Rakkaus ei koskaan Katoa

    Heyyyyyyy. What's up everyone? How are you doing this beautiful morning? The sun is shining over here, and I have nothing but good things to say about that! I think I actually got sunburnt this week...hahahaha psych. Totally kidding. Let's not get carried away now. The sun shines and the warmth almost makes it to ground level. :) I am so grateful for the sun. It is something I will never take for granted again! I hope you have all had the best week. Shout out to Anne, McKenna and Sophie. Holy cow you three, you looked so beautiful. 2 prom queens in the family. That's pretty legit! :) I love you all and hope you had a great time!

    So I have neglected to tell you over the past few weeks that we have another mission tour in Finland. Elder Brent Nieslen of the seventy is coming to visit us. Wow. Way cool. He actually spoke in this last General Conference. I don't know if you remember his talk, but he talked about his sister who went less active, but eventually came back to the church. It was such a powerful talk, very emotional. Anyways, he is on assignment here in Finland at the Tampere stake conference this Sunday, and he is also going to meet with the missionaries. We have been anticipating this for a long time. In preparation for his coming, he asked us all to read a couple of talks by Elder Bednar. One of them is a speech he gave at BYU in 2001 about the Atonement and the other is the talk he gave last April conference about the load and his friend and the truck. It's such a wonderful talk and we have all been studying those faithfully in preparation for him. Want to know a cool fact? Elder Nielsen served his mission in Finland the same time that President Watson was here. Woah. Small world. Anyways, we were proud to have a Finnish missionary represented in conference. haha it was great. 

    The Helsinki and Tampere zones are combining for the tour on Saturday in Tampere. Did you hear that? I GET TO GO BACK TO TAMPERE!!! YIPPPEEEEE!! Oh my word, I can hardly contain my excitement. It's been over a year since I was there last. I am so grateful I have another chance to see it before I leave. So on Saturday morning, all the missionaries in the Helsinki Zone are going up to Tampere by bus then we have the meeting Saturday, come back Saturday night, go to church the next day, then we have the sisters from Lappeenranta staying with us and the Tampere Sister Training Leaders  Sunday night then early Monday morning, we are all flying up to Oulu to have the second conference up there on Monday. Wow. What a weekend. Then the next day on Tuesday, Sister Rochette and I are staying up in Oulu to do splits with the sisters there. Moral of the story, our P-day is getting moved to WEDNESDAY next week only. I just wanted to make sure I told you so that you wouldn't think I was dead. But yes, we are really excited and have a fun week ahead of us. It's going to be great!

    Phew, wow, now onto this week. It's been a very busy, but wonderful week here in good old Espoo. We are just plugging along and having a great time doing it. We had a lesson last week with our investigator that we found through the "Because of Him" video on the street. She is older, about 82, Pentecostal, and she is really nice. She has bright red hair. Not like ginger red, but like Ronald McDonald red. She is really cool! :) We talked about the Restoration with her. She had so many questions about authority and why we think our church is the only true church. We really tried to explain it as best as we could, but it was one of those lessons where she was literally denying the Spirit. The Spirit was there, she just wasn't allowing it to touch her heart. That is always so interesting to me, but I have come to understand more as a missionary that when we teach people truth, all of the evil and bad inside of them screams and tells them that we are crazy, they don't need to listen to us, what do we know. It's darkness being afraid of the light. Sometimes people run from the light and other times they fight through towards the light. It's those fighters that we are looking for. We want the people who are willing and wanting to change. Those that are willing and wanting to accept truth. We want the truth-seekers and they are out there. It's just are job to find them. Anyways, the lesson didn't end very well, but it's ok. We know that she is in Heavenly Father's hands and now she has a Book of Mormon, a Restoration pamphlet, and knows she is always welcome to church. 

    We had a dinner appointment this week with a member who is a convert to the church. Her native tongue is Swedish, but she speaks Finnish really well. She is single, has a dog, and is literally the funniest person I know. I didn't stop laughing from the second I walked into the door until we walked out. It was so much fun. After dinner she told us her conversion story and I wanted to share it with you. She said that she met the missionaries through a friend and the Sisters came over and taught her the gospel. At first she was very hesitant to join and honestly made fun of them. She was about 30 years old at the time. She had a boyfriend, whom she said was the most handsome in all of Finland. They lived together, and she thought she had life all figured out. Anyways, after a period of time, she told the sisters that she wasn't ever going to join the church, but that she still wanted them to come over. The member who was with the sisters at the time said, "Well the role of missionaries is to preach people the gospel. They can't just hang out." But one of the sister missionaries interrupted and said, "We will absolutely come see you." 

    Well the sisters kept coming. Sisar S described it as they would come and try to weasel in gospel topics, but it "never affected her" or so she says :) She said she continued living her life of partying and drinking and living with her boyfriend. One morning, she woke up, felt sick, wondered why, looked at her boyfriend and  heard someone say, "This isn't the life you were born to live." She said, "I don't know what happened, but something clicked in my head at that moment." So, she said to her boyfriend, "Get out of here. You can't live here anymore." Well the boyfriend freaked out, but left. She said she went into the bathroom after her boyfriend had left, looked herself straight in the eyes in the mirror and heard a voice say, "You are valuable to me. I love you. You know what you need to do." Well, long story short, she called the missionaries up and was baptized a month later. What a story. I have to tell you, that story touched my heart. I was crying my eyes out. It gave me so much hope. Everyday I talk to people, especially young, Finnish girls, who live this exact life and they think it is the best thing that could ever happen to them. They live with their boyfriends, they drink all day, every day on the weekends, and they really have no purpose or direction. Sometimes I wonder, "Will this ever change? Will any of them ever realize that there is so much more to be had?" Then I hear stories like Sisar S. The spirit testified to me that there are so many like her out in the world. So many people that are so close to accepting the gospel. They may not accept it now, but no effort of ours is ever wasted. Sisar S went through so many sets of missionaries. I am sure the missionaries left feeling like failures, but each of them were necessary and influential in some way. I think that is so amazing. We really don't know the good that we do. We may not know until Heaven, but a good rule of thumb is to do good anyways. To keep trying anyways. Even when our efforts may seem "useless" or "in vain." Think about Elder Nieslen's sister. Had they not been consistent in fighting for her, she would never have come back. It's worth it to fight for these people. The worth of every soul is great in the sight of God and He has sent us here to fight for them. He is here with us, but we have to do our best. He will magnify every effort. Just don't give up!

