Godt Nytår!

Hey everyone!

It has been a pretty good Christmas week for us.

Elder Hunt and I were able to do a lot for the members here over the past week. We have had a hard time finding and keeping investigators, but there has been a lot of good less active work to do here. We had breakfast yesterday with one of them and it was great! 

We had splits with the Frederiksberg Elders earlier this week and that was good. I was able to go with Elder Merril and we had a good lesson with MaryAnn. He is a great district leader and he is great at making you feel comfortable and happy. 

We also had splits with the APs, and that was good. I was with Elder Ericksen and we got a lot done. We visited a less active part member family that he knew from when he was here and we set up an appointment with them for the next day, which went really well.

We had Christmas zone conference which was a great time and I enjoyed the trainings a lot as well. We got to see Moana and had some great food.

On Saturday we got transfer calls and I found out I will be leaving Taastup to go to Kolding and Elder Saviano will be my new companion. I am grateful for the time I have had here in Taastrup and this transfer with Elder Hunt. He is a great missionary and friend. I hope I was able to help him half as much as he helped me. I am looking forward to Kolding with Elder Saviano. He is an amazing missionary and I have learned a lot from him serving around him before. It should be a great transfer.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you will have a great new year. 

Council with the Lord as you set your new years resolutions and he will help you set goals and motivate you to be a better person.

I love you all! Have a good week.

Elder Smith

Hey Mom!!!

I love you! I'm glad you got my package in time. Sorry I forgot to slip in the letters.

I got your package and I loved it. Thank you so much!

I didn't end up making Cinammon swirl bread, because we had breakfast with a less active on Christmas and he wanted risengrød. I learned to make that though and it turned out pretty good.

That is so cool that you did so cool with light the world. Thanks for being such a good example and an awesome missionary.

I love you lots and lots. Thanks for skype yesterday. Have a great week!

Love Elder Smith

Dear dad! 

It has been a great Christmas and it was so good to see you all. 

That is cool that you got to go Christmas shopping for those little boys. I'm sure they were super happy and grateful. Happy Anerversary! Your marriage is getting old! Haha Good job serving the waitress :)

I like musical sacrament meetings. Music is one of my favorite ways to bring the spirit. I am proud of Cooper that is super good he could get ordained.
I am excited for this next transfer in Kolding with Elder Saviano. It sounds like a cool area and I really like Elder Saviano. I don't like the feeling that I don't have much time left on the mission. I don't think about it so much, but the members and other missionaries bring it up all the time. It is really annoying. I will keep working hard though and loving it all. 

I love you lots. Thanks for being my dad and for being such a great example. Have a good week!

Love, Elder Smith

Great Week!

It has been a good week for us. The zone had so many people in church yesterday it was crazy! In our ward we had somewhere around 10 to 12 in church investigators and less actives combined. It was awesome. 

On Monday we were able to go see Handels Messiah with Nicklas in vor frue kirke. It was way cool! I have never seen the whole thing. When Nicklas invited us he thought it was a shortened version that would go from around 7 to 8:30, but when we got there we found out it was the whole thing and that it would go until around 10:30, so we had to call our mission president in the middle and he said we could stay so we got home super late. It was different haha.

We had splits with Ballerup on Tuesday and I was with Elder Stephens. It was great. He is a great missionary and he rarely thinks of himself. I learned a lot from him when we were companions in Seden and I keep learning from him now. I will miss him a lot when he goes home. 

On Wednesday we had splits with Slagelse and I was with Elder Angerhoffer. He is doing well. I can tell he is a little nervous when it comes to talking to people, but he is also diligent in learning and has a lot of faith. He knows he can overcome his fears and he does!

We met with a couple of our less actives this week and that went well. We had 2 of them come to church yesterday. 

MaryAnn is unfortunately not progressing. We have tried a lot of different ways to teach her and it doesn't seem to get through. She is stuck on four things. Have faith, have hope, trust in God, and "all we can do is pray". Good things, but I don't think she understands faith in the way that she doesn't understand the repentance part of it all. She is so close to baptism, yet also far away because she is not moving forward at all. 

Well that is all for the week I think. I hope you all are doing well. I am super excited for Christmas. It is an amazing time of year and I love it as a missionary. I hope you all remember what Christmas is about this year. I hope you are lighting the world with service and the message of Christ. Have a great week and a merry Christmas!

Love, Elder Smith

Hey Mom!

Haha that is pretty funny. I'm glad we didn't have too many problems with you calling us Aubrey while she was gone  :)

I love Light the world as well. It is going well here and we have been challenging a lot of members to Light the World!

The shoes are black. The brown ones are still holding on for now haha. I really liked the nativity. I will send you a picture of it next week. I think I'm doing pretty good with clothes. I may need another pair of pants before the end of my mission. I think otherwise I'm doing pretty good. These shoes should last the rest of my mission. 

Messiah was so cool! We are going to Tivoli again today! I have really enjoyed just seeing a lot of Copenhagen. There is so much to see here! 

I'm glad Coop is doing good right now. I worry about him a lot. I was so sad when I got the email about him losing his job and getting kicked off swim team. Poor guy. I will pray for him.

