Dear Family and Friends, 

Well, it's been another sweat week - I mean sweet week! The Harmattan is going away, so it's warming back up again. 

Elder Kambwiri, Elder Bergeson's companion. He's still in his training. He's the first missionary in our mission from Malawi. Neat guy! 

Elder Madsen and I worked real hard this week. One of our weaknesses has always been member-present lessons and contacting. We focused on those two things this week and were able to get some really nice work done! We found several new investigators who have already accepted baptismal dates next month. We basically had a member with us every day of the week. Hard work pays off! All that means now is that we have a much bigger teaching pool, so our workload has only increased. 

On Wednesday I went on exchanges with an elder from Mozambique in his area. Jacob, people there speak Portuguese! I told him all day I wish my brother was there to speak with him. He's still learning English. Elder Madsen was with our District Leader in our area all day. He did really well. I was proud that he could handle the area and the phone all by himself and get a lot of work done without me by his side. 

This week I was looking inside a little pharmacy at the medicine they have. One bottle of "black seed" read this: "Science has proven that this Black Seed formula will kill every disease except death". Ha! One of the funniest things I've read in my life. 

Elder Madsen got a little sick Friday, so I took him to the hospital. He just had some bacterial infection like I did. We were only there for a few hours and then we went home and he slept for the rest of the day. He's back to normal now, so that's good. The Sanders bought us american pancake mix, maple syrup, and 2 boxes of Kraft mac and cheese to help Madsen recover! The four of us in the apartment sure enjoyed that!!! We even added extra flour to help the pancake mix last longer! 

My poor companion!

Other than his hiccup, our work has been nothing shy of BUSY. It's so fun working hard for the Lord, right Jacob?

 To answer your questions: 

1. Cold showers are great. I don't mind.

2. I think the package arrives any day now, so I'll get it next monday

3. Yes, I still have money! I exchanged some of it today for a good rate, but I still have plenty more (I think $40)

4. No crazy food this week that I can think of. Other than Elder Sanders buying me a little bag of M&M's and an actual chicken burger with an actual chicken breast with fries! That was really a treat. 

5. Ant problems are always here (why does everyone ask about the ants?!)

6. I don't need a backpack. 

7. Transfers are in 4 weeks. I don't know if I will be transferred or not. There's a chance. 

8. I haven't seen Liongitau since before Christmas, but we've texted and called a few times. 

9. I haven't heard of any crazy terrorists in Ghana... 

One thing I thought of this week:

In life, we can either dwell on the negatives that we can't control, or the positives we can control. In our mission, our attitude is having the glass "half-full" instead of "half-empty". Sometimes we get caught up in the negatives of daily life and forget the blessings we've been given. Trust me, it's easy as a missionary to have your glass "half-empty". I'm personally so glad for the hard days I've had at Wendy's and on the farm. It forced me to have the "half-full" mindset. I challenge all of you to focus on the glass being "half-full". Have a little pep in your step. SMILE! 

Anyways, congrats on having no school. MLK rocks huh! Have a great week everyone. 

Love, Elder Nissinen

Dear family and friends, 

It's been another great week out here in Sangonaa! Happy birthday Dad! Hope you're feeling better. 

Elder Madsen and I are doing well. The both of us have done some introspecting, seeing how we can improve ourselves as missionaries of the Lord. For me, my patience has been short, so I'm working on improving that. It's easy to lose patience with people, but I can't control things I can't control, so I shouldn't let that get to me.

  I like being trainer. Everything falls on my back, but I like having the ability to be a leader.  Sometimes it's a challenge during teaching. New missionaries do silly things because they don't really know mission life, but I'm working hard at preparing Elder Madsen for when I leave. I'm giving him all the tools he needs to be successful, as far as I know. Training is fun! 

We were blessed this Saturday with the baptism of Seth!  This was Elder Madsen's first baptism in the field.   He's such a good guy and will be a solid member/leader in our branch. Sunday he was confirmed and given the Priesthood.  After his interview, we took him out to Papa's Pizza. It was a real fun night. The pizza tastes just like home! Probably even better. I am surprised at how little I must eat now. I eat one meal and am fine for the rest of the day.  We sure like Seth. He sent this text the following morning:

Seth is 60 years old.
This was the second time in his whole life that he has had pizza.
We love Seth!!!

"Good morning Elders. I thank you so much for the wonderful time we had yesterday.I am now fully convinced that your church is truly the Church of Jesus Christ. And you are his messengers. Thank you for your kindness. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Heck yeah! Those are the kind of investigators we constantly need: converted converts! 

