Happy Second Christmas!

In Denmark there are 4 days for Christmas. Little Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and second Christmas day. I hope you are all enjoying your second Christmas day!

It has been a slow but good week. We were able to visit some of our investigators over the holidays and bring them cookies. They loved that. One of them even came to our wards Christmas concert. I have loved being with a lot of the members over the past few days and getting to know them. 

We had a zone conference on Thursday. We got to watch finding Dory and have a big dinner. It was great except that all of our packages were stolen. Someone broke the window of the mission van that was holding all the presents and took 2/3 of what was there. All of my packages got stolen. It was sad but that's not the important part of Christmas.

Something Crazy that happened though is that the members of our ward heard about our presents being stolen and they put it on Facebook. Then they all brought tons of gifts to one of the members we ate with. We were overwhelmed with the love and how freely our ward gave to us after hearing about our gifts. 

I guess even though it was hard to go forward with a lot of missionary work over the past few days us and those we have been with have been filled with the spirit. Definitely one of the best weeks of my mission.

I love you all and hope you have had the best Christmas ever. I hope you have pondered over the birth of Jesus and the amazing blessing that is in our lives. Thank you for the support. Have a happy new year!!!

Love, Elder Smith

Pictures for the week:

Hey Mom!

I loved Skyping you all yesterday. It was good to see your faces. I'm sorry about the gifts, I was sad about it and I got over it quick, but I feel bad for you and anyone that sent me gifts. I was also sad when I found out you made a quilt. I hope you forgive me for not crying. I hope whoever stole the gifts likes the picture of my grandparents.

It's okay that you don't pronounce things right. I'm sure if you lived here you would be better than me at Denmark. It is fun learning a new culture things.

I haven't read that talk but I will. I actually read one on the 23rd in the stack of questions I got also by Elder Holland. It was about the same kind of thing. I liked it.

Thanks for being the best mom ever. I love you more than anything. I hope you have a super happy awesome new year. Keep being amazing.

See you on Mother’s Day! 

Elder Smith

Hey Dad,

I loved talking to you yesterday. I am definitely happy. I'm sorry for all of you that the gifts got stolen. I feel worse for you than for me. I can live without things. I have definitely put on a few pounds. I don't care what I look like as long as I feel healthy. They running has been helping with that. I will keep trying to do better. The Christmas season has helped me gain a bigger love for the people. They are a lot nicer when Christmas is involved. Don't worry I won't get homesick because of you, but it was so fun to see you. I loved it so much.

What did you all do for Christmas? I hope things get better with Cooper. I will keep him in my prayers. Did he get a nice guitar? I like playing around on instruments. I don't have time really practice but it is sometimes fun to play little things. I wish we had a punching bag in our apartment. We just have like one 40 pound weight. I just try to do push ups and stuff.
A Garmin watch would be fun. You've turned into mom when it comes to exercise haha. Are you going to lose more weight? Do you have an end goal? 
I'm sorry we aren't little anymore. Now you've had kids on missions the past two Christmas seasons. I'm glad you saw the videos as well.
I hope the weather here doesn't get too much worse. It has been super windy today and rainy. Did you have a white Christmas? Ours was grey.
I love you lots. Thanks for being such a great dad. I'm so grateful for everything you do. Have a happy new year!
Love, Elder Smith

Glædelig Jul!!!

I wanted to wish you all a merry Christmas since my next email won't come until after. It's been a great week! Me and a bunch of other missionaries toured Denmark and put on Christmas concerts. It was an awesome experience!

So we had our first concert on Tuesday and everyone loved it. You could just tell on people's faces that it was way better than they expected.

On Wednesday we traveled to Fyn and we caroled on some of the gågader. While the choir sang, other missionaries handed out Mormons Bøger and talked to people. It was amazing. The Danes were so much nicer and open to talk and it was cool to see.

We had three concerts in all. One in Copenhagen, one in Odense, and one in Århus. I am excited to continue to hear the great things that come from the traveling music group.

So I'll finish with one of my favorite experiences from the trip. On Friday we were singing on the gågade in Århus like we did on Fyn. At one point in the song someone in the choir motioned toward a girl that another missionary was talking to. We circled her and continued singing and she just burst into tears. One of the missionaries handed her a wrapped Book of Mormon. We finished our song and she thanked us. The Spirit was so strong and it was just great to see the impact it had on her. I love how the Spirit of Christmas can soften the hearts of many and give us a little window that we can share a gift that was given to us. That we know can help them as much as it has helped us. Remember to share the gift that Christmas is all about and #LightTheWorld of everyone you meet.

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful Christmas. Stay warm and happy!

Love Ældste Smith

P.S. I know you are all going to hate this but I don't have pictures right now. I have a lot from the music trip though. I will send them later.