    So the APs found this investigator a couple of weeks ago named E. She is from Burundi...is that how you spell it? I don't know...she is from Africa. The problem is, she only speaks French and Swahili. Like no English, no Finnish. Well, there is a girl in our ward who recently returned from a mission in France so the Elders asked if we could start teaching E and bring this member with us. We had a lesson with her on Thursday. It went well. I didn't understand anything, but Sister Rochette understands French and speaks a little. We are still trying to figure out how to make this work. We don't really know how well E would be able to understand the gospel. She knows French, but not well enough to be taught the gospel. But, good news, one of our recent converts speaks Swahili. Wow. What a world. So many languages are in use here in Finland. It's amazing. E has so much real intent, so we are really working to make this work. She really wants the gospel. She came to church on Sunday and it was quite the scramble trying to get people to translate for her, but the Lord provided a way. :) She brought her two kids and they had a great experience. All in all, it went well. We are just trying to figure out what the best thing is for her. She is great. Too bad I forgot to take French in high school. That would have come in handy! So many things I wish I would have done, but it's ok...I've got time to learn some new things. My next language to conquer is Spanish. I am hoping Spanish is like a cake walk compared to Finnish. :) Just kidding...learning any language is hard, but Spanish and Mandarin Chinese are still on my list. It's going to happen! :) Have I told you all about my fantasy to serve a mission in China with my husband when I am older? Yep...that's my dream. I hope it comes true! I love Chinese people so much! Anyways, just a side note! Sorry to ramble! Some things never change!

     We were able to go on splits this week with the Sisters in Lappeenranta. They were so cute and made us a sign and picked us up at the train station. I sent you a picture. They are so great! :) I was able to go with Sister Dowd again and it was so amazing to be with her. We did service for this member family. Some good old manual labor. I have to tell you all, I missed yard work so much. Holy cow it felt so good to dig some holes and rake some leave and cut some bushes. I just felt right at home. They lived out on this cute little farm in the middle of the forest. I just have to tell you, there is nothing more beautiful than the forest in Finland. "Something Finnish" for the day. Did you know that Finland is the most forested country in Europe? 69% of it is forest. It is GORGEOUS! I love it. There is nothing I love more than walking down the cute little forest paths of Finland, especially after it has rained and it smells so delicious. Oh my word...you just have to experience it. It's truly magical! One day when we all come we will just sit inside until it rains and then once it stops, we will immediately run to a forest path and hike for hours. It will be glorious!

    At the end of splits we do this thing called "Splits Review" where we talk about the Sister's area, how things are going, what they are donig well, and how they can improve. We also do "one for the days" and tell our "companion" something we appreciate about them. Well during splits review, the time came to tell Sister Dowd her "one for the day." Well, I have to tell you, I love Sister Dowd. She has been my bud since she came into the country. She was in the same group as Sister Pace and Sister Rochette, and I have always loved her. Well, I have been able to be her Sister Training Leader for 6 months. So I started telling her her "one for the day" and I looked at her and she started crying. Then I started crying and we were both just bawling telling each other how much we love each other and how grateful we are for each other. Man, I love telling people you love them. There really is nothing better. Anyways, it made me sad to think that I won't get to do many more "one for the days" with these amazing sisters that I have grown to love so much, but I know we will all be eternal friends. That really is one of the biggest blessings from my mission. The relationships I have made. I am so grateful for all of the friends I have made here! I love you all!

    We had an amazing day on Sunday. 2 investigators in church, The J family came...like WHAT? That was a miracle. They came and stayed all 3 hours of church and yesterday Sisar J's visiting teachers went and visited her....WOW! It's all coming together. The Lord is so mindful of them. A also came to church and stayed for 2 hours. It was amazing to have her there. I think something just clicked in her head a couple of weeks ago and that makes me so happy. It's so amazing to see the people you love change for the better. It truly is the best. Heavenly Father is blessing us so much! We were then able to have a DA with the B family. They are my absolute favorite. There is so much love and happiness in their home. It reminds me a lot of our home and I think that's why I love it so much. I feel good and safe with them. We had a lesson about the "He Lives" video and afterwards, the mom asked me when I was going home. I told them and their cute little daughter E, my bestie looked at me and said, "But why? Why would you leave?" Man, I couldn't take it. I started crying then we all started crying. Gosh dang it, once the tears start, they never stop. But it's good. It just means that we are wonderful friends. I know we don't meet people on accident. We will stay in touch. Plus E, who is 6 and I have promised that we will send each other a birthday gift every year on our birthdays, so it's fine. She is so cute! :) I hope you got the picture!

    Well, I just love being a missionary. I love being here. I love preaching the good word to the people of Finland. It's such a joy and a privilige. I am seriously beyond blessed to serve here. This week, I decided to pick a Christlike attribute to study. I have felt over the past few weeks that there was still something I needed to study "in depth" before I go home. While we were on splits, I got my answer. I had the thought to read John 17 which is the Intercessory Prayer that Christ gave before the Garden of Gethsemane. I wanted to share it with you. While you read, just think of the timing of this prayer. Christ knew what was coming. He was about to atone for the sins of the world and then be crucified. I know I would have been sending a lot of prayers to Heavenly Father, asking Him to strengthen me and to help me endure the pain, but listen to what Christ said:

 1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

 4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

 5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

 6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

 7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.

 8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believedthat thou didst send me.

 9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

 10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

 11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

 13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

 14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of theworld, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

 18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

 20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be madeperfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

 24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

 25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.


    He prayed completely for the apostles. He prayed for His disciples. In reality, He prayed for all of us. In His greatest moment of need, he turned outward. He looked to those who He loved and was worried about them. He knew exactly what He was going to have to do. He knew of His impending death, and still He was worried about and loved them. He turned outward when it would have been easy to turn inward.

