November 25 - Wind! And 2 Thanksgivings, maybe 3

Nov. 25, 2013

Dear family and friends,

First off, happy belated birthday to Bryce and Alexandria on the 24th and 22nd, respectively, and happy early birthday to Keri! (Alex, your card should get to you pretty soon, Keri and Bryce, hopefully you already have them!) I love November because there are so many family members and friends with that birthday, and there's Thanksgiving.

I have so much to be thankful for!  I'm thankful for members who feed us dinner, for a heater in our apartment, for the park we live next to that we get to run in every morning, for electricity, for the leaves changing colors, for rain, for snow, for wind, for my companion Sister De Rurange, for snacks, for crisp apples, for pears, for pomegranates (THEY ARE SO GOOD), for the smell of baking cookies, for that tingly feeling my nose gets when its cold outside, for good conversation, for Jesus Christ, for the Plan of Happiness, for my family, for the Priesthood and the temple, and because of both, my eternal family and future eternal family, for my mission president and his wife, for my family for writing me letters, for my friends for writing me letters as well...yeah, I could go on and on and on and on!  

What are you thankful for this week?

So 2 stories to tell you from this week (well...probably more...oh well).  First one: the wind storms here this week!!  We had a major power outage on Thursday because of a wind storm!  The wind almost picked me up and blew me away - it was crazy!  But so much fun - we (we always means my companion and I, by the way) had an investigator (who has a baptismal date: December 21 woohoo!!!) Matthew come to a ward activity at the church...but then the power went out...so we had a "Thanksgiving dinner" and service auction via candlelight and glowsticks.  He loved it and thought it was so great we continued with the activity even though the power went out.  

The power went out in a pretty large area - driving was pretty scary because it was literally pitch black except for our headlights. It was fun, though, and we ended up having a lot of less-active members and investigators come to that activity, regardless of the weather and the dark.

Also, the rain here is so odd!  It doesn't fall in drops - it consistently mists.  It mists so much, though, that the roads start to flood.  I've never felt a rain like this before.  Also, the rain here doesn't smell like anything.  It feels very mystical and magical every morning because of the fog that comes in, especially when we run around the lake in the park by our house (Howarth Park - everyone should visit it it is such a cool park).

Second story: my mission president invited my zone to his home for dinner on Thanksgiving!!  And I have another dinner 2 hours after that with this British lady, Sis. Reed, and then I have a 3rd dinner a little after that with a service missionary senior couple, The Funks.  So don't worry about me on Thanksgiving - I'll be well fed and with good company all the holiday season:)

Another amazing thing this week: I got to go to the temple!  The Oakland temple.  My companion and I had a young couple in our stake drive us: the Richards.  They were so funny and sweet!  We cruised in a silver mini van - Santa Rosa is about an hour and a half north of Oakland, so I got to do some good journal writing on the way up and back.  And the temple was incredible - it is SO beautiful inside and out.  And the view of San Francisco and the bay is amazing!  I'd highly recommend going there:)  Also, the session we went to had 8 zones from our mission there - it was amazing.  The song going through my head the whole time was "Behold, A Royal Army."  All of us missionaries dressed in white...it was so powerful, and other people who weren't missionaries in the session were overwhelmed by the Spirit.  I've never felt the Spirit so strong in the temple before.  It was an experience I will never forget!

I wanted to say more but I'm out of time, so I'll end with my letter I sent to President Alba this week (Oh, P.S. the Creche Festival is an incredible festival held in our church building every year - there's an incredible choir and over 350 nativities and we're going to help set them up Thanksgiving morning):

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Dear President Alba,

I had an epiphany last night. To be honest, Sis. De Rurange and I have felt some judgment from the other companionships in our zone because our numbers have not been super great, and we feel that others are thinking because our numbers aren't high that we are slacking off. Then I had these thoughts come to my mind: you can always work harder, but you are doing just fine. And I felt the Lord's approval wash over me. Then I realized something that I should have realized when I first came out - God's approval is all that matters. And if I feel His approval, then all the other companionships opinions and judgments do not matter. I shouldn't care, either, because I'm not here to seek the world's approval for the work Sis. De Rurange and I are doing in this part of the vineyard - I am here to be a worthy, hard-working, diligent servant of the Lord. And I am. I am working hard, feeling the Spirit's influence at all times, and I am so happy. It's a little different in the singles' ward - we don't have members who stay long-term very often. For the most part, we have members who stay a semester, or a summer, and because of that we don't have as solid of resources or as grounded of members as a few other family wards. But we are doing the best with what we have and working hard.

