TRAVELOGUE 🚌

🎶We're going on a trip in our favorite autobús, zooming down the street, little missionaries!
Climb aboard, get ready to be bored, zooming down the street, little missionaries!🎶

OK DID ANYONE SEE WHERE AUGUST WENT?? I THINK HE JUST RAN THAT WAY AND HE ROBBED ME OF TIME SO IF YOU SEE HIM CALL THE COPS. But really it's already practically September......HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?! Not ok.

Also warning: this is a long email. Sorry not sorry.

Anyway so this week was quite the adventure. Almost three full days we were out of our area because we were traveling to Málaga. Why? Well.....since about August 12th, Hermana Twede has been living in Spain a wee bit illegally so had to go redo her residency. But now I'm allowed to live here for another year so we good. So even though we were in buses almost all day on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we still saw some miracles!!

On Wednesday we left and I asked in the prayer on our way out that we would have the opportunity to share the gospel with someone in camino for Malaga. Well we went the whole day without sharing anything. I knew I needed to do something but I was tired and used it as an excuse. Well, we passed through Granada, got some pizza to go, hopped back on the bus, and headed for Malaga. There were some new people on our bus and we were in the back with some of them. We could hear these two guys in the back speaking English so Hna Palmer looks behind us and asks where they are from. They were from Holland! Then there were also Italians behind us who spoke English as well. Well, we got in a conversation with them and the conversation went from their adventures in Spain, asking us on a date (that is a mission first), and then into the gospel. They asked more about what we believe and we had the opportunity to testify to them. Neither of them are very religious at all. One of them said, "You know I ask to know God is there. I say, "If you will just give me a sign that you are there, then I will believe."" Well that is a topic that has come up a lot in comp study lately and my mind instantly turned to Alma 32:17-18 that says:

17 Yea, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a sign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe.
18 Now I ask, is this faith? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it.

I was about to say something when Hna Palmer just goes, "Well that wouldn't be faith. He asks us to have faith that He exists." I was so proud. Then he asked if we've gotten an answer to our prayers and asked to share an experience. I just told him about the one that was happening right then, that we were having the opportunity to share the gospel with someone. We both had the opportunity to testify of a loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for them. It was cool. Don't know if it made a difference or them but it was cool to see how God answers our prayers.

We got to Malaga and got to spend the night with HERMANA PICKETT AND HERMANA MCKEOWN!! Hermana Pickett is my former comp from Elche so it was good to reminisce about the good old days in Palm Tree Ville. Hermana Mckeown is from my group and we haven't seen each other since our very first Zone Conference almost a year ago so it was good to see and talk to her. The next day we headed for Fuengirola and talked to a nice old man on the train, then some British people who were very kind and called us "lovely girls". Then I got to see my buddies in my group!! So good.

Another great thing that happened during traveling was we missed our bus from Malaga to Granada, meaning we would miss our bus from Granada to Murcia as well that night. Residency took longer than expected so Elder Moore changed our tickets and we got to stay in Granada for a night!! I had been wishing that that would get to happen when it was my turn to do residency. But when I found out that we'd be staying in Murcia instead I was ok. A little disappointed but it was fine. So when Elder Moore told us we wouldn't make our bus and we would be staying in Granada, I was soooo excited. I didn't expect to be able to see any of the people I visited there because we'd be getting in around 9:30 but it was enough for me to just be there. Well, another miracle happened and we got in at 8:30 to the bus station and to the Hnas piso by 9. When we got there, Hna Matsu opened the door and said, "Ok put your stuff down in the room and then let's go. We're going to go see Maria Guzman. I told her we had a surprise for her." Maria Guzman is like my little Spanish abuela of Granada. We went to her house every single Sunday and taught her and a menos activa. I was sooo excited. I didn't know if she would recognize me because it had been so much time, but she opened the door and gasps and says, "Oh hermana!! No lo puedo creer!! ¿Cómo?" She was so happy and so was I. I remember being at her house my very first Sunday in the field and having the worst stomachache and her just telling me to go home and rest. She always helped me with my Spanish and always made me feel loved. It was such a blessing to be able to see her. And she was leaving for the temple the next day!! So good to see her doing those things. Such a miracle and helped me to really realize that Heavenly Father cares about the little things we care about. I had a desire to go but wasn't expecting it and He gave me that opportunity. I was sooooo grateful. So lots of answers to prayers were seen on that trip.