Hey Dad

I'm doing good. My toe is doing much better. Trains are fun. They aren't very fun alone though. They are fast. The funny thing is you don't realize exactly how small Denmark is until you do a tour across the whole thing haha. The scenery is either fields or there are thick trees or something so you don't see that much but you get good glimpses. There also aren't very big hills so it's hard to see big views haha. The singing was awesome. My big email has everything about it. It was fun being gone but at the same time it was hard leaving the area for a week and hard with my toe just being fixed, but it was definitely worth it.
Yay driving! Why did you go to Colorado? I like drives but I guess they wouldn't be as great when you have to do them so much.
That sounds like a fun weekend. I like Pho. I ate food that a vietnamese lady in Odense made. It was pretty good. I did get pho that one time though. Why did mom play such an expensive violin? That's fun. I really liked the violins in our Christmas concert. Anyways that sounds like a fun time. I'm glad it was fine haha.
Church was short for me this week. We were in Århus and we had sacrament meeting and watched the Christmas devotional and it was really good.

Yeah things haven't been SUPER cold yet but I hope it doesn't. We have no snow though so I don't know if we'll have a white Christmas. Just be glad you don't bike in the cold haha.
So I know we have a family that we are skyping from their house but I don't know the exact time. The problem is that I don't know when. I told our mission leader that we needed to do it early enough because you had church so fingers crossed that it all works out. I will let you know more if I find out.
Thanks for everything. I love you. I knew about Lindsey but not Lauren. Who is she engaged to? That's so weird.

Have a good week. Godjul!
Love, Elder Smith

Dearest Mother of Mine,

Thanks for the songs haha.
I can't believe we get to talk on Sunday! I'm so excited! I don't know all the details for it yet.
Sorry that us missionaries aren't good at lighting the world. We try haha. We had our Christmas concert in Odense for the music day and a lot of other things we did fell into place with it so that was fun. It was a good week. I like that you went to President Basset. I bet he liked that.

My toe is doing good. It isn't all the way healed yet, but much better. It didn't hurt as much as other times in fact not at all, but it has taken a little more time to heal.
I'm glad Sister O'Bryant put up the videos so you could see them. I was right in front of her and president for that song so I was pretty nervous haha. The medley one was in Danish. I'm glad we made you cry.
I thought the stories about the sculptures were cool. They aren't really about all my ancestors but his on the other side, but they are still cool stories.
What songs are you doing for sacrament? I want to hear your violin. I really liked when the two sisters played Dejlig er Jorden on violins for the concert. I cant remember what it is in english. Beautiful Savior? It made me think of you.
Haha don't you wish you were a primary teacher? That would be fun.
I don't have tons to tell you so I'm glad you will have questions. I will try to think of some stuff. I will get to talk from 45 minutes to an hour. I'm super excited!
I love you lots and hope you have a good week. I hope you have the best Christmas ever and I hope you can really feel the love of our Savior. I looooooooooove yooooooouuuuuuu soooooooooo muuuuuuuch!!!!
Godjul!!!

Love, Elder Smith 

Jeg elsker jultid

Well I hope you have all had a great week. Alot has happened so I hope I remember everything.

Tuesday was great, we found two new investigators! After that our week kind of died workwise. On Wednesday I had an operation on my toe because it got an infection. So after that I had to sit in a chair with my foot up the next few days. Friday was transfers and both Elder Olson and I are staying in Aalborg. On Saturday I rode on a train for 4 and a half hours to Copenhagen because we have a Christmas Music Group for the week. We will be doing a concert in Copenhagen, Odense, and Århus. I am super excited. We have been practicing over the past few days and it has been going great. That's about all I can think of for the week. Since I am feeling the Christmas spirit I will tell you all that it is truly an amazing time of year. We get to spend time with those we love and think of the gift of Christ. He is the light of the World. He loves us all and I hope we can keep our focus on him this time of year. I hope you all are having a great December. Have a good week! Sorry I can't send pictures right now. The computer I am at right now doesn't work. They will come later or next week.

Love, Elder Smith

Dear Mother Dear

I really love your light the World experiences. You are a good example. I thought I would be good at the initiative but it has been hard for me to find things. You're awesome. I love how you were able to help Iris serve others. That's awesome. What did the other missionaries have? It's not the Danes in the church just a few on the street. I haven't had anyone complain to me but some of the other missionaries were talking about it.

The toe surgery went well. It was like they have done before but they used a laser! Anyways I had to sit and do nothing for 3 days. Also transfers happened and Elder Olson and I are staying in Aalborg. Also the music group is this week so I am in Copenhagen right now. It is going to be really fun but I hope my toe keeps healing like it's supposed to.

Wow that was quick! I'm glad it came in time. Did you read the papers about Dennis Smith's sculptures? I thought that was cool. I hope the one that got inspected is the best one since it costs money now haha.

I haven't seen the Devotional yet but I really want to. I might just have to print it out and read it. Or download it and listen to it.

The ferris wheel wasn't too cold but it was chilly. It's just a little market with little shops with fudge or candy or hats and stuff.

The investigator that bought drugs was super weird. We won't go back there haha.

I'm pretty sure that you could make risalamande at home. I don't think it has any super crazy ingredients. I really like it. But I bet it would be better with like a raspberry sauce than a cherry sauce.

We wont be at the mission home for Christmas, just a zone conference at a church Building, but it should be really fun. I'm excited. You're the best person to recieve me for a Christmas gift! I love yooouuuuuuuuuu!

Love, Elder Smith

To Dad:

I am doing pretty good. I am finding joy all the time! I will try to be better at making use of our burned appointments. Sometimes we just shrug it off and go somewhere else. 