Well that's about it for our week. We were blessed to receive more member-present lessons than I've ever had before. We are developing a strategy to utilize a member every single day of the week. I know it will bring success. We had a good attendance at church probably 80 or 90. Our branch is growing. I would love to see the day when we become a ward. It's not too far away. 

I accidentally ate a piece of fruit that was full of maggots. Whoops!  It was really gross. My thumb was covered in white little maggots. 

 I'm really excited for the package, especially the deodorant. You should have seen the 4 of the other night when Elder Madsen and Bergeson got some late Christmas packages. They shared a bunch of junk with us. We were going crazy eating chocolate, Reese's, and Jelly Belly's! One senior couple brought us a small bag of peanut M&M's. Boy were those good!  American snacks are amazing! You forget how good they are, and how easy and fast it is to get a meal.

Sounds like everyone is doing well at home. Joe told me about his pushups. He'll be way ripped if he sticks with it for the year. I told him as he's gaining weight, I'm losing it! He will certainly weigh more than me by the time I get back. I bet it's nice being back in the schedule again. I can't even believe it's almost halfway through the school year. Jeez! Enjoy the cold, work hard, and most importantly, HAVE FUN! 

Love you all, 

Elder Nissinen

Dear family and friends, 

I've done a lot of self-evaluation these past few days, something everyone kind of does during this time. I realized that this year may be my only year in complete full service to the Lord, so I want to do it right! I've done a lot of thinking about my actions, and how well I am representing Jesus Christ and His Church. Sometimes, unfortunately, I forget that everyone sees me as a full-time representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I want to focus a lot more on myself as a missionary, not myself as a tourist of Ghana.

Elder Madsen is doing great! Hard to believe he's halfway through his training now. He's a little quiet still, but the both of us are going to be sharing the teaching/talking. I am going to get him out of his comfort zone! He'll just be that much more prepared when the time comes for him to be Senior Companion. 

One exciting event this week was our Branch New Year's Party! Us missionaries have been working hard to invite all we could to this party, and our efforts payed off we think. We had roughly 400 in attendance, which is pretty remarkable, considering we get less than 90 in sacrament normally. It was a great opportunity for less-actives and especially investigators to be around members of the church in a friendly, easy-going environment. It was one of the happiest nights of my mission.

As for the investigators, Elder Madsen and I are really cranking on finding people to teach. We are in need of a bigger teaching pool! This Saturday we are baptizing Seth. Seth's an older man, and is by far the most prepared person I've ever seen. He's remarkable! Seth is a solid gold investigator. He reads his Book of Mormon, comes to church every Sunday, and even bore his testimony Sunday! He called us the other day and invited us for lunch! It's the first time I've been invited to a lunch appointment! We can't wait for Saturday to baptize him. He'll be such a strong addition to the Branch.

All of us are constantly sick in some way or another (minor sickness). I feel great. I wasn't able to do a full fast yesterday. I felt like vomiting, so I took some water and I felt better. We've all got runny tummy almost daily. Elder B. was puking the other night. Livin' the life!! Never or rarely getting sick at home is something to be thankful for. It's a real challenge to be healthy. I just listen to my body and do what I need to do. Yeah I take doxy daily. I have lots of mosquito bites, so I'm never not going to take the doxy.

Sounds like you all are enjoying the snow, holy cow! Hope you all set some great New Year's goals. Go out and reach them. Have a great week. Remember who you are. 

Love, Elder Nissinen

The Craziest Week Of My Life!

Dear family and friends,

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas... and have a Happy New Year! 

I will do my very best to keep this letter brief and concise, but there is so much that has happened lately, I can't help but give the details. 

First off, it was a blast talking to family at home! I loved it. It was a lot of fun hearing everyone's voices and laughing for a while. I really enjoyed the funny questions you asked me, like if we use shampoo. I don't know why, but the questions were kind of funny! Not going to lie, it was difficult to say goodbye. I felt at peace afterwords. It was the best Christmas gift I got this year! Thanks again for the nice American money surprise. I'm rich!!!

This is me calling you on Christmas day!

So backing up to Christmas Eve: 

The four of us built a bonfire using some doors we didn't need in the apartment. We also used old church magazines from the 90's. It was a lot of fun! Elder Madsen called home.  We bought some fireworks and had neighbor kids come over and blow them up "for us". Afterwords we sang Christmas songs and went to bed. 

