"It's been a horrible day, I need a McFlurry."

Hej!

Sorry about last week! That was brutal! Such a busy day last Monday! I received a new companion and we had no time for anything yesterday! It was brutal! Anyways, this week has gone better! Working in a tripanionship is nowhere near as effective as a 2 man companionship!! That'll come to an end on Wednesday though! 

Elder Halversen, my new companion, is awesome! He's hilarious and likes to have a good time! We're both pretty dedicated which makes it 40 times better! Anyways, this tripanionship has been a real adventure this week! I'll just share some stories. It all happened on Saturday. So, that day, we spent our evening up in Helsingør, which is about 40 minutes away. Just before catching the train up there, Elder Halversen punctured his tire on some glass and he got a flat. So we spent 15 or so minutes patching that hole, then we hustled to make the train. We arrived in Helsingør and walked our bikes out of the station, then Elder Willardson takes two pedals and hops off and was like, "I gotta flat!" So we were like, "HOLY COW!!" So then we spent the NeXT 30 minutes or so repairing that hole, and then we get on our bikes to do some Work in that area. We had an appointment with a lady whos husband just passed away, then afterwards, we took off for the train station in order to make it back in time. The path we were on has those curb-like speedbumps and I set the example of hitting those jumps and catching some serious air. I hit like 4 of them and Elder Halversen hit 1 or 2. So Elder Willardson is like, "Imma give it a try." He hits the jump, chain pops off and comes down completely awkward and pancakes the pavement! It was soooo funny. I felt really bad but I still died laughing. So he tore a huge hole in his pants and destroyed his White shirt with blood. We were right NeXT to a McDonalds so Elder Willardson says, "It's been a horrible day, I need a McFlurry. So we enjoyed that and biked to the station. We had to hit a later train because of his fall, so it worked out well. So that day was just a complete adventure. 

Anyways, getting more relative to missionary work, we had a lesson with Heidi and Tommy and they committed to follow the Word of Wisdom, and were really dedicated to doing it. Tommy pulled Heidi along and told her that it was something they needed to do. So that was a pretty special experience. We have another new investigator from Iran, Aram. He's a refugee and lives in a Red Cross Camp so that's a Little unfortunate, but he's grateful to be out of Iran. We taught him the Restoration and has been to church for the past couple of weeks. The only hold-back with him is the fact that he doesn't speak Danish, not very good English and we don't have a Book of Mormon in his native tongue, Kurdish. So right now he has a Persian, English and Danish Book of Mormon just so he can get the best understanding possible from the scriptures. It'll be a slow moving process but he's interested in joining the church. We just have to search for an appropriate date where his understanding and comprehension is satisfactory enough to know the principles of the gospel and understand the Blessings from it. So the work is still pushing forward here!!

Saturday is my birthday and I have an investigator family giving me and my companion a tour of Copenhagen! So that'll be fun! A family in the Ward somehow found out it was my birthday on Saturday and invited all of the missionaries in the Ward over on Friday for some dinner and birthday cake! So I'm really happy and excited about that! Should be a good enough birthday! 

One thing I'm struggling with is Paper Towns. The poster almost makes me sick when I see it! I won't see it of course, but it makes me cringe!!! Anyways.....

On August 19th, we have a Mission Conference! We have a member of the 70 coming to speak to our mission, and rumour has it that we're getting iPads and approved to Facebook! It hasn't quite been said, but it's been hinted at. So we have got our hopes up! Hopefully they don't let us down! Everywhere in Europe has iPads except Scandinavia, so we're thinking it's now our turn! I hope! :)

So that's been all the information I believe this week! I'll leave you with little åndelig tanke! I've been hearing a lot of people here saying, "Why should I believe in God if there's wars, people fighting, people hating gays, people not accepting differences, people hating...etc." I came across this scripture that answers this perfectly. In all honesty, sometimes I would think, "Why would God let all of this happen?" Anyways, it's in 3 Nephi 11:29-30. It says, "(29) For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. (30) Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away." God isn't just letting these things happen. The devil, or Satan is letting all of this happen. God blessed us with the fullness of the gospel so all of those can be done away with. It's just the matter of finding the gospel and living it. If we did that, the world would be a better place because Satan wouldn't have a strong hold on God's people. I thought I would share that because I know I'm not the only one who pondered upon these questions and I know I'm not the only one who had no idea how to answer it. But, now it's clear to me, and I hope it's clear to you all as well! 

Anyways, I hope you all have a great week this week! I love you all!! 

MKH, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

PS: The Picture of me in regular clothes is me standing in front of the Øresund (Ore Sound??) and Sweden is on the other side! The other Picture is me leaving Elder Brady in Copenhagen!  

Elder Brady and Elder Howes on their last day together