WOW Conference was GREAT!!!

April 8, 2013

Dear Family,

Woooow, Conference was great! It´s such a blessing to have and hear from the prophet and the Apostles of the Lord! But, before I talk about conference, I’ll talk a bit about the area.

Our area is going well. We had some important progress in our investigators. We´ve had basically the same teaching group for a while, so we´re trying to motivate them to make the necessary changes in their lives so that they can get baptized! A lot of our investigators are having the same problem, with keeping the Sabbath day holy. They just need to come to Church!!! Elder Vighetto and I practiced a bunch, teaching with power this commandment, and extending the appropriate invites. We had a great experience with one of our families, Idalecio. He really does love the Church, and about five years ago went to Church every week (I don´t know why he wasn´t baptized then!). But since then, he´s has gotten a job where he works Sundays, so it´s hard for him to come. Elder Vighetto and I, together with Paulo, our Elder’s quorum president, went to teach him. We invited him to keep the Sabbath day, by either asking not to work on Sunday, or finding another job. Wow, it was one of the most bold, direct invites I’ve done on the mission, and for that, Idalecio knew he needed to change. Paulo helped him out, telling him about the Church´s services with finding employment. So Idalecio is going to start looking for a new job.

Elder Vighetto and I are doing great; we´ve established a good pattern of work in our area. We´re far from working perfect, but we seek revelation to solve our problems. When a day doesn´t go as well as we would like, or a lesson doesn´t go like we wanted it to, we talk a bit, and try to identify the problem, see what contributed to that problem, and then find ways to resolve it. I´m amazed, I feel like I’m receiving so much help from the Lord, because of simply seeking revelation to help his Children.

A lot of the time, we find our solutions in our companionship study, and we try out our ideas in practices. This week, in the ´first twelve weeks´ training program, we were studying about inviting others to make commitments, which we applied during the week. We are always, always, always, practicing. We practice the same situation a few times, imagining different outcomes from the investigators. In this moment right now, my study--both personal and companionship--is more effective than any other time in my mission. It´s effective, and always applies to the day at hand.

Conference, was, to say the least, amazing! I did get to watch all 5 sessions, including the Priesthood session (it starts at 9 PM and goes until 11 PM, so we get to stay up late!) I felt like every conference talk was written for me, even the one from the Primary President. Elder Vighetto and I came prepared to conference. I was in the spirit of fasting, and I came with several questions that I wanted answered. Almost all of my questions were answered (they only missed one, which was ´what should I do with my life´. I was expecting the Prophet to say, at the Pulpit, ´Elder Twitchell, you need to study Economy!!!´ or something like that.)

Something I learned while watching is that, even if the talk is directed to another kind of person (mothers, married men, children, deacons, etc.), they are always talking about eternal, gospel principles. So, it applies to me, too. I liked the speaker who said that the ultimate measure of success for a YM president is not if HE gives a great lesson, but if one of his DEACONS gives a great lesson.

What a concept! For me, as a trainer, or as a District Leader, I must be an example. But if my missionaries aren´t doing well, I’m failing in my calling. I need to be a great example, and help THEM do well, as well. It goes without saying that I loved each of the talks from the first presidency, especially President Monson´s talks. He really is a prophet inspired from God.

One idea that called my attention was the story about the man who wrote a letter to his family, consisting of only 25 words, about what is important in Life. I thought it´d be fun if you guys each write me one of these letters, and I’ll write one to you. Let´s do it.

I didn´t hear about this announcement about Sisters, but sincerely, it makes sense. When I was in Ponta Grossa, we saw the need for Sister Leadership, because we had 4 duplas of Sisters in the Zone! We ended up using Sister Hass, sometimes, a Sister from my group who went home a few weeks ago.

Speaking of, I didn´t get to meet Sister Patton´s mom, but I did get packages from you guys, including one with the Mini Preach my Gospel. THANKS!!! haha, I love it.

Well, hey, I’ve gotta go, but I love you guys a lot!!! thanks so much for everything, for the help with BYU. I´m excited to get studying again.

LOVE

ELDER TWITCHELL!!!!

 

We were able to e-mail back and forth today to get Avram’s BYU schedule set.  It was GREAT, his personality really came out.  It really made me miss him, this is a paragraph that makes me laugh it is so Avram.

 

“So I tried finding something to change, but as I was looking through the classes, I soon found out that I have no idea about anything!!!! haha, so I think I’ll leave it as it is, it looks great to me, thanks for the help. Ok, I’ll start writing my letter to you guys now”