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