Hermana Twede: Adventures in Spain: BEST DAY EVER

Ok so this week has been STELLAR!! It's been such a ride.....I don't
even know what happened but it was good stuff. I will do my best to
cover some of it and make it interesting but no promises.

Monday was good stuff. Tuesday was sad bc people were leaving and
going home. Hna Palmer has been flipping out bc she just got here but
it's ok. I'll get back to Tuesday in a second. Wednesday was crazy for
everyone else but we had a pretty normal day.

Ok before I move onto Thursday, Tuesday we were planning for a Noche
de Hogar with a Part member family and we REALLY wanted something that
could touch all of them. It's a family who lives in the Elder's area
but they asked us to visit the daughter every week because she opens
up to the Hermanas a little more. Then last week her parents asked us
when we could come for a Noche de Hogar. The Dad and daughter are
members but the mom is not so we wanted to teach a good lesson with a
strong spirit, but simple. So we had planned that morning to talk
about humility. I was sitting in District Meeting, looking at Elder
Wilding talking and just thinking about what this family needed to
hear. I had thought about asking Elder Wilding if he had any ideas on
what we could teach when Elder Seely gave his testimony about how the
best thing ever in his mission is being able to testify of the
Restoration. That thought stuck with me and I thought, "Aw yeah that's
really cool." Then it was like a little bell or something went off in
my head and I thought, "That's what we need to teach them. Something
about the Restoration." So when we got to comp study later I told Hna
Palmer my thoughts and we started pulling together a lesson. We would
start getting down what felt like the right track and then we'd get
stuck and it wasn't coming together. At one point we had 3 focuses in
mind but felt we should just have one, but didn't know which: Joseph
Smith, The Book of Mormon, and the Holy Ghost. So we decided to pray
about it. At the end of the prayer, I sat there trying to listen for
an answer. I wasn't getting anything so I stood up and Hna Palmer
says, "I feel like we need to focus on the Book of Mormon." After
that, the lesson plan just fell together. It ended up being such a
good lesson. The daughter and her dad had a chance to testify of the
truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and that God answers our prayers in
front of the mom. It was so cool. I testified of the Book of Mormon
and then I looked to my companion to testify and when she started to
talk about how the Book of Mormon has changed her life and how she
knows it's true, such a strong spirit came into the room. I can't even
describe it to you but it was soooo powerful. I just thought, "Holy
cow, she's going to be an incredible missionary." It was really cool.
We invited them to read the Book of Mormon as a family every day and
they accepted to do it. Such a cool experience. Big testimony to me of
the importance of planing, prayer, and relying on the spirit.

Thursday was una LOCURA!!! LITERALLY MADNESS!!! I won't go into
details but, we had a very detailed and planned out day.......NO
AMOUNT OF BACKUPS COULD HAVE PREPARED US FOR THE ROLLERCOASTER RIDE
THAT WAS THURSDAY!!!! It started out with a really nice weekly
planning, got interrupted with some service.......and ended with
"service" (?) and madness until after lunch time. But hey, we ended
the night with a top notch Noche de Hogar with a bunch of jóvenes
including 2 investigators.

Friday was tranquilo enough for me to not remember what happened.
Saturday was awesome. We got some contacting in and I realized even
more what a máquina my companion is holy cow. SHE HAS NO FEAR AT ALL!!
We're working on our contacting and so we had some time to do it on
Saturday and saw LOTS of milagros. This guy who started out super
crazy and unbelieving and ended a lot more chill and decided to pray!!
Then a random guy yelled at us from his car, and turns out his
daughter is a member and both the parents (Dad inactive, mom non
member) were telling us to come meet with her so that she goes back to
church. Milagro. Then I contacted an old man and asked if I could help
him paint his garage. He said no but he did let me give him a
card......even if he had ME put it in HIS back pocket of his
shorts......and then later a lady named Carmen sang to us!! The
adventures of contacting just are the greatest.

OK SUNDAY WAS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE!! So we get off the bus
going to church, help out a member get all the stuff that fell out of
her car in order, welcome people,etc. Then I finally walk into the
church and look up and I almost died. Why? Because standing in front
of me were......EVA AND RUBÉN!! LIKE RUBEN AS IN MY RECENT CONVERT
FROM ELCHE!! AS IN EVA HIS FIANCÉE!! AS IN SOME OF MY FAVORITE PEOPLE
FROM THAT BLESSED PLACE!! They came and visited me and gave me a
wedding announcement and I WAS SO HAPPY OH MY!! The best thing ever is
to be able to see someone again who was converted and is STILL
progressing soooooo much in his this path with Christ. Such a milagro
and blessing from my Heavenly Father.

BEST SURPRISE EVER!

Guys I LOVE THE MISSION!! I was on the bus yesterday coming home from
church, switching my view back and forth between out the window and
Hna Palmer learning little hand games with the members and I felt a
deep love in my heart for Spain and this work. I can't completely
explain to you how I feel about this place, but it feels like when I
went back to NC before my mission and it felt like I had just come
home. Spain has become home, and I love it with all of my heart. I
thank my Heavenly Father everyday for allowing me to come serve these
people for 18 months. It's been hard.......but it's been the best last
12 months of my life. I know this church is true and that I'm doing
God's work.

Have a great week. Love y'all.

Kia Kaha.

Hermana Twede