Swede Is the Work : Be the Light!

November 9th, 2015

Kära Familjer och Vänner,

As the year gets darker, lets get lighter. It's time for us to be the light! Christ called us the light of the world. Reach out, serve, love, be the light. There is no greater gift you could give to Christ this holiday season than to share the glad gospel message with those who are sitting in darkness, waiting for you to turn on the light. Do something! Today!

Miracles are real. The other day we were at the church for a lesson, and afterwards I just felt that we needed to visit this lady we had tracted into a few weeks ago. She was the sweetest old woman that wasn't overly interested in the church, but was super nice to us. I am so glad I listened to the prompting to go and see her again. She proudly showed us a little bit around her house and pictures of her family. As we got talking, she began to cry. Her husband died over 10 years ago and now she lives alone. She feels so lonely and the days are long with no one to talk to. I think she may get a phone call or two a day, but I think she lives a lonely life, just hoping that someone will remember her and care about her. She was SO excited about a postcard she had received from her grandson's girlfriend. We sang a couple of verses of "Nearer My God to Thee," and we said a prayer for her towards the end, really praying specifically for her. At the end of the prayer she was in tears. She said something along the lines of "how good you are." Oh, how I know God watches out for His children, even this lonely swedish old woman! How the Spirit knows what we need! He lead us to this old woman today that needed to feel loved and have a break from one more lonely day by herself. She made a comment that she doesn't have much time left on this earth. Everyone reading this email, please know that God IS aware of you!

Yesterday, I asked the Bishop if there was anyone we could go and visit for him. He said a woman named A., who is actually Norwegian. The situation with her is that her husband died last December/January and she has REALLY struggled since then, shutting herself out from the world. Last night, we ate dinner with the Engelbrektssons, and I decided that we needed to swing by A. afterwards. Syster Lund and I had swung by her numerous times before and Syster Lund and her past companion had also done that. We had never been able to get her to answer the door. We rang her doorbell last night, and there was no answer, even if we could see the light on. Then we knocked to try one last time. All of the sudden a light went out and somebody shoved the curtain aside. We thought she was just going to look at us and not let us in. We started to walk away and all of the sudden the door swung open. She let us in for the first time! It was a total miracle! We spent about two hours with this woman as she talked about her life. We shared a message about Jesus Christ. We watched the film "Han Lever" and said a kneeling prayer with her right then and there, praying specifically for her needs. She has had it ROUGH, but I am so grateful for miracles. I am so grateful for the healing of listening. I am so grateful for the powerful Gospel word that soothes and heals the soul. I am grateful for people that go through incredibly hard things that we can help and just learn from. I have never encountered and tried to help so many people in my life. How inadequate I am, just a 20 year old from America, who hardly speaks Swedish, who was homeschooled and grew up in an LDS family. What do I know? But how all powerful, how adequate God is! He loves His children!

I love you all! I would love to get some emails with what you all have been doing with missionary work recently! I love hearing missionary experiences! We as missionaries need you as members!

Med Kärlek,

Syster Nielsen