First off, I think that´s an awesome family motto! Kinda describes how things went down this week for us.

We had a meeting with our Ward Mission Leader Luis on Tuesday night, and boy it went great. He´s a convert and a returned missionary, and he´s got some great ideas on how we can get the work really going, not just teaching and baptizing, but converting our investigators and eventually getting them to the temple. He gave us a Gospel Library picture book that´s got artwork of pretty much everything in the Church - it´s a great tool to help out with the Portuguese. Pictures say a thousand words right? I proposed the idea of the 40 Day Fast that you guys did at home and that Mojave River did before I came in. The Bishop yesterday told me it was an awesome idea! I´m sure we´ll see some awesome miracles from it. Luis and us set a goal to get 6 investigators at Sacrament Meeting this week. And to get us pumped for it, he had us shout it from the top of his balcony overlooking the town: SEIS!!! 

So we went right down to work after that, inviting, inviting, and inviting all of our investigators, contacts, less-actives, practically everyone. We made Following-Up a main theme, because especially here it´s very easy for temptation to come along and distract people from the things that really matter. We found a few new investigators too with some good potential. 

Cutting a break in the story, I went on Exchanges two times this week. Once in my ZL´s area, and then other a greenie in my district joined me for the day. My ZL´s have a super solid investigator that has a legit hammock. She let me go inside, wrap myself up like in a caccoon, and hold on for dear life while they swung me back and forth. Missionaries have to make up their own thrill sometimes haha. The other day when I was with the greenie Elder T.  (from Utah) was a ton of fun. It´s great seeing that Greenie Fire go to work, and we even celebrated our successes with some pizza (I´ve got pictures). Being a District Leader is great! 

Back to the story. We were praying like crazy to help get those 6 at Sacrament, and then Sunday came. We passed by every single investigator on the way to the chapel, and unfortunately they were all sleeping and didn´t want to be woken up, busy and didn´t answer the door, or they dropped us all together. That´s the hardest thing about missionary work here, is getting people to Church. It wasn´t easy walking to Church yesterday, but your darn right that We Do Hard Things. And it´s worth it. God answered our prayers with an investigator at church who´s family is super-Catholic and anti to the Church - and she liked it! The Portuguese is coming along pretty well. I can pretty much say whatever I want without having to repeat myself. I think my accent is going away too. It´s harder for Elder B. though. It´s sad but when people ask us how long we´ve been out, they say I speak better than he does even though he has more time. I pray for him. 

It´s rare that I do speak English with anyone. One time a member wanted us to have a conversation between Elder B. and I for a minute to see if she´d understand anything. It felt so weird that I think my mouth muscles were a little sore after just talking normally. So weird! 

I can´t believe I have one year left on my mission. Holy cow it´s gone by so fast. We walk a lot, and some days are longer than others, but looking back I´ve loved every second of it, and it makes me want to work even harder and serve with no regrets. Missions are amazing.

I love you all very much and I hope you have an awesome week. I´m glad to hear everything´s going better with Grandma and that Monday went great too. You´re all so awesome. I know that God sents help from both sides of the veil for His children. 

We do hard things, because it´s worth it. 

Love Elder Nissinen  

    

Thanks for the emails this week. I´ll be with you all in spirit during Grandpa´s funeral.

Compared to a somewhat rough first week of the transfer, this last week went a lot better. I´m not having to use my little portable map as much, and Elder B.  and I had some great experiences teaching and working with our members. 

Wednesday we had our interviews with President del Guerso. Mine went super fast. No problems? Good! haha But while everyone else was getting interviewed the Assistants gave a training about how our focused needs to be changed. The stats in Brazilian missions are these: during 2013, 44,000 people were baptized. Out of those 44,000, only 4,000 remained active in the church - less than a tenth! What that means is that we´ve got to find those people who are seriously looking for change and a better purpose, and families who´ll stay active together. 

So what Elder B.  and I have been doing is going through everyone we´ve been teaching and seeing if they actually have potential and a desire to progress. Meaning, we´ve had to drop a few people. It´s hard at times, but hopefully in the future they´ll be prepared and ready to accept it. 

Luckily (even though there´s no such thing as luck on a mission), we were able to find a couple families this week. One we contacted a few days ago and yesterday we taught them the Restauration. It´s one of my favorites, if not my absolute favorite lesson to teach - there´s so many great things that came because of a young man´s prayer. The family was pretty excited about it, and we committed their son to baptism. The parents are a little hesitant and want to check things out first, but they´re ultimately not disregarding the idea of baptism. 

