"Jesus Christmas" or "Santa Christmas"

 

Hello Friends and Family!

The Christmas spirit is definitely alive and well here in Sarajevo! We have had a lot of snow and days reaching 0-degree temperatures. People don't decorate until about a week before Christmas, so now we're really seeing Sarajevo at it's finest! We asked our English students if they celebrate Christmas and they lovingly told us that they don't celebrate "Jesus Christmas" they just celebrate "Santa Christmas", which I thought was very interesting. It's definitely a very commercial holiday here, but it hasn't stopped us from feeling the special spirit we get when we celebrate the season of our Savior's birth. 

This week has definitely been an interesting one for me. Sestra Black and I have been working really really hard to find people in the city who are prepared. We're tracting and talking to everyone we come in contact with about the Gospel. We have gotten a lot of people that give us their phone numbers and we meet up with them, but then they usually let us down fairly gently and tell us that they are Muslim, thanks for the book, they'll read it, but they will live and die a Muslim. It's fairly frustrating, but so is missionary work! We are keeping on and won't stop until we find that person that is searching for us too!

I'm excited to share this season with these people who don't necessarily understand what it's really about. Every day I am here I realize how lucky I am to be a part of this Gospel and to have the opportunity to share it! That's the challenge I want to give to you all this week: Share the spirit you feel! It's a time for us to get together with our families and partake in traditions that have been around for years, but what about starting a new tradition? Have your local missionaries over for dinner and a lesson about this season with one of your less-active neighbors! Go on lessons with the missionaries. Give referrals to the Sister missionaries on temple square! Think of the joy that you feel in this special season, and more importantly, WHY you feel that joy. Believe it or not, there are people around you that don't feel that same peace during this season. It only takes a sincere prayer and a pure heart. Trust in the Lord, the spirit will help you.

Let's make this season special for the RIGHT reasons!

I love you all so much. I've had some time to think on that this week and I really can't thank you enough for your love and prayers. I feel them every day.

Sretan Bozic i Nova Godina!

S Ljubavju,

Sestra Giles

Christmas Time is Here:) and So is Winter!!!

Us with Cute Sestra Smartt (one of our senior missionaries:) Elder Smartt must be taking the picture!!!

Hi friends!

This week has been another great one! I love the fact that it's December and that the Christmas spirit is all around. Even if people don't really celebrate Christmas here there is something still so magical about this time of year! I definitely have times when I can hardly bear to think of our house all decorated, Mom making cookies and watching a movie with the fireplace on, but at the same time there is something so comforting about putting on 20 lbs of clothing and bringing this message to people here. It's more of a "working" type of Christmas spirit now and it's fabulous. 

Sestra Black and I have been working as hard as ever and really just loving every minute of the work here! It's so interesting that the harder I work, the more tired I am when I go to bed, but the more awake I am in the morning! It's so backwards, but I couldn't be more grateful. I know it's definitely a tender mercy from Heavenly Father that I am able to get up and do the same thing each and every day, because we all know I'm not very patient. :) 

We're still looking to find the family that we have been praying for, so we've been talking to everyone we come in contact with! We've really been searching and using different approaches to help people feel the spirit, but we are definitely learning every day that some things work for some people and those same things DO NOT work for other people. haha Lately it's been the bit of the same: people trying to convert us to Islam. I'm actually considering it because they get to wear coverings over their faces and no one looks at them strangely! I bet they are just snug as bugs in rugs under there! haha 

 

Beautiful Sarajevo in the snow. Doesn't it look like a little Christmas village?

We got our first big snow this week and I have effectively realized that all of my clothes are summer clothes. So what am I doing? Wearing about two outfits on top of each other! I'm learning the magic of tights as well. THEY ARE INCREDIBLE! I do miss my cute patterns and things that I used to have at home, but as long as I am warm I don't care. I've also lost any sense of what "matching" means (sorry Mom) since I only have one pair of boots that are black. I'm all about black and brown these days. Whoops:)

 

I miss you all so much! I'm so happy to be a missionary. Missionary work is definitely about WORK and I couldn't be more happy doing what I'm doing. I have spent a lot of time in my life waiting for the "next phase" in my life because, of course, AFTER I graduate things will be better, AFTER this semester I will be better at reading my scriptures, AFTER my mission I'll be a better person, AFTER I'm married I'll be satisfied with the way that I look, but this week I was lucky enough to re-read President Uchtdorf's "Forget Me Not" talk and it set me straight.

