"Sankt Hans Aften"- A Danish Holiday

Davs!

I hope everyone had a great week! The weather this week was pretty scorching. I got fried on Saturday at a ward party! Even my legs got burnt! (cause I wore shorts) :). I'll just get on with it!

Two weeks ago, we found a half American family! I actually tried something I had never done before while being out. Usually, when a couple is in a car and they're backing out of the driveway, I let them do their thing and be on there way, but the one time I didn't let that happen, we had a great conversation. I walked up the side of their car as they were backing up, then tapped on the window and signaled for them to stop, then the roll down the window and I give a door approach, and then the wife responds in English, "What part of the states are you from?" We come to find out that the husband is American, lived in Montana and has a bunch of LDS friends. He said, "They're the best people I have ever hung out with!" We then talk about eternal families and they said they've never heard that message before nor have they seen Mormons come to their door in Denmark, nor met a Mormon. They even said, "You're more than welcome back - in fact, please come back." So that was good. We went back this week and taught the Restoration and eternal families. They loved it! They're willing to read the Book of Mormon and find it's truth, so we're hoping for more success with them in the future. We're happy we've been finding families left and right!! It's been great! We've got several appointments set up this week, so hopefully they all hold! If they do, they'll be golden!

This week, we had a holiday called "Sankt Hans Aften." It's some old Viking holiday that celebrates the longest day of the year, so they make a HUGE bonfire, then throw a witch (scarecrow) into it and sings some sort of carols. It was pretty interesting! Then on Saturday, we had a ward summer party! So we chilled on a farm with a bunch of members and grilled. It was really fun. It was a good opportunity to get to know members better, so it was a good thing overall. 

It's the beginning of a new transfer! So we'll see what miracles the next 6 weeks bring! I hope you all have a great week! I love and miss you tons!!

MKH,

Æ. Taylor Howes

The Summer Party (Elder Allred) & us and the APs at the church building (behind us)! (my companion to the right)

20.06.2016

Hey!

It's been a pretty good week. Things are going better here! The weather has been pretty mild and breezy. It's been jacket weather. Rain jacket weather. It was dumping rain this week, but luckily I was inside at President O'Bryant's house for 3 days for the new missionaries 30 day training. I can't complain! :)

This week, I got to go to the temple! I also went like 3 weeks ago, but I didn't mention it. I love going to the temple though. This time, I took a family name. It was actually a name of a guy who lived in Iredell County, NC like 300 years ago. So I thought it would be fit to take him with me to the Denmark temple. It was pretty special! 

We did a quite a bit of finding this week too.. We actually found some more families! One of the families we found a couple weeks ago finally made it to church! It was a wife and 4 kids. They fit right in and they were well received by the members! The family had an INCREDIBLE time at the church and the kids LOVED it. We should be setting a baptismal date goal with them this week, and I'm sure they'll accept it too! They really felt something special at church and it opened their eyes. 

Anyways, I've learned a lot this past month, and I found some scriptures that really opened my eyes, so I hope they open yours too. It's in D&C 58:4 "For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand." Then in Mosiah 23:21-22, "Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith. Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people." We may be struggling with something and no matter how hard, how often or how sincere we pray, our situations may not be changed, our burdens may not be lightened. It's important to remember the Lord's time is NOT our time. The Lord will free us from our challenges and rough situtations in his own time. It's our job to be patient and just ride the situation like you're riding and angry bull. It won't be fun, and we'll fall many times, but the lesson the Lord wants us to learn is that we don't learn and grow in our good times where we have things easy in our lives, but we learn when we're having a rough time. Even though it's hard, we should look to see what we can do ourselves to learn and grow, and the Lord will do the rest and completely remove you from the situation in his own due time. I myself am still learning, but just ride the bull and hope for the best! :)

Hey, all is well! I hope all is well with everyone wherever you are! I love and miss you tons! 

MKH, 

Æ. Taylor Howes

Airplanes!

Hello!

I hope everyone has had a good couple of weeks. Sorry for not writing last week. That was my bad. Anyways, the weather is still on the incline, but today took a turn for the worse. It's like 50 degrees and cloudy. It's pretty unfortunate considering the past weeks have been beautiful. I'm sure it won't stay this way though!