Saturday night we had our Festa Julina! It´s like a big Harvest festival. People dress up in ^cowboy^ kind of clothing (straw hats, boots, the girls in pig tails) and it´s a bunch of sweets, soda, and corn on the cob. We brought two of our investigators, and they seemed to enjoy it!  They had a ring toss that ripped me off of all my tokens, and then this little kid got up and won no problem - how embarrassing. 

We´re getting fed really well. Today I switched from Frosted Flakes to healthy eggs and toast for breakfast. Elder B.   is teaching me the tools of the trade of going healthy. 

Well that´s about it that happened this week. We´re both working very hard. I know that my year-mark is close (too close), so now´s really the time to shine. 

I´m so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the knowledge, power, and happiness that is in our lives and in the lives of those we love. I´m grateful to know that endings don´t exist, only new beginnings. It´s hard and sad to see Grandpa go, but we know he´s free at last from all of mortal life´s difficulties. I love you all. 

Love Elder Nissinen 

Dear Family,

My new companion Elder B. from Lousiana

Well. Those last two games weren´t really expected to go like that, but everything is calm now. Everyone knew it wasn´t gonna be easy without the captain and star player of the team, but it´s only a game. Being a German for the week was actually pretty fun. I thought there´d be a bunch of riots after the big loss Tuesday, but I guess people were so shocked at what happened that it wasn´t anything too dangerous or crazy. And because Brazilians have such a rivalry with Argentina, the whole country was rooting for Germany to win yesterday. At the end of the day, it´s just a bunch of games, but I´m especially glad Argentina didn´t win. Imagine all the trash-talk I would´ve gotten from Elder Moore, Elder Bailey, Sister Sorenson, and all the other Argentinian missionaries I know! haha But it´s good to be back going in ^4-wheel drive^ without having the World Cup hiccups in missionary work. 

So my new companion, Elder B. , is from Zachary, Lousiana, close to Baton Rouge. We both come from a pretty similar situation: we both didn´t get our visas right off, so we both served in California reassignments. He served in the Sacramento Mission for 3 transfers and then came here. I´ve got one more transfer than he does in the mission in total, and he´s got one more transfer in Brazil. We both aren´t fluent, but it kinda works to our advantage a little haha. The members have been helping us out with finding some great people to teach and helping us learn some speaking and teaching skills.

The first few days of the transfer were pretty rough. Without Elder C. we got lost in our area a couple times, and communicating wasn´t easy either. But this last week I learned a bunch of lessons, especially about gratitude. Just looking back at all the things God has blessed me and our family with has really made me learn to be grateful in whatever circumstances, kinda like what President Uchtdorf talked about in his last talk. Just a bunch of little things that have added up. Some examples off the top of my head are: not sure which bus to take to get to our lunch appointment, and we end up picking the right one without getting lost. All of our backup plans fall through, and we get some referrals from the Mission Office to go visit. Not really sure what to say to an investigator, but the words come out and we both are feeling the Spirit. Honestly there´s no way that two 19 year olds can do this work by ourselves, and it´s crazy if we´re trying to.

I had a great first week as a District Leader too!! I had my first Baptismal Interview with someone that Elder C.  and I had found a few weeks ago and passed him off to the Elders in his area. It was pretty cool sitting down with him to talk about his progress and his commitment to be baptized. The hard part about it was that it had to be done at 10:30 that same night!! His baptism was the day after and he had work in the morning, so the only way it could´ve been done was the night before. By the time Elder B.  and I got home, it was 11:30!! But at least we helped someone get ready to be baptized, that´s the important thing. 

Please pray for Elder B.  and I so that we can find and teach those people who are prepared here. It´s been a while since someone has been baptized and remained active in the Church in this ward. 

We´ve got some great things coming up! This Saturday we have the Festa Julina, which is like a big harvest festival they´ve got in Brazil. Should be fun! 

I´m definitely praying for Grandma and Grandpa. I sent her a quick note too. Keep me updated on their condition. I love them both very much.

Great to hear you all had a great time at Black Butte! Thanks for the sweet pictures too! 

Love you all very much!! Have a great week!!

Elder Nissinen

The Macedonia zone

Hi family!! 

