Saturday, July 11, 2015

Last letter! The Swan letter

The "Rancho" group (we all 3 served in California together and are going home on the same day)

Hey guys!

So you all have guessed - this week has been a wave of emotions, very bittersweet in every way. I´ve started throwing out a lot of junk that I never used, and after lunch I´m going shopping to bring some Brazilian stuff home. 

The "going home" group in front of the temple after the session
We definitely had a different week with it being the last of the transfer and in my mission. Wednesday was a Self-Reliance training that took up most of the day. We practiced how to do job interviews, brag about yourself, and start thinking about what you wanna do with the rest of your life. It actually helped out a lot getting that perspective back about work and studies. After that the whole group went to the Temple with President Del Guerso - what an experience!! He had the whole group in the Celestial Room and gave us all some council. I´m looking forward to get back in the Temple on the 24th for when B goes through. We got out of the temple at like 8, so to kill the rest of the time I went with Elder Jacobsen and Elder Morgan to a fancy pizza buffet that only is open for pizza at night. The waiters come around like every 30 seconds with a different kind of pizza - sweet or salty. Man it was good! 
A brazilian-style pizza buffet after the temple

Tonight we were invited by a family to have tacos and root beer, tomorrow I was invited to give a brief talk/testimony, Monday we get to travel to the areas we want in the mission and have a Family Home Evening with President and Sister Del Guerso, and then Tuesday we´re off.

To not takeaway anything from my homecoming talk, I want to bear my testimony about the power of a mission. It´s really hard putting it all into words. I know a mission has changed me and I´ll be forever grateful that the Lord calls young men and women to serve. Both California and Brazil have taught me so much. I´ve always had a testimony of the Church, but now that I´ve served and taught, I now know the why. It comes down to this: We have a Heavenly Father who loves and knows each of His children. I know that my mission was for me. 

I´m excited to see you all again this Wednesday. I might need some help with my English, or to at least be able to speak like a normal American haha. 

My prayers go out to Papa and Mama as well. 

See ya Wednesday,


Love Elder Nissinen

                                     Brazilian Grill with the President a couple weeks ago


                                               English Class - with cookies of course!




Sunday, July 5, 2015




Gooooooooood morning USA!!!! Happy 4th everyone. I had to be reminded by a Brazilian this morning or else I would´ve forgotten - kinda embarrassing. But I got a good taste of American yesterday when one of our investigators just came back from Disneyland - she gave us a box of Whoppers! 

You´ll be excited for the stuff I´m bringing home for you guys. They give Americans a bigger weight limit for suitcases. I have to start packing this week and leave behind a bunch of stuff. 

We had another great and busy week in the 5th ward. The young woman that went to the English last a couple weeks ago we´ve been teaching. This morning we went over for a quick lesson to follow-up on her prayers and reading. SHE GOT AN ANSWER! We´ve got her marked for the 11th for her baptism. That´d be great to have a baptism on my last weekend as a missionary. We´ve been having a lot of success in this ward, and I believe that´s because of the unity between us 4 and the ward together. Honestly I haven´t seen anything like it in any other ward I´ve spent time in. 

The work in the office is going well. Having to be on top of lawyers and real estate is like pulling teeth sometimes, because we´ve been trying to close a couple apartments that the mission isn´t going to use any longer. I guess I´ll know what to look for when I´m looking for an apartment and have all the i´s dotted and t´s crossed. 

Thursday night we got a call from President, wanting to take us out to lunch the next day. Let me tell ya, we ate GREAT yesterday. He always takes out the missionaries in the office with their companions who are leaving that transfer. We went to Tordilhos, one of the most expensive Brazilian Grills they have here. It´s like Fogo do Chão style - MEAT!!! We had a great talk between the 5 of us there about President´s vision of things and he wanted us to pass that on. One of the things I´ve learned working close with President Del Guerso is how to make something out of what a lot of people imagine to be nothing. That´s how he became a math teacher and then a lawyer. 

I heard the news last night about President Packer. I´m still feeling that urgency that even though we live in the "last days", we sure do have a lot of work and not a whole lot of time. 

I´ll keep praying for Papa that he keeps getting better. He gives me a lot of strength too and I love him and Mama very much.

Have a "bombing" and safe Fourth! Love you all lots


Elder Nissinen