"I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas"

It's a rainy rainy Christmas season here in the Bay Area! and I sing to myself "It's beginning to look a lot like Oregon!" It's still beautiful and Green, but chilly and WET! It makes being INSIDE the Visitors' Center for most of the day quite rewarding! We have amazing experiences in the VC during this Christmas season. We have various free Christmas concerts every day this month and that brings so many people from so many cultures and religions into the VC! last night we had around 1000 people come through because the performance was "Handel's Messiah" and it was just incredible to be able to share the spirit of Christ with everyone as they came in to celebrate Christmas with their families! And a lot of the families that come in are so willing to share the spirit we bring with others that we're receiving a LOT of referrals! It's so great!

Last week was my FIRST Zone Conference! It was a BLAST! We listened  to some incredibly powerful talks from the quorum of the 12 Apostles, and also President Meredith (who is the BEST Mission President everrrr!) and also had a really fun gift exchange game (I got I big pack of fun colorful pens and cute papers, toiletries, and lots of munchies!) but the funnest part was watching the elders stretegyzing how to get the sports balls and calogne! Oh man they crack me up. It was definitely the spiritual recharge I needed, being a missionary is more than just incredible and life-changing, it's FUN! :D

We only have 5 hours of proselyting this week (the rest of the time is in the VC) so it's really hard to do the finding and teaching we would like, but working in the VC is also an AMAZING blessing and we've had the opportunity of bringing some of our investigators up to experience the spirit that can be felt there! I Love the Christmas season and I also Love the VC, and Sister Garcia and I are looking forward to spend more time in the area after our Holiday schedule is over!!! 

Have a MARVILOUS Christmas time, you all mean so much to me and I'm so grateful for the love I can feel from all of you as I'm out trying to serve the Lord the very best I can! Remeber to remember HIM this Christmas, think about all He has given you and what you can do in your life to give back to Him.

Con Amor,

Hermana Mitchell

another week already?!

HELLOoooooo! It's a BEAUTIFUL day up here at the Visitors' Center! the air is so clear I can see all the way across the Bay, even the redness of the Golden-gate bridge! It's usually pretty foggy, but it's a clear crisp December day today :) This week has been really good, really hard, but really good. We're struggling with the area we're working in a little because we're just in the VC so often! So it's difficult because we have to put our investigator lessons on the back burner sometimes, and then the people we are working with aren't following through with the commitments we leave them. We care about them SO MUCH, we're fasting and praying and trying to see them as much as we can. I love Christmas! ...but I'm excited for when this Season is over and we can focus more on THEM and THEIR needs. 

But anways, We've had awesome experiences in the VC, the Holiday schedule we're on is fun, but stressful--sometimes we're scheduled for 9 hour shifts, It's just crazy! but we always have lots of wonderful experiences welcoming people in and sharing with them a piece of the Savior's love and joy this Christmas Season! In fact, last night I was standing at my assigned "holiday spot" with my temporary Companion, Sister Sia (they split us up so they can have more languages in more places to accommodate the cultural diversity of people who come in :) and guess who walked right up to me and gave me a hug?! UNCLE DAVID!!! I definitely took a double-take! It was sooooo good to see them all! Mia is getting SO grown-up and Aunt Jan is still so beautiful (as always)! and it was so so so fun to see the boys' smiling faces! I really was just stunned a little bit, but wow, it was such a blessing! It reminded me just how important our family is to me, why I share the message I do--because life would be so hard without families to be here for us, to keep us feeling loved, spiritually and physically fed, to help us grow when times are hard, and to bring us the greatest Joy that Heavenly Father has in store for us! The Gospel has been restored to help us be those strong and eternal families that He wants us to become! and then I meet people who don't have strong family relationships, or don't have any family at all, and that's when I realize how much I want to share this gospel with them even more. The love and support this gospel brings is life-changing, and the Lord is preparing people to receive it every day, some people don't know what they're missing and it's our job to help them know that God is our Father, Christ is our brother, and their Gospel brings us all together to find that love and support we need in this life! It's such a blessing to be a part of this great work at this great time! 

Christmas coming and I'm just way too excited! The concerts are going to be soooo much fun, we're performing both on Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day! AND I've been asked to sing a Solo in my branch on the 23rd and I'm going to sing "Estrella de Luz" or "Star-Bright" (If you're part of the Mitchell Family, I KNOW you know this song! I just wish Daddy could be here to play it for me! :) and I've also been asked to play a song on the piano in the Spanish Ward that meets up here on Temple Hill (we go to their meetings a lot too as a special re-activation assignment) I don't know what I'm playing yet, but I'll make something work! I feel so blessed to have all of these amazing opportunities to bare my testimony by sharing my musical abilities!

