Slack lining in Malmo.
Picasso sculpture.
Ward Halloween party.
Happy Halloween!!
Thank you for the sweet Halloween package! We really enjoyed the american candy. Haha. We had an amazing ward Halloween party on Saturday night and I loved every second of it. We didn't really dress up much but I did wear orange and black. I also got a funny vintage jacket that I wore. My companion made herself a cape! She is a little sewer and took apart her red skirt and made a little red riding hood cape... it was really rad!
Whenever I go to ward activities or parties my goal as a missionary is to uplift whoever I talk to. Actually that has been a goal of my whole mission. No matter where I am- I am always paying more attention to the other people and how I can uplift them. Because what Mosiah 2 :17 says is true. When we are in the service or our fellow beings we are only in the service of our God.
Halmstad´s ward is really little and because of that they really need help running it. I have now been here 3 weeks and every sunday we have done something. I think we are now the official Primary teachers. I taught Primary this past week and it was so much fun! It was all in Swedish, and you would be so proud of me. Syster Kiser said I did a really good job and I have made really good friends with the cute little girls we teach. They are both 11. Well, one of them turned 12 yesterday and we had a surprise birthday party for her at her house after church. We talked about saying nice words and knowing how we can control our thoughts and words. The Lord is really helping me and I can feel my Swedish starting to come more naturally. Yippee!
I get to go to the Denmark temple!! I have now been in Sweden for 6 months! Can you believe it? I really can't believe it. But, that means that it is time for me to get to go to the temple! Our ward is actually putting together a ward temple trip on Nov. 12th and we asked the Mission President if we could go and he said yes! We are very excited. It will be one of the girls first temple trip and she is very excited. She really looks up to us missionaries. I LOVE working with younger girls. I really miss my cute little cousins and Brooklyn.
This past week for district meeting I was asked to give the lesson. So, I happily prepared my lesson on faith. I have come to realize how much I love leadership roles and I really miss them. The lesson went well and I focused it on Elder Hollands talk- This the greatest dispensation. The one with my favorite quote in it that Mom sent me. Oh, that reminds me.. mom.. thank you so much for sending the latest Ensign magazine. I really love that one and I had it in Swedish and was so happy to get one in English. And we actually have used it twice in teaches. You were inspired to send it. Thanks. The articles in it really help explain more about why we read the Book of Mormon and the Bible.
Tomorrow we have been asked to go to Zone Leader Road! Which means we are going to Stockholm and we will be staying over night at the mission home. I feel very blessed. I just hope I can help and be more involved with things. The longer I am out the more I see how sad and depressed the world is. The need for happiness and the gospel is so apparent. Lately I have really felt like a counselor. I am trying my best to lift others up and show them that life is good. Most people are very negative and I am so sick of it. Life is what you make it! That is why prayer is so important. When life is easy... PRAY.. and when life gets hard.. PRAY. I know that our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of his children and that he does answer prayers. We just have to show our faith first and then act upon the promtings that we get from the Holy Ghost.
We have been really focusing on doing service for the members. This past week we helped paint an apartment and this upcoming week we are going to be helping a less active family clean and then help the Bishop with their yard. In order to bring more of Heavenly Fathers children unto the gospel we first have to strengthen the ward. And we are trying our best to help them. We have a meeting set up for Sunday with the bishop and the ward mission leader. We will be going through the ward list with them and talking about each member and what we can do to help.
Missionary moment: While on the train down to Malmö last week a really cute young girl sat across from me. She had on the biggest, fluffiest hat I have ever seen. So, I of course said, "I love your hat! Where did you buy it?" And she told me where and I then found out that she is a student in Malmö studying art. Cool. Then I listened to the Holy Ghost and I asked if she had ever been religious or if she believed in God. She said "oh my parents are, but that's not for me. .. too many rules". I said "okay, but have you prayed before?" And she said "not really". She said she wants to believe that there is a God but she just doesn't know how to find out. -I freaked out- I calmly said "well, we are missionaries and we go around and teach people about God and how we know he exisits.. would you be interested in meeting with us sometime and finding out for yourself?" And she said yes! The only bummer is that she does not live in our area.. so we gave her number to the Elders. I will be praying for her. We also met a really cool Chinese lady with a baby this past week who gave us her number too! The work will go forward. Every day my faith is tested and every day my faith grows. I love the gospel!
Love, Talisa!
Aka: Syster Vistaunet.
Pictures- Last weeks pday in Malmö. We did some slack lining with all the Elders. A 19 year old girl from their ward brought it and she actually is from Park city and knows the Nilssons. Small world. She is way cool. And then this cool statue is from Halmstad- it's Pablo Picasso. And then our ward halloween party at the Lindhals. The two younger girls are who we teach in primary. Super fun night. And the last picture is of our really cool Bishop. Haha. I am in a good place.
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