    As I contemplated that chapter, I realized that He did it because He loves us. He loved the apostles. He loved his disciples. He loved everyone. I want to learn to love more fully as Jesus Christ loves. I want to turn outward when the natural man and the world is telling me to turn inward. I want to love as He loves. I am in the process of doing this "Charity" study and it has been so wonderful. Grandma Parkinson shared a beautiful story with me last week about love and I wanted to share it with all of you. She said:


                                                    " One of the Great Secrets"

       Of all that we could give to others, nothing is so meaningful, even essential, as love.

       A young man began to understand this while doing service at an orphanage far away from home. The young man, along with a corps of volunteers, worked hard to raise money and provide the orphans with a playground, mattresses, shoes, and food. 

       When he arrived at the orphanage to deliver the donations, the children beamed with excitement. They were grateful for the generous gifts, but the young man could see that more that anything, the little orphans wanted to be loved. And they didn't wait for an invitation. They ran to him, sat on his lap, and lifted his arms over their shoulders---they literally put his arms around them, showing him how much they wanted to be hugged. The young man couldn't help but realize that of all the gifts he's been given, of all the gifts he could give away, nothing compares with love. 

        In time and with experience we can discover the truth that the more we love others, the more love we have to share. Learning to love is life's greatest labor and deepest joy. C.S. Lewis advised: "Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him."

        In other words, we don't need to measure love as if it were in short supply. We need not reserve our love only for those we're comfortable with or those who have shown love to us. Be generous with your love, and you'll never run out of it. Love regenerates itself----it grows by giving.

        One of the great secrets of life is really no secret at all: Wherever one person is trying to be good and kind----that's where love always is!! 


    Thank you for sharing that with me Grandma. It set up my study this week so well. I have read Moroni 7 and 1 Corinthians 13. I love what Paul says about love in 1 Cor 13:1-3:

 1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or atinkling cymbal.

 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understandall mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have allfaith, so that I could remove mountains, and have notcharity, I am nothing.

 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, andthough I give my body to be burned, and have not charity,it profiteth me nothing.

    Charity never faileth. Rakkaus ei koskaan katoa. :) It really is the only way that we will ever be successful. We can never successfully motivate in any other way. Love is the only thing that ever works. I have learned so much on my mission that if we don't love those we serve, our service is in vain. It profiteth us nothing. I remember during my first transfer as a missionary, I was struggling really hard with everything. I know I have shared this with you before, but President Rawlings said to me in an interview, "Sister Bitner, did you ever think that the most important part of your mission was sitting right next to you?" That really has changed my life. For some reason at the beginning of my mission, I felt like I had to take myself out of missionary work. I needed to be a robot. I needed to work hard and work hard and then work hard again. I have realized time and time again, that if you don't love your companion, if you don't love the members, if you don't love your leaders, and your family and everyone else, it doesn't matter how hard you work or how well you speak Finnish or how strong your faith is or how exactly obedient you are, it's all in vain. Charity is the pure love of Christ. It is the only thing that endures forever. It all comes back to love.

    All of the commandments, everything we do as members of the church, we do because we love Heavenly Father. We know He loves us and that love inspires us to be better. We know that Christ loves us and His love enables us to become better. We know that the Holy Ghost loves us and that helps us to follow His promptings and to do what is right. It's all about love. I love love. I love the happiness that comes into our lives as we allow the pure love of Christ to fill our hearts. I know that if we pray for charity, every hour of every day, it will come flowing into our lives and will literally change us. We will feel a physical difference. I have felt that difference in my heart, and it has made my mission joyful. There have been so many hard times, so many hard days, so many lonely days, but every single time I forget myself and go to work, every time I turn outward when it's easy to turn inward, I am changed. I am happy. That's worth fighting for. It's worth it to fight to be happy. It's worth it to work to have charity.

    I know that life isn't supposed to be easy, but one thing I know more than anything is "Men are that they might have joy." We are supposed to be joyful and for me, nothing makes me happier than loving and being loved in return. I don't think you can top that. I love you all so much. My heart is so full. I feel like I am going to burst. I am so grateful to be here. I love in 1 John 17:19 where Christ says, "For their sakes, I sanctify myself." I know that I am not only serving a mission for me. I am not only serving for Olivia Bitner, I am serving for all of you. I am serving for my future husband and children and posterity who I don't even know yet. I am serving for my Heavenly Father and my Savior and that's why I can wake up every day and do this. That's what has made it possible. Thank you all for loving me so much. It is amazing to me how blessed I am to be your daughter, sister, granddaughter, , niece, and friend. You all make my life better and I thank you for that! I can't wait to see you all. I hope you have the most wonderful week. Mom and Dad, be careful on your vacation but WELCOME TO EUROPE! It will be nice to have you for a few weeks! :) I think we will be flying on the same day. That's pretty cool if you think about it! Thank you for everything. I really couldn't ever thank you all enough. I love you! See you soon!

    Rakkaudellani,

    Sisar Bitner

My beautiful Temple!!! 

Our district plus the zone leaders

The cute Lappeenranta sisters welcoming us at the train station

The sky was on fire

Sisar Dowd, my wonderful companion for the day!

Rakastetaan...that means "Let's love!"

Me and sisar Dowd again before we did service

Finnish missionaries' varying reactions to the sun....we love it...but it burns our vampire eyes....this isn't normal over here :) 

Us doing some manual labor :)

Me and the cute B family...they are my favorite!!

Me and their cute daughters, E and S

Me and Veli Alhovuori at RAX...the only buffet in Finland :) They love it there

Me and the Alhovuori couple. They are MY FAVORITE!!

God Gave Us Families

    Hyvää Päivää teille kaikille! :) How in the heck are you all? I just have to say, thank you again for all the love and emails and support. Seriously, I am so blessed. I have been blessed with the most wonderful friends and family. It's so amazing to me how there really are no coincidences as to who our family and friends are, but I lucked out. I think I snuck into the "Awesome Family" line on the way down from heaven and they shot me down here to all of you. It was a good move on my part. I'm glad I did it!