" The lesson here is that if we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots that are all around us. This is not to say that we should abandon hope or temper our goals. Never stop striving for the best that is within you. Never stop hoping for all of the righteous desires of your heart. But don’t close your eyes and hearts to the simple and elegant beauties of each day’s ordinary moments that make up a rich, well-lived life. The happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they are those who, while in pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments. They are the ones who, thread by daily thread, weave a tapestry of gratitude and wonder throughout their lives. These are they who are truly happy."
 

With all the hustle and the bustle of this holiday season, let's not forget to be happy now!

I love you all and miss you so much! I hope you have a great week, read your scriptures every day and hug your parents: or at least if yours aren't around, please hug mine for me. :)

Volim vas!

Sestra Giles

Zjima je tu! (Winter is here!)

Beautiful Bosnian pillow:)

Over 200 contacts this week!!! BOOYAH:)

Happy December!

I cannot believe it's already so close to Christmas! We have had the MOST beautiful and warm fall season here and just like clockwork we started to get snow today! Bosnia has got it going on if I do say so myself. :) I've loved being able to be outside so much and actually feel the seasons changing. I'm so grateful for God's creations! 

Beautiful Muberra from Turkey!

This week has been a huge week of finding. Since Sestra Black and I both felt like we needed a new start, that's what we're getting! I have loved tracting since my first day here, which I am very thankful for, but now Sestra Black is helping me see that contacting can be just as successful and rewarding! I've continued to be surprized with how many nice people we meet on the street no matter what time of day, or what the weather is like. I know that as we continue to work hard we will find those people who the Lord wants us to find! We've been really trying to be specific as we can so the Lord can help us the most, and we are really searching for a family! We know that when we have a vision of what we want to find and we work hard that Heavenly Father will help us. 

Sweet Nermina(one of the members) trying to fix my coat.

This week I had an interesting experience....my zipper on my coat broke! My zipper is about a meter long on my big winter coat, so it's been a bit of an inconvenience. Not to mention that people in these Balkan countries have a little fear about exposed skin to wind and cold: it causes stomach aches, flu and even infertility! (Yeah, watch out!) It's been interesting to walk down the street or go into someone's house and have them tell me that when my coat isn't zipped up it's --Bad for my belly--. hahaha We learn new things every day right?

Christmas Countdown!!!

I'm so excited for Christmas!!!!! In the closet at the church we found a DVD that has a bunch of Christmas Films that the church produced in the 80s like Mr. Krueger's Christmas, etc. and it's keeping the Christmas spirit burning over here in Bosnia. I have yet to burst out in a Christmas carol on the bus, but I think the time is nigh at hand. Not very many people celebrate Christmas here so it's going to have to be mostly in our hearts and among the missionaries. Elder Mecham was nice enough to make us each a --Christmas Countdown-- that has a candy that we get to eat each day until Christmas so we're celebrating a little every day! I'm going to miss going up to the lights at Temple Square, but the little lights at the top of the towers at the Mosques will just have to do for now. :)

This week I was studying in Mosiah. I LOVE THE SCRIPTURES! Alma the younger is talking about his repentance process and says in verses 28 and 29:

28 Nevertheless, after wading through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God.

  29 My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more.

I love the imagery of God snatching Alma from his sins. Isn't that what he does with all of us? I know that even when we feel like we have been through so much and we aren't sure if God will still be merciful, I know that He will be. It definitely takes a little work on our part of repenting and reconciling, but He will always snatch us. Let Him snatch you! :)

I love you all. Have a fabulous first week of December!

Love,

Sestra Giles 

PS. Thank you for all the packages, letters, emails and prayers. They help to keep me going:)

Yay for Christmas packages:)

Thanksgiving or Dan Zahvalnosti!

Sestra Black my new companion:)

Hi everyone!

What a wonderful week it's been for all of us, I'm sure! I feel so lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life to give me the support and the push that I need to keep being better. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I really hope you know I AM THANKFUL FOR YOU! Yes, YOU!

