More Zucchini and Stuff

Friends and Fam!

Hey there everyone! Sorry about last week I have no idea what happened to my group email last week but I'm alive!! Right now I'm on Fidalgo Island in a city called Anacortes. It is absolutely beautiful here!

Sister Cluff and I cover 2 wards so it gets a bit crazy, but it's all good. Last week was kinda crazy traveling and trying to get used to everything, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of things a little bit. So now for this week:

Monday: We went and played some sand volleyball with our zone and had root beer floats (woot woot!). Then that night we taught some recent converts.

Tuesday: Kinda a slow day. We taught this guy Jason and it went so well! We taught about the restoration and committed him to read the intro to the Book of Mormon and he said he'll probably read more, so that's awesome! We then went and visited an active couple and it was so great meeting with them. The wife is a paraplegic so they can't make it to church just because it's hard but they are still so strong. And when we left they gave us 2 zucchinis! So now we have 3 huge containers full of zucchini in our fridge and not sure what to do with them. Haha! But, we'll figure it out.

Wednesday: We had district council and we talked about personal revelation. It was just really great and there were definitely things I needed to hear. After that, we visited this sweet old lady in one of the wards and she is a piano teacher and in her house she has the HUGE filing cabinet full of music! I wanted to look through it so bad but I was a little scared to ask. But yeah, after that we did a lot of tracting and personally... it's not my favorite but it's all good. We visited a member at the end of our day and she was super sweet and let us share a message. So that was a nice way to end our day.

Thursday: We had a lesson with this guy John that we are teaching. We taught him more about the Atonement and the Sacrament and invited him to come to church again this week (he went last week which was awesome!) And he said he would so yeet! After that, we visited with a lady who's husband just died and it was so sweet meeting with her and made her so happy. She told us to come back again. Ok, so deer up here in Washington are everywhere and they aren't scared of people. So, they will just kinda stand there and look at you. It's pretty funny! But we saw 2 deer just sitting in the grass of someone's house that we tried to visit and they didn't even budge! They just looked at us and watched us until we left. Haha. I thought it was pretty funny.

Deer just chillin'

Friday: ZONE CONFERENCE (and Fanny Pack Friday)!! Man it was so good! It was all focused on Elder Boyd K. Packers talk The Candle of the Lord in the January 1983 Ensign (I recommend reading it) and learning how to receive, recognize, and act on spiritual promptings. I loved it so much and really learned a lot. And that was pretty much most of the day and then we tried to visit some people that night.

Fanny Pack Friday

Saturday: Kinda an up and down day. A couple of our lessons fell through so that was sad but the ones we had were pretty good! Sis Cluff was having a rough morning though, so we called our district leader to see if the YSA elders in our area could give her a blessing. They said definitely. So later that day we were on our way to meet the elders and we saw the CUTEST lemonade stand. So, of course we had to stop and get some and it was so worth it! And the elders got Sis Cluff her favorite candy so that helped too. We visited this girl Salemma that night and we talked with her about how Heavenly Father does everything for our benefit. We started talking about the Second Coming and we asked her how she can prepare for that. She told us she was preparing to go through the temple! She had tried to go through once before but then stopped but now she really wants to and it makes us so happy! She has an amazingly strong testimony and we know she can do it.

Lemonade!

Sunday: It was a good day. We had church and a meeting with one of the wards mission leaders and that went really well. We had a really good dinner appointment with some members and then tried to visit someone who is interested in the church but he wasn't home so we came home and studied some Come Follow Me.

So yeah that was pretty much my week! Something really quick I want to share is something I learned this week about bearing your testimony. Elder Packer said that a testimony is found in the bearing of it. As you bear your testimony to others, no matter how simple it is, it will be able to grow stronger and the Holy Ghost will be able to testify to you that what you are saying is true. So share your testimony as much as you can and you will be able to know the things you say are true through the Holy Ghost. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Kia Kaha
Sister Twede

Mom ALWAYS Has a Way of Finding "Stuff" Out!

