Talisa is home!

This is Tonya, Talisa's mom. This will be the last time I will update Talisa's blog. I just wanted to say how happy I am she is home! I'll give control of the blog back to her now. What a wonderful experience she had in Sweden. Keep reading, I'm sure she'll have many more adventures to come.

Goodbye Sverige!

The feeling that I have right now is very strange. Knowing that this
will be my very last email home is kind of exciting. I am super excited
to come home and continue on with my life. There will always be a part
of my heart in Sweden though. I love this country and the wonderful
people that I have met during the last 18 months. When you serve
people with everything you have you develop a undescribable feeling
for them.


My very last Sunday in Sweden I was able to travel down to Malmö for
Stake Conference with two of my converts. We had a little
scripture study session on the way down and then had an amazing new
convert meeting with the Stake President and the area Seventy. There were a
total of nine new converts and five of them I had the chance to teach
and be a part of their conversion! It was a wonderful blessing.

This morning I spent my personal study time studying the blessings that I
have recieved on my mission because of my obedience. I have a very
strong testimony of obeidence. The last six months of my mission have
been the best six months because of the change that I had in myself.
I am most happy when I am obedient and follow the rules and
commandments from God. On the way home last night we ran into three
members that I got to say goodbye to, what a blessing. Heavenly Father knows
each one of us personally and He knows just what to bless us with.
He knows what blessing we personally need at every moment in our
lives. Sometimes I feel like we just aren´t aware of the blessings
that we are receiving.


Anyways, my heart is filled with love for Sweden and I will miss this
wonderful country! I hope that I will be able to come back and visit
next summer. We will see how much money I can save up. Haha.


Another blessing that I recieved this week was a baptism! It
was Friday night and it was beautiful. The Spirit was present. Syster
Schneiber and I actually sang "Heavenly Father, are you really there?"
in Swedish at the baptism and we did a great job. I am so grateful for
the gift of singing that I have been able to use on my mission. I
am now not scared to sing all by myself. We split up into parts even
and it sounded great! We had about 25 people at the baptism and it was
wonderful. Marie and Brita gave the talks for us and they were
perfect. I really love the members here and boy, am I ever going to
miss them! I feel once again very blessed to have been able to serve
in Kristianstad.

I will end my last email with one more miracle teach that we had
earlier this week. We had set up with a less-active family to go over
and teach the entire family, but  once we got there we saw that only
the kids were home. We had planned to show the restoration movie but,
the moment we walked in the door I felt a very strong prompting that
we need to just read with them in the Book of Mormon. We sat down and
talked for a little bit... the entire time I had a prayer in my heart
asking Heavenly Father what to read with them. Syster Schneiber said
the opening prayer and then it hit me, we needed to read the story of
Enos. I had just read it a couple of days earlier and at that moment I
was very grateful for my personal scripture study, that I was able to
use it for someone else. We sat there and read the story of Enos with
these two less-active teenagers and it went really well. You could
tell that they were actually listening! We both testifed strongly of
the power of prayer. I felt God´s love very strongly for those two
teenagers and I will never forget that. When we listen to the Spirit
and act upon the promptings we recieve then we will see miracles.


I have loved my mission! I am so grateful for all the life long
lessons that I have learned. I am definitely a changed person and I
am looking forward to the rest of my life in the service of my
Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ.

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true church on the earth
today! And I know that we have a living prophet on the earth today, Pres. Monson. I am so
grateful for Joseph Smith and everything that he did for us. I know he was God´s prophet.


See you all soon! I love you all and thank you for all the support
that I have had! Pretty soon your Swedish daughter will be home.
Yippee!!


Love, Love, Love, Talisa!
AKA: Syster Vistaunet

A million miles a minute

Our wonderful YSA Family Home Evening. 

  
At the primary activity teaching these wonderful kids. 

Roland and Ingrid´s wedding!!