I'm grateful for Pizza:)

Last week on Tuesday I got to spend my day with the senior couple in our area: The Smartts. They are great people and it was fun to get a little peek into what being on a mission in Bosnia means for them! We dropped Sister Trumbo off at the airport at 5:45am to catch her flight to Beograd and then we went back to the Smartt's. By the time we got there it was only about 6:20, when I was supposed to be just waking up! haha Sister Smartt was great and didn't go back to bed and we had a really great conversation about missionary work. She is such a great example to me of how we each should view our lot in life and how we need to act as members of the church, wherever we are! I got time to do my regular studies and then we ran a bunch of errands. We washed all the dishes we had bought for the church, went to the bank and got some papers signed for me to be legal in the country. After that we came back to their house, Skyped their daughter for her birthday and talked more about missionary work! After all of this we were pretty starving so we went out to dinner. As we sat down at our table and we were introduced to our waiter President Smartt said, "Sister Giles, now I want you to set up an appointment with this man to teach him and his family, okay?" Needless to say I was a little caught off-guard, but I did it IN BOSNIAN, BY MYSELF! It was the scariest, but best experience for me. I was completely relying on the spirit to help me know what to say, because I have relied on my companion so much up unitl now! I learned he had a wife and a 3-year-old daughter and got his phone number before we left and he said that he would be looking forward to learning more about the gospel. It was a great, great way to finish our dinner! After dinner we went back to their house and talked more about missionary work until we had to go to the airport to pick up Sister Black at 9:30pm. It was a full day of the Smartts, which I couldn't have been more grateful for!

Sister Black is AWESOME! She is coming home December 29th, so she is definitely on the home stretch! She is from Missouri and is a GREAT cook. She knows this language back and forth and is very humble. We get along great and both have the fire to work hard here. We set goals that we both feel very strongly about and have been working hard to achieve them. I feel so blessed that I get to work with her for these next few weeks!

Our bedroom, living room & dining room

Thanksgiving here was great! My heart was so full of gratitude from right when I woke up. President Rowe called to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving and it really reminded me of home. I feel so lucky to be in a place where I may be one of many that are serving, but Heavenly Father knows each of us and guides the president of our mission, wherever we are! Our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of everything we would have had at home (minus the personalized name-place cards. :) ) including turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, marshmallow salad, cooked vegetables, pecan tarts and pumpkin pie! It was a great dinner! We also did an activity that Mom shared with me in her last email about writing down 100 things that we are Thankful for. While I was at the Smartts I printed up a paper with all the categories and we gave them to everyone to fill out, it was a great activity and really helped me think about how much I have to be grateful for! 

One last miracle that happened this week was that we had our first Relief Society meeting in Bosnia. Last week President Lamoreaux announced that we would be having Relief Society and Priesthood meetings along with our regular sacrament meeting and sunday school meetings. Sister Black and I were asked to teach the lesson about the Relief Society Declaration. As fate would have it, all of the english-speaking members of our Relief Society were out of town so it just a room with us and the three Bosnian-born members here. The spirit was so strong as we started discussing the declaration, and all in Bosnian! These women are so strong and are the foundation of the work here in this branch. I am so honored to be in a place where I get to interact with these ever-faithful women. 

The fact that we were starting THE FIRST Relief Society in Bosnia has made me think a lot about the different organizations of the church back at home. I know that back in the states the organizations are much bigger, but it doesn't dim the fact that we are each an important part in making it work properly. In Mosiah 18:21 we read:

 21 And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.

No matter if we have 3 people or 30 people in our class, we are each important and are each needed to keep the church strong! I know that when we have our hearts knit together in unity that there is nothing we cannot do!

I love you all and I hope you have a WONDERFUL first week of December. :)

Volimo vas,

Sestra Giles

 

Mom sent "12 days of Christmas" and it made it!!! We are all ready:)

Big Leaves. I love FALL!!!

Happy Muslim New Year & Thanksgiving

After church with Edina there was a "Children Against Violence" rally. They gave us these cards.

We love Edina.  On our way to church!

Cao, Cao, Cao!