I'm learning sooo much every day, the Spanish is still up and down like a roller-coaster, but I still feel like it's improving. Sister Garcia says "HELLO!" and is still helping me so much and being such a great trainer :) I love the Lord! I love being a missionary! I'm grateful that He is letting me be a part of spreading His truth abroad! I invite you to remember the sacrifice He gave for you and the love that He has for you this Christmas season and carry that love with you wherever you go for ever and ever!

All my love love love!

Sister Mitchell

December!

Happy December my dear friends and family!

It's been rainy rainy rainy all week week week! But finally the sun came out and the air is fresh and clean and the plants are green and it's just BEAUTIFUL here. I'm so blessed in so many ways. Like the Visitor's Center! WOW what a blessing it is to have it as part of my calling, this season is a little crazy and definitely keeps us on our toes, but the Christ-centered joy it brings to those that come in to get out of the rain or cold is just amazing, I'm so grateful to be a part of it! Even just last night we had a man and his family come in, just 3 minutes before we were closing, and he asked US about church, what it's about, where is the chapel, and when do the services start! and I told him! in Spanish! The VC has an amazing purpose, and the majority of people who come really do want to learn more, or at least are appreciative of our friendliness and Christ-centered teachings. The work is real and progressing and I feel the love and support from those around me and especially from the Lord.

Did you get to see the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional?! I didn't because I was working in the VC, but I heard it was really special. I love teaching about the prophet and the structure of the church to those who come into the VC. They really are called of God to direct His children (that's US!). Make sure you apply their teachings, as you do, you will see that they really are called of God because your life will change for the better, and only good things come from God!

Tonight the other sisters in our branch (we're so blessed to have 3 companionships working in our branch!) and us are going to have a Family Home Evening with a big family, and some of them aren't church members! we're planning on sharing a wonderful message about Christmas (We're going to wrap up a picture of Christ like a present and ask the kids to talk about what they want for Christmas before they open it up and find Christ inside, and apply that to how He is the greatest gift we could ever imagine! We'll also go around a say what gifts we can give to Christ [serving others, being nice, etc]--Like I did growing up at home--It'll be way fun), singing lots of Christmas songs (I'll probably sing a Solo too, because sister Garcia likes volunteering me on the spot for things like that :), and playing a fun game (prepared by the other sisters). I love being with families and especially children, children are just so pure and teachable, that's probably why Christ asks us all to be like them :) I love you all! Make sure you carry the feelings of love and gratitude you have for Christ durning this special time of year with you forever!

Hermana Mitchell

Email Time!!!

Well hello again! I say this every week, but where is the time going?!? I'm blown away by the mission life--It's crazy and amazing and hard and wonderful and FAST! 

Thanksgiving was AMAZING---I have never eaten so much food in an 8 hour period in my ENTIRE LIFE! I'm serious! We had 6 dinner appointments, but thank goodness we only ate at 4 of them, the rest of the families--understanding our immense fullness--gave us plenty of food to take home for future days! And it was way too much fun to have a Latino twist to the festivities! We tasted a few different twists on Turkey, which were all delicious, but the winner was definitely Brother Perez with his meet-stuffed turkey. I don't know how he did it... but it was just amazing! they're from El Salvador and said that one of these days he'll make us Papusas (or something like that...) I'm very excited! We also had an array of food from Mexico to Peru and more than the food, it was just such a blessing to be with big loving families all day, I was FULL of food and gratitude for the many many blessings God has given me, and It felt like I was with family every moment :)

This week in the Visitors' Center was CRAZY! especially the Saturday after Thanksgiving--we had over 1400 people come in (as opposed to the regular couple-hundred) for the lighting ceremony of Temple Hill! They had a whole presentation with music and people (I couldn't watch because I was in the back of the VC) and it was just amazing! The entire temple grounds are FILLED with twinkling lights, from the little flower beds to the big palm trees! Every VC sister companionship (plus a couple extras) were assigned to specific rotating stations and we tried our hardest to help the visitors have a spiritual experience while maintaining the flow of traffic :) All I can say is that we slept like babies that night! It really was great, and we'll be having many similar busy days like this weekend as we near Christmas! So we're holding on to our seat-belts and trying to learn how to make it smoother!