This week was pretty good. Last week was good too. We taught like, my mission record number of lessons last week, and this week we shot for last weeks success, but we didn't quite get there. On the bright side, we found 3-4 families, and one of those families decided they would be baptized when they found out the church was true. They're pretty positive and almost came to church this week, but they had a reasonable excuse stand in the way - but they're coming next week! We're meeting with them this week, so hopefully once they come to church, we'll be able to put them on baptismal date. Other than that, we're still picking up new investigators and we find a potential about everyday. Things are going in the right direction still! 

This week, we spent P-day on the beach by the airport! I took one pic... Surprise! An airplane. You can see that at the end. 

There was a scripture this week that stuck to me. It's D&C 90:24. It says, "Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another." It hit me that we have to be searching for the answers to the problems we've been having. We can't just pray, we have to act by searching and believing. It's after the trial of our faith where we receive our reward. Remember that all will work together for our good if we follow this simple but powerful principles. 

I love you all and thanks for your emails each week. They really do help! :)

MKH, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

PS: Amager Strand & Danmark ud på landet! Solen var lidt stærk i mine øjne! 

Happy May!!!

Hey!

This has been a pretty uneventful week. But hey! The sun is shining today and it's 60 degrees or somewhere around there. Some of you might say that's cold, but it's the warmest it's been all year and it might not get much warmer! It's been a pretty rainy week, so I'm glad that the weather let up for a day! 

Let's see.. Well.. I spent all day inside on Tuesday because I came down with some nasty cold. I worked the rest of the week, but lost my voice while I was on splits with the Elders in Amager (East Copenhagen), so I couldn't really do much missionary work myself, but I was still out doing it while my companion did all the talking! Poor kid, but he muscled through it with a smile. We found some potentials this week and taught a couple street/door lessons, but nothing has progressed too much. We're working on it though...... It's a tough area! 

Ummm.. well, I gotta give a shoutout to my sister getting married this week! Holla! Happy marriage! And this week is Mother's Day! I love you mommy! Pretty exciting week! I'm excited to skype on Sunday :D! It feels like just yesterday that I last skyped! Time flies when you're having fun!

I found a couple good scriptures this week, as usual! It's in 2nd Nephi 26:23-24;33. It says, "For behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you that the Lord God worketh not in darkness. He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him...for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile." I like this because it tells us that God will never forsake us. He only brings good. He doesn't cause confusion. He isn't just letting bad things happen. His goodness and glory is available to all those who seek it. EVERYONE. Don't get mad at God for what's happening. He wants the same thing you do...peace. He'll give it to you, just ask Him. Don't work in darkness, but dwell in His light. :)

I hope you all have a good week and give your mommas a big hug! :)

Love, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

Sorry I don't have pictures.... ):

Florida or Denmark?

Hey!

I hope you all have had a great week! I have! It's been pretty fun and really weird too.... It snowed 3 times this week... 3 days in a row! Weird weather... But it should be getting warmer...I hope! 

This past week, I was on splits with the Zone Leaders and the Assistants. I know...intimidating. It turned out to be really fun and I ended up learning quite a bit from them. We were on splits in Slagelse (ZLs) from Monday night to Wednesday morning and we did some service for a couple hours, then later on Tuesday, a couple missionaries sang hymns and played the guitar while the rest of us contacted around them in the middle of the city. It was really fun! I was on splits in Frederiksberg with the Assistants and we had a good time too. We had a bunch of lessons lined up, which is good considering that they have been struggling for awhile, and we even put one of their investigators on baptismal date, so that was a plus! :) It was a good experience and it was fun learning from their examples. I go on tons of splits as District Leader and it's nice getting to know a bunch of missionaries! 

We also had stake conference this weekend in the Copenhagen Denmark Stake! A guy from the area 70 came and gave a few talks about member missionary work. He basically said through the message from President Nelson that if this country wants baptisms, they're going to have to do member missionary work to build the churches and stake in their areas. He invited the missionaries to work with members on that too, so that's our task! It was really good and definitely something the country needed to hear! They can access the hearts of those that we can't, and that's valid in every place in the world! 

