Bornholm!

Hey!

What a week it has been! I've been in a couple countries, a couple boats and a few islands. It's been great! I'll try to rattle it all off...it's a lot to take it.

On Monday, we drove from Copenhagen, into Sweden, through a big city called Malmö, then about an hour to a city called Ystad. I found a Subway sandwich place there! Sweden seems a bit more Americanized than Denmark, but the countries are about the same. I decided to buy a shirt while I was there too to document my visit. We then took an 1.5 hour ferry ride from Ystad to Rønne, Bornholm. We then drove from there too our apartment. We live right next to a senior couple, so that's really nice!

Throughout the week, we were able to find 5 new investigators and teach a total of 12 lessons this week, so that was really good! We went pretty hard while knocking and it ended up working out. These investigators all seem pretty positive, so that's super good! We hope to commit one or two of them to baptism this week, so we hope it works out. The branch here has a total of 24 members, 18 of which are active. The church building is way smaller than our house, but it does the job! At church, I was able to be sustained and set apart as second counselor in the branch presidency. That was a weird, but cool experience. I think there will be a lot for me to learn and it'll be good. I'm looking forward to it. It'll be weird leading sacrament and counting tithing/fast offerings were odd, but it'll be a fun calling!

Then, today, we went with the senior couple over to an island called Christiansø, which also includes Frederiksø. It was about an hour ferry ride over there....on a tiny boat. We all about lost our lunch on that thing. It was not a fun ride, but we survived! The island was BEAUTIFUL and super rocky and adventurous. I'll send pictures. It was cool. Like nothing I have ever seen. It kinda felt like I was in Jerusalem for some odd reason, but that's just because there were a bunch of walls, no cars or roads and weird plants I haven't really seen. It was cool! I'll attach some pics.

In other news, I'll be going back to Copenhagen this week for a zone training, so I'll almost kinda do a repeat of this week next week, but this time we'll be stopping in Malmö, Sweden instead to tour. It'll be fun! It'll be a fun trip.

Anyways, with respect to General Conference this week, I invite everyone to think about your weaknesses, maybe where you lack in your testimonies, you pick, but that big thing you struggle most with, and write down a question or two about it, and when the general authorities speak this week, wait for your answer to be given! I promise it will be!

I love you all! :)

Æ. Taylor Howes

These are some pictures from Christiansø and Frederiksø. Beautiful huh? :)

Mother's Day

Welp, long time no talk! It hasn't even been 24 hours since I last talked to my family! It's always a blast to skype! Not to hang up though! This week has been fun though! It's been about 80 degrees here believe it or not! It's been great but wearing church clothes in that heat is not! I'm happy the rain has stayed away and the sun has been shining! Makes Denmark more beautiful and me happier! :)

This week was great though! We were on splits with the Zone Leaders in Slagelse and that's always fun. We did service for their Bishop, and midway through, one of the sisters got a big ole thorn stabbed into her wrist and that led us to the hospital! That made for a fun adventure. I was then on splits later in the week with my 3rd companion, Elder Nielsen who I served with in Randers. He's in my district and we had a pretty good time reminiscing on times in Randers! We worked pretty hard that day and knocked a ton of doors....brings back those memories from our least favorite transfer! Then, on Saturday we played soccer with some people from our ward, part-member families and less-actives. That was pretty fun. I've actually been getting fairly okay at soccer! I'm learning from Europeans!! ;)  Then of course on Mother's Day I got to skype after church!!! Therefore***, I've had a pretty good week!! :)

In relation to missionary work, it's been actually pretty good! We came up with ideas on how we can make finding better because the district/zone was struggling with it, so the zone leaders came up with a bright idea of short, powerful "elevator" speeches. It's been pretty great actually. It's been a pretty hard change because it gets us out of other routines and our comfort zones, but I got over that and it's been working REALLY well. We've taught a few street/door lessons and found a few potential investigators. We've also invited a few people to baptism and they're of course not really ready, but they know the expectation and are willing to find out for themselves. As a whole, the area is coming out of it's pit and into a new life. It's been slow here still, but the progress is becoming more rapid.

I finally took some pics this week! :)

I hope you all have a good week! I hope Mother's day was good for all you mommas! 

​:)

Med Kærlig Hilsen, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

P-Day at a Viking Ship Museum

Welp!

The transfer news is out. I'm getting a new companion...a completely new companion! I'm training again! This transfers gonna be a blast! I'm pretty excited! Apparently I didn't do it right the first time so I get another shot at it! (JK) I'm stoked. Elder Olson gets put up in Frederikshavn, which is the northernmost part of Denmark on Jylland. He's pretty excited. He's ready to leave this area after being here 6 months. It was a great transfer with him. We got along really well!

