abrazos!

HOLA mis queridos! It's another BEAUTIFUL day in the BAY! seriously, everyday I'm amazed that it's the end of August because it's been a breezy 70 degrees all summer long--much different from the East Bay and the 100 degree weather in Brentwood! We are continually seeing miracles here in the Oakland/San Fransisco Mission. Every transfer we have more missionaries come in than those that are leaving, and so many incredible SISTERS! they are so ready for this missionary work! we'll be transitioning slowly, but in a couple of weeks we sould have 5 SISTER companionships on bike--for the last few years bikes have been reserved strictly for elders! So that'll be fun to see! As a sister training leader, we travel all around the mission, so I don't know how likely it is that we'll get a bike, but I'm totally willing in any case! 

So Sister Hewett and I are constantly seeing MIRACLES! It's amazing having 3 companionships in our Ward, AND a senior couple, the work is truly hastening! all together we had 12 investigators in church yesterday--4 of them are ones that we are teaching personally! The members have been so KEY in helping our investigators come to church and want to stay! We have been praying so hard for the ward to have their own missionary experiences, and the power of prayer is REAL! We're still working with Mike, his fast was so powerful and he really wants to be baptized, he knows that he needs this change, now the only thing holding him back is work. He set his baptismal date for September 29th so he would have 6 Sundays to try to come only 3 times, we're still praying for miracles--we know it'll happen! We're working with the family Aranda, we're having an FHE with them tonight--the whole family are members EXCEPT for the MOM! they've been married for 16 years and she still hasn't come around to the gospel, BUT, it's the sweetest thing, for FHE her 5 children trade off teaching the lessons and we can see her heart changing--poco a poco. We also met our goals and taught 20 lessons this week!!!! Now it's time to push, we can do better :)

Exchanges are still going strong! I went with sister Oa from Samoa, she has grown SO much and her English has become fluent in the last 9 months, I'm so proud of her! and we have one amazing sister here named sister Pope, from Kansas. I love her! During the exchange, I felt like I was the one being trained! She will surely be a sister training leader soon :) I love transforming power of the atonement in this missionary work. I studied Lehi's Dream this morning in 1 Nephi 8. It's probably one of my favorite parts of the book of Mormon. I love verse 24--It's so important to CLING to the word of God, not just hold it every once in a while, or pick it up when times are hard. This life is about walking by faith and not by sight--without the word of God we're blind--so make it part of your life, it'll guide you! I also took a lot of strength from verse 33--the world will point and mock at us without a doubt, the important thing is:DON'T LISTEN! straying from the tree of life is part of Satan't plan, not God's--so hold on tight and don't let go, the light at the end is so worth it.

Our district is going to the Golden Gate today! and then to Mitchell's Icecream (the best in the WORLD!)

I love you all so much, you're always in my prayers!

Hermana Mitchell

BLESSINGS!

QUE TAL Y'ALL!? This week has been AMAZING! as usual! First off, I'M SO EXCITED TO BE AN AUNT AGAIN!!! I'm so glad that everyone's happy and HEALTHY!  YAAAY Becca and Aaron! I can't wait to meet little Jaylee in just 5 months!

This week we had an INSPIRING zone conference. The APs (Assistants to the President) are incredible missionaries, one of them just happens to be my first District Leader in the field (Elder Watson), and the other one was my Zone leader while I was serving in Brentwood (Elder Omori)! They are so amazing and inspired and It's so cool to see how far they've gone! Zone conferences, by the way are the most incredible spiritual recharge, not only do we get to see so many familiar and new missionaries and feel of their spirit and support, Sister Hewett and I recieved real revelation for ourselves and our Investigators and our ward and our area! We learned how to truly allow the Spirit to teach according to the needs of those around us through the way we ask questions that help them think, understand, accept, and apply the truths that we teach. We're going to work so hard to apply these principles! Our incredible Mission President closed the conference with a few of the many stories of the miracles of Christ and His healing power. Jesus Christ always cared about the 'one.' In Matthew 14, before He performs the miracle of feeding a multitude 5000, he ministered to the sick, one by one. He truly is our Savior and everything He does now, has ever done, and ever will do, will be for us. He wants ALL of us to have exaltation. And as a missionary we need to be like him, and focus on the one--so they can know Him individually and find that true joy through being healed!

