We all hit our one year in country mark

Sisar Nielsen and her companionship at the Temple

Missionary Leadership Council

Yummy ice cream!

Ahhh! D received the Priesthood!

Sisar Nielsen's companionship as well as their friend who is leaving for England on her mission

8/25/14 - If We Know That

1 year ago I stepped off the plane into the fresh Finnish air for the first time. I remember being in awe at the size of the pine trees (the tallest I'd ever seen!) and beauty of the clouds. I was exhausted and looked rather haggard, but I was determined, full of hope, and so ready to just set the world on fire! As I passed my 1 year mark in the country (I've been eating Finnish chocolate for a whole year now folks!), I couldn't help but pause and reflect on what has happened this past year. My word, I could have never imagined the change that would happen in me in the span of one year. It has been incredible to witness the Lord's hand all around me and participate in His great work. He is with us. I can feel it. And I'm so grateful to be a part of it!

D got the priesthood this week! He is doing so well and looks sooo happy. He said that his friends say that he's nicer now that he's been baptized. One of his friends tried to describe it to us and they said that D is like a "drum in a night club" hahaha meaning that he's just full of so much more excitement now. It's so cool to see. We met with him this week and he has been reading the Book of Mormon every day. He says that he completely believes that it is true. That before his baptism, he still had a few doubts about it, but that since his baptism he just feels really strongly that it is the word of God. He attributes it to the Holy Ghost and says that the Holy Ghost has been helping him. Ahhhh soo awesome! We discussed with him how everything in the gospel can be traced back to whether or not the Book of Mormon is true. If we know the Book of Mormon is true, we know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. If we know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, we know that he had the priesthood, or the authority of God. If we know that he had the priesthood, then we know that we have a living prophet today who also has that same power. If we know that, then we know that the gospel was truly restored and that this is Christ's church on the earth. If we know that, we know that He lives, He is our Savior, and He loves us. If we know that, then we know that God lives and that He is our loving Heavenly Father. If we know that, then we know that we are His children and He has a plan for us to help us return to live with Him again. If we know that, then we know that we must keep His commandments so we can qualify for those blessings. If we know that then........ well as you can see I could keep going all day long. No wonder we focus so much on the Book of Mormon! It is the keystone of our religion. It holds everything in place. If you ever feel your faith faltering or weaken then simply go to the foundation of your faith and build from there. Start with prayer and the Book of Mormon, and everything else will fall into place.

I got to ball it up this week for the first time in almost a year! I've really missed basketball! It was soooo much fun! We had 3 friends from Vietnam, a Finn, a 6'4" guy we met on the street from Nigeria, our WML (ward mission leader (who is from America)) and the Elders and us. Our Vietnamese friends had never played before, our Nigerian friend is amazing at basketball, and the rest of us just reminded ourselves how we haven't played in way tooooo long! Our WML is about 40 years old and he was playing great and we just kept saying "hey, your American is showing!" haha sometimes I just really miss America. 

I got to go to the temple TWICE this week! Once with my district, and once as part of MLC (mission leadership council). It was amazing. I love the temple with all of my heart! There is seriously such a special spirit there. It really hit me how important it is to make promises and covenants with God, and then to live true to them our whole lives. We must be covenant keeping people. If there is anything in your life keeping you from attending the temple, make the necessary changes so you can. It is worth it. Our eternity is at stake. And Heavenly Father is just waiting to bless us. 

This Sunday was a pretty emotional Sunday. My companions and I sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" in Finnish and it was so beautiful. So many people cried. Which set the stage for the rest of the meeting. One of my companions, Sisar Cribbs, goes home tomorrow! It's so weird! When I got in the country, she was only 4 months ahead of me. And now she's going home and I only have 4 months left! She gave her farewell talk and we all cried. One of our friends was sitting next to me and she just started crying way hard (that's our friend that is working on quiting smoking and can't go to sleep at night without reading the Book of Mormon). I've never seen her cry before. After Sisar Cribbs was one of my good friends here who is leaving on her mission this week to Leeds, England. By the end of her talk even more people were crying. It was amazing to hear from one missionary going home and one missionary about to go out. The work is always moving forward and there will always be more people to answer the call. At the end we all sang "God Be With You Till We Meet Again" and then there really wasn't a dry eye in the room. My friend going on her mission was sitting next to her dad (the Bishop) and her dad started to cry. I've never seen him even get teary eyed before. She saw her dad crying, threw her arms around him and she just cried. Well, with that, everyone really lost it. The Spirit of this great work, missionary work, was so strong in the meeting. We really are part of something so much bigger than us. Throughout the meeting, I just kept reflecting on how over a year ago, I stood at a pulpit and I gave my farewell talk. How I said goodbye to my family and my friends and my life, to leave everything behind for 18 months and give it all to the Lord. I am soooo grateful that I made that decision! Words can't describe how amazing it is! We are doing the work of the eternities here. 

