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

Una semana de muchos cambios

Hi guys!

Changes are hard in the mission. Unfortunately they happen all too often, but I know they are a good thing. This week I had to say goodbye to Sister Paris and Sister Kohler. They were both awesome companions who I learned so much from. I will miss them both a lot.

Tuesday afternoon I got a call from the AP's asking if I would train another brand new missionary! So I went to the trainer's meeting on Thursday morning and picked up my new companion, Sister Vander Werrf. She is an English sister who just came out of the MTC! She is from Salt Lake City and is a very sweet sister. I was a little bummed to not train a Spanish sister, but since I am in Rochester I kinda can't train Spanish because we don't speak much Spanish. Sweet Sister Vander Werrf has been very tired the past few days; haha reminds me of when I first came out, but we have been working very hard! It's really fun and hard to train because I feel that I am responsible for how she needs to be so I have to set the best example I can. I am helping her memorize all of the things that need to be memorized as a missionary (our purpose, D&C 4, The First Vision, How to Begin Teaching points) and I am trying to make it fun. It has been a hard week with all of the adjustments though. I am also the only Sister Training Leader in the zone now as well, so it's more responsibility. I'm trying to figure out how to balance everything. 

There is a spanish family, the Mata's, who I have been trying to get in contact with for the past 4 and a half months. They have been impossible and I have never been able to get inside their house, but every single time I go over there I invite them to come to church. Their answer is the same every time. "Yeah, we might be able to come this week." Well, 10 minutes after sacrament started yesterday, THEY WALKED IN! Oh man, I was so happy. It made my day. Perseverance is so key! I thought I was being very annoying by inviting them for months and months, but they finally caved in and came to church. It was a real tender mercy. 

This week for #lightyourcommunity, we got to help an old lady in our ward decorate her house for Christmas. She is really sick and mostly just lays in bed all day, so we brought up the decorations from her basement, turned up the Christmas music, and just decorated! It was so fun and such a treat for us to be able to do that. Don't forget to do something to #lightyourfamily this week! 

As part of our zone focus this month, we are all studying John together. I have been loving reading in the New Testament. Also, I finally finished reading the Book of Mormon in spanish this week! It's taken me a few months to get through. If you have any tips of how I can study spanish by myself, please let me know. I study for an hour everyday but I am getting bored haha.

B, happy birthday! Skip class and go to Targee and ski all day :) There is a big wedding reception for a girl in our ward on Friday night, so I get to go celebrate my birthday with them! Should be fun!

I love you all a lot. WE GET TO TALK IN 8 DAYS WOOHOO! I CAN'T WAIT! I will keep you updated on what time I can do it, but it's our P-day and so we will probably be at the church most of the day so I can do it there.

Love Hermana Nissinen

Posada!

Hello!!! 

How is everyone?! It's been a really fantastic week. I can't wait to tell you all about it! 

We left Monday night for Minneapolis for Mission Leadership Conference on Tuesday. It was a good conference, I enjoyed the trainings. One of the trainings was how the leaders need to give correction to other missionaries in their zones. That's something that I really don't like about being an STL. I HATE giving correction to the sisters in my zone. I feel like they won't like me, but I've learned that when I just do it out of love and respect, they will appreciate it. I want the sisters to be great because I do love them, so I have to correct them sometimes. It's definitely a growing experience. 

The trio has been going great. We will be driving back up to the cities tonight to drop off Sister Paris at the mission home. It has been very sad to see her finish her mission actually. She is an amazing missionary, and a huge example to me. She doesn't want to go home, and seeing the relationships she has had with so many people on her mission makes me want to be a better missionary. I have loved being able to hear her testimony of her mission and what it means to her. Last night at dinner ("the last supper"), we decided to go around with the family and share our testimonies. All 3 of us got emotional talking about our missions and Jesus Christ. It's so cool - Sister Paris is finishing, I just hit my 11 months yesterday, and Sister Kohler has been out for a month. I just want to share my testimony with you all that I love my mission so so much. I don't want to go home at all, haha! (Sorry mom and dad). But it's just been so cool to reflect on that this past week. 

So, lots of fun things happened this week. We did an exchange with the Bloomington Sister AP's, had fun with that, and then came back to Rochester Wednesday night. On Friday, the Ferrera's took us 3 out to lunch at Chester's which is a very nice place. That night, Alexa had us 3 and the zone leader's over for tacos! It was so fun to have all of us together.

Saturday night was the Posada. Posada means "inn" in Spanish. It's the annual ward christmas party. It's HUGE. (Like I said, the 3rd ward is basically the wedding planning ward). Hundreds of people, hundreds of tamales, lots of dancing and music, and so much fun. About 25 nonmembers came as well. It was so crazy! It was great to go around and just speak Spanish all night too. I haven't spoken Spanish all week, so I soaked it up on Saturday night and finally was able to talk to everyone! Felt so good to speak it again haha.

Sunday was a great day. We had 3 people to church!! Woohoo!! That night we went to the Methodist Mayo Hospital with the other Rochester missionaries and went caroling around to the patient's rooms. It was really sweet to come together to sing Christmas songs. 

We have a busy day today so I may not have much time to talk. I love you all so so much! Thanks for the emails, kind words, letters, and packages. I'm so blessed! Being a missionary is the BEST. Time is going by way too darn quick.

I will have 1 hour to video chat on Christmas day. I would love to coordinate a time all together with little Joe! 

Don't forget to #lightyourcommunity this week! 

Love Hermana Nissinen

Hallelujah, Thank Thee Jesus!"

Happy December!

