Greetings from Tatooine

Dear family and friends, 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's pretty hard to believe that it's already 2017, and that I'm able to say I'm going home this year! 2016 was a phenomenal year for not only me, but for the whole family. It was probably the only year of my life that'll be able to say I served the Lord full-time. That's something special there! Our family sure has been blessed in 2016. 

Kids in our area

You're probably wondering what the heck Tatooine is. Well, this time of the year is Harmattan Season, where sand and dust from the Sahara blow over. This creates a cloud of dust in the sky, covering the sun and making the weather a bit cooler. Because the sun is blocked, it's easy to look right into it during broad daylight. Elder Horne called it Tatooine off of Star Wars, and I thought it was clever and funny. Like I said, the Harmattan makes everything cooler, so it's nice for a change, but the air quality isn't great. 

Harmattan. You can see the dust over the
mountains in the background.

Overall, our week was solid. We were struggling in the beginning of the week with finding new investigators, but our prayers were answered, and out of thin air new investigators and referrals starting pouring in. President Heid has repeatedly taught that "less-actives are gold mines". The reason is that most of their friends and family are non-members. So it's a fantastic opportunity to not only re-activate a member, but to introduce the gospel to their family and friends. We have a few situations like that right now. Hopefully good results will come. President's always right! 

Sad news: 

Tuesday evening we got back to the apartment, and my name tag wasn't on me. Some time that evening I lost it. It fell in a taxi probably. It's my special tag that I've worn since day 1, so I'd be really bummed out of if never showed up. I'm praying that it'll come back to us somehow. 

For New Years Eve, all missionaries had to be in by 6pm. Luckily for us, our branch is at our house, so we were able to hang with the branch for the evening! It was fun, and a few investigators even showed up. For New Year's Eve in Ghana, every single person goes to a church to worship and make noise until 2 in the morning. 

Thanks for informing me of your New Year's Resolutions. Sounds like all of us (me included) have a resolution to improve our scripture studying. All the answers to life's questions are found in there! It's the iron rod that leads to the tree of life, not anything else. 

I'm so grateful for 2016. The Lord has been good to me. I wish all of you a Happy 2017. 

Love always, 

Elder Nissinen