Monday, December 28, 2015

The Craziest Week Of My Life!

Dear family and friends,

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas... and have a Happy New Year! 

I will do my very best to keep this letter brief and concise, but there is so much that has happened lately, I can't help but give the details. 

First off, it was a blast talking to family at home! I loved it. It was a lot of fun hearing everyone's voices and laughing for a while. I really enjoyed the funny questions you asked me, like if we use shampoo. I don't know why, but the questions were kind of funny! Not going to lie, it was difficult to say goodbye. I felt at peace afterwords. It was the best Christmas gift I got this year! Thanks again for the nice American money surprise. I'm rich!!!
This is me calling you on Christmas day!



So backing up to Christmas Eve: 
The four of us built a bonfire using some doors we didn't need in the apartment. We also used old church magazines from the 90's. It was a lot of fun! Elder Madsen called home.  We bought some fireworks and had neighbor kids come over and blow them up "for us". Afterwords we sang Christmas songs and went to bed. 



Singing Christmas carols

For Christmas Morning:
I was able to sleep in until 8, which was really a treat. I opened up packages from home and the four of us gave each other gifts. I gave the other Elders an African tie with a chocolate bar, and Elder Madsen a surprise shirt he thought was for me. Elder Bergeson gave us handmade cups from coconuts, and Elder Kambwiri got me a bar of soap. We planned on making smoothies and some type of pancakes, but it was lights off! ALLLLLLL week we had power, but the President of Ghana decided to give us darkness for a Christmas present. So no smoothies! 
Elder Madsen and I delivered the special gifts to Sister P. and her family later that afternoon. It was quite special. I got a bit emotional when I told her that back home, we have a special family we give gifts to each Christmas, and that for this year, that family was hers. It was Elder Madsen's favorite moment of his mission so far. We went around and passed out like 300 pieces of candy to investigators and kids and recent converts, then hiked home for me to call. Christmas in Ghana is sad, to be honest. It's just another day. No gifts, no celebration, no nothing. People are working, cooking, all the regular chores. It looked like any other day. In fact, kids will tell you "Santa Clause doesn't come to Ghana". 
We got matching shirts from some fabric we got.

You all want to know about the cat party and baptism on Saturday:

I got a call at 7 am from Lovi, the member in the branch in charge of getting the cat. He told me the cat was too wild, and that we needed to come ASAP to kill it. So we all threw on clothes and the 4 of us were there quickly. Unfortunately, the cat was a big one, so his claws were too strong, and would rip through the sack, so we were not able to beat it. Instead, they had us hold the legs together and take a knife to his throat. Sounds gruesome, but it was a lot more humane than our original plans. Actually, it's the most humane way to go about it. I was surprised by how tight I had to hold the legs together. See, when the cat is on the brink of death, it will release some serious strength. My hands were sore from squeezing so tightly! Right afterwords we had Mavis' baptism. Lovi stayed home to clean and cook it for, then we'd come back and eat it. The baptism was a success! Her husband baptized her and confirmed her, so we were happy everything went smoothly. After, we went back to her place and ate the cat! Not even going to lie, cat is better than chicken! So tender, so juicy, so good! Elder Kambwiri is a bit like Joe: very sensitive to blood and foreign foods, so he had his back turned during the killing and eating. 

Mavi's baptism



Bergerson goes for the tail

Eating Cat tail



At 9:30 that night, Sister P. called me. She was crying, and needed our help. Elder Madsen and I had no choice but to help her. She had been verbally abused by her drunk "husband" pretty badly, and needed a place to stay for the night. We took her over to Branch President's house and had him help with the situation. He had us take her to her sister's house in Mame, a little far away. We walked with her there. When we got there, Sister P.  said she needed to get her 5 year old daughter. See, she only had her baby boy with her at the time. Her daughter was with her husband. We walked around for some time, looking for her husband and daughter. We searched in bars, her house, everywhere, but still couldn't find them. We called him and he would answer, but was so drunk he wouldn't tell us his location. By this time it was like 11:45 pm. We needed to get back home, but couldn't leave Sister P.  alone. Anyways, the 1st Counselor in the Branch owns a big bar (ironically) and he offered to help her so we could get some rest. Elder Madsen and I said a special prayer for her to find her daughter and be protected.