Sister Hewett and I have seen miracles since then, We have 2 new investigators, Oscar and Maribel (a son and mother) and I KNOW that their whole family can and will be baptized! The journey is just starting with them, and I can't wait to see them continue to grow and progress towards the Savior! That is definitely one of the most incredible things about missonary work, guiding those around us and seeing their progression, seeing that light come into their eyes when they know the truth!

Of Course, we had a couple of exchanges this week, they were AWESOME! First, sister Lutui, an awesome tongan sister from Salt Lake, came to San Mateo with me, and she was so powerful and patient! Even though she doesn't speak Spanish, she was so willing to share her testimony, and the Spirit helped me translate every word! It was absolutely the gift of tongues! I'm so grateful that the Lord cares enough to help us in times of need, especially when it's for his work! Next I went to San Fransisco YSA with Sister Wiser, a brand-new 19 year-old sister! and WOW it's amazing how prepared these young sisters are for missionary work! I definitely couldn't have handled the city as a brand-new missionary. We had a great time talking to everyone and finding places to park on the crazy streets of San Fran! There is so much work to be done in the Young Single Adult program! It was a really neet learning experience of reaching out and trying to share the gospel in the hustle and bustle of the city! When it was all done I was SO glad to be back in peaceful San Mateo :) 

I just want you all to know that I LOOOOVE you! I'm thankful everyday for all of the support and love I feel from all of you, It really means so much. Have a wonderful week, and remember to PRAY for missionary experiences and invite those around you to find the happiness that you have through coming unto Christ! John 14:27.

Con amor,

Hermanita Mitchell

HELLO!

Hi everyone! The Lord has blessed us so much this week! We are truly seeing miracles! We taught our investigator Mike, (who wants to come to church so he can be baptized) about the power of Fasting, and he basically replied, "When can I start?!" We had a really powerful fast with him to help him find a way to come to church, either that his boss would soften his heart and let Mike change his shift, or that he can find another job that will support his desire to worship God! Not to mention, that entire day we fasted was FULL of temptations! NEVER in my entire time as a missionary have we been offered so much food. Which is strange for this area--here in San Mateo the members feed us once or twice a week, but there was not an appointment we went to that didn't offer us food. We even had a member call us up to have all the missionaries in the ward over for a big dinner, and we had to decline--this fast was not going down without a fight! I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers and the day Mike steps foot in the Chapel, I'm probably going to cry!

A beloved member of our ward passed away this week, Hermana Larios was 99 years old and 7 months. We visited her a 2 weeks ago and sang to her, though stuck in bed, she sang along to the chorus of "Jesus es mi Luz" (the Lord is my Light) and she blew us a kiss on our way out. Her funeral was yesterday and the chapel was FILLED to the brim, she is SO loved, I again got to participate in the music and the service was so spiritual and touching.  

We have a zone conference coming up this week and our zone is doing a special musical number! I somehow got elected to be incharche, so we're going to have the practice in a few minutes, We're singing the song "The Olive Tree" and I hope everyone likes it :) Also a General Authority is coming next month and everyone is SO excted to know who it is, I heard it's a member of the 70, so we'll keep you posted!

I love you ALL! thankyou so much for your prayers and support,

Remember to to be grateful for everything you have, and show your gratitude to Heavenly Father through your actions! Alma 37:37

Hermana Mitchell!

milagros!

Hola mi familia y amigos preciosos!

This week has been a great way to start off the new transfer! We are happy and healthly and we have seen so many miracles! The elders had a baptism on Saturday and I got to participate in the music, which is ALWAYS a blessing to be a part of :) It was a beautiful baptism of a father who pretty soon will have the priesthood in hopes to baptize the rest of his family who was also there for the service! It is going to be so amazing when that happens. Also, we got a call a few days back from a return missionary who served here in this ward 3 years ago and was planning on visiting for church! She graduated in music performance in clarinet and asked if I could accompany her in sacrament meeting! So I only had a few days to learn a tough arrangement of "Come thou Fount," and with a few practices and lots of white-out to simplify the chords, It all worked out and the song was beautiful! I know that the Lord was helping guide my fingers and I prayed so hard that the Spirit would fill the room and help the congregation feel the spirit from the beautiful Clarinet and not hear my flubs! Heavenly Father answers prayers.