I'm proud of dad for finishing his pathway program. That is exciting! I don't know what to do about college. As of now I'm not sure about going to SUU. I'm leaning a little more towards USU. BYU would be cool, but I don't think I could get in. BYU-I is also an option. I don't know if I want to go to school at home. Although it would be a lot cheaper. I guess I will ask my mission president if I can use some extra time on pdays to look at that kind of stuff.

Those Christmas parties sound like fun haha. Your family is crazy. I got a kick out of those two incidents. 

I hope the package will hurry. It is kind of Christmas stuff so it won't be quite as cool. There is a plate in there that is mine because it was a gift, but the other stuff is for everyone. No one specific. We are going to the mission presidents home for the 25th and I'm not sure exactly when we will call from. I will find out and email you later this week to let you know when.

Haha I love Elder Hunsaker. He seemed to be having a hard time in the beginning but has improved so much. It is hard with all these new missionaries around. That I would love to be companions with, but probably never will. He is a good missionary.

I'll see you soon! Love you mommy! Have a good week!

Love, Son

Hey Dad!

I am doing well. It was a good week and we had a lot going on. We hopefully will be able to keep it up. I'm tired of being fat. Christmas is hard. I will have from January to may to get skinny before coming home. I just need a companion that will be strict with me haha.

Good job getting As! At least you have a litte break before January. Just work hard and keep getting As.

I bet you loved those family parties haha. Good you could handle two in one week :) 

I am excited for Christmas. I am not sure about skyping yet, I will find out and send you an email later this week of when.

I'm not sure about college yet. I will probably want to go in the fall. I just don't know where. I will probably work all summer. I will ask President if I can look into it a little more.

Thanks for everything you do dad. I love you lots and lots and lots. Have a good week. See you on Christmas!

Love, Elder Smith

average week

Well hey everyone! Things are getting cold and Christmas is on the way. I am super excited.

Nothing too crazy happened this week. We had splits like usual. I was able to go on splits with Elder Preece. We lived in the same apartment back in Aalborg so that was a lot of fun. I was also with Elder Hunsaker who is one of my favorite new missionaries.

We went and visited all the districts this week and gave a training on positivity and diligence. It went really well and I think it was one of the things that the zone really needed. It definitely helped me.

That is actually about all I can think of for this week. This next week should be good. We have a lot of work time and Christmas is getting closer. 

Well I love you all. Stay warm and happy and have a good week.

Love, Elder Smith

Hello Motherest dearsest!

I'm glad you are enjoying light the world. We are having a good time with it as well.

That is crazy you have two old kids. It is only going to get crazier from now on haha. Just be happy for the times you feel like you are in your 20s :) 

The new shoes are good. They are comfortable. Not super fancy, but they look nice. I got my birthday letters the other day in the office. I also found the little nativity seen and took that haha. I had to convince them I was supposed to get those before Christmas.

I saw a package for me there too so that probably came. I have a good story to tell you since I feel like the most expensive missionary ever. We went on splits earlier this week out of our area. The pants I had had a little hole in the crotch and the morning of splits I put them on and sat on the couch and bent one of my legs up and the little hole became a big whole. So I had to get some new pants that day so we could do missionary work without people looking in my hole. I spent about 350 crowns or 50 dollars on them. Could you put some money on my card for them? I feel super bad about money because I keep needing stuff. Am I costing too much?

We are seeing the performance of the Messiah tonight so I am super excited. We have had awesome Pdays recently. We are going to Tivoli again next Monday with a couple of Elders in our district so that will be nice and cold!

The Book of Mormon gifts were awesome! We want to do it again, but we aren't sure if we can organize it before Christmas.

I'm sad Coop has had a hard time, but that is good he is working hard to be ordained. He didn't tell me anything about it. 

I would love to be in the ward choir with you, but our choir here is also really small so be happy they have me :) The white Christmas performance was fun.

I'm sorry you couldn't get Aubrey or Cooper to give blood with you. They are boring I guess.

I will remember to pray for Felicia, that is sad that she's had to go through that. 

I'm glad you are done with Christmas shopping. I am excited to see what is in the package. Thanks for being a great mom :)

You are the best mom in the whole world. Have a good week and smile a lot! I love you!

Love, Elder Smith

Hey Dad!

It was a pretty good week. We went and sang at a plejehjem. An old person place. That was pretty fun. Mom has done a lot with it. She is pretty cool. Just help her with the ones she does if you are too busy for your own haha. I'm glad you had a good service FHE. When we sang to the old people there was this one guy who kept yelling DEJLIGT ER DEN HIMMEL BLÅ! It is one of the Danish Christmas songs. It was funny.

It actually snowed here last night! None of it stuck, but it was snowing pretty good. It has gotten pretty cold here.

My companion and I started running. Well, we have only done it twice. But I am pretty determined this time. I am sick of getting fatter and fatter.

I'm glad your classes are almost done. Work hard on your classes the first time and see if you can take some more next time. 

I hope things start going better for him. That is a bummer about the driving, but at least he didn't call the school pretending to be you to try and get out of it. I'm glad he is going to get ordained soon. 

