Elder Neesinen (Knee-sin-nen)

Wow it has been a great week in Mattawa. We had Zone Conference, Exchanges and Interviews all within the same week. So, it was a pretty busy week for sure. 

Massive Fog!

To start off, Elder Cox and I left Wednesday morning to Othello for exchanges with the Zone leaders. I was actually able to exchange with the first Elder I met when I got off the plane in Yakima so it was fun looking back on that time. He is an awesome missionary and we were able to find three new people while tracking. Later that night when we got back to his apartment, another Elder said he had a few magic tricks. I try to act like I don't know what he is doing, but most the time I have either seen the trick or I can figure it out. However, when I showed them a few a mine they always say do it again. Here's a funny story that happened last night. I asked a family if they had a deck of cards. They brought out a deck of picture cards used to play Mexican Bingo. I told them it would work and so i continued showing them the Sister Blanchard trick. I told one of them to find the card with a frog on it. As she was trying to find the card she moved her hand towards the end of the pile, which was exactly where the frog card was. I was saying in my mind, "Oh no, don't pick that card". She ended up choosing the frog card which ruined the whole trick. It didn't make a good reveal when she did chose the right card. Luckily I told them next time I will bring my deck of cards. 

Thursday was Zone conference, and like always it is great to see President and Sister Jackman. One of the main focuses during this Zone Conference was more effective daily and weekly planning. We also received the "New" Preach My Gospel, but really there are only a few differences, like adding words or replacing words. Now because of this new change, weekly planing takes a little longer, but as time goes on we will be able to be more effective in planning for the people and their needs. Another thing that Sister Jackman shared was the Parable of the missionary and the coloring book. Imagine a simple picture of Pooh Bear and Tiger. Now imagine a super complex picture of a lion, in great detail. With these picture in mind, Sister Jackman asked us to broaden our "Target Market" and start or I guess continue working with Teenagers. I hope I explained that well enough, but it made sense when she talked about it. Like Sister Jackman always has, she left each of us with a complex coloring page of a lion, like the one she showed us. For some reason though she took lots of pictures, but only uploaded like 15 on Facebook. At least I had a single shot of me and the first picture you wold see if you went to that post. So make sure to check those out.

Saturday was Interviews in Royal which is about 30 minutes from Mattawa. When we walked into the Seminary building President was just finishing an interview with a Hermana, then it was me. Its always a surprise when people pronounce my name. If they talk to me on a regular basis, then they know how to say it, but if it's President you really don't know what your going to get. This explains my the reason for the Title. He pronounces it like Knee-sinen. I don't want to just come out and tell him, so I just left it alone. Maybe next time I'll politely correct him. We had a quick short chat, because he was running behind schedule and needed to talk to Elder Cox as well. So we switched places and I chatted with Sister Jackman for like 15 minutes. That was when you received a picture from her Mom. This time she asked me how my Journal writing is going. I told her I hadn't missed a day. Then she asked how detailed i was. I told her not super detailed, but I write the highlights. She then went on to say, that the Book of Mormon was written in detail, why should yours be any different. I told her "Good point Sister Jackman". She said "Did Nephi skip writing the details on his journey?", I said "No, Sister Jackman, he actually didn't". Well you get the point. So I'am working on writing my Journal a little bit more in detail, and I extend that invitation to all of you as well. 

Thats' about it. Thanks so much for your emails. I look forward each week to hearing from you all. Love and miss you all so much. Stay warm. Check out google photos for pictures. 

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Elder Nissinen

Another Week in Mattawa

¿Cómo están? 
I hope you all have had a great week and done something fun. This past week has gone by super fast and I can't wait to tell you all about it. 

For those of you who looked up my address on google earth, yes we live next to some members out in the middle of nowhere. So each day, whether it's to the church or into town it's at least a 10 min drive. It is pretty nice to look outside and just see nothing for miles and the mountains. Our neighbors the Hansens are super nice and almost every time we go over there they will give us something. That's why in the pictures of our trailer we have just a corner of food given by the members or our investigators. The Hansens also have a dog named Shadow that lives just right outside our trailer. She is a super nice dog and one of these days in the morning I want to go for a run with it. Although almost every night it will bark because of the coyotes. Sometimes Brother Hansen will pull out his gun and fire off a few shots to shut her up. Haha. 

