Hello!!

Another week just flew by! The weather has been great this week! It's hard to remember all that happened!! 

This week we had Heidi and Tommy committed to baptism on August 22! So that's exciting! We're excited to see their Progress! 

We also had the Christensen famliy serve us Christmas food! Which is an extremely rare tradition in Denmark in the middle of summer! So it really meant a lot to us! Afterwards, they got us McFlurries from McDonalds and a couple cheeseburgers.. We totally didn't ask for it and they just drove into McD's and got it all for us! They're super nice! They're progressing a Little bit and asking great questions! They seem pretty interested and love the missionaries! 

I was in Birkerød on splits with the District Leader this week, so we had a pretty good time together! We had a couple lessons, but I still agree that there's no other area better that Hillerød right now! I love Hillerød. 

On Saturday, President O'Bryant and his wife came to our Apartment to interview us! Of course we cleaned like crazy the night before so we weren't labeled as messy haha! But he and his wife are awesome! They're really Down to Earth and love to converse with people. They're really nice! I'm gonna get along with them really well! They're super funny too! They stayed a lot longer than they were supposed to just because they wanted to chat with us! It was great! 

Sunday went okay. We had 3 investigators in church, including Heidi and Tommy. So that was good! We also found one more investigator in Græsted and we will be working with him shortly. He met with the missionaries back in 2007! He is from Nigeria! 

Today, we are going to Helsingør Beach here and we're excited for that - and yes, it is approved because it's the best mission ever! We just can't swim or tan. So we will just play some volleyball or something, we will see! :) 

This might be the last week I'm with Elder Brady! It's a Little sad to see him go just because we got along so well and did some serious Work to this area. He's a great missionary and he's definitely needed elsewhere in this country! But we had a great companionship! An adjustment to another missionary won't feel right for a Little while! 

Anyways, this week, I just want to share Mosiah 2:41. A girl who was baptized a month or so ago in our Ward shared that scripture and said it was her favorite. It says, "41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it." The way we experience true happiness is if we have exact obedience to the commandments. The Lord promises us that, and I also promise you all that (doesn't mean anywhere close to as when the Lord says it though), but I promise, if we do keep the commandments and we hold out faithful to the day we die, we will be saved, and we will be the HAPPIEST we could possibly be our Whole lives. The only thing I can say is just to do it. And you will see those Blessings. 

Anyways, jeg elsker jer! Hav en rigtig god uge! I miss and love you all! 

MKH,

Ældste Taylor Howes

PS Check out the new tie in this pic. That's me and Elder Brady!

Elder Howes and his companion Elder Brady

This is what Elder Howes has for breakfast every morning. Oats, Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate and Milk. Yum!

Birkerod, Marum, Helsingor, & Hillerod

Hey!

It's been a great week! The weather hasn't been so great, but we can't complain this week! 

On Tuesday, I was on splits in Birkerød! That was pretty fun, but it stinks not being able to Work in your own area! But that led into Wednesday, where we then had service for a family in a town called Mårum, which is in the middle of nowhere haha. Then after that, we went up to Helsingør for an eating appointment, which in itsself, takes like 1h and 30m to get out there. So our entire Wednesday was shot. We actually had to spend the night in the Helsingør Elders' Apartment. It's way nicer than ours! But that's alright! 

On Thursday, well, it was a terrible day, and it rained SO hard and it was just a bad day for success. We knocked tons of doors and we had nothing! So that was a pretty brutal day, but the week got better afterwards!

Saturday, we played soccer in the morning with our District and a less active member, so that was super fun! The rest of the day, Elder Brady and I went out to knock doors all day. We went up to Fredensborg, where the Queen of Denmark lives, and got a few potentials who said that we could come back! And then later in the day, we knocked a neighborhood in Hillerød that's sort of hidden. It's a super nice neighborhood and it's a pretty peaceful area. We had already planned previously to knock there, so we were glad to finally get out there and knock. 

We began knocking and we knocked about 20 doors and NOBODY was home. It's the time of year where everyone in Denmark, including most employees, have a three week vacation. So everyone was out of town. Then the first door that was answered we found success! We told the lady we were missionaries from the church, and she said, "OH! Come in!!" So we went in! She had told us that 14 days earlier, she had been searching for her English Book of Mormon, which her brother gave her, who is Mormon, and she was looking up where the church is near her house. So she asked us if we had a Book of Mormon in Danish, because it would speak to her better. Of course, we gave one to her. She fed us Oreos. It was awesome! Then her husband and daughter came in and were so happy to see us! They said they've been to Utah a few times and just love Salt Lake and the Mormons who lived there. So they had tons of questions for us and are way thrilled to read the Book of Mormon. We have an eating appointment this afternoon with them and even better - they offered us a Copenhagen tour coming up and President O'Bryant approved it! :) We're stoked to meet with them Again. We taught them the Restoration and they were so intrigued. We are way happy!