Mom told me a couple of her experiences with the Light the World initiative. She is pretty cool. That talk by Elder Hales goes perfect with the initiative. I wish I could hear your talks. Haha I'm not surprised you cried though. You are really busy with meetings. I would be tired too. 

Haha I have loved hearing from Grandma and Grandpa. Maybe it will be the perfect amount of "different" for grandma. I like the things that they send. I miss them.

I am super excited to Skype you. I hope plans work too. I told our ward mission leader about the times and he said he would pass the word on so hopefully all that goes well. I don't know if I have any good stories haha.

I love you lots thanks for everything you do. You're a great dad. I miss you. See you on Christmas. Have a good week!

Elder Smith

Christmas is coming!

Well, Christmas is coming fast and everyone is busy, so it makes missionary work slow down a lot. But it has been a fun week. On Monday we rode a ferris wheel in the Christmas market in Aalborg. It had a good view of the city.

On Wednesday Elder Olson was in Fredericia for a leadership meeting so I was with the other Elders for the day. It went well and we even had a lesson over in our area with a new investigator. The downside of that was that the new investigator turned out to be crazy and bought drugs from someone while we were there.

On Friday we had our ward Christmas party. That was great and we even had two investigators come to the party! It took a while for the members to help them feel welcome, but it turned out alright. The best part was the risalamande after dinner. Yum!

On Saturday we helped an old couple move they were some serious hoarders. They had so many things. We were moving things between houses for 6 hours. They had way to much stuff for their new house. I don't think it will fit, but it was a good service project.

Sunday we had fast and testimony meeting and I got up to bare my testimony. I don't have any super great experiences to share this week but I will share with you what I shared with the members here. I know that Jesus Christ is our savior and redeemer. Because of his grace and mercy we can return to our heavenly father after our life on earth. I am so grateful to know that this church is true, and that I can share it with others as a missionary. I have felt God's love and I want others to feel it as well. I love you all and I hope you have seen all of our amazing blessings God has given us this Christmas season.

Have a great week!

Elder Smith

Hey dad.

Sorry my email wasn't that good last week. There was an annoying beeping noise and I couldn't think.

So I think the plans were to do it in the evening my time. I didn't think about church for you guys. I will see what I can figure out. I will do whatever I can to make it in that time. I can't do it at 8:30 because we have to be home at 9:30. We have to skype at member's houses as well so it also depends on them. I really really don't want you to miss church. It sounds like skyping is already just going to be a pain.

Sounds like you had a busy week. I'm glad you will have a set schedule.

It sounds like mom's concert turned out good. I wish I could have heard it. She seemed to really like it. That's not fair that grandma and grandpa can do whatever they want haha. I'm sorry you guys couldn't go to the party.

I'm glad you are doing well with exercise. I could always do better but it is really hard. Losing weight in a bike area is a lie. I just want to eat more. I'm working on it though. You will probably weigh less than me when I get home. Another hard part about it is that it is expensive to eat healthy. Vegatables and fruits cost a lot more than unhealthy stuff. But I'll do better.

Things have been good. I like my companion. We get a long well. I don't feel as close to him as I have my other companions but we do good and we talk a lot. The language has been going pretty good. I can understand a lot. People say it is really good but they said that when I first got here. They are actually surprised when they find out how long we've been here though. I have learned some slang. Sometimes people laugh when we use it but yeah. We haven't done anything super different while contacting. I've been trying to think of ideas. Our teaching pool has been getting smaller. We can't find anyone. We got 0 new investigators this week. But it's coming. We just need to keep looking. My prayers have definitely been better. I have been trying to listen and I feel like I have gotten a lot more guidance. I have  been doing the light the world initiative. It is hard on some things though. We have mostly done it on our own or as a companionship. 

Thanks for everything. I love you lots. Funny you mention the stories of ancestors. Grandma sent me an autobiography about Lauritz Smith in my birthday package so that was cool. Well have a great week!

Love, Elder Smith 

To Mom:

Hi! Things have been good. It's been a fun week. We have had a couple people listen to us.

I like that picture. That's how I feel. Sometimes I just want to ask them for hot chocolate and to let us in.

That's a lot of practice and performing! That guy (Tony Maiello) looks nice. He should join the church.

That lesson sounds really good. I love stuff like that. That is a cool picture. I like your thoughts to go with it.

I haven't had anything super amazing. We showed it to an investigator and she loved it. We gave her the calendar too. It was good. I've been doing all the things, but yeah I haven't had any awesome miracles yet. But they will come. What about you?

So oplysverden means light up the world. The problem is that oplys can also translate to enlighten or inform, so some danes don't like that.

I know that sister Stokholm in Roskilde was going to make a huge Thanksgiving dinner for the missionaries there, but we don't really get very many eating appointments here.

Yeah they used my bike because we didn't have any extra. My foot is stupid. I'm actually going in on Wednesday to get the toenail cut out like I've had done 4 times back home. But at least it will finally be better. I've spent like 30 dollars on medications and had 3 doctor visits so I just want it to go away.