The days just are getting busier and busier. But, I suppose that is a good thing. I am totally ending with a bang! Haha. We actually have two goodbye parties planned for me. One at Bonnie´s house this Saturday and then one on Monday night for my final FHE at the Jacobssons. Wow. 

After that Syster Schneiber and I will be leaving Tuesday morning to head to Örebro and then Stockholm! Yes, you heard right, I asked President if there would be any way if I could go and see a great friend I made in my first area and do a spilts type of thing on my way to Stockholm and he said yes! That means next Tuesday I will be ending my mission right where I started my mission. And I will be going on spilts with Syster Francis! My last missionary lesson will be to Jaana, who I love so very much, with Syster Francis. I am so happy. I could not think of a better way to end my mission.

 

Haha. If you were just walking by me right now you would probably think that I am crazy because I just cannot stop smiling. My mission has been wonderful and boy, I am so looking forward to the next step in my life! I know that there is a lot of good to be done at home and I can´t wait. Woohooo!!!! Look out Provo.. Talisa is coming back. And this time even more spiritual. Bam! Man, I love you all so so much and the pictures that you sent this week got me really excited to come home and start going to art and music shows again with all of you. I love my family!!!

 

Okay.. this week has been insane. I don´t even know where to start. We had an amazing FHE on Monday night with all of our YSA´s in the branch at an awesome members house, a mini zone conference on Tuesday in Lund, a missionary primary activity, two teaches with some less-actives families who want to come back to church, our choir sang in sacrament meeting, and Roland and Ingrid got married!! Ahhh. I love non-stop serving. This is the life.

 

Yesterday, was my last church meeting in Kristianstad, because next week we are having Stake Conference in Malmö! I am looking forward to that. It will be a great way to say goodbye to Sweden. I am really looking forward to meeting Mikeal and Senja´s baby! Today was Joel Sandelin´s last Sunday here before he goes out on his mission and that was really neat. I love his family so much, they really have taught me a lot. Sister Sandelin reminds me a lot of mom and I love her so much! Joel and both of his parents spoke in church and I got to bear a short goodbye testimony. I actually starting crying. Oh, no... I don´t want to become known as a crier like my mom. Haha. Love ya mom! Anyway, just before I got up to speak our choir,  that Syster Jacobs and I had started up, sang and it was wonderful. I am sure the audience could feel of the sweet spirit exuding from our choir. It was an experience that I will never forget. Standing up on the stage and looking down on the branch that I love so much was memorable, singing as loud as I could in Swedish. We also had 9 investigators at church! Wow. The second harvest has begun!!

 

After church Syster Schneiber and I headed down to Malmö for Roland and Ingrid to get married by the Stake President. It was great and since we traveled down and back with them we met some of their friends along the way and got a chance to share the gospel that way. I love being with members,  or soon to be members! We have their baptism planned for this Friday!! My last baptism the weekend before I go home. I am in heaven. And they are two Swedes! That means I will have taught and baptized a total of three Swedes on my mission. The Dunn's are such a blessing to us - they came down and made us a lovely wedding dinner after the wedding and then ate with us. They are a wonderful missionary couple from Colorado. I love them so very much.

 

Wow... I have so many stories, but they can wait until next week when I will be able to just tell them all to you face to face! Yippee. 

I will end with a miracle. On Tuesday the primary had a missionary activity planned where the kids would go out and visit our investigators and less-actives that we have been working with. It went wonderfully! I got to go with three members to visit our 11 year old investigator. It was a great experience to watch the cute little kids bear their testimonies and share the message. And Syster Schneiber got to go with three other members to meet some people who are not members -  referrals for us! A family who said we were welcóme to come back and teach them more! This family knows some of our members and because of that we have ended up getting the chance to teach them! Proof again that working through members is really the only way to do missionary work!

 

Well, I love ya all! I will write one more time and then HELLO! After you guys pick me up from the airport I would love to go and eat somewhere and see people. You guys know me.. party! Plus Syster Dabb will be at the airport to say hello to me and Syster Detinne-Cassel! YES! Two of my old missionary companions there with us. Joy. And thank you for putting together a welcome back party I am really looking forward to that and to my 20 boxes in storage with my clothing. I can´t wait to wear my crazy clothes again! Love ya!