    First off, I just have to say how much I loved Conference. I still haven't listened to the Sunday Afternoon session, but we are watching it later today. It was such a powerful conference. Oh my word. Sister Rochette and I talked about how much more straightforward and to the point the talks are. It's just evidence that we are preparing for something great, aka the Savior to come back. What a glorious day that will be. I will talk a bit more about our Conference days later, but just wanted to give a little shot-out. Also, I hope Moab was fun. My word, I bet you just had the time of your lives. I saw the arches at the beginning of Music and the Spoken Word and I thought about all of you. I can't wait to see pictures. 

    I thought it would be cool to give you a little update on what we are doing in our area. I am sure you are all just dying to know. :) This is mostly for my benefit so I can remember later in life, but we are doing really well in our area. We haven't achieved the Standards of Excellence yet, but we have been consistently finding new people to teach and our number of referrals from members has shot up. We have really focused on giving short, powerful messages to our members, building trust with them, and praying with them over names of people they thought might one day accept the gospel. Last week we received 5 member referrals of solid people that really want the gospel. It's been amazing and we are working on contacting them all this week.

     We have really refined and organized our area book and it is just a machine. I have found more investigators than ever on my mission as our area book has been up to date. We don't ever lose people. We follow up with them quickly after we get their information and we have seen miracles because of it. We are working closely with members and we have developed this calendar where we call members and ask them what day of the week usually works for them to come on lessons. We then map it out on this calendar so immediately when we set up an appointment with someone, we call a member and it's all taken care of. It's been SO much easier than scrambling around the day before an appointment, trying to call all of the members and see who could come with us. I think the members appreciate it so much more. I know they want to help us, they just need to know enough in advance. President Watson has talked about how important it is that we don't ever feel entitled to members as missionaries. They have their own lives and it really is a huge service when they come with us. I love the members in these wards so much. They are wonderful! Anyways, that's the run down on our area. We are having a lot of success. Heavenly Father is helping us so much. It's amazing to see.

    We had a great week this week. Remember the story I told you about the woman we met running and then she came to a temple tour? Well, we had a lesson with her last P-day and her husband and 2 kids were there. They are such a cute family. They are from India. I love Indian culture. They are so kind and respectful. When we went in their house, the husband helped us off with our coats and escorted us to our seats. After everything we said they would respond with, "Yes Sister" and a little bow of the head. I am 99% sure that they went to a Catholic school as kids and the only sisters they knows are the nuns that worked at the school. Haha nonetheless, it felt nice to be respected in that way. I could get used to it! They had also made this HUGE cheesecake with fresh blueberries on it. I felt bad that they went to such great lengths to make our experience meaningful, but it was really nice. The kids are so cute. They have a 9 year old boy and a 5 year old daughter. I can't tell you their names, but the boy's name may or may not be Grandma Parkinson's maiden name...pretty easy for me to remember. :) Anyways, they really made us feel special.

    The lesson went really well. They honestly sort of revere us and it's really nice, but we want them to know we are normal while also maintaining the relationship. I think it has something to do with the fact that the member who was with us told them that we are "Messengers come from God." Apparently it made an impact. They are really excited to keep meeting with us. We talked about baptism and they were pretty hesitant to set a date, but they said they would when they know it's true. We are working on helping them see why it's important to set a date at the beginning, to show Heavenly Father our real intent and all. ;) We were only able to meet with them once because they went out of town for Easter, but they are really great. They have so much real intent and we are focusing on getting them to church this week. We will call them the F family. I am sure that just clears everything up! :) #finnishprivacylaws

    We had a really good lesson with A this past week, our recent convert. Over the past few months, she has sadly turned into a less active. She gets frustrated when we say that church weekly is a commandment. In her old church, she said they could go whenever they wanted and no one called them or came and got them or "dragged" them to church. We have been really praying about how to help her. We have committed her over and over to read the Book of Mormon daily and to come to church, but something always comes up. Well, this week, we had the idea to teach her about Patriarchal Blessings and that she could receive one. As we were teaching about it, Sister Rochette explained that you have to have an interview with the Bishop before you can get your blessing and that you have to be living the commandments, including going to church weekly. She then asked A, "Would not coming to church stop you from getting your patriarchal blessing?" It was such a powerful question. At first, A seemed a little offended and the Spirit almost turned contentious. We were both praying so hard that they Spirit would help her understand how important keeping the commandments, all of the commandments, is. Well, she made some comments about how we don't understand how busy life is as missionaries because all we do is church stuff, but literally, the Spirit started working in her. You could see it. She stopped talking and just sat there for a while. You could just feel the Holy Ghost come back into the room and she said, "I know I need to come to church. God gives me 6 days and 21 hours, I can give 3 hours back to Him." Wow. There is nothing more powerful than the Holy Ghost and inspired questions. I gained a deeper testimony of those things that night.

    So on P-day, we were standing at a train stop with our groceries and I had the thought to talk to this really scary man. I honestly didn't want to. He looked drunk and honestly really scary, but I had the thought to give him a pass-along card. Well, I didn't do it. I brushed the thought off thinking that no way that thought could come from the Spirit. Well, I went home that night and I just felt horrible. As I was saying my prayers, asking Heavenly Father what I could do better, that man's face popped into my mind. I felt so horrible. I asked Heavenly Father to forgive me and I made a promise with him that the next day, I would follow EVERY single prompting I got, regardless of who I was supposed to talk to or what I was supposed to do and then I went to sleep. 

