My Swedish Nativity. I love it.
St. Lucia celebration in town.
Merry Christmas!! I wish everyone a lovely christmas.
Please remember the reason for the season and celebrate Christ. I am so grateful for the chance I have to be the Lord's missionary here in Sweden, especially here in Halmstad at this time of year.
Today I was reading in the Bible- I am working on finishing the New Testament before the new year- and I came across my new favorite scripture ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16 "Rejoice evermore." As simple as that.
I am loving the New Testament and I am learning so much. We are having a weekly bible study group with some older members in our ward and I am learning so much because of it.
Heavenly Father wants all of His children to "rejoice evermore" and that means to be happy. I have found that true happiness comes from within. I was talking with a member yesterday and he said "man, you are always happy, I never see you down". I said "yeah, I have been very blessed in my life". Then he went on to say that underneath all that happiness has to be someone who is sad. I said "no way, I truly am this happy" and then my companion said "Yep, I can attest to that! Underneath all the happiness is even more happiness. I live with her 24/7- I know all". Haha. So, I am here to say that IF we choose to be happy then we will be and we must also choose to not let anything get us down. Because if we do then we are letting Satan win! During the past couple of months I have learned how important being happy is and what it truly means to be happy. I know we can all be happy IF we choose to and IF we LIVE the gospel. Remember to "Rejoice evermore" just like the Apostle Paul said. We must always remember that we matter to the Lord and to our Heavenly Father.
I know that I am a child of God and that He loves me. At this Christmas time I am very grateful for my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know that it is the only true church on the earth and I am so grateful that we have a living Prophet today who leads and guides our church.
This past week Syster Kiser and I had the neat chance to go to the Saint Lucia pagent in town at the swedish church with a cute mother and daughter. It was so much fun and very peaceful. I tried to take pictures of it and that kinda worked. Lucia and 13 other girls walked down the church aisles singing "santa lucia" and then once they got to the front they sang a bunch of different christmas songs. Very pretty and very crowded.
This week we did a lot of baking projects and brought treats around and we will continue to do so this week. We are trying to visit all the members before Christmas and share a Christmas message with a treat. Earlier this week we went over to the home of a great family from the ward and we made cookies with their kids. They have a daughter who is 3 and then twin boys who are 1 1/2. They certainly have their hands full, but they help us so much with our missionary work. I am so grateful for them. They are such great examples to me and they are showing the ward that there is NO excuse to not come to church and activities. They have 3 small children and are always there and they feed us all the time. I love them! We will be spending Christmas with them and the Bishop and his two sisters and their families. FUN.
This Sunday we will be spending Christmas with another great family who live close to us, so we visit them quite often. They also love to speak english. Haha. Their daughter is the one who just got back from her temple square mission. I love her. She has the best 1920-1930´s style. We also did some service earlier this week at their house and we bonded. They all decided that I am the Fariy Godmother from Cinderalla. We assigned Disney characters for everyone. My companion is Tinker Bell to the T. It was a fun afternoon.
We had a big Jul fest on Saturday at the church and it went really well. Syster Kiser and I planned it all. We danced around the Christmas tree, sang Rudolph, the primary girls did Lucia, played games, and then Santa came. We also tried to make Lucia crowns with all the little kids. We had about 20 people come and it was a fun night. I really love the Swedish tradition of dancing around the Christmas tree. It was a good night. The next day we had the christmas primary program- which we sang in too. I love being able to help so much. We also experienced some festivus miracles and had a bunch of less-actives show up to church!
My poor companion has been sick the past couple of days- which means lots of extra study time for me. I am starting to go a little crazy of being inside. All I want to do is be out and doing missionary work. Blah.
I love you all and wish you all a wonderful Jul!! Also grandparents Vistaunet thanks for the package! I am keeping the gifts wrapped until Christmas. And thank you grandparents Powelson for the money! Today I found a Swedish NATIVITY!!! I freaked out. It is really neat and I am very happy about it. Patience is a virtue. haha. It was hard to find a nativity, but I finally did and I love it.
Love, your Swedish missionary!
Syster Talisa Vistaunet
Pictures- The first ones are from the really cool Lucia pagent we went to last Tuesday. We sat by a Mom and daughter. They remind me a lot of Grandma Shawna and my mom. Haha. I LOVE them. Then this is me by a really big straw goat in Helingsborg for district meeting.
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