That's okay that I didn't get your package. I had a good birthday. So funny story with the packages. I sent yours this week. But on Monday I got a call from the Elder in the office Elder Buxton. He said that I got a package and the Danish mail people decided to check it because they do that sometimes. They charged me 140 crowns to do the check because they make us pay for it and 60 in taxes for whatever was in it. So that sucks. I'm glad you sent some extra money because I have to pay 30 dollars to get one of my Christmas packages. It's okay though. Anyways I sent yours. I also sent home some letters and stuff that I don't want to carry around with me, but they are under a piece of cardboard. All your stuff is on top.

Was Adam in Italy? I haven't seen any nativity sets really. But If I see one I will keep it in mind. Danes loooove Christmas, but I don't think they really care about the Christ part of it. They just like the worldly things.

I love you lots and lots and lots. I didn't know the Christmas devotional happened which makes me really sad because I didn't get to see it yet. But that is cool. I love you! Have a good week!

Love, Ældste Smith

#oplysverden

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I had some Burger King for dinner so that's the extent of that.

This week has been pretty good though. We found 2 new investigators that we will be meeting with this week so we will see how that goes. We also had a zone training about the Christmas initiative but I will talk about that in a minute.

The Elders from Frederikshavn came down and we had splits with them so that was fun. The other two Elders used bikes so I was on foot. We did a lot of walking haha.

My Birthday was yesterday and that was pretty good. Elder Olson made me some Æbleskiver for breakfast and we had church. Then, in the evening, I had a few different missionaries call and say happy birthday so it was about all I could ask for. I also got a little package from my grandparents and it had a muffin mix. Those don't exist here so that was just fantastic!

So the zone training on Thursday was awesome. They showed us the new Christmas video and initiative and we talked about how we will be using it over the next while. The video is great. If you haven't seen it I would suggest you all visit mormon.org and check it out. The whole website has been shifted to the Christmas initiative. The theme is service. It talks about how Christ is the light of the world and how we are the light of the world. We are to follow his example and spread the light through service. I have already seen how great this is with one of our investigators. We had a lesson with her and showed her the video. She loved it and talked about how great it made her feel. She eagerly accepted the challenge to do service every day in December leading up to Christmas. Anyways check it out it's great. And join in the worldwide day of service on December 1st.

I know that when we spread Christ's light through service we will experience an indescribable happiness. #lighttheworld I love you all and hope you are enjoying the holidays.

Love Elder Smith 

Pictures for this week:

Hi Mom! I'm glad you survived raising me. I will sit on your lap as a 20 year old when I get home. :)

I like your Facebook post. Those are good pictures. I was a cute little kid.

Haha I wasn't sure what to say in the video (for Grandpa and Grandma leaving on their mission) and I had to break the rules and send it on not Pday. I'm pretty sure it was okay though haha. I'm glad it worked.

I had a pretty good birthday. Elder Olson made me some Æbleskiver for breakfast and I got phone calls from a few missionaries. That was about it though. I got a little package from grandma smith with a muffin mix and some jerky. I didn't get anything else so I guess I will get a lot of Christmas stuff.

I didn't make any pie or cinnamon rolls yet. They don't have anything pie related in stores so it would probably have to be from scratch. They don't have graham crackers either but they have different cookies I can use. I will try it one of these days. Thanksgiving was okay. It was the worst Thanksgiving I've ever had. Not because it was a bad day but it wasn't special. We had a zone training and they showed us the Christmas initiative stuff and then we ate at burger king.

I'm glad you had a good Thanksgiving. And that you got to spend time with grandma and grandpa. I miss them too haha. I wish I could visit them on their mission.

That is probably true with the packages. Elder Olson sent one home this week and when we went to send it it was 517 crowns to send. That's like over 80 dollars the lady said that it cost so much because it was over 2 kilograms so he took something out and it was 100 crowns. Sending stuff here is dumb. But speaking of sending stuff I have a package for you all but I need 100 crowns to send it. If you can try and put 100 crowns on my card I want to try and send it today. I hope it will get there before Christmas. I'm excited for Christmas.

Maybe I will do yoga one of these days. But it doesn't do a very good job of waking me up.

Yeah I'm 100 percent sure the temperature in Utah gets colder but the wind, rain, and humidity doesn't help. I think winter sucks no matter where you are haha.

Nougat bits are like a sugary cereal with nutella in the middle. I don't like them that much because the outside gets slimy fast. You can probably google a picture of them.

What did you think of the candy? I can't remember what kind it was.

I'm glad you get to speak in sacrament about that. I love the Christmas initiative!

I loved you mom!

Hey dad! 

It has been a good week. I like your story of me being born. I told Elder Olson about it yesterday.

Dad's story of Tyler's birth: 

Dear Tyler,
I know it won't be your birthday when you read this, but it still is as I write. So, Happy Birthday! I hope you have had a good day. It's gone by so fast. Nineteen years that is. I still remember it so well. Mom had been on bedrest for months trying to keep you from coming early. I had to do all the Christmas shopping that year. I would go and buy things, bring them home for her to see, and then take back the stuff she didn't approve of. I went and bought all the stuff to make a Thanksgiving meal by myself because we weren't going to be able to go anywhere. But we ended up going to the hospital. And you decided it was time to come. I remember being so proud of my first son. I remember that I couldn't stop smiling. The hospital told mom they would be bringing her a thanksgiving meal and said I could pay for one if I wanted. I didn't want to eat hospital food and thought for sure I could find a place open to go eat. I found Angie's Diner open and went in. I just kept thinking how exciting it was to have a little boy. They asked if I wanted the thanksgiving meal and I sad yes. They were treating me so nice and kept asking me if I was doing okay. Finally I asked for the check and they said " no, it's fine. It's on us for thanksgiving." I was so confused. And then I looked around and realized everyone there looked homeless. And then I looked at myself. I had been up all night. I hadn't shaved in days. I was wearing my old raggy Levi jacket. I looked homeless. Haha. I'll never forget it. All of it.

It sounds like you had a great Thanksgiving. I wish I could have been there. I'm so proud of Grandma and Grandpa.

How has home teaching been going for you and Cooper? How are the Holberts?

Things have been going better. I think it just is hard doing the same things, but we are trying to do more different things. Thanks for the advice.

I will try to do better with my prayers. I like your ideas.

I wish I could write you a better email right now but there is something beeping really loud in the library. It's been going on for like an hour. I tried to figure out what it is but I don't know where it's coming from. It's given me a huge headache and I hate it. I will write you a better one next week. 

I love you. Thanks for everything. Have a good week.

Love, Elder Smith

6 Months!

Hey everyone! I hope it's been a good week. I hit my 6 month mark this week so I am one fourth finished with my mission. That actually makes me pretty sad. 

The week started out rough but it ended well. Well, it was fun the first couple days. 

On Monday we went to Carls Jr. for Pday. There are only 2 or 3 in Denmark so that was fun. They have the biggest drink cups in Denmark and free refills. That is super uncommon and free water doesn't exist. So that was fun.

We had splits in Århus on Tuesday with the zone leaders. That was super fun because I got to do work with my old district leader Elder Dibble. We had a good time.

After that things got harder. We had 7 appointments burned or cancelled over the next 3 days and that was all we had, so we were left with several hours to knock on doors. That wasn't necessarily bad because we found some potentials and got a lot done, but it was tiring and hard.

Finally on Saturday we had an appointment that didn't fall through. It was nice and the rest of the week was much better.

We had a lesson with this guy from Greece on Saturday night. He wouldn't be quiet for 5 seconds to hear us say anything. I interrupted him so many times and just told him very loudly what I wanted to say and give a little testimony to go with it. He would stare at us for a couple seconds after that and then rage on again about how our church isn't the apostles and his church is the greek word for the right or something. It was ridiculous. At the end of the lesson he wouldn't take a Book of Mormon because he said he had read a ton of books just like it. We left and just stuck it in his mailbox. He called us yesterday night and talked to us for over an hour on the phone about random stuff and we finally had to just hang up.

On a more spiritual note we had a lesson with another one of our investigators earlier on Saturday. She has a lot of up and downs emotionally and is depressed a lot of the time. She has a hard time understanding that God loves her and is not upset with her. We had a lesson on happiness and all the blessings our Father in heaven has given us. She really enjoyed when we told her about the atonement and that Christ understands everything we are going through. I was thinking about it later and it truly is an amazing thing. Christ suffered so much. Everything, so that we can overcome every hard time. He understands you and he understands me and he knows, when no one else does, how we feel. I can promise you that and that he wants you to be happy.

I love you all and I hope you have a super good week. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Love Ældste Smith

Pictures for this week:

Hi Mor! I hope you've had a good week. I'm super excited for Thanksgiving, even though we probably won't have anything super exciting for it. Can you believe I've been out 6 months?

3 Christmas packages? Why so many. I guess it's okay if they don't come because I will just have the excitement later. I don't know if I will get my birthday one because I think the office is probably holding all the packages until our Christmas conference. Packages could be sent to my apartment but it's easier if they go to the office. They just take longer. The only problem with sending them to my apartment is that if I'm not in the apartment to pick them up, I have to go somewhere the next day for it. And if I get transferred before it comes it's a pain.

That's sad. Did you cry when you got released. You probably could have done both callings but I'm sure someone needs to be in that calling and have the special thing you were given. I'm sure you and Tonya will stay friends. Camp will be exciting. All the girls will remember you from before and be excited.

Tv is to the left ;) The addresses are interesting.

That's good with yoga. I should start doing yoga in the morning for exercise. My companion would think I was weird.

The worst part of slammed doors is that they didn't listen long enough to know what they were rejecting and I want to give it to them!

I've heard the cold gets worse, but I really hope it doesn't. Some days are colder than others.

Yeah they definitely don't like Trump here. Everyone asks us what we think about it. I hope everyone calms down soon.

It was just like this chicken sauce on like a thin pancake thing. I'm not sure how to describe it but it was pretty good.

I can't believe I did the nougat bit challenge again either. I don't really like nougat bits. I just like challenges.

I love you mommy. Thanks for being you. 

I'm not sure what they have as far as premade pie crust or pie filling or pies because they don't really have pie here, but I will see what I can find. I also need a recipe for pancakes, german pancakes, and rolls.
Love, Elder Smith

Hey Dad!

I'm doing good. It's been a good week. I'm staying as warm as possible in this cold. I am happy and positive. I'm learning tons. I learned this week how to get through some long days. I'm growing a lot with recognizing the Spirit, I know a lot more and understand a lot more about the gospel. I wish my prayers were better so if you have any suggestions with that it would be helpful.

That's good that things are running smoothly with work. How was Austin doing? Did he have a new job? Was he reluctant to come back? What is Dave doing? 

How cold is it back home? I'm sorry fall is leaving. I love fall. We bike all over the place. I'm in shape I'm just not very skinny. Working out is hard on a mission. Getting ready for winter is a lot of work haha. I'm glad I don't have to do all that. Mom is probably going to laugh at you every time you say you are cold. Do all your clothes still fit or are they too big?

Your calling would be fun. If you are helping plan Helaman's camp it is your fault if it's not fun haha. Was Bradon Gerrard super different. That's crazy that he's home.

I'm glad you're proud of me. You have been a good dad. It's my fault we didn't always get along but I still learned a lot from you. We will always be able to spend time together.

I'm excited for the Holidays coming up. I hope things go well with it. I'm sad I probably won't have much of a Thanksgiving. In Roskilde Sister Stokholm was going to make a huge Thanksgiving dinner for us but we don't have hardly any eating appointments here. That's alright though. They just made me fat. 

I love you lots. Thanks for being you.

Love Elder Smith

Nougat Bits Round 2

It's been a pretty great week. We had a lot of knocking, a lot of teaching, a lot of finding. We also had quite a bit of success. On Tuesday we were able to go on splits in Frederikshavn. That was pretty fun and I was able to do work with Elder Jensen, who trained Elder Weese. So in mission terms, I went on splits with my Grandpa. I learned a lot from him and he is a great missionary. While we were on splits we taught some Eritreans. They didn't really understand Danish or English. And they don't have any materials in their language. The closest language we have is Amharic and only one of them could kind of understand that. So we taught them the best we could and afterwards they gave us some really good african food. They were really interested so I hope they find a good way to communicate and learn. Later in the week we got to go on splits with the other Elders in Aalborg. I was with Elder Stephens. It was pretty fun and we did the Nougat bit challenge. If you don't remember what that is it is where you eat this whole box of cereal and one liter of milk in one sitting. It's pretty fun. I beat my previous time of 15:49 and got a 13:45. Sadly Elder Stephens threw up. And I have pictures! Not of him throwing up. Just during the challenge. The rest of the week consisted mostly of knocking and a few lessons. Last week we found two new investigators and we taught one of them this week. It was pretty great. He was mostly interested in what the Book of Mormon was. We taught him about the restoration and invited him to read the book and pray. He understood everything perfectly and accepted the invitation. The only downside was that he didn't want to make another appointment right then. He said he would call when he wanted to hear more. I'm really hoping and praying all goes well with him and that he receives the answer he is looking for. Yesterday night after we came in I decided to watch the Joseph Smith movie. It was really good and the Spirit was really strong. Sometimes I forget how much the early saints went through to start this amazing church. They suffered so much persecution and exercised an amazing amount of faith so that we could have the truths that we have today. I am extremely grateful for Joseph Smith and all the people that followed him and believed him so we can have the true church of Jesus Christ. Thank you all for your love and support. I am thankful for you all. Have a good week! Elder Smith



Hey Mom!

Yeah the weeks are definitely flying. I have been thinking about that a lot lately. Pretty soon you all will get to see me on Skype!

Are you excited to get ready for camp?

Yay I'm excited. Grandma said she sent me a package too. I hope it went to the right address. I don't want Elder Lee to have to pick up another package for me haha. I bet they will come in time. I will send you all a letter today. I will try to send another one before Christmas too, but it might be late.

No music in particular. I have quite a bit now so unless you have something really good haha. Or if I think of something I will ask you for it.

The addresses are kind of weird but it makes more sense if you understand the language. Or if you see the buildings. They are basically little apartment buildings with around 3 to 5 floors with 2 or 3 rooms on each floor. So it makes sense to specify just to left or to the right.

I miss yoga sometimes. Haha Kristen is funny. Are there still just a bunch of people sleeping? Maybe you can do a big half circle.

Haha I could just say whatever I wanted not even in Danish and you wouldn't know haha. Just ask Cooper what it sounded like at the airport. It's okay you forgot because I'm sure it's much better now.

We had a guy argue with us telling us we could have multiple wives so sometimes people are just dumb. I have really learned patience with people. I never thought I would have so many people shut their doors so angrily and impolitely. Not very many people give us any time to say why we are there.

It has been getting pretty cold. It's cold to bike in haha. I have been warm enough. Our apartment stays warm but it is always cold in the morning. My new apartment is quite a bit bigger and just a little nicer. I like having some extra space. It isn't too bad biking in rain and snow. The snow doesn't really stick so it's mostly just cold. There are always people biking in whatever weather. Maybe not as many but there are always people.

We have taught them and have an appointment with one. The story about the other will be in my group email.

If people would just look at both sides of the picture there wouldn't be so much hatred. I have definitely heard of the election over here. Some of the Danes are more worried about it than Americans. They always ask us about it. Members not as much but some of them even ask us. People just need to be quiet and choose who they think should be president. And people here just need to stop worrying about it.