Jesus Christ is the true shepherd. He loves us. We can never stray to far or fall away too hard that we can't return to Him. We can never escape His love. He will always come rescue us.  https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/jesus-declares-the-parable-of-the-lost-sheep?lang=eng. When we share the gospel, we can help rescue His lost sheep. They are His. He knows where they are. And He is calling their names. And He is calling our names. As we come unto Christ and put our trust in Him, He will calm our raging storms and heal our broken hearts. For He loves us more than we can ever know. 

I love you! Church is true. 

Loveeeeee, 

Sisar Nielsen

ps quick funny/awkward story. do you remember me telling you about how we were on the train a while ago and a train conductor started talking to us (he was from Africa and it was in English) and he said he had seen us Mormon girls around a lot and how it was unfair for our church to send such beautiful girls to preach about our church because we are just "weapons of mass destruction". hahahah well we were walking with D the other day off the train and the same conductor walked by and was like "ohhh it's the weapons of mass destruction again! is this your new victim?" hahaha we didn't think D really heard until later this week, he made the comment "so do you guys have any more victims....?"  oh dear.... 

Sisar Nielsen and her companions

Lovin' it!

Sisar Nielsen and her district at Suomenlinna

In the pitch black tunnels at Suomenlinna

D's Baptism!

8/18/14 - Have I Told You Lately the Church is True?!

Have you ever felt so happy that you felt like your heart was so full it was going to burst? Well if yes, you will understand how I have felt this past week. If not, you should keep reading and I'll do my best to explain it. 

So have I told you lately the church is TRUE?! like that it is 100% completely the TRUTH sent from God to help us TODAY. Because it is. And I have been able to, in a small way, see how it can literally change a person. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real. And it can and does change people. 

This week was a really great week. On Monday (p-day) we went to a place called Suomenlinna (an island fortress off of Helsinki that we took a ferry to) with our district and our friends D and H (H is a recent convert as of last year and is D's friend). It was a ton of fun and we snapped some fun pics. We also had a MIRACLE later that day! Okay so Tuesday was the day that the photographer and reporter followed us around all day. So we just haaaaaddddd to wear cute clothes (no frumpy sister missionaries here! well.. at least for a day). Well, in the space of 2.5 hours, we managed to run around Helsinki like mad women and find 3 complete outfits (accessories included) that weren't only cute but that coordinated really well together! And for those of you who understand, you know that this REALLY is a HUGE miracle! I don't even remember how many stores we went to! We literally had prayed that morning that Heavenly Father would help us because we had such a limited amount of time. Well, let's just say He is the best stylist ever. He loves us personally and He cares about the little things we care about. So thanks to Him, we were all ready for our "Anna" debut! 

Tuesday went really well! The reporter and photographer were both so cool! And they were so interested in what we're doing here. We started the day going to lunch at a hotel so that she could interview us and just ask us tons of questions and then we spent the rest of the day with her and the photographer running around with us (I say running because we end up running at least 3 times a day: to a train, bus, appointment, away from a bee... you name it!) It was tons of fun and we finished at the temple so that was really cool for them to see. It will be printed at the end of this month so I'll let you know how everything goes!

