Things That Go Bump In The Night

So it's been a sad Halloween here in the little city of Granada. The little missionaries had such high hopes for this day. They were going to carve pumpkins, make caramel apples, and have a jolly good time. But the elders forgot to buy the pumpkins, the church has no knives, and Spain doesn't believe in carrying caramels in their local grocery stores. So the little missionaries have settled with chocolate covered pretzels and plain apples. And all mourned for the loss of what was hoped to be a splendid Halloween.
The end.

So yep our Halloween has been lame. We had such high hopes. And then one by one it started to crumble. So that's sad. But it's ok. We can make next year better....maybe.

Not much to report this week. We had exchanges in Málaga and I got eaten by mosquitos once again. Stinks when your blood tastes so delicious. But it was good. I got to visit with a couple from England and they were so cute and funny and I wanted to mimic their accent but felt that would be inappropriate.

Also we had homemade churros at the house of a member yesterday and they were delicious. One more thing to make me fat. Thanks a lot, Spain. Also I cut my companions hair this week so y'all better watch out because this Hma is opening a salon when she gets home. Jokes. It was an adventure though. She needed a trim and didn't want to pay. So we pulled out the craft scissors (no joke. I know my Aunt is dying inside as she reads this.) and I took off a little bit. Did a decent job.....she still has enough hair to put a bow in it so that's a positive. Jokes. It was good.

Lots of good things this week. Slow so not much to report. We had a menos activa come to church who hasn't been in years and her son received the priesthood so that was cool. But I got to bear my testimony about the restoration a lot.

On a spiritual note this week I wanted to know why it was necessary for Joseph Smith to see God and Jesus Christ. I mean, we all have to show our faith, why wasn't that enough for Joseph? I had my personal opinion about it that it was necessary for Joseph to have a KNOWLEDGE of God. Not just faith. Joseph endured A LOT of trials during this time. It was my thought that because God knew that Joseph would go through all this stuff, He needed Joseph to have a reason to endure it. He needed Joseph to KNOW the truth. As a fact. Not just a belief. So I read Joseph Smith-History and found out that I was right. In verses 23-25: "23 It caused me serious reflection then, and often has since, how very strange it was that an obscure boy, of a little over fourteen years of age, and one, too, who was doomed to the necessity of obtaining a scanty maintenance by his daily labor, should be thought a character of sufficient importance to attract the attention of the great ones of the most popular sects of the day, and in a manner to create in them a spirit of the most bitter persecution and reviling. But strange or not, so it was, and it was often the cause of great sorrow to myself.

24 However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld a vision. I have thought since, that I felt much like Paul, when he made his defense before King Agrippa, and related the account of the vision he had when he saw a light, and heard a voice; but still there were but few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others said he was mad; and he was ridiculed and reviled. But all this did not destroy the reality of his vision. He had seen a vision, he knew he had, and all the persecution under heaven could not make it otherwise; and though they should persecute him unto death, yet he knew, and would know to his latest breath, that he had both seen a light and heard a voice speaking unto him, and all the world could not make him think or believe otherwise.

25 So it was with me. I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation"

I think this is so cool. Especially where he says, "I had ACTUALLY seen a light....and they did in REALITY speak to me....I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for telling the TRUTH?" The restoration is not just a story, it is a fact. It is a concrete event in time. Joseph knew that there was a God and a Savior because he saw them with his own eyes. It didn't matter what happened to him, he had that PERFECT KNOWLEDGE. God thinks of everything. We don't have to restore the church, we are not being tarred and feathered, we don't need that perfect knowledge. But through us showing our faith, and by praying, we can have a perfect knowledge that God exists and that He restored His gospel on the Earth. This experience helped me gain such a greater appreciation and understanding for the restoration.

The gospel is great. I love you all. And hope you all eat lots of candy. HAPPY HALLOWEEN 🎃🎃🎃

Hermana Twede

Count Your Blessings

Hey there kiddies. How's good ol Wherever You Are Reading This?? Hope all is well.