Bethany's email for this week was inadvertently deleted when she went to send it. So, we just got pictures this week. However, Mom Twede is including a fun story that happened this week.

Bethany left the Provo MTC on Tuesday, July 16th. We were wondering if we were going to hear from her once she arrived in Everett. We didn't hear anything, but had a feeling she was just fine. Her mission president, President Auna, arrived in the mission just two weeks before she did, so this was his first transfer of new missionaries. As parents, we just chalked it up to a new president trying to attend to his missionaries. So, we didn't worry about not hearing from her when she arrived; although, we were curious to hear where she got transferred and all about her new companion. But, we figured we would just wait for her first P-day, the following Monday.

However! Something curious happened the Friday before we heard from her. Darren and I were returning home from Salt Lake that evening. There was some heavy traffic and I turned the data on my phone to check the traffic congestion. Anyway, when my data clicked in, all of a sudden....I started getting notifications of several Facebook messages. I looked down at the phone and wondered what in the world was going on. The group that I was getting messages from was a group called "Oak Harbor District". I looked at the messages and wondered why I was a part of this group and what all the messages were for. (Side note, when Bethany left, I switched my cell number to her phone.) As I read the messages, it was very apparent that these were missionaries talking to each other and discussing where the next district meeting was. Part of a message gave an address in Oak Harbor, WA! Ahhh! Bethany's phone was still logged into her missionary Facebook page!! I was receiving FB messages that were coming to her missionary account. It was her new district that had just added her to their group and including her with the messages. After reading the messages, we determined she is in Oak Harbor, WA located on Whidbey Island, she is obviously part of the Oak Harbor District and her companion is Sister Cluff. Bingo!

We had a blast that night Googling pictures of Oak Harbor and Whidbey Island. The next morning, I wrote to Bethany to tell her what had come our way to help us know where she was without hearing from her. Just more evidence that moms ALWAYS have a way of finding things out!!!! It was really fun seeing the FB messages, but Darren made me log out of her FB account the next day😒.

When we talked to her today, we were all curious to see if our assumptions were correct. I asked her about it and instantly her and her companion (who is Sister CLUFF, by the way..ha!) just started laughing. Bethany said as soon as she read my email, she said, "My mom finds out everything!" So, we were correct about the companion and we were correct about the district. However, she is actually in Anacortes and not Oak Harbor, which is just on the island above Whidbey Island. Anacortes is located on Fidalgo Island. It is such a beautiful area and we are so happy for Bethany to be in a wonderful place doing the Lord's work!

My MTC District

Everett Sisters at the Seattle Temple

My trainer, Sister Cluff

Anacortes Views

Anacortes Views

Zucchinis we got for service

Anacortes Views

A Hot Mess & Stuff

Friends and Fam!

Hey there everyone! I made it through another week and man this one was so awesome! There were so many spiritual experiences and I have learned so much.

Thursday: Nothin much happened, I just talked with my fam and then we watched fireworks so that was cool but having to wake up the next day was not so fun.

Friday: Fanny Pack Friday week 2! We got to go play sand volleyball as a district which was way fun but the sand was super hot. But I got to see one of Brielle's friends who works at the MTC and that was super awesome! I honestly can't really remember what else happened that day haha.

Macey Bailey (Brielle's friend) and Sister Twede

Saturday: Ok class that night was absolutely AMAZING!! At the beginning, however, we all were pretty tired and a little rambunctious and let’s just say our teacher wasn't too happy with us. But near the end, we had a Gospel Study Review on the Atonement. Our teacher asked us to write down the role our Savior has in our lives and as I started to do so I began to just write my testimony about the Atonement. Of course I was crying because the Spirit was SO STRONG! After we wrote those down she had us finish the sentence "Because of Him..." on the board and it was just amazing to see the things we all put down. It was just so amazing and the Spirit was so strong hardly any of us talked on the way back to our residence.