If that does not bring their approval, I am confident to say that I feel the Lord's approval - the only approval that, in the very end, matters. President Alba, I know I can work harder. Sis. De Rurange and I have had a few struggles teaching together these past 2 weeks, and also struggling to involve our ward mission leader who is often absent or not motivated enough to help. But we will work even harder. We can do hard things! In Jacob 5 it says that The Lord of the vineyard didn't just send them out to labor, but The Lord went out with them to labor. I feel His influence and know that "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13). 

I also love this quote by Dr. Seuss: "Today you are YOU, that is truer than true. There is no one alive that is YOU-er than you!" I feel that I am definitely supposed to be here. That my "me-ness" with all my strengths, quirks, and even imperfections, are touching the people we work with. We may not be quite seeing the fruits of our labors yet, but I know that we have planted hundreds of seeds, and if for no other reason, The Lord wanted Sis. De Rurange and me to learn something from each other. I definitely have. She is such a Christ-like person. I told her the other day that if there were ever a close to perfect representative of Jesus Christ, she would come into my mind. But really! President Alba, she is such a kind, genuine, loving, meek, humble, incredible leader and teacher. She always brings it back to Christ - how it should be. Thank you for putting us together - it was definitely inspired. 

Also, the temple trip was amazing on Thursday. Before my mission, I went two-three times every week to an endowment session at the temple for about a month. I've missed the temple and the beautiful feelings and the wonderful tranquility I feel there. I received comfort, too, about Ray and his struggle to come unto Christ. I just KNOW everything will work out perfectly. That Ray will take the first step and be baptized, but it might take some time. 

We had a successful blitz as a zone on Saturday, too! We set up hot cocoa stands in 3 different parts of Santa Rosa and made signs that said, "free hot cocoa!" People came up to us and we would give them hot chocolate and a Crèche Festival flyer. We handed out over 300 flyers! And Sis. De Rurange and I have been giving them out like crazy on our own. An amazing lady we're teaching, Natalie, wanted 4 or 5 to give to friends as well! 

This week, Sis. De Rurange and I are more motivated than ever to labor in the vineyard of The Lord. We pray daily to find the elect, and we are beginning to truly find phenomenal people! The words "Ask and ye shall receive" are so true. I love you President Alba, and Sister Alba, too! I pray for your health and happiness every day! :) Until next week,

Love,

Sister Nikole Decker

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I love you all!  Have a wonderful week!!

Love always,

Sister Nikole Decker

P.S. Scriptures I found this week:

John 16:32-33

John 14:26 (the Godhead are one in purpose, but 3 separate beings - see if you can count all three being talked about as separate)

Alma 32:26-37

Proverbs 31

Psalms 24:3-4

November 18 - Pears and Pomegranates

Dear family and friends,

What a week!  

So a couple of cool things:

1. The pears here are SO good.  I have never had such amazing pears in my life. Bryce - you would love it here haha.

2. I can't remember if I told you all yet, but I tried pomegranates for the first time in a salad a couple of weeks ago and I am HOOKED!  They are so good!  I bought a pomegranate for the first time and am trying to figure out what to do with it now...supposedly you just cut it in half and dig out the seeds.  Also, a Hawaiian family fed us last night and gave us the 2 largest pomegranates I have ever laid my eyes on. So I'm eating pomegranate for lunch today...once I figure out how to get the seeds out.

3.  Many of our less-active members are coming back into activity!!  We've really been working hard to help them feel loved on all sides - loved by God, by us missionaries, and by the ward.  And it's working:)

Sad news: Ray's baptism has been postponed...again.  We found out that he drank a cup of coffee, but lots of interesting stuff has been happening besides that.  So the night of his baptismal interview, he came out of the interview and the elder who interviewed him, Elder Mair, looked very hesitant and nervous.  He told us, "I mean, he answered all the questions right, but keep a close eye on him."  The next day, Ray came to dinner with the ward mission leader, us sister missionaries in the Redwood Single's Ward, and the ward mission leader assistant.  He was telling us about his day and slipped that he had a cup of coffee...what was weird was that Elder Mair told us that he said he totally understood the Word of Wisdom - that he knew it was no alcohol, cigarettes, illegal or addictive substances, coffee, tobacco, and tea, and yet he drank the coffee the very next day.