This week was a blast too. We found 2 new investigators that are pretty open to meet with us! That's a huge positive. That's our first new investigators this whole transfer! So the area is on the right path still and moving forward. A lot has been happening here, so that's good! We're still finding a ton, but also starting to teach a little bit more! All in all, I can't complain. Any progress is better than none, so I'm happy regardless. I think having a trainee will bring a lot of success to the area. Even though they think they don't do much, they bring energy and that's all that an area needs. 

This week I found an interesting scripture. It's in Jacob 4, which overall is an incredible chapter, but it says, "3 Now in this thing we do rejoice; and we labor diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their first parents. 4 For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us." This is what our forefathers wanted before Christ even came. All they want is for us to know of His glory. His glory before He came and even now, after He came. They wrote all of these records just for us - only so we know how to find peace, joy and eternal life. It's quite incredible. Nobody today thinks about doing something for their children 800+ years from now. That amount of charity is beyond comprehension but I sure am grateful for what they did for me personally! :)

For P-day this week, we went to a Viking ship museum. That was kinda cool. I got pics of some viking ships found from year 800 or something crazy like that. And then in another pic, there's a village there. Then lastly, we caught a cool sunset. The sky was vibrant pink! Anyways, it was a good week! I look forward to talking next week! I love you all and have a great week! Take it easy!

Med Kærlig Hilsen, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

23.05.2016

Hey!

I hope everyone had a good week. Mine was quite stressful. But hey we won't talk about that but I'm training again for my second time. My trainee is Elder Smith from Huntington Beach, California. He's a pretty cool guy and we get along pretty well. He's fearless so it makes training easy! This week was pretty interesting though. The weather is still working on getting warmer, but it can't make up it's mind. So it's been an awkward in the middle temperature, but it's been nice. 

This week however, I was on splits with my old companion Elder Allred because he moved back to my district. So we had a pretty good time on splits. We found a bunch of potentials together like old times. The dynamic duo! But it was good! We also taught some door lessons, but they didn't result to anything. At least we gave the opportunity for them! 

I'll attach some pictures from the trainer/trainee meeting. It was pretty fun! I like those meetings. I'm lucky I got to go twice! :) 

I'm sorry I don't really have much to say this week. This week was just hectic and scrambled because trains were shut down in time for transfers and yeah. Needless to say, Denmark missionaries were running around like chickens with their heads chopped off this week. 

I do have a scripture that is pretty short, sweet, to the point and all encompassing. Jacob 6:12. "O be wise; what can I say more?" These were Jacob's powerful words to his people. Make good decisions, don't put yourselves into trouble. It's easy to do, so be wise! :)  Just do what the Lord asks us to do and you'll find that as your doing it, you've made a wise decision. :)

Anyways, I love you all! You all are awesome and thanks for the support! I really do appreciate it and I miss you all! :)

MKH, 

Æ. Taylor Howes

We get nothing out of a good idea unless that idea becomes a product. Do it.

Hey!

The sun has still been shining in Denmark and it rained for the first time in a week or so last night, so I've been dry, warm and happy! It's good to see that summer has begun, and I've been getting a pretty solid tan too... :) But, overall, it's been a good week!

This week, we had a Zone Conference up in my first area, Hillerød/Allerød, so it was weird to be back a year later. The Zone Conference had a really interesting theme - teaching investigators about life's purpose with relation to Adam and Eve. In short, we're all offspring of God, and just like loving earthly parents, we have the same potential as them and our parents want us to become like them and/or better than them so we can achieve the same things that they did, God gives us the same potential so that we can become like Him, even as a God. God loves us and wants to give us everything He has. Therefore, our purpose is to learn and grow to fulfill our potential and become like God. Adam and Eve made it possible to learn and grow so that it's possible to become like unto God. Quite interesting. I wish you all were there, but all in all, I learned a lot and was intrigued the whole time. That doesn't happen very often for me! Right after, we all came together and played football and soccer, so that was fun! 

My trainee though is awesome! He's a hardworker and fearless. He'll do whatever I ask him to do with a willing heart, the right desire and without holding back. It's like I'm not even training him in all honesty. He knows exactly what to do! 

In church this week, we had 186 attending in Sacrament meeting! That was the most I have both seen and heard of on my mission. I know that doesn't sound like too much, but trust me, every seat was filled, both in the chapel and on the stand, then the overflow was in use on a different floor. So it wound up being a good Sunday. We also had a linger longer or whatever those are called afterwards where we all ate! :) 

Well, I tend to leave a scripture every week, so I'll keep on with it! There's a verse in Mosiah 4. It's number 10. It says, "...if you believe all these things see that ye do them." Often times, we believe in some things and we know exactly why we believe in them, but we fail to actually do the important part - actually doing it. God gave us commandments and what not for our benefit. We shouild know why it's important, believe and it and most importantly follow it, because that's the only way we're going to receive all the blessings God wants to shower upon us. We get nothing out of a good idea unless that idea becomes a product. The same concept applies. Do it. 