Sunday: My first fast Sunday woot woot. I'm going to be straight up, it was kinda rough. I feel like I was having a hard time feeling the Spirit throughout the day, but the devotional that night I was able to feel it again. The MTC Presidency spoke and I loved President LeSueur's talk. He talked about developing Christ-like attributes and I realized that that is something that I should really work on while I am devoting all my time to the Lord and to the people of Everett, Washington.

Monday: We got our flight plans!!!!! Sister Rowley and I are headed off to Washington on Tuesday the 16th!! I'm so pumped (and a little scared) to finally get up there! The sad part is tho that we have to say goodbye to the other sisters in our district at 4:30am. But we are all so excited as well. 

Tuesday: The devotional was so awesome! Elder Andersen of the seventy came and he talked about how we need to learn to love the Lord. He gave us 3 steps to do that: 1. Learn His Language (revelation), 2. Play His Music (service), and 3. Take His Name Upon Ourselves. At the end of his talk, he showed a video with Elder Holland talking about when Christ asks Peter if he loves Him. This kinda made me think for a minute "Do I love the Lord?" and "How do I show that love?". The Savior’s response is perfect "If ye love me, feed my sheep". Right now that is what I'm doing by serving a mission but we don't have to have a name tag on to do that. We all can feed His sheep. 

Wednesday: Well I got sick so that's rough. Sister Rowley also got sick so we've both been just trying to get through the day and sleep as much as we can. But we did get to host so that was fun! I was kinda sad I didn't get to host my best friend who came in but it's ok because I saw her today. It was so hot though (hence the title haha)! And some of these sisters’ bags were so heavy and we had to lug them all the way up the stairs but hey I got my workout in for the day haha.

Well that's pretty much it! I just want all of you to know how much I love my Savior and I know He died for each and every one of us. He loves you more that you could ever know and wants to help us, all we have to do is reach out and ask for His help. I love you all and hope you had a great week!!

 Kia Kaha! (Forever Strong)
Sister Twede:)

A side note from Mom....

Today was a special day for Brielle. Today marks 3 years since she left on her mission to Malaga, Spain. She also had the opportunity to see Bethany today in the MTC! A week ago, Brielle had a job opportunity come to her to be a gym coach in the MTC. Things worked out and she got the job. So, everyday, she is helping missionaries during their gym time. When she got the job, she told her boss that her sister is in the MTC right now and asked him if she should avoid seeing her. Her boss responded with, "That's wonderful! No, you go see her every chance you get!" So...today it was Bethany's p-day. Brielle emailed her in the morning and told her she would be in the weight room during a certain time and to come by and see her if she got the chance. About 30 minutes later, Brielle recognized the missionary at the door. She said that Bethany tried to maintain her composure and walk over to Brielle. It didn't take but a few steps and Bethany was running to Brielle. She gave her sister a huge hug and held on tight! Brielle pulled back and saw tears coming down Bethany's face. Brielle asked her if she was ok and she said she was. I think it was just great for her to see her sister when she never expected to in the MTC! Brielle sent us this picture and called and told me about the interaction. I have to admit, I had my own tears as well;).

Sister Twede and Sister Twede

Fanny Pack Friday

Our awesome neighbors who left us this week;(

Me and My Comp

After we hosted new missionaries

Before we hosted new missionaries

My district after we cleaned the temple today

First Week & Stuff

Friends and Fam,

Yo yo yo, it's your girl coming to you from the MTC! Happy Fourth of July y'all!! It's been a crazy, exciting, and long week. I'm going to try and not make this too extremely long and not too all over the place but we'll see because a lot of good stuff has happened so sit tight and enjoy the ride.

