News

Dear family and friends, 

I got news for ya! 

Our week was normal for the most part. Actually, we had a ton of failed appointments, so we were just walking around a lot of the time looking for people to visit. 

Well, I got a phone call late Saturday evening from President Heid. Looks like I'm heading out of Ho Zone and going to be a Zone Leader near my first area. I was really upset that I have to leave before the baptisms next Sunday but there is a lot of people who are leaving baptisms behind. This next area will for SURE be a lot more comfortable, it's in the heart of Accra. So I am excited for that one. My next companion is from my MTC, he's a cool guy from Utah. 

Horne can do some trick to make it look like he removes his thumb. Kids have been going nuts about it and come up to him all the time to see it. I think they tell each other his name at school, cause we meet random kids all the time who want to see it. 

So guess what?

I GOT MY CAMERA BACK. Long story, but I'll try to make it brief: 

Sunday evening some men called us over to talk with them, saying that they knew about a camera that had pictures of me on them. We got really excited. They told us some lady from the next village has it, and that we could get it in the morning. So, of course, we walked to the next village to find the lady. We found the lady and she said the camera was back with the first two guys (where we had just came from). She said I could get the camera back if I paid her money. I wasn't too happy about it, but I decided it would be worth whatever cost to get it back. 

Back at the apartment that night, we got a call from the two guys. They were yelling and very angry with us. I'm still not sure why, but apparently they were accused by us of stealing the camera or something. They thought we were being bad Christians for asking the lady about the camera. Again, it doesn't make any sense. I was worried I wouldn't get back, so I calmed him down and apologized for nothing. 

This morning we went to the local police station to meet the lady and the guys. The guys were still upset, and I was prepared to give out my money and calm them down. But luckily our 2nd Counselor, who is a police officer, was around and helped us so we didn't have to pay to get the camera back. The camera is fully functional, no pictures have been deleted, and it's back in my possession! Apparently it was found a month ago. People took pictures and videos with it, it's a bit funny actually.

Gloria's farm. We found a cool tree!

Gloria. She'll be baptized Sunday. She is super cool with a hard life. She is Jacob's age.

It's quite a miracle to have that camera back. It'll be a great story to tell one day. That camera has an incredible a story attached to it! 

After nearly 11 months in the bush, I'll be saying goodbye and moving on the bigger (and better) things in Accra. Although the past 11 months -especially the last 4 - have been the hardest of my life, it's really stretched and strengthened me in so many numerous ways. I guess I have to be grateful for the hard times. God loves me! 

Investigator family in Avenui. Cool people!

My Sunday school class. The young men aren't too excited about church yet, but we get some sometimes. Sometimes I teach 10 youth.

Joycelin's last time washing my clothes...

Gloria

Have a wonderful happy week. 

Love, Elder Nissinen

Blessings

Dear family and friends, 

Elder Horne and I had a pretty great week. 

The weather seems to be heating up quite a bit. We're having to sleep with the fans directly on our faces to get any rest now! 

Not only is the weather heating up, but so is our area! It's the same old story of dropping less-serious investigators and searching for more. We did that Thursday I believe. We prayed that we'd be led to some who were looking for the truth, and after a while of contacting, some older guy named Godwin called us over. Apparently he knew everything about the Church, was taught everything by the missionaries, read all the pamphlets, has a Triple Combination, and even had previous baptismal dates. We asked why he wasn't a member, and he told us he travels often between two places and hadn't had the opportunity to be baptized again. Long story short, he has a baptismal date now for the end of the month. If all goes well, we'll baptize 4 converts on the 26th! I totally feel like Godwin was an answer to our prayers. So that was cool. 

Went to go teach an investigator and this is what we saw haha

Along the way, we found a bunch of other people to teach, and will be working on them this week. 

Friday we had the opportunity to do some service for a charitable organization in Ho. We joined with 8 other missionaries and cleaned their compound.

The highlight of the week was definitely Sunday. Yesterday was our Branch Conference. Our small chapel can seat about 45. We had 67! People were outside and in the hallway it was so overfilled. I don't even think the chapel has 67 chairs total. We were positive we would get 6 or 7 investigators, but a bunch of random things came up, and none with baptismal dates showed up. However, a super nice family in a small village walked in about 40 minutes late! I could tell they walked the whole way because they were really sweaty. It was a touching moment. Elder Horne taught investigator's class, I taught Sunday School, and we both taught Young Women's. 

