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