So excited to hear from you guys today and to be able to email. It's been a muy bueno week! I enjoyed being able to go to the temple again today. It was my last time being able to go here.
I have exactly 2 weeks left! CANNOT WAIT. My entire district and everyone else that flew here the same day I did leaves on February 19th, but I don't leave until the 21st, so I think they will put me in a Latino district and give me a Latina companion for the last 2 days which would be awesome!
Since this is week 5 for us, the expectation is solo español for the entire week. On Monday, my district did an "English fast", so we went the entire day without ANY English! 24 hours of straight spanish. It was hard, and we were all kind of quiet, but it was actually so cool and we had a lot of fun doing it!
We do this thing every Saturday called TRC. It's when volunteers of any age and religious background (member, less-active, and nonmember) come in to have the missionaries teach them. We don't get to meet them before, it's just all right on the spot. Hermana Despain and I taught this sweet lady named Delfina who's 55 years old and who has only been a member for 1 year. Her husband and her kids aren't members. It was fun! After her, this younger guy came in. He is 22 years old, and he isn't a member. His name is Eduardo, and he has 2 Mormon friends that told him to come that day! It was SO cool. We finally got to teach a real investigator! We taught him about prayer and how to pray, and he even did it at the end for us (with help). After that, it made me so excited to be a missionary and to get out and teach. It was really great. It definitely made the entire week for Hermana Despain and I.
Being the Hermana Training Leader is so fun! I got to meet with all of the girls this week and have the opportunity to know more about them. Some of them come from pretty difficult backgrounds, and it makes me so grateful for my family and friends and all the support I have at home. ~muchas gracias for all the letters and emails, it means so much~
Hermana Despain and I had the opportunity to teach Relief Society this past Sunday! (they sure love to keep us super duper busy here). We were asked to teach about how to endure to the end... but we thought that that sounded a little lame. So, we did some homework, and found a talk by Elder M. Russell Ballard called "Return and Receive." I highly recommend 10/10 listening to it or reading it! I have read it multiple times the past few days, and it's great.
I found a scripture about it in Alma 5:33 that says "Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you." He has sent all of us the BEST invitation we could ever receive! Whenever I read that, I think to myself, "Why the heck wouldn't I want to accept that?!"
I am grateful to be here. I love serving others and learning more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not gonna lie, it's hard. But I know that if it was easy, it really wouldn't be worth it. Kinda crazy, but I literally have bruises on my knees from praying all the time! (There isn't any carpet anywhere here so it just happens haha). I have really realized that none of what I am doing or what I have accomplished here the past few weeks would be possible without Jesus Christ.
I have so many new friends from all over the place here! My district has already planned to have a party all together after we all get home from our missions. I love them all so much!
Love you all so much! Have a great week!
Con Amor,
Hermana Nissinen
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