My heart is so full of LOVE today. I really feel very blessed to be on a mission in Sweden. Sometimes it´s hard to remember the life that I had before I came on a mission. The people that I am meeting here already feel like life long friends.
The Birthday adventure:
I woke up to the sound of my companion singing Happy Birthday and then saw that our Vin Diesel poster said Happy Birthday to me. Haha.
Then we got a phone call from one of our investigators who needed help around 7am. So, we called our ward mission leader, and asked him if he could give him a blessing. We were all at the church by 8:30am to give him a blessing. I am so grateful for priesthood power and for worthy men who can call upon the powers of God to heal and comfort. It was an amazing experience to be able to sit there and watch Viekko give him a blessing in Swedish and to be able to understand what was going on and feeling the Spirit that strongly. We will be meeting with this investigator again this upcoming Saturday.
After that we got dropped off at the place where we pick up packages and I got my birthday package! Thank you family! I loved the signs and all the fun letters from the people I love. Thank you to Jane Stewart for the little miss sunshine shirt. I loved the yellow tights and I wore them yesterday for easter. Then we did our studies and ate a lovely birthday breakfast.
Then we had an amazing teach with one of our investigators. She is planning on getting baptized on April 21st. We are hoping and praying for that. She is so prepared and knows this is the truth. We watched conference with her last week and she loved it.
After that we headed to a Birthday-Easter lunch with AnneLill and Janne. They have a tradition for every missionary who has a birthday here to make them a cake with their face on it. I was really looking forward to that. Then they told me that I will have to wait until April 19th for that so we can have a real party because that is when the Elders from our district are coming down for district meeting and lunch with them. So, I have something to look forward to. They gave me cute blue earrings. Then we left to find a mormon.org referral. A Chinese student. We did not find her but, we did end up talking to some nice people when we were out and about.
Syster Jacobs, Syster Vistaunet and our Ward Mission Leaders, who are so great!
Conference was such a wonderful experience this year. We had the chance to watch most of the sessions with members and investigators. We even watched some of it in Swedish! It was neat to watch it in Swedish and then go back and watch the same talk in English. I had different notes from both experiences. Knowing another language is really neat. I still get frustrated sometimes when speaking Swedish, but my love for the people and the language is huge. Sweden will be a huge part of my life forever.
Now I will share with you some of my favorite notes that I made from conference:
The truth will go forth boldly! The purposes of God will be accomplished. -Monson
How much faith do we really have? -Hallstrom
"Don´t judge me because I sin differently than you." -Uchtdorf
What does Christ think of me? -Andersen
Come back, come home, come unto me. -Monson
It seemed to me that theme of conference was repentance and how Jesus Christ died for each one of us. It is never to late to come back. Another theme was the importance of families and many Apostles gave great ideas of how to be a good teacher for your kids. I know that Thomas S. Monson is God´s prophet today on the earth. Whenever he speaks to us it is as if Heavenly Father is speaking to us.
Yesterday, Syster Jacobs and I had the opportunity to teach Relief Society on sustaining your leaders. Syster Jacobs took the lead and it was such a great lesson. I was praying for her the entire time and she did a great job with speaking and understanding Swedish. I know that we are called of God to be here in Gävle at this time for a specific reason.
Later on my birthday an awesome member picked us up for a birthday dinner in the woods. We changed into pants and then headed to a really cool place, about 10 minutes away from the church building, for a campfire and fun. She had her cute kids with her and we had a blast running around and seeing the view of Gävle from on top of a skiing hill. She also fed us a great dinner cooked over the fire. The best part of the night was that Syster Jacobs was pretending to be a T-rex and chasing the kids all over the place. They loved it.
I got a really sweet turquoise necklace from her for my birthday. Her daughter picked it out for me. The entire night that we were together her daughter kept saying, "I love you Vistaunet". Haha. It was cute. I really love talking with younger Swedish people because I feel like I can really connect with them, that might be because I have somewhat of the same vocabulary.
I had an amazing birthday here in Sweden! 24 years old. Crazy. Through out the day Syster Jacobs would give me a little present every time the clock said 24. She would start singing Happy Birthday and then reach into her bag and pull out a gift for me. Haha. I loved it.
THANK YOU ALL for the birthday wishes! I love you all and wish you a wonderful week. Enjoy the spring weather. I know I am.
It looks like you all had a great weekend too. Corryn is due so soon and you know what that means!? That means that our Mother's day skype is coming up soon too!! I miss you all so much but I will be home before we know it.
I am so happy for Serina to be going to UVU. Tell me which classes she gets and who her teachers are. I am so happy for her. Is she planning on moving out when she gets home? Or will we be roommates?
Well, the rest of the week was wonderful as well. But, I think that is all that I will write at this time. I love you!
Syster Talisa Vistaunet!
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