I bet you´re all expecting the news of what happened with transfers. Well, the Assistants called us last night with some bittersweet news. First the bitter: Elder C.  is being transferred to downtown São Paulo, but he´s gonna be a zone leader! And I get to stay here in Macedônia and be District Leader! I´m pretty excited, but it´ll be different being a DL in Portuguese. My next companion is Elder B.  All I know is that he´s American and has one more transfer in Brasil than I do. The swaps happen tomorrow morning. These last 4 weeks with Elder C.  have been awesome. Even though we didn´t baptize anyone, I learned a lot from him and we had a great time. And it´s good to know that we´ll see each other again since we go home about the same time.

I saw all the awesome pictures of the 4th of July party. It looks like it was such a blast!! On Thursday I went on exchanges with my zone leaders, and Elder R. , an American, came into my area for the day. When our last appointment of the day fell through, we decided to pre-celebrate the 4th in the only way we could and going all-out American. So we went to the supermarket and bought everything we needed for an American BBQ: hamburger patties, buns, catchup, chips, Coke, ice cream, as creative as our budget would allow us haha. I used the liberty of the credit card, just so you know Dad haha thanks. Elder Ross and I had a ton of fun. The next morning we woke up and sung all the patriotic hymns in our English hymn book. It´s funny how your patriotism goes up when you´re away from your country haha.

The days leading up to, the day of, and the days after the Colombia/Brasil game were pretty intense, especially for my Colombian companion. I didn´t understand everything, but I could just tell that there was some good trash talking going on haha. People here take their futebol just as serious as the Bible. We watched the game in a member´s home, and after the game I stood on his balcony to see all the after-game fireworks. It was a good way to hit off the 4th. 

But now, people here have the crazy idea that me and all the other American missionaries are German! We just walk down the street and the first thing strangers tell me is ^Hey German^. Who knows what´s gonna happen without Neymar and T. Silva, but it´s not gonna be easy. Elder C. is just happen that even though his country lost, they took out Neymar hahaha. 

Besides all the on-the-side stuff that´s been happening because of the World Cup, this last week was one of our most fruitful proselyting weeks. We met this lady on the street who turned out to be a less-active who hadn´t been to Church in 7 years! And she was preparing to go to the Temple right before she went less-active. Turns out she has a son who wasn´t baptized. So we taught him Wednesday about the Restauration, and left him a pamphlet to read and pray about. We followed-up with him a couple days later, and he told us he read, prayed, and felt like every word we said and he read was true!! We introduced the Book of Mormon, talked about what we should do when we get a confirmation, and then BOOM: committed him to be baptized for the last Saturday of this month. And even better; one of the best questions that a missionary loves to hear is, ^what do I need to do to be baptized?^ It´s sweet music haha. So we´re gonna work a lot with Felipe (that´s his name) in these next coming weeks. 

The members have been helping us out a lot too. Yesterday we had lunch with Bishop and his family, and after eating a TON (Fast Sunday meals are the best), we offered to do the dishes for her like we always do with the sisters. Normally they decline the offer, but the Bishop´s wife said that past missionaries never offered to do them for her. So we spent the next half-hour scrubbing, washing, and drying all the lunch dishes haha. Lesson learned: being called to serve doesn´t always mean knocking (or clapping in front of) doors haha.

Hope you all have a blast at Black Butte!!! Sounds like a lot of fun! Thank you for telling me about how Grandpa´s doing. I´ll keep him in my prayers. What an amazing story Dad!! 

I love you all so much!!! Have an awesome week!!

Love Elder Nissinen

We got to go the temple today!!!

Hey family!!!,

With two games this past week, it wasn´t our best proselyting week. This is the last week of the transfer, and I really hope that both Elder C. and I will stay for six more weeks. We´ve been working super hard to find and teach some quality investigators and to build trust from the ward. We find out Sunday night who´s going where, and then the actual swap is on Tuesday, but we´re both hoping we stay in Macedonia. Elder C.´s a great guy and a great missionary. 

I hope you all watched the Brasil-Chile game. HOLY COW!! If you wanted to hear the world go nuts, you should´ve been there. You wouldn´t believe it. Incredible how a country totally erupts when a ball goes in a net. And of course Neymar saved the day. Everyone here thinks he´s the greatest. Boy was it a close one. And when Neymar got the last PK, everyone was screaming, yelling, cheering, everything. The member who were watching the game with even let off a bottle rocket on his balcony! With the games before, President has told us we need to be home as soon as possible afterwards, but with Saturday´s game, we thought it´d be best to camp out an hour or so and wait till things quiet down a little. And since the game was at 1pm, our proselyting was shot. So we just went home, cleaned up our house a little, and went to bed early haha. You only get that opportunity when you´re sick on the mission haha.