 

Talisa!

Aka: Syster Vistaunet

Last Zone Conference and missionary fireside

The first picture is from my last zone conference with Elder Albertison and Syster Detinne-Cassel... both from my MTC group!

Then some fun girls from the branch here in Kristianstad.. I will miss them! The pink and black girls!

Woah! Once again I just love my life. 

This past week was my last Zone Conference, and boy was that strange. It was a very emotional Conference for me. The part that got me the most was singing with all the other missionaries and realizing that that would be my last time singing with a missionary choir and being a missionary. Elder Kearon from the Quorum of the Seventy's came and he brought such a happy spirit with him. He is from England and the very first thing that he said to us was "thank you for your service". He stood in front of us and for about five minutes thanked all of us missionaries for our service. It was an amazing experience. I really felt like I was being thanked directly from the Lord. I am so grateful for the leaders in the church. I know without a doubt that this is God´s true church on the earth. After we had lunch at the Conference the departing missionaries had the chance to bear their testimonies, which meant me. That was a surreal experience. I bore my testimony about missionary work and about how the only way to have real success with missionary work is by working with the members. I am so grateful that I have had the chance to be here in Kristianstad for four months and to end my mission here. I love it!

 

We have three investigators who are really progressing and I am hoping and praying that they will be able to be baptized next weekend before I go home. Which will mean a marriage for two of them too. I have been praying and fasting for them. But, I really don´t want to push anything if they are not ready. But, I do also feel like they are very prepared.They all came to church yesterday and it felt like they were already members of the church. It was wonderful.

 

Yesterday at church Syster Schneiber and I had the chance to teach the first hour to the entire branch. We had been asked by our zone leaders to prepare a Fireside for our branches before Stake Conference to give them training on how to be member missionaries. We both felt like it went really well. The main idea for the Fireside came from a talk called "The missionary next door", a wonderful talk. We talked about what every investigator needs in order to be truly converted. They need a social and a spiritual conversion. The members are in charge of the social conversion and the missionaries are in charge of the spiritual conversion. After all, it is so much easier to invite your friend to a ward party than to actually teach them about the word of wisdom. It was really great to be able to teach the entire branch in Swedish one last time before I go home. I love this branch and I will miss them so much.

 

A couple of days ago we had an amazing missionary experience. We were out in Hässleholm teaching some new converts and while on the bus we met a really nice woman and her two daughters. We began talking with them because we noticed that the Mom was wearing a cross necklace. We asked if they were Christian and how being Christian has helped them through out their lives. Within seconds the Mom was telling us all about her family situation and how they have experienced a lot of death recently in their family. Syster Schneiber and I knew exactly what needed to be done. We pulled out a plan of salvation pamphet and started teaching them God´s plan for families. They were hooked and by the time we got off the bus we had made some new friends. We have an appointment to go back this Wednesday to teach them more about God´s plan for them. Heavenly Father is really preparing his children for missionaries and we have been finding them! If we just open our mouths like the scriptures say then we will be blessed and be lead to those who are prepared.

 

The scripture that I have really enjoyed this week was Moroni 7:33. If we but put our faith in Christ then he will take care of the rest. We had another spiritual teach with a member and I was led by the Spirit to share that scripture and it turned out that it was just what the member needed to hear. She bore her testimony the next day in church thanking me for listening to the Spirit and sharing with her that scripture. Strive to have more faith every day.

 

Well, I love you all! Only two more weeks! Today we are heading down to Malmö to do some final shopping and hanging out with the Elders. Don´t worry about me buying things ... I am. Haha. Something that I would really love is if you guys could schedule a welcome back party for me for that Saturday that I am back. I am so looking forward to parties again!!! 

Thanks.

 

Love, Love, Love,

Syster Talisa Vistaunet

 

Oh yeah.. a couple of days ago a Chinese student that Syster Jacobs and I started teaching got baptized in Gävle. Now we have had four baptisms together!

