Photos from Norrkoping

Opening our time capsule.

Happy in Sweden!

Caught in a rainstorm!

Queen Talisa!

Surprise! Göteborg here I come!

I actually ate this!

Kraftfest!

I am MOVING! Saturday night I got a call from the Mission President telling me that I would be moving to Göteborg on monday!! Crazy. That means today! I leave in 3 hrs to be companions with Syster Brown and Syster Juker. Syster Juker hurt her foot so I am going there to work with Syster Brown. Going to Göteborg has been my dream and now I get to go there! It was very strange saying goodbye to the people of Norrköping. The transfer ends in 2 weeks and I am hoping that this means that I will be staying in Göteborg! Life as a missionary is very crazy and unexpected all the time.

Last Saturday afternoon the ward had a party called "Kraftfest" which means you eat fish.. shrimp type things. It was very fun and I loved every second of it! Well, touching the fish thing was gross. But, I can proudly say that I ate two of them. Grandma and Grandpa Powelson would be proud of me.. eating seafood finally. Haha. Here are some pictures from the event. After the party was when I got the call that I would be moving. Crazy. But, I am really excited!

I have LOVED my time in Norrköping! But I can't even explain how excited I am to go to Göteborg. I have now been in the three cities that Syster Gotberg was in! I guess I was meant to follow in her footsteps. I am sad that the epic threesome is dying. VDR. Which means CTR in swedish!

Yesterday was my last Sunday here in Norrköping and I said all of my goodbyes. It is so crazy to me that I am leaving.. it still seems so unreal. George was sad to hear that I was leaving. He is an amazing member now! That was a miracle. We had a cute investigator come to church for the first time and she really liked it and would not leave my side. She kept hugging me. It was cute... I felt very loved. I think she will accept the gospel, she just needs some more time. Like I keep saying. Some people are more prepared then others.

Well, life is wonderful and I am looking forward to serving in Göteborg! It is the 2nd largest city in Sweden. Stockholm is the largest city in Sweden. I am hoping that I will get to be there for a while. They have a youth center!! Which means I will be working at the Institute center and very invovled with the YSA's! My dream. And I will be working with the Andersons. That will be fun! I am excited to get to know them. And I will be with Syster Juker again! Crazy. It will be cool to see how we have progessed since the MTC.

I LOVE you all! And just know that I am having the time of my life! Every week seems to get better and better. I love Sweden.

Much Love, Talisa!

Corryn and Rob- Happy Anviversary!! And Happy Birthday! I will be sending a letter soon.

Serina- Enojy the last couple of days of summer. I will be sending you a picture of the cute boy you would love. Haha.

I am so grateful for all the fun I have had here. Good memories. The Lord is really teaching me to live in the moment. I will also be traveling all by myself to Göteborg.. a 2 hr train ride by myself! What. the. Crazy. Probably the only alone time I will have for at least another year. Haha.

Tree of Life

I am having so many great experiences...and I am loving them all!

Hello again!

So, this has been another wonderful week here in Norrköping! I am attaching some pictures that we took last week on p-day at the dinosaur museum. Yeah, I saw European Dinosaurs. Haha. I feel very blessed to have such wonderful companions. I mean really blessed. The longer we are together the more we find out about each other and how much we are alike. The other day a less active that we visited said "Wow, three! That must mean that there is a lot of work to do here in Norrköping and that we are blessed to have three missionaries". That's right. The longer I am here the more I am learning. Every day is a brand new adventure and I am loving it! We are all understanding one another more and becoming more effective missionaries.

Missionary moment: We taught our investigator who just got baptized, about the tree of life and then gave him a set of scriptures. He was very happy. It was an amazing moment and then we read from the Book Of Mormon about the tree of life in 1 Nephi chapters 8 and 11. Then we watched a conference talk from President Monson and he was very excited to see the Prophet. He is an amazing guy and he is now a Mormon!

I also received a very happy surprise in the mail from one of my investigators in Örebro! She really is a friend for life. She sent me a little package full of recipes and herb mixes and cute napkins. Haha. I am so glad that people are remembering me and Syster Gotberg. I am sending her a letter this week. I think I found a fun pen-pal for the rest of my mission.

Sweden is full of amazing lakes! I am loving it. I have also decided that I really want to live by a lake when I grow up. Haha. When I grow up. I dont think that ever happens... especially for my dad. Thanks for the cds this week! I got the package and I am enjoying them.

I am going to tell you one thing and that is that SYL works. That stands for Speak Your Language. Our goal as a companionship is to speak Swedish as much as we can and it is making a HUGE difference. We had a bunch of middags (dinners) this past week and I could understand almost everything that was said! Well, at least the context. The mind is an amazing thing. I actually miss school. Thats a crazy thought.

Well, I LOVE you all! Enjoy the rest of summer.