Maria Guzman! Mi Abuela de Granada!

By the time we finally got home on Friday, we were zombies. Did studying, went to correlación then visited a menos activa and ate until we died (almost literally). Saturday was weekly planning and visiting some peeps. Sunday was so good. I LOVE THIS WARD!! I love who I'm serving with and the people we are serving. It's been such a blessing to have had this opportunity to serve here in Cartagena these past four months.

Ok so I know this email is already really long and most have stopped reading by now but I just want to share something I learned this week from a talk that the wonderful Hermana Clark sent me last week. It's called The Perfect Lie and it's about how Satan tells us that in order to become like Christ, or to feel satisfaction in our lives, we need to do more and to be more. LIES!! This lady explains it like this: "In my efforts to be like Christ, I lived by this math equation: Me + More = Christlike. If I’m more patient, more forgiving, more loving, more charitable, more prayerful (and the list could go on and on), I can be like Christ. Christlike is the goal. Sounds good, right? Except it’s not. It’s the perfect lie. It’s Satan’s equation that he dupes us into living...Nowhere in the scriptures does Christ say that our efforts are inadequate. Never does He say, “If you don’t work hard enough, you’ll never be enough.”
No. His truth and His invitation is “Come unto me, for my grace is sufficient.”
Christ’s truth, I discovered, is more like this equation:
 Me +  Christ = More."

I've started living by this equation. When Satan gets into my head (he does it a lot....rude) and tells me that for me to be successful, for me to go home with no regrets, to feel satisfied with myself, my life, everything.....I need to BE MORE....I've begun thinking of this equation. Instead of telling myself to do/be more, I instead strive to add Christ to my equation. I strive to work as a team with my Savior because I know without Him, I can't do it.

I know my Savior lives and loves me. And know that there is a simple way to walk through this life and it's along side our Savior Jesus Christ. I encourage you all to put Christ back into His proper place in your life. It will change your life. I know because He has changed mine.
Me + Christ = More.

Love you all, have a great week.

Kia Kaha.

Hermana Twede

It's too bad when your comp locks you out of the house....jejejejejeje.

La Manga at night...looked cooler in person.

This is what happens when you pass by a reference that the elders gave you from their area annnnndddd.....
if you look in the distance, you can see two goons in white shirts.

ESTERNOCLEIDOMASTOIDEO

No I'm not playing alphabet soup with the title, that, ladies and gentlemen, is Sternocleidomastoid in Spanish. If you don't know what a sternocleidomastoid is, it is one of two thick muscles running from the sternum and clavicle to the mastoid and occipital bone; it turns the head obliquely to the opposite side; when acting together those two muscles flex the neck and extend the head. There's your anatomy lesson for the day. I'm just getting y'all warmed up for school that apparently starts this week.

Anyway.....this week was pretty awesome. Tuesday we had interviews with President Andersen and they were sooooo great. I love that man. I always think that I could have never served in a different mission bc I don't know what I would've done with a different mission President. Also these people. Today we were talking to one of my favorite abuelas ever and I just thought, if I had never decided to serve a mission, never come to Spain, I would have never met this wonderful human. All these wonderful human beings here in Spain. How grateful I am for the decision I made a looooong time ago to do this with my life.

The rest of the week was good. Thursday was Zone Conf and it was really good to see some of my good friends in the mission. Learned a lot about how to find more people and how we need to strengthen the members we have and work with them. So we're working on that. We had it in Alicante and woke up at 5:15 to get ready and go to the church so I could practice for the musical number, then to the train station for a 2 hour train ride. After the conference and getting home, we were so pooped. We made cookie bars for our investigator's birthday the next day and then by the time we went to bed we were dead.