This week I had an amazing experience in the VC, one of those "Oh this is why I'm here!" moments. A family came in, young mom and dad with 3 beautiful children, and the grand-parents too. We welcomed them at the front and invited them to listen to the powerful words of Jesus Christ at the Christus. The spirit was immediate and we just had a really good connection with this family, they were so easy to talk to, it turns out the grand-parents are not members of the Church, but the grandpa seemed as though his heart had been softened to the idea as he saw the blessings the gospel brought to the lives of his children and grandchildren. We took them into "God's Plan For His Family" which is just so so so strong, teaching about how Families really can be together forever, it's not a fairy tale! and It turns out it was really what they needed, they just had a son pass away (brother other of the mom and dad) and they felt the comforting truth that they were going to see him again, and it turns out that Sister Garcia had a brother pass away they had a heart-felt conversation about it and and they asked me why I decided to serve a mission and I talked about the role the church has played in my life and how it never changed even though I moved a lot growing up, and it turns out this family was about to move and the oldest girl who was 11 was really scared and nervous to move, but my testimony really comforted her and everyone was crying but we were all strengthened too and it was just a very powerful experience. the Lord works in mysterious ways! I typed that really fast, I hope it all makes sense :)

My Spanish is improving, slowly but surely--Sister Garcia (She says Hello by the way!) is helping me a lot, and even though at first the Visitors' Center seemed to be a hinderance to my speaking ability, it's actually helping a ton because when we have a greater need for spanish tours(which is quite often), Sister Garcia and I go on splits and I'm pushed out of my comfort zone to lead tours and It really forces me to learn so much more than I would without! I'm learning more than just words and grammar through practice, I'm learning how to be comfortable welcoming and learning more about every person that comes in, really listening to them and also to the Spirit. I've realized that when I focus on the fact that I'm learning spanish and don't speak it perfectly, I actually speak it worse! But when I'm sincerely listening to the visitors and not letting what I don't know hold me back, that's when I can let the Spirit speak through me. It's a lesson I'm slowly learning and I'm just so amazed--this realy is a gospel of changing, and I'm seeing it in myself the most!! Many sisters say that for only 6 weeks in the mission, my Spanish is amazing, I just need to keep it up--maintain what I have and allow it to improve every day as I serve the Lord!

I LOVE YOU all! have a wonderfultastic week!

Hermana Mitchell

Hola to all!

Hello Hello Hello from Oakland, California [the best mission EVER]!!!

If you're wondering, I'm doing quite well :) It's getting cold and rainy here and it's a sign that the Holidays are drawing near! It feels fresh and clean like Oregon and I love it! I can't believe It's mid-November already--Where is the time going? For Thanks Giving and Christmas, we get to spend the entire day house-hopping! Hehe, 2 hours at a time in the homes of the members who invite us, and believe me, we already have our schedules full! Our members are SO loving, and SO willing to take us in and give us food and a taste of family time for the Holidays, we are incredibly blessed!

I have just learned to love the people here so much! It's really really amazing--the mission is hard, but when we build these relationships with people, and really truly care for them, It makes everything we do meaningful :) I've never really experienced it before--I love the Lord so much and want to serve Him the very best I can, and He asks us to love others with the same love we have for Him--and that's what makes this amazing mission work possible--It's all about love! and when we put so much time into trying to help them develop that love for God and Christ and the gospel, there's no way NOT to love them!

I'm eating very well, and I've developed a sincere love for fresh tortillas and frijolitos! mmmmMmmm! y con crema fresca tambien! Los Cielos. I could eat them for the rest of foreverrrr!

Have a wonderful week, look to the Lord in everything you do, and you won't have anything to fear :) Next time I'll write more, I have stories but not a lot of time today--I LOVE YOU ALL!

Hermana Mitchell

Another week!

Wow! I can't believe it has already been a week since my last P-day, if feels like 3 days ago!

Halloween was AWESOME! we got to do "Happy Haunted House-Cleaning!" yaaaay! We couldn't be out after 6pm and It was a good way to keep us busy and safe in our homes :) Sister Garcia and I had a great time eating candy and putting together the little monster magnets Jena sent :) We didn't even have to trick-or-treat to get incredible amounts of candy! haha, We're so blessed to be at the Visitor's Center--members always bring us food and gifts and I just feel so spoiled all the time!

So It's amazing what happens with time when every moment of every day has a specific purpose! One of the things that I've learned so much about here in the mission is time management--something was always pretty foreign to me before the field :) But oh my goodness, when we really utilize our time and plan out what we have to do (and actually follow through with those plans) it's amazing what the Lord will help us do! Like this week, I was on splits serving in an English area called Lafayette with the incredible Hermana Chipana (who was my MTC companion for the last week after my district left)! Who decided to put two brand new missionaries together--I don't know--but it ended up being an amazing experience. We planned out everything we were going to do down to the tee, but we ended up taking too long in lessons because we're both trying to figure out how to lead and teach well and we both have Spanish swimming around in our brains and then we got lost and our GPS was loco and inspite of all those little problems, we still somehow made it work because the Lord knew how we had planned for the day and He helped us so much, making it possible to get everything done! I even had a really neat experience with a girl who's my age and she was so curious why a normal girl like me would want to give up a normal life at the age of 21 to go on a mission, and It was just so awesome to talk to her about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ has strengthened me and guided me and made me who I am! And her mom was listening too and I think it helped open her heart to us a little bit to see how confident we are in the future at such a young age, I think she wants that for her daughter and It was just a really awesome experience and they're going to have Sister Chipana and her real companion back to talk more and It's just so wonderful! I love the things I'm learning about being an example to others and sharing my testimony :) Even if I struggle still with the doctrine and the language, I can at least testify of what I know is true and how it makes me me :)

