Thursday, June 29, 2017

Never Thought This Would Happen

Dear family and friends, 



It's been another great week! Elder Ackley and I are working hard. As we visited members, we found a few new people to work with, so we're excited about that. Ackley is learning the area small small, he should have it down by the time I go. 




I lost my balance riding my bike the other day and flipped over a gutter... that was pretty embarrassing for the 75+ people who saw it. 

Tuesday was a Multi-Zone Conference, President and Sister Heid's last. It was great to be with them. President had some great remarks about the covenants we make. He also talked about women marrying an "RM", which doesn't stand for "returned missionary", but rather "righteous man". That was a great lesson. Sister Heid talked about Navy SEALS, and their courage, strength, and determination to save souls, physically. We as missionaries, she noted, do a similar service, but spiritually. It was nice talking to the other missionaries as well. I haven't seen some in a long while.
 

On Friday we went on exchanges. Elder Ackley had to do some interviews for one of our DL's baptismal candidates. I was with a greenie Elder who just finished his training. It was a fun day. 




I somehow contracted this nasty cold last week. My nose is runny and I have a terrible cough. I even lost my voice for 1.5 days. I'm doing better though. I'm just surprised I would get a cold in Ghana. Rexburg will kill me. 

We did have a baptism yesterday for an 11 year old boy named Junior. He's a cute kid and had more desire to be baptized than anybody I've ever seen before. The kid asked me about it every single time we taught him. He must have asked me 15 times. The service went well, and we scored a whopping 8 investigators at sacrament!




Hope you all have a great week!

Love always, 

Elder Nissinen
This is what we ate last night for dinner.




Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Crunch Time!

Dear friends and family, 


I'm really shocked at how fast my mission is winding down. It seemed just a few days ago I was saying I had 5 months left, and now I have 5 weeks. I'm not sure if I'm more excited than nervous. I don't feel ready at all. I feel like there's a lot more I need to accomplish before I'm done. These next 5 weeks will go by super fast. In terms of baptisms, anybody that will be baptized in the next 5 weeks we've already met, and they must be prepared now. 




As I said already, my new companion is Elder Ackley. He attended the same high school as Elder Burns, and will go home the transfer after me. At home he was a skateboarder. He graduated a year before I did. Ackley is a really cool guy. We have a similar teaching style, and the people like him. The challenge is that I only have 5 more weeks to teach him the area before he's leading himself. 

Elder Ackley


We had a really good, productive week. Mostly I was showing him the area/members/investigators. We extended baptismal dates to two great investigators... and I hope they'll be baptized before I go! Thursday was MLC -President and Sister Heid's last one. It was great. We're just paving the way in preparation for the Keye's, who will be coming in two weeks. 

 Four investigators showed up to church Sunday, and all four had baptismal dates. That was great. Little Priscilla was confirmed, and both her parents were there. Our hope was that her baptism would re-activate the family, and that seems to be the results! The Mia-Maids and Laurel's presidencies were created, and TWO of my recent converts were involved! Heck yeah. 
 It can flood really bad. The temperatures are a lot cooler. The people complain that it is too cold and they can't go out in it, even though it's at like 70 or 75. We ride in it, but the tires kick up dirt and mud sometimes, which wrecks our white shirts, so we tossed on rain jackets and persevered. It was fun. 




Anyways, that's really about it. We've got another busy week of the same thing as last week. 

Congrats on the Eagle Project Joe and the job Rosie. 

Have a great week. Smile! 

Love, Elder Nissinen

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

See Ya Elder Allen

Dear family and friends, 


 Last week was Elder Allen's last week as a missionary. He worked hard, right to the end, filling the teaching pool. I'm grateful for that. With him leaving, it really struck me of how soon I have left here. 6 weeks might come too quick! 







We found some new people to teach. A few of them are very interested, and the hope is to have them baptized before I go.

Sunday was one of the better Sunday's I've had in a long while. We worked all day Saturday to invite and commit every investigator we knew, and Sunday many of them came! The best was a family that we've worked with for quite a while. A mother, father, and daughter all came. When I looked behind to see if they showed up and saw the father sitting several rows behind me, I almost cried from joy. Man, that felt so good to see them there. I think they had a great time, and our plan is to baptize them next month if things keep rolling this way. 

Immediately after church was Priscilla's baptism. Priscilla is a 10 year-old girl who's parents are less-actives. She's the cutest little girl, and it was so nice to have the whole family there to support her. The only problem was... no water! The city shut off the water Saturday morning, so we could only fill the font to about 2 feet of water. Well, by Sunday afternoon, we were down to about my knee-length of water. Allen was the baptist and had Priscilla sit down, as he said the prayer on his knees! It was hilarious, but he nailed it first try. She was baptized by immersion. It was a perfect finish to Elder Allen's last Sunday: investigators and a baptism.



We still don't have water, and have been using rain water and the water left in the font to bath and wash clothes/dishes with. Hopefully the city decides to give us water back. That would be very polite of them. 

Allen left this morning. He's excited for home. He was a great companion, and I'm grateful I could serve with him. My new companion is Elder Ackley, also from Utah. He's a super cool guy, and I'm really lucky to have him too. Can't believe he's my last companion. We have a lot of work ahead. I just want to do as much as I can before it's too late.

Have a great week! Congratulations Rosie on finishing GHS! 

Love always,   Elder Nissinen





Fufu and fish from a member.
We thought that this cat was dead, but it's alive. Flies were literally eating it alive. 

Sardine sandwich. It's actually really good!