Friday was fun bc we surpised our cute investigator with cookies and she was soooo happy. Feels so good to make someone else happy. Then Saturday was really cool. We planned and we said a prayer to end and I had this reoccurring feeling to visit this Menos Activa who we just planned to call that day. So when we had comp study, we were figuring out what to teach our investigator and said a prayer and during the prayer, I had an impression to pray if we should go visit this lady so I did and got a distinct answer that yes, we need to go see her. (If you don't think the spirit tells you what to pray for you are wrong......He does) So we called and she sounded bad and almost didn't let us come, but I was determined bc I knew we needed to go. So we just showed up at her house and changed all out plans and it was EXACTLY what we needed to do. The day before, she had something really awful happen and that day we went her and her family were still shaken up. So we went and were able to give her a little bit of comfort. After her, we went to another menos activa who we also didn't plan on going to who has been avoiding our calls and never home. We passed by and she was home too!! Milagros!! She really needed a visit too, she's been dished a good one lately and needed some love. Then we went and explored this creepy pueblo we have now and knocked on a creepy door with a creepy peephole and felt like I was reenacting a horror movie. But it was good.

It was a good week. My spiritual thought today comes from an experience yesterday and one I get every Sunday and one I've had almost every Sunday my whole mission. I have been blessed with the gift of being able to play the piano so I've had the glorious opportunity to play piano in Primary. This ward has been my favorite to play for. These kids just love the songs soooo much and they sing their little hearts out every week. Yesterday, they were singing the song, "I'm trying to be like Jesus" and it became my favorite song in that book. When I heard them sing the words, "“Ama a otros cual Cristo te ama. Sé bondadoso y tierno y fiel. Pues esto es lo que Jesús nos enseña”. Yo quiero seguirlo a Él." I realized how grateful I am to be a part of a church and gospel that teaches little children gospel truths in simple songs. So my invitation to you it to "Love one another as Jesus loves you. Be kind and loving and faithful. Because that is what Jesus teaches us. I WANT TO FOLLOW HIM!!"

Have a great week!! Love you all.

Kia Kaha.

Hermana Twede

This is what we happened upon walking into lunch today.

Zone Conference travelling is rough!

Possibly the last time Hna Lopez and I will see each other before the end of our missions.

PEACHY 🍑

Ok so last week we bought these ENORMOUS peaches and so much fruit and
then decided to whip out the hand blender for the 🎶first time in
forever🎶 and we made......SMOOTHIES!! For the first time in over a
year I had a real smoothie in a country where they don't exist. And
let me tell you.....they were DELISH. I think I had one everyday for
breakfast. We are now a hand blender household.

Well this week has been a good one!! I'm gonna do a quick run
through......kinda been a little uneventful seeing as we've been
trying to organize ourselves for our newish area so it's been an
adventure.

Tuesday we went and met with Obispo Gomez and had a REALLY good
meeting with him about our new areas and what his expectations are. We
came out of the meeting feeling like we had gotten to know him and his
family better and that we're now on the same page. So that was really
good.

This week has been A LOT of calling people. We have over 50 references
from the elders bc of the area change so we've had to take time
during the day to get some of those calls done. Well, one of the days,
after a lot of hang ups, one 31 minute phone call, and fake phone
numbers, we set up some citas with new, old, and future
investigators!!

Our new organized area map!! We were so proud. We tried thinking of cool names for each group.
We ended up calling them Zone 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Sunday, we had the chance to go visit one of these future
investigators and we were ready to teach him the first lesson and had
a plan on how we were gonna teach it. Well....the world was against us
on finding his house first off. It took us 30 minutes, 10000000 phone
calls with him, talking to two other people on the street, and almost
tears from Hermana Twede before he came and found us in his car and we
followed him to his house. THEN! He lives alone........and we didn't
have a woman with us. We walked up to the house and it hit me so we
had a nice lesson with us sitting outside and him inside. But it went
really well. We felt the spirit and he understood everything we talked
about. Towards the end, in my head I just kept thinking, "We are going
to invite this man to baptism." And we did!! And he accepted!! We set
a fecha with him for the 10th of Septiembre. Such a good lesson and
such a miracle!!