Welp, I got some pics this week fortunately! Yay! But I hope you all have a great week and enjoy the good weather if the weather is good over there too! :) 

MKH, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

In a town called Kalundborg. It's in the Zone Leaders area. And then the church there. It's the only Cathedral in the world with 5 spires.

An Investigator Comes to Church

Davs!

Hello everyone! It's been a good week. There's been a lot of things to happen, so it's been good. This week, there was a baptism in the ward! WOOHOO! It was not however from my area, but we were able to be there for it, so that was great! It was for a 22 year old guy who had been attending the single adult activities for about a year. Small and simple means, right? We also have a new mission president! Præsident Buxton. President O'Bryant had to go home for some surgery, but he will be back in about 3 weeks. I hope everything goes well because we want him back! President Buxton is great, but I'm sure he wants President O'Bryant back too haha! 

Anyways, this week, we had a Zone Conference about Member-missionary work. We decided to put the emphasis on working with members because we seriously are struggling doing it any other way. It's been incredibly tough recently. So now, we're trying to involve the members and spark interest in the ward! We hope this goes well. We know it's what the church of Denmark needs and what the missionaries need, so we know it can only go well. We've already seen positive results, so it's going to be good! We also had a blitz splits in the Sister's new area, and that means 10 missionaries are going to their area to try and find people to teach. Overall, it went well. We taught 7 lessons, and found 3 new investigators for them, so that was a success!

We had some good news this week too! Some guy we contacted on the street a few weeks ago came to church with us yesterday - and had a great time!! He was pretty pleased with the church and gladly took a Book of Mormon. All it took for him to come was an invitation over the phone. Pretty simple! It goes to show you what little things make people jump the most. Think about it, a finger print scanner on the iPhone made people go wild! A small, simple invitation opened someone's eyes to the concept of eternal marriage. Even greater! 

This week, I found a good scripture that goes along with that. In D&C 123:12-15. It says. "12 For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it—13 Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven—14 These should then be attended to with great earnestness. 15 Let no man count them as small things; for there is much which lieth in futurity, pertaining to the saints, which depends upon these things." There's so much confusion out there between religions. There's war between religions. It's affecting our friends, it might even be affecting one of you. The responsibility that each and every one of us has is to bring the light we have out of the darkness. Don't hide that light. Bring it unto your friends, family. Whoever it may be. These seemingly small things that make us tick daily aren't even existent in some of our friends' lives. That can and will bring them out of that darkness which may seem to hold them bound. A lot lies in all of our futures - we all have the same potential, but it's your and my choice of whether we allow our brothers and sisters to reach that potential. Let this be your goal! :) 

Welp, I love you all! Thanks for being a huge support. By the way, no one is counting, but less than 200 days! WOOP!

MKH, 

Æ. Taylor Howes

PS: Oh yeah, there was a gay pride parade this week. I got some pics. That's just a part of pride week. I'm glad I didn't get a picture of the parade. :P I guess this was the biggest pride parade in world history. 

Transfer to Bornholm

Hello!

This should be my last transfer of my mission as I'm heading off to an island called Bornholm. It's just below Sweden and right above Poland. It's about 4 hours from Copenhagen and it requires a 2 hour ferry ride to get over there. I'm not there yet, but my ferry leaves tonight at 6.30, so I'll be off as soon as that happens! Bornholm isn't very populated - the largest city in Rønne and the population is around 12,000 people. The church is a branch which is lead by a senior couple. I will also be serving as the second counselor to him, and my companion will be the first. It should be really interesting! I've heard it's a beautiful island and in order to get there, I have to go through Sweden, so I get to see another country! Woohoo! :) I'm excited.

This week was pretty difficult saying goodbye to some of the investigators and less active members that I've grown to be good friends with, but I'm sure their growth will continue! It'll be hard to say good bye to Elder Fairbanks! He and I were really good friends and got along pretty well. My new companion is Elder Teynor, from Salt Lake City, Utah. He seems like a good guy and I feel we'll get along pretty well. It'll be a fun transfer out there! I'm happy for this change and I think I'll learn a lot from being out there. It should be fun! 

I don't have a lot of time, but remember to do those small and simple things daily, putting on the armour of God. :D

I love and miss you all tons! Ill send pictures next week of the place! :)

MKH, 

Æ Taylor Howes

Lucky Charms and Soccer

Hey!

