Week of November 5th Update

I just want to thank everyone for your prayers in my behalf. For those who didn´t know I was having a REALLY hard time last week... like, almost giving up hard. I was hit with a sudden anxiety and depression that caught me off guard so I didn´t know how to handle it.

Don´t worry... I´m over it now and it´s completely normal for missionaries in a forgein country learning a foreign language to have a little depression to start out with.

ANYWAYS...

I was about to give up hope... i had been praying for relief and reading my scriptures for days and days and I couldn´t feel anything... I was panicking and sinking lower and lower into a depression.

On Thursday I literally couldn´t get out of bed. I had even lost the will to pray. All I could manage was say a quick ¨help me¨to heavenly father. later that day we went to a lady´s house to teach her English when I got a call from the doctor, checking up on how this allergic reaction i had been having was doing. I also mentioned my anxiety, and she said that she would tell Elder Plaskett about it. (I am good friends with the plasketts... Thanks, Plasketts btw if you are reading this!) 

Anyways Elder Plaskett called me and I talked with them for a few minutes. Then The mission president´s wife Sister Douglas called me, inviting me to stay with them at the mission home for a week. 

I literally went from feeling so alone and hopless to knowing that I was cared for and loved in a matter of minutes! God really does answer prayers!

Anyways, we went down to Santiago on Friday to the mission office to wait for the douglas´s. (THey were in a conference in Santo Domingo) We talked with some of the senior missionaries there and I met the Carrolls, who live in NAUVOO! (my favorite place to visit)

The douglass were running late, so the nurse and her husband (the granges) took us to their apartment for dinner. It was halloween, so chili was good! 

the douglass were getting back super late, so the granges arranged for us to sleep in an empty apartment above them that the church has for a senior couple thats coming next month. SUPER NICE! it had hot water, which is 100X better than the cold buckets showers we have to take! 

then the granges took us out for ice cream... needless to say we were happy!

the next day i went to the mission home. I met with both of pres and sister douglas... they are amazing! sis douglas has a multi million dollar charity for the leprosy colonies in india called rising star. she also served a mission at 19 forty years ago... she bothered the mission committee enought that they finally let her go! Only she could pull that off!

I was the only child of the douglass for 2 days... my companion returned to mao with a mini companion. I cooked and cooked with hna douglas... we chopped 96 cups of turkey and chicken on monday! 

I wish I could tell you all how amazing they are... they are simply marvalous! 

Anyways, hna douglas cracks me up because she caught me studying with only my lamp on in my room and she said ¨Girly, get some light on... dark doesn´t help your depression!¨

Anyways... I don´t want to go through what i did ever again, but I am so grateful i did because of what I learned from myself and because I am now so much stronger than I was at this time last week. I still feel a little anxious, but I feel so much more prepared this time.

I got back in Mao yesterday... I had to squash a rumor that I had gone home... anyways... I met my first ¨mean dominican...¨ We approached her house and I introduced us a missionaries in SPANISH and she replies ¨I don´t understand English¨ and she gave me a mean look. she was also mean to hna gonzalez because we were mormons. anyways, we left her house and headed to the church for a meeting and it started pouring... the elders were sick so we decided to leave because the streets flood really badly here. we get to this intersection not far from our house and these guys were behind us whistling at me and calling me a pretty blonde (they don´t know that I understand spanish)

Anyways this intersection was literally a pond and sister gonzalez went first. she slipped and I grabbed her to catch her... she lost her shoe! She starts screaming it in english, which i thought was funny because it isnt her first language!

Anyways one of the guys behind me grabs my hand and tries to get me to go in the water with him... Hna gonzalez is in themiddle of the street dancing on one foot still laughing and screaming. I´m freaking out because this guy won´t let go of my hand... then he TRIES TO PICK ME UP TO CARRY ME ACROSS!!!!!!! I start shouting ¨NO! ESTA BIEN! GRACIAS; PERO ESTA BIEN!¨ Hna gonzalez was freaking out as well because she was stuck in the water. We somehow make it across, soaking wet and laugh all the way back because H. Gonzalez had only one shoe. 

We also helped a family on a motorcycle (Yes, and entire family on a motorcycle... 2 women and 2 children) get out of a puddle... we held the baby while they pulled it out and she begins screaming for her mom. Anyways it was an adventurous night.

I love you all and hope you are doing well! 

El Evangelio es verdadero y Jesucristo les ama muchisimo!

(Sorry for not updating lately.)

Next Week's The Mission Field!

5 weeks in!!!! crazy!