There was another close call this week. It´s normally custom when you greet someone (between girls and guys-to-girls) to shake their hand and give them a peck on the cheek. Of course missionaries can´t do that, but not everyone knows that. During a lesson this week this lady walked in the house, shook my hand, and then almost kissed me!!! When she leaned in, I said pretty loud, ^Whoa no!^ and she backed off. It was one of the most freakiest moments of my mission!! haha That´s why we keep a stiff arm when we shake hands. 

Have to admit I´m a little jealous of your super-4 of July party you´re having this week. But it just so happens that Friday is also the same day as the next Brasil game, so I´ll still be celebrating. Elder C.´s pretty nervous, being Columbian and all. His country plays Brasil Friday, and for his own safety he´s praying that Brasil wins haha. And just in case, he´s already gone around saying that he´s from Bolivia and not Colombia haha.  

We went to the Temple this morning! Man I´m so lucky that President lets us go every transfer. Life would be a lot harder without the Temple. One of the greatest feelings in the world. 

Even though things have been kinda rough with missionary work, we still see little miracles God blesses us with. Most of our investigators don´t like to commit, or they forget appointments, or sleep instead of going to church. The work isn´t always easy, even in Brasil, but we still see blessings and Elder C. and I have definitely been feeling the Spirit when we teach. Last night I went on splits with some RM´s in Macedonia. They had a friend that they brought to Church Sunday and we got to teach him last night. They´ve been home for about 6 months now, and after the lesson we got to talking about missions in general. They told me they´d give anything to be back on their missions, instead of having to worry about school, work, and life. It´s super true. I don´t want it to go by as fast as it already has been. I´ve never felt so good about what I´m doing in my life as I am right now. 

Teaching Elder C. english 

 Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement. This work cannot and will not be stopped, even if we have to pause every now and then for a soccer game haha. 

Have a great 4th, but be safe too! Don´t get too crazy with the mordars and snow cones haha.

Love you all very much!   Elder Nissinen

Reading scriptures on the bus ride

We found an awesome burger place - the biggest burger of my life for R$6!!

What the streets look like during the World Cup!!!

Hey everyone!! 

This was a great one! Elder C. and I worked our tails off, and despite a few hiccups, the Lord blessed us immensely. Jardim Macedonia is a great place to be in.

A lot of you have asked how everything´s going with the World Cup. I´ve tried comparing to a lot of things, but the closest thing I can imagine is this: take the Super Bowl of Super Bowls versus every major country in the world, multiply the excitement by 10, and then put that excitement in the same country that´s hosting all these countries. Seriously from a non-missionary perspective, it´s what everyone is talking about. President del Guerso has given us permission to watch the Brazil games in active members´ homes, but the atmosphere doesn´t help out missionary work a whole lot haha. From about noon to 9pm, the games are on TV, which means if anyone has a TV in their house, the games are on. It´s funny because whenever we enter someone´s house, member or not, and we ask if we can share a spiritual message, they always say, >Oh sure, just wait till the end of the game!< So, what else can we do for the leftover 15 minutes? haha With the game today President said we have to go back to our houses right after, so today will be a full pday!

Jardim Macedonia has fewer active members, but it´s our plan to help them stay firm and reactivate the less-actives. A problem in Brazil is that many are willing to listen and commit to being baptized, but staying firm and living the commitments are hard. We had a meeting Sunday morning with some of the leaders in the ward, and a lot of what was talked about was finding and bringing back members who will stay active, go to the Temple, serve callings, etc. And the members are the best source for finding these people! 

For example, a couple weeks ago we had lunch with an active family. After our spiritual thought they decided to invite their less-active neighbors and their non-member friends to an FHE with us. We had it last Monday, and Elder C. and I were in charge of the game after the lesson. The dad shared a brief message from General Conference, and then we played Batata Quente. A little introduction, missionaries have to be pretty resourceful, so we found a little hackysack from a box of Frosted Flakes we bought before, and played Brazilian Hot Potato. Simple, but it worked! We had a ton of fun, and then the active family committed them to take the lessons and come to Church. I love working with the members!! 

Our study desk

The infamous electric shower head

Our Laundry room

Some pictures a member took of us last night with a family. Cake and Coke! haha

 Elder C. is by far one of the best companions I´ve had on my mission. He loves music, and he taught himself piano and a bunch of other instruments. He even writes music! And he´s got a great heart too. On Saturday I woke up with a terrible sick feeling in my stomach. I tried to shake it off and work, but after about an hour of walking, I felt really achy. I still don´t know if it was something I ate or drank. But we were close to the chapel, so we went in and I instantly fell asleep on one of the wooden benches of the chapel haha. Three hours later I woke up 100% better. We couldn´t get ahold of our lunch appointment, but Elder Castilla stayed there the whole time and helped me out a ton. I´m teaching him English, and we read the Book of Mormon together in the languages we´re trying to learn. I may have convinced him to go to BYU too haha. 

