Breaking into apartments

HOLA!

I have missed you guys this week. I hope you all had fun with birthday's and stuff.

It's been a pretty windy week over here in Rochester. Winds got up to 45 mph which made it kinda chilly. Sometimes when we knock on someone's door and they just give us a hard time about being there and then say "Stay warm," I like to say "We won't!" while walking away. Probably not the nicest thing but some people are just not very nice to us so I get a little sassy haha. 

Well, it's been a year. I can hardly believe it. It's been amazing! Now I've got this whole "6 months to sexy" thing to start working on haha.

Tim, a YSA in a different ward, is a violin performance major from BYU. I got asked a few weeks ago to prepare a musical number for my ward, so I asked him if he would do a song with me so we did that yesterday in both our wards! I'm sorry I didn't even get a video of us practicing together. But it was really beautiful. I actually really miss accompanying and performing! 

Tomorrow we have interviews. That's probably when I'm gonna find out more about if I stay another transfer here or not. Idk, it's 50/50. I could definitely stay and finish Sister Vander Werff's training, but I could definitely go since I've been here for 6 months. I would be fine either way! Bishop told me that IF I go, the ward will have a party for me next week. So sweet. He also told everyone in ward council to send President Barney an email saying that I should stay hahaha. Also, when we come back to visit, so many members have offered us places to stay at their homes so it's perfect! I love this area and ward so much. They have really come to be my family. 

Vivek is still progressing! He goes to the single adult scripture study class every week now too. Haha he like really wants to get married in the temple to a nice lady, like really bad. It's so funny. We have to set a date with him THIS WEEK.

I had exchanges this week with the other sisters in my zone. I never thought that serving a mission would mean that I would literally have to counsel other sisters, but holy cow! It's taught me a lot about how to listen and follow the spirit when helping and teaching. I feel like this might be what it's like to be a parent. Haha I'm like the mom of the sisters who need help! But I love them and I have learned a lot.

Sister Vander Werff is progressing very well. We made it a goal that whenever we say a negative comment about anything, we have to do 10 pushups right then. She's also really easy to tease, so I looooove teasing her (in a nice way I promise haha). But I love her to death, she is teaching me so much. We pretty much can't really relate on anything, so it makes it very interesting at times! 

That's pretty much all the highlights from this week. I have now mastered my handstands (see video in Google Photos). The next step is to walk on my hands. The Elders had an extra pull up bar in their apartment so we took that and now I'm working on my pull ups. They are very hard. Haha I figure that in my free time at night when I'm bored outta my mind, I will just try to learn new things. 

President Barney has said that no one can use Messenger or Google Hangouts anymore to talk to family or friends on P-Day, so now we are just back to the regular old email. Sorry.

Love you all so much! Good luck this week with everything going on. You guys are the best.

Xoxo Hermana Nissinen

One more story because it just happened last night. So our shower is sooo plugged. We are getting it fixed today, no worries. But the water from Sister Vander Werff's shower Sunday morning was still there Sunday night, and I didn't NOT want to shower standing in all of her bath water. The 4th ward elder's apartment is vacant as of right now, and the zone leader's have their spare keys. SO, I asked them if I could get them. They told me that the balcony of the 4th ward elder's apartment is unlocked so I can just jump up and go in. We went over there and I climbed up, but as I was helping Sister Vander Werff, this lady YELLED at us from the balcony right above us and said she is gonna call the police. I was like "Okay mam, we are just visiting our friends here and they told us to go up to their balcony to meet them." But then she kept yelling. Sister Vander Werff FREAKED OUT and ran away, so I jumped off and went to go find her but she had the phone and it was dark so we were separated for like 5 minutes which was the scariest thing ever. Anyways, I knew their door was for sure unlocked but I didn't even have the chance to try to open it and I didn't want to risk it so we just decided to finally go get the spare keys hahaha. So there's a crazy story for you! :)

46 degrees = SUMMER

Hey guys!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Dad and Kim! I hope your days are wonderful and fun.

Wow, can you believe that a year ago Wednesday I left on my mission?? Holy smokes, I can't! I clearly remember my very first day, and it just doesn't make sense how that was a year ago. Honestly, I wish I was an Elder and was only halfway. I know 2 years may seem like a long ways away for you Joe, but it really does go by so quick. I am so excited for these next 6 months! I never thought I would make it to a year. Sitting in the CCM, or arriving in MN and having no idea what was going on, I looked at the older missionaries and thought "Wow, they are amazing and so tough to be out that long." Haha I still have no idea what I am doing, but I am loving it and learning a lot. 

So it's been a crazy week. Monday was a blast. Best P-day I've ever had. Nerf war, Chick Fil-A, white elephant gift exchange, and bowling. The rule was that we had to be in our beds at 10:30 PM, so Sister Vander Werff and I rolled up to our apartment at 10:25 PM and just ran into bed haha. Good times. 

Tuesday I had MLC all day. We drove up to Bloomington that morning and Sister Vander Werff went with other sisters while I sat in the conference! It was good though and I learned a lot. I came out of it really excited about missionary work and was excited to tell the other sisters in my zone about it. I feel like I am kinda like Dad in some ways. I'm very numbers driven, which I understand that numbers don't mean anything, but when we have to report our numbers of our zone and compare them with the other zones, it makes me want to work harder and exceed my goals. One of my least favorite things is when missionaries don't work hard and find maybe 2 or 3 new people in a month and say "It's just our area. There's no one here." UGH. Not true. God will help us find people or get people to church.