I miss you lots. You are an amazing mother. Keep being you. I love you!

Love, Elder Smith

Hey dad.

It's been a good week. It is starting to get pretty cold. Winter is no fun. But I guess it's better than sweating like crazy. At least in missionary clothes. That's good news about the store. It does kind of suck that you've put in so much work with the new store as well as sold in the area for a long time. But I'm glad you're not moving.

Leaves sounds like fun. There is always something to do in our yard. I'm sorry you didn't have anyone to help. That makes it a lot less fun. That sounds better with the camper. I hated it where it was.

Meetings are tiring. I like the 9th ward. Are there any other missionaries out from there besides Christian? Yeah for the Christmas choir thing I have they asked us for some suggestions so I asked Mr M. for one we did last year and asked him if he had other ideas. He answered and was really helpful. I hope he's not too upset with me anymore.

I did have some good leaders over the years. I wish I remembered them all and what I learned from them. I will try and write him something. Do you have an email for him? Or I could just write a letter.

I'm also glad I got my eagle project done. I'm sad I never had a court of honor but I'm glad I got it done. I actually learned a lot from it. I did see the moon. It was really cool. The sun has also been like bright orange in the evenings.

I love you dad. Thanks for everything. Have a good week and stay warm.

Elder Smith

Winter is coming

Hey y'all it's been a great week. I've been getting used to my new area and biking all over. We bike a lot here in Aalborg. Our actual area is a city north of Aalborg called Nørresundby so we bike over there every day. I'm really liking my new companion Elder Olson. We have had a lot of fun so far.

Winter has been starting to creep in here. It rained on us most of the week and yesterday we got snow for the first time so yeah. Not to fun to bike in. I better get used to it though because it's coming whether I'm ready or not.

We've done a lot of knocking this week and also had a lot of lessons. We play basketball on Wednesdays so I get to play another sport I'm no good at. If only we could swim.

On Saturday I got to go to Aarhus because Elder Olson had some sort of district leader meeting so that was cool.

Sunday was great. We had church and I got to meet the ward. After that we had a couple lessons and some time to go knock on doors. After about 10 minutes of knocking we found 2 new investigators. It was awesome.

I don't have much else to share but you are all great.

I want you all to know that I am 100% sure this church is true. I have learned for myself and I share it with others every day. I hope you all have found out for yourselves. All it takes is a little searching and a humble prayer to our loving Heavenly Father. I know that he loves us all and watches over us. Always remember that. 

I love you all and wish you the best. Hope you are ready for the cold. Have a great week.

Love Elder Smith

To Mom:

I can't believe it's November, or that time is flying by so fast. I sometimes wish it would go by a lot slower.

I'm sorry you were alone. That's sad. But I am glad Dad and Coop got to go pheasant hunting. I miss doing that kind of stuff. I am sad too when other people have fun without me. Luckily I'm on my mission so I'm always having fun. But I hope you don't get too lonely.

It is pretty here in Aalborg but definitely different from Holbæk. It's a lot busier. It's not a huge city because Denmark isn't that big but there are a lot of people. We actually work in a different city just north of Aalborg called Nørresundby. We live in Aalborg though so that means we do a lot of biking. Elder Olson is great.  We get along great and laugh a lot. We have definitely had fun so far. He is from Sandy and played football. He is about my size. He's cool. We will have a great companionship.

You don't need to resend anything. Elder Lee already took the package to the office so it's fine. That way you don't have to send anything else. It costs so much to send stuff here. I see peoples' packages and it's like 60 bucks.

My toe isn't fully healed. It's stupid. It is a lot better than before though. My shoes don't bother it. They help.

I think the music worked fine. It's on my USB now.

So the addresses are kind of weird. The floors go St 1 2 and so on. St is the first floor and it stands for Stuen. But the 1 is actually the second floor so yeah it's weird. Tv means til venstre. Which means to the left. Th is til højre, to the right. 9000 is the postal code.

I'm glad Wendy likes me now. I feel bad for what a pain I was. I hope Cooper comes out of it faster than I did. Except I think his is a little different than me. How is yoga with the swim team?

I love you mom. You're the best. I miss you too, but it I get to see you in not too long for Christmas.

I heard a story about some missionaries in Ireland a really long time ago that dusted their feet and shook off their jacket or however it goes because that town chased them out and then that town was in poverty for a long time. I don't know if it's true or not but it is interesting. Missionaries have to much power haha. They give a lot of responsibility to 18 year olds. We do have to tell a lot of people that we don't have multiple wives. That one is the most common.

I love you lots. Have an amazing week!

Love Ældste Smith

To Dad:

This week has been good. Elder Olson is great. He has been out a few months over a year I think. He is good at the language. We are obedient. The area is big and we bike everywhere, just in time for winter. It's a pretty wicked place. They have a street with the most bars on it in one place in the world and there are strip clubs everywhere so we bike past half naked pictures on the way to the church building. They also have free beer night coming up soon. They definitely need the gospel. We bike over a huge bridge every day and the wind is always blowing. The ward is awesome and the members are great. We don't have any super solid investigators but some new ones that are pretty positive.  I don't have any good stories.