I hope Aubrey doesn't forget you completely for the holidays haha. I hope she is happy with Caden though. 

I am really excited for Christmas. It is a good time as a missionary. The sad part about you seeing me is that my face really is chubby haha. I am excited to see you all though.

That is crazy that Ruth Hyde is home already. The time is going way to fast. I still feel like I have time, but it is running away from me...

Sometimes I feel like we don't do enough less active work. It is hard here. They don't have much support from the members. It is also a big problem with new converts. We have 8 that were baptized in this ward this year and they are all less active.

I love you lots. Have a good week and see you in a couple weeks!

Love, Elder Smith

Christmas is on the way!

Hey everyone! It has been a way good week! And busy too!

I had an awesome birthday on Monday. Our Friend Nicklas took us around Copenhagen. We went up a tower to the top of the courthouse, then we went to a fancy cake place called La Glace. After that we went to a little cafe where you play board games. It was sweet. 

On Tuesday we had splits in my last area Nykøbing. I got to see my past investigator Dorthe and eat with the Johansens, one of my favorite families in Denmark. It was a good splits.

On Wednesday we had splits with Slagelse here. That was fun as well. 

On Thursday we got a bunch of missionaries together and wrapped up like 130+ Books of Mormon. Then the next day we went to Strøget and set up tables and gave them out. It was so cool. It was two tables just covered in  presents and everyone wanted one. Also we have already had a few people call and want to hear more.

On Saturday we had our ward Christmas party and that was fun. Lots of good food.

On Sunday we had a music and the spoken word thing and a bunch of us Elders sang White Christmas and it went well. 

I think that is about it for the week. I love you all and hope you are excited for Christmas. It's getting closer! #LighttheWorld. Anyways, have a great week!

Love, Elder Smith 

To Mom:

Hey! I'm doing pretty good. I had an awesome birthday. We hung out with our friend Nicklas for my birthday, it was a blast! I got shoes this week as well! I haven't checked for the birthday letters. I will see as soon as we check the mailbox. We went to a really fancy cake place with Nicklas so yes! I got cake. The only people that said happy birthday were family and then Will, Rell, and Lindsey. 

I'm glad your concert went well. Speaking of Messiah, Nicklas is going to take us to see a performance of Messiah in vor frue kirke. The church with the Kristus statue.I'm super excited.

We are probably going to sing the first noel.

Light the world has been good. We started it with the big book of mormon thing on Strøget. It was so awesome. 

That is sad that you did swim team pictures and Coop couldn't be there. Do you know why he got fired from his job? I feel bad for him. It sounds like he is having a bit of a hard time, but he writes like 2 sentence emails so I don't know how to help him.

I'm excited for Christmas too! It will be my last skype call. It is going to be a good Christmas. 

Well I love you lots and lots. Have a super good week :)

Love, Elder Smith

Hey dad! It has been a good week. I will send some pics in my big email of our Light the World thing we did this week. Our Christmas Zone conference is on the 21st so I'm pretty excited about that. We don't have anything we need to do for it.

That is awesome that you are all signed up for school. Haha you always have to buy new things for your new hobbies. If you count school as a hobby... Do you have any religion classes this time?

I'm glad work is going well and that the concert is going well. That is not to good that Captain bit grandpa. That makes me sad too. I hope that doesn't happen again. I bet grandma wasn't too happy.

It is weird that I only have 5 months left. It is still a lot of time, but it is going way to fast. I love you lots. Have a good week.

Love, Elder Smith

Thanksgiving and getting ready for Christmas!

Well it was a good week! Last Monday Elder Hunt and I went and got a ton of Christmas lights for our apartment... (to be continued). We also went to the face to face with Elder Ballard and Elder Oaks and it was really good. It is cool to see the apostles answer hard questions so simply and clearly.

We had a good lesson with MaryAnn. She didn't come to church yesterday unfortunately, but things are going well with her.

We visited a few of the districs this week to talk about the Christmas initiative #LighttheWorld. I am excited for it and it goes along great with our zone goal Lift.

On Friday we had Birkerød on splits and that evening we put up all of our Christmas decorations. We had a lot of decorations in the closet of our apartment as well as the ones we bought on Monday. Needless to say our apartment is a Christmas wonderland. I will send pictures. 

Some members also put together a Thanksgiving dinner with all the americans in the ward, it was a lot of fun.

On Sunday we got invited by one of the senior missionary couples to come to their place for a Thanksgiving dinner as well. It was made by them and 3 other couples as well as Pres. and Sis. O'Bryant. It was a delicious dinner and a lot of fun.

I am excited for the Holiday season here and for the great spirit it brings remember that this time isn't about ourselves. In 1 Theselonians 5 it says that the will of God and Jesus Christ for us is to give thanks. We talked a bit  about why and I think it has to do with the fact that gratitude turns us outward. It humbles us and brings us closer to God. Be grateful and show it. Serve others and give them something to be greatful for. It will be a great blessing in the end.

I love you all. Have a great week!

Love, Elder Smith


To Dad:

I'm glad you still remember when I was born. Your memory isn't completely gone yet. haha. I think I feel the same. My companion reminded me that about a fourth of my life is over now so that is a bummer. They haven't sung the birthday song yet at zone conference but they probably will this coming one. 