Well this week was good.....work was a little slow but....I'm learning patience with the Lord's timing. Which, if you know me, you know that patience is a virtue I lack severely so this is good.

We contacted A LOT this week because most of our citas failed us. That's frustrating for me because I feel more productive when I'm teaching but.....you can't teach if you don't have investigators and we find investigators through contacting so....thus is the life of a missionary. BUT ITS ALL GOOD IN THE HOOD Y'ALL! Because we found some solid futures and started teaching this one this week and throughout the lesson her family joined us and then they invited us back....so that means WE'RE TEACHING A FAMILY!! So stoked.

But the best part of the week happened at the end pretty much. Well not pretty much it just was at the end. SO. We have been visiting this menos activa (less active) for a long time. She has a son who was baptized and became a menos activo quickly after. We have been trying so hard to get her to come to church and she always says she intends to but never comes. The last time we visited her this week, she was telling us that her son keeps saying he doesn't believe in God and doesn't feel Him in his life and she was just wondering what she could say to him. After that lesson, I just prayed to know how we could help her. I just kept thinking that her son needs friends in the church. Well Friday we had English classes and correlación. The ward also had mutual and we walked out of English class and guess who we saw? The son of our menos activa!!! Our bishop and his daughters had gone and picked him up and brought him! He looked happy to be there. Then they told him that they would pick him up again for church on Sunday. Then on Sunday, Hermana Moore and I walked in and saw him sitting in the pews talking with some members in a white shirt and tie. We were so happy to see him! And he was excited to be there. Then he told us he wanted to receive the priesthood and everything. Then he came out of his classes with a Duty To God booklet and was so excited to start it!! Oh my that was such a big miracle and blessing for this week.

So yeah that pretty much was the best part of this week. I just want y'all to know that I KNOW THE GOSPEL IS TRUE! A lot of garbage goes on in our world today and I don't understand why a lot of it happens. But what I do understand and know is that GOD LOVES HIS CHILDREN. And He is SO aware of us and our needs. It's amazing to have the opportunity to witness the way God handles His children as He caters to their every need. The Plan of Salvation is real. And it was created for YOU. My favorite part of that Plan is that there are missionaries in the Spirit World giving people ANOTHER chance to accept the gospel. Literally GOD THINKS OF EVERYTHING! Please.

If you don't know the gospel is true, I ask you to get on your knees right now and ask God if it is. Give God a chance to bring you closer to Him. He loves you. Open your eyes and see it. There's a reason we need to go to church. There's a reason you need to pray. There's a reason you need to read your scriptures. There's a reason for every single part of this gospel and the simple answer is so that we can return to live with God again. I'm only 3 months into my mission and I've preached this until I'm blue in the face. Some people get it. Some don't. Please, I ask you all from the most deep and tender parts of my heart, to come closer to Christ. To rebuild your testimony of the gospel, or to start building it. Have a little faith. As a missionary of Jesus Christ, I get to bear His name on my chest every. Single. Day. And share my witness that this gospel is the true gospel. That I KNOW it is true. That Christ VOLUNTEERED to come down and suffer a price so great that none of us can comprehend, so that YOU CAN LIVE WITH HIM AGAIN. That it doesn't matter where you are, what you've done, if you let Him, Christ will pick you up, and carry you Home. I know this without a shadow of a doubt.

Thank you for the support you give me and all the missionaries around the world. I love you all and have a great week.

Hermana Twede

"Please Open the Door...."

Hey homie G's what crackalackin? Idk how to spell that word but I did
my best ok??

Well was it a week!! If you're expecting me to say, "OH MY GOSH WE
HAVE OFFICIALLY BAPTIZED ALL OF THE GRANADA C AREA AND HAVE STARTED
TAKING OVER THE ELDER'S AREA!!" Then you might as well spare yourself
the disappointment and go read an email from someone not serving in
Europe.