Sunday morning rolled around, and we didn't know Sister P.'s situation. She came to church! Second hour during Gospel Principles class, she walked in with her two kids. She told us that night she found her daughter and husband, and ordered him to give her her daughter. He beat her and choked her, so Sister P. had a big scratch on her neck. We talked with President E.  some more, and he wanted us to get her out of the house. We went with Sister P. and literally packed her bags for her and her children. Mom, I used the packing method you use! There would have been no way we could have packed clothes for 3 people in a small suitcase unless I did your folding method! I gave her money for a taxi, and she loaded up her stuff and headed out of there to her Grandfather's place, about 20 minutes away. We had to work quick before her husband got home, so he wouldn't see us.

She called me late last night, telling me the Grandfather wanted her to leave the next day. So basically she had no place to stay. This morning the drama continued, and we are in the process of having members and President E.  help her out and plead with the Grandfather to keep her.  Sistert P.  cannot return home to as her husband will continue to beat her.

As missionaries, all of us are called to save souls. Typically this is saving souls spiritually. But for Sister P.s case, we are saving her physically. We know without our and other's help, Sister P. will likely get beaten to death. It's a really stressful situation for us right now, as we have done basically all we can to help her and her children. The mess is still unfolding, so more news will come soon tonight. Your prayers for Sister P. and her children would be really appreciated right now. 

So that was my week! Bonfires, calling home, a baptism, eating and killing a cat, and helping out someone who can't help herself. Pretty wild, ain't it? My companion and I are emotionally drained from all these events, but we are hoping things will ease up. 
My wall in my bedroom

This is what the school rooms look like.


We have a New Year's Branch Party on the 1st, and it's going to be big! Tons and tons of investigators and nonmembers are supposedly coming. Music, dancing, sports, and banku!!  

Have a wonderful week, and a Happy New Year! Make some nice Resolutions for next year. 2016 is coming soon! Thanks for all your support and love. You rock. 

It's a good thing everyone is on vacation, cause this letter is going to take a day or two to knock out! Sorry.


Love Elder Nissinen

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Christmas Letter!

Dear Family and Friends,

Sounds like you all are having a ton of fun between all those family
parties and what-not! Wow! I can't believe Christmas is this Friday.
And I can't believe I get to call home! We are up to ourselves on
Christmas Day in terms of plans. We plan on sleeping in the dining
room together, actually sleeping in for once, and giving gifts to
investigators and each other and handing out candy to kids. I will
call anytime between 4 and 5 pm Ghana time, so like 8 or 9 am your
time. Just a quick reminder: the way phone credit works here, it only
costs if you are the one dialing. We are worried about our credit
running out before our hour is finished, so I may "flash you", meaning
to call you and immediately hang up. If you call me back, I don't have
to worry about burning my credit too early. It just eliminates any
problems. Hope that makes sense! I am very excited to hear from all
your voices.

The 4 of us in the apartment have planned for some great fun these
next few days. Today we played football with kids. 


Tomorrow we are going to a children's school dance party, and that night we are
probably going caroling to select investigators or recent converts.
Wednesday is our Zone Program thing. I think our district is singing
some goofy songs or something. For Christmas Eve we planned to build a
bonfire that evening outside our apartment, sing songs, read the
Nativity Story, play games, and eat junk. There is a Christmas Program
at the Stake Center we plan on going to with some investigators that
afternoon as well. Elder Madsen's mom is a nurse and has to work
Christmas Day, so he's calling home Christmas Eve. Friday of course is
Christmas Day. Then on Saturday we have hopefully 2 baptisms! White
Christmas baby!!! Both ladies are friends named Mavis, and are between
22 and 26 years old. One is a recent convert's wife, so it feels good
to bring the whole family into the gospel. The other Mavis may not be
back from traveling in time, so we may have to postpone her date. And
some day throughout the week we are going to, yep, you guessed it,
"CHOP" MORE CAT! We payed money today for our nice big cat, so some
time this week a member will get it for us and we will all contribute
in killing, cooking, and eating it! I actually think there is 2 cats,
so it's going to be quite the fun!

Well, our week was awesome. Because I was sick and a bunch of other
things, we didn't get much work done last week, which made me
disappointed. I felt embarrassed to write our key indicators on the
chalkboard during our District Council Meeting, but my companion and I
realized our numbers were all average! Even during our terrible week.
So it motivated me to work really hard this week to get it back to our
level of excellence.

