Baptism and Midsommers

Midsommers!

 Awesome Dop (Baptism)!

Eating Seal. Yucky.






Hello one and all!

This past week has been crazy. We had a baptism for a student from China who is so
sweet and prepared. On Tuesday we had the challenge of teaching her
all of the commandments and asking her if she would keep them. We were
a little nervous about how that would all work out.  She listened and agreed with
everything we had to say. Awesome. When we brought up that we don´t swear and
don´t take the name of God in vain..she paused and said, "Oh, my lady
gaga!" Haha. I almost died laughing. Then we went on to talk about
stealing and she paused yet again, making us nervous and she said, "I
used to steal..." And at this point Syster Jacobs was comforting her
and saying "oh that´s alright,  just as long as you won´t do it again".
Then she finished her sentence... "Hearts". Haha. As you can tell our
teach about commandments went just fine.


She was baptized on Wednesday night, the day before she flew back to
China for a month. We did it! She got baptized before she went back to
China so now she can go to church in China and understand more! We
will also be setting up a time to Skype with her later this week. We had
about 15 people show up for her baptism and everything pulled together
just wonderfully. A great member here baptized and confirmed
her the same night. She was glowing the entire night and you
could tell that she was very happy about her decision to be baptized.
Bonnie Jameson, the American lady who lives here, really helped us with
the teaching process and she gave a wonderful talk about using the Holy Ghost
at the baptism. I spoke on baptism and the lovely Syster Jacobs
played the paino while the Strandberg daughters sang a baptism song.


Then we had midsommers! Which actually turned out a little stressful.
We decided to go to the Branch party in Åhus but it was raining the
entire time we were there and so we didn't even get to see the beach.
Bummer. But, Marie Jacobsson did manage to get me to eat seal! Yuck.
Marie and Henrick Jacobsson are some of the best members here and have
helped us so much lately with our work. I am so grateful for them.
After the wet Branch party a few of us headed down to
Lund for a YSA midsommers. Fun.


The miracle of the week: We have been trying to get bikes for the past
couple of weeks and the store has been sold out. Then we called and
they said they had them in! So we ordered them and then went to
pick them up the next day. While we were there we were trying to
figure out how we could get baskets on the bikes but for some reason
the man could not understand what we were saying. So, then all of the
sudden a young guy jumps in and starts helping us... acting as a
translator. He was there with his mother getting a car part for her
and one thing led to another and we starting talking about forever
families and how God exists. Before they left we got his phone number
and prayed that it would be the right number. The next day we called
the phone and he answered! We then invited him to come with us to the
YSA midsommers and he said yes! So, we ended up going to the YSA
midsommers with a member, new convert, and a new investigator. It was
a great little trip. The only thing that made me sad was that I didn´t
get to dance around a maypole because it was raining all day long.
Blah. It was a strange midsommers but, it was just where Heavenly
Father wanted us to be. We even met some really nice friends of a
member at our Branch midsommers and got phone numbers and
became instant friends. They invited us to come over next week. And
the story doesn´t end there.. because yesterday the young man came to
church! Syster Jacobs and I both spoke in church and he came to see
us. He had such a great experience and said he felt something special.
He is a twenty year old Swede who is prepared for this
message. We met him the same day of the baptism. Heavenly Father is
always leading us to the next person who is ready.


Like I said earlier Syster Jacobs and I spoke in church and that was
another amazing experience. I had prayed long and hard for Heavenly
Father´s help to be able to speak Swedish and from the moment I stood
up it was not me who was talking. The words just seemed to roll right
out of my mouth and I had almost no problems at all speaking. WOW. The
gift of tongues is real. Syster Jacobs has wonderful Swedish as well
and we both spoke for a good amount of time. In fact the Branch
President was the last speaker and he thanked us for taking so much
time to speak and being so prepared. It felt really good and I really
felt like Heavenly Father really helped us at that moment. I LOVE life!


Keep looking for daily miracles and remember that you are never
forgotten. 


I love you all! Be good and enjoy that summer heat.
It is rainy and cold here. Haha.


Love, Talisa!
Aka: Syster Vistaunet

Brimming with Happiness

Syster Jacobs and I eating both a hot dog and ice cream at the same time. Haha. This is the life.

Crazy Swedish  high school graduation! We had an investigator and a member graduate so we went and saw both of them! I think that the Swedes have the best way ever to celebrate graduation. I really wish that I had graduated high school here. Actually, not really, I love Utah. But it's pretty cool. The entire city comes out and watches the parade of students coming down the street -  it reminds me of the 4th of July in Provo. Later that night we went to a members house
for a graduation party and it was so much fun. We are so blessed here.