I found a scripture this week that gave me a little bit of insight! It's in 2nd Nephi 10:23 and it says, "Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life." God gave us our agency and it's our decision to use it. The message is pretty straight forward and simple. Death is unhappiness and eternal life is eternal happiness. We choose our fate. It's pretty simple. I hope we all choose the right path to happiness! Life is all about finding happiness! I've found it, I hope you all can or have too!    

I think that's all that happened! We went to the beach that points towards the Lithuanian/Russian area! It's pretty cool. Florida or Denmark?? :) The last picture is without a doubt Denmark! But anyways, that's my week! Tåstrup is going slow, but we're finding potentials about all day, but it's fun! :) I love you all and I hope the week is good!

Love,

Ældste Taylor Howes

PS: It's snowing again.....

18.04.2016

Hey!

It's about time where I FINALLY get a P-day and can write a detailed email for you all. The adjustment into Tåstrup has been a little difficult. I've just been so busy and things have popped up on P-day and my mind races at 40 miles a minute. Anyways, this area doesn't have as much success as Esbjerg, but, it's going to soon! We have no investigators and really don't work with anyone but less active members, but we've been doing TONS of finding recently. 

This week, we had a zone training in a city called Roskilde! They have a pretty big church building which is pretty uncommon in Denmark, but I hear their ward is pretty big too! Anyways, the zone training focused on powerful finding methods and how we can get investigators progressing towards baptism. I think it was a good training considering it's what the mission needed help with. Hopefully the methods we learned works! The mission as a whole has 20-25 people on baptismal date, so it'd be great if all of those went through! Denmark needs baptisms!

I was also on splits this week in one of the areas in Copenhagen. I loved being there! That area has the airport in it, so all of those who know me really well, knows I love planes, so I stared at planes as I biked around and tried keeping myself focused while contacting in the streets there! That area is great though and the people there are so open to talk about the gospel. We had like 10 10-15 minute conversations with people on the street about the gospel and 5-6 of those were interested in taking the lessons! It was great to see what success happens over there, I just wish it would duplicate in Tåstrup! :) 

Let's see....the ward here is great too! We meet in Frederiksberg in Denmark's nicest church building! The ward is about tied for the biggest ward in Denmark, so that's nice to be apart of. We get 3-4 eating appointments a week so the members really take good care of us here! They're awesome people and there's even young families here too, so that's a plus! :) 

I've been doing great though, that's a little rundown of the area I'm in! The weather has been warming up, but the spring showers have also taken affect, so it's been rainy, semi warm and humid. But that's way better than freezing cold and sleeting rain! 

Since it is spring, I would like to share a thought that changed the world forever! At around this time in the year of 1820, an incredible thing happened. A 14 year old boy, who sought after wisdom to know which church was right for him, experienced something that changed my life. He said, "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" From this time forward, it shows us the God reaches out to His children on the Earth today and shows that he hears and answers our prayers. From this experience, God called a prophet, and apostles to lead Jesus Christ's church on the Earth today. Jesus Christ's authority to perform miracles, such as healing, is back on the Earth. Christ's authority to lead a church is here and will never be lost. Just because a boy had a humble prayer and sought after the Lord's will. It changed my life, and yours.

I love you all! I hope you all enjoy your week and the spring weather! 

MKH, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

PS, Ammar and I in Esbjerg & then København!

A move to Copenhagen and District Leader

Hey!

I hope you all have had a great week and that you all enjoyed General Conference! I sure have! There were some good talks. It's always good to hear them stress the importance of families and relationships with family members. It's definitely what the world needs to hear. I still haven't heard Sunday Afternoon's session, but I'll hear it at some point. 

Welp, a weird thing happened! I got transferred and Elder Allred stayed! I got moved to Copenhagen! I'm in a town called Tåstrup. It'll be a good area and I'm excited to be here. I was a little sad to be moving areas, but it's always fun starting over in a new area. I've been called to be District leader of all the elders in Copenhagen, so that'll also be weird haha we'll see how that goes. I'm excited for what's in store for this district and area. I also get to see the temple every week, so that's a real bonus!!!! :) 

I don't have a ton of time and I'll upload pictures next week! I just moved in and haven't unpacked so I don't know where the camera cord is....(I wish I had an iPad dang it). But I hope everyone is doing well! I love you all and sorry for the short email! 

Med Kærlig Hilsen,

Ældste Taylor Howes