It wasn't just the coffee that pushed us to talk to him - both Sister De Rurange and I have been feeling like this is premature.  We talked to our mission president and he felt the same way, as well as our bishop.  And if he DOESN'T understand the Word of Wisdom entirely, then what else doesn't he understand?  We've been prompted to go back to the very beginning and teach him all over again, so that's what we are going to do.  Also, I had a dream Friday night that he was baptized, but the whole baptism didn't feel right...things weren't working out, Ray was getting upset just before, and it felt WRONG.  Even if Ray is upset about not getting baptized tomorrow as he originally planned, we would rather he knows exactly the covenant he is making with God and know and have a strong testimony of the principles we teach so that when the storm comes, he will be built upon a strong, solid foundation (See Helaman 5:12).

Even if Ray didn't technically MEAN to tell us about the coffee, it was a God-send that he did.  Otherwise, we might've proceeded with the baptism and found out the holes in his testimony later, when he was under a covenant and held to a higher standard than he understands and knows how to live up to. 

I have faith that Ray will be just fine, though.  He has a solid testimony of the Book of Mormon - now it's all about helping him apply his faith in the Book of Mormon to knowing Joseph Smith is a true prophet, and thus that the Word of Wisdom is also of God because it was revealed to Joseph Smith, one of God's prophets.  

Another rather sad thing occurred this week: one of our other investigators, Anthony, had a lot of family in the Phillippines, and with the typhoons and earthquake, he found out that all of his family over there were killed except for his aunt and 3 of his cousins.  Wow.  Sister De Rurange and I have really been emphasizing the Plan of Salvation and the importance of temple ordinances to Anthony this past week - that he will be okay, and his family will be to, because of God's incredible Plan of Happiness that is in place for us.  He is now more determined than ever to be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, receive the priesthood, and enter the temple to do work for his ancestors to have the chance to receive the Gospel.  

It's incredible how tragic things happen on this Earth, but because God loves us so much and has given us Christ to overcome all, including physical and spiritual death, we can come back.  And because He has given us the Priesthood once again, we have the authority to bind families together forever (Matthew 16:19).

The Plan of Salvation (Or Redemption, Exaltation, Happiness) is a pure, simple, sweet, beautiful, perfect plan.  I know that it is God's plan, and that Jesus Christ is central to that plan.  That God gives us prophets to show us the way, and the way has always been, now is, and will continue to be through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  

Some people feel like living the Gospel is hard.  Well of course it is!  The Gospel is in place for us to become like God (Alma 34:32-34).  

We are essentially in God-training.  

Do you think God-training will be easy?  I think of a talk from General Conference (and forgive me - I can't quite remember who gave it) where the man was talking about boot camp for the Army.  Do you think training to be a soldier will be easy?  No, it will not be.  But is it worth it?  Ask any person who has gone into any branch of the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, etc. if it was worth it.  I have yet to hear of anyone saying it wasn't.  I've heard the complete opposite - that they were taught self-respect, discipline, hard work, diligence, faith, trust, humility, and numerous other qualities.  Just as going into an Army boot camp will be hard, and becoming a soldier will be hard, yes, training to be a soldier of God, training to eventually become like God and enjoy the blessing He has, will also be hard.  But you know what?  In the words of my little brother Bryce, "We can do hard things."

This week from all my studies and from the experiences with Anthony and Ray I came to really realize that that statement, "We can do hard things" is so true.  Remember what Paul said in Philippians: that "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13).  We can do hard things. I can do hard things. You can do hard things.  Don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up.

With love,

Sister Nikole Decker :)

November 11 - Facebook is amazing

Dear family and friends,

Hi!  I hope you had a wonderful week and weekend.  First off, happy belated birthday to Justin Lee - I thought about you on your birthday and hope you had a fun surprise party! 

Second, to anyone who is planning on sending a package soon...I would love a GPS before mid-December haha.  My companion is most likely going to be transferred, and I would die trying to navigate our massive area via map alone.  Take a look on a map to see how big our area is - it goes from Ukiah, CA, all the way down to San Rafael, CA...it's very expansive.  We left our GPS behind one day this week and we had to try to navigate some far place via map and it was really hard.  So yes, that would be greatly appreciated. 

