music teacher and friends of Alicia.  

Elicia & Milo this Sunday after her confirmation  (This is Autumn's music teacher that got baptized)  Her 1st companion Hermana Kaaa taught/baptized her.      

  

Dinner with the Angleseys on Christmas!  Hermana Kaaa had dinner with friends of Alicia's (when we lived in Folsom)

We went on team ups with the sisters up in the hills, and it was SNOWING!!!!!!!!   (12/26/15)

Folsom zone missionaries on Christmas Eve. We watched McFarlane, USA, super inspirational!  (Hermana Kaaa)

Ran out of GAS

December 28, 2015

¡Hola Mamacita!

Wow, it's been a long time since I've talked to you. Has it really been three days!? :P things are still going pretty good. So funny story, Hna Vergaray has been driving the past week so that she can get familiar with the area.  Since then I haven't been nearly as car-minded as I used to be.  On Friday, I had a thought popped into my head that I should check the gas gage in our car.  I shrugged it off, "eh, we'll be fine, Hna Vergaray can see it."  The Elders in our ward had a baptism on Saturday and we were heading over a little bit early so we could set up.  We were stopped at a stop light, then it turned green and we just sat.  I asked Hna Vergaray, "Why aren't we going?"  She said, "I can't, we ran out of gas." Oh jeez.  So I told her to put it on neutral, but before I could even get out to push the car, a friendly, older man came by and said, "stay in the car! I can push it!" So he pushed us to the side of the road and then down the road towards one of the gas stations.  After a few minutes of being pushed, Hermana Ivarra came in her truck and tried to help us. We didn't want the man to push us all the way to the gas station because it was still a little far. So Hermana Ivarra left us to go get a jug of gasoline. Then she came back, filled our car, and we were able to drive to a gas station and head over to the baptism.  It was pretty embarrassing.  We ran out of gas on a main road and everyone at the baptism had seen us. The Jardines were even there as well... We got to the baptism late, but we were there just in time for us to see them get baptized and for us to give the missionary moment.  Everything worked out in the end, but it would've been a lot easier, had I've just leaned over and checked the gas gage the day before.  Oh well!

We had a pretty good Sunday, though! Church is always great! If there's one thing I have gained a testimony of on my mission, it's the power of attending church! I love church! It really does help to set the mood for the week and to help us to feel the spirit! 

Para Siempre Dios esté con Vos

Con Amor,

Hermana Twitchell

PS tell Grandma that I am thankful for the snowman decoration she gave me, I forgot to mention it in my thank you card.

Us and the Tongan sisters!

 My "when you get home" cards :P

My shopping for the week: soup, herbal tea, cold medicine, tissues, and saltines. can you tell I got sick? :P

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

Caroling at the Firestations

Caroling at the Fire Station on Christmas

Autumn wanted to show Elaina that she still had her ring and that she remembers her.  Also when I showed Elaina and Austin the video of Autumn baring her testimony they said they couldn't understand her and they were worried that when she gets home they won't understand her.  haha

Christmas Eve dinner

My Beautiful Missionary she is sooo happy.   

Can't wait to talk to you tomorrow

December 24, 2015

Hola Mamacita!

So I'm emailing today, because I can :P it has been a crazy amazing week and a half, full of lessons, the temple missionary meetings, caroling, all that jazz! S I guess first I will start off with last Wednesday. We had temple conference! Yay! We had a Christmas devotional thing and we had lunch. I got to see Hna Fly and Hna Stout! And also Becki Hamilton! It was all very cool. Then we went to the temple to do an endowment session and I was standing in the dressing room and there she was, LAUREN! What the? Haha I gave her a big hug and Sister Jardine asked, "Is that your friend?" Haha all the missionaries were freaking out because they had just witnessed me see my best friend from Folsom who I haven't seen in over a year. You'd think they would be used to it by now. I thought it was pretty funny. So of course I sat with her in the session and she got to meet President and Sister Jardine. :) then of course we took some pictures! It was really neat. I got to see Lauren as a missionary in the MTC and she gets to see me as a missionary in Sacramento! Oh! I also saw Sister Ludlow in the temple! She's so sweet.

We didn't get home from the temple until about 6:30. Then I was dropped off at Hna Galvez's house to go right back to the temple to witness the sealing of the Renteria family. I basically spent the whole day at the temple! The Renteria family is a family in south sac that was baptized last September, just a few weeks before I came into the mission field. Hermana Burke and Hermana Griffith baptized them. They are so cute!! They have 3 boys, Miguel (9), Julian (Juju, 6), and Riki (4). Then Ariana Renteria is due to have another boy on February 27th! It was definitely one of the sweetest experiences of my whole mission. I was able to see Hermana Burke, who I have missed so dearly! Mario Renteria's parents were also getting sealed, so they had a sealing for his parents, then with him and his parents, then Mario and Ariana, then them to their kids. It was so special! I don't think I will see Hermana Burke before she goes home, but I really hope I do! When I was leaving the temple, JuJu and Riki promised me that they would never forget me. Hehe they are so cute!

This week has been pretty great as well. We received our packages yesterday and it was a lot of fun to see the Jardines, especially Sister Jardine with her cute festive antlers. 

We've done a lot of caroling to members the past couple of nights and it has been a lot of fun! I love this time of year because there are always so many opportunities to sing and spread good tidings of great joy! 

Para Siempre Dios esté con Vos

Con Amor,

My Hair

A member's daughters b-day party

Our Apartment inspectors gave us these hats for Christmas!  They say Peru on them and on the other side they have Llamas!!

Hermana Ivarra's dog, Coco

Hermana Twitchell