Then we got another investigator whom we met with yesterday! We answered his questions but didn't get a full lesson in with him. We resceduled an appointment and we're excited to Work with him.

We have a full plate now and the Work does indeed move forward in Denmark! Slowly, but surely! We take our time but it requires a lot of effort! It's finally good to see the fruits of our labors! 

I'll lay Down a quick scripture for you all. It's self explanatory, and instead of me explaining it, I want you all to ponder on it and think of what it says to you all. It's Alma 37:36-37. It says: "36 Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.
 37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day."
I came across that today actually, and it was super good for me! I know it'll be good to you all too, especially if we hearken unto those words!
I did get a Picture, but it's not too great. But it is a Ferrari Dealership here. It's way sweet and I had to get a Picture. Enjoy it! :)
I love and miss you all! I'm doing fantastic and it's incredible being a missionary! It's not easy, but it brings happiness!
Have a great week!
MKH,
Ældste Taylor Howes

Hello Everyone!

This week was great. It was HOT HOT HOT. Who knew Denmark would be this hot? Saturday and Sunday were scorching hot and pretty muggy with the humidity! It's a good thing though because I think I lost a Pound or two, which was much needed because I was getting way fat! I still have some more Pounds to shave to get back to normal haha!

On Monday, we had a District P-Day. So 6 of us missionaries did a Castle tour here! The Frederiksborg Castle is pretty sweet, but really it's just intricate floors and ceilings! The Carl Bloch paintings were of course in there, so that was pretty fun to see! I'll attach a pic or two! :) The chapel inside the Castle was incredible. Soooooooooo intricate. 

We spent a lot of this week just getting our area back up and running. We were pretty flat with investigators so we went all over the place contacting, stopping by referrals and just doing whatever we can to give someone the most important thing ever! (Jesus Christ's restored gospel!) And sure enough, we did that! We followed up with some of our potentials and we ended up getting a couple, who committed to baptism too! We also got Henriette to commit too! They aren't on a date yet, but they said they would do it! So We're super excited for that! We have two other investigators, who are a couple, that we've been working with! They're on vacation but we'll Work with them soon! We did service for them and they said they'd love to come to church without us even asking. They have a blood relative who is Mormon, so they know the church pretty well and are interested. We also have a pretty good pool of potentials, so we ended up getting our area back up and running after we had to stop meeting with some of our previous investigators! We're super stoked for the Progress we have had and the potential we now have! 

Oh! We met President and Sister O'Bryant this week! They're great people! Super funny and love to joke around with each other. They're super approachable also! It was good to hear he used to fly airplanes! It made me perk up a Little bit! He made one comment that he said that he was inspired to say. He said to all of our missionary zone, "If you love the people of Denmark, you can't be sinical about them. You can't love and hate at the same time. You can only love and accept." That was pretty interesting! All the missionaries loved the Danes but always had their remarks..I mean we are just 19 years old! :) But we definitely learned and we have already seen a difference that has made in 4 days since we heard President say that! 

What else is new....Oh! In church this Sunday, it was so hot. We got the "OK" to not Wear our suit jackets. So that was awesome! The church of course doesn't have any A/C, so we were all roasting! But it was still church! It was a fun experience to see everyone sweating but no one complaining!

I don't know if we had anything else exciting this week....It was a great week though! OH the free bike I got completely broke hahaha the back tire blew when I was hauling Down a hill! It was way funny but I just threw the bike to the side and walked away from it because it's not worth fixing. I'm now waiting to mooch off of someone for another free bike! :) So for now, I'm bikeless, but that's a good thing because busses and walking is great! 

Here's a Little thought this week that I came across. It's in Alma 7:23-24 It says, "23 And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.24 And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good Works." So that's a super good scripture and it talks about being Humble. It's important to know that we can't do anything without God's help. Well, you probably could, but definitely not anywhere as good. Relying on God will always be the best option, because he will give it to us if we have faith, hope, charitable and abounding in good Works. And of course, after we receive the strength or Blessing we receive, we give thanks, because it shows we are Humble and are willing to always rely on our God, or Heavenly Father. If you start doing that, you'll definitely see a difference! Our own abilities are never as good as his. (:

Anyways, I love you and miss you all! Have a superduper fantastic über good week!!

MKH,

Ældste Taylor Howes

PS: One is the chapel in the Frederiksborg Slot, the other is the reason why I love Denmark that much more.

Carl Bloch artwork in the Fredericksburg Castle

Elder Howes' house where he is staying.