Horne got a giant box of fruity pebbles haha. I got those drink mixes you sent. Thanks so much for doing that. Those really help. 

Elder Horne eating fufu

That's about it for our week! We're firing on all cylinders out in Tsito. We're going to do all we can to prepare those people for their baptisms. 

Have a lovely Valentine's Day, and talk to you next week. 

Love, Elder Nissinen

Good Week

Dear family and friends, 

The letter will be a bit short today, just cause there isn't much to talk about. It was kind of a normal missionary week. Nothing too noteworthy...

Horne and I are doing great in Tsito. It was about Wednesday or Thursday and we realized some of our "serious investigators" were no longer "serious". Friday and especially Saturday we spent the majority of our time contacting and searching for new people. It's not always fun to have to start, but once you get going it's not too shabby. We found a few people who might have some potential, and we'll get working on them this week hopefully. 

I'm really happy about the changes made regarding counting lessons. Twice this past week we were able to apply the "teach people, not lessons" principle. One was Michael, our baptismal candidate, who had a small problem with alcohol. The second it was Wisdom, a young man who is struggling to overcome pornography. In both situations, we were able to teach to their problems because we slowed down and sincerely asked, "what questions do you have for us"? Had we simply been focusing on teaching our planned lessons, they might not have been prompted to share, and us not able to address their needs. It's great! 

I did get the camera, but the ZL's forgot to bring it today, so I'll pick it up tomorrow. Thanks for doing that and for your love and continued support. 

Me and Elder Pace

Hope you all have a great week. Congrats on completing your first semester. 

Love, Elder Nissinen

New Focus

Dear family and friends, 

Not to get into too many details, but this was another tough week for us. 

The highlight of the week was the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast. It was a bit different than last year's. It was structured like an executive committee meeting rather than a talk-based instruction. Many great insights were given, and I enjoyed as I got to sit back and repeatedly get instructed on the Doctrine of Christ and our Missionary Purpose. At the end, they announced two big changes: First, our schedule is slightly different. They feel like we are ready to have a more flexible schedule, allowing us to be agents of our own time. The schedule is adapted to the culture of the country. Nothing much changed for our mission though. The second announcement was huge. Now, we are only recording four key indicators instead of nine. No more lessons are even counted or sent in. This is to narrow our goals to the very most important tasks. All of us were pretty shocked. 

In just the few days we've been implementing this, we love it. My own goal was always to get as many lessons in as possible, and now I get to slow down and really focus on helping the investigator understand, as well as understanding them. We'll be looking to new materials also, like Daily Planners and a brand-new 12 Week Training Program. 

Sefakor's baptism did not go through. For a while, we were not sure if she was mentally capable of being baptized. She has some severe challenges with learning. We had talked with the Zone Leaders about it, and they weren't sure as well. Horne and I prayed about what would be the best decision. Sunday morning rolled around, and we went to open the font. Somehow all the water we pumped in there Saturday leaked out. We were upset about it, and just postponed it to next month. As sacrament meeting was going, I noticed Sefakor was outside on the ground sleeping. It was an answer to our prayers that maybe she did not need baptism. We feel that our decision was right, and we're grateful to the Lord for giving us that answer. With that being said, we did extend a baptismal date to a super solid investigator for next month! 

I lost my camera Thursday morning. Somehow it fell out of my bag when I was riding my bike. It had my memory card of all my pictures since I came. I am hoping you save everything I send home. I usually try and email every picture I take from the week, so not many things are lost. It could be worse. The camera was pretty nice, so that's the sucky part. I did save all my videos onto another flash drive, so we're lucky on that part of it. I'm really sorry I lost it.  I also got sick for a few days, but I'm all good now. 

I did get the packages from Ninnie. Those are great! Elder Horne and I are thankful for them.

I know that the Lord is mindful of His children and that this is His work. Prayers are answered (sometimes in unique ways). I am thankful for the hard times I'm having here that teach me and change me into whatever the Lord needs me to be. 

Have a great week. 

Love Elder Nissinen

Rollercoaster

Dear family and friends, 

It's a bit tough to try and explain this week in a few words. When the week was all said and done though, it was great! 

It was an unusually hot week for us. We had a lot of new people that we were planning on beginning the discussions with, but unfortunately most of these people cannot speak English. All throughout the week we were constantly looking for member-translators and weren't getting much support. Actually, we were in a far village trying to teach a family one day, and no members were around. We ended up using a 14-year old girl who was nearby to do it for us. I thought that was really funny. Elder Horne also got sick for a few days. Every day we had tons of appointments booked, but almost all of them fell through. On Tuesday after a tough morning, we just had to sit down and cry for a few minutes. To top it all off, we didn't have any electricity in our apartment for more than two straight days - Friday to Sunday. Thanks to some sleeping pills though, we were able to make it through those hot, fan-less nights.

