15 Days Left!!!!!

Davs! 

15 Days left ladies and gentleman! That means this is my second to last email home. I probably won't write home my last week as I will be travelling to Copenhagen and interviewing with President, so next time is my last! Weird to think, but it's exciting! 

This week was pretty busy... We traveled around the Zone giving District Meeting trainings in Esbjerg, Fredericia and Odense. Those went really well. We trained on how missionaries can be better at teaching from and about the Book of Mormon. Our mission set a goal to give out 2,000 copies of the Book of Mormon every transfer. We were previously sitting at 800 per transfer, so we bumped that up a little bit. So we came in, did some inspiring and training then left them to try it out. The zone did a pretty good job this past week. They're all studs! 

We found a couple new investigators this past week as well, so we're hoping they are solid and will work towards baptism. It would be nice to see someone come on baptismal date before I leave Denmark! Otherwise, well, just like every other week, we're out banging on some doors looking for a golden investigator! :) We're working on it!

I got some pretty stellar pics this past week. I'll attach some of those! :) This coming week, we're having a zone training and going to the temple, so that'll be a good second to last week of my mission! :) I'm looking forward to it. We've got a busy couple of weeks ahead of us, so we'll see what happens! :) 

I'd like to share one of my favorite scriptures, 2 Nephi 31:19-20. "And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save. Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." Once we have entered into the path towards eternal life, we have a responsibility. It's easy! Kinda goes along with last weeks scripture. We have to hold on, or endure to the end. We've paid a great price to develop our faith in God, and it'd be a shame to lose that because we're not keeping the commandments, praying or reading the scriptures. It's not worth it to lose what we have paid such a great price for (figuratively speaking, of course). God promises us EVERYTHING if we just keep ourselves on the path. How incredible is that? :)

I love you all and miss you all. I can't wait to get home and see you all once again! It's been so long! :) Until next week, adieu!

Love, 

Æ Taylor Howes

Kirken!

Mennesker ved havet

Fredericia strand og Fyn!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hellloooooo!

Welps! Happy Valentine's everyone! This past week, it snowed like every single day, expect the past 2 days! It's actually been sunny, but freezing cold! It's been alright though. Can't complain when the sun is out. 

This week was pretty slow. Not too much happened. We've been doing a lot of finding recently. ON the bright side, we got a Mormon.org self-referral and she committed to a lesson with us tonight! Woohoo!! I've never had that happen before. Hopefully she's positive and ready to change her life :). Otherwise, we've been all over our area finding, and not too much has been happening other than weak potential investigators. At least we're getting something, but it's been kinda slow. We'll get there though. We've been working with a lot of different new converts, so that's been good as well. We're going to the temple on the 25th of February with one of them, so that will be worth it. :) We also had some Stake Conference this week too. I thought I already had my last Stake Conference in Denmark, but I was wrong! The Stake Presidency over here is pretty good. They're funny and inspiring and the stake loves them. It's cool to see. Stake Conference was held in the Aarhus Musikhuset. Look it up. Well worth a drive from anywhere! 

I don't really think I had anything else exciting happen. Just splits, door knocking and contacting.... But on the bright side, I'll be going to Esbjerg and Odense for district meetings this week, so that will be fun. I like those cities. I'll get to visit some previous investigators in Esbjerg as well, so that will be well worth it! :D 

I found a scripture I want to share in Alma 37. It's Alma's final words to his son, Helaman. He said, "O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever." The "way" he's referring to is the way to Salvation. If you honestly look at it. The way is prepared for us. We know exactly what we have to do. We get curveballs, but we all know the way to eternal life is through baptism and enduring to the end. It's simple. The gospel is simple. Do we become lazy, or do we just go through the motions? I think we're all guilty of some form of slothfulness, but if we really do look, the way is prepared for us. All we have to do is look and not be slothful. 

I love you all! Have a good week! :) 

Love, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

Happy February!

Well! 

What a week. I have to start out by saying that I haven't seen what the sun looks like in a week. That really starts to put a hang on your days. Who knew your body needs the sun?! You all are probably thinking it's 24 hours of darkness...no. It's just foggy as can be and incredibly cloudy! :) 

Hmmm. Well! We had a zone training this past week. The mission finally saw the Missionary Broadcast and some sisters gave a training on how to use Social Media in missionary work. No, that doesn't mean we have Facebook access. I got excited too but....it's how we teach the YSA to use Facebook as a tool to bring others to come unto Christ! Still good! :) I hope everyone got everything out of it.

