Moving AGAIN!!! Karlskrona here I come!

A goodbye party for us!

One of my Primary girls and I being silly. I gave her the nerds chapstick and she loved it.

WOWOWOW!!!

I have really learned my lesson that transfers never, ever go the way you think they will. On Saturday morning we got transfer calls and the President told me that I would be leaving Halmstad and training a new missionary. I freaked out! I am going even further South. That means that the Swedish language is going to be even harder to understand! I am a little nervous. But I do know that I have God and Jesus Christ on my side, so I will be okay. Please pray extra hard for me and my greenie this week. It really will be a week full of surprises.

I am going to Karlskrona which was just an Elders area and is now turning over to a Sisters area. My greenie and I will be the first Sisters there! I am told that there is a branch with about 20-25 active members. So, a little bit more than Halmstad.

It´s funny how God works because I have been praying for change.. and boy did I get it! I should know better ~ every time I do that I get handed a LOT of change. Haha. Because of all the craziness emails will be a little shorter today. Sorry. We are leaving early tomorrow morning to head to Stockholm. We have to take my bags down to Helingsborg tonight because the mission leaders don't want me to have to bring them to Stockholm and then all the way back down South. Makes sense, but it has caused some stress. Some members will be driving us down there in about an hour. They are very nice and I will miss them so much.Then on Wednesday night the Branch President in Karlskrona will be picking us up at the train station at 7:30 and take us to our new apartment. I love the church! Members are so helpful to missionaries.

So, since it´s been a crazy week we have just been going around to all the members and less-actives that we have been working with and trying to spend as much time with them as possible. When we told the ward that they would be getting Elders they were all bummed. They love having sisters and they were all very sad. But the Elders who are coming here will do a great job! Elder Rowley is coming!! And then Elder Sandberg who I dont know as well. I have complete trust in Elder Rowley I know he will take care of my Halmstad. I have been really busy cleaning and writing tons of notes in order to make sure this area is ready for the Elders.

My time here in Halmstad has been quite the ride. I have had some of the best times of my mission and some of the worst. In my journal I am making a list of everything that I did here and tried to accomplished. My number one goal while I was here was to strengthen this ward through service and I believe that Sister Kiser and I did that. Last district meeting Elder Todesco gave a great lesson on using the members in the work and while we were reading I got a strong impression that the next step here in Halmstad is finding. We have helped the ward get through some tough months and now they are ready to help the Elders with some major finding work. Plus, we have some solid people who are thinking about meeting with us. An amazing couple that we met while we were at the doctors office. A Swedish lady with an American husband and they have two children! I called her today to tell her that we would both be leaving and asked if the Elders could call her and she said YES and said they would love to show them around Halmstad too. Miracles are happening. The work here in Halmstad is going to take off, I have a really good feeling.

Well, next weeks email will be much more exciting because then I will have many new experiences to write about. Wow. New area, my Swedish vocabulary being the best, and training! Have I told you how much I LOVE being a missionary? Well, I do. I am told that they have a lot of good things for us to do in Karlskrona- lots of weekly things are scheduled. Those are my favorite. I am excited to have a greenie and to get to go into a new area. Both of us will be figuring things out for the first time. Haha.

Oh yea, be on the look out for 2 packages. I sent them today. Somehow I acquired a lot more stuff this transfer. Dang Christmas. Haha. I sent home some more gifts because I couldn't fit them anywhere. Haha. And I made sure to tape the sides. Let me know when you get them. I love you all so much! And thanks to all my friends for the festivus notes and emails!

Remember to read the scriptures, pray, and smile everyday! That is my mission goal...no actually it's my life goal. I love this ward and I will miss them.. but I am so ready for a change. Love you all so much!

Love, Talisa!

Aka: Syster Vistaunet