Oh, and I got your letter last week! LOVED the pictures and the letter!! People here really like seeing pictures of your family; it helps to show that you´re a normal person, and talking about families is an easy way to connect with people here.

Love you all!!! Thank you for your emails and encouragement! Being a missionary is one of the happiest and best things I´ve ever done! The Gospel and the Savior are real. Heavenly Father does answer our prayers. Miracles do happen. The scriptures are power-packed with the Spirit. 

Have an awesome week!!! I´m still hoping it´s Brazil and the US in the final haha. Be safe

Love Elder Nissinen 

My new companion has been out 10 months just like me!!!

Hey family!! 

As you´ve all heard and probably watched, Brazil started off the World Cup with a win! Things have never gotten crazier here (good and bad). 

Before I talk more about Thursday, I better talk about where I´m at right now. I'm in the same stake as before (Campo Limpo), but I switched wards and zones. I'm now serving in the Macedônia ward with my new companion Elder C. . He´s been out exactly as long as I have (10 months as of last Saturday), and he´s a blast!! He´s from Colombia, speaking Spanish, but he´s forgot a lot of it thanks to Portuguese. He´s helped me out a ton with the language, and I can tell I´ve already improved a lot in just this one week. 

They use real paint on the curbs of the streets!!!

GOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!!! Score Brazil!!!

We live in a house that some members let the missionaries stay in. It´s not like the Yen House back in Mojave River (with the Jacuzzi and pool table), but at least we have a working stove in this house! Remember when Uncle Matt talked about those electric shower heads that heat up the water? Yup we´ve got one, but I haven´t gotten shocked yet (don´t jynx it). It´s only us two that live in it, but it´s a lot bigger than the last apartment. 

I still don´t know why the Emergency Transfer happened. Nobody went home, and there were at least 6 elders that got swapped around. President just told me it had something to do with helping out some newer missionaries. But it doesn´t matter, because Macedônia with Elder C.



 is a lot of fun. It´s still in the favelas, but it´s also on the wilder side of town. Saturday and Sunday nights get pretty crazy with all the Funk parties. Saturday night our lesson took a lot longer than we thought, so to avoid all the craziness we took a bus home. It´s ALWAYS an adventure on the buses in the favelas - imagine the Dinosaur jeep ride at Disneyworld, without seatbelts!! I easily got a foot of air off one of the bumps in the road haha.

So President let us watch the first game Thursday, but the whole day was just horrible for proselyting. If somebody wasn´t drunk and partying, they were painting and decorating the streets even more. Even the members were fixed on the opening ceremonies and everything. And President told us to get to our houses asap after the game, and now I know why. Luckily the member we watched the game with gave us a ride. Traffic in Brazil is bad already, but what a crazy ride it was dodging parties and barbeques. But no worries, the Lord always keeps His missionaries safe.

The ward is pretty cool. It´s a little bit smaller, but there´s quite a bit of members who want to help us out. There´s a recent-convert family that´s going to the Temple to be sealed this month, and they invited a neighbor to come to Church and hear the lessons. And he came!! We´re gonna start teaching his girlfriend (soon to be wife) this week too. The only problem is the marriage issue. It´s a big problem here, especially if they´re married to someone else but can´t get a divorce, and they´re living with someone else - headache. The members are still surprised I´ve only been here a month now by how I´m speaking, but I still have a long way to go. 

Father´s Day doesn´t exist here in Brazil, but I was still thinking of you Dad yesterday. Thanks for being a great father in my life and helping me be where I´m at now in my life. Packages are hard and pretty expensive to send from here, but I´ve got a letter I´ll send tomorrow after District Meeting. Hopefully it gets there at least before the 4th of July. I love you a lot Dad!

Love you all and hope you have a great first full week of no school!! Glad to hear the Dance Festival went well and it was a lot of fun! Keep your fingers crossed for Brazil and the US, but for my sake I hope Brazil wins in the end. People here already love Americans, but I bet that´d change if the US won haha

Love you all,

Getting my hair washed....you know what she did? She came, and washed my hair. Barney Fife with Mrs. MendleBright

Habibs (it´s like the Arabian Little Ceasers haha) The cost 25 american cents

Elder Nissinen

Hey everyone!! 