    Well, we went to district meeting the next morning and I talked to all of the people that the Spirit prompted me to talk to. I didn't have a lot of success. People weren't rude, they just weren't interested. I always feel happy when I follow the Spirit, so I was feeling pretty good. After district meeting however, we were on our way home for lunch and I sat next to a lady on the train. I sat down and asked how she was doing and she looked at me with eyes as big as golf balls and shouted, "Don't you ever talk to me about your church again." Well, it wasn't the best feeling in the world, not going to lie. Especially when her yelling attracted the attention of the whole train, but it's whatever. I was especially confused because I had felt so inspired to talk to her. I knew it was from the Spirit. I was like, "Spirit, come on man, what are you doing to me?" Well, we got off the train and started walking home. As I was thinking about what happened, a lady all dressed in black walked next to us. The Spirit whispered to my heart, "You need to talk to that lady." I said hello to her, but she either didn't hear or didn't acknowledge that I had said anything. She turned and started walking around the building right next to our building. We kept walking around the other side and the Spirit said, "Go talk to that lady." Well, I remembered the promise I made to Heavenly Father, so we followed the woman in black, like literally followed her. We even had to jog a little bit, but we stopped in enough time so she wouldn't be freaked out. I called ahead to her and said, "Hey! Hold on a second." haha I am sure she thought I was crazy, but she stopped and we caught up to her. We proceeded to tell her that we were here as church representatives. We asked her if she had heard of the church. She told us that she had visited the temple 3 times when the open house was happening. We asked her why she had gone 3 times and she said, "Because of the wonderful feeling of peace I felt there. It made me want to go back." Well we then said, "You can have that feeling of peace with you always. When could we come and teach you about it?" She then gave us her name, address, number and set up an appointment for Thursday. Miracles people. It was pretty amazing. Her name is T. Pray for her. Following the Spirit works.

    We went on splits with the sisters in Kerava sisters this week, Sisar Forrest and Sisar Herrmann. Sisar Herrmann has been in Finland for about a month and I was able to go with her. She is an amazing missionary, plus she plays soccer and was even a sweeper so I mean, it was like a match made in heaven. :) We clicked really well. She had a goal to apply the gospel to everyone we contacted and to talk with everyone and I was just riding high on the following every prompting of the spirit train so I stuck with that as my goal. We had a great day. We felt inspired to do some tracting and we set up 4 return appointments for them. It was amazing. We had so much fun! She is a great sister! We talked a lot about how important it is to be yourself as a missionary. There really is no set way to contact or to teach. If we were all supposed to be the same, it wouldn't matter where they sent us. But for some reason, the Finnish people respond best to Sister Bitner's and Sister Herrmann's personalities. We are needed here for who we are. It was a good reminder for me and I was grateful we were able to talk about. Sisar Nyman sent me an email this week and commented on how amazing it is that all of the apostles have such different personalities, but we need each one of them. Something about each one of them touches our hearts. It's just the same with missionaries and people in general. We should never EVER try to be someone else. If you do that, I can promise you, you will never be truly happy. It's all about becoming your best self through the Atonement and then being that best self. That's what brings true happiness.

    We had about 537983 dinner appointments last week which was great. I wanted to share something with you that one of the cute little old Finnish members said to us. We got to her house and went inside and asked her if there was anything we could do to help. Now normally, Finnish members say no, but her "no" was very serious. She said, "Absolutely not. You go sit and rest. Missionaries represent Jesus Christ. When you are at our home, it is as though Jesus Christ is here, so we want to give you our best." Oh my goodness. It was the most humbling thing I have ever heard. I was so grateful that I have had the opportunity to be a representative of my Savior for 18 months. What an honor. It was cool to hear that that is really how people perceive us. We really are "messengers sent from God." I thought it was pretty awesome!

    So for my spiritual thought this week, I wanted to write down some thoughts I had from each of the sessions of Conference I have watched. I will start with the Saturday Morning session. 

    Saturday Morning: I loved Elder Packer's talk. My goodness, is there anything better than his cute story about his wife? I was so amazed at how much Conference focused on families, marriage, and honestly true love. From Elder Packer's talk I learned that true love really is out there and we shouldn't settle for anything less when we are looking for a spouse. I loved that. I don't remember who said this, but I loved the thing, "You life me and I'll lift thee and we'll ascend together." What a great motto. This applies in any relationship. If you both focus completely on caring for the other person, then you will both be taken care of. Kind of a "duh" concept, but if we all lived that principle, the world would be a much better place. I also learned from this session that we cannot be paralyzed with a fear of the future. Fear and Faith cannot reside in the same heart.

    Saturday Afternoon: I learned from this that it requires effort to remember Christ. We promise to do that every week during the sacrament, but it requires greater effort than I realize. I know I need to pray for help to remember Him always. We should always live with reverence, respect, and awe for the Savior. I also loved when someone said, "Ultimately we will have no excuse." There really are no excuses in the end of all things so stop making them now. I loved, "A saint is a sinner who keeps on trying" and if we don't keep trying, we are just latter-day sinners. If we don't endure, we are just latter-day quitters. That's a really good reminder.

    Sunday Morning: Put down the phone. Make time to marvel at the world and to actually TALK to people. I learned that I need to marvel at and enjoy Finland and enjoy my last month here. I just love that world, MARVEL. It's a good one word sermon if you ask me. I loved Elder Holland's talk. Holy cow, how powerful was that. The Savior reaches to us with brotherly hands and determined arms. I loved the story he used to illustrate the point. I have felt like that so many times in my life, but especially my mission. Just that feeling of dangling and grasping for something. I loved the phrase, "Grasp me as I fall, hold me with thy might." It made the one-liner file in my brain. I learned also from this session how much I want to live life to the fullest. I want to laugh a lot, cry a lot, love a lot, travel a lot, and just be a real person. It's such a beautiful life when we do that, and it's only possible through the Savior. I think that is why "Meet the Mormons" is such a great movie. It shows 6 people who have really lived life to the fullest because of Jesus Christ. It's amazing!

    I saved the Women's meeting for last, because it was SO STINKING GOOD. Holy cow. That first song they sang with the line, "God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be" hit me like a sack of bricks. I bawled like a baby as I thought of our family and how that line is 100% true. I wouldn't be anything without my family. You are everything to me and I am so grateful for all of you. I had the distinct impression as I watched that session that nothing can ever stop our family. We are in this together and I know that we will continue to grow strong and to be better. Nothing brings me more joy than that. I also had the thought during the meeting that I needed to give you all a "One for the Day." So here we go:

    Dad, your one for the day is how well you hold the Priesthood. You are everything that a righteous Priesthood holder should be and you have always been the rock of our family. I thought of all those times when you led our family in prayer, scripture study, and family home evening and I was really overcome with gratitude for you and for the love you have and respect you have for the Priesthood you hold. Thank you! I love you!