ALRIGHT FRIENDS, now the most exciting news of the week! D WAS BAPTIZED! Oh my word I wish you all could have come and felt the Spirit that was there! It was incredible! On Wednesday, we met with him and did a "mock baptismal interview" where we ask the questions that everybody must answer in order to be baptized (it's questions about their testimonies and their willingness to live certain commandments. We don't want anybody to get baptized unless they choose it and are ready to live it). As we went down the questions, he was just a star! When we asked about the Sabbath day he said "well, last Sunday, I said I would play football (soccer) with some of my friends because I forgot it was the Sabbath day..." he paused. I was like "ahh dang it!" but then he continued "but then I remembered and I refused to go." Gosh... he's such a boss! On Thursday, we talked about the importance of sharing the gospel. We showed him this video (watch it friends!): https://www.lds.org/youth/video/inviting-all-to-come-unto-christ-sharing-the-gospel?lang=eng. He smiled through the whole thing! When it ended, he declared, "that was awesome!" And when he prayed he talked about how he's going to share the gospel. And he talked about how he just could not wait for Saturday! On Saturday we always get together with a big group of people and play football (soccer). D came with some of his friends. One of them was kinda against how D was joining the church. He was like "he has changed 180 degrees! I NEVER thought that he would join your church..." Another one (the recent convert from last year) piped in "yeah, just a year ago, he was saying that he would NEVER ever join the church. It's crazy..." Saturday evening was perfect! D dressed in white and was baptized by the authority of God. He was made clean. He was made perfect. He was made whole. When he came up out of the water, he shot up a thumbs up at the Elder who baptized him. So cool. The Spirit was so strong the whole time. My comps and I sang the "Come Unto Christ" song that I sent home a couple weeks go. As we sang, the Spirit got so strong. It was incredible. When we do missionary work, we are simply inviting others to come unto Christ. The Savior and Redeemer of the world. Our personal Savior. Ultimately He is the most important thing in our lives! Why would we not share this glorious message about Him and His restored truths?? And of course, this wave of emotions hit me during the middle of our song. And I started to cry a little. And then I looked into the crowd and others started to cry when I did. Then I really started to cry. Gosh, the church is just so true! After the baptism, D was just glowing! He said he felt so good! Gosh, he is such a kingdom builder! We gave him a tie and wrote a little message on the back "you've entered the gate, now continue to the end. love, your sisters" (he always calls us his sisters. He usually calls us his "nephite sisters" :)). This little message really is a great reminder to us all. Baptism is just the beginning. We need to continue living, defending, and loving the gospel of Jesus Christ every day of our lives. 

Well Sunday, we were running a little late to the train so we were booking it there. All of a sudden I see movement on the side walk on the other side of our building and H and D are running to the train station too with their suit jackets flapping in the wind! Hilarious. We all show up in a tired mess only to find out that the train schedules were all just changed 2 days earlier and the train had already come! But I couldn't help but feel so incredibly happy and I just couldn't stop laughing as I saw D in a white shirt and the tie we gave him and H wearing a white shirt, tie, and dress shoes! (something that he never does! He also said that they were super hard to run in hahaha.) They also said when they got home from the baptism, there was a party going on at their apartment with lots and lots of beer cans. D used to have a drinking problem and he asked us "guess what I did?" and we said what? and he said "I drank lots and lots of glasses of.... water :)" hahaha he's hilarious. As we're standing there trying to frantically figure out what to do and calling all the members we can think of (D was going to be confirmed in church and receive the Holy Ghost!), their friend T (who we are teaching right now) comes flying around the corner saying "I knew this would happen!" hahaha what? Apparently he was the only one who realized the schedule had changed so he booked it down to us as fast as he could so he could come to church with us too. Basically we all ended up jumping on the 9:47 train (church starts at 10) and had to have a member hurry and bus us to the church from the train station. We arrived just as the meeting started and D got the Holy Ghost and it was amazing! He is just SO happy! It's incredible to see! And he met with Bishop after church so he can get the priesthood and bishop said that during the interview he asked "so when can I go to the temple?!" Awesome! So we're working on having him go really soon! AHHHHHHHHHH!

Basically the church is true and the gospel changes lives! The first time we met with D was on July 29th and in the short space of a couple weeks, he has completely changed! It has been truly AHHHMAZING to witness. It has strengthened my testimony so much of God's love for us and the changing power of the Atonement. I love the gospel. I love my life. I love Heavenly Father! He is just the best! And He just loves us sooo much! Whenever you feel down, unloved, or unimportant, just remember to whom you belong! He loves you! He cares about you! Ahhhhh He is just so amazing! 

Sorry this is so long, but seriously, the mission is just the best years that everybody always talks about! Yeah, it ain't easy. Yeah, the lows are way low. Yeah, sometimes I just wanna sit down and cry. But guess what, the HIGHS ARE SO HIGH that I feel like I can fly! And I have come sooo much closer to God. I just love Him so much! Share this joy with somebody else! It will bring you even greater joy in return. Church is true! 