Third, I discovered that I cannot drive because they think my license is suspended!!  I looked at my driving record the other day and it has a whole bunch of red slashes through it and circles and such...I need to talk to President Alba about that haha.  That's what I get for getting two tickets under the age of 18 in Arizona, I suppose...but oh well.  Sister De Rurange is the drive now, and I like it that way.

So a few interesting things happened this week I thought you'd like to know:

1. There are stray cats EVERYWHERE. I get scared out of my mind every morning on our runs because a cat will pop out of a bush or come out of a shadow.

2.  Our investigator, Ray Sims, is going to be baptized next Tuesday!! I tried to get a picture with him this week, but somehow it didn't work. I'll give you a picture next week, hopefully.  Just know he's hilarious, African-American, a really good rapper (actually, he says, "no, Sister Decker, they're poems."), and I showed him Justin and I's handshake we always do and he LOVES it haha.  Now every time we shake hands he wants to do that one.

3.  We ate hot dogs and pizza 4/7 days this past week.  That's what happens when you're fed by YSA-age people haha.

4.  We ate SO much fruit this week, because it's all we ever buy.  Our lunch every day consists of this: a PB&J, sometimes nuts, grapes, an orange, a peach, a pear, and some kiwis.  Oh and we bring bananas for snacks, too.  

5.  I lost 5 pounds in 1 month from not eating sugar.  Which is good, because I gained 5 in the MTC haha.  We originally were not eating sugar for a few investigators to support them in their addictions ("You give up cigarettes, I'll give up sugar") and are still doing it for them.  But also, I feel really good not eating sweets and treats! (However...I don't know how I'm going to do when Thanksgiving and Christmas come up...I love those types of sweets)

As for the rest, I wrote it much better in my letter to my mission president this week, so I'll copy that here for you to read on the rest of my week.  Just know this: Facebook is an INCREDIBLE hastening tool the Lord has provided for us.  I am SO excited and feel SO privileged and trusted to be able to use our iPads to "hasten the work in its time" (D&C 88:73):

I had such an enlightening week. Just on Saturday, it finally clicked in my head how amazing and important of a tool that Facebook is. We now have the opportunity to, instead of tracting doors or contacting for an hour to find a couple of people, look up thousands of people in Santa Rosa and contact them in a matter of minutes. Yesterday on Facebook I contacted 23 people in 15 minutes. And 2 of them responded back right away and I ended up teaching lessons and asking them if we could meet and teach them in person. It is SUCH a blessing to have these 8873s to literally hasten the work and be able to find the elect in our own areas so much faster and much more effectively than it has been in the past. It also hit me just yesterday how much The Lord trusts us to enable us to have such amazing tools. 

Elder Martin commented to Elder Johnson something really cool I'd like to share with you: he said to Elder Johnson, "I bet before this life God was talking to everyone and said, 'we're going to have someone create this device that will help hasten the work...' and Elder Johnson jumps up and says to God, 'I will be there and I will help use this device to push the work forward!'" After Sis. Alba's talk in stake conference Saturday night, I feel now more than ever that I was "deployed" to Santa Rosa, CA at this time because I told God I would love to help, and He knew I had the special skills and talents to hasten His work in its time, just as you accepted the calling in Heaven to be the mission president at the time of this hastening before Jesus Christ comes once again. 

I absolutely love being a Mormon. A phrase Sister De Rurange uses often that I wholeheartedly know to be true is, "everyone's a Mormon - they just don't know it yet." President Alba, I want you to know that I know this church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is true. I just know it. It makes sense, and I can feel peace of mind whenever I read the Book of Mormon, which confirms to me over and over and over that this is the right thing for me to do, that this church truly is Jesus Christ's church with His full Gospel, including the beautiful Plan of Happiness, restored once again through Joseph Smith. I know that my Redeemer lives. I know it is through Him that we can be cleansed from sin. 