Elvis in the bathroom

I LOVE life as a missionary! As a missionary you give up your normal life for
a year and a half and serve God with all your heart, might, mind, and
strength. That is something that I am very grateful for. 

This week we went to a member's house to teach one of our investigators and I
had to use the bathroom. When I opened the door to her bathroom
Elvis was staring right back at me. Haha. That made me very happy and
got me excited to listen to my music again and reminded me about my
life before my mission. Sometimes I forget what I was even doing
before I came on my mission. This member is an older lady.
She is great.  I love her so much! We have made plans to travel together
to Graceland. Haha.


Last pday we had another adventure with a great couple in our branch.
They took us for a tour of southern Sweden. One of these photos is us visiting a
castle. We actually visited many castles with them. We have become
really good friends with them and they said that they would adopt
me so that I could stay in Sweden. Haha. I now have some
Swedish grandparents.


Now onto the spiritual side of last week. I don´t know what it is
but my weeks just seem to be getting better and better. We had a very
high teaching week this past week. We were able to accomplish
this by talking to everyone and teaching every moment we
had. We had a total of 44 teaches! And the best part of that is 25
of them were to investigators!! Thirteen of those we had a member
present helping us teach! This past week I really felt more like
God´s tool. It really is the best feeling. I am doing all I can to
find, teach, and baptize before I go home.


Every Thursday we travel down to Lund for district meeting and it is a
highlight of every week. Elder Lerimaa, our district leader from
Finland, taught us about the importance of prayer and making sure that
our prayers are sincere and how we can then help our investigators
with their prayers. After we left Lund that day we taught everyone
about prayer!  We actually had ten teaches that day after the powerful
district meeting that we had. I am so grateful for spiritual leaders
who are worthy to recieve revelation for their folds.


When you are surrounded by the Spirit every day sometimes that makes
it hard to really feel the Spirit. So, this past week I have been
paying close attention to the still small voice of the Spirit and
acting upon all the promptings I recieve. We had a miracle teach with
the Chinese student who was baptized two months ago. We had planned
to talk about service and callings, but the moment we walked into the
door I knew she needed something else. We sat down and started talking
about prayer because that is just what we had learned and that led
into one of the most amazing spirit led teaches I have ever had. We
asked her how she feels her prayers are going. She thought for a
moment and then looked up at us with her eyes watering and said, "How
does God have time to listen to me?" At that moment we realized
excatly why our district leader had been inspired to talk about prayer
that morning. For the next 30 minutes we testifed of the power of prayer
and how much God loves her and will always have time to listen to her.


Another investigator of ours is having a hard time recieving answers
to his prayers. So, we actually fasted for him yesterday that he may
be able to recongize the answers that God is sending. He came up to me
in church and saíd with a huge smile on his face, "My friends invited
me to go swimming this morning and I told them that I had something
much more important to do." AHHH. I love the Spirit and the power of
prayer! and fasting! It´s real and God does love us and hear our
prayers. Most of the time he actually answers in ways that we are not
used to. Once we are looking for answers and really listening then we
can feel of His love.


Well, there is so much more that I could write about but I think that
is good for now. I love you all and I will see you in 3 weeks! America
here I come!! My last zone conference is this Wednesday in Göteborg.
We will be traveling up there tomorrow to sleep over at Syster Jacobs
and Syster Talbots place in Alingsås. A member of the Seventy is
actually going to be there.. Elder Kearon. I am looking forward to
that. I will also be given the chance to bear my final testimony! Wow.
I never thought that day would come.


Love, Talisa!!!

The week of Change

It´s been quite the week of non-stop craziness. .Saying goodbye to Syster Jacobs and then hello to Syster Schneiber. This is only the second time that I have been the companion who has stayed in an area and a new companion comes in. It feels really strange. But, I think the strangest part is thinking that I only have one more month left. So, everything I am doing here is to help Syster Schneiber feel ready to take over this wonderful area. My heart will be here forever.

