Happy Leap Day!

Hello!

Welcome to the extra day of the year! :) I have had a pretty good week. A lot of appointments fell through, but some of them went through, so that's a plus! :) We ended up moving Ammar's baptismal date up to March 19th because he's been progressing so much! We moved Reza's baptismal date back to April 2nd because he's moving a little bit slower. But I'm sure they'll both make it at some point! 

I was asked to give a talk this week, so I had to prepare that. It was a talk on testimonies and how I developed my own testimony. It was a pretty fun and easy one to prepare. I even tried going without a written script! It turned out pretty well in my opinion! It's kinda funny that it's only my second talk given on my mission! I've been lucky! I enjoy giving talks though! I would be much more nervous giving a talk in English!!!

We began a nice little missionary tool of arranging some weekly soccer with the ward every Saturday! This past week was a poor turnout, but it was still a success! This week should be a little better because we emphasized it a bit more. But I'm learning some soccer off of Europeans! I could be a pro when I come home! jk.. 

Well, this week I read in the Book of Ether. It was REALLY good. It has a nice story behind it. I hope you all can get the chance to read chapter 2 and 3. In a short story, the Brother of Jared was commanded to build vessels so they could get from Jerusalem to America. Although, the brother of Jared was entirely confused with the Lord's directions because the way the Lord wanted the boats built made no sense to him. So, he asked the Lord many times through prayer about what he should do, and seeking further guidance and comfort. The Lord answers his prayers, and commands him ti do something as an answer. He does it multiple times, and finally, The Lord finally answers the brother of Jared's final, ultimate request but it was only because of his faith and obedience to his previous answers. It was a good lesson for me, because the Lord answers every prayer, but we must choose to listen and act upon the answers. If we do so, those answers will be more prevalent and noticeable because the Lord trusts us that we will do as he asks. It's only in accordance with our faith and obedience. That's something that I've been working on recently and I've seen the difference. When we do as Lord asks, he will trust us more. I hope you all get a chance to read that and receive some revelation from it too!

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

Love, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

Taylor's TV Interview

We aren't sure what Elder Howes is exactly saying, but I know he's talking about and promoting Family History work.
Check him out! It's pretty awesome to see how fluent he is in Danish.

http://familiekanalen.tv/?post_type=portfolio&p=10146

An Atheist Changed...

Davs! (Howdy)

I hope everyone had a great week this week was pretty solid. It started off pretty slow, but it wound up being pretty good. We had a lot of appointments fall through this week, so that was disappointing, but we ended up making those up with other people, and that was more worth our time because one of those happened to commit to being baptized! His name is Ammar. It was quite the crazy story. He comes from Syria with an Athiest background so he doesn't believe in anything. He's always wanted evidence, so we spoke to him about the spirit and the evidence the Spirit gives us. We told him that this comes through prayer and acts of faith. So, we invited him to pray and he said no because he doesn't believe in God. So we told him that it's an act of faith. We'll never know there's a God if we don't find out through prayer. The first time someone prays, they never really know what they're getting themselves into. So I offered to say a prayer after teaching him, so that he had an example to follow, then he would offer a prayer. So I did so, then he did. Long story short, he felt the Spirit and immdiately knew there was a God and that he loved him. I would compare it to King Lamoni's experience! I was pretty blown away and had no idea God could change someone that quickly. That's proof that miracles have not ceased in the current day. 

This week, our district did a district activity, so we went to Scandinavia's oldest city, Ribe. It's about 30 minutes away by train from Esbjerg and it's in our area, so it worked out well. We visited Scandinavia's oldest church, Ribe Domkirken and went on top of the tower. It was beautiful. I'll attatch a couple pics from that. It was a beautiful day too. 

This week, I found a scripture in the Book of Mormon in the Book of Mormon (confusing). But it reads in Mormon 9:31, "Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." Moroni was talking about the imperfections he had as he was writing the Book of Mormon because he was writing in a language that wasn't commonly used. But these things can be applied today. We shouldn't condemn people because of their faults and weaknesses. We all have them, we're all poor in something. We shouldn't judge, call names, wahtever, because we can't help being weak. I'm definitely not one to look up to for this, but it's a lesson we can all learn. God gives us weaknesses and imperfections so we can grow. We should be thankful for them rather than be insecure about them. We all try to be better and be more perfect! We should all try to be less critical and work on those things we're already weak in so we can become stronger. 

