#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