You're all interested to hear how my birthday went. It was nice!
Different, but nice! I woke up at 6 and opened my birthday cards and
package. You could imagine my shock when I saw $40 for my birthday and Christmas from Mama and Papa. Then I opened the Hawaii shirt and saw $30 more pinned inside! I was
laughing about it for 2 straight minutes! $70!!!!! What a nice
birthday present. I will try my best to make the money thin out for
some months, but knowing me that might be a challenge. 
Thank you so much for the shirt and money!
The shirt smelled good too mom.


Guess who's 19?????



It was a typical Sunday though, for the most part. We taught some lessons
afterwords and then went to Pascalene's house. She said she had a gift
for me. She came out and gave me a 1.5 liter Fanta. I was so
appreciative of her thoughtfulness. Here, a woman with no money and a
terrible life in general, gave me probably all she could give me. My
heart was softened. Then, her and her friend came out and poured TONS
of water on me! I had flashbacks of the ASL Icebucket Challenge.
Soaking the birthday boy is a tradition here. I walked home with
soaked pants and shoes full of water, grateful for the things I had
been given. 

Pascalene dumping water on me. I got a great video of it, but I can't send videos unfortunately. So here's a few pics. I got like 7 gallons dumped on me!



I'm not skinny....just trimmed!

Elder Bergeson and Elder Kambwiri made us a nice fried
chicken dinner, and we played some card games and ate some junk
(including my Fanta). It was a humbling birthday, but I believe it was
good for me to experience.


We bought a few more Christmas gifts for each other and for
Pascalene's family. I bought a nice shirt for Elder Madsen. He thinks
I got it for myself, so it should be a nice surprise! Elder Madsen and
I went to a dress store to buy something for Pascalene. Two white
missionaries in a dress store trying to find something that would fit
a lady, imagine that! It was awkward, but we found a nice jacket-thing
(I don't know what it is actually). Pascalene and her family is our
"special family" for this Christmas. All 4 members of the family are
getting some nice gift. It will be such fun to give it to them
Christmas morning. I can't wait.


Elder Madsen went without a nametag! That's when you know you got a Greenie! He got a lot of teasing for it. It was funny. 

Anyways, this past week has been a week of service. I almost named my
letter "Service is my Purpose". Elder Madsen had the idea last Sunday
to do some type of service every day last week. It was a good idea, so
we did it! We fetched water, helped sweep, and a bunch of other random
things to help bring in the Christmas Spirit in our lives as well as
others.

Best part of the week though had to be when we made our Christmas
Tree! Elder Bergeson took an old fufu pole and we wrapped stems from
our neighbors plants with old bed sheets we found in the apartment. It
was hecka ghetto, but not gonna lie, it looked pretty sweet! We used a
mop bucket with dirt as a base for the "tree". The stems are all dead
now, but hey, it's the thought that counts right? Charlie Brown may
have some real competition this year.


Man that's some great news about the snow. Soak it up! I read all the
info about the Star Wars movie to the other Elders here. We were
invited to watch it by some member in Bergeson's ward, so it's a tough
one to pass up. Everything is illegally downloaded here. I will be
obedient and say no, don't worry Dad.

Well, that's about it for this Christmas Season. Some SUPER fun days
coming ahead of us! I hope you all have a wonderful, happy, funny,
joyful, chilly 2015 Christmas. Over 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ, the
Saviour of the world, was born in a humble manger in Bethlehem. He
lived a perfect sinless life. He lives and leads His Church today. I
am so grateful to be a missionary here at this time. It's almost
unreal how much I love my mission. Jesus Christ died and lives because
of us. He loves us! May the blessings of His birth be poured upon you
during this Christmas. Enjoy!!!! Of course, remember the REAL reason
we celebrate Christmas: Christ.

Love and miss you all. Can't wait to hear from you soon! P.S. Happy
birthday Rosie! Go do something fun, like detailing the truck out or
playing racquetball.

Love always, Elder Nissinen

Monday, December 14, 2015

Food Poisoning.....With Benefits!

Dear Family and Friends, 

Hello! It seems like forever since I have been able to write home. All of you are curious to know about my hospital trip. This letter could be a little longer than normal, so bear with it.....

Sunday we fasted. Later that evening we were invited to a wedding party hosted by a lady in the neighboring ward. Missionaries can't turn down free meals! Anyways, I ate something there (probably a piece of chicken or cow meat) that soon made me really achy. That night in bed I was moaning and groaning from the achy-ness and from my fever that continued to rise. I had 3 of the 4 symptoms of malaria (runny tummy, achy, and fever) so I did a malaria test and tested negative, but Elder and Sister Sanders still wanted to get me in the hospital. I didn't think I had malaria, but I knew I had something! 