I´m just as surprised as everyone else about this emergency transfer thing. And just when I get used to Jardim Ipê too! I´ve never seen it happen before, so who knows what´s happened with the other elders. I have no idea who´s my new companion, or my new area. But I do know that I´ll be going over to the next zone, which is actually in the same stake. So I´ll still be able to see the members at Stake activities and stuff. 

And so yesterday with the phone call from the Assistants totally threw me, Elder B. , and the rest of the ward off. I thought for sure that at the end of this transfer, at least I wouldn´t be the one going. But the Lord has a purpose in everything. We got the phone call right in the middle of a first lesson with an investigator family - bad timing Assistants!! Let me back up a little:

A week or two ago, Elder B.  and I went over to this one member´s house to introduce ourselves and talk about how we can help them do missionary work. We got talking, and after a while, they told us they have a family that lives in the same complex that would be super interested in the gospel. So they invited them over for lunch yesterday, and marked us on the lunch calendar for the same day. That family was super prepared!!! Anyways, right when we started sharing the Book of Mormon with them, we get the phone call. Elder B.  ignored it, but they called again. At that point we didn´t even care what anyone was calling about because we were just completely focused on this family. Elder B.  even took the battery out of the phone haha! But when the Assistants told me the news, I´ll be honest I was kinda mad. We´ve been having so much more success over the last couple weeks, and it´s gotten better and better!! A lot of the people we were teaching were solid, coming to church, had baptismal dates. AND we were gonna watch the first World Cup game with a member who has a 3D TV!!!! But I´m sure the Lord´s got a plan for what´s ahead. And I hope I get a Brazilian companion too so I can pick up the language a lot quicker. 

So about the World Cup, things are going CRAZY here!!! So crazy, that President del Guerso told us that we can watch all the games with Brazil playing. The only thing we have to do is that we have to watch the games in really active members´ homes, and we can´t go all crazy with face paint and stuff. BUT, when Brazil scores, we´re allowed to yell and celebrate haha. Everyone´s getting pumped for Thursday. And the people here are transforming the Favellas into a living Brazilian flag!! They paint the sidewalks, curbs, and even the trees in Green and Yellow. They hang streamers above across the streets. You see flags everywhere. It´s ridiculously awesome. I would take pictures, but there´s always people painting, hanging more stuff up, etc. This whole country´s gonna shut down on Thursday!! 

We had Stake Conference too yesterday, and we got to have it broadcasted from Salt Lake. All of it was in Portuguese. The 1st counselor in the Relief Society, Elder Ballard, and Elder Scott spoke to us. They had voiceovers for the first two speakers, but when Elder Scott came up, the words he was saying were the same coming from his mouth! The dots connected: he speaks Portuguese!!! Turns out he was in the Area Presidency of South America at one point, so he already knew a bit of Spanish and Portuguese. It was pretty cool hearing an Apostle speak another language! 

Well, who knows what´s ahead with these changes, but I´ll definitely miss everything that´s happened here. Elder B´s been a great companion, and we´ve both helped each other out during this last month. The members are amazing in every way possible. I´ve seen a ton of miracles here, and we´ve had a blast eating all the pizza with chocolate-stuffed border as we can haha.

Good luck with these last 3,5 days of school and the Dance Festival!! This week´s gonna be a blast! Make it a good one. Love you all a lot!!

Vai Brasil!  

Love Elder Nissinen 

Hi Dad this is Jacob. The Assistants called me like 2 hours ago and told me I´m being emergency-transferred to another area. Don´t know why, but it has to do with missionaries in another zone. Anyways, tomorrow afternoon I´ll have to go to the office, which means to do email I´ll have to do it earlier in the morning (like 9:30 my time). So I just wanted to send this email so you and the rest of the family can send your emails sometime tonight instead of tomorrow morning. I still won´t know what´s gonna happen until tomorrow afternoon.

Love ya Dad,

Elder Nissinen

Hey family!! 

After last week´s little hiccup, Elder B. and I hit the pavement hard this week. And we were so blessed!!! Let me tell you all about the many miracles we saw:

Starting off right after I emailed you all, that very night each of the investigators we saw opened up to us so much! We´re teaching Junior, a 10 year old who loves and plays violent videogames all day. And it´s been hard to get his attention focused on really anything, and he´s also pretty shy. But for some reason I shoved my Rubix Cube in my bag after dropping off our groceries, and Junior noticed it when we starting sharing a message. We decided to talk about baptism and goals. I let him mix it up as best he could, and then I explained how sometimes when we look at a big decision (like baptism), it can look pretty intimidating or even impossible. But when you take it step by step, (as I was solving the cube), it doesn´t take long before you´ve completed it. He was HOOKED to that lesson!! We committed him to baptism for the 14th. We just need to come to Church and get better fellowshipped and integrated to the ward. I never thought I´d actually use that cube in someone´s conversion - imagine that!