Until next week, I love you!

Sisar Nielsen

ps it's been raining like CRAZAY here. We got stuck in a down pour on the way to district meeting and we huddled under a tree for a little while but it would not let up. So we took off running cuz we had to get to our meeting and I tried to cover my hair with a plastic bag but it turned into more of a parachute and kept falling over my face and I ended up getting completely soaked anyway. So we showed up to district meeting completely SOAKED and everyone else had arrived right before it started pouring so they were all dry. Then right when our meeting started, the sun came out and it was blue skies.  hahaha

Sisar Nielsen - "A little fried fishy - right before I popped it in my mouth.""

Sisar Nielsen and  her companions having a sleepover on their deck.

"This is what can happen in 5 minutes in Finland..."  - completely soaked!

8/11/14 - A Piece of Sunshine

BOY OH BOY have we had an exciting week here over in the great land of the Finns. 

Okay first off, have I told you that we are in MIRACLE TERRITORY?! The Lord is with us and as we persevere and hold fast to our faith, miracles happen. For starters, our good friend D is getting baptized this Saturday! Words can't describe the change that we've seen in him since we first met him. The gospel really is all about happiness! He just seems so much happier and it's been amazing to witness how He has come closer to Christ. Orginally when we asked him to be baptized, he said no, but we set a date with him as a goal that if he gave it his all (if he prayed and read the scriptures everyday and came to church every Sunday) then the Lord would testify to Him that it is true. If that day came, and he wasn't ready, we would not force him to get baptized but that the Lord wanted him to try. He agreed to try. Well try he has! We had a lesson with him this week and we talked about God's plan for us. We asked him how he felt about getting baptized on the 16th (because just 2 lessons earlier he said he wanted to move it). He said that it feels nice. That he wants to do it. We promised him that Christ would always be with him. He said he believes that because ever since he's met wtih us, he feels so much happier and a lot of peace. We had given him a picture of Christ as a gift and I asked him what he's done with it. He said he put it by his bed so everynight when he reads "the book" and prays, he can look at the picture of Christ. You guys, he's so cool! It's been amazing to watch him change over the past couple weeks from the first time we met him to today. This Saturday he will enter the waters of baptism and start a new life. He will be able to let go of all the mistakes, sins, and guilt he has through the atonement of Jesus Christ. He will become free. The gospel of Jesus Christ frees us. It offers us true freedom. We are no longer chained down by the things of our past, but we can start over and fill our lives with light. God lives and He leads this work. I have no doubt about that. 

Also, we have something really exciting coming up this Tuesday. So here in Finland, there's a really popular, classy women's magazine called "Anna".  It's in all the stores and has about 100,000 readers. Well within the past couple months, missionaries here have been in the news quite a bit - on the radio, in the newspaper, and on the tv. Well these things caught the eye of one of the reporters of this magazine and she contacted our PR rep and they want to do a whole article on the "Sister Missionaries in Finland" and our President chose us to be those sisters! So we will have a reporter and photographer following us all day tomorrow so they can see what we do! This is an amazing opportunity to share the gospel with the women of Finland! After we found out about this, we were on the train and we saw women everywhere reading this magazine. It's so cool how the Lord really does spread His gospel by lots of different means. Pray for us that everything will go well! There's a lot of pressure for this to be good so we will need all the prayers we can get! 

Oh in other news... I FINALLY GOT A HAIR CUT. I was so excited I could have cried. First real hair cut in over a year! One of the members here does hair and so she cut my hair for free. Too great. 

Another huge miracle is with our friend T. SHE DIDN'T SMOKE AT ALL YESTERDAY. Guys, this is HUGE! She has been smoking for over 11 years and within the last week, she has really been working to stop. She has become such a good friend to us and she came to church yesterday as my "fani clubi" to support me during my talk. It's sooo cool watching the gospel change people's lives. I'm soo grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary and to witness the mighty change that it brings and the happiness that comes with it. Also she is almost done with 3 Nephi. Seriously, she is just cruising! She loves reading the Book of Mormon so much and is a great example to all of us. She can't go to sleep without reading it because it's her "piece of sunshine" every day. Is that how we all look at the Book of Mormon? Is that how we feel about it? Can we not go to sleep at night if we don't read it? I encourage you all to stop and think about what the Book of Mormon really means to you -what it really means to you that our loving Father in Heaven has reached out to us to bless and support us by providing us more of His word. 

