The sun goes down at 3:30pm!

Hello everyone!

The Christmas spirit has really hit us during the past couple of days. Today for pday we went Christmas shopping and I loved it. The only thing that is a bummer is that I really wanted to find a Swedish nativity and they just don't exist. So instead I got myself some new boots and a really sweet Swedish planner for next year. I will keep my daily journal in it. It is by a really sweet local artist and I love it. The longer I am here the more I come to realize how Swedish I really am. Haha.

This past week we experienced a miracle with Solisa. We have lunch with her every Tuesday at the campus and this week we met one of her friends. A guy from Africa that told us that he had been baptized in our church a couple of years ago! Crazy. He is a less active member who we have been trying to get ahold of and then bam! we meet him with Solisa. The Lord really does help us with His work. We got his phone number and we have another appointment set up for tomorrow. We also met some more of Solisa´s friends and we got their numbers so we can call them. She gives us so many referrals!

On Wednesday we got a call from a member from Göteborg and he said that he was in Halmstad with his daughter who was admitted into the hospital for some kidney problems. He was wondering if we would have the time to go and visit them since his daughter really loved me. That made my day. Syster Kiser had made brownies and we took some to her when we visited. I love all the new friends that I am making here.

Yesterday we had people from the Stake come and visit and I spoke with one man for about 10 to 15 minutes, all in Swedish all by myself!! It was amazing. He also really uplifted my spirit about the work that I am doing here. We are definitely not doing normal missionary work here but we are working really hard to help and support this ward as much as we can. He told me to keep it up and really focus on the members. He then said something that I thought was interesting. He said sometimes the members are the ones who are in need of the missionaries more than their investigators. He said that most of the members in Sweden are converts and because of that they really need support from the strong missionaries. Sometimes I forget how important my calling is. I am trying to lead by example.

On Thursday we had an amazing experience to teach in a high school! The entire time I was there I was thinking of Serina. All of the kids we were teaching were 17-18. Most kids graduate high school around 18 or 19. Crazy. And the high school is way more like college. They have a certain track that they pick and follow that the whole time. Our presentation went really well! Syster Kiser and Elder Todesco lead most of it and Elder Swelen and I were really good supporters and testimony givers. Haha. The kids told us that we did a really good job and that our presentation was one of the most interesting they had heard. Yipee! We focused a lot on the Plan of Salvation and stressed the point that we are all God's children and that he has a specific plan for each of us. We talked about certain tools that God has given us to help us along the way. Like, The Book of Mormon, The Bible, Prophets, etc. Then we showed a sweet clip from mormon.org and ended with a part from President Uchtdorf's talk from this past general conference- "You matter to Him". Go and re-read all the talks that were given. Every morning for personal study I have been re- reading all the talks and I am learning so much. I am so grateful for modern day prophets!

Life is grand and tomorrow night we are going with the Bishop and Senja to see the Lucia program in town. We are very excited. I actually bought a Lucia crown today. Yipee. And then on Saturday we are having our ward christmas party!

I love you all!!! Love, Talisa!

Photos: Teaching in the High School on thursday with the Elders. Then baking Lusselbullar with the primary and young womens on friday night. Yum. And then I am hoping that Santa gets my letter. .. or should I say Jul Tomtor.