Apparently there is a strain of the Flu that came out of Australia that's been all over Denmark. That's the flu that I had. A ton of missionaries have that right now! It's kinda a shame. It's funny to see one bite the dust though. It's sad too because it last like 8 days!

We've been working a lot with young adults and college students. We've been continuing to knock on college dorms and stuff and that's still been going well. We've given out quite the amount of copies of the Book of Mormon. We've racked up a lot of referrals from them as well. It's actually an effective way to find! No new investigators found this week, so that's a shame. We're hoping to revisit with some of the previously found potentials to see if we can spark some new investigators. I see a lot of potential with it. It just takes one, then all their friends come with them! 

This scripture in 2 Nephi 32, says a lot. It's, "Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." This is the testimony and witness of Nephi. Angels speak by way of the Holy Ghost. We feel that Holy Ghost by reading the scriptures, going to church, etc. The simple answers we all give. But, if we're doing these things, seeking after direction, the Holy Spirit will be able to give us the direction we need. Angels do exist and will speak to us by way of the Holy Spirit! 

I got some pics from MLC, the baptism last week and zone training that I'll attach. 

Have a good week!!! I love you! 

Ældste Taylor Howes

My zone and church building!

Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, Assistants and President & Sister O'Bryant

Baptism & Confirmation!

Hey!

Wow! What a week it has been! Henriette was baptized and confirmed this week and there were several big changes announced to the worldwide Missionary Program. We've been pretty busy lately!

To start! Henriette...wow! That was incredible. She had her baptismal service this past Saturday and that went really well. I gave a talk on baptism, the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. It went pretty well! Henriette asked me to confirm her and give her the Holy Ghost, so of course I was happy to do that. It was pretty nerve-racking. There were two future missionaries who had their farewell's this week, so people from all over Denmark came to say goodbye. There had to have been over 200 in attendance, so I wasn't used to that. The bottom line is that Henriette is baptized, confirmed and a happy lady! :) 

Elder Olson and I traveled to Copenhagen this week for Missionary Leadership Council. That was really fun. We discussed the new changes to missionary service and what not. We have a longer P-day and I guess "more agency" in our daily schedule. I think it'll be good change, but it'll be tough to get used to, considering I've been on the old schedule for two years! We'll see! :P 

We've been focusing a lot on working with younger people, so we've spent some time knocking on college dorm buildings. They're not quite the same thing, but yeah, same concept, but that's been going really well. They tend to be more open and it's nice talking to people the same age as you as well, so it's been nice and we've found a lot of success from it! 

I taught guest class this week and in preparation, I came across this scripture in Alma 5. It's Alma, the High Priests' words taught to his people all over the place. It says in verse 26, "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" Those who have been converted to the Gospel, or those who have gained a testimony in some sort of Gospel topic, have felt something. They've felt a change of heart. After time, sometimes we lose that feeling we once had and we don't feel the same. Sometimes we can't remember it. Ask yourself, can you felt that change of heart right now? I've answered no to that question a few times. It's not bad to answer no, but it just means you have to do something about that. Read Alma 5 if that happens. Alma will tell you what to do. :) It's important we hold onto those feelings. That's what roots our testimonies. If the foundation slips, your house slips too. Don't let the foundation slip! :) 

I love and miss you all tons! 

MKH, 

Æ. Taylor Howes

District Pic (the bros (elders) in the district last transfer)

After the baptism

Missionary Farewell (that's my back side to the left)

6 Weeks Left!

Hey!

HOLY COW this is my last transfer!!!! Only 6 more weeks ladies and gentleman! I've almost done it! I'm excited for this transfer though. Elder McBride went on to Tåstrup, Elder Olson, who was my companion in Tåstrup, is now my companion again! WOOHOO! We're Zone Leaders together. Didn't see that one coming! He was one of my favorite companions and I'm glad we got put back together. It'll be fun! 

Anyhow, this week was a sick week. Literally. I was sick last week I wrote and I'm just now coming off of it. I went to the doctor Monday morning and Wednesday morning and I guess they diagnosed me with the flu, so I battled that and my first day back at it was Thursday. I went to district meeting and YSA. In between I slept. Friday, I did a little bit more. We taught some lessons with members. Saturday, I worked a little bit more, then finally, Sunday was my first full work day! So now I'm doing good! 

