Baptism & Confirmation!

Hey!

Wow! What a week it has been! Henriette was baptized and confirmed this week and there were several big changes announced to the worldwide Missionary Program. We've been pretty busy lately!

To start! Henriette...wow! That was incredible. She had her baptismal service this past Saturday and that went really well. I gave a talk on baptism, the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. It went pretty well! Henriette asked me to confirm her and give her the Holy Ghost, so of course I was happy to do that. It was pretty nerve-racking. There were two future missionaries who had their farewell's this week, so people from all over Denmark came to say goodbye. There had to have been over 200 in attendance, so I wasn't used to that. The bottom line is that Henriette is baptized, confirmed and a happy lady! :) 

Elder Olson and I traveled to Copenhagen this week for Missionary Leadership Council. That was really fun. We discussed the new changes to missionary service and what not. We have a longer P-day and I guess "more agency" in our daily schedule. I think it'll be good change, but it'll be tough to get used to, considering I've been on the old schedule for two years! We'll see! :P 

We've been focusing a lot on working with younger people, so we've spent some time knocking on college dorm buildings. They're not quite the same thing, but yeah, same concept, but that's been going really well. They tend to be more open and it's nice talking to people the same age as you as well, so it's been nice and we've found a lot of success from it! 

I taught guest class this week and in preparation, I came across this scripture in Alma 5. It's Alma, the High Priests' words taught to his people all over the place. It says in verse 26, "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" Those who have been converted to the Gospel, or those who have gained a testimony in some sort of Gospel topic, have felt something. They've felt a change of heart. After time, sometimes we lose that feeling we once had and we don't feel the same. Sometimes we can't remember it. Ask yourself, can you felt that change of heart right now? I've answered no to that question a few times. It's not bad to answer no, but it just means you have to do something about that. Read Alma 5 if that happens. Alma will tell you what to do. :) It's important we hold onto those feelings. That's what roots our testimonies. If the foundation slips, your house slips too. Don't let the foundation slip! :) 

I love and miss you all tons! 

MKH, 

Æ. Taylor Howes

District Pic (the bros (elders) in the district last transfer)

After the baptism

Missionary Farewell (that's my back side to the left)

6 Weeks Left!

Hey!

HOLY COW this is my last transfer!!!! Only 6 more weeks ladies and gentleman! I've almost done it! I'm excited for this transfer though. Elder McBride went on to Tåstrup, Elder Olson, who was my companion in Tåstrup, is now my companion again! WOOHOO! We're Zone Leaders together. Didn't see that one coming! He was one of my favorite companions and I'm glad we got put back together. It'll be fun! 

Anyhow, this week was a sick week. Literally. I was sick last week I wrote and I'm just now coming off of it. I went to the doctor Monday morning and Wednesday morning and I guess they diagnosed me with the flu, so I battled that and my first day back at it was Thursday. I went to district meeting and YSA. In between I slept. Friday, I did a little bit more. We taught some lessons with members. Saturday, I worked a little bit more, then finally, Sunday was my first full work day! So now I'm doing good! 

On the bright side, Henriette will be getting baptized this Saturday! The first baptism in my area! I will be confirming her on Sunday, so that'll be cool. She's come a long way and she even had a testimony when I first came to the area. Her testimony is incredible and it's cool to hear how much she's grown since she was found. The Church really is true! :)

This week, I will be headed to Copenhagen for Mission Leadership Council, so that'll be fun. It'll be a jampacked week, but it'll make for lots of memories.

Only 6 more weeks! :) I love and miss you all tons!!! 

Ældste Taylor Howes

A little taste of Fredericia!

Flu Season

Well, 

I got the flu so this will be a short email.. I'll kinda just outline what I did this week...! It's been a very weird week in a lot of different ways.

Monday, we had p-day and some Elders came in for splits. Tuesday, we did some work and the highlight was going to the hospital (probably where I picked up the flu). Some dude died in our ward and one of his buddies went with us to give him a blessing and we were too late...he died 10 mins before we arrive. Poor fella. Never fun seeing a dead man.

Wednesday, we made a trek to Copenhagen for a My Plan meeting. Our mission president taught my departing group about how to prepare ourselves to go home. Kinda like a 3 to 5 year plan of where we want to be. So that was fun. Afterwards, we went to the temple and that's always fun. 

We came home on Thursday and went to YSA night. We had institute, dinner and all that, so that was good. It was fun. Friday, we welcomed some more elders into our area for splits. That's when it went down hill for me and I've been in bed since. What a week, I know haha! 

Well, I'm sorry that's incredibly boring. On the bright side, only 50 more days to go. I love you all and miss you tons! Have a good week!

Love, 

Æ Taylor Howes

Sister O'Bryant snagged a pic of me a little while ago, so here's that!

Half of our mission

01-09-2017

Goddag!!! 

I hope everyone has had a good week. This week was a pretty good one! 

It was a tough week, but it's good to finally get back into the swing of things. I felt like the Holiday weeks were pretty hindered but it's good that it's all behind us and people are now willing to set appointments and think about the future again. We did a lot of finding this week and it was a huge help to us to have some elders in our area for splits. We've developed quite the list of potential investigators this week, so we will be planning on following up with them soon. We managed to find a new investigator. She was a previous investigator, but she texted us and wanted us to come by, so we brought a member twice this week and taught her. She was once on baptismal date, but couldn't give up smoking so she gave up on the missionaries. She says she doesn't know when she'll be ready, but she won't say no to baptism. We plan on working with her this week. She's coming to a baptism on Saturday and church Sunday, so we're hoping she'll have a change of heart. Everything seems to be going pretty well - we're just seeking to teach more investigators. We taught another investigator a couple times this week and went through the baptismal interview questions with her this week. She's definitely ready for baptism. I was impressed! Her baptism is scheduled for the 26th of January! 