First of all, Happy Muslim New Year! Apparently the Islam calendar started over this week. There wasn't a big celebration or anything, but someone told us that was happening. haha

This week has been a week full of teaching! It's so bittersweet that Sestra Trumbo is leaving because we just started to get into our groove, but I know she will be such a light and a joy that is needed in Belgrade! We found 5 new investigators this week and have been lucky to be having success! 

Two of the people we are teaching are a married couple who are about 60 years old and both grew up in Sarajevo. They are so so darling! We tracted into them and they let us right in. Since they both grew up here, they are both Muslim. They are very interested in everything we have taught them so far, but mostly our idea of prayer. In Islam they recite prayers that are written in the Koran in Arabic. The wife was expressing how that is hard for her because she doesn't understand a dang thing they are saying! We told her that we use our own words and it is our way to talk to God and she was very, very interested in learning more about it. We told her that the best way that she could learn more is if she tried it herself, so she did! It was so cute because she didn't know what else to say in the middle of her prayer so her husband was helping her with some things and she told him to shut up in the middle of the prayer! haha. Sestra Trumbo and I almost lost it. haha. People here are just like I am: stubborn and independent. haha I think that is probably why we get along so well :)

Happy Birthday Elder Shillabeer!

This week we had a goodbye dinner for Elder Shillabeer, who goes back home to England tomorrow, and Sestra Trumbo at our Branch President's house. Sister Lamoreaux made us mexican food (which they don't have in Bosnia. CRAZY!) and we had apple crisp and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I don't think I could have been more satisfied. haha The best part of the night was when all 5 of us missionaries taught Lesson 3: The Gospel of Jesus Christ. It worked perfectly because there are 5 principles in the lesson and 5 missionaries! We each took a different principle and taught for a few minutes. The spirit was so strong.  I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such good people, and to be able to testify of the truthfulness of this gospel alongside them. I really felt empowered by hearing all of their testimonies. It reminded me of how important it is for us to share our testimonies! We may never know the impact it can have on others.

Isaac, the branch President's son and our next broadway star:)

After our lesson we had a little impromptu talent show which was kicked off with (in true Giles' family style) a RAP by Sestra Trumbo and I. Needless to say, I think we caught everyone that was there off-guard! I'm not sure how many Sister missionaries in the world rap...hahaha We wrote the rap as a little goodbye-wish for Elder Shillabeer, so it was fun to especially see his reaction! haha After that we got to hear Elder Shillabeer on the piano, President Lamoreaux on the guitar, Eli (his 17-year-old son) did a puppet show for us and Isaac (his 11-year-old son) sang us some songs from "Into the Woods". It was a great goodbye for Sestra Trumbo and Elder Shillabeer. We are really going to miss them!

One thing that I read this week that really helped me was in Jacob 7:5. Sometimes it's really hard to have people tell you that "you're lost" and "God isn't our father. He is just our creator" and that "Jesus Christ isn't the Savior". Never have I met so much opposition in my whole life! But this week in my personal studies I was reading about Jacob having a very similar situation. A man named Sherem begins to preach against the things that Jacob has said about Christ and now Sherem wants to talk to Jacob personally.  Jacob knows what Sherem really wants and in verse 5 he simply says:

 5 And he had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me. And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken.

 

It was a gentle reminder that I can stand strong in my work because I have felt things that these people don't understand right now. We each need to remember the sacred things that we have experienced in our lives and not let others ideas of what we are doing shake us from our firm foundations! I know that as we continue to be faithful and to do those things that we know bring us joy that we will have a more firm foundation, and who doesn't want that? :)

I love you all! Thanks for all your support. 

Love,

Sestra Giles

I LOVE BOSNIA, BOSNIANS and BOSNIAN!!!

Our tri-panionship with Sestra McKinnon

Coming back from the grocery story:) Our apartment is on the top of the building on the left.

Zdravo, zdravo, zdravo!

First of all, I LOVE BOSNIA, BOSNIANS and BOSNIAN! The longer I am in this country and am really starting to understand these people better my heart is just getting more and more attached. I wish I could bring each of you out with me for a day so you could experience the wonderful people here. 

Loved having Sestra McKinnon work with us this week!