Hello everyone!!


Happy Father´s day Daddy!! In honor of you we actually went to a
Cd-record shop today and I bought you a little something.
Smile. I am a good daughter... the best I think! Haha.  I also
found some really sweet girl rock group who sing in Swedish too. You
will love them. I only heard one song with lots of hand claps and
bought it right away. Three months from now I will be able to
listen to all of it. Yippee! I am still hoping that before I go home I
will run into a member of the Hives or the Sounds. Haha.


I also got news today that some of my Swedish friends from
Göteborg have bought their  tickets to America to visit! They will
actually be there when I get home and are planning on spending
Halloween with us. Rock N´Roll! You will love them.


Miracles are happening every single day. The work here is amazing and
we are going to have another Baptism this week!!! AHH. We
called President last week to tell him that we had gotten another
baptismal date for a Chinese student, but that it would have to wait
until August because she is going back to China for a month. He
suggested to us that we try to baptize her before she goes home. So
we decided to give it a try and we had an amazing teach on Saturday
night with her at Bonnie's home. Bonnie is the amazing American member
here and she helped us so much. We had dinner at her house that night
and then watched "Finding faith in Christ" in Chinese and asked her if
she would like to be baptized before she goes home. She thought about
it and then said yes. The biggest miracle about this is that in order
to attend church in China you have to have proof that you are a member
before you attend. This way she will have the chance to go to church in
her home land and be able to understand so much more!  We are going to
stay in touch with her when she is away through skype as well. So, we
are running around like a chicken with it´s head cut off trying to get
everything ready for the baptism. It will be this Wednesday and then
she goes home on Thursday.


The members are so proud of us and thank us every day for all the hard
work that we are doing here. One member came up to us and joked with
us saying "So, are you systers going to have a baptism every other
week then?" We laughed and looked at each other and said YES! We,
actually have our next baptism planned for July 7th. So,
it´s going to happen. After all, it is the Summer of Love.


The members here are seeing all of our hard work and because of that
we are gaining their trust. We work like crazy. We have been getting so many
referrals lately. More referrals then I have received in my whole
mission combined. I don´t know what has happened lately but, I don´t
want it ever to stop. We have a very packed week ahead of us with lots
of referral work. 


This Friday is Midsommers! That  means we get to
spend the entire day with our branch at the beach!  Wow. I love life. I
just can´t say enough about the wonderful members here. From day one
they welcomed us in and they are really taking their call to member
missionary work seriously. Syster Jacobs and I have a goal to see
seven baptisms together and pretty soon we will allready have had
three! So, we just need four more. We are showing our faith and
because of that I know that Heavenly Father will help us reach that
goal.


I love you all!

Love, Talisa!
AKA: Syster Vistaunet

Book Of Mormon Challenge

 These photos are from our Temple trip to Copenhagen, Denmark.

We went on a canal tour of Copenhagen. It was lovely.

Friends in Sweden.

A wonderful Baptism!!

Members from one of my earlier areas.

Okay everyone,  I am going to start off this weeks letter with a
challenge. The challenge is to give out a Book of Mormon before I come
home. You have about  three months to accomplish this task. 


We had Stake Conference this past Sunday and the Malmö stake has
challenged all of the members to give out a Book of Mormon before
the next Stake Conference, which is the weekend before I come home,
September 19th. Syster Jacobs and I have already seen this challenge
bless the lives of the members here so,  I think it will
also bless the lives of the people I love at home. So, there
you have it my dear friends and family, I challenge you today to start
thinking and praying for those people around you who you can influence
and who you could give a Book of Mormon to before I come home. And
since I am a good missionary, I will be following up! Haha. In all
seriousness, I have a strong testimony that Heavenly Father is
preparing people all around us who are ready to hear about the gospel
from us. I also know that it might be hard to do this challenge in
Utah, but that is no excuse!  My cousin's husband is proof that there are still
many people out there who are waiting to hear the good news! So, start
praying tonight for the chance to be a missionary and I know that
Heavenly Father will help you. I will be praying for you all. Good
luck! You can do it.