 

My new companion is wonderful! I really don´t know why I have been so blessed with such amazing companions most of my mission. She is very little and from Connecticut and goes to BYU Idaho. She actually will be going home in four months and this area will be her last area as well. It is really neat being with an older missionary - we have become the testifying machines. Once I leave she will be training here. Lovely. It is the same situation that happened to me with Syster Jenson. I can tell that we are going to have a great month together. She is a ball full of energy. I love her.

 

This past week we have seen so many miracles.. when I think about everything that happened this past week I am amazed that I still have energy to keep moving. On Monday we had an amazing goodbye FHE party at the Jacobssons for Syster Jacobs and we had six of our investigators show up, some less-actives, our new converts, and some members there. It was such a sweet night full of love for one another. The best part of the night came when Syster Jacobs and I were going to give our final lesson together. Lately, we have been going around to members homes and talking about having your foundation be in Christ. We always read Helaman 5:12 and we get an egg and ask if anyone thinks that they can break the egg. It is impossible to break an egg in your hand if it's held a certain way. You just can´t break it, no matter how hard you press. That´s what we thought. We asked who was the strongest in the room and our African male investigator was chosen. He took the egg and squeezed as hard as he could and the next thing we knew Syster Jacobs was covered in egg!!! Haha. The egg popped so easily and it really surprised Syster Jacobs. The entire room burst into laughter. So, she went and cleaned herself up and then we came back and talked about not being like the egg and making sure that you have that foundation in Christ so you will never pop! Haha. It was very memorable and a great last lesson together. I love that girl!

 

The next morning we took Syster Jacobs to the train station Hadi and the Correas came to say goodbye. After that I went and got breakfast with the Correa girls and Hadi. It felt super strange being without a companion. The Correa girls became my companion for the morning. Then at 12:30 I picked up my new companion. We went straight to work. I want her to get familiar with this area as soon as possible because I really don´t have that much time to help her. Syster Schneiber is an amazing teacher and a great contactor! What a good example to me. We had a 34 teach week! By the end of the week I was exhausted. And 12 of the those teaches were to an investigator with a member present! The highest I have had on my mission thus far. I can already tell that my last month is going to fly by.

 

We had some amazing teaches with our investigators who are working towards baptism. On Thursday night we had a great teach on the law of chastity with two of our investigators and the man looked at us after we had asked him if he had read the pamphlet and he said, "Up until I read that pamphlet, I had been living in sin." The room went dead silent. And we said "okay, well what are you going to do to change that?" Together we came up with the idea of a small marriage in a couple of weeks here in the church and then their baptism the same day!! September 8th is the big day. They even sent in the papers for marriage the next day! They are very prepared and I love them so much! They said that they would just have two weddings... one now and one for everyone else next summer. Lovely.

 

We currently have six baptismal dates and I would really like to see at least 3 more baptisms before I go home. So, we are going to work our hardest and see what miracles we can see before I go home. Wow. This really was an amazing week. We even got five new investigators! We met most of the standards of excellence for our mission! Life is good.

 

Prayer works. A scripture that I really enjoyed this past week was 2 Nephi 9:52. "Behold, my beloved brethren, remember the words of your God; pray unto Him continually by day, and give thanks unto His holy name by night. Let your hearts REJOICE."  

I love the scriptures and I am looking forward to taking some really good institute classes when I get home. Maybe with Serina at UVU. ... I would love that. Start getting everything ready for Talisa to be home.. ! I would like my room to be yellow. Yes, that´s a great bright color. 

I love you all! And I am getting really excited to be home again! Rock and Roll hard until I get home.

 

Love, Talisa!

AKA: Syster Vistaunet

Five months together

We are the eagle district. We will all miss Syster Jacobs so much!!  We all went and got lunch together. It was lovely.