Now that we've got that covered let's get down to the nitty gritty
(don't know how to spell that either I just say it in my head in the
voice of Gru). This week was......slow. And cold. Granada decided to
swap seasons in a day and most of this week was cold and wet. On
Wednesday we left our apartment with only sweaters and sandals on and
were like, "Haha only in Spain. Sweaters and sandals." And then not 5
minutes later it started a downpour. Imagine Cuzco's llama face when
it starts to rain and he's in the jungle or something with
Pacha......literally us. That face that's says, "I'm 200% done." (I
just asked the elders for Pacha's name and now they are quoting the
whole movie hahahah). So yeah that was fun. And yeah it's been cold and
wet the rest of the week and let's just say we are less than prepared
for winter in Granada. Woot.

Ok so yes all of Spain shuts down when it rains so that was less than
ideal for us. Plus no one wanted us this week so that's great.
But we did have one experience that taught me a lot that I'd like to
share. So about a week ago, we contacted this guy in the park by our
Piso and he gave us his number and we set up a cita with him for
Saturday. We met with him in the park again and taught the first
lesson and we both bore testimony about the Book of Mormon and it was
awesome. We invited him to read it and he was super nice but straight
up told us that if we gave him that book he probably wouldn't read it.
He said that yes it's very important to us but right now he's not
super interested in reading it but still wants to be friends. (Felt
like we were getting friend zoned.....but with a future investigator.
Investazoned?? No sé) We were bummed of course because he was super cool
and we felt he was super prepared. But then a quote came into my head
from this last conference, "The conversion of another person is not
entirely up to us." It just taught me that I can do all I possibly can
to help them feel the spirit and accept the gospel, but they still
have their agency to choose. Everyone has agency and investigators are
not exempt from that. Although it's frustrating as a missionary to
accept that, we have to. It's also beautiful to see when people do
accept the gospel and they realize it was THEIR OWN CHOICE. That's the
best part. It makes it that much more special.

So that was our humbling experience this week. Also one of our
investigators came to church for the first time this Sunday
YAYAYAYAY!!!! And we had an activity with the ward on October 12th.
It's a festival in Spain and we celebrated it with an activity called
Día De Las Naciones. Pretty much everyone in the ward brought food,
dances, or song from their country and shared it. It was a blast and
one of our investigators came and she loved it!!
Food from South American and Spain is soooo good.

Hermana Twede with their investigator.

Ok well that's all. Have a great week y'all beautiful humans!! Read
your scriptures and pray and go to church because those are all good
things!!

Hermana Twede

Usually not a fan of Reese's, but this was the best American chocolate I'd ever tasted.

The Tale of the Starving Hermanas

Once upon a time there were two sister missionaries. One of them had
only a few days left in their area before shipping off to Murcia so
she wanted to do some cool things on their day of preparation.
Well....they ended up not doing cool things and forgot to buy
groceries. A new missionary was supposed to come in a few days and the
missionary who was staying was very worried because they actually had
no food. But then a miracle happened and the new missionary had a
bunch of rice mixes and things from home in her suitcase. So they
lived happily our of her suitcase and barely made it to the next p day
when they were able to buy food. The moral of this story kids is DONT
FORGET TO BUY GROCERIES ON P DAY!!

The end.

Happy Hermanas after they got food today!

I hope you enjoyed that story......it took a lot of mental energy and
good English grammar to summon up that tale. Jokes. But actually not
really.

So this week was a little insane. On Wednesday we literally spent all
day in the train station, shipped Hermana Pastrana off to Murcia and I
got my new companion HERMANA MOORE from the good state of MICHIGAN!!
She's just super great and were a lot a like. She knows way more
Spanish than me bc she lived for one year in Chile so that helps. But
we have a goal to only speak Spanish to each other and it's actually
going pretty well so bueno!! But yes....the story is true. Hermana
Pastrana didn't buy groceries last Monday which was very concerning
for me because we had a few pieces of bread and onions and a little but of
rice and half a chicken breast. That's pretty much it. So you can bet
I prayed super hard for the Lord to provide. Well Hermana Moore comes
and says she has rice packages in her suitcase that need to be eaten
bc she doesn't win them her whole mission....MIRACLE. So yes mom....we
ate out of Hermana Moore's suitcase this week. That was fun. But today
we went and got groceries and now we're good so no pasa nada.
Ok cool story. I mean there were a lot but....I'll stick to one.