This week we had a great opportunity to become a tri-panionship. President Rowes niece, Audrey (Who, as it turns out, I already knew from Liberty Square. We were in the same ward! haha), came and stayed with us this week. IT WAS AN INCREDIBLE WEEK, to say the least. It was definitely a tender mercy from Heavenly Father to have a new perspective with the people that we are teaching. We had a hard time letting her leave yesterday!

Our week started out with a great lesson with M... We testified very strongly of the reality of Jesus Christ and His gospel and how it can change our lives. We specifically focused on repentance and baptism. The best part about teaching M... is that she asks SUCH good questions! You can tell by the spirit of her questions that she really does want to know the answers that we have to give. In the end, we invited her to be baptized and guess what? She has a baptismal date for December 8th! :) We told her that being baptized means that she needs to stop drinking coffee and smoking and keep other commandments that Heavenly Father has given us. She simply replied --When I put my mind to something I definitely can do it and I want to do this!-- She is an incredible person.

We started our new round of English classes this week. We have been so excited to start teaching a new round of people since we have more experience than when we started our last round, but nothing could have prepared us for what happened....we had 57 people show up. 57!! The room we usually use for English class fits about 40 people comfortably, so we were getting creative! We got out every chair we had in the whole building and by some miracle we fit! It was incredible to stand at the front of the class and see all different kinds of people: giggly teenage girls, widows, successful businessmen and even a woman who spoke only french and have them all in a room with 5 representatives of Jesus Christ, eager and ready to learn. The spirit really testified to me that this would be where we would find the prepared people in Sarajevo, and it has already started! In our usual end-of-class spiritual thought Elder Mecham shared about the Book of Mormon and how it brings us more happiness. After class we handed out every last copy of the Book of Mormon that we had in the church! I am so excited to get to know these people better and introduce them to this comfort-giving gospel!

Yesterday we had Zone Conference, and just like last time the spirit was definitely there! President Rowe talked alot about --Hastening the Gathering-- and how with all of the new revelations (the new mission-age, the new youth curriculum, etc.) we can definitely see that we are being prepared and called to share the gospel with even greater force! As we are serving more people and in a more-effective way we need to remember that it is through LOVE & SERVICE that this work is shared. How beautiful and simple the gospel is! Seriously, the more I learn about the gospel the simpler it becomes to me. It almost feels backwards! haha I feel so blessed every day to be able to uncover a new truth and have it always tie back to the fundamentals.

 Along with Zone Conference we had our interviews with President Rowe. Meeting with him strengthened my testimony that this man is called of God! I'm so grateful to be here in this mission! As part of our interview he let me know that in a mission we get to experience a lot of change (yeah, NOT my favorite. haha) and that that would be happening to me this transfer. Sestra Trumbo is going to be going to Serbia and I am going to be getting a new companion, Sestra Black! Sestra Black has been serving in Serbia for the last two transfers and only has one more transfer left on her mission, so she is coming to work with me in Sarajevo! The catch is that Sestra Black starts school at the beginning of January and the transfer doesn't finish up until the end of January. What does that mean for me? I am going to have ANOTHER companion for the last 3 weeks of the transfer and guess what else? SHE IS A NATIVE FROM BOSNIA! President is going to call a 20-year-old member from Bosnia named Viki to be my companion! I am really nervous and so excited for all these changes, but as he was explaining it all to me I felt Heavenly Fathers love for me and I know that this is what he would want to happen. :)

Autumn in beautiful Sarajevo:)

I have been thinking a lot about what sets us apart as Latter-day saints this week. Every day I testify of the fact that we have a living prophet today, that we have the true priesthood of Jesus Christ on the earth and that we believe in another book of scripture that testifies of Jesus Christ, named the Book of Mormon. All of those things set us apart. But the more people I meet, the more families I teach, the more people I see start to change their lives to live in accordance with the teachings of this gospel, I really see what it is that sets us apart: THE LIGHT! In D&C 93:37 it says, 37 Light and truth forsake that evil one. I know that wherever we are: around many members of the church or not, that that light sets us apart. Having this light doesn't mean that we will be without trial or difficulty (even though sometimes I wish I could promise people that) but that we know who we are, where we came from and what our purpose is on this earth. How could we not shine if we really understood these things?!  I know that as we each keep stoking our spiritual fire that we can each be that --Light on a hill that cannot be hid-- and in turn help our own testimonies grow.