This past week has been a highlight week of my mission. Actually this
past month has been a highlight month of my mission. I just can't
believe all the miracles that have been happening since we came
here to this city. There was a baptism this past week and it was an
amazing baptism. The morning was a little stressful, but we weren´t
going to let anything stop us. The branch showed up in great support
for this new brother. We had about 30 people come and Syster Jacobs
gave a wonderful talk on baptism and I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.
After he was baptized he had the chance to bear his testimony and
that was an experience I will never forget. He came up out of the
water a completely new person, glowing brighter then anyone I have ever
seen. Repentance has been a big part of his conversion story and he
told us that in his language repentance means to turn back. He then
went on to say that all we have to do is remember to turn back to God.
I am so grateful for the chance that each of us have to partake of the
sacrament every Sunday and renew our baptismal covenants.




The work here has really taken off and every day Syster Jacobs and I
just have to kept reminding ourselves to be humble. The members here
are amazing and all they want to do is help us with our work. We
already have another investigator who we are working towards baptism
with and many others who are praying about baptism. I have seen a HUGE
difference in missionary work since I first came here because since day
one we got the members involved and that is really when the work takes
off and miracles happen. We have also been receiving lots of referrals
from members and our investigators. Sometimes Syster Jacobs and I
think we need another set of missionaries here to help the work.



Summer time is here now and the Swedes are getting really excited
about that. Graduation is this Friday and I am looking forward to
seeing another crazy graduation this year. I remember when I was in
Örebro last year and how shocked I was. It was awesome.


Lately, I have been surprised with Heavenly Father´s timing. I have a
strong testimony that everything happens for a reason and that where we
are now in our lives is for a reason and that is just what He wants
for us. I know my Heavenly Father answers prayers and
this past weekend at stake conference many of my personal prayers were
answered. There were two men there from the area Seventy and they
spoke on getting rid of fear and putting more faith in Jesus Christ, and
about not comparing yourself to people around you. Everyone is on
the pathway back to God but everyone is at different parts on their
indiviualized paths. We must remember who we are and that it is only
through Jesus Christ that we can be healed. I have never been so happy
in my whole life and I know without a doubt that this is God´s true
church on the earth today! At Stake Conference I had the chance to see
all of my really good friends from Halmstad. It was one of the most
exciting things to look out at the audience and be able to recognize 
many of the people sitting there, since I have served in three
of the areas in this Stake. My heart is in the south of Sweden and
always will be.


My goodness, little Henry just seems to be getting cuter and cuter
every week. I think my favorite picture in the whole world is of him
on top of the piano with Dad playing. Haha. Classic Vistaunet. 


Man, I LOVE you all so much! I am so grateful for your support and for the
great family that I have. Thank you so much for everything that you do
for me. Enjoy all the pictures. Today we are heading way down South to
teach a family. 


Be good and remember to start thinking of someone you can
give a Book of Mormon to! This challenge is for everyone who reads
this and wants to accept the challenge- no matter how many times you
have given out a Book of Mormon.. do it again!


Much love, Syster Talisa Vistaunet!

25 teaches and a trip to the Denmark Temple!

Wow. 

Every single day I feel more and more blessed to be the Lord´s missionary. This past week has been the best week of my entire mission. We found 4 new investigators, had 7 investigators in church, and actually had 20 teaches with just investigators!! And then 5 other teaches to members. Syster Jacobs and I sometimes feel like this area could use two more missionaries. The time is NOW for the 2nd harvest here in Kristianstad, Sweden. And the best part is that we even missed an entire full day of working because we went to the Denmark Temple. We now know that it is totally possible to get  20 teaches every single week.

 

I am in love with Denmark!  Copenhagen is one of the coolest european cities I have been to. There is just so much history there and so many really neat old bulidings. We got to Denmark around 8:30am last Friday and then did a temple session at 9:30am. That felt really good to be in the temple. I am really looking forward to being able to go to the temple more often when I get home. Syster Jacobs and I traveled with the systers who are in Karlskrona - Systers Ridl and Winterton. They are both really great systers and we are hoping that we will get to go on splits with them soon. After the session we visited the chapel there and that was really neat too and while there we met a really nice older man who was cleaning up the church and he asked where we were from. We said the Sweden mission. He was so happy to hear that and asked what we have planned for the rest of the day... we said just touring around Denmark. He then offered to feed us lunch and then be our tour guide for the afternoon! He is American and is married to a Danish women and they fed us lunch and then he was our tour guide. He really reminded me of Grandpa Pete - just a really nice, older people person. We had a blast! He first took us all to see the Christus statue - which was just as breath taking the second time around as it was the first. Then we headed to see the little mermaid statue. But, on the way there he said "well how would you systers like to go on a canal tour? They leave every 30 mins and only cost like 8 bucks".  We said yes! So we went on an hour long canal tour of Copenhagen. It was wonderful. It even started raining- an extra bonus. Friday was a very memorable day. And boy, am I grateful for members who love missionaries!