Love,Talisa!

Aka : Syster Vistaunet

Happy Birthday to Eden tomorrow! And Trent, Rob (Yoohoo Brother in law!), Juile, Jerica, Katie Alger, and Caitlin!

The cake tasted better than it looks!

Blueberry Picking!

Biking in Norrkoping

By a Swedish River

My first Dop!! Which means Baptism!

Hello everyone! Syster Vistaunet here reporting live from Sweden. This past week was easily one of my favorite weeks I have had thus far on my mission. We had a wonderful Baptism yesterday!!! The church is so true! I truly have never been so happy in my whole life... except maybe when I am at a rock n' roll show. Haha. Just kidding. Which reminds me, Sahara Hotnights played an outdoor concert here in my town a couple of weeks ago. Crazy. I really miss music, but I am willing to sacrifice something that good for something even better.... The TRUTH.


So, I am freaking out right now because three of my really good guy friends are getting married and I am not going to be there! Crazy. Congrats to Nate, Kamalei, and Alex!! That is some really amazing and wonderful news and I am sure that all of those girls are awesome! I am very excited to get to know them better and meet them. Thanks for being such great examples and friends to me. I love you guys! And I will be thinking of you in September and December! Marriage! Man alive, when I get back who am I going to hang out with?! Haha.


Okay, back to my awesome Sunday story. Yesterday was an amazing day. I was feeling really frustated with the language, which is nothing new, and wondering if I am really making a difference here? And then Bam! The Lord told me to keep doing what I am doing and that I am making a difference. When I speak Swedish I feel like I can't be myself, because I don't know how to best express myself. But, with lots of hard work and lots of study I know that I will be able to get there. It really is amazing how much I can speak and understand. I am speaking Swedish! Ahhh. That is just so cool to me. Anyway, I had a goal to speak to at least 3 people at church in Swedish all by myself and I can proudly say that I did it!! It was an amazing experience. Luckily the people here are super nice and are very willing to help me. I still say "rad" all the time and sing. Haha. I talked to a lot of people in church and that was neat. Then after church the Bishop and his family invited us over for lunch.

They live about 20 minutes away and it is a very pretty drive. They have four kids and one of them is on his mission in Finland. The youngest son is someone that Serina would LOVE. Haha. I am dead serious. He has the best fashion sense ever. Anyway, he had two of his friends over who are not members and we had the amazing chance to teach them the first lesson. It was really neat. We spoke in English too because they thought it was really cool that we came from America to preach the gospel. The Bishop's son is 19 and wasn't sure if he wanted to go on a mission yet. I had the chance to talk to him yesterday and we talked a lot about missions and life. I think he will go on a mission! The Spirit was present yesterday and for that I am very grateful. After lunch we all headed to the church for George´s baptism. The amount of people who showed up to the baptism was awesome. Our ward is so great and very supportive. Music is amazing and can bring the Spirit so well. Syster Dabb played the piano while Syster Ridl and I sang "I know that my Redeemer lives" in Swedish. When we were singing I looked out in the crowd and I saw George wiping away tears. It was a very tender moment. Then he was baptized.


I LOVE being a missionary!

We also had an amazing Zone conference on Wednesday in Stockholm. My favorite quote from it was... "They don´t care how much you know, until they know how much you care." Which really can apply to life. We must always remember who we are and that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love each one of us. I have been reading in Jacob lately and today I read chapter 5, the parable of the Olive Tree. Re-read it if you haven't read it for awhile. It is an amazing chapter and my favorite verse is 71. Can I also tell you how much I love my companions! They are both so amazing and very patient as well. We all get along so well and we have a little choir, which I love. We are using our talents and singing all the time. My love for music is growing even more.. if that is possible.

Thanks for sending the package. I am looking forward to it. Syster Dabb's cute mom sent me and Syster Ridl packages last week. Because Syster Dabb has been out for one year... so we were supposed to help her celebrate. That was lovely. She sent skittles and I loved it. You can't get those here. I ate them so fast. We are just going to take it easy today and I love it. I will be writing a real letter today also. Telling more stories about my crazy experiences. I am learning so much every day.


Well, I love you all! Thanks for all the great support and prayers! I can feel your love and prayers. The work is moving forward and life is really good here in Sweden.


Love, your sister missionary.... Talisa.


P.S. Happy Birthday to Uncle Dave!

I love Sweden!

Exploring more of Stockholm.

District meeting in Sodertaljie.

A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

At the Fashion Power exhibit in the Nordiska Musset (Nordic Museum) in Stockholm.

A cool art exhibit at the library in Sodertaljie.

Varm Korv Boogie

Picking Blueberries!

Eating at Max Burgers in Stockholm.

This instrument is called a Nyckelharpa. And no, I don't know how to play it!