Well on Friday we went on Splits with some "seasoned" Hermanas... talk about culture shock!!!! I think we're in "mini america" with the CCM and University and the Dominican Walmart (It's called Sirena)... But the rest is WAY different!

The people are so poor here, yet so happy! I also had some guys whistling at me from across the street... The way they "flirt" with us is by making a "TSSSSS!" hissing noise at us. Well it will take a little while to get used to it... I am 100% gringa here!

Well we went knocking on doors and the usual missionary stuff... I mostly listened and was amazed that I understood most of it! I also got to bear my testimony to a less active member and he began crying a little... I just hope he felt the spirit and wasn't crying because of my terrible Spanish! 

So transportation here is crazy... They are in these 15 passenger vans with about 30 people and no seatbelts... The door is left open and there is really loud music inside... Dominicans like their music! So we have to literally shout at eachother.

Sorry I have to go... The MTC is over capacity with 63 or so. I probably won't be on next week because I'm being transferred to Santiago. Love you all and I pray for you always!

On the streets of Santo Domingo

Driving in the DR

Hermanas Twiner and Brimley

One Month: Time's Flying By

It's already Thursday again?! CRAZY!!! I have less than 2 weeks left in the MTC before heading out to Santiago! We are SWAMPED right now in the MTC... a whopping 60 something! (I know, Provo people you guys have like thousands at a time, but this MTC has only 10 classrooms overall and 3 dorms for sisters.) So next week will be hectic because I have to compete even more for a computer. (There are only about 20 computers and everyone likes to stay on forever!)

ANYWAYS....

Friday we had class with Hermano Nuñez and he is (like myself) a HUGE fan of Harry Potter and the musical WICKED. Well, one of the elders in my district said something rude to him and Hno. Nunez replied by saying Harry Potter spells at him... the elder was confused because he thought that he was speaking new Spanish words. Haha!

    Then we went to the University (This university is the oldest university ever! And Santo domingo is the oldest city in the Western world, just so you know!) Well, we handed out pamphlets and talked to people, and then we ran into this girl named Scarlet. I introduced myself as a missionary of the church, and her face LIT UP! She pulled out an old Book of Mormon and showed us how she had marked it and read it over and over... She just didn't know how to get in touch with the missionaries again. She practically threw her number into our hands and started dancing with excitement when I showed her the numbers on the back for the missionaries! It's amazing how the Lord works to bring His Gospel forth!

     Then Hermana Diaz (She just got back from her mission to England) helped us teach a man part of the first lesson. It was awesome and I can't wait to go out into the field full time!

SATURDAY was awesome! It was Conference weekend so we didn't have any classes all weekend! We had gym in the morning... We usually have it at 3:30 to 4:45 in the afternoon so it was nice to catch some of the coolness before it gets to the usual 90 degrees plus 100% humidity. Then Sister Freestone and Sister Whitaker made us DELICIOUS cinnamon rolls then we watched the first session. President Freestone made us listen to the Spanish speaker in -of course- Spanish. I actually understood most of what he said! 

      We actually watched the women's conference on Saturday because we wanted to do it at the same time as Priesthood. It was an awesome day!

SUNDAY was about the same, only we had our usual Sunday dinner of pizza. Then we studied a little and had ice cream then took pictures at the temple! (I didn't take many because I don't change that much in a week... haha... I did take some with the Haitian Soeurs though!)

MONDAY was the Haitians's last day :( The Soeurs wrote us notes... They were so sweet! Soeur Jean-Baptiste wrote her letter in English, which is really special because she went through all that trouble... It was really good, except she picked a word that isn't very good... I had to try SO hard not to laugh!!!! I kept it in my journal.

We had the most intense game of Ultimate ever... like people were jumping off of walls and weaving in and out of columns and stuff. Just imagine the sword fight scene in The Princess Bride, only replace the swords with a frisbee and you've got the right idea!

I was in a singing mood on Monday Night, so I practically sang the entire musical of Les Miserables to my companion... It felt good to REALLY sing again... And in English too!

TUESDAY was amazing! We went to the store in the afternoon, and Hna. Diaz came with us and we practically skipped the entire way there! It's Christmas time in the DR... They LOVE it here! Christmas lights are already up in the park and they had all the stuff up in the store. (I took a picture of course) I realized that 1/3 of my mission will be Christmas time, which is AWESOME!