Singing Christmas carols

For Christmas Morning:

I was able to sleep in until 8, which was really a treat. I opened up packages from home and the four of us gave each other gifts. I gave the other Elders an African tie with a chocolate bar, and Elder Madsen a surprise shirt he thought was for me. Elder Bergeson gave us handmade cups from coconuts, and Elder Kambwiri got me a bar of soap. We planned on making smoothies and some type of pancakes, but it was lights off! ALLLLLLL week we had power, but the President of Ghana decided to give us darkness for a Christmas present. So no smoothies! 

Elder Madsen and I delivered the special gifts to Sister P. and her family later that afternoon. It was quite special. I got a bit emotional when I told her that back home, we have a special family we give gifts to each Christmas, and that for this year, that family was hers. It was Elder Madsen's favorite moment of his mission so far. We went around and passed out like 300 pieces of candy to investigators and kids and recent converts, then hiked home for me to call. Christmas in Ghana is sad, to be honest. It's just another day. No gifts, no celebration, no nothing. People are working, cooking, all the regular chores. It looked like any other day. In fact, kids will tell you "Santa Clause doesn't come to Ghana". 

We got matching shirts from some fabric we got.

You all want to know about the cat party and baptism on Saturday:

I got a call at 7 am from Lovi, the member in the branch in charge of getting the cat. He told me the cat was too wild, and that we needed to come ASAP to kill it. So we all threw on clothes and the 4 of us were there quickly. Unfortunately, the cat was a big one, so his claws were too strong, and would rip through the sack, so we were not able to beat it. Instead, they had us hold the legs together and take a knife to his throat. Sounds gruesome, but it was a lot more humane than our original plans. Actually, it's the most humane way to go about it. I was surprised by how tight I had to hold the legs together. See, when the cat is on the brink of death, it will release some serious strength. My hands were sore from squeezing so tightly! Right afterwords we had Mavis' baptism. Lovi stayed home to clean and cook it for, then we'd come back and eat it. The baptism was a success! Her husband baptized her and confirmed her, so we were happy everything went smoothly. After, we went back to her place and ate the cat! Not even going to lie, cat is better than chicken! So tender, so juicy, so good! Elder Kambwiri is a bit like Joe: very sensitive to blood and foreign foods, so he had his back turned during the killing and eating. 

Mavi's baptism

Bergerson goes for the tail

Eating Cat tail

At 9:30 that night, Sister P. called me. She was crying, and needed our help. Elder Madsen and I had no choice but to help her. She had been verbally abused by her drunk "husband" pretty badly, and needed a place to stay for the night. We took her over to Branch President's house and had him help with the situation. He had us take her to her sister's house in Mame, a little far away. We walked with her there. When we got there, Sister P.  said she needed to get her 5 year old daughter. See, she only had her baby boy with her at the time. Her daughter was with her husband. We walked around for some time, looking for her husband and daughter. We searched in bars, her house, everywhere, but still couldn't find them. We called him and he would answer, but was so drunk he wouldn't tell us his location. By this time it was like 11:45 pm. We needed to get back home, but couldn't leave Sister P.  alone. Anyways, the 1st Counselor in the Branch owns a big bar (ironically) and he offered to help her so we could get some rest. Elder Madsen and I said a special prayer for her to find her daughter and be protected.

Sunday morning rolled around, and we didn't know Sister P.'s situation. She came to church! Second hour during Gospel Principles class, she walked in with her two kids. She told us that night she found her daughter and husband, and ordered him to give her her daughter. He beat her and choked her, so Sister P. had a big scratch on her neck. We talked with President E.  some more, and he wanted us to get her out of the house. We went with Sister P. and literally packed her bags for her and her children. Mom, I used the packing method you use! There would have been no way we could have packed clothes for 3 people in a small suitcase unless I did your folding method! I gave her money for a taxi, and she loaded up her stuff and headed out of there to her Grandfather's place, about 20 minutes away. We had to work quick before her husband got home, so he wouldn't see us.

She called me late last night, telling me the Grandfather wanted her to leave the next day. So basically she had no place to stay. This morning the drama continued, and we are in the process of having members and President E.  help her out and plead with the Grandfather to keep her.  Sistert P.  cannot return home to as her husband will continue to beat her.

As missionaries, all of us are called to save souls. Typically this is saving souls spiritually. But for Sister P.s case, we are saving her physically. We know without our and other's help, Sister P. will likely get beaten to death. It's a really stressful situation for us right now, as we have done basically all we can to help her and her children. The mess is still unfolding, so more news will come soon tonight. Your prayers for Sister P. and her children would be really appreciated right now. 