Also I'm grateful today for my medical knowledge. We got a call from
the ZLs on their way to the bus station and they found a woman throwing
up in need of an ambulance. Needless to say my instincts kicked in and
Hna Palmer and I were sprinting out the door, went and picked up the
woman and took her to the hospital. From the answers she gave me when
I was asking her questions, I think she had a case of heat exhaustion
and moving onto heat stroke. So grateful for my lifeguard and EMT
training.....not something you get everyday as a missionary.

But this week I've learned a lot about faith. I'm reading the whole
Book of Mormon in 26 days which means about 20 pgs a day and I'm
focusing on faith. I've been reading a lot about Christ. Man those
prophets really testify of Him sooooo much!! But something I learned
is that Christ came down, suffered, and died to bring salvation to the
souls of men. But we can only access that salvation, that eternal
life, through FAITH on His name, that He is our Savior, and let that
faith carry us into repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and
enduring to the end. So people? HAVE FAITH!! If you don't have
any, start doing the little things to get some. Alma 32:27 is a good
one to read if you only have the DESIRE to believe.

I know He lives and is my Savior. I am doing my best to bring the good
news of the gospel to His children here. I love my mission. I love my
Savior. I know it's true.

Love you all. Have a great week!!

P.S. Sorry I wasn't as whitty this week. Try me next week. But hey the
weather decided to take an actual chill pill this week so that was
great!! Ok that's all bye.

Hermana Twede

The sky on the bus ride home from church on Sunday.

TRANQUILA HIJA

I LOVE THE HEAT!! SO MUCH!! I COULD SIT IN THIS HOT, VERY WET, VERY
SWEATY WEATHER FOR THE REAT OF MY LIFE......WHILE WEARING A SNOW
SUIT.....JUST TO MAKE IT HOTTER!! (We're working on our positivity)

Ok so it's been a loco week. Fast and slow and up and down and just
everywhere. I'll start with Monday when my lifeguard/EMT medical
knowledge came in handyish. So yes we hiked last week......already
know that. But while we were writing, I got a huge headache and on the
way home was trying not to throw up. We got home and I started sipping
water and hopped in the shower really quick. Then we went to our
lesson with our favorite Ukrainian. We got there and prayed and Hna
Palmer asked if I was ok and I couldn't play it off like I was fine bc
was not para nada. So we went to the lesson and after went home and
ended up having to cancel our Noche de Hogar that we had planned.
Well.....to be short, I had developed a case of heat exhaustion. First
time ever in my life to get that and hopefully the last bc it was
awful. Kids, it's hot outside. Take care of yourself and drink water.

Tuesday was tranquila and everyone failed us. But hey, got some needed
work done so that was good. We also met another one of our neighbors!!
She is very nice and talks A LOT!! But she also knows everyone in the
neighborhood so we've gotten to know more people through her and we
actually met a lady who is good friends with a fuerte family in San
Javier and has been to church before so that was a milagro!!!

Wednesday we had a killer day planned but most of our plans fell
through. We met with a menos activa who we haven't been able to see
almost ever and ate some SUPER GREAT Ecuatoriano cheese with crackers.
But we also got arroz con leche so that was a plus. Then we met with
our investigator and had a really good lesson with him!! OH and we had
correlación and it was really awesome. We're changing the areas around
A LOT so now Hna Palmer and I have all the pueblos in the ward except
3 so we have a lot of work cut out for us. It's been stressing me out
a bit bc it seems like this big elephant in front of us but the last
few days I've just felt Heavenly Father's hand on my shoulder telling
me, "We can do this." So I'm confident that if we put our best foot
forward, we're going to see a lot of blessings. If it's not all right
now, that's ok. But they will come. We've started talking to the
members in those new areas and tomorrow we have dinner with bishop to
talk about the area so we're ready to go.