In other news, it's been pretty hot and humid here! And as I've mentioned before, there's no air conditioning in Finland. One night, it was so hot we couldn't fall asleep! So we all grabbed our mattresses and slept outside on our deck. It was gorgeous! And it is still pretty light for most of the night but I don't even notice it anymore. And we got a couple bug bites but we all slept really well. Oh random thing about Finland, screens don't really exist here. So everybody - including us - keeps their windows and doors open for air flow but then there's a constant war raging in our house between us and the bugs. We've made fruit fly traps using a jar, paper, and bait and we've gotten good at killing or just ushering out the huge mayflies and other creepy crawlies that come into our house. Gotta keep our home safe, ya know...

This week we were on our way home from the temple with D after a lesson there. As we were walking, all of a sudden it started POURING BUCKETS! The raindrops were the biggest things I've ever seen! It was one of the craziest rainstorms I've ever been in! We tried to run but it felt like we were under attack! I couldn't see because the rain was messing up my contacts! The rainstorm only lasted for about 5 minutes but it COMPLETELY soaked us! And we arrived home sopping wet with make up streaming down our faces just in time to throw on a change of clothes and run to the train because we went and did exchanges with a companionship of sisters in Lapeenranta. It's right by the Russian border so that was really cool. Plus we saw the biggest sandcastle in Finland. They have all these way cool things sclupted out of sand on the beach. It was pretty sweet! 

Last Monday we went to the Helsinki Tori (square) for our p-day. It was soo fun walking around and seeing all of the differents stands. I got to try a very Finnish food for free - mini fried fish. Basically they just take these little fishes and fry the whole thing and then eat it. It was pretty gross, but I got a picture with it to prove my Finnishness. I love Finland! I love Espoo! I love being here at such an exciting time. I love the Finnish people! I love my mission! It is the most amazing thing ever! This country is such a beautiful and special place! The Lord is gathering His elect and bringing them to the truth. I'm so grateful to be a missionary. It's crazy to me how fast the time is going. I can't think about it because I start freaking out. I never want my mission to end. The Lord has been shaping and refining and molding me into the person that He wants me to be. In order for us to ever reach our potential, we must allow God to be our builder. He will take us to greater heights than we could ever take ourselves. If you want to have a full, fulfilling life, turn your life over to God. He is the master creater, the great orchestrator. Don't you think that if you let Him, He will make something incredible out of you? As you pray and submit your will to His, you will fly. I promise. 

I love you. He lives. 

Sisar Nielsen

Sisar Nielsen and one of her "favorite members from Tampere. We cried when we saw each other!"

"Yeh, sometimes we get a little goofy!"

Sisar Nielsen excited about eating fruit right off the trees

Raspberries!

Sisar Nielsen and Sisar Petch from Cambodia - "I just love her!"

8/4/14 - So Many Miracles

MOIKKA. Is it just me or is time FLYING by?! I can't believe it's already August! I got to Finland last year in August! Time is going too fast! I can't think about it because I get really sad and start freaking out! I just gotta live one day at a time and enjoy every minute. Which is exactly what I've been doing. 

So in case you all don't know, missionary work is sometimes really, really hard. Sometimes we get rejected, have people yell at us, have people drive past us giving us the middle finger, a woman last week ran outside and was taking pictures of us on the street so we went back and were like "why are you taking pictures of us?" and she just started yelling at us and said she had called the police and all this other crazy stuff. Basically, the mission is full of lots of trials and hard times and disappointments, but it has been the MOST AMAZING THING EVER. I never want it to end. My faith has grown so much. My understanding of life's purpose has grown immensely. I have witnessed more miracles than I can count. I have felt myself come closer to Christ. He has changed me. He continues to change me everyday. I love waking up and putting his name on my heart for all the world to see. 