Anyways, after a night of practically zero sleep, my companion and I went to a nice hospital in Accra at 6 am Monday morning. After some vital signs and such, the doctors wanted me to take stool and blood samples. I had a 103 degree fever when I first came in I think. Anyways, they came back and told me I had a bacterial infection (food poisoning). I was also extremely dehydrated, partly from the runny tummy and of not fasting the day before. I expected to be out of the hospital that afternoon or evening. I was a bit bummed out that I couldn't go to the zone activity at the beach. 

The nurses told me I'd be staying there for 24 to 48 hours. The Sanders hooked me up with a sweet private room! They were able to bring my fever and body aches down by Tuesday morning. 
Some benefits of a hospital:
1. Hot showers! I took 3!
2. No lights off
3. TV (yes, I was allowed to watch TV for 2 straight days!) I saw Aladdin, both Home Alone 1 and 2, and Jurassic World! 
4. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner in bed
5. Getting to call home for a few minutes!

It was actually really nice being in the hospital for the most part. By Wednesday morning though I was ready to get out. It was a weird feeling to be honest: I was a missionary, but I didn't feel like one. I didn't feel like I was in Africa or the U.S.. It was a really odd feeling that I didn't like. Sitting in front of a TV is cool and all, but after 2 straight days I was done! I could go for another hot shower though anytime! Because I was so dehydrated, I had to have an IV in me for 2 days, which wasn't fun either. They had to do it several times, and they poked through both sides of my veins a time or two.
Leaving the Hospital!!!

I'm doing just fine now. I recovered quickly and am back to full speed again. It took 2 days to fully gain my energy back.So thank you all for your prayers for me. I appreciate it. Our numbers for this week were terrible, but I am glad to be back to work. We've got 2 baptisms planned for the 27th of this month! White Christmas! 

Speaking of Christmas, Elder Madsen and I are boggling our brains trying to find out what we can do to celebrate. See, Christmas isn't a big deal here, due to money probably. If you didn't know the calendar, you wouldn't be able to tell Christmas is in 11 days. It makes it a challenge to "find Christmas". Whatever Christmas we want to have, we have to create it ourselves. Elder Madsen and I are finding ideas for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So far, we don't have any plans yet. Maybe this year I will be able to truly find the true meaning of Christmas.....

I actually heard about the floods in the hospital TV! That picture of Killarney is sick! You 3 boys better go out and swim in it or grab a canoe! You know I would if I was home! What a fun adventure. 

I also heard you experienced lights out for 5 hours! It's quite funny to hear Rosie comment about how "fun" it was. Life is truly so different for us! We've had the 24 off, 12 on for quite some time now. I think a good 2 straight months it's been that way. Teshie has it the hardest for whatever reason. And no Rosie, we are not "set up" for lights off! You get used to it, but you surely do appreciate the 12 hours you have lights (if you're even in the apartment during that time).
At our apartment. This is the Harmaton (don't know the spelling). It's a natural phenomenon in which sand blows from the Sahara Desert. Sand/dust is all through the air, clouding the sky to where you can see the sun directly! Every night we get a thin layer of dust/dirt on our things in the apartment. 
We were able to do some great service projects Saturday. We rarely get that opportunity here, so it was super fun. The 4 of us in the apartment went to our neighbors house and weeded and I mowed the lawn. I won't even try to describe the mower, but I will just say it's not a Honda, and I had to use an old tie to make it work right. After that, we all went over to the chapel and cleaned the baptismal font. It's been neglected for some time now, and green algae stuff was sitting on the tiles, so we figured we'd better do something about it. Service is fun! 
No words to describe this mower. I had to use an old tie to keep it functioning properly. Literally the scariest thing on 4 wheels! It's as simple as a motor spinning a blade really fast.
That's all it can do. It was super fun mowing and working hard for some time though. 

And yes, we are indeed using broom heads as scrubbers. All we had!
Today we had our big "Christmas shopping Day". Elder Madsen and I, accompanied with two investigator ladies (Pascalene and her friend), all went to Accra to get stuff. Mom, I got the coolest hand-carved Nativity set! I wish so much I could send you all a package for Christmas. Dad, I withdrew some money from the personal debit. I hope it's not too much. I plan on using it to buy gifts for investigators and you all and the Elder in the apartment.