Thursday was good and crazy. We met with some menos activos then had
another great cita with our investigator and set a baptismal fecha
with him for the 19th of agosto!!!! (Don't miss the sad story below)

Friday we had district meeting and intercambios. Murcia is hot and
great!! I loved working with Hna Clark and with Hna Richardson. They
are máquinas. That night there was no fan in our room so it was hot
and sweaty and I didn't fall asleep until 4:15 AM and then had to get
up at 7:15 Am for some soccer at the church. WOOHOO!! Love running on
no sleep. Let me tell you though.....God blesses you a lot when you
pray for energy.

Saturday we didn't go home, we went to Cartagena, cleaned the church,
did studies in the car, helped the elders move into their new and very
pijo piso, met a new member who is living in La Ribera the next month,
then FINALLY went home around 10 for some Area Book time. It was a
packed day and good.

Sunday was all bright and shiny until......(here comes the sad story)
the Zone Leaders got on the bus and broke the news to us: our
investigator dropped us. He had talked to a catholic priest who said
we only wanted to baptize him for his money and so he told his member
friend to tell us that he doesn't want visits anymore. It was really
sad bc he is SO READY for this gospel in his life. Hna Palmer took it
hard. Also our other investigator who's supposed to get baptized this
weekend has been completely MIA......which leaves us with
approximately ZERO actual investigators. So I was just sitting there
wondering why this all came down at once and I felt a distinct ray of
hope in my heart. These words instantly popped into my head, "There's
a light around the corner." I have firm faith the Heavenly Father has
a lot of milagros waiting for us so I'm not worried.

I just want to share something that I experienced during intercambios.
I had a good discussion with Hna Clark about seeing myself as God sees
me, because that's been a struggle almost my whole mission but it's
gotten progressively worse at this point in my mission. That night a
lot of what she had said and things President Andersen has said to me
were floating around in my head. During my last interview with
President, he told me that God accepts my offering (the work I've done
during my mission). I was just thinking, "Why?! It's so small and
imperfect compared to the offerings of others! How could He accept
that?!" While I was thinking about that, the story of the Widow's Mite
popped into my head and the words, "Her offering appeared small too,
but she gave the most, because she willingly gave all she had. Stop
looking at other offerings that you can't give because that's not what
you're here to give. If you give even just two mites, that is more
than enough for the Lord." So it was cool. I thought it was just me
thinking about it randomly and it just happened to apply. But the next
morning I kept thinking about it and started writing all of it down,
thoughts, experience, feelings, in my study journal and realized that
it had been from my Heavenly Father. That story popping into my head
was God communicating with me through personal revelation. So now,
instead of looking at the offerings of others, I have a question that
I want to ask myself everyday, "Did I give my two mites today?"
Because I can only give what I have, I can't give what my old
companions, missionaries I look up to, even my brother or parents
have....because that's theirs to give. I have what I have and if I
give that, I know the Lord will be pleased and come January I will
feel that I did all I could to bring to pass His work here in España.

So I guess what I want to say today is that no offering is too small
for the Lord, if you give it with your heart. I just want to testify
to all those who don't think they are giving enough; who think that
they have so little to give compared to those around them; who think
that God frowns on them when they make mistakes; TO THE
MISSIONARIES/HUMANS WHO BELIEVE THEY HAVE TO BE PERFECT: What you have
to offer is enough. If you only have two mites to give, GIVE THEM!! I
know my Heavenly Father loves me.....I don't have to be a perfect
missionary for Him to love me. And you don't have to be a perfect
person for Him to love you. Pray to feel His love because it's there.
I know my Redeemer lives and I can be perfected IN Him.

Love you all. Have a stellar week.

Kia Kaha

Hermana Twede

When you see a herd of goats and go to give them a Book of Mormon then the owners
yells at you to come over and instead lets you hold his baby goat. #RandomPDayAdventures

Us with Paco the Goat Man. He told us we could have the baby goat and when
we told him about us he asked if the baby goat would be a missionary too.
 #ClaroHombre #TwedePalmerBabyGoat #DreamTeam

They (Elders) didn't think we could fit everything....CLEARLY they don't know how to pack a car.
#Elders#Please#Don'tInsultOurPackingAbilities

Intercambios with Hermana Clarky

Skies are cool!