So we were invited to eat with the bishops family and the other missionaries
(no worries we had permission to do this tranquilo peeps) at the
church. But it wasn't until 9:30 because the YSAs have institute until
9 and we live pretty far from the capilla so we decided not to go and
just leave after correlation. We really wanted to stay but felt it was
better to go visit our investigator. We invited one of the members to
come with us and we went. This investigator lives with 2 of our other
investigators but they were supposed to be working. But when we got
there, the 2 other investigators were home from work so we got to
teach all three!! We had decided to teach the Plan of Salvation again
bc our investigator had questions about it after listening to Pres
Uchtdorfs talk in conference. HOLY COW the spirit in that lesson was
so cool and so strong. It's my favorite thing to be able to testify of
this great plan of happiness to these people.

DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH GOD LOVES YOU?!?! I hope so because dang people
this plan is amazing and perfect and perfectly amazing!! You realize
that God sacrificed His Only Begotten Son so that YOU could live with
Him again? You wanna know how horrible that day was?? Go read chapter
8 of 3 Nephi and that'll give you a little taste. But He allowed it to
happen. Our Heavenly Father allowed His son to come to this Earth, to
minister to His people, to suffer the sins OF THE WORLD, to spill
drops of precious blood for YOUR sins and YOUR sorrows, to be mocked,
spit upon, and hung on a cross like a criminal. He allowed all of this
to happen so that YOU....YOU person reading this right now, could live
with Him again. So that His Son could know your pains and help you
whenever you ask for it. You must be pretty important and He must love
you a lot if He let all that happen....no. "Let" is the wrong word. He
PLANNED for this to happen. This was the plan from the "foundation of
the world." How hard would that be to have a plan where you have to
watch your Only Begotten suffer so so much? But He did it. For you and
for me and for every single person on this planet and who will step
foot on this earth. Because He loves us. Remember that. Always.
Because it is so so important.

Good golly I love this gospel. It's amazing. And I get to preach about
it every day. What is my life I don't even know! We contacted in the
park the other night and taught the whole first lesson to a man
because he wanted to know more. COOLEST THING. Gosh. Being a
missionary is yes hard.....mentally, physically, emotionally, and
spiritually. But it is oh so worth it and I'm finding more I could be
doing better every single day. Share the gospel peeps. You'll receive
so many blessings.

Also I'm almost to when Christ comes again in 3 Nefi and I'm beyond
stoked to read it. It's gonna be great.

Ok well I love you all and thank you so much for all the support. Also
my comp has chocolate chips in her suitcase so YALL KNOW we gonna be
whippin up some Pizookie here in this transfer. If you don't know what
Pizookie is check your pulse because you must not be living....,then go
look it up and make yourself some because it's quite possibly the best
thing ever. My homies from #2104 and anyone who came to our Pizookie
parties know what I'm talking about.

Ok love you all. Have a grand week. Share the gospel. And buy groceries.
Adios amigos!!

Hermana Twede

WARNING: The contents of this email may be annoyingly excited because of Conference

HELLO FROM THE OTHER SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE!!!!
Sorry to get that I'm your head now but we have a missionary parody of
that song and I think I watch it everyday bc it's legit and explains
my life in Spain.

BUT CAN WE TALK ABOUT CONFERENCE FOR A SECOND?!?!?
That was amazing. Such a testimony strengthened that these people are called of God and
VERY inspired in what they base their talks on. I noticed a lot of
themes in this conference such as: repentance, prayer, plan of
salvation, missionary work, and GOD LOVES YOU!!! I found so many
answers to prayers in this conference it was insane.