    Mom, your one for the day is your determination to have the Spirit in our home. I always remember as a kid how you would say, "Satan will do anything to get the Spirit out of our home and we can't let him win" and you really fought back against him. As a result, I have a testimony, all of your kids have testimonies of the gospel and we love each other deeply. That would not have happened without your righteous desires and determination against the adversary. Thank you so much for that example. I love you!

    Joce, your one for the day is your passion for everything. You live life to the fullest. You NEVER do anything half-heartedly. You don't love half-heartedly and you don't work half-heartedly. You have inspired me to be passionate and to be true to what I love. Thank you for that. I love you!

    Anne, your one for the day is your kindness and your love for peace. You have always been a peace maker and that is one of the greatest Christ-like attributes that can be developed. You just have it in your soul. You love with the love of Christ and you leave everyone around you feeling uplifted. Thank you! I love you!

    Lauren, your one for the day is your loyalty and companionship. You are the best friend that anyone could have. You love deeply and you love completely. You don't love just a part of a person, you love the whole person for exactly who they are. You have always loved me that way and I appreciate and love you more than you know. Thank you! I love you!

    Luke, your one for the day is your happiness and your desire to have fun. You brighten up any room you go into and you always make me smile. You want nothing more than that the people you love and the people around you are happy. You are a natural leader and you draw others to you with your sweet heart and your goodness. Thank you for your example. I love you!

    Caroline, your one for the day is your desire to work hard and to do your best, always. You always succeed at what you do, and that is because you work so hard and are so diligent. You are so incredibly smart and talented and you have a great influence on those that are around you. Thank you for influencing me for good. I love you!

    Well great, now I am crying. haha :) I have the best family in the world. I was on the train yesterday and I sat next to this lady and I showed her our family picture and tears came to her eyes...guys this was a Finn, and she said, "This is the most beautiful family I have ever seen. You tell them that I said they are beautiful." Wow. I couldn't agree more. You all shine with the light of Christ and I really am humbled to be your daughter and sister. God really did give us our family to help us become what He wants us to be. I hope you all know that I am always here for you. I am here for you whether I am in Finland or home and I can't wait to come and see you all. It will be so wonderful! I may pass out with happiness. Have a stretcher close by! :) Have a wonderful week. I love you so much!

    Rakkaudellani,

    Sisar Bitner

    P.S. "Something Finnish" They have this famous Easter dessert called Mämmi. It is basically rye pudding and it honestly tastes pretty nasty, but when you put lots of cream and sugar on it, it tastes pretty good. haha I am so American, and proud of it! :) I love you! 

The traditional Finnish Easter dessert, Mämmi....it looks gross, but its pretty good!

I love Mämmi

You put a lot of cream and sugar on it and then it tastes good

...I'm pretty sure you can do the same thing with dirt, but you know... it's whatever :)

Sister Herrmann and I on splits in a graffiti tunnel

The sisters at conference, and some members! 

My boots have gone the way of all the earth...as I was running they busted open...R.I.P.

My companion made me an Easter basket...she even hid it in the sauna.

A little angel gave me some Cadberry creme eggs for Easter...wow. Best gift ever!

 He Lives

    "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"....but only if you're in Finland! Good Winter Morning to you all. Did you get the pictures I sent you? Yep, winter is back. I am not super surprised, but Spring Fever caught me pretty bad this year. I was getting ready to retire the winter boots, but it's all good. Finland is still so beautiful in the snow! I love doing missionary work in the snow. It's like I was born to do it! :) But HAPPY EASTER! HAPPY CONFERENCE WEEK! HAPPY MOAB WEEK! Wow, could this week get any more glorious? I am so excited for conference. Just think, this is my 3rd conference as a missionary. Woah. That's weird. This week I also hit my one year "Vaasa-versary". I was flipping through my old journal and I realized that I had moved to Vaasa exactly one year ago on March 24...wow. Sometimes I feel like I have been a missionary for about 2 weeks and then other times it hits me. Like on my Vaasa-versary....what in the world? I have been doing the same thing, everyday for the past 18 months. Isn't it great? I am so grateful to be here and am so excited for conference. We are so lucky to have a living prophet and apostles. I sustain them and am so excited to hear from them. It's going to be great!

    So we have had another week full of meetings and splits. It's been really busy, but good. I love being busy and always having something to do. It makes you feel so good at the end of the day to fall into bed and to fall asleep instantly. Mom, I know I have said this before, but I never understood how you could sit down and fall asleep instantly any time we tried to watch a movie as a family. I am sure I am not "mom-status" tired over here, but I really appreciate you so much. I will never force you to stay awake again! :) It's really funny actually, we have office chairs in our apartment at our desks, you know the ones that spin and roll and stuff, they are pretty legit, but anyways, when we pray at night, I kneel down next to the chair, rest my head in my hands and boom, I fall asleep. But I realized that if I sway back and forth while we pray, I stay awake. I don't know if it's disrespectful, but I figure falling asleep is worse, so I am going to stick with it! :) 

    Another funny story, so on Tuesday, Sister Rochette and I got permission from President to go down to Helsinki to get Luke and Dad's souvenirs. They are pretty legit guys...don't even worry :) But as we were in the store, these 6 young men walked into the store. I turned around because they were being so loud, and they were all literally glowing. It was amazing. I felt like I was staring at a light bulb. I had the thought come to mind, "Those guys are missionaries." But they didn't have name-tags on so I kind of brushed the thought off and continued talking to the worker at the store. Well, I bought the souvenirs and as we were leaving, one of the guys came up to me and said, "Hey, are you the missionaries here in Finland?" I said yes and he said, "We are the missionaries from St. Petersburg. We are here for the day renewing our visas." Apparently they can't wear name-tags when they are in Finland, but isn't that hilarious? They really were glowing, with the light of Christ. I have such a strong testimony of members and missionaries' ability to  shine with the light of Christ. It was a really cool experience!

