Last transfer?

Merry Christmas!

I got lucky and was moved right before Christmas, so I'm a little rushed. After 5 hours of traveling, I've finally made it from Fredericia. I was definitely sad to leave Bornholm, but the branch got me some Christmas presents so I had a couple early Christmases. It wasn't too bad! The worst part was leaving the 24 pack of Sprite I got ridiculously cheap that I hadn't drunk completely! I guess it's my Christmas present to the other missionaries. 

Anyhew, my companion is Elder McBride from my MTC group. He's a cool guy. I'll likely only be with him for 5 weeks until the end of this transfer, so I have one more companion left after him. We assume at least. My last week on Bornholm was pretty good. We met with the last of the investigators and switched them over to the new companion, so that was good. I think the Bornholm elders are gonna do a good job. 

Lastly, it's the week of Christmas. I hope you all have a good Christmas and you think of the Savior and what he means to you! That's what it's all about. I love you all! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 🎄🎊🎁

Love, 

Æ. Taylor Howes

The good ole church building in Rønne! (Bornholm) 

Zone Leader

Hey!

Well, what a week it has been! On Monday, I got a call from President and it looks like I'm headed off to Fredericia to be Zone Leader. He mentioned he had to break the promise of me staying here on Bornholm until the end of my mission, so that was sad. I guess I'm already fired from being a counselor in the Branch Presidency! 

Anyways, this week we had our Branch Christmas party and that went really well! We had 9 non-members and 11 members show up (aside from us). So it was a total success! The people who came had a GREAT time. We danced around the Christmas tree, ate traditional Danish Christmas food and played a present exchange game. It's hard to explain. Anyways, I had to be the jolly ole Saint Nick. Darn it. It's all said and done now! But, that was REALLY good! :)

What else....oh, we took a trip into Copenhagen for the Missionary Music group type deal, so I came back the next day with a temporary companion. If you didn't catch it, Elder Teynor is in the music group! I'll be here an extra week (it's the first week of a new transfer) so right before Christmas, I'll finally be in Fredericia. :P 

I was also at a baptism this week! Some 18 year old girl that I contacted on a train in Hillerød got baptized this Friday. I wasn't at all involved in her teaching, but I at least was involved in finding her, so it's good to see that at least one seed I've planted has turned to something :). It was a great baptism. Oh, except the font was having a hard time filling so we did the bucket fill method. That took some time, but all in all, she was baptized! :)

I gave a spontaneous talk this Sunday as well. I forgot I had a talk so I planned that an hour before church. Found out I can actually give a 20 minute talk with a very blank outline! Woohoo! 

Anyways, I hope you all are still working on the Christmas Initiative! Today is the 12th, so it's "Jesus taught others, so can you." Check out https://www.mormon.org/christmas/in-25-ways-over-25-days/jesus-taught-others. Jesus Christ was only one person and He changed the world. You are only one as well, and it only takes one person to change the world! #LightTheWorld folks! 

I love and miss you all tons! In other news, my release date is confirmed: March 7th 2017. Less than 3 months! Oh yeah, and we had a mini Christmas with the Hall's and I got more pics this week! Here ya go! 

MKH, 

Æ. Taylor Howes

Advent Calender Candle

Christmas Presents from the Halls!

Sweet View

The bane of my existence....BornholmerFærgen

My last letter from the mission!

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Happy December!

Hey! 

Yay! We've finally made it to December! Let the Christmas festivities begin! I'm pretty pumped for Christmas. It was a good time last year. It was also a hard time, but it's always fun celebrating Christmas regardless. Plus, I get to Skype home for the last time! :) 

Anyways, it's been an interesting week! We have a branch Christmas party this coming Thursday, so we made a little bit of preparations for that this past week. We made some sugar cookies and delivered them to a lot of our investigators. On the bright side, the unexpected amount of 13 investigators said yes and are set on coming, on the down side, we only have like 12 members going to this party and I don't think our church building can handle that amount. So we're going to be playing tetris figuring out how we should put the tables, Christmas tree and have room to walk around. It should be interesting. Wish us luck. We're expecting a good turn out, but next weeks letter will be really awkward if none of them show up.....we have faith though! :)

What else...we had a few first lessons with some investigators this week. Those went really well and are genuinely interested. I think this island is undergoing a harvest right now, so we're hoping that one of these investigators come through. Work really is work! 

Anyways, this week, I read a story about the Church in Europe during WWII. I was kinda curious to see what would happen if the world really was under attack again and how the Church would react. I don't think the world is anywhere close to having WWIII, but I was curious about WWII and what happened. Anyways, the story can be found here. 

https://www.lds.org/manual/church-history-in-the-fulness-of-times-student-manual/chapter-forty-the-saints-during-world-war-ii?lang=eng

It was really interesting to see how the Lord's hand was over the war, the Church, and the missionaries. I don't really know how to sum it all up, but if you're interested, read it. It's pretty cool. We really are lucky to have latter-day revelation and inspired Church leaders, both generally and locally. It definitely strengthened and solidified my testimony of prophets, apostles and local church leaders. They truly are inspired men and women. We can always be comforted that the Lord has His hand over us and the Church will never be under attack - as well as the members if we are heeding to the Lord's servants and God's commandments. Pretty inspiring story!