 

This upcoming Friday we are going to have a baptism!! This man is from Iran and President told us that he actually is one of the most well prepared people for baptism that he has interviewed. That made us fell really good. Yesterday, he actually got up and bore his testimony at church and it was such an amazing experience. The entire Branch loves him and they really are taking good care of him. He is one of the most prepared people we have ever met. We know that he will be a wonderful member for the rest of his life. Ahh. I am just so happy! People from the branch just kept coming up to us after church as well telling us what a blessing we are to them. We have brought with us a fire and this Branch is so ready to be used for helping with missionary work. The time is now! I am just so grateful that I have had the chance to be part of this miracle for the Krisitanstad Branch. I know that Heavenly Father led us to this man and that Syster Jacobs and I were meant to be transfered here together. I LOVE LIFE!!!

 

And unfortuantely the time is up. Ah.. I feel like I could just keep writing for hours. But, missionary work calls. 

I love you all! And I love all the wonderful pictures from little Henry´s blessing. I am glad Corryn got my b-day package. Oh yeah ... tell my lovely Grandma´s Happy Birthday!

 

Peace, love, and the gospel.

Love, Talisa!!!

 

Sorry no pictures.. unless we have time to go to the church to send some. Maybe... the computers in the city library sometimes will upload and sometimes will not. Lame. But, today I did buy myself a sweet Swedish shirt that says Sverige on it. That´s Sweden in Swedish. Much better. And a bag with Sverige on it too. And then a new H&M polka dot shirt. Smile.

Swedish with a Danish accent

Above is a  picture of our District minus our Zone Leaders. The Dunns made us lunch at the center in Lund. Below is a picture of some of our friends here.

 




Finally I got a picture with a post bike. This is how the Swedes deliver post everywhere. Pretty rad. 

Well, howdy!

DENMARK TEMPLE. This Friday Syster Jacobs and I get the chance to travel to Denmark to go to the Temple there with the Systers in Karlskrona. We are very excited about that. It has almost been 7 months since I last went to the Temple. And the last time I was there it was also to the Denmark Temple. I am really looking forward to the chance that I have to travel there again. We have plans to see the Christus statue again and the Little Mermaid. I have decided I am going to finally purchase a Swedish CTR ring. Which is actually VDR in Swedish. I can get one at the visitors center there.

 

I am in love with the south of Sweden. It is so beautiful here and the weather is breath-taking. The only thing that has been getting to me is my hayfever. Yuck. 

This past week we have had some amazing teaches with the members here and we visited some less-actives. We had lunch with a sweet older Danísh lady who has lived in Sweden for a long time. She loves to talk and she is the hardest person ever to understand! She is from Denmark and she has a strong accent and talks really fast. She is stinkin'  hilarious and I just wish that I could understand everything that she is saying to me because I know that it´s funny. She is one of the happiest people I have ever met and she laughs just as much as I do. We may not be able to understand each other very well, but boy can we laugh! After all, that is the most important thing in life.

 

A goal that Syster Jacobs and i have for this upcoming week is to open our mouths and talk to everyone! On the way to the library this morning we walked and had some really good deep dicussions about the gospel with people along our way. We talked to five different people and the very last lady was a positive, upbeat one who told us right away that her husband had died from cancer last year and now she is alone. She was a very happy person who has strong beliefs in Christ but needs help seeing that there is more to life. We got her number and hopefully will be meeting with her later this week. We have three older ladies in our branch who are called as our branch missionaries and our Branch President wants us to use them as much as we can. It's been hard lately because we have just been teaching in English. But, then we were led to this great lady today. I have a strong testimony of the fact that if we are trying our hardest Heavenly Father will always lead us to those people who are ready to hear the gospel.

 

The amazing Chilean family who we have been getting really close with have a family restaurant in Orem state street... Lomitos is the name. Or something close to that. You should go and eat there and ask if they have family in Sweden. Because I love them! The branch president and his wife are amazing here. I can telll that Syster Jacobs and I are going to get really close to them. On Saturday night we actually had our first meeting with the Branch President because he had just gotten back from Utah this past week. We now have a wonderful vision of what Kristianstad branch wants and expects of us- their missionaries. In church he bore his testimony about how the members are the ones who are actually called as full time missionaries and how Syster Jacobs and I are just called here to assit. It´s a pretty neat place.

 

We see so many miracles every day and I am so thankful for the chance that I have now to be the Lord´s missionary in Kristianstad. I love you all!

Love, Talisa!!!