Something that was said that has been on my mind a lot is that it has
never been known of someone who reads the Book of Mormon everyday with
faith and has lost their testimony and fallen away. Over and over
again, I have the incredible opportunity to testify of the
truthfulness of that book. Do you realize that the Book of Mormon came
before everything? It came before the church was organized, before
temples, before the Word of Wisdom, and much more. Another quote that
I absolutely loved from Gary E. Stevenson: "It is a gift and blessing
from God that the keystone of our religion is something as tangible as
the Book of Mormon." HOW TRUE IS THAT?!? People. It's so simple. If
you read the book, and pray about it, YOU WILL KNOW IT IS TRUE!! We're
not (as my father would say) "asking you to leap tall buildings in a
single bound." We are simply asking you to read and pray. Just do it.
Nike. Boom. The gospel is true.

K well conference pretty much was the best part of the week. Transfers
are this week (I'M ALREADY DONE WITH MY FIRST TRANSFER WAT) and my
companion Hma Pastrana is going to Murcia to be a SISTER TRAINING
LEADER!! My new comp is Hma Moore from the beautiful homeland of
Estados Unidos (The United States for you greenies who don't know the
celestial language) and she gets here on Wednesday. This means I get
to lead my area!! YAAAY!! And I have no idea how to do that bc I don't
know my area very well!!! YAYAYA!!! But hey. Faith moves mountains. It
can help me know Granada. So yep. That's the scoop.

Hope y'all have a good week. Read your scriptures. Listen to your
parents. And......HELLO FROM THE OTHER SIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE! WE MUST'VE
KNOCKED A THOUSAND TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMES!!
Ok bye love you all.

Hermana Twede

Smelly Cat

This letter was received on September 26, 2016.

Hello humans that occupy this lovely planet we call Earth.

We visited Ibizin today and these are the pics.
The big pano has the Alhambra right in the middle.
It is famous her and in Spain.

Hope your week was grand. I honestly can't believe it's already Monday.
This week was crazy. There was a festival going on. So yesterday they
had a big parade and bands and all the things and golly
you can get anywhere when all of Granada is walking down the street
holding candles and carrying Tortas (a dulce only available at this
time of year and SUPER delicious.) but super guay (great) too.

Other pics from sightseeing today.

Indie paintings in a random alley

At the parade

Our piso (apartment)

But it's just so cool to see how much God loves His children when
you're a missionary. And it's crazy to see how different every person
is to teach. Some investigators are hard at first but as soon as they
accept what you're teaching them and start to change their life BAM!
Almost a 180 turn around. Then there's some who start to have doubts
and they let Satan get to them instead of trusting God. Good laws
Satan is the actual and LITERAL worst. He is working so hard to pull
us down but if we keep doing what we're supposed to be doing, we can
withstand him. One of my favorite quotes is one by Elder
Bednar in a talk he gave to missionaries at the MTC, "If you want to
punch Satan in the mouth, share the gospel." Well, I want to make
Satan sorry for even trying to mess with us so I'm out here serving a
mission. That quote makes me want to just give everyone a Book of
Mormon and stand In The Center and yell, "HURRAH, HURRAH,
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!" Golly the gospel is great.

Read your scriptures. Say your prayers. Visit the temple. And don't
let your dads eat pie. also I babysat a cat for like 15 minutes this
week. Videos and pics to come. K well love you all. Have a great
week!!

The smelly cat

Also read the talk by Jeffery R. Holland in Oct 2009 General Conf
labeled Safety For The Soul bc it's great. Ok love y'all bye.

Hermana Twede

Video of Gypsies

Sweater Weather

 This letter was actually received on September 19, 2016.

Hola.

So it's funny that last week I wrote about how hot it is when not 2

days later Granada decided to change again. Golly it's as bipolar as

Utah here. Wednesday we needed sweaters after mediodia (midday). WHAT?! But it's

fine. The weather warmed up again a little bit towards the end of the

week so that's good.

Here is proof of sweater weather. No I haven't developed a lazy eye. I
did that on purpose.