Another miracle happened on Wednesday. We got 3 referrals from Headquarters for some nonmembers in our area we should see. We clapped outside one of them, right as the husband of the name we got pulled up. We explained why we were there, who we are, and what we do. We thought for sure he would think we were creeping on his house. But he smiled and invited us in for lunch - a perfect stranger!!! He and his family were very nice and friendly to us, and treated us like guests. We spent some time getting to know them, and before we could tell, we spent two hours there!! But they were very open to letting us come back and share a message with them - keep your fingers crossed!!

Our members have also been some of the greatest sources of our miracles this week. We´ve been struggling to help out a recent-convert young man who went back to his Word of Wisdom addiction after his baptism two months ago. Last week we shared a message about the Priesthood, and about how it´s an opportunity to serve our fellowman and God. He doesn´t have the priesthood yet, but when we came back this week he was very interested in being worthy to have the priesthood. He comes to church almost every week (he walks with us), but all he has are jeans, shirts, and flip-flops, so that´s what he´s been wearing to Church. But Saturday a member called us and asked us what his clothing sizes were. When we showed up Sunday morning to pick him up, holding a bag with slacks, a pressed white shirt, socks, and a tie, he beamed!!! He looked good too!! I got Elder B. to send a picture of him. That same night the same members invited him over to dinner to eat with him. The members never cease to amaze me, and this young man will be ready for the Aaronic Priesthood in a month! He looked so happy at Church too. I don´t think he´ll ever take those clothes off either haha.

Elder B.  is great in writing in his journal, which has motivated me to be better with mine. I don´t have enough time to type all the great things that happened this week, but things are definitely picking up, and I think we´ll be baptizing many very soon. This work is great!!! It ALWAYS is, in times of success and discouragement.

I love you all. Congratulations B on the new car. Maybe you and Papa will have to reteach me how to drive a manual again haha. Enjoy these last few days of school too. Hope you got my letter. If not it should definitely come this week. Elder F.  still hasn´t sent off my package yet, but he´s getting on it this week. 

Love you!

Brazils off brand frosted flakes

Elder Nissinen

We went to McDonalds with our zone right before this. It´s still the same haha, but it´s actually expensive and there´s not that many things on the menu. Like a regular combo is R$20, like $10 there. And it´s a lot nicer than the other restaurants here, so there´s actually guys in suits and ties that act as security guards. Crazy! 

 Hi family!!

 Happy Memorial Day. This is the last holiday until school is over right? It´s gone by so fast!

 So the big news is....yup, I´m staying in Jardim Ipê. And Elder B. is too! The dynamic American duo is here to stay for another 6 weeks. Elder B. thought for sure he was gonna leave, but you never can tell with Transfers. It makes things a lot easier on ourselves too, since I don´t know the area that well, and we both don´t want to give up on the investigators we have yet. The members are happy too that we´re both staying.

 Luckily, the protests were only on Wednesday, so we were able to leave our apartment Thursday. But Thursday morning at 1:30, Elder B.  woke me up because he had a killer headache. I gave him some medicine from the First Aid kit (thanks Mom!), gave him a blessing, and he went back to sleep. He didn´t wake up until 10 that morning, and when he did, he was in a lot of pain. The member who brought us lunch that day took us to his house, where he let Elder B. rest until another member could take him to the doctor. We got him to a hospital clinic, and after they checked him all out, they told him he had a bad sinus infection. They gave him an IV, some heavy prescriptions, and sent us back. After the IV and checkup Elder Baker was feeling a lot better, so for the first time in three days, we got to work!!! It felt great getting out and working.

 Friday I did Exchanges with our Zone Leaders, and I worked in their area. Both our Zone Leaders are Brazilians, so after speaking straight Portuguese the whole day I learned a lot!! I imagine when I get a Brazilian companion my Portuguese will spike. My only worry now is that Elder B. and I won´t learn as fast because we´re both not fluent and we speak English quite a bit.