So that was my week! Bonfires, calling home, a baptism, eating and killing a cat, and helping out someone who can't help herself. Pretty wild, ain't it? My companion and I are emotionally drained from all these events, but we are hoping things will ease up. 

My wall in my bedroom

This is what the school rooms look like.

We have a New Year's Branch Party on the 1st, and it's going to be big! Tons and tons of investigators and nonmembers are supposedly coming. Music, dancing, sports, and banku!!  

Have a wonderful week, and a Happy New Year! Make some nice Resolutions for next year. 2016 is coming soon! Thanks for all your support and love. You rock. 

It's a good thing everyone is on vacation, cause this letter is going to take a day or two to knock out! Sorry.

Love Elder Nissinen

Christmas Letter!

Dear Family and Friends,

Sounds like you all are having a ton of fun between all those family
parties and what-not! Wow! I can't believe Christmas is this Friday.
And I can't believe I get to call home! We are up to ourselves on
Christmas Day in terms of plans. We plan on sleeping in the dining
room together, actually sleeping in for once, and giving gifts to
investigators and each other and handing out candy to kids. I will
call anytime between 4 and 5 pm Ghana time, so like 8 or 9 am your
time. Just a quick reminder: the way phone credit works here, it only
costs if you are the one dialing. We are worried about our credit
running out before our hour is finished, so I may "flash you", meaning
to call you and immediately hang up. If you call me back, I don't have
to worry about burning my credit too early. It just eliminates any
problems. Hope that makes sense! I am very excited to hear from all
your voices.

The 4 of us in the apartment have planned for some great fun these
next few days. Today we played football with kids. 

Tomorrow we are going to a children's school dance party, and that night we are
probably going caroling to select investigators or recent converts.
Wednesday is our Zone Program thing. I think our district is singing
some goofy songs or something. For Christmas Eve we planned to build a
bonfire that evening outside our apartment, sing songs, read the
Nativity Story, play games, and eat junk. There is a Christmas Program
at the Stake Center we plan on going to with some investigators that
afternoon as well. Elder Madsen's mom is a nurse and has to work
Christmas Day, so he's calling home Christmas Eve. Friday of course is
Christmas Day. Then on Saturday we have hopefully 2 baptisms! White
Christmas baby!!! Both ladies are friends named Mavis, and are between
22 and 26 years old. One is a recent convert's wife, so it feels good
to bring the whole family into the gospel. The other Mavis may not be
back from traveling in time, so we may have to postpone her date. And
some day throughout the week we are going to, yep, you guessed it,
"CHOP" MORE CAT! We payed money today for our nice big cat, so some
time this week a member will get it for us and we will all contribute
in killing, cooking, and eating it! I actually think there is 2 cats,
so it's going to be quite the fun!

Well, our week was awesome. Because I was sick and a bunch of other
things, we didn't get much work done last week, which made me
disappointed. I felt embarrassed to write our key indicators on the
chalkboard during our District Council Meeting, but my companion and I
realized our numbers were all average! Even during our terrible week.
So it motivated me to work really hard this week to get it back to our
level of excellence.

You're all interested to hear how my birthday went. It was nice!
Different, but nice! I woke up at 6 and opened my birthday cards and
package. You could imagine my shock when I saw $40 for my birthday and Christmas from Mama and Papa. Then I opened the Hawaii shirt and saw $30 more pinned inside! I was
laughing about it for 2 straight minutes! $70!!!!! What a nice
birthday present. I will try my best to make the money thin out for
some months, but knowing me that might be a challenge. 

Thank you so much for the shirt and money!
The shirt smelled good too mom.

Guess who's 19?????

It was a typical Sunday though, for the most part. We taught some lessons
afterwords and then went to Pascalene's house. She said she had a gift
for me. She came out and gave me a 1.5 liter Fanta. I was so
appreciative of her thoughtfulness. Here, a woman with no money and a
terrible life in general, gave me probably all she could give me. My
heart was softened. Then, her and her friend came out and poured TONS
of water on me! I had flashbacks of the ASL Icebucket Challenge.
Soaking the birthday boy is a tradition here. I walked home with
soaked pants and shoes full of water, grateful for the things I had
been given. 

Pascalene dumping water on me. I got a great video of it, but I can't send videos unfortunately. So here's a few pics. I got like 7 gallons dumped on me!

I'm not skinny....just trimmed!

