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Sister Paula Nielsen knows some Christians judge her but that doesn't change her call to spread the Gospel "one iota." "I know to that which God has called me," she says. "Hallelujah for the Cross."

(Ross William Hamilton/The Oregonian)

, Portland's transgender Christian evangelist, will be the first person to admit she's made some mistakes. Her autobiography is her attempt at a full accounting.

Born in Portland, the former Larry Maclean Nielsen often jokes that she was born "with my mother's features and my father's fixtures."

May 1 marked her 50th year living as a woman, and part of her anniversary celebration is the publication of her book,

It covers 70 of her 74 years, a childhood of teasing and bullying for being "different," her conversion when she was 12 and her gradual understanding of what it means to be a transgender person.

She describes her personal life, her faith, her work as a secretary and a drag queen. But it's her call to preach the Gospel that is the recurring theme of the book, as it has been in her life.

For years, she was a fixture on Portland's public-access television and now she's made the transition to the Internet. She posts regularly

. Her website includes

(see a sample below). A documentary on her life, which is still something of a work in progress, will be shown at 7 p.m. Friday at

, a congregation on Portland's Park Blocks, where she has found her church home.

Her book is not for the faint of heart, but she hopes it will encourage others, especially young people coming to grips with gender issues.

"I might not be proud of some of the things I've done in the past," she says, "but I am proud of who I am today." In a recent interview, Nielsen talked about her life so far. Her answers have been edited for space and clarity.

Q: You spent seven years writing this book. What was the hardest part of the project?

A: I have always been a prolific writer. But there are two or three things that I'd just as soon not put in the book at all, some of the salacious parts. But then a friend told me, "Just tell the truth."

The Bible doesn't leave anything out. It tells the story of (King) David -- look what he did with Bathsheba. But he did repent of it. I decided I had to be honest. People do approve of honesty.

Q: What has been the reaction so far?

A: I have one friend who doesn't like any mention of sex, and she read it. I knew she wouldn't approve. But then she gave it a glorious review. When I asked her about it, she said, "You could have glossed over it and you didn't. This is straightforward honesty."

Even out of bad experiences, God brings good out of them. God can take the divine junk of our lives and hand us back gold.

Q: What do you see as your greatest weakness?

A: Swearing. My dad did that, and I do that. But I work at it and pray about it. I don't do anything physically violent. Someone said I talk like Paula the longshoreman. But when kids see their parents doing something -- well, my dad was a longshoreman.

A while back, I was wrestling with a shopping cart in a parking lot and started swearing. Someone came up to me -- she recognized me and said she'd liked my preaching, but then she heard me swearing. Well, yes, I am a preacher, but preachers are just as human as the rest of us. It's a fault I have. I'm working on it. Pray for me.

Q: How do you stay so positive when many Christians say the Bible condemns homosexuality?

A: When I accepted Jesus, as a 12-year-old, he became my friend. I knew Jesus accepted me. The Bible says life in this world is full of tribulation but Jesus overcame the world.

I have sometimes had my fill of what I call "churchianity." I have been turned off by the church. But I have never questioned my one-on-one relationship or my one-on-one friendship with Jesus. Some evangelicals can point their finger at me and say I have no right to preach the Gospel, but that won't change my call to preach one iota. Jesus is my friend.

Q: You were teased and bullied in school. How did you manage to survive that?

A: All through high school, people made fun of me. But Jesus accepted me exactly as I am. No one can take that away from me. Somehow I knew that I knew that I knew that Jesus accepts me as a transgender person.

Q: Who is your audience?

A: When I started on TV, I figured that my audience would be mostly the gay community. I was in the (Metropolitan Community Church) ministerial training program. When I spoke at the church, I felt like I was preaching to the choir. But on public access TV, people would be listening to me who wouldn't go across the street to hear me preach.

Over the years, I've had feedback through the mail, email and people on the streets. Every demographic you can think of watches me and enjoys me. Pentecostals recognize me as a Pentecostal preaching the same message as they do. That alone makes a statement.

People say, "I'm agnostic," "I'm not religious" or "I'm an atheist" and they say they like watching me or that I'm the only religious program they watch. They say they are entertained. They like my sincerity. They can tell I have really struggled, but I've endured the bad, right along with the good.

-- Nancy Haught

A sample from Sister Paula's YouTube channel: