Starting over with Family History

Goddag!

It's been a pretty good week. Some pretty exciting things are happening in Den Danske Mission! We had a Zone Conference on Wednesday and we will be putting a majority of our missionary focus on Family History. In President O'Bryant's words, "Why should we be doing the same thing we have been doing for the past 200 years? Everyone hears the same thing over and over!" Pretty wise statement actually. That's one of the biggest changes happening to the mission, along with other smaller things. I'm pretty excited for the change. What we have been doing has resulted in little success, and even if those people we give our Geneology services too don't accept the gospel, we will still be helping them, so that's the most important part. 

This week, however, we found 2 new investigators! Our hard work is finally paying off. But I have to say, it's hard work and it's been wearing me out! But if I'm not worn out, I'm not doing it right! I'm really happy to see the area growing a little bit more. It should grow exponentially if we incorporate Family History, but I know absolutely nothing about it right now so I can't use it. ): 

We've been doing a bunch of less-active work this week, along with a bunch of finding. It's been going pretty well. It's kinda fun to get in touch with people who haven't seen the church in a while. They're pretty happy to see us (For the most part)! I enjoy it though. 

I'm really excited for General Conference. Not one, not two, but THREE new apostles of the Lord will be called at one time! That will be awesome! I'm excited to hear about it! I don't know how much I can watch of conference live, but I'll get to see it this week though! It might be crammed into Saturday, Sunday and Monday! Too bad I can't watch it in pajamas though! ):

That's about all that's happened this week. It's going forward here, and I'm excited for the changes! I liked a scripture this week in Doctine and Convenants. In Section 75:10-12, it says, "10 Calling on the name of the Lord for the Comforter, which shall teach them all things that are expedient for them—11 Praying always that they faint not; and inasmuch as they do this, I will be with them even unto the end. 12 Behold, this is the will of the Lord your God concerning you. Even so. Amen." Sometimes we think we can do everything on our own. Aquire knowledge, get through school, trials in life, whatever, you name it! But we can't.. We have a gift and that's prayer! God wants to hear from us and wants to bless us. He wants to know we are humble enough to receive the blessings we need. I hope all of you will rely on our Father in heaven because He's done miracles for my hard times in Denmark. I know He can do the same for you all if you call upon his name! 

I hope you all have a great week! I love and miss you all tons! 

MKH!

Ældste Taylor Howes

OH! On Friday I hit my 6 month on my mission mark! That means I burnt a tie! Yay! 

21.09.2015

Hej med jer!

I hope everyone has had good weeks!! My week went pretty well. We had stake conference this week so we travelled a lot this week! Especially the past couple days. We almost spent as much time in other areas this week than we did our own!

We had splits on Wednesday in a good town called Silkeborg. It's really pretty and it seems like the work is going pretty well with them. We had four missionaries in Silkeborg and we all had a good time together.

On Thursday, I had to see the dentist.. A filling came out unfortunately! They didn't even numb me when they were drilling. That's no fun! But it's all fixed now and my tooth is back to working order! :)

We spent a lot of time finding this week and ended up finding 3 potentials within an hour, so that was really good! We were happy with that! We also found another potential earlier within the week and she was really positive! We don't have any investigators at the moment, but that will change before I even know it! But the work is going forward here in Randers and we're seeing the fruits of our labors!

It was interesting to hear a talk from a member of the area seventies who attended stake conference. He emphasized a lot about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. I guess the General Authorities are trying to send a world wide message, sort of like how they did with the Proclamation to the Family. So that's interesting! I really like that a lot!

This week I read a little bit out of the Bible and found a good scripture in Luke 12:29-32. It says, "29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. 30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. 32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom." I like this because it's a reminder that we should always be focused on fullfilling what God wants us to do. We shouldn't seek after the worldly things and focus on that. We shouldn't focus on what we need because the Lord knows we need them. If we always focus on God and we're always relying on him, he will give us what we need and bless us with even more! :)

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

MKH,
Ældste Taylor Howes

Prayers Answered

Hej kære alle sammen! {Hello dear all}

I hope all is going well with everyone!! It's been a pretty good week. The weather is getting colder and rainier...The winter won't be pleasant here! I'm gonna miss North Carolina winters! But we managed to work our tails off this week and come down with a solid amount of potential investigators, so that was good! I'll share a story about one! 

So we were out walking around to contact people. The weather was kinda bad, not raining but it was a little dreary. We were just wandering to see where we would be taken. We weren't really choosing anything but we were just going where we would end up going. Then we took this random road and I see this older woman at the bottom of the hill. I felt like she would talk to us and like I knew her. As soon as she got to where we were, she got off her bike and said, "Do you all speak Danish (in Danish)," and we responded, "Of Course!" So she said, "I'm Protestant. Do we believe in the same God?" I said, "Yes!" and she said, "Do you all believe that Jesus Christ was Ressurrected?" And again, I said yes. Then she asked, "What's different then?" I just said, "Well, we believe we have a prophet today who leads and guides our church and receives revelation for our world - exactly the same purpose as the prophets you know in the Bible. We also believe that we have that same church Jesus Christ established when he was on the Earth. With the same authority he had, which was distributed to his apostles to create his church. We know that that same church that Jesus Christ established has been restored to the Earth." She said, "I was talking to some of your friends when I was on vacation in Belgium. They came up and spoke to me and started talking about religion. It was a great talk and they gave me a German Book of Mormon, but I can't read that. Do you all have one in Danish?" I said, "Yeah, here you go!" And I gave her one. She said she would love to talk about this because she believes it's true. Then we traded information and she left. It all seemed so unreal. I remember praying the night before and asking who was the head of the work in Randers because nothing good was happening here. I just pleaded something would happen. Then, just hours later, this happened. And I recognized the surreality and miracle before it was even in my proximity. I have no doubt it was an answered prayer! It was miraculous! Anyways we're excited to see where that goes!! 

We spent about 6-7 hours a day this week knocking and finding! Then went alright! We got some good potentials! We will see where that goes! On Saturday, we biked about 20 kilometers to a town called Langå. It was so far and took about an hour to get there and back. It was quite the adventure and super hard but we did it!! 

This week should be pretty fun though. We have stake conference this week on Saturday and Sunday so that'll be pretty fun! There's not a stake center in this stake nor a building able to facilitate everyone, so it'll be in a big theatre. So that'll be unique! Haha I'm pretty excited! 

Anyways! Miracles happen, even in Denmark! Regardless of whether or not she's positive, it was still a miracle to me. It's been the basis of all other success here! I'm excited to see what else happens! 

I hope you all have a great week! I love you all and miss you all!!! 

MKH, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

PS: One of those is just the town at night. I thought it was sweet. The other is a creepy old church! Sweet looking though!

6 month mark!

Hello and happy September!

Today is the mark where I have 1 year and 6 months left! Yay! 1/4 way through! So that's pretty awesome! I'm not counting just yet of course! I still have my whole mission left pretty much! Anyways Randers is going pretty well, the weather is a different story!! It rained literally everyday except yesterday! So it's been a pretty brutal transition! 

This area doesn't have too much going on right now but we have been working on getting this place running. The best investigator avoided the missionaries two weeks ago, so now he's dropped, so we're starting from scratch! It's my second time starting from scratch so that means knocking on doors like there's no tomorrow! So that's what we've been doing. We've knocked about 4 hours or more a day everyday this week and came down with 3 potentials! So we've got a little bit going, but it's still moving forward. We will see where it goes! 

We spent a little bit of time trying to get Elder Nielsen a bike! He hasn't had one for the past 12 weeks so we got him one this week. He got it half off the original price, but the only problem was that there was a reason....The gear wire was completely loose. So now we gotta take that back and get a new one. It wasn't so fun but it's funny when we look back on it....at least for me :)

After district meeting, we went to a kebab place here and I tried the Stor Kebab. It's the biggest kebab in Denmark. Almost impossible to eat. But I slammed the thing and I ate the whole thing! I felt pretty sick afterwards but at least I can say that I did it. I didn't get a picture - maybe next time :)

Let's see, what else.. I'll leave this week with a scripture again. It's in Ether 12:27.  It says: 

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

So I like that because we are all weak...Life isn't easy for any of us. We were given weaknesses so we can become stronger. All we need is that desire and faith that we can become strong. I deal with my weaknesses everyday. Haha and it's never fun and I hate my weaknesses because that means I have struggles! No fun! But I promise if we realize our weaknesses and we rely on our Father in Heaven to help us, and we do all we can do become stronger, we will become stronger. I've seen it and it truly is a miracle every time. I know you all will notice them as miracles too. :)

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

MKH,

Ældste Taylor Howes

PS- That's FC Randers, the Soccer team here! and the other is the street I live on, I live in the apartments along the street! Pretty sweet! 

Transfer #1-Randers, Sjaelland,Denmark

Hello! :) 

I have been taken out of the promised land of Sjælland Denmark and into Jylland! No fun! I've never been over here so I can't speak yet! There's a little rivalry between missionaries here who love Jylland and those who love Sjælland. I love Sjælland but Jylland isn't so bad yet! So I have moved from Hillerød and about 4 hours west to Randers! It was a terrible train ride because it was so full. but to say the least, I made it! :)

It was hard to leave Hillerød and all the people I made relationships with, but I knew it was my time to go! I learned all that I needed to and I was ready to move onto something else. So I'm excited for what's in store here in Randers! I haven't seen so much of Randers, but from what I see, it's typical Denmark and really old! But it's pretty I would say. It's in the middle of nowhere and the city was built on a hill! So I should be losing some serious weight biking over here! I need it though! 

I hear they have a large branch that could be turning into a ward here, so church should be okay! It won't be too boring and hopefully I won't have to give too many talks here! :) I got away with zero in Hillerød, lets see if I can do it here! :) 

The weather this week has been pretty good! It rained a couple times! But it's been alright! This week FLEW by. We had mini mission and we got to show a couple young men in the Copenhagen stake a little bit about missionary work. It was pretty fun and I think they had a great time! :) 

Anyways, I don't have much to say because I just got into the area, but I will say that I'm ready to work here! :) It won't be easy but it'll be fun! I'll probably be here until January 11th, 2016! That's a LONG time! But I loved the time in Hillerød and I can't wait to get to know the area here! 

My new companion is Elder Nielsen! He comes from Virginia and has been in Denmark 6 weeks less than me, so I'm follow-up training him! That'll be fun! All the Danish is relying on me....UH OH! :) I think it'll be okay though!

I don't have any pictures! I'm sorry! I'll get some up this week! Anyways, I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! :) 

Med Kærlig Hilsen, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

Hej med jer! 

It's been a pretty good week! I can't complain too much! The only thing I can complain about is that we didn't get iPad or Facebook approval from the Mission Conference that we had! I guess the European Union has some restrictions on the Area Book function of the iPad for missionaries, so it's on hold for parts of Europe. Dang it! That's okay! We heard a bunch of good words from the Elder Dyches from the Seventy who spoke to us, so that was good!

Let's see, so on Tuesday, we met with Aram, who has a baptismal date for 19.09.2015, so we're really happy about that! We taught him some commandments and is way excited to continue to learn more about the gospel. He's super excited for his baptismal date. He tells us every time in his bad English that he's super thankful and excited for it! So we're really happy to hear that every single time! 

On Wednesday, we had our Mission Conference and we heard from our Mission President and his wife, Elder Dyches and his wife, and President Barenskov, our Stake President. We got a lot of inspiring ideas and words from their talks, and it was centered mostly on being loving and charitable. It had some other ideas and topics that were important, but that stuck out to me the most! :)

This coming week, we have something called mini mission! Which is where we receive a young man or two from the stake we are in and we get to show him how missionary work is, so it'll inspire them to serve a mission! It sounds pretty fun! I hope we can make it a good experience for him to say the least! That's for Friday and Saturday! We are stoked for it!

I got some pretty sweet pictures this week too! So I'll show those off at the end! 

My message this week comes from Ether 12:4. It says, "4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God." Some people wonder why bad things always happen in our world and where God has been during wars, contentions and so forth. Luckily, God gave us the fullness of the gospel, that if we have act upon the teachings and doctrines of the gospel (good works), then our world will become a better place. That's why it's so important we have missionaries around the world. We want to bring unto others peace, happiness and salvation, that way, one by one, the world will be a bit better of a place if we continue to act upon the teachings of the gospel. I've seen what it's done for me, and I know what it can do to the world if the act upon what God teaches us to do. That's my message and I know it's true! :) 

Anyways, I love you all! I miss you all and everyone of you all are awesome! :) 

MKH, 

Ældste Taylor Howes

No deportation for this Elder!

Hello!

I had a great week this week! Weather has been pretty good! Perfect temperatures and only a day or two of rain! Not too bad! It'll probably end soon though...Danish summers don't last too long! It's starting to get darker every night, so winter must be creeping in! I still have yet to see what Denmark looks like at night. Weird, right?

The best of all news is that I won't have to get deported from Denmark! It would have been a good story to tell though! I still don't have my visa, but the government allowed me to stay!

Anyways, this week wasn't too extraordinary. It was pretty slow unfortunately. This week, kids started school again and their parents had to go back to work after their annual 3 week vacation period. So the Danes weren't too thrilled to be busy again nor meet with missionaries, so it was pretty difficult this week, but it's completely understandable! We had a few lessons this week, with Mykel and Aram, and they went pretty well! Aram is continuing to progress and absolutely loves the church. Mykel is progressing as well, his prayers are always so strong and powerful, just because of how sincere he is. It teaches a lesson to me every single time!

Let's seeeee.... Oh! We had a zone training on Tuesday! That was pretty good. It's always fun to see a bunch of missionaries together. Putting all of the missionaries together turns into a Nursery! Haha it's a good thing that we only work in twos!! :)

We had the chance to make some birthday cake this week! Thanks mom! First cake that I've made turned out pretty well actually! It didn't even last 24 hours haha!

I took some more pictures this week. I'll attach a couple for you all!

This week we have our Mission Conference and our Area 70 will be coming to speak to us! We're really excited for that! It should be a good week too, we have a lot of appointments set up and we should find success in those! So I'm looking forward to this week, especially coming off such a slow one!

Anyways, I hope you all have a great week! I hear summer is ending down there, so that's a bummer, but enjoy the last few days of it! I love you all!

Med Kærlig Hilsen,

Ældste Taylor Howes

PS: One of those is the Hillerød train station. It looked better in person! :)