Investigator and baptismal date!

Hello!

It has been a FANTASTIC week. I don't even know where to start. It's been busy, but A LOT has happened this week. I see that the East coast got a ton of snow, that even made news in Denmark...! We got a ton of snow on Saturday, so we along with the sisters and two men helped shovel the snow so the church sidewalks and parking lot could be cleared of snow. That was some hard work, but it looked nice when we were finished! 

On Tuesday, we had a ward activity (Tuesday night youth/activity) night, where we visit less-active or inactive members. So, we went on splits with the members and I went with the ward mission leader out to a town an hour away to meet with an inactive family. We had a pretty good lesson, but we couldn't stay too long because We had to be back to the church before 8.30... So we didn't have too much time. But on the way back, the ward mission leader treating me to some Burger King. I was pretty stoked. Wednesday was a pretty busy day. We had appointment after appointment, but we got a new investigator! Wednesday night we had to hit the road to Sønderborg (a city close to the German border) for splits. We didn't have time to eat, so we got fast food again at a restaurant called Sunset Boulevard.... Might be one of my favorite all time restaurants, but it's only in Denmark! But it was good. Then we went on splits all day Thursday, but Thursday night, we had to spend the night in a town called Fredericia, because we had to be in Aarhus for a missionary general conference put on by the churches general authorites, so we got McDonalds because we were in a rush. So we slept in Fredericia, then went up to Aarhus (near Randers) in the early morning, had breakfast a famous pastry shop, then had the General Conference/Missionary Training thing, then took a three hour train ride home, then we got to Esbjerg and went to bed, then now, if you're still following me, we reach Saturday! 

Okay, enough rambling and fast food, but the week gets better on Sunday. On Sunday, President O'Bryant came down to Esbjerg for church. He and his wife both gave talks, and after church, we had a ward "linger-longer" where we ate food and all that. Then, right after, we had a meeting with the Bishopric, the ward missionaries, us and the sisters, the ward mission leader and President O'Bryant. The ward had tried a intiative where the missionaries visit every single member in the ward and commit them to doing missionary work or coming to church, etc. So we talked about how that went and if we would continue. The meeting went very well and the ward leaders have a huge excitement to do missionary work. So we will continue working with the ward! I like that! It was a great day. Then, later that day, we met with a younger man for the first time. We heard his son had died and he had been through a lot, so we taught him about the Plan of Salvation first. He really loved it and had fantastic input. He said at the end, "Well, now I'm not afraid to die if I can see my son again." So we asked him to baptism, and he said he would love to. His baptismal date is set for the 5th of March and he said he will doing anything in order to be baptized, be forgiven and see his son again. So that was really special. The spirit was super strong! Right now, the mission had 19 people on baptismal date, 15 from our zone and 2 in our ward. Denmark may be one of the least baptizing missions, but we see miracles and the work continues to move forward! The missionaries never give up on Denmark!!!! 

Here's a message I'll leave that I loved! It was a First Presidency message for the month of February. It's about airplanes, and I love planes, but it also has a great story and gospel context to it. It's obviously by President Uchtdorf! 

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2016/02/landing-safely-in-turbulence?lang=eng&cid=email-shared

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

MKH, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

PS. That's on splits in Sønderborg!

Esbjerg Beach!

Hello!!

It's been a pretty good week. Sorry for the short email last week. I didn't have terribly a lot of time, so I had to shorten it a little bit. But Esbjerg has been great! It's good to be back in a Ward. We've got about 80-100 active members every Sunday, (Yeah, sounds like a USA branch) but they're all some nice people. It was nice to greet new people. Some of them I had previously seen in other the other churches I served in, so it was kinda funny! 

Let's see, I don't really know what happened this week because I had no idea what's going on. But I know that we did some knocking in some apartment complexes and found a bit of success with that. We had 7 investigator lessons this week so that was also good. There are several people in this area interested in the gospel, so that's a plus! I've noticed the people here are much more open than in previous areas and we've given out so many Books of Mormon and gotten several potential investigators. We've been finding loads of success recently and our ward mission leader is really pushing for a member-referred baptism, so we've been having lessons with members and giving them commitments. So it's been going well with that! 

The area is really beautiful too. We're right next to a beach and we get to see the nice sunsets and clouds/sun contrast. It sounds like a girly thing, but this type of stuff makes a missionary in Denmark happy haha. I snagged some pics too! 

Anyways, I have a good scripture to share! It's quite the interesting one...  It's in Alma 48. It says, "23 Now, they were sorry to take up arms against the Lamanites, because they did not delight in the shedding of blood; yea, and this was not all—they were sorry to be the means of sending so many of their brethren out of this world into an eternal world, unprepared to meet their God." It talks about the time when the Lamanites king, Amalickiah (or something) went wicked and wanted to take over the more righteous people, the Nephites. The Nephites had to defend themselves, and I think it's interesting to see the amount of love they had for their bretheren. They were coming to kill them, but they were sad they not only had to fend them off and shed their blood, but they were even more upset they had to send their bretheren to God unprepared. That's how we should be. We shouldn't get back at our enemies, but we should just love them and care for them. Everyone is our bretheren. I'm not the greatest example of this, so don't take after me.... But we need to learn this concept and the Lord will bless us when we do that. The Lord blessed the Nephites so much that not a single person died in the Lamanite's attacks. 