Sometimes I miss being a little boy too. I am glad I am where I am now though. I think I am a better person. I had a personal study this week where I thought about how the gospel changes people. I was thinking about how it has changed me. I made a list of things that were most important to me before the mission and now. It was cool. Not everything on the list changed completely but my priorities are definitely different. It was cool.

I'm glad Cooper is getting into fishing. It would be awesome to plan a fishing trip together. I miss fishing a lot.

I'm glad your Thanksgiving was good. We had a couple good dinners as well so that was great :)

I wish the weather here was warm. It is getting colder and colder and colder and colder.

I love you lots dad. Have a good week.

Love, Elder Smith

Hey Mom! I love you! 

Thanks for the birthday wishes. We haven't done anything just yet, but we have some good plans for the day. I haven't looked for shoes yet, but we will be in Copenhagen a bit today and next Monday so I will keep an eye out. I haven't gotten any birthday letters yet. One from Grandma Howell a couple weeks ago.

I'm glad you had a good thanksgiving. Ours went well as well. I'm glad we have some good members here. That is crazy that the weather is so warm. It's not like that here, unfortunately.

We sing sometimes. It is fun having a singing companion. Sister O'Bryant asked us to find some piece of music to play or sing for the Christmas zone conference so we will see what we can find.

The lift goal is going well. We have just been trying to apply it whenever and wherever we can. Lifting all the people we talk to rather than being a burden. We are also working on lifting our zone and loving every member. We come up with the zone goals ourselves.

We haven't met with the lady again yet, but we texted her and she said she would get back to us. We will probably text her again soon.

That is cute with the little boy wanting to see your violin. Too bad you couldn't let him hold it.

Yeah I remember Holly Days not being that exciting. I think I only went there one year on a double date with Courtney and Aubrey and Michael.

Well thanks for being such and awesome mom. I love you lots. Have a super good week. :)

Love, Elder Smith

Is that today?

We had a busy week. We planned a zone goal this transfer focused on lifting others. Applying "lift" to everything we do as missionaries. Everyone seems pretty excited about it. We visited the districts to present that goal and everyone is doing well. There are some great missionaries in the zone this transfer. 

Elder Hunt and I have been getting along great and we are working extra hard. We had some great lessons with our investigators and we were supposed to have 3 of them in church yesterday. Unfortunately they all called either Saturday evening or Sunday morning and cancelled...

Funny story about Sunday. So like I said last week I was asked to give a talk on tithing. I completely forgot. On Sunday Elder Hunt and I are happily sitting in our seats and the second counselor comes and gets me and asks aren't you speaking today. I said yeeeaaahh... So I was the first speaker and during sacrament and the opening songs I was just wracking my brain for any and every experience I have had for myself and with investigators concerning tithing. It went well I think. I at least had a few things to say and felt fine about it. 

A cool experience we had this week started out less cool. We had an appointment with one of our new investigators and as we arrived she said she was busy. As we tried to find another time she said it wasn't worth it and dropped us. We decided to go out finding and knocked for a bit. It was going okay with a couple potentials, but then as we were walking we saw a mom pushing a stroller. I was reluctant to talk to her because it was pretty dark and it looked like she might be Muslim, but we decided to stop her and start talking. She said she wasn't too interested, but we asked if we could give her something to read. She said yes and we pulled out a Book of Mormon and started to tell her a bit about it. This sparked her interest and she started asking questions. How does a Mormon live? Why do bad things happen to good people? We walked with her as she pushed her stroller with her newly baptized son. We read a bit from 2 Nephi 2. She told us she normally would never talk religion with people, but she also said she doesn't think it was just coincidence we met her and started talking that night. She said she would read the chapters we gave her and she is excited to meet again. We are as well.

The Lord places us in the right place at the right time. He knows our needs and he will make sure we have what we need. I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Love, Elder Smith

To Mom:

Happy Thanksgiving to you!!!

We will have a little Thanksgiving on Friday with some members so that will be good.

I haven't been looking for any shoes yet. I will let you know. The shoes here are a little different. Maybe a little more "fashionable" but not too different.

I'm glad you were able to find someone to teach the class. Missionaries are great.

Elder Hunt is way cool. He is good at a ton of stuff. He is really good at singing and likes guitar. So we get along pretty well. 

We are the zone leaders. It is going well. We just go on a lot of splits and give trainings every once in a while. We also find a goal for the zone to work on every transfer.

Well hopefully you aren't late for the Jazz game. Why didn't we go to Jazz games when I was at home? 

I love you lots and lots times three trillion billion. 

Have a good week!

Love, Elder Smith

To Dad:

Hey! I'm doing good. It has been a good week with Elder Hunt. We get along really well. We are both zone leaders. There is a family in the ward and the dad is from America so they are having kind of a Thanksgiving party on Friday that we are going to. Thanks for eating extra pie for me. It's not like I need it haha.