A big storm that flew right over us!  

Sunday it all changed: Sunday morning we were really surprised when President Heid's 1st Counselor showed up, along with the 1st and 2nd Counselor to our district presidency. With still no electricity, sacrament meeting got hot quickly. Miraculously, the lights came on and the fans cooled us all down. One by one, our investigators trickled in throughout the meeting. Eventually we ended up with FIVE investigators at sacrament. As the fifth one walked in, the only thing that came into my mind was "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer. Let me tell ya, that felt GOOD. 

The best part of the week, however, was the TWO baptismal dates we extended! That's right.... Tsito's having some baptisms! We've got one this coming Sunday, and two at the end of February. 

Looking back, I could see how Heavenly Father had blessed Elder Horne and I for our efforts. We did the best we could, and let Him make up the difference. Eternal perspective is a handy tool in our mortal journey.

This week is going to be great. On Friday we are going to watch the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast, and Sunday baptize Sefakor. 

I just wanted to say a big THANKS to the ward members at home for the nice package and the handwritten cards. That was very thoughtful of you, and I appreciate your support - and the Snickers bars. 

Have a great week! HAMMER TIME. 

Love, Elder Nissinen

Cold Mornings

Dear family and friends, 

It's been another great week in Tsito. Transfer news rolled out, and I was worried I'd be leaving. After all, I've been in this district for almost 10 months now. Horne and I are staying! We're both real happy about that. We're firing on all cylinders and we want to keep it that way. 

As all too usual in missionary work, with as much new investigators to follow up with, we also had to drop a lot. It's a never-ending task of adding and dropping investigators, but that's what keeps the days different sometimes. We contacted a lot of people. This week I contacted the people that would smile and wave back at me. Nice people are usually the ones that progress! We'll see what happens this week. 

A cute little duckling

Add caption

Church was great. A young woman couldn't give her talk, so she called and asked if I could. For zero preparation on the topic, I felt like I did pretty decent haha. But it's not too big of a deal when you're only speaking to 39 people either. We also held a meeting with all the endowed members of the branch and instructed them on the garment. Seems like they forgot some important parts, and we needed to remind them on a few details. 

Elder Horne and I love fufu!

We've discussed for a while the idea of having a literacy class. So many members here don't know how to read or write English. There's a great NGO program created by a Mormon guy that is used all around Ghana that we're going to implement. We announced it Sunday and almost half the branch signed up. We're hoping it will be a success and that it'll be a way to bring non-members in. 

 Exchanges with Elder Howland

The mornings here are cold lately. Horne and I are shivering whenever we wake up! 

Elder Horne with some kids

In Seminary we studied John 3. As I was preparing the lesson, I got a deeper understanding of verse 16. The most ultimate expression of love is found there: God sending His perfect Son to die for us so that all of us, if we choose so, can return to live with Him again. God really does love us! 

Our apartment was getting some maintenance done on it so it's safer. They were welding and painting and the guys just made the place a  mess. But the apartment is absolutely spotless now. Probably the cleanest in the mission in my opinion. 

Have a great, cold week. 

Love Elder Nissinen

The Gadianton Robbers

Dear friends and family, 

Our week was fantastic (for the most part). 

On Tuesday, we were lucky to have the physical and mental doctors for all the Africa West Area come and instruct our zone. They were fun and helped us with handling stress throughout our missions. 

I conducted exchanges with some of my district members Thursday and Friday. It's nice moving companionships around and being able to work and learn with other missionaries. I was able to give some advice to some of my district members who are struggling with their companions and teach them about working their area more efficiently. 

Well, either Thursday or Friday afternoon, some of Elder Horne's valuables were stolen. Some small boys ripped through our window screen and took his old camera and several memory cards. We were lucky it wasn't worse. It was overall a small-scale theft and a wake-up to us to hide our valuables away from windows and such. It was a lesson learned! 

Somehow we had a really great week. We had 23 lessons by Saturday morning, and we wanted to get 30 even. After a hard day's work, we muscled in lesson no. 30. I have only reached that a few times in my mission, and it sure felt good to hit it again. 