I love you all and I'm thankful for your support!! Have a great week!

Love, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

Esbjerg Beach! I look like a bunch of icicles, and I promise, I don't look that chubby in person. I was

pretty numb.

 

 

Transfer #2 to Esbjerg!

Hey!

I hope everyone had a great week. I don't have a lot of time, but here's some pics to sum up the week! 

I moved to Esbjerg, which is southern Jylland. I'm pretty happy about it! It's a pretty city.

It snowed everyday this week! :) The fjord.. I think its like, estuary in english. I have no idea, but that froze, and I got a picture with it! The kids name in Mathias, he was a good friend of mine in the branch! He's a good kid! He's 17. The last picture is the ward mission leaders family! We ate with them on Sundays! They're awesome. 

Anyways, I love you all!!! Have a great week! 

Love, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

New Year in Denmark Round 1

HeeeEEEy!

GODT NYT ÅR MINE KÆRE VENNER! Happy New Year! Danes go crazy for the New Years..if you've ever seen Hot Rod, if you remember the scene right before he does the big jump where they're walking through town and the people around their crew decides to go insane, that's a glimpse of the Danish New Year..the city here is still a mess! But their fireworks blow July 4th out of the water! It felt like a war zone whenever we were in bed at midnight! It was a fun experience!

Anyways, aside from that, we had the opportunity to meet with a few people! One of our friends said she would like to be baptized! She wasn't ready to commit to a date in February, but she said she definitely will! But, she's moving far far away where only a boat can get to...But, missionaries will still go to her anyways! She's been handed over to a different set of missionaries, so that's some exciting news! We're really happy for her and she's happy we asked. As soon as we invited her, she knew it was something she needed to do..that's the spirit working through an investigator! :) 

On the 1st of January, we used the WHOLE day to clean our apartment because we weren't allowed to go outside because it wasn't safe. So our apartment is spotless! We also rearranged it...there's a whole new excitement after things are moved around! But, that was a pretty bummy day! It was nice to have a clean and organized apartment again though! The next day, we were in Silkeborg on splits. We helped them out a little bit so that was good! It's always fun to be together with other missionaries! 

This Wednesday, we'll be in Copenhagen because my companion has to take a language test so he can stay in Denmark an extra year. It's kind of weird to think my trainee is taking a language test before me....and I've been out almost a year now. That's odd! But hey, I'm good with no tests! I'll also find out this week if I'm getting transferred. I'll be sad to leave Randers, but I think I'm up for another challenge at this point. We'll see what happens! :) I'll let you all know next Monday if I'm elsewhere! 

Yesterday, I read a scripture in the book of Alma! It's Alma 41:10. It says, "10 ...Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness." It's Alma giving words of advice to his son, Corianton, who had committed a few sins. I read over this scripture and immediately thought that there are those people who are content with their lives. It's hard for me to imagine that because I realize how much happiness I've been blessed with as a member of the church. I can't imagine stepping outside of the church because you can totally notice the difference when you do something against the will of God. The sin makes you feel happy for a short amount of time, but how do you feel days after? Not good! How do we feel when we follow God's commandment and do his will? I feel pretty happy! I've never been happier in my life! I invite you all to think about how much the church and this gospel has blessed you and to remember that wickedness wasn't and NEVER will be happiness! :)

I love you all and happy new year!!!! 

MKH, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

Christmas in Denmark Round 1

Heyy!

I hope everyone's had a good Christmas time and hasn't stuffed themselves to death.. I almost did, but that's how you know you celebrated right! Christmas time has been pretty fun, but nothing's the same as being home for Christmas, that's for sure! But it was great to call home! I was pretty happy for that. It never lasts long enough though... 

This week has been pretty good because the members have taken good care of us! The Danes celebrate Christmas on the 24th. It's kinda different from America! So they start the evening by just eating dinner. Then we clean up and sing some Christmas carols. We sing Christmas carols and dance around a Christmas tree until we're tired (there was old people so it didn't last long) and then we sit down again. Then we play a couple games to pass the time and get some good laughs in. Then we ate some risalamade (you all have seen the picture from weeks ago). After we're stuffed, we have either a Christmas story or a spiritual thought centered around Christmas. After that, all the presents are opened and Santa Claus comes! Pretty fun! It's pretty different too. But they celebrate Christmas on the 24th through the 27th. It's basically several days off and that's about it. I don't know what they do on the other days other than sleep! But that sounds fun too! 

It's been a pretty solid week. We had some lessons before the whole Christmas hullaballo came in. Those went pretty well but there's nothing too noteworthy unfortunately.. There's been progress, which is good..but they have struggles keeping them from commitments.. Hopefully after all these festives we can get out finding again! :) 

There's a scripture I liked this week. It's Alma 32:41-43. It's pretty good. It says, "41 But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life. 42 And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst. 43 Then, my brethren, ye shall reap the rewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you." If we nourish our faith, just the little bit that we have, that will grow. It may not come immediately..it never has for me...but I know if we're patient and diligent in searching for answers to our prayers, seeking for Lord's help, He will give it to us and it will be in accordance to our faith and patience! Don't get discouraged, things will always work out! :) 

I hope you all have a great New Year's! happy 2016! I love you all!

MKH, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

Our Christmas tree and my presents!! :)