 Remember on The Honeymooners when Ralph and Norton drank the grape juice they thought was wine? Elder B. and I had a similar experience this week. We were in the home of a less-active, and she gave us some juice. I took a sip, and boy it was some strong grape juice, but I wanted to make sure it wasn´t wine. Thank heavens it wasn´t!! We got a good kick out of it:  A little strong but good,  right?

 The work is going. It´s not as easy as everyone thinks, because it´s easy to get in the homes of less-actives, but it´s hard getting them to keep their commitments, especially coming to church. All the other churches meet at night, and ours is a half hour walk away at least. Plus, we don´t understand everything our investigators are saying, so it´s hard to understand their needs. It´s going to be a challenge for us, but I´m sure this a test Heavenly Father has given me to help me rely on Him more.
 I sent a letter off to you all today too. The lady said it´ll get there in a week. I have not been by the Mission Office lately, so maybe your letter has already arrived.

 I love you all a lot!! Hope you´re enjoying these last few days of school. Thank you for your prayers.

 Love Elder Fuss

Members in Brazil call me Elder "Noodle" .  You can see why!!

Hey everyone!!

So last night we got an interesting phone call from our zone leaders. Over the last month a lot of people have been protesting against the government because of corruption and stuff. Some of it has to do with the World Cup and how the government is spending money, and people have been saying it's the last straw. So because of the protests, the meeting with Elder Nelson was cancelled, and all of the missionaries have to spend the day inside their houses. It's for at least the day, but President told us to go shopping last night to stock up for a few days just in case. Who knows? I guess everything's not all fine-and-dandy when it comes to the world cup. But our zone leaders let us email at a member's apartment who lives in the same complex, so I'm grateful I still get to email you all. 

Everything else has been going great here in Brazil. We're teaching about twice as many lessons as I was in California, and the people we meet and teach are incredible. The work moves so fast here! It's not uncommon for the missionaries to meet someone, and within two weeks they get baptized. The hardest part is making sure they stay active, which is why we're working a lot with the members to help find and teach. It's so much more effective! Both the members and non-members are ready and prepared to be a part of the work of salvation - you just have to ask! I still don't know all the members yet, but every week I get more and more comfortable with the language and all.Elder B.  and I are doing great, no problems.

Pictures of my apartment!!!  We live on the top floor!!!

We only have a washer so we have to hang dry all our clothes

The only thing that works in our kitchen is the Fridge, microwave, and our George Forman grill.

Guess who sleeps on the top bunk.  Yep me!!!  Just like home!!

We are scrubbing our bathroom down today!!!

Guess which side is mine???? 

Elder B. had a rough start with his trainer, and he's told me this is the best companionship he's had on his mission yet. This is the last week of the transfer too. I came in two weeks after it started (because of the CTM), and the CTM is having us cut our transfer a week early. Chances are one of us are leaving - we've been lucky to have an american companionship. We find out Sunday night if one of us is going, and then Tuesday morning is the actual swap. Monday is still our P-day, which will give us time to pack if we do get transferred. I find out Tuesday also who's companions with who and where they're going, so it's all kind of a surprise for everyone until Tuesday. 

And I'll have you know that after 2196 pushups this last week, I'm 100% caught up!! Feels good doing only 140 a day instead of 400. I'm not gonna procrastinate that again...

Another crazy thing happened this week. We had hail!! And in some places, it stuck like snow!!! On Sunday after Church we were walking from our apartment to a member's house, when it started raining a little bit. There was a lot of thunder, so we speed-walked it all the way to the member. And then after 5 minutes of getting there, we had the biggest storm that I've ever seen in my whole life! I took a video of it all. We had heavy rain, heavy hail, heavy thunder, and heavy lighting all at once! Needless to say things got heavy. And that never happens here. At the chapel some of the ceiling panels broke because of all the precipitation resting on it. Things are just getting crazy here!!

Hail storm!!!

Church was great. We saw one of the recent-converts walking in right when the meeting started, and when we asked where the rest of his family was, he told us he came all by himself. He's 10, and the only member in his family. 10!! He got dressed, walked all the way to Church at least a half hour away, and stayed for all 3 hours - by himself!!!!!! That's true faith right there.

Before I gave myself a haircut for the first time

After!!!  Not too bad!!

Like I said, things are picking up, and the world is getting crazy. Stay strong in it. God will continue to bless you. The Church is true no matter where you go. I love you all. Hope you have a great week with only a few days left of school. Finish strong. 

Oh, and since I've got a lot of spare time today, I'll be writing a bunch of letters. And I've got pictures to send too today. 

Love you!

Elder Nissinen

Love