Many of our seeds we've planted are sprouting up. Our teaching pool is fantastic, and several investigators are pretty serious. In fact, we had 3 at sacrament meeting yesterday, and Horne and I think all 3 are future baptismal dates. Tsito's rolling! 

Well, that's about it for our week. We're working hard, having fun, and using our abilities to the max to further God's work out here. This is His work! 

May God bless you all to have a wonderful week. 

Love Elder Nissinen

Greetings from Tatooine

Dear family and friends, 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's pretty hard to believe that it's already 2017, and that I'm able to say I'm going home this year! 2016 was a phenomenal year for not only me, but for the whole family. It was probably the only year of my life that'll be able to say I served the Lord full-time. That's something special there! Our family sure has been blessed in 2016. 

Kids in our area

You're probably wondering what the heck Tatooine is. Well, this time of the year is Harmattan Season, where sand and dust from the Sahara blow over. This creates a cloud of dust in the sky, covering the sun and making the weather a bit cooler. Because the sun is blocked, it's easy to look right into it during broad daylight. Elder Horne called it Tatooine off of Star Wars, and I thought it was clever and funny. Like I said, the Harmattan makes everything cooler, so it's nice for a change, but the air quality isn't great. 

Harmattan. You can see the dust over the
mountains in the background.

Overall, our week was solid. We were struggling in the beginning of the week with finding new investigators, but our prayers were answered, and out of thin air new investigators and referrals starting pouring in. President Heid has repeatedly taught that "less-actives are gold mines". The reason is that most of their friends and family are non-members. So it's a fantastic opportunity to not only re-activate a member, but to introduce the gospel to their family and friends. We have a few situations like that right now. Hopefully good results will come. President's always right! 

Sad news: 

Tuesday evening we got back to the apartment, and my name tag wasn't on me. Some time that evening I lost it. It fell in a taxi probably. It's my special tag that I've worn since day 1, so I'd be really bummed out of if never showed up. I'm praying that it'll come back to us somehow. 

For New Years Eve, all missionaries had to be in by 6pm. Luckily for us, our branch is at our house, so we were able to hang with the branch for the evening! It was fun, and a few investigators even showed up. For New Year's Eve in Ghana, every single person goes to a church to worship and make noise until 2 in the morning. 

Thanks for informing me of your New Year's Resolutions. Sounds like all of us (me included) have a resolution to improve our scripture studying. All the answers to life's questions are found in there! It's the iron rod that leads to the tree of life, not anything else. 

I'm so grateful for 2016. The Lord has been good to me. I wish all of you a Happy 2017. 

Love always, 

Elder Nissinen

Christmas in Tsito....

Dear family and friends, 

Last week was great!

We're teaching several families right now. It seems as though they're all progressing, so we're happy about that. 

Sometimes the best friend to have is somebody that can "chastise" you a little bit when they notice you're doing something wrong. That happened multiple times last week with multiple people. They were able to point out things I hadn't been doing right and ways to improve myself as a missionary. 

One of those things was extending baptismal dates to investigators. Preach My Gospel teaches us to be bold in extending dates, even in just the first lesson. Well, with some help, we realized that that strategy isn't working here. People seem to be taking that the wrong way and get scared at us coming again. So now we're going very slowly, focusing on getting them at sacrament many times. 

We had two investigators at sacrament! Yeah! 

Saturday was a highlight. We had our mission Christmas Conference. It was really great, and we all felt the Spirit of Christmas. Our district sang "Far Far Away" and it sounded really nice. I was holding back tears the entire time. It was a great conference.

Elder Effiom got his package. He hasn't opened it yet, but he's pretty excited! Thank you very much for that. I thought all the packages were for him, so I was kind of down that mine didn't come before Christmas until earlier today when Elder Effiom realized he took mine! So thank you very much for that. 

This week looks exciting! Friday we have our Seminary Christmas Party, and we're all stoked for that. Elder Horne and I are planning on making special homemade brownies for all the youth. I think it'll be a great evening. We also plan this week to make little cards with a scripture verse on it to drop off at investigators, recent converts, less-actives, and members homes as a way to bring in the Spirit of Christ. 

Well I wish all of you a very, merry Christmas! Enjoy yourselves but go do something REALLY nice for somebody this week! Can't wait to talk Sunday!

I love you all very much. 

Love, Elder Nissinen

Saw some cool cow with big horns. 