Elder Bergeson and Elder Kambwiri made us a nice fried
chicken dinner, and we played some card games and ate some junk
(including my Fanta). It was a humbling birthday, but I believe it was
good for me to experience.

We bought a few more Christmas gifts for each other and for
Pascalene's family. I bought a nice shirt for Elder Madsen. He thinks
I got it for myself, so it should be a nice surprise! Elder Madsen and
I went to a dress store to buy something for Pascalene. Two white
missionaries in a dress store trying to find something that would fit
a lady, imagine that! It was awkward, but we found a nice jacket-thing
(I don't know what it is actually). Pascalene and her family is our
"special family" for this Christmas. All 4 members of the family are
getting some nice gift. It will be such fun to give it to them
Christmas morning. I can't wait.

Elder Madsen went without a nametag! That's when you know you got a Greenie! He got a lot of teasing for it. It was funny. 

Anyways, this past week has been a week of service. I almost named my
letter "Service is my Purpose". Elder Madsen had the idea last Sunday
to do some type of service every day last week. It was a good idea, so
we did it! We fetched water, helped sweep, and a bunch of other random
things to help bring in the Christmas Spirit in our lives as well as
others.

Best part of the week though had to be when we made our Christmas
Tree! Elder Bergeson took an old fufu pole and we wrapped stems from
our neighbors plants with old bed sheets we found in the apartment. It
was hecka ghetto, but not gonna lie, it looked pretty sweet! We used a
mop bucket with dirt as a base for the "tree". The stems are all dead
now, but hey, it's the thought that counts right? Charlie Brown may
have some real competition this year.

Man that's some great news about the snow. Soak it up! I read all the
info about the Star Wars movie to the other Elders here. We were
invited to watch it by some member in Bergeson's ward, so it's a tough
one to pass up. Everything is illegally downloaded here. I will be
obedient and say no, don't worry Dad.

Well, that's about it for this Christmas Season. Some SUPER fun days
coming ahead of us! I hope you all have a wonderful, happy, funny,
joyful, chilly 2015 Christmas. Over 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ, the
Saviour of the world, was born in a humble manger in Bethlehem. He
lived a perfect sinless life. He lives and leads His Church today. I
am so grateful to be a missionary here at this time. It's almost
unreal how much I love my mission. Jesus Christ died and lives because
of us. He loves us! May the blessings of His birth be poured upon you
during this Christmas. Enjoy!!!! Of course, remember the REAL reason
we celebrate Christmas: Christ.

Love and miss you all. Can't wait to hear from you soon! P.S. Happy
birthday Rosie! Go do something fun, like detailing the truck out or
playing racquetball.

Love always, Elder Nissinen

Food Poisoning.....With Benefits!

Dear Family and Friends, 

Hello! It seems like forever since I have been able to write home. All of you are curious to know about my hospital trip. This letter could be a little longer than normal, so bear with it.....

Sunday we fasted. Later that evening we were invited to a wedding party hosted by a lady in the neighboring ward. Missionaries can't turn down free meals! Anyways, I ate something there (probably a piece of chicken or cow meat) that soon made me really achy. That night in bed I was moaning and groaning from the achy-ness and from my fever that continued to rise. I had 3 of the 4 symptoms of malaria (runny tummy, achy, and fever) so I did a malaria test and tested negative, but Elder and Sister Sanders still wanted to get me in the hospital. I didn't think I had malaria, but I knew I had something! 

Anyways, after a night of practically zero sleep, my companion and I went to a nice hospital in Accra at 6 am Monday morning. After some vital signs and such, the doctors wanted me to take stool and blood samples. I had a 103 degree fever when I first came in I think. Anyways, they came back and told me I had a bacterial infection (food poisoning). I was also extremely dehydrated, partly from the runny tummy and of not fasting the day before. I expected to be out of the hospital that afternoon or evening. I was a bit bummed out that I couldn't go to the zone activity at the beach. 

The nurses told me I'd be staying there for 24 to 48 hours. The Sanders hooked me up with a sweet private room! They were able to bring my fever and body aches down by Tuesday morning. 

Some benefits of a hospital:

1. Hot showers! I took 3!

2. No lights off

3. TV (yes, I was allowed to watch TV for 2 straight days!) I saw Aladdin, both Home Alone 1 and 2, and Jurassic World! 

4. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner in bed

5. Getting to call home for a few minutes!

It was actually really nice being in the hospital for the most part. By Wednesday morning though I was ready to get out. It was a weird feeling to be honest: I was a missionary, but I didn't feel like one. I didn't feel like I was in Africa or the U.S.. It was a really odd feeling that I didn't like. Sitting in front of a TV is cool and all, but after 2 straight days I was done! I could go for another hot shower though anytime! Because I was so dehydrated, I had to have an IV in me for 2 days, which wasn't fun either. They had to do it several times, and they poked through both sides of my veins a time or two.