     When we got back Hna. Diaz came to our room and told us about her mission to England. We have offically decided that Summer 2017 we are going to London! Seriously, I've always wanted to go, so even if it doesn't work out to go with her, I'm going anyways! (I have a passport, so I'm free to travel the world, right? haha) 

WEDNESDAY morning Elder Skinner told us a funny story... So because we now have so many missionaries in the MTC our district's elders had to move to the 3rd floor where they have some extra rooms. E. Skinner found a little girl's shirt in his room that had a cat that said "text me" on its phone. He decided to see if he could fit in it... He did, if you count a shirt looking like a sports bra fitting! He went into the other rooms to show the other elders and when he and his companion Elder Martinez got back, they realized that they had forgotten the key inside! So they had to hide in the other room while the others got President Freestone to come unlock the door... They didn't want to explain to him why they were in their underwear and a girl's shirt!

      For breakfast we had Brownies, which is a usual occurrence here!

In the afternoon we had a much needed nap... Spanish is exhausting!!!!

Last night after family prayer we stopped by the other sister's room to talk and Hna. Monks told me that I look like one of the girls in the Renaissance paintings... haha! I guess it's a good thing... At least I don't look like a Picasso painting! 

Yesterday also marked 4 weeks of me being in the MTC! Tomorrow is 1 month! Plus, I get to go 8 hours of tracting with a senior missionary tomorrow! SO EXCITED! 

I hope to hear from all of you! I miss you all and pray for you constantly! The church is true!!!!!

El Evangelio de Jesucristo es verdadero!

Con amor,

Hermana Twiner  

 Hermana Twiner with the Haitian sisters

Christmas time is starting in the DR

Three Weeks In and the Blessings are Coming

Ok so I haven't had any of those "amazing" missionary miracles happen like you hear stories about, but I have seen so many amazing things!

So Friday we had our first contacting at the University. We went off with our companions and handed out pamphlets about the Restoration and got to know people. Yeah, I got my introduction and explaining our basic beliefs down, but I'm still working on actually understanding what they are saying back to me! I can understand most Spanish, but Dominican Spanish is so much more rapid than others!!!! My jaw literally dropped when I first heard them speak! They don't even move their lips!

Well, it started down pouring so we ran under a pavilion where lots of other people were and this guy found us who knew English. We told him we were missionaries and gave him a pamphlet, but he only wanted to practice his English with us. He said that he was happy being Catholic, but that we could still be friends :) 

Well, we talked with him for about 30 minutes and eventually Hermana Brimley mentioned that I sing... and of course he wanted me to sing for him! So I sang "Come thou Found of Every Blessing" in Spanish. He started crying and then started asking more questions like if we had a church service in Spanish or where it was. He said that he would call the numbers on the back! 

Ok so I don't really go in order because the days seem to really run together here...

Sundays are always my favorite because we can take a break from Spanish and just enjoy the peace church brings. This Sunday was awesome because we had the Haitians bless the sacrament in French. Then for our movie time we watched "Legacy." If any of you don't know what that is, it was the church's main history movie before the Joseph Smith movie... I liked it, but the acting was slightly cheesy ;)

Throughout the week we watch several MTC devotionals by a member of the quorum of the 12... This week we watched a M. Russell Ballard one from 2012 and guess who did a special musical number????? None other than Elder David Archuleta!! It was amazing to hear his testimony through the song he sang, "The Spirit of God." He sang the 2nd verse in Spanish, and it was cool because I understood what he was singing! At the end he began crying a little, so of course I did! Then Elder Ballard gets up and says, "Well, Elder Archuleta, you are a tough act to follow!"

So I have to admit... I slacked a bit on my study last week. So my companion and I have decided to speak SOLO Español... well, it kinda works... We speak about 75% Spanish :) Then our teachers challenged us all to speak only Spanish... and read scriptures and write in our journals in Spanish for the next week! Es MUY defícil!

Oh, and I've decided to avoid meat while here... Most of it makes my stomach church anyway, but our district leader has gotten a parasite, so I would like to avoid that!

Hermano Nuñez has a violin and so he has let me keep it in my room this week! It's black and doesn't sound nearly as good as even my training violin, but it's a violin!! I taught my companion a little bit of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Lots of people want me to do musical numbers with them with either violin or singing.

I was able to go to the temple this morning, which was one of the most amazing experiences I've had so far. I felt so much peace after this last week of constant turmoil and frustration. I know that God lives, and that through Him ANYTHING is possible. Never doubt that because He never doubts you! 

Dios nos ama!

Con amor,

Hermana Krislee Nicole Twiner

 This is what happens when missionaries are stuck in classes for 12+ hours.