    We had the Helsinki Zone Conference on Wednesday. It was a wonderful meeting again. The thing I love about the Helsinki zone is how many wonderful sisters we have down here. There are wonderful sisters all over Finland, but it's so much fun to be together. The principle of reading the same thing twice and getting something new out of it has always astounded me, but I realized and gained a testimony of the power of the Spirit in teaching again on Wednesday as President taught us. He followed a similar outline as the other meetings, but the Spirit, stories, questions, and ideas were completely different. He is an amazing teacher. We talked a lot in this zone conference about obedience. I am so grateful for obedience. I don't remember the exact quote nor who said it, but someone said something to the affect of, "When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power." I think it was Ezra Taft Benson, but don't quote me on that. :) I have such a strong testimony of obedience. The thought came to my mind as we were discussing that we really don't have to be obedient. We don't have to do anything. But, if we want to be happy, if we want results, in the case of missionaries, if we want people to teach and baptize, obedience isn't an option. Dad, you said to me before my mission, "Coming home isn't even an option." That has always stayed with me and it came to me during zone conference again, disobedience to any of the commandments isn't an option if we want happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. It was a great discussion. Obedience is freedom...you may quote me :) 

    I learned a lot about prayer, once again. I learned that we should pray for everything. Anytime we are nervous, scared, stressed, happy, excited, anxious, anything, we should talk to Heavenly Father. There really is no limit to the answers and knowledge that Heavenly Father is willing to give us. The only things that stands in our way is "our veil of unbelief" as the scriptures say. Once we get rid of that, so much is possible. My Chinese friend Li, the one you all met on skype last Mother's Day used to say in her prayers, "Thank you for the great light you have given us. Thank you for your great knowledge." I can't wait to do her accent for you all, Sister Fronk will remember it :) But I have started thanking Heavenly Father for the knowledge and light that He gives to me every day. Isn't it cool that we have the opportunity to receive personal revelation every day. Wow. We are so lucky. At the end of our discussion about prayer, President said, "I learned as a kid that we should pray like everything depends on the Lord and then work like everything depends on us." To me, that's what the prayer of faith means. President Hinckley has a quote that I love. It's hanging up next to my bed, but it says, "You are doing the best you can, and that best results in good to yourself as well as good to others. Don't nag yourself with a sense of failure. Get on your knees and ask for the blessings of the Lord and then stand on your feet and do what you are asked to do." What a simple formula for life. I think I'm going to stick with it! :)

    So after Zone Conference, Sister Rochette and I went home, packed and went to pick up the Tampere Sister Training Leaders at the train station to go to the Mission Home for MLC the next day. It was great to see them. Sister Johnston and Sister Pack. Man, they are wonderful! I love them both so much. So we got to President's house and Sister Pack rubbed out my shoulder...just like old times. She is a professional. She used to always rub out our shoulders in the MTC. haha it was awesome. I told her I am hiring her as my eternal chiropractor. She agreed so it's all good :) Anyways, MLC consisted of the sister training leaders, zone leaders, Assistants, and all of the district leaders in Finland. This kind of MLC only happens once a quarter, but it was fun to have a big group there. Almost all of my MTC group was there, so it was fun to see them all. 

    At the beginning of the meeting President said, "Elders and Sisters, what do you know that the world doesn't know?" We had a wonderful discussion from that question into the Book of Mormon. We all went around and shared Book of Mormon verses that are meaningful to us. I shared on of my new favorites, Alma 28:14 which says:

14 And thus we see the great call of diligence of men tolabor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus we see thegreat reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing—sorrowbecause of death and destruction among men, and joybecause of the light of Christ unto life.

    I love that scripture. I think I mentioned this last week, but there really is no greater call than being a missionary. We are all called to be missionary. People always say how much Heavenly Father loves His missionaries. I know that is true, but I also know that every member is a missionary. Heavenly Father is proud of all of us. As we serve faithfully in our callings, we are all being missionaries. As we invite our friends to learn about the gospel, we are being missionaries. I am so grateful that I get to be a missionary for the rest of my life. The name-tag never comes off, you know? It's a beautiful thing! :)

    After our Book of Mormon discussion, President talked about Zion's camp. He told us that he hadn't planned to talk about this at all, but when he woke up that morning, the Spirit told him that we all needed to hear about Zion's camp apparently. :) Well, I have to say, it was one of the most amazing discussions/lessons I have ever had. I was not really familiar with Zion's Camp at all. For those of you who are in the same boat as I was, Zion's camp was a march of 1,000 miles that the Lord asked Joseph Smith and other members of the church to make in May 1834. Originally, the Lord said that 500 men would make the journey, but when the time came, only 200 ended up going. It was a horrible journey full of trials, sickness, starvation, and basically anything else that you can think of. It was really hard.

    Zion's camp turned out to be a test from the Lord for the members of the church at that time. He wanted to see who among them would be faithful to Joseph, but most importantly faithful to the Lord. It was a sifting. And boy, did it work. So many people complained and murmured, gave up, blamed, whined, and honestly, they had good reason to. But the ones that remained faithful ended up being the leaders of the church. Brigham Young was among one of the faithful men that endured Zion's camp. 

    I have heard about this story before, but I never really thought about it or compared it to me and my life. But after President gave us a little background he said, "Elders and Sisters, this is your Zion's camp. The Lord is here. He is watching you. He wants to know if you will remain faithful." Wow. Talk about a wake up call. The thought came to my mind, "Well, Sisar Bitner, are you going to stay faithful? Not just to your mission, but to the end of your life? What if it gets hard? What if people mock you? What if they cast you out? What if this...what if that?" The thought went on and on and on, and I decided that Yes, I am going to stay faithful. I am going to be faithful and I am not going to murmur and whine along the way. I will be who I become. This mission is the foundation for my life, for all of the missionaries' lives. This is the day to change. My mission has changed my life forever. I know I am being prepared and we are all being prepared for great things to come, but also for hard things to come. The Lord can't have whimpy members in these last days. He trusts us enough that He sent us here now, but we have to do everything we can to make sure we are strong and ready to stand the test. I am so grateful for my personal Zion's camp. This has set my course. I will forever be grateful to my Heavenly Father for the opportunity to serve a mission.