Wednesday: That day was crazy! While we were driving into the MTC to drop me off, Kaylee Mitchell was right there to pick me up!! It was the best thing ever! It really helped me when I saw her and we found out that we were in the same zone too! So right after my parents dropped me off, they gave me my name tag, we dropped my stuff off in my room and then went straight to class and met my comp, Sister Rowley. She's from Payson, really sweet and fun! I got to meet my district as well and they are AWESOME!! The Elders in my district are so respectful and funny! I've seen so many people I know and it's been so fun! I saw Greg Simonsen and Makaela Ostermiller and some more people and that was so great. Well, after class we went back to our rooms and got unpacked, then finally went to bed.

Thursday: I found out that my teacher, Sister Lee, was in my ward at BYU first semester! Crazy! We went to class in the morning and some workshops. Then, we had lunch and companionship study and then another workshop. Lots of workshops and classes really. We did get our first "investigator" though! Her name is Leah and we are going to be teaching her on Tuesday, I'm a little nervous but it's all good. I saw a bunch of people at dinner and that was fun!

Friday: FANNY PACK FRIDAY!!!! All the sisters in my district decided to wear pants and we were killing it! We are already so close! I saw my good friend Derek Church (for Matt Church: we haven't gotten a picture yet but we will don't worry;). Classes were awesome! I honestly thought I wouldn't like going to class but it's actually so cool and I learn so much every time! The spirit is so strong all the time and it's just the best. We got to go to the gym and we shot some hoops and let's just say I made 3 free throws so I feel pretty accomplished;). 

Saturday: Today we did a contacting type of activity and met Yayoi who we will be teaching next week. She's from Japan but has lived in Texas for 15 years and then moved to Utah just 2 years ago. I realized that I can't do anything without Sis. Rowley and Sis. Dawson (another sister in my district) just busting up laughing. But I mean what can I say? I'm hilarious just ask my dad haha;). 

Sunday: Well, I didn't get called on to on to talk so that's good! We had Sacrament and I cried during the musical number, "Come Unto Christ". The spirit was just so strong! We had a bunch of other meetings today as well. Sister Rowley and I were going to go to choir (yes mom I'm going to choir) but she had to meet with our branch president so we missed practice but we went and found a piano and I got to practice for a little so that was fun. The devotional was SO good! It was the guy who is over all the MTC's, I can't remember his name but he talked about pushing through when things get hard and that sort of stuff. I think a lot of the missionaries needed to hear that especially in my district.

Monday: Kinda rough day. We all were just kinda struggling, it had been a long couple days and it all just kinda hit us. Sister Rowley and I had our first teaching meeting with Yayoi and well it was pretty rough. She wanted to know more about what we believe about families so we taught her about that but it felt a little all over the place but it's all good we're learning. 

Tuesday: We got to go to choir practice today! We sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer for the devo and man it was so cool! There were so many missionaries in the choir and the spirit was just so strong and amazing! Kim B. Clark of the seventy spoke to us tonight and then we talked about it as a district and it was cool to hear what everyone learned and felt from listening to him. 

Wednesday: We made it through out first week! And then we got to see the new missionaries coming in! It was weird to think that was us just a week ago. We played volleyball as a district and it was so funny because Sis Park, in my district, would scream whenever the ball came to her haha! And whenever there would be a volley her scream would get more intense haha! But she's actually really good she just screams when the ball comes to her. It was a good time. Class was good that night. We learned how to ask understanding questions and I was just on fire and everyone was just like "dang Sis Twede!" Haha it was cool. 

Well, that's the week. Sorry it's kinda long but a lot happened. I do want to share something I really liked from the Book of Mormon this week. We read the Introduction to the Book of Mormon yesterday and something it promises is that it "tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come" I have never read anything so true ever before. I know that the Book of Mormon can bring so much peace into our lives. It is a book of hope and love. I encourage you to read the introduction to the Book of Mormon because it really does tell us how the book can bless our lives. Anyway love you all hope y'all had a good week!

Kia Kaha!

Sister Twede

Me and my comp, Sister Rowley

The sisters in my district in PANTS!!

My awesome district!

Thumbs up cause we can't throw gang signs!

FANNY PACK FRIDAY! (Just for you, Sister Wolfe;)