Hermanas Twiner and Brimley

More missionary pics

Two Weeks In!

Wow, it's already 2 weeks in! me really does fly by on missions!!!

So... What did I do this week?

We taught our "investigator" Victor on Saturday... all in Spanish but it went well. We teamed up with elders Martinez and Skinner and they were teaching at the time, and couldn't remember how to say something so they were looking through their notes and Victor says in a strong Dominican Accent.... "You look more lost than Adam on Mother's Day!" We nearly died laughing... All of us were seriously crying and laughing for 5 minutes straight... Not sure exactly why it was so funny, but I think our brains were fried from speaking a language we don't even know! 

On Saturday Hermana Brimley and I went running around the temple grounds for our exercise... we met some other Hermanas nearly done witht their missions... one was american and the other was latina. We were able to talk with them in Spanish and they were surprised that we knew so much after only 1 week of speaking it! 

Right before Saturday dinner we were talking about how we really wanted hamburgers and pizza... something "American." well, we get to dinner and what do we have? HAMBURGERS! and then we realized that the next day was Sunday, which means PIZZA for dinner!!!! haha it was a great night!

The old missionaries left on Tuesday morning :( I really miss them! They will do amazingly on their missions! Well, after they left there were only 16 missionaries in the entire MTC! AND Hermana Brimley and I were the only 2 Hermanas! It was a little weird but nice because we didn't have to wait in line for food.

Hermana Twiner and Hermana Brimley trying to develop accents.

Apparently sticking a pen in your mouth helps to develop an accent.

Oreos in the Dominican Republic taste better according to Hermana Twiner. :)

MTC

                                                                             Santo Domingo temple

September 18, 2014: First Week Down

SO, I've been here for over a week now! Crazy! The first two days were really long and tiring, but everyday seems to go faster now! Spanish is going well... I bore my testimony in church on Sunday... IN SPANISH!!!!!

You can see the ocean from the MTC... The temple is right in front, so it's absolutly GORGEOUS!

My companion is Hermana Brimley, who I knew over Facebook before I came! She's really nice, and we get along super well, but it's still hard to get accustomed to being by someone's side 24/7. But it's all good!!!

My brain feels completely fried from having so much spanish crammed in... I've already begun thinking in SpanGLISH... I even had a dream in Spanish once.

Funny story-- Two elders in my district have been having a hard time with learning the language, but the other day Elder Skinner told us that he was woken up in the middle of the night becuase the two elders were speaking spanish to each other. One said "Me gusta Español!" and the other replied "Oh! Yo tambien!" They didn't remember it in the morning, so they were sleeptalking in Spanish to each other!

It's been physically and emotionally exhausting... but I love it! I'm leaving for Santiago on Oct. 21 (My sister's 16th birthday!)

Tomorrow we are going to the University tomorrow to contact people.

Hermana Twiner

 Elder Martínez, Elder Skinner, Elder Tippets, Elder Holbrooke, Elder Nielson, and Elder Borries... And then Hermana Brimley and Hermana Twiner

Hermana Twiner and the Mission President and his wife

Hermana Twiner in Santo Domingo, Domincan Republic

Where Has the Time Gone?!

In 1 WEEK I will be getting set apart as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! I had my farewell talk at church on Sunday and my farewell open house Sunday night.
For my church farewell my mom, sisters, and I performed Rob Gardner's arrangement of "Savior Redeemer of My Soul." My youngest sister Kara and I played our violins at the beginning and then we all had a singing solo. :) My mom also did a wonderful job at playing the piano for us! I began choking up at the end because I felt the Spirit so strongly and was again given that feeling of peace at my decision to serve a mission.


At 6pm on the dot a HUGE wave of people came to our house at the same time... Usually only one or two people arrive on time and then the rest trickle in, but by 6:03 we had at least 10 people there! We counted over 70 people in all who came throughout the night! We had to let people out onto our back porch to make enough room!


Here are some pictures!

My mom came up with this cute idea to have everyone write notes of encouragement for hard days on my mission. She's also awesome at making everything look fabulous!!

We also had everyone sign one side of my pillowcase... The other side I will have my mission companions sign it!

It was wonderful to see that so many people respect and support my decision to serve... Both member and non-member! I had several non-LDS friends attend both my sacrament meeting talk and my open house! I had such a good time talking with everyone!

And of course, how could we pass up an opportunity to take silly pictures?

Overall, I had a wonderful time visiting with friends and family. I had no idea the support and love everyone had for me! I'm so grateful for them and the courage and strength I have already gained from their fellowship.