Last Email.... I'm going home!!!!!!!!

Who knew? The time is here! This time next week I will be in the mission home having my last interview with President Castillo. 

Anyways... What happened this week???????? ahhh the days are going by too fast!

DOMINGO GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! He was going to get baptized this coming Saturday the 5th, but he was going to go to a church sponsored course for 3 months, so he asked to get baptized on the 27th. We found out the day before, so we had to run like crazies over to his house with the elders to have his interview. 

It really was an honor to see him take upon him this covenant... Let's pray that he remains faithful!

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We have been working like crazy to get some new investigators for this area. There's always that moment after you have your baptisms that you are like, "Now what?" 

We have been working a lot with our Stake President and his family... They are AWESOME! 

So I ALMOST made my whole mission without throwing up. 3am on Sunday I was up chucking a mixture of cabbage, avocado and ice cream... Don't ask. But now I'm fin! Just not eating cabbage...

LAST PDAY... They happen to be filming Vin Diesel's new movie in OUR area in Navarrete... We went to watch them film some double stunts on a skateboard. Lots of Americans. Then as we were going down to our house we saw HIM landing in his helicopter!!!!! (Of course I had to take a picture!)

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But yeah... These last 18 months have been quite the adventure... I have never cried, laughed, walked, sweated so much. 

It was hard. There were so many times that I thought that I couldn't do it, but there was always SOMETHING pushing me on. 

Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for writing me. Thank you for cheering me on. I needed it more than ever.

I can't believe that I have only 1 week left. It feels like a week ago that I logged on for the first time to talk to my family through email chat. 

I learned to love a people that I hardly knew existed. I have lived on a Caribbean Island for a year and a half and never went to the beach, but I was in paradise among the tin roofs and the dusty roads, the constant loud music keeping me awake at all times of the night.

I met some of my best friends. My companion Hermana Nauca has been with me a total of 5 months of my mission and I couldn't have asked for a better companion. We are crazy. Together we helped 6 people become baptized. We talk about EVERYTHING, and I will miss her terribly. I will definitely be flying out to Peru sometime. 

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And again, thank you! I will see you all soon. I am forever changed for the better. I will move on confidently, always remembering the beautiful memories I have made here in the DR. 

See you soon!

NOS VEMOS PRONTO!!!!!!!

Hermana Krislee Twiner

Spiders, Exchanges, Muffins, Oh my!

Well this week flew by. Seriously, I don't know where the time went. We have been working super hard, having 2 more companionship exchanges last week. We went to Mao on Friday and I stayed with Hermana Santiago from Mexico. It was fun, but as always I was excited to return home to be with my real companion.

On Monday I did an exchange with Hermana Palmer in Sabaneta which was super fun, and we didn't get drenched like last time!

About the muffins... We had interviews yesterday with President Castillo and he brought muffins for breakfast. I really just needed a third thing to put in my title. 

And a giant spider invaded our house last night... I have a video of the slaughter, which I will be happy to show you guys when I get home. It's pretty hilarious

We have a baptism planned for next week! Sorry I haven't had a lot of time to write today... Still have lots of things to do before going home. 

Love 

Hermana Twiner

Baptism!!!

The Bishop´s dad Luis De la Rosa got baptized this last Saturday.It was a super special experience, because the bishop has waited so long for this day. One of the members gave a wonderful talk about how Jesus went to John the Baptist to be baptized. The greater went to the minor to have that saving ordinance, as did Luis with his son. 

In other things, these last few weeks have FLOWN by! I love being with Hna Nauca again. We are best friends and we work as a complete team. We laugh a lot and we study together to help our investigators. It´s the best of the mission. 

Please pray for our investigator Johanna... She was in a car accident on Sunday where the truck rolled over 4 times... They thought she was dead at first but she began breathing afterwards. The air bag hit her and that hurt her. 

We have another investigator that will be baptized on March 5 named Domingo. At first he was a little skeptical about the message but he told us this week that he has been having dreams about the church and that he feels like he needs to be baptized. Let´s pray that he continues onward!

I want to thank you all for all the support you have given me while I´ve been on my mission. I´m still here and I´m working hard and I will continue being a missionary until they release me back in Tennessee. But your prayers and thoughts are needed and very much appreciated. 

love you all!

Hermana Twiner

My Death Sentence Arrived....

Ok so I knew it was coming sooner or later, but... It came.

My awesome mother is coming down here to pick me up and to see my areas before we go home, so she had to buy the return tickets and plan it with the mission office, but yeah... I have my flight plans. We'll be leaving March 13 at 2:30pm and arriving in Knoxville at 10:30pm. (We have a layover in New Jersey.)

Anyways... this week was a little crazy, but good. As sister leaders we have to do exchanges, so I went on 2 exchanges in 2 days... On Thursday we had zone meeting and I went directly from there to Sabaneta with Hermana Palmer from Utah, stayed the night there and had a dinner of eggnog and cookies, then in the morning we headed straight back to Navarrete to have a zone conference, after which I headed 2.5 hours to Monte Cristi (Almost to Haiti) with Hermana Hall. I was super tired afterwards, but I had fun!

We had a family come to church on Sunday! Their names are Manuel, Ana Iris, Gianni, Scarlet and Camili. They are a good family and I think they will progress. The girls were crying when they left because they wanted to stay in the Primary class. 

Well, we'll see what this week brings. Next week my pday will be on Tuesday because Wednesday will be a special worldwide training for missionaries, so they changed Pday so it wouldn't take up too much of our preparation time. 

Love y'all!

Hermana Twiner

Crazy Mormons on a bus with Dominicans...