Also me and my comp went and got Burger King on Saturday. I normally don't like Burger King but that was the best hamburger I've ever tasted. I realized the

last time I had a burger was the 4th of July. It's like I'm not even

American anymore. Actually I do forget how light skinned, light

haired, and light-eyed I am until I look in the mirror or until

someone points it out. So that's fun. Also everyone comments on my red

cheeks. And no one can pronounce my last name. Nothing has changed.

This week we had zone conference in Murcia and Elder Zwick from

the Quorum of the Seventy came and spoke. It was awesome. Most of it

in Spanish.. Elder Zwick and his wife are awesome so it was

cool to meet them and hear them speak. Also I got to see most of my CCM homies so

that was even better.

Hermana Simpson!! We had a sleepover was great.
We wished we had 3 days to catch up.

Ma homies from the CCM. The Elder next to me is Elder Kärn from Sweden
and he was in my district. We were the only two from our district to
come to the Málaga mission.

Awkward Elder with Hermana pic.

On the drive home from Murcia. On our way to Jaen.
Am I in Spain or Utah, I don't know, but it was pretty.

This week we have just seen a lot of miracles including seeing a lot

of people from the US!! But one experience we had just yesterday was super cool. We were in the home of a member giving a lesson to a menos activo (less active). Our lesson that day was HOW to share the gospel. I believe that members really do want to share what we know

but we don't quite know how. We members have a lot deeper knowledge of

the gospel and sometimes share some of those deeper gospel things and

it's very confusing for the one receiving the teaching so we wanted to

help them practice teaching simply. We had them teach us about the

Restoration first and then we taught them. Not 5 minutes after we

finished and were about to say the closing prayer, a knock came to the

door and in walks their two nonmember friends. When they walked in I

just thought, "Hahah oh my gosh. Are you kidding? This is awesome." We

showed them the video #Aleyua and our member friends had the

opportunity to share about the gospel. I didn't understand a lot of

the exchanges because they were talking very fast, but the younger

girl apparently was asking all the right questions and it was awesome.

After they left our member friend was just beside herself and keep

saying, "What just happened?!" It was a cool thing to experience and

definitely a miracle. It just shows how important this work is to the

Lord.

The small and simple things. All growing up, when I would get in a bad place mentally, spiritually,

or emotionally, the first thing my dad would ask me was, "Are you

doing the small and simple things?" By this he means reading my

scriptures, saying my prayers, and for some going to church. Well,

besides going to church the answer I gave was usually no. Actually not

usually, always. I'm seeing it all the time here in Spain with our

menos activos. When people stop doing the small and simple things,

they are allowing a window to open that Satan likes to sneak through

and plant doubts about the church and ourselves in our minds and our

hearts. It drives me crazy to hear people say they used to believe but

they don't anymore. Or they have doubts about the church now. Just

last night we had a menos activo tell us he can't commit to come to

church because he has a lot of doubts. Well I straight up asked if

he's doing the small and simple things. Because if he were he wouldn't

have doubts. The answers to any of our questions are in the scriptures

and from God. Read your scriptures. Say your prayers. And go to Church. Build your foundation in Christ. Upon the Rock of our Redeemer. And foundation whereupon if you build, you

cannot fall. Helaman 5:12. Satan is working so so hard right now to

frustrate the work of the Lord and drag down the members of the

church. You have the power to resist him. But you have to build your

foundation in Christ. No one is perfect. Not even Chris Evans. So keep

doing the small and simple things. I don't care who you are, EVERYONE

needs the gospel and EVERYONE needs to build their foundation RIGHT

NOW because these are the last days and Satan is working harder than

ever. We need to put on the whole armor of God and stand up and be a

light for the world.

The Lord is great. Missionary work is great. Don't smoke. Pick up after your dog when you take them on a walk. It's terribly unsanitary if you don't. And remember who you are.

Kia Kaha

Hermana Twede

The NBA is here doing a tour.
Idk what teams but they are right by our Piso (apartment).

We made tacos on Thursday after weekly planning. They were delish. I like tacos.