Anyways, I did manage to take a picture this week....I'll attach it!

I love and miss you all tons!!! Can't wait for Christmas!

MKH, 

Æ Taylor Howes

Call me farmer Taylor...🌯🌽🌾

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#OplysVerden

Hey!

It's been a crazy, unusual, but really good week! The weather finally got extremely cold and windy, but that's alright! What doesn't kill ya, makes you stronger. Anyways...

On Monday, we had a first lesson with a mother and a teenage daughter. That went really well! We had met the mother once before and taught her a little about the Plan of Salvation and we returned to teach the whole Plan. She said she'd read and pray about the Book of Mormon, so we'll see where that gets them! :) 

Tuesday and Wednesday were also good days, except the part where we had to wake up at 5am both days. We had to catch a ferry from Rønne to Sweden at 6:30am on Tuesday, but it was okay because it gave us time to check out Malmö, Sweden. We walked around the Emporia mall for a couple hours because we had nothing to do. We eventually made our way into Denmark again for a Zone Training about the Church's Christmas Initiative, #LightTheWorld. It's gonna be HUGE! I'll talk more about that later. :P At about 11am on Wednesday, our ferry got back to Bornholm, so we luckily had a regular day! 

The district leader and his companion came on splits Wednesday night to work on Thursday. We did some knocking out on the other side of the island, so that was good. Later that day, we had Thanksgiving! WOOHOO! There is a half American family in the branch, so they invited us all over for Thanksgiving. It was great! I can't wait for an actual Thanksgiving that includes family! :) 

Lastly, I'd invite you all to visit mormon.org and check out the Church's Christmas initiative. It's not only a video or a campaign, but it will literally light the world. Jesus spake in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world," and likewise in Matthew 5:12, but with a small, but big change, "Ye are the light of the world." Jesus Christ is our example. We are to raise His light, not for ourselves, but for others, like He served. Everyday in Decemeber, there is a different service theme along with ways to serve, allowing us to be that light and touch the lives of others. Those that choose to serve during the December advent will receive the Savior's promise, "he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." This promise is valid for everyone - not just Mormons. We will feel the Savior's love, receive His guidance, and touch the lives of God's children. After all, "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God (Mosiah 2:17)." This Christmas, let's #LightTheWorld and show the world and ourselves how Jesus Christ has blessed and continues to bless our lives today. 

OH, 99 days to go. Yes, I'm starting to count now....I won't lie! :) They say time goes slower when you start counting. Good! I can cherish it more! ;)

I love and miss you all tons! Only a few days til Christmas!

Love, 

Æ. Taylor Howes

The temple in København & Emporia mall in Sweden!

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21.11.2016

God taksigelsesdag, kære familie og venner!

Well, this week was AWESOME! The sun is shining today! It hasn't even rained on us much. I like the way this winter is going! Not as dry as North Carolina...not even close, but at least I'm not walking around in water-logged shoes! 

Anyways, we were able to find 3 new investigators this week and they all seem to be pretty positive. One of our potential investigators that we found about 3 weeks ago became a new investigator when we showed up to his house Tuesday morning. He is currently a Methodist who can't find the right church on Bornholm. He had 2 friends over when we came and we actually had a good, down to earth gospel discussion with them. Soon, they had to leave, but it gave us time to speak with the investigator. Later, another friend called and said he was coming over. Turns out, that friend was a previous investigator, has been to church, and after our visit, he invited us over to his house. The investigator we visited has 4 children and is married. He is very believing and reads many religious works, so we're hoping he won't have any problem reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. He seems very inclined to learn about the church. 

Another investigator is a Satanist, and we have a few obstacles with working with him, but we'll tackle those issues later down the road. He's 18. You can tell that he's lived a hard life, but was considering giving up smoking and drinking for the church. Another investigator whom we had a lesson with on the doorstep was previously Catholic and was also interesting in learning about the Plan of Salvation. We'll meet with her on Thursday. Lastly, another family who will be new investigators today. There are two kids, a girl who's 17, a boy who's 19 and a mother who is divorced. We haven't been able to meet with the mother because she's never home, but we made an appointment with the kids, and they said they'd have their mother home. That sounds great! We're hoping for success today! I feel really good about them.

All in all, things are going really really well on Bornholm! I love this area! It's a lot of fun. Even though it's cold, secluded and there's not many people, somehow the Lord has been leading us to those who are interested! 

This week, we're going to Copenhagen again! That means another trip through Sweden! I'm pretty excited for that. It's always a beautiful drive and Sweden is a cool place. It's weird how different it is with it being literally 10 minutes away over a bridge. I'll be sure to take pictures this time. I've failed pretty bad the last couple trips, but I promise I will this time haha! 

Anyways, I love and miss you all! I hope you have a good thanksgiving!! Eat tons of turkey for me!

MKH, 

Æ. Taylor Howes