It is weird that time is going down. I still feel like I have a lot of time, but at the same time things like school and work and stuff seem to be coming quickly. I don't feel much emotion toward it right now haha. It is only annoying when members say I don't have much time left. I feel like so far my mission has gone great. I have changed and grown a lot. I have met a lot of my goals and I do still have some for the next while. I set some a while back for the rest of my mission and I have some for the rest of this year to work on. 

That's awesome you got accepted into BYU-I! That is too bad you can't take much of a break, but you're right. It is easier to keep going than to get started up again.

I am glad you liked Aubrey's boyfriend. I'm also glad the bathroom is done!

Well have fun at the Jazz game and at thanksgiving. I will miss you all. Tell the family hi and that I love them. Don't get mad at the family gathering :)

Have a good week! I did read that talk it was great thank you! Love you lots!

Love, Elder Smith

New transfer! New companion!

Well we had a good week. Reading the Book of Mormon last week for Pday was hard. We were extremely tired after it. It took 16.5 hours in reading total. I don't think I will ever do it again, but now I can say I have done it.

We had a pretty normal week otherwise I would say. We had splits with the Elders from Ballerup and I was with my past companion Elder Stephens. That was fun. I love seeing old companions.

We had another big project in Copenhagen on Strøget. We gave out tons of Books of Mormon and talked to a lot of people.

We got transfers on Saturday and got the news that Elder Whitaker was leaving. He is on his way to Bornholm. My new companion is Elder Hunt from Sandy. He has been out for a little over 9 months. We are going to have a super good time.

Well I can't think of much else. I found out I will be giving a talk next Sunday on tithing so we will see how that goes.

As the cold sets in remember the things that bring warmth and happiness into our lives. Daily scripture and prayer will bring the spirit into our lives even when it gets a little dark and cold outside.

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

Love, Elder Smith

Hey Mom! 

Yes I got the money okay. Thank you. It will be plenty.

We got the book read but it was really really really hard. I don't think I ever want to try it again. The only cool thing was that I can say I've done it and it was cool seeing Every story come and go as we read.

That is sad that you had to go to funerals, but I'm glad you were able to play at them. I'm sure the people there really appreciated it.

What happened with the double booking? Oops... haha.

Haha your RS story makes me laugh. Yesterday our Elders quorum teacher didn't show so another guy said he would do the lesson. He basically did the same thing. Just asked all the missionaries questions. 

I got a new companion Elder Hunt! That is sad that Elder Johansen is getting transferred. His dad was telling me at stake conference last week that they baptized a Danish man that lived in Vernal! Crazy right?!

That is super sad about the Evans. Do you know anything about why? That made me really really sad. I don't know them that well, but I know he was the ward mission leader when I left. 

Here are the answers to your questions.

1. I can't really think of anything too weird that happened.

2. We had two with Nicklas but no members.

3. Nicklas took us to a place called Jensen's Bøfhus and I got ribs. It was super tasty.

4. We go to the basement of our building and pay 10 crowns a wash for the washing machines down there. 

5. There are a lot of pets and it depends. Not usually out in public, but some have them at home and they are really really annoying.

I love you lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots. Have a good week.

Love, Elder Smith

Hey Dad!

I am doing great. New companion! We are going to have a good time. 

That is sad that Elder Johansen is leaving. Did you ever get to feed him again? I saw his family at stake conference last week and that was great.

I hope all goes well with the boy haha. It would be a shame if you had to kill him. I guess he is already doing good things though if he got you to finish the bunkhouse. Can you remember that place when we first started it? It's pretty impressive what it is now. You will have to send me some pictures of the finished shower. 

That is nice that you have had the new work truck. Sounds like it is going to get some use haha.

I hope you get accepted into BYU. It will be worth it. It would be sad if you gave up after all that hard work.

I'm not ready for the cold. I'm just glad we have a car in this area I think that will make it better...

I love you lots and lots. Thanks for being my dad. Have a good week. 

Love, Elder Smith

Elder Sabin and stake conference

Hey everyone! It has been a good week!

We did a lot of finding throughout the week and we had splits with the Elders in Frederiksberg. I was with Elder Merrill and we had a lesson with one of their new investigators. It went super well and she commited to be baptized in January. They are in our ward so I will still be able to see her progress. She was in church yesterday so that was cool. 

On Thursday we had a zone conference and Elder Sabin from the seventies came and talked to us. It was super good! He talked to us about the gospel and what it leads us to, and how we can best bring it to others. It was cool, he started off the meeting by saying he wasn't going to tell us anything new, but things we already know. He said to listen to the spirit and we would learn a lot. And we did!

On Friday we had an MLC with Elder Sabin at the mission home and that was amazing too! We talked about how we could apply everything from the conference to the mission and help them in that way. It was so cool learning from a general authority.

Saturday evening we had the adult session of our stake conference and that was really good. Yesterday we had stake conference as well. It was awesome to see members from my very first ward and from the Nykøbing branch. I miss a lot of them and it was fun to talk to them. Especially the ones I couldn't understand when I last talked to them.

That's all I could think of for this week. We find out on Saturday about transfers. I will probably be getting a new companion so we will see what happens. We are reading the Book of Mormon for Pday today. Literally, the whole thing today. We are already finished with Alma. I will let you know how it went next week. 

Anyways. Love you all. Have a good week!

Love, Elder Smith 

Hey Mom!

I don't have much time today because we are trying to read the entire Book of Mormon today.

Well surprise for birthday/Christmas. Yesterday we were at the office doing some zone things and when we got back to the car there was a parking ticket. We forgot to set the parking clock thing in our car. So that is 750 crowns or 120 dollars. We are going to split it and each pay 60 so shoes can wait a while.

I'm glad you got a hike in and that you get hikes in. Is it getting cold yet?

Taastrup is my least favorite mostly because of scenery. It just doesn't feel like cozy Denmark.

Zone conference was awesome. He put a lot of work into it. I got all the scriptures studied, and they were awesome.

I will send you some pics of my apartment tomorrow.

My companion and I get along really well.

I can't think of the most discouraging moment. 

The happiest was probably that when we were on splits we put the other elders investigator on baptismal date!

I love you lots mom! Have a good week!

Love, Ældste Smith

To Dad:

Hey! I'm doing pretty good. Not super excited for winter. It is definitely getting darker and darker here. Haha that sounds like a good paper for your class. Good luck.

I'm glad you finally got a new truck! It's about time! 

Well I'm sorry I have to go. I am emailing at the mission office and one of the senior missionaries has to use this computer. I love you dad. Thanks you for everything.

Have a good week!

Tivoli! And winter! Darkness! Missionary work!

Hey everyone!

It has been a good week and a cold one. I think winter is on the way. We also had the time change so it gets dark not long after 4 o'clock.

We had an awesome Pday on Monday, we went to Tivoli, an amusement park built in 1843. It was super fun. I haven't done anything like that for a super long time.

We had a lot of splits this week. I went with Elder Birch and later with Elder Hunsaker. We have a lot of fun going on splits so much. And I learn a lot too.

We went and visited all the districts in our zone this week to give a training. That was good to. We talked about teaching while we find. 

We are going to have an awesome zone conference this week. Elder Sabin from the seventy is coming to visit the mission and it should be great. He gave us a big list of scriptures to study and I have been working on those. There are some really good ones.

A cool story from this week. We were able to have dinner with 2 of our new investigators who own and live at a housing place for all kinds of Christians. They were all there at dinner as well. Not long into dinner, many of them started asking questions surrounding our beliefs. The Book of Mormon, Prophets, missionaries, etc. It was amazing! After dinner, we sat in the living room with all of them and everyone was having more individual conversations. Elder Whitaker was teaching the two hosts, the ones who invited us. I was teaching two Canadian missionaries from their church next to me. It was an amazing experience, and I've never had something like that happen before. I think a lot of good things will come out of it.

Well that's all I can think of for this week folks. Something I was thinking about this week is the power of prayer and how important it is. We need to pray every day and all the time. Even when our prayers aren't answered right away, they will bring us closer to our heavenly father. Make prayer a priority and you will see the blessings it will bring.

Have a great week and enjoy the coming of winter. I love you all!

Love, Elder Smith

Hey Mom!

I can't think of anything I really need/want for Christmas. My shoes are starting to die. Other than that clothes are fine. I definitely don't want you to send anything special after last year. I will think about it and let you know.

Tivoli was so much fun!. It is really cool and there are lots of cool stuff in there. It is super old. It was a really fun Pday activity.

You never fail to have a few hikes every week! Where do you find the time? The weather here is starting to get chilly. Not looking forward to that. At least we have a car! :)

Holbæk was great. It didn't feel exactly the same, but it was still good. I don't know if I have a favorite. I miss some of the experiences I had in earlier areas or the people I was around. Most of them have gone home. I found out this week that Elder Lee my second companion, and Elder Olson my third, are both engaged. That's pretty weird. As far as areas go I like them all. Taastrup is probably my least favorite, but the people are good. 

That is fun you are doing Celia's pictures. She is fun. Haha I'm glad lot's of the swim team is grateful for you and nice to you.

I am excited for light the world too! We haven't had anything about it yet, but I'm sure we will be working with it! That should be super exciting! I loved it last year.

I love you mom! Have a good week!

Love, Elder Smith.

Hey dad! 

It has been a good week. Haha I guess neither of our lives change too much as far as what we do goes. I bet you were super happy Cooper got a deer. That sounds like fun. I miss raking the leaves with you. I was just telling Elder Whitaker yesterday about when we made the massive pile in the field. 

Sorry your classes haven't been too great or enjoyable. You talking about them makes me scared for school haha. Just kidding. I am somewhat worried about school though. I don't know where to go or what to study or how to pay for it. I am still not thinking about it too much, but whether I like it or not I am going to have to apply for schools soon. It makes me sick. I hope your classes go better. Maybe you will be able to find some classes you really like when you are finished with the pathway program.

I guess it's good Harvey was half happy haha. Sounds like fun having to manage multiple places at once. Sounds like a lot of work.

Tivoli was super fun. It wasn't very big, but it had some fun rides. Nothing in Denmark is too big. Especially right in the middle of Copenhagen. I hope you get some time to go pheasant hunting. I am looking forward to doing that kind of stuff with you next year.

I love you lots dad. Thanks for everything you do for me. Have a good week. Work hard.