I love you all, and have a great week! :) I miss you all too! :)

Ældste Taylor Howes

 

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello! Happy Valentine's Day!

It's been a great week! We've had a lot of success and the weather has been pretty dry, so that's always a great thing! I'm just waiting for it to warm up! It's been pretty funny because we haven't had sunshine in about 2 months, and we had 1 day of sunshine 2 days ago and everyone was SO much nicer to us. That's proof that sunshine brings happiness! 

This week, we had a lot of time to find and we ended up coming down with 11-15 potentials this week. Somewhere around there. We had about 3 a day. We actually set up a few appointments with some of them this week. There are actually 2 different families from Greenland who are really positive, so I'm hoping we find success with them. If any of you are familiar with Greenlandics, they are very genuine, humble and open. So those are all good things when it related to the gospel! We're hoping to have several more on baptismal date this week, and I think it's possible. We have almost a full week with appointments, so it'll be interesting to see what success we find. But the Lord is preparing the ways here in Esbjerg! The fields are white and ready to harvest! 

I've been doing really well though! My companion and I get along really well. I hope he doesn't get transferred this week. I don't enjoy that awkward lingo week with a new companion haha! 

I actually found a scripture this week in 3rd Nephi 18! It's verses 12-14. It's about Jesus's ministry to the Nephites over on the American continent, so the words in the most of 3rd Nephi are words spoken by our Savior. He says, "12 And I give unto you a commandment that ye shall do these things. And if ye shall always do these things blessed are ye, for ye are built upon my rock.13 But whoso among you shall do more or less than these are not built upon my rock, but are built upon a sandy foundation; and when the rain descends, and the floods come, and the winds blow, and beat upon them, they shall fall, and the gates of hell are ready open to receive them. 14 Therefore blessed are ye if ye shall keep my commandments, which the Father hath commanded me that I should give unto you." He was speaking about the Sacrament in this passage, but the words apply to anything. He gave us a commandment that we should follow his example and our Heavenly Father's commandments. He says we should build ourselves upon his rock. He later gives a strong promise to us - when the storms come and beat upon us (temptation, struggles, anything from Satan) and try to tear us down, we will not be torn down because he have a strong foundation and we have the Lord to help us remain standing. I hope we all continue to build ourselves upon the rock of Jesus Christ. I promise that if we do, we will not fall when the storms come. Don't let ourselves fall onto sandy ground. Sand always gets thrown in the wind! 

Anyways, I don't think I have any new pictures...but I'll have some for next week. I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!

MKH, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

Danish Hockey

Hello!

I hope it's been a great week for everyone! This week was PACKED with a bunch of exciting things! This was probably one of the most successful weeks I have ever had on my mission! Anyways, I'll get on with it. 

Our ward mission leader is a TV interviewer in Denmark, and since our mission has been pushing pretty hard for Family History, he asked us to be a part in an interview so we could spread the word out among Denmark. So that should be airing this week sometime or something like that. Who knows! It's also online, so I can send a link off as soon as I find that out so you all can see it! 

Also, an inactive member from the ward invited us to take him to a hockey game! So we got the chance to see a little bit of Danish Hockey. Supposedly Esbjerg is #3 in Denmark and they played #1, Frederikshavn. It was a good game, but Esbjerg lost. I didn't really care who won, but I was just happy to be there! It was pretty fun! There were actually several Americans on both of there teams, so it was pretty cool to see some American Flag logos on the Americans' jerseys. I'm sure we stuck out like two sticks in mud there!

We also taught a TON of lessons this week. We taught 10 investigator lessons and a few less actives and a couple lessons with members! We did a bunch of teaching this week, so that's always a good thing. We actually met with one of our less positive investigators this week, Reza, and it was just a little stop by. But, he let us in, we shared a short scripture because we didn't want to stay long, but after the scripture, he pretty much just asked how someone converts to our church. We told him that they get baptized and all that, and eventually, we asked him if he's been thinking about it. He said that he has, so we invited him to be baptized. He was a little oppossed because he knew he liked to drink and smoke, but we promised him as he comes closer to our Heavenly Father that those desires would stop and you wouldn't want them anymore. So, we invited him again and he said yes. So, he's on baptismal date for the 16th of March! Now we have two investigators on baptismal date. Our other investigator, Henning, has been struggling with a few things, so we're going to have to adjust his date...But slow and steady wins the race! We also found quite a few positive potentials who also have appointments this week, so we're continuing to stay busy! The work has really been great recently! 