The Spanish is still coming, I'm struggling with it, but I know that I wouldn't be learning if it weren't hard--I just need to be patient with myself and remember that I haven't even been in the Field for 3 weeks yet--I can't expect myself to be perfect! ...Even though I want to be... right now! Oh patience :) I think I tell you all this like, every week, but my Spanish Branch is just AMAZING! I don't think I could service this mission without their love and support--It's like a little family. At the Visitor's Center we're meeting people from all over the world every day and it's so wesome, but that consistency of always going back to my San Leandro 2nd Spanish Branch really keeps me centered--please don't forget how important you are to the missionaries in your ward! Love them and help them whenever you can! Go with them when they teach! They need you! We have a new rule in the mission that as Sister Missionaries, we can't give lessons to anyone without another female member present. It's SO HARD because we have a lot of people to teach, sometimes we have to juggle the ward members around, but we're lucky to have a branch that just loves missionary work (most of the entire branch are converts!) We are just So blessed.

I love my companion, she is just so amazing and I learn from her every moment, I love this missionary work! I love the trials because they make me better. I love the miracles that I see every day here. I love the Lord and the love he showed for us through restoring His gospel! I love the blessings we receive by LIVING His restored gospel! Life is just amazing! "Keep your face to the sunshine and you'll never see the shadows!"

Have an AMAZING week, Rember the Lord in everything you do and He will lead you! (Proverbs 3:5-6)

LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Hermana Mitchell

Here we go!

Hello family and friends! Another week has gone by already and I just can't believe it! and It has been an AWESOME week! First off, my companion is just too amazing, I'm so grateful for her love and her patience every day. So last week I went on my first exchange ever! It was with Sister Ure from Colorado and it was tons of fun--we we're serving in an area called Castro Valley and it was weird because it was all English, but so neat and exciting to be able to fully communicate with people. It is so hard for me to stick to Spanish and really dedicate myself to it because half the day we're in the Visitors' Center speaking English and often I don't get language study time at all because sometimes we are scheduled at the Visitor's center at 9 am and I'm a little frustrated with myself because I find myself forgetting to speak Spanish all the time--even if I  know how to say it in Spanish! urrrgh! BUT two days every week we have full-proselyting and my Spanish starts to come back, it's just something that I'll have to really work extra hard at to get it.

We had Family Home Evening this week with 2 different families and the Cruz Family fed us amazing Peruvian food, and the Ramos Family served us incredible food from Nicaragua! There are so many different latin american cultures in my Branch, it's really just amazing. My clothes are already getting a little tight ;) us missionaries just call them celestial pounds :) We're working with a 16 year old boy right now named Josef and he's just awesome, he's so close to being ready for making that big step and promise with Heavenly Father through Baptism, SO CLOSE. We are having Family Home Evening again tonight with their family and It's going to be great! We also have a couple more people we're working with and praying for and hopefully they will start realizing the changes that can come in their lives as they show their faith in Christ.

So Guess what?! turns out the Visitors' Center sisters ALWAYS put on a Christmas Concert and we had our first rehearsal this week I am so stinking excited! (they're already putting up the lights!) I get to accompany for 4 different songs and I'm also going to be part of a 6-hand piano arrangement of "We Three Kings" AND I'm singing "Oh Holy Night" as a SOLO! It's going to be so much fun (the only question is when I'll have the chance to practice....). It just helps me know so surely that Heavenly Father knows me so personally and loves me enough to send me to a mission where I can improve my talents by giving me great opportunities to help them grow by sharing them with others!

Another "priveledge" (I have to keep telling myself that it is one) we have as Visitors' Center sisters is phone time in the Referral Center! YAAAY! it's so so so HARD and SCARY for me! People come into the Center and give us referrals and we GET to call them and see if they're open to any free DVDs about Jesus Christ, or a free copy of the Book of Mormon, or if they are even interested in meeting with the missionaries! Now this is even more proof that this mission is right for me because it's perfectly addressing my fears. My mineature panic attacks are getting smaller and smaller as I prayerfully ask for help from God to give me strength in doing His work. The field really is just so hard and so good because I can already see how life-changing it will be for me. WOW!

Well so that's all I really have time to say, but I'm just pushing on, with faith that the Lord will guide me in His work. I would LOVE to hear from all of you and what's going on in your lives! Don't forget how much Heavenly Father Loves you and knows each and every one of you so well, and trust in the Lord--If you keep his commandments he WILL help and lead and strengthen you!

Les Quiero! <3

Hermana Mitchell