I love you all and pray for you every day! Keep shining!

Sestra Giles

Happy Halloween!

Our district! Happy Halloween!

Halloween treats for the Elders:)

We love our aprons!

Zdravo!

Missionary work here in Sarajevo is in full-force, as well as the fun weather that October brings: Snow one day, blazing heat the next! I definitely look like a foreigner with my snow boots on when its 75 degrees and my sandals on when its 30, but hopefully we will have a consistent temperature soon! :)

This week we met a 24-year-old girl named M... and her 20-year-old sister, A... who have become really really close to my heart! The Elders tracted into her about a week ago and gave her as a referral to us. All last weekend I kept thinking that we need to call M..., we need to call M..., we need to call her! We finally got around to calling her and she was so excited to meet with us. We went over and taught her, her sister and her roommate. Lets just say that M...,is PREPARED! She asked a lot of questions in the lesson, but actually accepted the answers we gave her to those questions (which doesnt usually happen here). We got on the subject of baptism and she was really intrigued. She told us that she was raised Catholic and was baptized as a child, but she doesn't think that is right because she wants to choose to be baptized! We then explained how we each choose to be baptized and in our church the youngest age that you can be baptized is age 8 and we have an interview with the Bishop about why we want to get baptized. She loved it! The next words that came out of her mouth were made of pure gold, "Well I think I might need you to baptize me again because I want to listen to you and I want to choose to be baptized!" Yes. Sestra Trumbo and I nearly fell out of our chairs.

 

 The most touching part of our meeting was when we were closing with prayer and M..., told us that just the night before she had decided that she wanted to start a new life. She had gotten rid of a lot of bad things in her life and when she woke up that Monday morning she told herself that --It was the start of her new life!-- Then we called. She told us that she knew it wasn't a coincidence and I knew it wasn't either. The spirit had been prompting me to call her because Heavenly Father knew she was ready for this message. I am so grateful I followed that simple prompting. She is reading the Book of Mormon and praying! We have another lesson with her tonight, and I cannot wait! 

Sestra Trumbo dressed up as me:)

This week was also Sestra Trumbo's Birthday and Halloween! We had a DELICIOUS dinner at the Smartt's complete with pumpkin cheesecake to honor Sestra Trumbo. :) Needless to say, I am really really glad that she was born. I am so lucky to have her as my companion!

I dressed up like Sestra Trumbo:)

For Halloween we decided to dress up as each other! We switched clothes and nametags, bags and even jewelry! It was so fun to walk into English class and have everyone be so confused. I made pumpkin cookies for our english class (which actually turned out!) and Sestra Trumbo and I sang Thriller on our walk home to celebrate the day!

Minute-to-win-it cookie game!

This week we also had our Branch Fall Party. We had quite the feast including homemade chili, cinnamon rolls and so much more! We had about 40 people attend and only about 10 of them were members. We decorated sugar cookies, socialized and then ended everthing with a Giles classic, Minute-to-win-it! It was a really great opportunity to meet people and show them that Mormons truly are normal! 

We love our Saturday english class students

We finished up our first round of our 6-week English course this week too! It has been so fun to get to know these people, have fun together and share the gospel with them! We couldnt help ourselves and ended the class with playing the Cookie on the Face game with them. It was awesome!

Needless to say, its been a VERY busy week! I have really relished the time that I have had to read the scriptures. This week I decided to start over in the Book of Mormon. I love that everytime we read this book we can get something different out of it! This time around in 1 Nephi I have noticed a trend in the way that Nephi views faith and obedience! In 1 Nephi 3:7 we know that Nephi says that ...--I know that the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men, save He shall prepare a way for them to accomplish the things which he commandeth them.-- But as I kept reading I realized that he says that same thing in 

9:6 --But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words.-- 

Then he says it AGAIN in 1 Nephi 17:3...3 And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and ^astrengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them;

I love getting packages:)

What great faith Nephi has! This week I am committing to have more faith like Nephi to do all that the Lord commands because I KNOW that he will give me the strength I need to accomplish the things He had commanded me. I know that as we are doing everything in our power to obey the commandments that He will bless us.

I love you all, thanks for all the letters, emails and prayers!

Sestra Giles