Love, Elder Smith 

Big week

Hey everyone! It has been a great week!

Our Pday on Monday was awesome. Our friend Nicklas took us on another little tour of Copenhagen. First we went and saw a statue named Kristina. She represents the saints who left Denmark in the 1800s. The artist, Dennis Smith, is a relative, so it was cool to go and see it. After that we went through the Citadel, a big military base and training center. After that we went to Den Blå Planet. The national aquarium, it was so much fun. There is so much to see around here.

On Tuesday we had splits with the APs. I was with Elder Jensen and we went to a lesson with a guy named Nicky. It was the worst thing ever. He just wanted to argue. We showed him a talk from Thomas S. Monson. The one about the Book of Mormon. He then showed us a 15 minute hard core anti-mormon video. We were really upset but we decided to just leave instead of keep talking to him. After the video the spirit was already gone so there was no use trying to fight him.

The next day we had splits with Slagelse and I was with Elder Angerhoffer. He is one of the newer missionaries in the mission. It is so cool to see them learning and moving so fast. They also have a lot of dedication to learn the language and give it their all. It is awesome.

On Thursday I got to visit my very first area, Holbæk! Things were going a little slow there so we had a big blitz splits with 5 other companionships and helped them find some new people. It was so weird being in the area. I haven't been back there for a year so it was an experience.

We had a good day in church yesterday. Our investigator MaryAnn came to church which was exciting. She is doing well. We are working on helping her understand everything.

We had a dinner appointment with some members last night. The spiritual thought was about the scriptures. We each shared some favorite scriptures and why. Then we read 1 Nephi 19:23. All of our favorite scriptures mean a lot to us because of this. We have likened them to ourselves. They help us through hard times and are relatable to our own lives. So if I were to give one suggestion when studying the scriptures, I would say liken them to yourselves, apply them and you will learn so much more.

I love you all. Have a great week!

Elder Smith

Hey Mom!

I think it will be a pretty fun day. We are excited. Tivoli is the oldest ammusment park in the world! We get to go in our mission. I guess the parks here aren't too crazy. We are going in a group of 8 missionaries.

Haha I like hearing about your hikes, it's cool that you get to go so often. I guess you will find out in a year if they want you to still have that calling.

I know how you feel about the same thing every week. Missionary work never really changes that much so I don't feel like I have so much to say.

Nicklas is awesome. If we ever come to visit Denmark, or if he visits Utah you will meet him. He is a good friend, I hope one day he has the desire to come back.

MaryAnn is doing well. We talked about repentance with her and went in depth with more things to help her understand. She is very faithful, but doesn't understand much.

I don't really have fall pictures...still. I will really try and get some though. I'm sorry I've gotten so terrible at pictures.

We have started having a seperate English guest class with a member teaching and it is going really well. We had like 10 people there yesterday.

If you love the temple enough, I know you can do it! It would be cool if you found names to take with you too!

The goal is 16800 because it is 25 people a day per companionship haha.

I played on it for a minute. It was a little out of tune, but didn't sound untuneable. It was old and pretty. I guess they didn't want to give the effort of finding someone to take it.

The danes don't really celebrate halloween a ton. They are trying to adopt it, so there are some kids out, but it isn't huge or anything. I will probably dress up as a missionary. haha

I love you lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots.

Have a good week!

Love, Elder Smith

Hey Dad!

It was a good week. My companion is doing pretty good. He is pretty trunky but not much I can do about that. The weather is good half of the time. I love fall weather, but it rains about half the time... The amusement part is called Tivoli. It's the oldest one in the world and it's right in the middle of Copenhagen. It will be pretty cool. 

How are your classes going? Overwhelming? Challenging? Good? 

I always liked dodge pig. I'm glad it is well attended. I wonder why that is. 

I'm glad you enjoyed deer hunting. I bet Cooper is a little more disappointed than you that there weren't any bucks haha.

Do you get a discount at the movies because of Cooper? Sounds fun going to the movies as a little family of 3 haha.

I can't remember that story. You will have to tell it to me. I'm sure it was  a good talk. Even though you cried.

Why is Harvey's son coming? Maybe they will give you a raise. I guess I asked how your school was going before I got to this point on your letter. Sorry it feels like a bit too much. Can you take less classes at a time? Or are you taking the minimum?

I love you lots dad. Thanks for everything you do for me. Have a good week.

Love, Elder Smith

Zone conference, moving members (again), and other stuff.

Well it was a pretty good week. We had zone conference on Tuesday and that was fun. It was all on repentance and teaching repentance. It was super good. Elder Whitaker and I gave a training on Commitments and repentance.

We have been talking to a lot of people the past week. We made a goal as a zone to talk to 16800 people. It has been a lot of fun and really pushes us to get out and find people. 

Friday was a fun day. There was a member who asked us to help hand out fliers for a young single adult open house thing. We spent a couple hours in downtown Copenhagen doing that and we were super tired after that.

On Saturday we helped a member move to his new place. He was throwing out a piano which made me really sad. We would have taken it to our apartment, but we live on the 6th floor, so pretty impossible to get up there. We also watched some more of conference with our friend Nicklas in the evening. We saw the Saturday morning session and it was really good.