This week, I was reading a little bit about both the second coming of Jesus Christ and some time before His appearance to those who lived in the Americas after He ressurected. You can read a lot about the Second Coming in Jacob 5 and Christ's coming to the Americas in 3rd Nephi. But before Christ's Birth, there were some revelations about Christ's coming and birth in Helaman. In Helaman 12 verse 23 - 25, it says, "23 Therefore, blessed are they who will repent and hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; for these are they that shall be saved. 24 And may God grant, in his great fulness, that men might be brought unto repentance and good works, that they might be restored unto grace for grace, according to their works. 25 And I would that all men might be saved. But we read that in the great and last day there are some who shall be cast out, yea, who shall be cast off from the presence of the Lord;" It's quite interesting to study the last days here on the Earth and what Christ will do when he then comes. The most important thing that we do is that we abound in good works and remain guiltless before the Lord. We all slip up, but as long as we continue to practice repentance and we are about in good works, we will be accepted into the God's kingdom. It's important that we don't delay nor procrastinate, because we truly are in our last days. It's a weird thought, but it's been spoken of in many places in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Be ready! :) 

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

MKH, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

My companion & I needed to take a companionship pic, so here he is! :) And that would be our hockey game! :)

 

 

Back to High School

Hello!

Well, January has been put behind us, hopefully our New Year's Resolutions are not! :) But we're in February!! Shortest month of the year, but it's a leap year aka an extra day to serve the Lord! January was a good month though, it was pretty busy, but that's always a great thing! 

This week went by SO fast. So many things happened and we had tons of appointments to bounce around from. Last Monday was quite interesting. I was back in high school! That was extremely weird. I kinda felt that high school energy and was kinda reminscing high school all over again. It was actually pretty weird, but I enjoyed it. We were there to teach a religion class about our church! So that was pretty fun. It was kinda a different situation because it came down to a question & answer session, and you know kids.. It was funny! But it went really well. We taught alongside a priest in the ward, so it was nice to have a Dane's assistance. 

We actually struggled this week when it came to finding. Not too many people were thrilled to talk, so it made it kinda difficult, but we came over that hump later in the week. But we met with Henning, our investigator with a baptismal date, and it's still moving forward with him. He has a few roadblocks standing in the way, so we're hoping that he's able to jump over those soon so that he can be baptized. But he's doing really well. We had a few first lessons this week, and those went all well and they're now positive investigators, but we only have two progressing investigators as of now, who are Yonas and Henning. But there will be many many more to come! At the end of this week, (Saturday & Sunday), we set a little more focus on finding, and we came down with 9 potentials within those two days, where several of them have appointments, so that's a really good thing, but that just means we have a busy week! :) That's also a fabulous thing. I think I'll share an experience we had with one of those contacts.

On Saturday morning, we were out contacting around the center of town, and we came up to this guy, so we contacted him and asked him how religion has played a role in his life. He replied that it hasn't played any role in his life, so we asked him if he was ever religious, and he said no. So we testified how our faith and religion has helped us and we know it can help others, like him and he responded that it's hard for him to believe because his mom died a little while ago, so he's not interested to talk. He started walking away and we stopped him again and asked him, how much would it mean for you to see her again, after this life. He didn't respond. So we testified how we believe in eternal families and that we know he can see his mother again. We told him, "We know you're not interested, but just so you do know, that's what we know to be true." He responded, "I guess I'll think about it." In the end, we got his number, and that was only because testifying touches the hearts of others! When you all have the opportunity to testify of something, do it, because it will change someone's life, even if you think they don't care.

Anyways, I read a good scripture this week in 1 Corinthians 15. It talks about the plan of salvation within the chapter, but I really like the last verse, 58. It says, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." It's a good reminder that we should always be bound to good works and that we should be not moved. If we are always striving to follow the work of the Lord, nothing we do will be wasted. God has promised us this, and I have of course seen and learned it as I've been here in Denmark! :)

I love you all, sorry it was a long letter, but thanks for reading it! :) I miss you all, and hope you all have a great month of February! 

MKH, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

That's the view from our apartment and some good ole red skies!