​One of the elders is from Samoa and was teaching the other elders in the zone how to play rugby... Here they are throwing my zone leader Elder Moses up into the air... He hit the cieling.

​One of the lessons we had in Monte Cristi... We kept hearing a goat bleating and this little guy comes galloping in... Then he slipped and fell, reminiscent of Bambi on ice. I thought he was too cute!

Bye Bye 2015!

Ok so it's still 2015 as of right now, but I have been reflecting upon the past year a lot recently. A year ago I was in Mao with my awesome trainer Hermana Gonzalez. I remember thinking that 2015 was going to be the longest year of my life because I wasn't going to be with my family. 

But I was wrong.

This year flew bye with every laugh, cry, plate of rice, rainy day,... and now we are starting 2016, the year I begin the new chapter in my life. 

The highlights of my year are all the days when I saw people I loved get baptized, like Jimmy and Ricardo Villanueva on April 25. They both now have the Aaronic Priesthood and are still faithfully going to church. Then we had Jose and Pola... I began teaching them when I had about 3 weeks in the mission field. We baptized them 8 months later on July 11, my last weekend in Mao.

Then Brittany was baptized on August 8 and Juana Vargas on November 28. I love these people and am honored to have had the privelege to see them enter into this sacred covenant with their Savior.

I have grown so much. I am not the same person I was a year ago. I am less afraid and more sure of myself. Not only can a speak Spanish, but I can also express the deepest feelings of my heart because I have obtained a stronger testimony of the things that I have learned since childhood.

I have met some of my closest friends as well on my mission. Many of them I might not see in the flesh while on this earth, but I will forever be grateful for their friendship and their examples.

Goodbye, 2015. You were good to me. Welcome 2016. I am ready to meet you.

Love you all and thanks for reading my messages!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Twiner

The other night I was writing in my journal and I heard, "Hermana Twiner!" and I looked up and nearly died when I saw this...

​It was my companion after being bored while eating a piece of bread.

This is the Turkey we ate on Christmas Eve... Don't the feet and the neck add a nice touch?

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​Me getting my nails done... I swear that lady was trying to take my fingers off!!! They looked pretty though, but they HURT!!!!!!!

Transfers!

I got transferred! I know that's nearly unheard of, since in the last 15 months I've only been transferred a whopping 1 time. 

I got transferred to Navarrete, which is in the same zone as Mao. I am also a Sister Training Leader (STL), which is a leadership position given to 6 sister missionaries in the mission to help other missionaries with whatever thing might happen. I am in charge of doing companionship exchanges, going to each area in my sisters' group to see the progress in the area and to give suggestions. I also have to go to leadership meetings in Sangtiago with President Castillo every few weeks. It's a little overwheming, but I can't express how excited I am to be here! 

My companion is Hermana Funes (pronounced Fooness). She's from El Salvador and is super cute and nice!

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Last Friday in Jarabacoa we had our branch Christmas Party. The pork was good, but it was a little harder to eat when you could actually see the poor creature you were eating...

The Jarabacoa Branch President owns a restaurant and invited us to eat pizza last night for my last night in Jarabacoa. It was really yummy and was even better to share one last time with that awesome family. 

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When we got home to the apartment last night we did some cleaning... Take a GOOD look at the kitchen. You'll know when you see it.

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I'll miss serving with Hermana Peters in Jarabacoa. I might have been her "trainer," but I am pretty certain that I learned more from her than anyone else. She's now with Hermana Ririe, who has only one more transfer. They are going to take Jarabacoa up by storm!!!!

I love you all and miss you tons!!! I can't believe that it's already Christmas next week! I have a feeling that these last 2 transfers are going to be the best 2 transfers in the history of tranfers. 

❤Hermana Twiner

Harry Potter in the DR!

Well this week was really good... We found tons of new people to teach and even set a baptismal date with 5 of them! 

On Sunday I got some stomach virus that´s been going around... It wasn´t very fun, but I survived. We tried going out to teach, but we only managed to have one lesson because I began having chills and nearly fell asleep in my chair! 

SO we went home, but ON THE WAY HOME...

We saw Daniel Radcliffe.

Sorry?

WE SAW DANIEL RADCLIFFE. WALKING THE STREETS OF JARABACOA.

Well, at least it LOOKED EXACTLY LIKE THE BLOKE. He even had the same style, same hair, skin, eyes, strut, smile...

And if you guys know me I´m a Potterhead. I know Harry Potter when I see him.

My companion was walking a few feet ahead of me and she turned around with a shocked look on her face and was like... ¨Is that Daniel Radcliffe?¨ And then her eyes widened and she said ¨Snap, he´s coming!¨

Turns out that Daniel Radcliffe has a Dominican Doppelganger that lives in Jarabacoa, and that he came to talk to us because he saw two blonde Americans with some intense interest in his looks... He seemed really upset when I told him that he looked like Harry Potter... Apparently everyone thinks so. I should have gotten a picture.

​We had a sisters´ christmas party in La Vega on Thursday... Take a look at that hot chocolate!!!!! We also had a white elephant gift exchange of things from the house, which I gave...

​Yeah it´s a chickfila cow with gummy hamburgers. 

​And here´s a picture of our sisters´ group... I think everyone is looking at her own camera... Hence I´m the only one looking at mine.

Well, transfers are next week... We´ll see what they bring! DUM DUM DUM... Is Hermana Twiner staying in Jarabacoa, or leaving? Tune in next week for the ADVENTURES OF HERMANA TWINER!!!!

Con amor,

Hermana Twiner