I did some Nissinen cleaning. Before and after!

This past week there was also a Super MLC, so Elder Cox went to that in Yakima and I did exchanges with another Elder. It was super fun driving again, I almost didn't want that day to end. We were able to knock on quite a bit of doors that morning and afternoon and he had only been out in his mission for about a week. So I had to take charge and help work with him with his Spanish and all that. I really enjoyed that day, luckily I will see him today during our zone P-day. Last Thursday we also had Doctrine of Christ in Quincy. I was supposed to have done it last transfer but because there were only a few missionaries they did it this transfer. It was great seeing the Jackman's again and like always she takes a bunch of pictures. So if you haven't already seen the one picture on Facebook, check it out. 

Sunday was another great day at church. I am still pretty new and so I am trying to get to know as many people as I can. We were sitting in the English ward so bishop could introduce me.  I was thinking and planning of what I wanted to say to everyone if they had asked me to go up, but instead they just said we have a new elder from Hillsboro. They will probably be asking me to give a talk within the next few weeks, or I'll bear my testimony next week. Then we walked into the Spanish branch to attend their sacrament meeting and President was giving the announcements, he asked me to come up and introduce myself. I knew it was coming. I knew what I wanted to say, just had to do the translating part. Haha. It actually turned out super good. I asked if everyone understood me before I started to introduce myself and I got a few heads nodding. Haha, some people say I have a good accent, so I am excited to see how far my Spanish comes by the end of the year. 

My spaghetti this week turned out really good!

Well that just about wraps up the week. Thanks so much for the emails, I really look forward each week to hear from you all. Love you very much.

Elder Nissinen

Show Choir....

Hey all I hope you had a great week. This week has been crazy with Transfers, new companion, and new area. There's a lot I want to talk about, so hopefully I can remember everything I need to. Haha.

This past Wednesday was transfer day. There are some pictures Sister Jackman posted on Facebook when we were all at the transfer sight. So Monday and Tuesday night I spent the evening packing up all my stuff. I was very surprised about the amount of stuff I had. Not everything fit in my three suitcases so I had to have that extra big box mom sent me when I got here, plus another small box. Yah, I know first transfer and I already have twice as much stuff as the other missionaries I saw. Haha. But it's not because I just threw everything together, I just have a lot of stuff. I kept pretty organized though. Once we got to the transfer site, we quickly unpacked and got everyone situated, then I said goodbye to Elder Bradshaw. I enjoyed being companions with him and we had some great times together. Then a few of us got into the car with the APs and drove to the Quincy transfer site, where I would meet Elder Cox. After we got to the new transfer site, I met Elder Cox and the ward mission leader Brother Yorgesen. Elder Cox has been out for 18 months and is from New Mexico, but has lived in a few other states as well. I asked him what his favorite sports are and he replied, "Show Choir, if you consider that a sport" Haha. I was like "Oh, well ok". He has 8 other siblings and is the 4th oldest.  He is kind of a funny guy, so hopefully our personalities will click as the transfer goes on. We are serving in Mattawa Washington, about an hour an a half from Yakima. It is a very small town and only has one Subway. Haha. We live in the middle of nowhere about a 10 min drive from the main city. So it nice looking out the window and just seeing open mountains and fields. 

We are living in a trailer home next to some members. It is actually a super nice place to live. We even have a small workout room, plus our own washer and dryer. It's a major step up from the Sunnyside apartment. In our area, Elder Cox and I cover a Spanish Branch and an English Ward. I don't know many members, but they seem super nice and I look forward getting to know all of them. For P-days, like today, we go to Othello which is about 45 min away from Mattawa and hang out with our Zone and shop at Walmart. 

It sure has been an eventful week, but it's been great . The Spanish in this area is probably about the same as Sunnyside. The older they are the more likely they only speak Spanish, but most kids and younger parents will speak both. So I get to speak in English and Spanish equally, but maybe Spanish a little more. My Spanish is doing pretty decent. It is hard to judge yourself, but I would say I can speak it pretty well and understanding is always difficult because they speak very fast. But I am learning each day. 

Well that just about wraps up the week. Make sure to check out the pictures in the Drive. I hope you guys do well in School and work. You're always in my prayers. Love you all very much.  

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Elder Nissinen