Hej! First off... Kamalei is getting married!?? That is super rad and I want to hear all about it. Holy cow. When is the big day?Congrats!! Also, thanks for all the sweet pictures from Alex and Lynn's wedding. Everyone looks amazing and it looks like it was a wonderful day. NIce work everyone.

This past week was AMAZING! My faith grew so much. Let's see... the week started off with a very rushed p-day in Stockholm. We decided at the last minute that we would go. It was so fun! Last time I was there I walked by a cool looking museum that had the words "Fashion Power". That caught my attention right away. Ha ha. It was called the Nordiska Musset (museum). So, Syster Ridl, Syster Detinne-Cassel, and I went while our companions played american football with the Elders. I dont think I will ever pick that option. I'm not a big football fan. Anyway, Stockholm was just as pretty as ever, we walked around for a bit and then went to that cool museum. It had a fashion exhibit, a men in bathing suits exhibit, and a cool swedish tradition exhibit. I really enjoyed all of them.

The next day we went out picking berries in the forest! It was so cool. We went with an older man who is a member and we brought one of our investigators. We all had a really good time and enjoyed picking berries for free in the forest. After that we went back to the members house and ate the berries with sugar and milk. So yummy! People here love nature and are so into eating natural stuff. I am liking it. Plus, my companion Syster Dabb loves anything healthy. Ha ha. So, we eat a lot of veggies and fruit. Yum. Guess what!? I actually made us rhubarb pie from memory. I helped make it once in Orebro at Jaana's and because of her I made it here for my companions and it turned out really good! Yes! I can cook.

One day we were contacting people on the street and I had the feeling that we should go back to a certain ice cream stand (not because I wanted ice cream) but because of the Spirit. Lo and behold the lady who was running the stand could understand everything I said in Swedish! And then, luckily, she could speak English too. She said she would love to start reading the Book of Mormon. So we gave her one and got her phone number and we will be calling her tomorrow. Listening to the Holy Ghost works. Every day I am learning more ways of how to be a better missionary and I am so grateful for that. Almost every day we do something called Power Hour, which is where we go out on the town and contact as many people as we can. With three people we split up. It is crazy to see how much I can actually understand. And people can actually understand me! Syster Ridl and I went out by ourselves and contacted a couple of people. I will admit I didn't understand all of their answers, but boy did I ever pretend. I guess I am a really good actor.

Another cool story: While we were tracting this week Syster Ridl and I decided that we wanted to try it all by ourselves without the help of Syster Dabb. So, I mustered up all the courage I had and rang the doorbell. A red headed girl answered and she looked about our age. We introduced ourselves and then starting talking about how we have a Prophet on the earth today. She was really nice and she let us say everything we had to say and then said she didn't really believe in God. But, we did get her thinking about God and if He exisits. Which he does! The work here in Sweden is hard, many people don't believe in God. So we are starting at ground zero. I am starting to really like contacting and tracting. Which is crazy because it is so nerve racking!

Okay - the coolest missionary moment ever happened this week! It was Wednesday evening and we had a lesson set up to meet with our invesitgator who is getting baptized this Sunday!! He has been struggling with the word of wisdom and how to quit smoking. So we decided we would concentrate a little more on that and try to help him. We had a less-active lady, a 19 year old guy who is a member, and our investigator at the lesson. Both the lady and the young member have struggled with smoking. It was an amazing night. The Spirit was so strong. I started off the lesson with a story we found on LDS.org telling about a 19 year old guy who had struggled with smoking and didn't think that he could go on a mission because of it. Which was amazing because we didn't plan on the 19 year old member guy being at the lesson. He had texted us a couple of hours before and asked if he could come and help us. Of course we said YES! When we were all reading the story you could tell that it really hit him and that he wanted to actually go on a mission. So, because of that night we are now working with him to get him on a mission. The coolest part of the lesson was when we went outside and dug a hole in the ground to bury our problems. Just like the Anti-Nephi-Lehies did in Alma 23:7. They buried their weapons deep into the ground. We all wrote something that we struggle with on a piece of paper and threw them in the hole and buried them. We now have an amazing support group set up to help our investigator and the 19 year old guy quit smoking. Plus the less-active lady said that she would start coming to church and reading her scriptures again! It was truly the best missionary moment ever. I am happy.

Well, the time has come that I must go on with the work. I love you all and thank you for your support and prayers!

Love, Talisa!
Aka; Syster Vistaunet

SHORT.

Hello everyone!

I am so sorry but this week we are in a rush because we are heading to Stockholm for p-day! We decided this about an hour ago and have been rushing like crazy to get everything done. Wow.. stressed. Our train leaves in 20 minutes! Ah.. this week was good and hard. That is what missionary work is all about. I will write you a real letter on the train ride to Stockholm today.

