Hi Mom and Dad! Tuesday, August 20
It's great to hear from you! I just got your letter through Dear Elder, and it absolutely made my day.
The credit card sounds like a good idea! Will there be any money on my debit card in the meantime? I've been buying envelopes, stamps, and other toiletries to get me through the next couple weeks. Each week the MTC puts $6 on our "Blue cards"-our cards that let us get into buildings and the cafeteria. It's kinda like an allowance, but it goes by really fast.
What's a calling card? How does that work? Do they let missionaries call from the airport?
The stickers and CD would be awesome! I don't have a CD player; most of the other missionaries brought an iPod and portable speakers. If you could send me the Missionary Reference Library (Jesus the Christ, Our Search for Happiness, Our Heritage, and True to the Faith), that would be totally awesome! In the MTC's bookstore, they never have them all in a set, and they hardly have them individually in English. So if you could send that whenever that would be awesome!
The MTC is like a big study group and teaching group. From 9-12, we have language lessons from a teacher, and in the evening (usually around 6-9), we prepare our lessons for our "progressing investigator" (somebody who volunteers to pose as an investigator and have the lessons taught to him.) It's usually a lot of studying, and we're bushed at the end of the day.
Rosetta Stone helped a TON! I can string sentences together pretty well, and since I've been here a week, my Portuguese is getting better. It's hard though. Rosetta Stone doesn't teach you how to teach church doctrine, but it did help understanding verbs and sentence structure. Our 3rd day here they had us teach our first lesson in Portuguese! It was really nerve-racking, but we pulled through.
My companion is Elder H. He's a 19 year old from Alabama, and spent this last year saving up money for his mission. I've been helping him out in Portuguese a lot, and I've had to help him forget all the Spanish he knew and turn that into Portuguese. But we work great together. He's a really nice guy, kinda like a big brother to me. He has a girlfriend at home, and he's ALWAYS getting or sending letters, packages, etc.
I saw Elder W on the flight here, but I haven't seen him around here. The MTC is crazy because you'll run into the same people all the time, even though there's hundreds of other missionaries you never do see. Like I've only seen Elder B once this whole time, but I've seen Elder M and Elder S all the time.
Dad, I TOLD YOU SO! Haha, what made you decide to switch back?
Sorry Joe! That happens sometimes. Hope you played safe and tried hard.
You may or may not get this letter before my first P-Day (the 23rd), but I really love all of your letters! I appreciate all of your support and love, and I love you so much too! Be safe, and don't worry; I'm having fun here with other missionaries.
Love you all!
Elder Nissinen
P.S. Rosie, thats great that you have the same seminary class with B! You both are so lucky!
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