I can't believe it is already the month of December! December started off Saturday with a big snow storm that continued into Sunday. We have quite a bit of snow now. I absolutely love it! Still learning how to drive in it, but there are snow plows EVERYWHERE so all the main roads are totally fine. It's just the side roads that are a bit slippery.

It's been an exciting past few days since I last got to email! 

There are 3 other sisters in our zone who were in a trio. They were having some difficulties, so we had to do an emergency exchange with them a few nights ago, and President decided it would be better if one of the sisters came with Sister Paris and I for the next 2 weeks of the transfer. So I'm in a trio now! Our new companion's name is Sister Kohler. She is from Montana and also has had a very humbling, hard background. Left home and church at the age of 16, but then found her way back. She is a really sweet sister and has only been on her mission for 3 weeks. It's a very interesting dynamic now with 3 of us. 1 is going home next week, I've still got some time, and 1 is brand new. It's been good though. We had interviews with President Barney on Friday and the first thing he said to me was "So, you have been in this area for quite some time now" and I was just so nervous. But then he asked, "Do you think you can do one more transfer here?" And I just shot up and said "YES! PLEASE!" He told me he is keeping me here another transfer. Woohoo!! That means it'll be 6 months! I am so very happy :)

This weekend was the "Wonder of the Nativity" event. I have never seen a church event as amazing as this one, holy cow. Thousands of people came. It was actually a huge fire hazard Friday night because of all the people. Wonderful choirs and bands came and performed Christmas songs and shows, lots of treats, amazing decorations, and beautiful nativities. It was truly a magical event to ring in the Christmas spirirt! I wish you all could have seen it. I wanted to take pictures, but there were so many people that you wouldn't have been able to see anything. 

This past weekend was pretty stormy, so they canceled church yesterday! We didn't know what to do, so we decided to go to the all black Baptist church in Rochester! It was so cool guys! The people were so friendly and welcoming. Everyone came up to us and gave us hugs. They also gave us lots of food. They were so nice. 

I hit my time record for the amount of people who dropped us. Last week we met some people, last Saturday we had return appointments with them, and 3 of them dropped us within a 20 time span. Woohoo!! Haha guess they weren't the elect.

This Saturday night we have the posada, which is a Mexican Christmas party. We helped a lady in our ward out this week by making 800 tamales for it! It was awesome! I can't wait. It's gonna be a real pachanga.

I want to say THANK YOU so much to everyone who contributed to my Christmas package. WOW! I feel so loved! It was so fun to open it and see all the hilarious ornaments. I have the best family in the world. Thank you so much for everything. You are so kind and generous❤

Keep lighting the world everyone! I love you all a lot.

God bless,

Hermana Nissinen

The Mayor of Roch

I'm so sorry my P-Days are getting all mixed up! Next week it will finally be on Monday again :) Today we are going to the temple as a zone! I haven't been to the temple since I think May so I am really excited to go back. We will also be having a testimony meeting as a zone afterwards, so that will be sweet. Excited to be back in the house of the Lord.

I'm glad you all had a great Thanksgiving and ate a lot. My Thanksgiving trickled into like 4 days because everyone had left overs and so they just decided to have us over for dinner to eat all of it. 

On Friday, Sister Paris and I decided to do some service and go give blood at Mayo. She had never given blood before, so she was pretty nervous. Mine went totally fine (I took my iron supplements mom!), but Sister Paris' didnt go so well! I'm not sure what happened but 5 nurses had to come in and help her and what not. Now her arm is completely bruised. Poor girl! They gave us a free shirt and water bottle though.

We do service with a lady named Anna at Salvation Army. She is the main cook. She grew up Amish, but left when she was 22 years old. We have been asking her questions and talking to her about it, and she said she would take us to go to the Amish community and check it out. We went on Saturday morning and it was so cool! They were all riding around in their horse and buggy and working and playing outside. Reminded me of Little House on the Praire. Her cousin owns a furniture store there, so we went and bought a couple of things. It was really cool to talk to Anna about her background and then share what we believe as well. 

Sunday night we had an exchange with the other sisters in our zone. I went to their area for the day! It was fun being able to go with them and help train them on some things. I really like being an STL and getting opportunities to work with other sisters.

This weekend the Rochester Stake is doing the annual "Wonder of the Nativity" event. It's a HUGE production. About 250 nativities from all around the world are displayed throughout the building, with live musical performances, food, and the whole building transformed into a winter wonderland. Our stake is pretty much the ultimate party planner, holy cow! I will be sure to take lots of pictures this weekend of all of it. We have been helping out a bunch this week already setting things up. They always cater in a dinner the night before with the mayor of Rochester and some other top people at the church to kick it off. About 3,000 people will he coming over the 2 days. It's going to be so amazing!! I can't wait!! 

Speaking of the mayor of Rochester... a lady in our ward is good friends with her, and she texted in her name a few weeks ago at Stake Conference. We talked to her about it, and we are now starting to teach her! Pretty cool, right? She has pretty set beliefs, so we are going to take it slow and gentle but it's cool. 

I'm so glad you got the picture of us last night! The Rutledge family is the best. They are amazing member missionaries and take great care of us :) Their 11 year old daughter even told the mom last night that she wants to serve a mission now because of us! Woohoo! I love being a missionary with all my heart.

Glad to hear you are doing so awesome, Elder Nissinen. Awesome job on taking over the area and being the only one to speak Spanish! That's hard! Good job for being the leader in your companionship and talking about things. It's hard to do and can be so awkward, but it is also really important. Ask Hermana Grey (I think that's her name, the blonde one in your district) if she remembers me from the CCM :) 

Love you guys so so much! We get to all talk to eachother in less than a month! I'm so excited. 

I don't like cats!!!

Have a wonderful week, pray that I will stay warm haha!

Love Hermana Nissinen