It's been a good week. It was packed with a lot of stuff. The highlight was the F.C. København soccer/football game. We all know it's not football. It was still good though. I realized that soccer games are RIDICULOUSLY short. 90 minutes? That goes by quick. Anyways, the game was good. They played another Danish team, Odense. It was tied 0-0 until the 82nd minute, then there was a penalty kick which gave FCK a goal, then they got another goal shortly after. It was intense! The stadium was pretty cool too. I didn't think it'd be that big! It is where the national team plays, so it was a good stadium.

Anyways, this week I was on splits with Elder Koch. He's actually a missionary who comes originally from Randers, DK, so he was my assistant branch mission leader over in Randers, then he was my companion for a day! It was pretty fun. He's visa waiting to go to Zimbabwe on his mission. The poor guy still hasn't been to the MTC, so he literally has no clue what he's doing, but he's holding up really well! I was also on splits with the assistants this week. That was also alright. They're a couple of cool guys!

What else! OH! I found a store this week in Copenhagen that sells LUCKY CHARMS! They were 11 bucks, but I had to get em. Then, I found Nutter Butters, got those, Hello Panda cookies, got those and JIF Peanut Butter. Got that too. That's the first store I have seen my whole mission sell American stuff like that. I did not think I would come across that marshmallow cereal again. That made my week magically delicious.

There was a story I found in the scriptures that I felt inspired to share with the district during district meeting. I get calls from some of the missionaries and they tell me that they can't do anything and they're having a rough time,,,etc, I've felt the same way. Some of us struggle to teach 3 lessons a week, and they're right here in the capital city. We don't understand why it's so hard, but we just keep on pushing anyways. In the Book of Moses, in the Pearl of Great Price, there's a story about Enoch that's really good. You can read it from verse 27-34. I'm only gonna paste 31-34. It says, "31 And when Enoch had heard these words, he bowed himself to the earth, before the Lord, and spake before the Lord, saying: Why is it that I have found favor in thy sight, and am but a lad, and all the people hate me; for I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant? 32 And the Lord said unto Enoch: Go forth and do as I have commanded thee, and no man shall pierce thee. Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled, and I will give thee utterance, for all flesh is in my hands, and I will do as seemeth me good. 33 Say unto this people: Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you. 34 Behold my Spirit is upon you, wherefore all thy words will I justify; and the mountains shall flee before you, and the rivers shall turn from their course; and thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me." A little background - Enoch was called by God to preach to some wicked people who rejected anything that had to do with God. It's quite interesting. God doesn't always call his most capable servants, but the one's who can develop capabilities. He promises that if we do what He asks, then He will walk with us. He didn't command him to baptize, but do that which seemeth God good. We don't really know God's purpose of having us struggle to find people, but he only asked us to do what he wants, and that's what we're doing. He's been with us every step of the way and there's no doubt that if you all do what He asks of you all to do right now, that He will be with you too. That's a promise he will always keep!

Anyways, here's some pics and have a good one!

Love,

Æ Taylor Howes

Happy September!

Hello!

Well, it's been a better week! The weather held up pretty well and we managed to find some more investigators, so that was good. It's been perfect weather.... But, the winter is coming and we can sense it.. so we're enjoying it while it lasts... 

Anyways, this week, on Wednesday, we were invited to a Wednesday night activity in preparation for a ward Helping Hands project. So I guess the project has something to do with working in a nursing home where there are people with Dementia and Alzheimer's, so I guess it was a little training on how we can work with these people and what we can do if they have some sort of symptomatic problem. I don't know, I'm assuming it won't be bad haha. Anyways, then I got sick on Thursday with a nasty cold, so we had to stay inside to get rid of my fever, then we were back at it on Friday! We went over to Amager after district meeting and helping the Amager elders find some investigators because they were sitting pretty dry...We taught a few lessons and managed to find 2 or 3 new investigators for them in just a couple hours, so that was definitely successful! On Tuesday, we found a new African investigator and an investigator couple. So we're getting stuff moving, and we're going to push forward this week, so we're looking forward to some more success..

We've seen a lot of progress in the missionary efforts in the ward as well. There are 8 missionaries in the ward so I think we're helping to build the ward the best we can. We've been working with the bishop a lot more and his ideas/plans have been working well, so hopefully we can get some more members reactivated and involved in missionary work. 

Anyways, I'll leave ya with a picture and scripture (rhymes). It's Helaman 5:12."12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." Make sure that your foundation is always centered upon Christ, because we all fall, and when you do fall, you don't want the storms and whirlwinds to carry you out into sea. The Savior is always there to help you putty up the cracks in your foundation. Rely on Him. 

I love you all! Have a good week! Oh! Expect pictures from a Football Club København game this next week! :)

MKH, 

Ældste Taylor Howes