Alex and Lynns wedding!!! I was thinking about them all day on Saturday! They looked so great in the photo you sent and I can't wait to see more pictures! And Congrats to Alex Probert and her mission call!!! That is so rad! You will love it Alex! I am so happy that I decided to come on a mission.

This week was great with our investigator who is getting baptized! We taught the ten commandments and word of wisdom and law of chasity and he said he would follow them all. We can see his life changing so much, right before our eyes. I love the gospel and I know it's true. He actually gave us his cigarettes and lighter! It was a very amazing missionary moment. He will be getting baptized the end of July! We are very excited and the work is moving forward.

We have found that all three of us love to sing and we actually sound pretty good together so we have been singing at some old folks homes to some invesitagtors and members. It is lovely.

Something that I started in the MTC was writing down a miracle a day and it is amazing to look back at those miracles and see how blessed I have been. Look for a miracle a day and you will be amazed at what happens. It has changed my life to be able to see the good and focus on the good rather than the bad. I know that Heavenly Father loves us and me. I have felt His love many times.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!! And I will send pictures next week.. no time. Sorry.

Love, Talisa!

My new town — Norrkoping, Sweden

Me & my two new companions!

View from our 9th floor apartment

Church in Norrkoping, Sweden! (My new city)

Great family in the Orebro Ward.

Swedish Friend

Orebro, Sweden

Big Bunny in Orebro

2nd transfer- Norrkoping!

Howdy!

So, this has been quite the crazy week! Oh my goodness. I started off the week thinking that I would be staying in Orebro so I was making sure that I really knew everything for my next companion.. and then bam! I am moving. So, my first week in Norrkoping has been crazy and very busy. We have met so many people and I can tell that I am really going to LOVE this city. The ward here is wonderful and it is like one big family. There are about thirty children in the primary! Awesome. We actually have three middags... dinners... in a row. Syster Dabb set that up very nicely.

Transfers. Life as a missionary is so exciting you never know where you will be going and who will be your next companion. I have two companions again! Syster Dabb is from Utah and Syster Ridl is from Montana. It is going to be a crazy transfer because Syster Dabb is the trainer and me in the middle and Syster Ridl is the greenie. It is going to be a good transfer though. We all get along really well and are all really easy going. Which is lovely. The day of transfers was fun and I am feeling much more confident. I loved talking to all the other missionaries on transfer day. Syster Gotberg and I went and ate lunch in Stockholm with one of her past Swedish companions. It was really cool. Then I said my goodbyes to Syster Gotberg. That was sad. I am going to miss that girl. I am so glad to hear that you guys went to her homecoming.. that is rad. She was excited to meet you guys and wanted to get some music from you dad. Haha.

So, our train ride was 2 hours to Norrkoping and it was super pretty. Once we got here we dropped our bags off and we went to a middag! Which means dinner. We went to a members home and had tacos. Yum. They were super nice and had four little boys. Then we went to the church and taught an investigator. Leaving orebro was really hard and I really miss the investigators that I had there, but I do know that everything happens for a reason. The Lord knows us so well and He will never leave us alone. The Elders who are now in Orebro are there for a reason and may be able to help those investigators in a way I never could have. Anyway...we had two investigators come to church on Sunday. Man, I LOVE having investigators in church. My testimony has grown so much. Last Saturday we played innebandy, which is a cool Swedish sport, kind of like hockey, just inside a gym and with a little ball. It was way fun!! We also had an investigator come. I am loving all the people that I am meeting.

In fact right now, as I am typing this up, my companion Syster Dabb is talking to a Chinese man about the church. Missionary work is something we can always do. I love her and her example. Wow. My brain is everywhere right now. I am so sorry - this may be hard to read. Haha.

Last Friday we went out contacting and got three numbers and have appointments with them next Tuesday. Contacting is something I really get scared to do. But, on Friday I totally felt the Lord's help. Having a greenie here really makes me realize how much I learned my last transfer. And how much I have to step it up. My Swedish is totally coming!! Ever since being here, in this new city, I have felt a new energy for wanting to speak Swedish. Which is just what I needed. I have finally found my passion for wanting to speak. I can tell that this transfer is going to really push me out of my comfort zone. But, that is the best way to learn.

I LOVE you all! And thank you for all the letters. Please keep them coming. Enjoy the summer!

Love, Talisa!
Syster Vistaunet


Happy Birthday to Joe, Rosey Bassett, Vicki, the Paulos Twins, and Traci!! And Happy Wedding to Alex and Lynn!! Someone send me an invitation. I am dying to see it. I love you and wish you both the best of luck. I am really really sad that I am missing your wedding.. but I know that I am here for a reason. Have fun!

Pictures...

Picture hanging in the sister's apartment in Uppsala! Ahhh....


Some cute American girls and I on the 4th of July...notice our red, white and blue!!