We have witnessed sooo many miracles this week! We met with one of our friends for the first time. His name is D and he's from Vietnam. We had an amazing first lesson with him and really just discussed the importance of daily scripture study, prayer, and attending church every week. We also set a baptismal date with him as a goal for this month! It was amazing. We had another lesson with him this week and the night before our lesson, we told him to look up mormon.org. He said he would and the next day at our lesson we asked him if he did. He said he watched the movie called "Finding Faith in Christ" and that he feels like Jonah in the movie, that he has a lot of doubts, but that he really just wants to find faith in Christ. He came to church and after Sacrament meeting, I asked him what he thought and he said that two of the speakers just really had the Spirit with them. We met with him again and he commited to live the commandments and said that he just really wants to be a good person. And he had read a chapter (2 Nephi 31) about baptism the night before and he was like "yeah I read about baptism and I learned that if I really want this happiness, I need to get baptized because baptism is like a gate. It's the first step" ummm YES! Usually people we meet have a hard time understanding that, but he totally came up with it on his own  (the Spirit told him). Gosh he's so cool! And the Lord is working in his life so much. We were talking with him and I felt I needed to ask him how he feels when he prays and he said that he feels warm in his heart every time he prays and after he prays or reads "the book" he always feels so happy and he doesn't even know why. Ahhhhhhh! You guys, God answers prayers! And He wants to help all come closer to Him. But we must make the decision first! Pray for D! He's so cool! 

Another huge miralce, our friend T commited to STOP SMOKING! She's so awesome! Smoking has been one of the major things holding her back from baptism. And we had had a lesson about it earlier this week and she wouldn't commit to stop. So we were like ughhhh. And then yesterday we taught her again and as we were planning for the lesson, we were like "well guys, if she's not willing to do this big commitment, we might need to leave her in the hands of the Lord" but then we went and she agreed to stop! She said she had been praying about it and she really wants to! And she reads the Book of Mormon every night! She can't go to bed without reading it and she is in 3 Nephi now! WICKKAAA WHAAAAT?! She's just cruising! It's so cool to see. So that was a huge miracle and we're excited to keep helping her progress to baptism!

Another big miracle was finding A, our new investigator from India. After our lesson with D at the temple, we had an hour left before we had to go home. We had some people close by that we could go visit so we prayed to know what to do. Immediately I got the feeling we needed to go walk by Lidls, a grocery store up the hill which was strange cuz we didn't have anybody to go visit up there. Before I could even say it outloud, my comp said the same thing! I love comp unity and the power of the Spirit! So we followed the prompting and found the coolest lady! She moved here from India 3 months ago, is a super strong Christian, and has actually tried to go to our temple twice already because she has been looking for a place to worship. She kept saying "it is by the grace of God that we met!" We had a lesson with her at the temple guest house where we show the video that was shown at the Finland Helsinki Temple open house and she brought her husband and one of her daughters! Basically, we found a  FAMILY. Basically the Lord led us right to her! Gosh, on my mission I have really come to understand a little more about how God really does know us! He loves us soo much! How grateful I am for this knowledge! 

So it's been very warm lately! Apparently it's a been lot warmer than it normally is at this time -which is crazy cuz in June it was still FREEZING. The Finns just keep talking about how this is the weirdest weather ever! How this year has been so abnormal.  I just keep telling myself not to complain about the heat because way too soon, the sun will be gone and it will be freezing here again! Oi Finland is so beautiful this time of year! And Finland has a law that anyone is able to eat anything growing on the side of the road, in the forests, etc so this week we've eaten CHERRIES, BLUEBERRIES, AND RASPBERRIES while walking to lessons and visiting people. Uhhhh talk about heaven! It's been so fun! 

More miracles happened yesterday, when a less active family we've been working with CAME TO CHURCH! YAAAAAY! They are the cutest family! They have a little girl and they're having another baby this month. Also, a less active who is married to a nonmember who has the two cutest little boys ever came this week after we went and visited them this week so that was awesome! Sooo many miracles I can hardly handle it! 

God lives. Come unto Christ. I think I've already sent this home but you've got to listen to this song! https://www.lds.org/youth/video/come-unto-christ-2014-theme-song?lang=eng.  It's amazing! Examine YOUR LIFE and see what weapons of rebellion you can bury so you can come closer to Christ. What things do you need to start doing or what do you need to stop doing? He wants to help you. He wants to help you do what you can't do on your own. He loves you. Pray and ask Heavenly Father what you can do this week to really come closer to Christ. What little changes can you make? What big changes do you need to make? Decide right now whom you will serve because "as for me and mine house, we will serve the Lord." Know that I love you! This church really is God's true church. 

Rakkaudella, 

Sisar Nielsen