New Focus

Dear family and friends, 

Not to get into too many details, but this was another tough week for us. 

The highlight of the week was the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast. It was a bit different than last year's. It was structured like an executive committee meeting rather than a talk-based instruction. Many great insights were given, and I enjoyed as I got to sit back and repeatedly get instructed on the Doctrine of Christ and our Missionary Purpose. At the end, they announced two big changes: First, our schedule is slightly different. They feel like we are ready to have a more flexible schedule, allowing us to be agents of our own time. The schedule is adapted to the culture of the country. Nothing much changed for our mission though. The second announcement was huge. Now, we are only recording four key indicators instead of nine. No more lessons are even counted or sent in. This is to narrow our goals to the very most important tasks. All of us were pretty shocked. 

In just the few days we've been implementing this, we love it. My own goal was always to get as many lessons in as possible, and now I get to slow down and really focus on helping the investigator understand, as well as understanding them. We'll be looking to new materials also, like Daily Planners and a brand-new 12 Week Training Program. 

Sefakor's baptism did not go through. For a while, we were not sure if she was mentally capable of being baptized. She has some severe challenges with learning. We had talked with the Zone Leaders about it, and they weren't sure as well. Horne and I prayed about what would be the best decision. Sunday morning rolled around, and we went to open the font. Somehow all the water we pumped in there Saturday leaked out. We were upset about it, and just postponed it to next month. As sacrament meeting was going, I noticed Sefakor was outside on the ground sleeping. It was an answer to our prayers that maybe she did not need baptism. We feel that our decision was right, and we're grateful to the Lord for giving us that answer. With that being said, we did extend a baptismal date to a super solid investigator for next month! 

I lost my camera Thursday morning. Somehow it fell out of my bag when I was riding my bike. It had my memory card of all my pictures since I came. I am hoping you save everything I send home. I usually try and email every picture I take from the week, so not many things are lost. It could be worse. The camera was pretty nice, so that's the sucky part. I did save all my videos onto another flash drive, so we're lucky on that part of it. I'm really sorry I lost it.  I also got sick for a few days, but I'm all good now. 

I did get the packages from Ninnie. Those are great! Elder Horne and I are thankful for them.

I know that the Lord is mindful of His children and that this is His work. Prayers are answered (sometimes in unique ways). I am thankful for the hard times I'm having here that teach me and change me into whatever the Lord needs me to be. 

Have a great week. 

Love Elder Nissinen