On the bright side, Henriette will be getting baptized this Saturday! The first baptism in my area! I will be confirming her on Sunday, so that'll be cool. She's come a long way and she even had a testimony when I first came to the area. Her testimony is incredible and it's cool to hear how much she's grown since she was found. The Church really is true! :)

This week, I will be headed to Copenhagen for Mission Leadership Council, so that'll be fun. It'll be a jampacked week, but it'll make for lots of memories.

Only 6 more weeks! :) I love and miss you all tons!!! 

Ældste Taylor Howes

A little taste of Fredericia!

Flu Season

Well, 

I got the flu so this will be a short email.. I'll kinda just outline what I did this week...! It's been a very weird week in a lot of different ways.

Monday, we had p-day and some Elders came in for splits. Tuesday, we did some work and the highlight was going to the hospital (probably where I picked up the flu). Some dude died in our ward and one of his buddies went with us to give him a blessing and we were too late...he died 10 mins before we arrive. Poor fella. Never fun seeing a dead man.

Wednesday, we made a trek to Copenhagen for a My Plan meeting. Our mission president taught my departing group about how to prepare ourselves to go home. Kinda like a 3 to 5 year plan of where we want to be. So that was fun. Afterwards, we went to the temple and that's always fun. 

We came home on Thursday and went to YSA night. We had institute, dinner and all that, so that was good. It was fun. Friday, we welcomed some more elders into our area for splits. That's when it went down hill for me and I've been in bed since. What a week, I know haha! 

Well, I'm sorry that's incredibly boring. On the bright side, only 50 more days to go. I love you all and miss you tons! Have a good week!

Love, 

Æ Taylor Howes

Sister O'Bryant snagged a pic of me a little while ago, so here's that!

Half of our mission

01-09-2017

Goddag!!! 

I hope everyone has had a good week. This week was a pretty good one! 

It was a tough week, but it's good to finally get back into the swing of things. I felt like the Holiday weeks were pretty hindered but it's good that it's all behind us and people are now willing to set appointments and think about the future again. We did a lot of finding this week and it was a huge help to us to have some elders in our area for splits. We've developed quite the list of potential investigators this week, so we will be planning on following up with them soon. We managed to find a new investigator. She was a previous investigator, but she texted us and wanted us to come by, so we brought a member twice this week and taught her. She was once on baptismal date, but couldn't give up smoking so she gave up on the missionaries. She says she doesn't know when she'll be ready, but she won't say no to baptism. We plan on working with her this week. She's coming to a baptism on Saturday and church Sunday, so we're hoping she'll have a change of heart. Everything seems to be going pretty well - we're just seeking to teach more investigators. We taught another investigator a couple times this week and went through the baptismal interview questions with her this week. She's definitely ready for baptism. I was impressed! Her baptism is scheduled for the 26th of January! 

It snowed a couple days this week and got icy one day. We drove 30 minutes to a city earlier this week and it was the day when it was icy. We go down the big ole hill and my companion hasn't driven in snow before because he's from Arizona, so he hits a patch of ice, slams on the breaks and we turn into a bowling ball hurling towards a busy intersection. It was pretty funny. I had a white knuckle grip and I was coaching my companion through the roads. Pretty funny. I guess that was a nice highlight. Oh! It got down to -12 degrees Celcius this week too! ;) Pretty chilly if you ask me. It was cool to see some lakes frozen over!

This year, the church is focusing on President Gordon B. Hinckley's teaching. Most of you all were alive when he was the prophet, and we all know he's awesome. I read that whenever he was born, there were 4 temples, then when he was the President of the Church in 1995, there were 47. After a few years in 2000, there were over 100 operating temples in the world. At his death in 2008, I think there were 124 operating temples. What an incredible goal for him to set! Think of how far the work for the living and dead has progressed since the time he was ordained to be the Church's President. We're all blessed to have a temple nearby to help to Gospel move forward because of his efforts! 

I love and miss you all! I took pictures, but forgot the camera USB hook-up type deal. So I'm sorry! But I'll get those out next week. 

Love, 

Ældste Taylor Howes