The time has come that the epic duo will be split up. Saturday morning we got the call that we have been dreading from President telling us that Syster Jacobs would be transfered. She is moving to a town closer to Göteborg. She will be leaving bright and early tomorrow morning and we will miss her dearly. We are not too sad because we both know that President Newell is inspired and that it´s just time for new adventures. We feel so blessed for all the time that we have had together.. five months 24/7 with someone is a long time. I will miss her, that´s for sure. My new companion will be Syster Schenbier. And I will be staying here in lovely Kristianstad until I go home. Which I am very thankful for. That means that I will be able to see Senja´s baby at Stake Conference the Sunday before I go home. Tender mercy. I will be getting Syster Schenbier all ready to train once I leave. She is a great missionary and I am exctied to be her companion. New adventures ahead.

I am glad that you guys got my package. Haha. Sorry about all the melted choclate... I didn´t really think that one through, because it´s not too hot here. Thanks for the new camera card.. I got the package from you. Don´t worry, I will take plenty of video and pictures until I get home. Five weeks of hard working bliss.

Last week we had a mini Zone Conference and it was wonderful! Every month Zones will be meeting together right after zone leader road (training) for the zone leaders to train us and tell us all the updates from zone leader road. I am really looking forward to this new training idea. I can already feel the closeness of our zone coming together. President Newell is such an inspired man. I am so grateful that he is my Mission President. I have learned so much from him and his wonderful wife. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father who knows exactly what I needed for my mission and where I would learn the most and be able to serve with my full heart. I love love love my life! Our mini zone conference was all about helping the members fullfill their duty of finding people for us to teach. We will be having a missionary fireside before our Stake conference on Sept. 2nd and then Stake conference will be my very last Sunday in Sweden!  Ahh. What a blessing to be able to end my mission in the Malmö zone and to be able to see people from two of my old areas. I really feel very blessed.

This past week Syster Jacobs and I had a rockin´ week! Which is good because it turned out to be our last week together. We were both very surprised to hear that we would be split up. But we know everything happens for a reason. I love that girl and we will be friends for life! Last night she actually went through my closet and picked out all the clothing that she wants me to send her when I leave. Haha. I am glad that I will be able to pass on my missionary clothing to someone who will appreciate it.  I will be sending her a big box full of clothing once I leave. Haha.

Anyways... our week was full of miracles. We were able to use five of our branch missionaries this week with the work. They all helped out.  The success of missionary work really comes when you work hand in hand with the members. So, for the last month of my mission, I am going to focus on getting a member on every teach that we have. I know that it is possible with a lot of hard work and planning. Which is two of my favorite things. Done and done. We even started a branch choir this past week and I am hoping that my new companion will be able to play the piano because we really need that. We are practing together to sing on Sept. 9th in sacrament meeting.

Lu Xiu is back! Our Chinese friend who got baptized just before she left to China. We met up with her last week and she was so happy to see us and she gave us some yummy chinese candy. I remember white rabbit candy from Grandma and Grandpa and I loved them. We had a great welcome back teach and she is excited to have us keep teaching her. She came to church and everyone was so happy to see her. Bonnie gave her a ride and after church Bonnie took us home to have one last dinner at her house with Syster Jacobs and Lu. It was a wonderful afternoon and just what Lu needed. We told her about home and visiting teachers and she was really excited about the idea. Then she said "and then I will have the missionaries too?"  Haha. Yes. We love Lu and are happy to have her back. The church has a wonderful support system. Heavenly Father really looks after his children. Bonnie actually found a place for Lu to move to, which is a huge blessing because she really needs a place to live. So, this Wednesday we will be going out to look at the apt. and meet Bonnie´s friend who we have been praying for for the past three months and having dinner together! What a great way to welcome a new missionary to this wonderful blessed area.

Okay now I will tell a story of a good teach we had and listening to the Spirit. After we said the prayer I felt very strongly to start talking about the Book of Mormon and how important it is to read from it´s pages every single day of our lives. Syster Jacobs and I both testified strongly of scripture study and the power of prayer. Which are both commandments from God. Later on Syster Jacobs told me that after the prayer...scripture study and prayer were the exact same things that came to her mind. We were so grateful for the Spirit´s influence. 