Leaving the Hospital!!!

I'm doing just fine now. I recovered quickly and am back to full speed again. It took 2 days to fully gain my energy back.So thank you all for your prayers for me. I appreciate it. Our numbers for this week were terrible, but I am glad to be back to work. We've got 2 baptisms planned for the 27th of this month! White Christmas! 

Speaking of Christmas, Elder Madsen and I are boggling our brains trying to find out what we can do to celebrate. See, Christmas isn't a big deal here, due to money probably. If you didn't know the calendar, you wouldn't be able to tell Christmas is in 11 days. It makes it a challenge to "find Christmas". Whatever Christmas we want to have, we have to create it ourselves. Elder Madsen and I are finding ideas for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So far, we don't have any plans yet. Maybe this year I will be able to truly find the true meaning of Christmas.....

I actually heard about the floods in the hospital TV! That picture of Killarney is sick! You 3 boys better go out and swim in it or grab a canoe! You know I would if I was home! What a fun adventure. 

I also heard you experienced lights out for 5 hours! It's quite funny to hear Rosie comment about how "fun" it was. Life is truly so different for us! We've had the 24 off, 12 on for quite some time now. I think a good 2 straight months it's been that way. Teshie has it the hardest for whatever reason. And no Rosie, we are not "set up" for lights off! You get used to it, but you surely do appreciate the 12 hours you have lights (if you're even in the apartment during that time).

At our apartment. This is the Harmaton (don't know the spelling). It's a natural phenomenon in which sand blows from the Sahara Desert. Sand/dust is all through the air, clouding the sky to where you can see the sun directly! Every night we get a thin layer of dust/dirt on our things in the apartment. 

We were able to do some great service projects Saturday. We rarely get that opportunity here, so it was super fun. The 4 of us in the apartment went to our neighbors house and weeded and I mowed the lawn. I won't even try to describe the mower, but I will just say it's not a Honda, and I had to use an old tie to make it work right. After that, we all went over to the chapel and cleaned the baptismal font. It's been neglected for some time now, and green algae stuff was sitting on the tiles, so we figured we'd better do something about it. Service is fun! 

No words to describe this mower. I had to use an old tie to keep it functioning properly. Literally the scariest thing on 4 wheels! It's as simple as a motor spinning a blade really fast.
That's all it can do. It was super fun mowing and working hard for some time though. 

And yes, we are indeed using broom heads as scrubbers. All we had!

Today we had our big "Christmas shopping Day". Elder Madsen and I, accompanied with two investigator ladies (Pascalene and her friend), all went to Accra to get stuff. Mom, I got the coolest hand-carved Nativity set! I wish so much I could send you all a package for Christmas. Dad, I withdrew some money from the personal debit. I hope it's not too much. I plan on using it to buy gifts for investigators and you all and the Elder in the apartment.

Grandfather...Father...Son!!!

I would like to add a special thanks to the Hancock family for the amazing packages! I don't know if I was suppose to wait until Christmas, but I knew there was American chocolate in there, so I couldn't help it! I could tell they put in some serious effort in wrapping everything and adding that annoying fake snow in every square centimeter of the package, so I really appreciate it. Thank you guys!

Madsen LOVES soda! He goes through 3 or 4 bottles a day sometimes. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week, filled with some adventurous canoeing or swimming. Most importantly though I hope you all can catch the Spirit of Christmas. I've realized it's something that cannot be given. You have to work for it. I'm playing and singing Christmas hymns often to bring that Spirit in my companion and I during this season. In a season that is all about "me", look for ways to serve others around you. Be a little kinder, a little more generous, and a bit more loving to each other during these next few weeks. I believe the Christmas Spirit, like the Grinch himself said, cannot be bought in a store.

The Beautiful Temple lit up at Christmas time!!!!

Love you all! Can't wait to call you AGAIN in just 11 days. Because of the shortness of time, please make sure you have questions or whatever ready to go for me. Pictures to come!

Yeah that is a picture of everyone going to Stake Conference in the bus. Nobody owns cars, so the church rents out buses to use for free so we don't have to buy tro tro fare on Sunday. 

Love, Elder Nissinen