On Thursday night we were teaching a less-active member, Elizabeth, about the Sacrament. She had attended church that past Sunday, and said how amazing it felt to partake and feel washed clean of her sins. I sometimes forget that the Sacrament is such a sacred ordinance we have the opportunity to partake of weekly; that we can be made "white as snow" (Isaiah 1:18) every week. What a loving Heavenly Father we have, to restore through Joseph Smith an ordinance like that to the Earth again - an ordinance that because of Jesus Christ's sacrifice, can make us whole and clean and pure each and every week. That can make us as clean as when we were baptized. I have faith in Jesus Christ, and know that He truly can take it all away. I am forever indebted to Him, and so serving a mission, putting forth full-time effort to bring children into the fold, seems like such a small way to say thank you. But it's like you said in stake conference Saturday night: "We must give Him everything we have, because He has given us everything He has." 

I am trying my best to give it all I've got, with "an eye single to the glory of God" (D&C 4:5).

I also wanted to tell you how my prayer was answered this week. Tuesday morning in my interview with you, I asked you to pray for Ray, that he would not want to slow things down, but speed things up. And you did. Thank you so much - God heard and answered my, Sister De Rurange, and your prayer just that night. We dropped an extra laundry basket and some cinnamon gum off at his place and then he told us that he wanted to have a lesson, so we walked over to the church and taught him about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As we were talking, he said to us, "You know sisters, I just KNOW that this church is the one for me. I've been reading the Book of Mormon an awful lot lately and prayed and asked God, and now I just KNOW that it is true." He then said that he wants to,be baptized November 19th - not this Tuesday, but next Tuesday. :) He hasn't been smoking for around...1 1/2 weeks now, and he says it gets easier every day. His interview is on Thursday. I know that God hears and answers our prayers. I just KNOW, like Ray just knows. 

Pretty amazing, huh?  

Well, I love you all so much.  I am growing more and more every day, and not only am I bringing other unto Christ, but I feel that I am growing closer to Jesus Christ.  When you have nowhere to turn, turn to Christ.  He will NEVER let you down.  I promise that because as I have been teaching Anthony, and Ray, and Elizabeth, and Matthew, and Michael, and Robby, and the Foley family these past couple of months, I have seen how when they lean on Christ, Christ only helps and lifts them up.  When we build our foundation on Christ, we cannot fail.  (Helaman 5:12, Moroni 7:45)

Also, for those of you who have troubles understanding why we go to church, see Moroni 6:4-6. 

I love you, have a wonderful week!  And be a member missionary!!

Lots of love,

Sister Nikole Decker

November 4 - I'm Being CREATIVE - Yay!

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was AWESOME!  It was probably one of the harder weeks I've had - Sister De Rurange and I had to drop one of our investigators, Jacob, this week.  He's been out of town but he said he wanted to have us call him and do "phone lessons," so we've been calling him a couple times every week for about a month.  Two days ago (Saturday), we called him and were talking to him and he said he's been reading the Book of Mormon and praying, but doesn't feel anything.  Then later that day on Facebook, I saw he was online as we were doing our online work so I started chatting with him.  He said some pretty mean things and basically told us that he's been lying about reading and praying and just doesn't care.  He says he doesn't believe in God, even though he told us he has.  So we asked him if he wanted to keep meeting with us and start keeping commitments, and he said no.  It was really sad, but we told him that our time is precious because it is the Lord's time, and we are out here to find those who are ready to come unto Christ, so we won't be teaching him anymore.  We also told him, though, that he is welcome to come to activities and come to Church, and if he wants us to teach him again to let us know.

But even though that was heartbreaking to have happen to us, I know that I was just a stepping stone - he's one step closer to coming unto Christ and receiving the restored Gospel.  Aside from that, I had a very up-and-down week, but a wonderful one, at that.  

Sis. De Rurange and I have been trying to come up with good ways to reactivate the less-active members in our ward, and also with good ways to find the people ready to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  So with our ward, we came up with a plan that we put into action on Monday - a ward talent show/chili cook-off!  We reached out to a lot of people and it was so cool to see all the new faces who showed up to the FHE activity! There were 7 nonmembers there, and a handful of less-active members there as well.  It was also a missionary-based talent show, so the songs and talents and such were based around missionary work.  It was very successful:)

Here's two more cool finding activities we did this week: tabling at SSU (Sonoma State University) and chalk-drawing in downtown Santa Rosa.