Grandfather...Father...Son!!!

I would like to add a special thanks to the Hancock family for the amazing packages! I don't know if I was suppose to wait until Christmas, but I knew there was American chocolate in there, so I couldn't help it! I could tell they put in some serious effort in wrapping everything and adding that annoying fake snow in every square centimeter of the package, so I really appreciate it. Thank you guys!
Madsen LOVES soda! He goes through 3 or 4 bottles a day sometimes. 
I hope you all have a wonderful week, filled with some adventurous canoeing or swimming. Most importantly though I hope you all can catch the Spirit of Christmas. I've realized it's something that cannot be given. You have to work for it. I'm playing and singing Christmas hymns often to bring that Spirit in my companion and I during this season. In a season that is all about "me", look for ways to serve others around you. Be a little kinder, a little more generous, and a bit more loving to each other during these next few weeks. I believe the Christmas Spirit, like the Grinch himself said, cannot be bought in a store.
The Beautiful Temple lit up at Christmas time!!!!


Love you all! Can't wait to call you AGAIN in just 11 days. Because of the shortness of time, please make sure you have questions or whatever ready to go for me. Pictures to come!
Yeah that is a picture of everyone going to Stake Conference in the bus. Nobody owns cars, so the church rents out buses to use for free so we don't have to buy tro tro fare on Sunday. 
Love, Elder Nissinen

Monday, November 30, 2015

Thanksgiving + new companion

Dear family and friends,
I'm super happy everyone had a great Thanksgiving/Black Friday! It was cool seeing pictures of all the family together and well, you all already know that I'm training, and a few of you know who I'm training. But just to get all the information into a general email:

I'm training an AMERICAN! His name is Elder Madsen from Boise, Idaho. In just the few days we've been together, we're already having a great time and enjoying being with each other.  Yeah he's just two months younger than me. He is a hard worker. He was a landscaper during the summers. He worked at Chuck E Cheese and was actually Chuck E Cheese himself. That's the coolest thing I've heard. I mean, who get's lucky enough to have Chuck E Cheese as their companion?!   So we both did landscaping and both are some type of mascot... who would have guessed? He's came up with some brilliant ideas in the apartment too... I will explain in a minute! Having an American companion is awesome in a lot of ways, but creates challenges with the people too. I lost my voice for 2 days from talking so much in the lessons. This week I'm going to encourage him to speak! He's a fun guy though and is adjusting really well. I love re-living my first few days through him, with all the food and just the cultural things we see daily.

We love the pizza!


Being a trainer is a great responsibility and trust. We are working harder than I've ever worked before in my mission, and the work is putting forth some results. Sunday we were blessed with some super good investigators who just showed up to church because they felt like visiting our church..... one guy especially enjoyed Gospel Principles class. We committed four people to baptism this week. We believe we can reach our goal of 2 baptisms in the month of December, maybe more if things keep going well.

Thanksgiving for us wasn't much. We treated ourselves to pizza again, and because we have been there 3 times now, I barely have any money left! Luckily Grandma sent me some money to draw me out of Affliction two weeks early! Thanks so much Grandma! That was all we did Thanksgiving.
Today we played football against another zone. Boy I'm so burnt right now, it's not even funny!!
Man, it's so hot!



Here's one of Elder Madsen's brilliant ideas: Saturday we were at a friends shop. Elder Madsen looked at a case of glass bottled cokes and asked me if we could buy the cases of coke and refill them at the nearby bottling factory. Anyway, long story short... we were given 24 glass bottles of coke/fanta/sprite to drink! We just pay the cost of refilling the bottles, and whenever we are done using them, we just return it back to the lady that gave us them! The reason we are doing it is because we buy coke for 1.50 GHC. But by buying directly from Coca-Cola, we are saving 0.46 GHC per bottle! That's just one of Elder Madsen's genius ideas.

A funny story:
Yesterday we got back to the apartment, and I was just in a cleaning mood. Our apartment has been a wreck for the past 2 weeks due to transfers and zone activities. Ants have been all over the apartment eating food and nobody had done anything to remove the ants (I always do it). So after killing probably 2000 ants, I decided that we would change our water filters, because they've been neglected for several months too. I changed the filters completely, and after looking inside the old filters, we found that.... there was no filters inside our system! It was just 3 chambers full of water without filters inside the chambers. In other words, we've all been drinking from regular Ghana city water for the past 3 months without even realizing it! There were zero filters in our apartment. I called Elder Sanders, a Senior Couple guy in charge of apartments and stuff, and he was shocked and amazed at how we haven't been sick or anything the past 3 months! We got filters today. So for the first time in my whole mission, I'm going to drink filtered water at my apartment! Thanks for the prayers at home!