Our investigator Byron has come to church 3 times now and he loves it! We are still working with him on baptism, He wants to be baptized, but everytime we invite him, he says he feels like he needs to learn and experience everything before! So we're trying to help him understand that all he needs is a desire to follow Christ and to act! learning and growing and experiencing the gospel come after baptism as well as before! We're praying to know what spiritual experience we can help him have to feel desire to be baptized soon. Mike on the other hand wants to be baptized and has a date--He just can't make it to church because of his WORK!...  but we've been praying and fasting the Lord works many miracles according to faith! 

Our ward is feeling more and more like a family, and they are SO excited to have 2 new sisters in the ward! sister Hernandez and sister Garcia are incredible missionaries! Like sis. Hernandez, most of our ward is from El Salvador, so they recieved such a warm welcome, and sister Hewett and I are doing our best to help them settle in and get to know their area.

This morning I was studying chapter 1 of PMG, and I learned that truly understanding the atonement of Jesus Christ is what gives us the desire to share the gospel with every person around us. I love to share the gospel! I love to live it and teach it and help others know it too, but I feel like I can understand the atonement even more, and let that be more of the reason and the drive behind why I live and teach and share what I do. I want to be filled with that love so that everything I say is what the Savior would say to bring everyone back to Heavenly Father through Him. Now I just need to figure out how... I keep on thinking about that scripture that says something like, whosoever shall keep their life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose their life for my sake, shall find it. I want to lose the old me, and rely solely on the savior in order to become like him--a new creature through Him! He has the power to change us, but we need to act in order to change ourselves, so I think I'm going to start with Humility.

I love you AAAAAALLLLL so very very much, and I hope your week is also full of miracles!

Hermana Mitchell

Happy one year mark!

Hola mi querida familia y amigos!! First off, Saturday night was transfer calls again! and here's the news............ I'm..............................STAYING IN SAN MATEO!!!! with Sister Hewett, too! I'm sooooooooo happy! Sister Hewett and I are still Sister Training Leaders, but they've assigned two more sister trainers on the other side of the bay, so that will cut the sisters we cover way down so we'll be conducting the exchanges with almost HALF the sisters we were in charge of before :) We'll just cover the peninsula, so that'll be so nice to be able to focus on our area a little bit more. I love being here in the San Francisco zone, there is SO MUCH work to be done! this week we'll be receiving 44 new missionaries in this mission, 7 of which are visa-waiters! There are a few missionaries that will be double-training (that is, training 2 new missionaries at the same time) and because of the high influx of sister in this mission, over half of the Elders in our mission are either District Leaders, Zone Leaders, or Assistants to the President. We're at about 46% Sisters and climbing! Speaking of which, we'll also be getting another set of sisters in our ward!!!! (maybe one of them will play piano so we can trade off on Sundays!) The work is really hastening and it's incredible to be right in the middle of it! The last Sunday of every month we have a meeting in Oakland at the VC called "Porque yo Creo" which means "why I believe" where recent converts share their testimonies and conversion stories. Our incredible senior couple serving in our ward brought us and our AWESOME  investigator Mike to it last night and it was so powerful! He's going to be baptized next month and we're so excited for him--on the way home he had all these great questions about fasting and praying and missionary work in foreign contries! It is just amazing the miracles we have been seeing! Just this week he told us that the day we talked to him he was in a really low point in his life and we helped pull him out of it--and we had no idea, we just talk to everyone we can!!! Byron came to church again! He is staying strong and reading the Book of Mormon! He gave up coffee and preparing for baptism! We have a new investigator that we found again, talking to everyone, and she let us come back, we've taught her twice and she is still confused about Joseph Smith... She doesn't really seem to understand the importance of any prophet, let alone one today... so last time we really focused on the role of prophets and the cycle of apostasy, and the need for a restoration. She started to open up more and ask more questions and we can see the potential in her shining through. This week I went on the last 2 exchanges for the transfer (yaaay!) first off, there's a brand new sister in the field named sister Mitchell (so if any of you send me anything, make sure it has my first name on it too ;) and I went with her to Walnut Creek! We had a ton of fun going to the BART station and talking with the people there, the conversation would be something like,

"Hi, I'm sister Mitchell,"

"Hi! ...I'm sister Mitchell too!"

"oh, Are you Sisters?"