The tabling worked so great!  We had a professor come up to our table and at first we thought he was going to Bible bash with us, but he came up and started asking very sincere questions about what we believe and gave us his number and address!  We only teach 18-30 year olds, so we referred him to elders in a family ward, but apparently he came to church yesterday!!!  Something else that drew people in to our booth: we wrote statistics on a big whiteboard.  Some of them were: "Did you know that the Church is one of the fastest growing churches in the world?  Did you know that our humanitarian services are always the first, second, or third responders when natural disasters occur?  Did you know that our Church has the largest women's organization in the world?  Did you know that because of modern revelation from prophets, our Church knew that tobacco was bad for the body before it was proved to be bad by scientists?"  It brought up so many people to ask us more about those things, and we found a lot of potentials that way.

As for the chalk-drawing, we also found a young college guy named Matthew to teach!  On a sidewalk in downtown Santa Rosa, Sis. De Rurange and I and a few other companionships in our zone drew a HUGE tree with big leaves on the branches.  Next to the tree we wrote, "What are you thankful for?"  When people would walk by, one of us would ask, "What are you thankful for in this Thanksgiving season?"  And people would say "family" or "my home" or "faith" or "Jesus Christ" and we would write it in chalk in one of the leaves.  It brought so many people over to see what was going on, and we met a young college guy named Matthew who asked what church we were from.  When we told him, his eyes lit up and he said that some missionaries had said hi to him a few days ago and he was wondering what we were all about.  He wants to learn more about Jesus Christ.  Because of our chalk drawing, we're meeting with him in the Institute building on the Junior College campus at 2 on Wednesday. :):):)  Our creative "finding" and "reactivating" ideas are working! 

We also found another guy last night - Sis De Rurange and I recommitted ourselves this transfer to contacting at least 20 people every day, and we only had 13 at 8pm last night.  We drove downtown to a bus stop and got out and started talking to people, but here's the cool part: we met this boy named Cheveis who has been wanting to learn more about Jesus Christ!  He said, "Yeah, I'd totally love to learn more." And he gave us his number.  So we're going to set up an appointment with him this week, as well.

We finally got ahold of the Foley family, as well (my friend Jenee's family) and Natalie, the mom, said we can meet with her and her family again next Sunday at 7pm.  We're going to teach her the Plan of Salvation, because she lost her husband 7-10 years ago.  Every time we go over to see their family, I continually feel that THIS is the reason why I'm out here - if not to baptize their family, at least be a stepping stone in helping them come to receive the restored Gospel and eventually be baptized and sealed to their husband/dad for time and all eternity.  This church is true - after all the scrutiny it is under, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints still stands stronger than ever, and continues to grow every day.  I have  a testimony of this Gospel, and I know that as we strive to live it, we WILL see our families again and we WILL live with God and Jesus Christ again.

I wanted to end this week's letter with some funny puns.  Background: a member of the bishopric in the ward I serve in (Redwood Young Single Adult (ages 18-30) Ward) is a pun master!  In ward council he (his name is Brother Stockton) was cracking some PUNNY puns, and soon everyone started cracking them too:

Relief Society President: "We talked to Madeleine Stockman this week."

Bro. StockTON: "She's almost got it...but she missed it by a TON."

Elders Quorum President: "But she's more MAN than you."

Later in the meeting as we're talking about our FHE for Monday night to welcome the 10 new members in the ward...

Bishop Pierce: "What should we call it?  It has to be something catchy so people want to come."

Executive Secretary: "How about 'Convert Barbecue?'"

Brother Stockton: "Yeah, that sounds good.  And tell them to make sure they're TENDER."

Sunday School President: "WOW...I think you all need to be PUNished."

Haha it's SO hilarious!  I always have a good laugh in ward council...so many puns...:)

I love you all!  Remember how much God loves you, but that He also knows you have the divine potential to become like Him, so he expects much of you as well: 1 Nephi 3:7.

Also, LOOK FORWARD!  I just read an amazing talk from the January 2010 Ensign called "The Best Is Yet to Be" by Jeffrey R. Holland.  In it, he says, "Faith always moves forward."  Be filled with faith, and when you feel like you aren't receiving a witness, remember that "no witness comes until after a trial of your faith" (Ether 12:6).

Have a good week, make good choices, and be happy!  Life is for us to have joy (2 Nephi 2:25)!!

Lots of love,

Sister Nikole Decker