You're The Best,

Hey guys. I didn't write an email today cause I just talked with you yesterday, but I sent Mom like a boatload of pictures, so hopefully those will tell you about my week. I just wanted to say thanks very much for yesterday. You guys are the best support group, and I really appreciate your love to me out here on my mission. Hope you all enjoyed the rest of your Christmas and this time together as a family. 
Watch the video I sent you...Some guy was handing out little gifts to kids. People were just going nuts trying to get anything from him. It was a moment I don't think I'll ever forget. There's probably millions of other kids out there that don't get a single thing for Christmas that would die just to get their hands on a little toy. 

Love always, 

Elder Nissinen

Christmas eve party!

Two cool kids that came to church and surprised us. They don't speak english but we've been teaching their family the Gospel.

Most of the branch

Election Week

Dear family and friends, 

Snow? Freezing rain? Not burning hot? Wow. Yeah that doesn't exist over here. I'm *slightly* jealous of that!

This week was the week of the Ghana Elections. We received news from the Area Presidency that things might get out of hand, so we were ordered to stay in our apartments all day Thursday. We thought things might get bad in our area, but it wasn't at all. Somehow it was a more peaceful election that the United State's. But because of the election, everyone was busy and didn't have much time for us, so that hurt our proselyting time a bit. Luckily it's all over and everyone has calmed down, so that's good.

The best part of our week was Sunday! We had THREE investigators at sacrament meeting - a record for us. Two of them were a member's own siblings that he brought on his own, and one was a lady we invited. With all the contacting we did last week, we have a very full teaching pool. Elder Horne is super organized with the names and phone numbers, so it makes planning easy. We found several families that are willing to listen to our message. Hopefully something good comes out of that. Teaching families is a lot more special than just teaching an individual. 

We had a few opportunities this week as we were out and about to teach investigators how to pray. Most people here know how to pray (and very well), but every now and then we run into some who tell us they cannot. It's pretty cool teaching people how to pray in a vocabulary meant for Primary children. 

Some days ago, I was watching the Church's movie called "Our Heavenly Father's Plan". It inspired me to re-think the way I had always been teaching the Plan of Salvation, as well as all the other lessons. I guess I had been going too deep in doctrine, and it was making the lesson longer than it needed to be and more complicated. Elder Horne and I have changed the way we teach, and it's working really well. We're starting to teach more in-line with the Preach My Gospel discussions. I wish I had realized it earlier, but glad the movie made me change. Our lessons are very simple and yet spiritually uplifting. We'll continue teaching this way. 

Anyways, that's about it! Some of my district members have a big baptismal service coming on Saturday, so I'll be conducting the interviews this week for their candidates. 

Christmas is coming! Enjoy the last week of school! 

Love, Elder Nissinen

 

"Hey, Whatever!"

Dear family and friends, 

Like many of you, this has been a "hey, whatever" week for us in Tsito. 

We were determined to find somebody who was interested in the gospel message this week. So that's what we did. We had three good ideas on how to do this, and we tried all three ideas.

Wednesday we tried method 1: seminary. We instructed all the youth at seminary class on being missionaries and how to contact and place a pamphlet, then set them free for about an hour! To our surprise, they came back with 25 names and phone numbers of people they contacted. All the youth were super pumped and competitive about the activity. We'll probably do it again. 

Thursday was market day in Tsito and we thought we might get some publicity with a informative booth. We brought all kinds of pamphlets and a member or two to help us. A few people approached the table and asked us some questions, and we gave them whatever they wanted on the table. We weren't in the busiest part of the market, so it wasn't very effective, but it was an idea! Maybe we'll try it again in the future, maybe not. 

Saturday was our final whammy for finding new people. We got two young men to go on splits with us, and we were out all day teaching and finding. Many things fell through that day, but overall it was a success. We'll definitely try and do that more often. 

For the week, we contacted 52 people and found 9 new investigators from them. 2 of those 9 accepted the invitation to be baptized! So I guess it was all a success. 

With all the rejection we are facing, Elder Horne and I are getting tougher and stronger. I feel almost invulnerable to any negativity in my day. We're excited for what's coming! 

The Ghana Election is happening Wednesday. We received information from church headquarters that Thursday we aren't to leave the apartment. If the current president doesn't get reelected, our area will be very upset. It could get nasty if he doesn't win.

Thanks to everyone for your continued love and support. Elder Horne and I feel your love and prayers, and we are grateful that you're thinking of us and the people here.

Have a fantastic week! Try and catch the Christmas Spirit. It's hard (especially here) but focus on Christ and what a gift He's been for the earth, and that'll help. 

Love Elder Nissinen