    Anyways, MLC was wonderful. I love MLC. I love learning and improving and trying to be better. I always have things to work on when I come out of those meetings. I know I probably sound like a broken record, but I honestly can't say enough good things about serving a mission. It really has been a miracle in my life. I will forever be an advocate of serving a mission. Every young man should serve, and every young women should pray about serving, knowing that she will know for sure if she is supposed to go. I had no doubt in my mind that I was supposed to serve a mission, and that's one of the things that has kept me here and has motivated me to work hard, I know this is exactly where Heavenly Father wants me to be. 

    So we had a great Friday after MLC. We had a DA with the A family again and they told us that their Indian friend to whom they gave a Book of Mormon is coming to meet with us. YIPPEE!! I am so excited and can't wait to meet them! After the DA, we had a lesson with H, the woman who watched "Because of Him" with us. The lesson went well. She has a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon, but we are working with her on that. She bought us each like 3 pastries from a really good bakery in Espoo and wouldn't let us leave until they were gone. I have never hated eating so much in my life. After the DA and then those pastries, I was about to die. Then we had to run for a train immediately after our lesson with H. Oh my goodness, talk about the enabling power of the Atonement. I know that's what it really is when we all say we had an "Adrenaline rush." It's just the enabling power of the Atonement. :)

    On Saturday we were on splits in Haaga. It was a great day. I went with Sisar Andersson who is from my hometown of Tampere. She is great. I also went with her trainer, Sisar Richards. They are in a tripanionship so Sister Rochette when with their other companion. We had a really good day. The thing about their tripanionship is that Sisar Richards has only been in the country for 5 months and Sisar Andersson doesn't speak English. Oh boy. We are working on helping Sisar Andersson develop a language study plan for English and Sisar Richards is working on her Finnish. She already speaks really well, but it's one thing to have to speak Finnish 24/7. They are great though. We had a fun day and focused on talking about our families with people. We set up a lot of return appointments and had fun doing it! I love splits!

    I had a really cool experience on Monday. I woke up Monday morning and felt really weird. I felt really frustrated for some reason, but I didn't know why. As I was doing personal study, I had a really negative vibe the whole time. Afterwards, I talked to Sister Rochette about it and I had the strongest feeling that I needed to call Sister Thayne. I had no idea why, but I knew that I needed to do it. So I called her, as she is in Helsinki, and I told her that I had no idea why I was calling her. We proceeded to talk and I felt like I needed to tell her how much I love her and how grateful I am for our friendship. I really do love Sister Thayne. She has been with me since the beginning and she knows me so well. I felt like I needed to tell her that I am always going to be here for her. Not just in the MTC, not just on the mission, but after as well. I am so grateful for all of my companions. I love them with all my heart and I know that we were put together for a reason. I know we are going to need each other after the mission and for some reason, both Sister Thayne and I needed to hear that yesterday. Anyways, moral of the story, trust your feelings. If it's a good feeling, it's from the Spirit, if not, work it out until you feel good again. The Spirit works in many ways, sometimes through weird feelings until we figure out what he is trying to tell us. I am so grateful for the Spirit.

    I am so grateful for this time of year. I am so grateful to be a missionary around Easter. I have been reading in Alma lately and a few verses have become so special to me, as they talk about the Savior. It is found in Alma 34: 8-12, 15-16:

 8 And now, behold, I will testify unto you of myself thatthese things are true. Behold, I say unto you, that I doknow that Christ shall come among the children of men, totake upon him the transgressions of his people, and that heshall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God hathspoken it.

 9 For it is expedient that an atonement should be made;for according to the great plan of the Eternal God theremust be an atonement made, or else all mankind mustunavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all arefallen and are lost, and must perish except it be throughthe atonement which it is expedient should be made.

 10 For it is expedient that there should be a great and lastsacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of beast,neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a humansacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice.

 11 Now there is not any man that can sacrifice his ownblood which will atone for the sins of another. Now, if aman murdereth, behold will our law, which is just, takethe life of his brother? I say unto you, Nay.

 12 But the law requireth the life of him who hathmurdered; therefore there can be nothing which is short ofan infinite atonement which will suffice for the sins of theworld.

 15 And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shallbelieve on his name; this being the intent of this lastsacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, whichoverpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto menthat they may have faith unto repentance.

 16 And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, andencircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercisesno faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of thedemands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faithunto repentance is brought about the great and eternalplan of redemption.

    I wanted to add my testimony to that of Amulek that I do know that Christ came. He atoned for our sins. He lived a perfect life. He is our older brother and was willing to atone and die for us because He loves us. He was the only one that was able to perform the atonement. I have thought a lot lately about our state without an Atonement. Honestly, it makes me cringe to think about it. Without Christ we have no hope. He is the only hope we have to return to live with our Heavenly Father. 

   I am sure you all have heard about or seen the "Because He Lives" video. If not, go watch it. It is so good. My favorite line from that video is "It doesn't matter who you are, or who you were, He is here." It really doesn't matter who we are. It doesn't matter what we have done. All that matters is that we trust Him enough to turn our lives over to Him, to allow Him to make us more than we ever could be alone. To become the best versions of ourselves. That is only possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I don't think any of us really can ever fully understand the Atonement. All I know is that if we believe in Him, if we have faith in Him, if we repent, if we are baptized, if we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and endure to the end, we shall have eternal life. We are encircled in the arms of safety now and forever. He will stand by us. He will defend us. He will support us. He will strengthen and enable us. He loves us. I love Him. Jesus is the Christ. He rose on the third day and because He lives, we too shall live. All of us. The Lord is my Light and I love Him with all of my heart. I love you all and am so grateful for you. Because of Jesus Christ, we can all be together forever. There really is nothing better. Happy Easter! I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

    Rakkaudellani,

    Sisar Bitner

    P.S. Something Finnish, They really like to feed the missionaries, here in Espoo. We got 7 DAs on Sunday! :) Wow! I love you! Hopefully I'm not too fat when I come home! JK :)

We all got the memo to match at zone conference :) The Kerava sisters Forrest and Herrmann

Our MTC group at MLC....we have all grown up so much :)

Sister Pack and Sister Johnston, the Tampere Sister Training Leaders...they are great!! 

Splits....Sister Andersson, the finn, and Sister Richards

Ya, it was a blizzard all day yesterday...I spoke too soon about spring...oh well :)