We had six investigators at church yesterday and it was a great way for Syster Jacobs to say goodbye. This branch is really going to miss her. She is such an amazing strong missionary and will do wonderfully in the Göteborg zone. I love you all!

Love, Talisa!

More connections.

Hello mom! I am not online for long... but Syster Jacobs parents are in Provo this week and I thought that it would be super cool if you guys could meet up!

I love you and thanks again for everything!

Love Talisa!

We met Sister Jacobs parents for lunch. What a tender mercy. I love how small the world is when you have a missionary.

--Tonya

Åhus Grill fest!

This week has been great. Summer is winding down here finally. School starts in two weeks and then we think that things will get back to normal. Although we have become super busy again. 

On Sunday we had 8 investigators at church! Our branch is really amazing and we now have six branch missionaries who are ready and willing to help us with everything we have to do. We also have a great branch mission leader. This is good because we have so many positive investigators right now who are working towards baptism. We have five investigators right now who have baptismal dates and we are working really hard to get them baptized in August. Our weeks have really filled up with teaching our investigators. We are trying very hard to meet with each of them two to three times a week. I love the gospel!

 

Lately, people around us have been asking Syster Jacobs and I if we are twins. Haha. We don´t really look the same at all but, we have gotten it a couple of times within the last week. Haha. We think it´s because of our short hair and the light that we carry with us. It´s really funny. Some members from the branch have started calling us the twins now. Haha.

 

Last Thursday night we had an amazing party at Åhus,  which is a really pretty beach town about 30 minutes away from Kristianstad. The Eriksson twins invited a bunch of their friends for a BBQ and to meet us. It was a great experience. Syster Jacobs and I were bouncing around talking to everyone. We counted 15 non-members! The members here are really amazing and are some of the best missionaries I have ever met!  Most of our branch missionaries were there too and they were really helping out with the work as well.  I love seeing the full time missionaries and the member missionaries really work together. That truly is when success comes. We had made a triple batch of American chocolate chip cookies for everyone and we walked around passing them out and everyone loved them. They were dang good if I do say so myself. Syster Jacobs has the best recipe for them, which I will be bringing home. No worries. And I can´t even imagine them with real chocolate chips instead of cut up candy bars. Yum. By the end of the night we had taught two different people about Joseph Smith and the importance of prayer and got some phone numbers and even an lunch appointment for the next day! Heavenly Father really knows what we desire and if we but show our faith then miracles will happen.

 

This past week we met with a couple who will be getting married soon and then baptized the next week... anyways they have been out of town for the past week camping and so we were a little worried about them actually reading and praying. While they were camping they met another couple who were members of the church! They invited them to read from the Book of Mormon with them every night. We were shocked when they  told us that. Heavenly Father provided another couple to help them along with their conversion process. The church is true and God loves each one of His children! Both couples had one person who was a member and had one who was working towards baptism.

 

Heavenly Father also led us to another Swedish couple last Monday while we were grocery shopping on pday. The man from the couple stopped us and asked us if we were twins and if we had gone to a certain school because he recognized us. We said no and told him that we were actually from America.  At that point he noticed our nametags and said, "oh, you"re missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ." He knew exactly who we were. He then told us that he had grown up in the church and that his dad was a very faithful member. WOW. We got their phone number and set up a time to meet them again. We actually invited them to the Åhus party and they traveled there with us. And they both came to church yesterday!! We have plans to meet with them again this upcoming week. The best part of all this is that the members recognized him and were so excited to see him back in church. We truly are just the Lord's hands here in Sweden.

 

I love the work and I love the gospel! The church is true and I know it. I have started reading the Book of Mormon for the third time and it´s amazing to me all the new things that I am learning. Scripture study is so important and really is something that helps strenghten our testimonies of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

I love you all and see you in 6 weeks! AHHH.

 

Love, Syster Talisa Vistaunet!