Another Funny story, although it wasn't funny in the least bit: 

Monday before the big zone activity I took some Doxy. but we were in a hurry so I just took it dry, without any water. I had food in my stomach though. Anyways, after my shower about 10 minutes later, I burped. Dry powder came out! It was by far the most pain my sinuses, throat, and eyes I've ever felt in my life. The burning sensation was incredible. I think the only thing close is like pepper spray. I was like yelling and screaming in the apartment! It took a good 3 hours for the pain to quit.



That is that. Again, I love being a trainer, and I'm looking forward to some more baptisms in the near future. I hope you received the forwarded email from President Heid about calling on Christmas Day.... only one hour is given and allowed....
Sounds like everyone is enjoying the Christmas Season. Keep having a great time being with the family! Thanks again Grandma for the cashola. And also everyone else for the nice pictures.
Love Elder Nissinen
 

Monday, November 23, 2015

I'm a Father!!!

Dear Family and Friends, 

Yes! The question you all have asked has an answer: I'M TRAINING! I'VE GOT A SON! I just don't know who he is though.....

It still hasn't even soaked in yet. It's hard to believe. I have a lot of responsibility on my plate now. I plan where we go and what we do 7 days a week now. I don't feel ready to take in on (I just finished my own training!), but at the same time I'm super excited for the future. I have the ability to make this new Elder's first 12 weeks super good! (Actually it's 14 weeks because of Christmas time). I want to work really hard and teach him ( and he teach me) so that he's prepared for the rest of his mission. 

Transfers are every 6 weeks on Tuesdays. Whoever is being transferred goes to the mission home in Accra and they just assign you to your companion and go. If you are training, you don't know who you are training until you get there. If you are just a regular missionary being transferred, you'll have known where you are going and who is your next companion 4 or 5 days in advance. More than likely I will get an African. 2 whites is difficult in the field. 

The final pictures of our district.




As for my week, things are just awesome. I so totally love my mission it's not even real. I just love everything out here. It's a complete life-changing blast!

It was a less-productive week because of transfers coming. I had to go to a training council meeting in Accra on Friday. Elder Bergeson and I were lucky to be able to attend a temple session that morning too. President and Sister Heid are super awesome. I love them for all the work they do to make us better missionaries. 

I had cat for the first time the other day! It was great! Next time we go there, they are going to invite us over to help kill one!


Sunday gave me a burst of ambition to go out and teach teach teach. We had 6 investigators come to sacrament! It was nuts! There are tons of children who come to church every Sunday but aren't baptized for one reason or another. Others were coming up to me wanting me to visit their friends who are interested in the Gospel. Sometimes you feel like your area is rubbish, but days like last Sunday really get you pumped to go and teach! I'm going to work my Son so hard! The ball is 100% in my court. 


Today was one of my best P-Days here. Our zone and Tema zone came together to play sports and hangout. We were assigned to make a dish from our home country... I don't know how to make American food, so I just made a fat stack of PBJ's! They were a hit! They were gone in like 5 minutes. I was worried that the ants on the bottom would deter people, but they tasted great still. We have a bit of an ant problem in our apartment. I love fun P-Days. 
Our Party today!

Because Elder Liongitau and Elder Fayeampah are being transferred, that makes Elder Bergeson and I trainers. So basically our apartment is going to be a bunch of really young Elders. We all went to Papa's Pizza as a "last supper" the other night. 



Well, that's about all there is to my week. I will know tomorrow who my Son is. Elder Liongitau was a super good trainer. We got along really well. He taught me a lot. I am really grateful for his love, charity, and good attitude and for treating me so well these past 12 weeks. I want to copy many of the things he did to me to my Son. He's just a great guy! 
I will miss this Tongan boy!



So there is no Thanksgiving here at all or Black Friday. Well, everybody's black here so it's Black Monday Black Tuesday Black Wednesday etc etc.... I don't plan on doing anything special Thursday! Maybe I'll get something really good to eat that night? I hope you all have a wonderful, delicious, fun, finger-lickin', and most importantly a thankful Thanksgiving! 
Enjoy being around each other and the few days off school. 

More exciting news to come next week! 


Love, future father Elder Nissinen