It snowed a couple days this week and got icy one day. We drove 30 minutes to a city earlier this week and it was the day when it was icy. We go down the big ole hill and my companion hasn't driven in snow before because he's from Arizona, so he hits a patch of ice, slams on the breaks and we turn into a bowling ball hurling towards a busy intersection. It was pretty funny. I had a white knuckle grip and I was coaching my companion through the roads. Pretty funny. I guess that was a nice highlight. Oh! It got down to -12 degrees Celcius this week too! ;) Pretty chilly if you ask me. It was cool to see some lakes frozen over!

This year, the church is focusing on President Gordon B. Hinckley's teaching. Most of you all were alive when he was the prophet, and we all know he's awesome. I read that whenever he was born, there were 4 temples, then when he was the President of the Church in 1995, there were 47. After a few years in 2000, there were over 100 operating temples in the world. At his death in 2008, I think there were 124 operating temples. What an incredible goal for him to set! Think of how far the work for the living and dead has progressed since the time he was ordained to be the Church's President. We're all blessed to have a temple nearby to help to Gospel move forward because of his efforts! 

I love and miss you all! I took pictures, but forgot the camera USB hook-up type deal. So I'm sorry! But I'll get those out next week. 

Love, 

Ældste Taylor Howes 

Happy new year!

Godt Nytår! 

I think last weeks email was titled the same thing, but I'm not sure. I hope everyone had a good new year! :) My new year was kinda interesting. The church didn't allow European missionaries to be out past 9.30pm due to security threats, so we spent the new year inside. It was pretty fun though. We saw a bunch of fireworks and all that jazz, so it was pretty cool. New Years in Denmark is way better than July 4th in USA. The entire sky is constantly lit up for 20 minutes after the new year. It's really cool. You'll hear fireworks non stop from 8pm to 3am the next morning. The streets are littered with fireworks. It's really cool. Anyways...

This week, my companion and I gave trainings in the Odense districts, Esbjerg district and Fredericia district this week, so we had a lot of time out of our area. We were also on splits in Odense, which is the 3rd biggest city in Denmark. It was a lot of fun. Odense is a really cool place. It's where H.C. Andersen, Walt Disney's sidekick, is from. Pretty classy place. It was nice to go back to Esbjerg and see my old stomping grounds. I miss that place!

What else happened... Well, I don't really know. The 31st and the 1st were non-proselyting days and the 2nd, (today), was designated for apartment deep cleaning. I've never scrubbed a more disgusting shower in my life. At least it's over with. 

Since it's the new year, I'll send a scripture that I shared with my zone at the trainings. It's in Alma 60:23. It says, "Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also." This year, you can look around yourselves. What needs cleansed? What needs fixed? How can you change that? What can you do to affect the circumstances around you? What can you do to improve yourself? God himself has stated that the inward vessel (us) must be cleansed (or improved) then shall the outer vessel (our surroundings, circumstances, etc) be cleansed also. We must first be the ones to make the change. God knows better than we do. If we want our surroundings to change, the change starts with ourselves. One person really can make a difference, and that person is you. You can decide your destiny. :) 

Happy new year everyone! I love and miss you all tons! Happy 2017!

Love, 

Æ. Taylor Howes

Last email of 2016!

Happy New Year!

I guess this is my last email of 2016. WOAH. Kinda weird to think about. But Christmas was great! It was good to talk to you all. It was a good way to spend my last Christmas in Denmark. We were with a cool family in the ward for Christmas and another cool family for Christmas Eve. The more exciting Christmas day for Danes is Christmas Eve. That's when we eat the biggest meal and open presents and what not. I prefer opening presents on Christmas morning. More excitement that way! But, it was still pretty fun. :) 

Anyways, this week was spent Christmas-ing. Due to safety reasons, the 24th and 25th were non-proselyting days as advised by the Church. Apparently there were a bunch of terrorist threats and what not. I'm safe! But anyways, we had a couple lessons with some less active members. Those went pretty well! We have an investigator on baptismal date, so that's good too. We're hoping to find success in the coming week. It's been a ton of fun. 

We'll be doing quite a bit of training this coming week in the districts in the zone. It'll be fun going back to Esbjerg, an old area of mine for that. I look forward to it. 

Oh yeah! We had a Christmas Zone Conference this week. That was also pretty cool. I saw a lot of old companions. I got a picture with some of my favorites (not all). In other news, our Christmas packages got stolen out of the van. Someone broke the window and jacked about half of the mission's packages. Unfortanately, I was a victim. That was a shear bummer. So, the Grinch stole Christmas! We also watched Finding Dory during the conference, so it was nice to sit back and relax and watch a movie. A lot of the snacks were stolen though, so that was also a bummer. Some burglar really hit the jackpot! Oh well. 

That's about all for this week. It's been a lot of fun. It was good to end the year with a good Christmas in a good ward! It'll be a good area. :) 

I hope you all have a happy new year! I love and miss you all tons! 

Love, 

Æ. Taylor Howes

PS: I got some pics attached from Bornholm and Christmas this week. :)

Some companions at Zone Conference.

Christmas Day

Companion and Christmas haha

More Christmas

The Halls on Bornholm

Christmas on Bornholm