Sister Vander Werff is so funny oh my goodness. I really want you all to meet her someday. There's never a dull moment😂 At times it's been hard and I've really had my patience tested, but I just laugh it off and smile and it's a great time. She has been down with a cold the past few days, so I got some extra time to send out tons of texts and contact people that haven't been contacted in forever. It was good.

In the 4th ward here in Rochester, one of the elders went home this week and the other one got sent up to the cities, so there are currently no missionaries there. President Barney has asked that Sister Vander Werff and I take over their area the next 3 weeks.... ahhhhh! I'm trying to not freak out about everything haha. To say the least, it's been a bit overwhelming, but hey, whatever! Maybe their ward will feed us on the days we don't get fed haha :) 

We are really trying to focus on following the spirit when we go tracking. Often times I just want to go to a place where I haven't been before, but when we follow the spirit, sometimes we are sent to a place where I have already knocked. Sometimes we find someone new, and sometimes we don't. It's really cool. We have found some awesome, hopefully pretty interested people this week. 

On Saturday, a young 8 year old girl got baptized. We decided to invite everyone we were teaching to the baptism. 4 people came! It was so cool! It started at 1 PM, and no one that we had invited had shown up yet, but each of them trickled in in time for her to get dunked so they could see. Some Elder told me a statistic that if a nonmember comes to a baptism, there's an 80% chance of them getting baptized! I'm not sure if that's accurate, but it would be pretty dang awesome.

It's been VERY warm here lately. Members were telling us that a year ago at this time it was about 40-50 degrees colder than it is right now. I guess I shouldn't complain :) 

I am grateful we had the opportunity to fast yesterday. It was a very meaningful fast for me, and I just know that even through hard times in our family, we will be blessed. I'm not going to lie, lately I have struggled with worrying about things at home, but fasting yesterday helped me feel peace and comfort. I hope you have all felt that as well.

Have a great week! Enjoy going back to school ;) Safe travels.

Xoxo Hermana Nissinen

I love Pants!

Happy new year! 

Where did 2018 go?!?! Oh my goodness! I can't believe it is already 2019. This past week I have been reflecting on 2018. It was definitely the hardest, but most fulfilling and rewarding year I have had. There were many times where I didn't know what I was doing or who I was or even what I knew, but I am grateful for the experiences I have had, the friendships made, and my testimony of the gospel. 
I have also been racking my brain trying to think of goals for 2019. This is going to be a pretty crazy year for me and I don't even know what to plan for! 

It was so good to see you guys and talk to you last week. I'm sorry I didn't have much time to talk with Joe. But I'm glad to hear things are going well. I always keep you all in my prayers :)

This past week has been kinda different. Wednesday we drove up to Bloomington for New Missionary Training, and then stayed there until the next evening because we did an exchange with the Sister AP's. The weather was getting pretty bad as well and we were getting quite a bit of snow, so we decided to stay a few more hours that evening until it cleared up a bit to go home. 

Saturday morning, Renee went to the temple for the first time! She brought her own names and did baptisms. I got the opportunity to go with her. It was awesome! She baptized for her grandma and great grandma. Renee is literally the coolest. Dad, on the way home from St. Paul with her, I actually read her your conversion story. Her family is all against the church and her decisions as well so she is really struggling with that. I think she finds comfort in knowing she is not the only one.

Sister Vander Werff is always very sleepy, so when we get home at around 9 or 9:30 at night, she just goes right to sleep! I have nothing to do besides write in my journal, so I decided to practice doing handstands. I am very bad at them haha. It will take some work. 

Friday night we had a man named Vivek who we met tracting a few weeks ago and who we have been teaching come to the church for a tour! It was so great! I've really learned how important church tours are. Joe, if you can get your people to come to the church some evening and walk them around and show them everything, it's a really cool way to teach a lesson. We taught Vivek the Gospel of Jesus Christ by showing him the paintings and the baptismal font. He even came to church on Sunday as well! 

Today we have a night zone P-day, so all of us are getting together and we are going to have a Nerf gun war, play some sports, and probably go bowling. Should be a good time!

I have really had to lean towards the Book of Mormon this week on many occasions. When I am feeling lonely or unmotivated, I know I can turn to the scriptures to help me. I am focusing on studying 'joy' right now, and it's been so cool to see how the people in the scriptures felt joy and what they did. In 2nd Nephi 11, Nephi says many times "my soul delighteth...". He goes on to say that his soul delighted in His words, in proving unto the people the coming of Christ, and in the covenants of the Lord. I know that when I have these feelings of loneliness or unmotivation, I can find joy in focusing on my Savior, like Nephi. (You can obviously tell I am trying to liken the scriptures to myself lol).

I'm excited for this new Come, Follow Me program. Please make the time to do it every week! 

I love you guys. Thanks for your prayers, support, and love. It's gettin pretty chilly out here now! 

Happy New Year, 

Love Hermana Nissinen