"well... no, but yes..." :)

Never before have I testified so much that we are all brothers and sisters because we're children of our Heavenly Father! and that we're special and unique, even if we have the same name... hehe, but she is a GREAT missionary, so you and willing--fearless to share the gospel with everyone. Last, but not least, An incredible sister came here to San Mateo with me, Sister Dykes. She is so strong and lead by the Spirit! She's a convert of just a couple years. I honestly feel like I may be conducting the exchanges, but the sisters are the ones training me!!! She didn't speak a lick of Spanish before coming on here, and already--in less than 6 months her Spanish is fantastic! She is one determined missionary. All the sisters are so great, and always pushing me to be better! now with a new transfer, we get to start all over! I truly am SO excited that the Lord is letting me stay here in this area, with my incredible companion--I feel so blessed. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

I hope you all remember that Heavenly Father knows you and loves you! He is eager to lead and guide and bless you, he just asks that we remain worthy, and that we ask, seek, and knock!

Have a beautiful week!!

Hermana Mitchell

p.s. Mom--I got your email! :D I'm looking forward to your package! I don't really know what I need.... my sockies are holding out well... If anything I need FEWER snacks... haha, so I guess just surprise me! some stamps and stationary would be fun...my favorite shoes are finally kicking the dust... you can literally see through them... thank goodness for the sister's closet! I'm excited to see what CD you're sending--thanks for thinking of me--I love you SOOOO MUCH!!!! my contacts are holding out well, I don't know about my eyes... but I'll push through, only about 5 more months! Give my loves to Daddio <3 <3 <3

Hola! (spoiler alert: Release Date Enclosed!)

Hey mom! I found out my return date is January 15, 2014--I know that grandpa and grandma were wondering too, so there it is :)

As for me,

this week has been an amazing one! 2 more exchanges down and two more to go! this is the last week of the transfer already, I can't believe it! Sister Hewett and I had a new investigator in church yesterday and it was SO EXCITING! His name is Byron, he's from Guatemala and he's so great, so mature for 17 years old, he wants to be obedient and follow God! It was his first time there, he was just beaming with happiness! We had some great members instantly fellowship and offer him rides to activities and church and wow, It has been so amazing to see--I've come to realize that as missionaries, we're NOTHING without the members in our ward, because after a few weeks or months, we're gone, but the members are the ones who really mean the most to help our investigators come into the fold and STAY there! Just last night one of our last active members that we've been seeing on a weekly basis (She's our neighbor who comes to church on and off and I have come to love her SO MUCH) told us that she's prayed about it, and she wants to leave the church. my heart sank, then broke into a million pieces. I've never felt so much sadness for a person in my life! It honestly felt like more sadness was channeling through me than coming from me, but I could just devistation in the air, and I imagined how Heavenly Father felt! my feelings were probably just a small portion of that. But, I know that she will see a difference in her life, she will realize the blessings of the Gospel that she once had and she'll come back. So, Thank goodness today's a new day, we can start again. But if there's anything I took away from that experience is that when I go home, I'm not going to let members fall through the cracks without a friend! we're the ones that help those around us stay strong, we can't do it alone! We've promised not to! Mosiah 18:8-10.

I really really love you ALL! and I hope you have an amazing week! Pray for missionary experiences and remember to Smile, smile, smile!

Con much carino,

Hermana Mitchell

Buenas!

Hi family and friends! This week has been CRAZY and amazing! I went on 3 exchanges and I really got to see what the mission is like for other language programs! I've been with 2 Samoan sisters and man are they FUN! The highlight of my week was being on exchange with sister Hendersen in down-town San Fransisco! yay CHINA-TOWN! We got to teach English Class and I taught the alphabet at the beginning of the class and it was so FUN! I love how now matter how I say the letters and the words they would copy the way I said it because in Chinese it's all about tones! The people were so kind to me, even though I don't speak a lick of Chinese! and WOW going up and down those narrow steep narrow streets in the busses and street cars was NUTS! I'm so grateful for Dramamine. I just feel a little bad for our area here in San Mateo, with sister Hewett and I always being switched around it's kind-of taking its toll, but we're doing our best! Our investigators are plateauing and not putting in their part to make it to the next step, whether it's coming to church, making time to meet with us, GETTING MARRIED! We've been doing a lot of praying, fasting, and FINDING, and the Lord has blessed us with miracles! We suddenly have tons of referrlas and potentials that we're so excited to be working with! As for me, I'm doing great, I'm so blessed to have a great companion like sister Hewett and I can feel Heavenly Father's love for those around me more and more every day!

Love you all, have a WONDERFUL week!