It sounds like you had fun hunting. I'm glad you got to go. How did Cooper do? I'm glad you got to spend time with grandma and grandpa. It's kind of weird they will be home aroung the same time as me. When does it get dark there? It get's dark really early here now. I don't like it. It's sad.

That run sounds kind of fun haha. At least it was something different.

Thanks for being an awesome dad. I love you lots. Thanks for everything. Have a great week.

Love Elder Smith

Read This One :)

So I have news for this email. I have to have an exciting one every once in a while. I had a great week and we had some great experiences. We had zone conference with a general authority on Wednesday and we got transfer calls on Thursday night. 

I'm emailing from Aalborg this week because that's my new area. I left Elder Lee and Holbæk at 7 this morning and had a 5 hour train ride to Aalborg and my new companion Elder Olson. Aalborg is the 4th biggest city in Denmark so it will be a little different from little Holbæk.

This week has been great and I have had a lot of fun. On Monday we carved pumpkins at the church in Roskilde and it was fun, but I'm not very good at carving pumpkins. After we were done we left the building to find our car with a flat tire. I put the spare on like a pro and we took it in the next morning. It had a screw in it longer than my finger! I don't know how that happened but it was pretty annoying.

On Wednesday we had an amazing zone conference with Elder Paul V. Johnson. We talked and learned about teaching and how to improve our teaching. It was so helpful and I had a lot of questions answered.

On Thursday we had splits in Nykøbing and it was fun. I don't have any great stories from it but it was good to spend time with and learn from the Elders down there before I was transferred.

The weekend was great and we put in some really good work. We had a great lesson with one of our investigators and we even got a member to come with.

Well that was my week and I luckily finished packing in time to get on the train this morning. I don't have anything super special to share but on Sunday I got the chance to share my testimony in church before I left. While I was talking I just looked out over all the members and was overwhelmed with gratitude because of everything they have done for me. They were patient with my Danish and loved me right into the ward. It's great to see the members examples of true Christlike love. Charity is definitely an attribute we can all work on for eternity. 

I love you all and I hope you aren't too cold yet. Thank you for everything.

I sadly don't have a way to send pictures right now so I'm really sorry about that. Next week :) (note from mom: he sent photos for this week the next week, so I attached them here)

Love Elder Smith

To Mom:

They don't celebrate Halloween as much as in the US but I've heard that it's getting bigger. That does sound like a sad Halloween. As long as you have candy that's all halloween is good for. Just remember that if we were still little kids you wouldn't even want to think about Halloween.

I got transferred to Aalborg. It's going to be an adventure. I got one of the parts of it. I got the two DVDs. I got the package slip for the second part but I couldn't pick it up until today at 1 so yeah. I just asked Elder Lee to pick it up and give it to the office and eventually I would have it. Should I just tell them to keep it there? I didn't exactly need every one of the books in English and Danish haha. But I can do that either way. I can't believe I'm almost 19. That's crazy. I'm old. Guess what. On the 18th of November I will have been on a mission for 6 months. Time is just flying away like crazy.

I wish I could hear Brandons farewell. I'm sure he did good. I'm excited to hear about his mission.

The Naturskole was pretty neat. I might get some cool city pictures here in Aalborg. I would love to come back and give you a tour. Start planning for that.

My toe is doing better. It wasn't ingrown just some sort of infection that hurt like crazy. It's a bit better so I hope it fully clears up. I wish dad wouldn't have given me that problem. Toes suck.

My hands didn't hurt but I can't count how many times the potatoes slipped out of my hands. Don't worry you're pretty tough for how small you are. I wouldn't try and fight you.

I didn't get the scripture case back yet. They forgot to bring it to conference, but they are in my zone now so I will see them at some point soon.

I usually bring it with me. I think that would work. I got a lot of music from Elder Lee but if you have any good stuff I would like it. I like music.

The other fourth floor last door story was on a BYU talk I think but yeah it was good to hear it twice. And they both applied in a different way.

That is pretty sad about Lilly but I think that would be good. I really hope she behaves for them because they sound nice. She will probably be extra happy.

I love you too!!! Fortsæt at spise sundt mad. :) smil oft. Elsk alle. Jeg elsker dig.
Love Elder Smith

Dad,

I'm super excited for the next while in the new area. So far it's just a big city. My companion seems great so far and I think he is from Salt lake. It's a biking area and he said they biked 1000 miles last transfer. My week has been good and the language has really been coming along. We will see how different the dialect is here.

Work is no fun. I hope things pick up and work out. I don't even know what I want to do with my life one day. Good thing I know what I have to do now! It's starting to get dark early here too. Especially because of the time change. That sounds like a good service project with the Clabaughs. You've also been doing good at running. I've been working out but I don't lose any weight.

I hope you get to go pheasant hunting if Cooper can't go to the meet. I miss doing that.

Christina was the investigator we were working with most and we had a great lesson with her on Saturday so I hope all goes well with her. We aren't working super closely with any less actives but we had one with to our lesson on Saturday and he will be there next week too. So that's great.

Thanks for everything. I'm sorry my emails kind of suck. I can't wait to skype you in a couple months. I love you.

Love Elder Smith