We had a good day in church yesterday and in the evening there was a broadcast from Elder Ballard to all of Europe. It was really good and he talked a lot about missionary work. Something he said I think applies to every one of us. He said we need faith in miracles. We can't lose hope in these people who do not have the same faith as us. We must believe in miracles and do everything in our power to give them the greatest gift. The Gospel. 

I love you all and hope you are loving life. Have a great week!

Love, Elder Smith

To Mom:

I'm glad you liked the video haha.

That is awesome that the temple was full. That would be hard to not be able to do things for yourself.

That is crazy that you are in the RS again. I am glad you are happy to serve that is what is important. Does that mean you got released from YW camp director? 

So Nicklas is one of our friends. He was a member but he left the church because he is gay. He still believes in everything, and has a strong testimony, but he doesn't want to fight anymore. He started coming to church a few weeks before I got to the area, but he isn't planning on coming back to the church, he is mostly coming because we are his friends and he helps with the music. He is awesome, but it is really sad too. He is taking us on another tour of Copenhagen today so that will be pretty fun.

We had a separate Gospel Principles class yesterday in English and we had a member teach it. It went really well. MaryAnn was in church again and she seems to still like it. We had to crack down in our lesson with her this week to help her understand the apostasy. It seems to go better with her though.

I will try to get some good fall pictures this week. The leaves are actually changing color now. I love you lots and lots and lots. Thanks for being the best mor ever. I hope you have a great week.

Love, Elder Smith

To Dad:

Hey! I am doing pretty good. It was a long week. I do enjoy the meetings. It is a lot of fun and I always feel really good afterwards and ready to work hard. 

That sounds like a fun race haha. I guess the race people should have had people at the checkpoints in time. That is cool that you did so well. When is your next race? I remember doing ragnar and I had a downhill leg. That was not fun. The downhill hurts especially after all the rest. Good job :) Is ideal dairy the place that the swim team always goes to? 

That sounds like a good training you did. I will write down those chapters and be sure to read them.

I'm sorry for the short email. I'm running out of time. I always plan to write good emails with lots to say, but I never have enough time. I'm sorry if my emails aren't good. I will try to do better. I will also send you a letter soon. It is much easier to write a nice letter to you in the evenings where it is relaxing and quiet as opposed to the library. 

I love you lots dad. I hope you are happy happy happy :) Have a good week.

Love, Elder Smith

From Eva Stokholm:

Week 1 and nothing is done.

Well as my subject implies, it was the first week of the transfer, which is always so busy. We spent the week preparing some goals and planning for the transfer. We went around to the districts in our zone and presented the zone goals and we had MLC. MLC got me super excited for zone conference this coming week and I learned a lot of good stuff. After MLC we planned for week 2 of the transfer and yesterday we had church and prepared our training for zone conference this Tuesday. So all in all, we taught a couple of our investigators, but didn't have any time to find. 

It was a good week though and it went by really fast. I think this will be a good transfer. We have a  lot of good stuff going on. One of the highlights of the week is that we had a dinner appointment with one of the senior couples that work in the office, Elder and Sister Johnson. They made us sweet pork burritos and we just had a super good time with them, it felt a lot like a family dinner at home. 

Well I hope you all are enjoying fall. The colors are changing here and it is beautiful. Have a great week! 

Elder Smith

Hey Mom!

I will try to attach the video.

Yeah I hope my teeth wont be too bad at home either.

Yeah! Go to the temple! I am going to go in like 3 weeks maybe. I am excited. It has only been since last July :)

I'm glad you got to get some hiking in. Do all you can before it gets too cold haha. That sounds like fun with Adam. I'm glad you have a good brother who likes to hang out with you. It sounds like you have gotten more used to the off the trail type of hiking. Even if it's on accident, and it doesn't even sound like you cried.

It was super nice of sister O'Bryant to make the chili. She makes such good food. I didn't get to listen to any more conference this week, because we have been so busy. I really hope we get the chance to this week. We will for sure with one of our friends Nicklas. We have plans to see one of the sessions with him. Have I told you about Nicklas yet?

We had that lesson in Gospel Principles as well, but it wasn't that good. The teacher for the class had a stroke a while back and the ward figured that would be a calling he can handle. He basically just reads straight from the book and thats it. It is good that they want him to have a calling he can do, but they need to think about the investigators coming to visit the church. Oh well. Nothing I can do about it. On the bright side, our investigator MaryAnn came to church!

Well I love you lots and lots and lots and lots. I hope you have a great week.

Love, Elder Smith

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6QZHsZdihNxdWZ0RWEyUDJGZXM/view

Dear Dad,

I am doing good. I have been up to all sorts of busy stuff this week. I didn't get to see the rest of conference yet. Hopefully this week. That is awesome that you are already almost two times through. We showed a couple of them to investigators and less actives this week. The one from Gary E. Stevensen and the one from Pres. Uchtdorf in priesthood session. Those were both really good. The weather is getting colder every day, but it hasn't been too bad yet.

I guess it's good you get some pretty drives in. The leaves are just now starting to change color and fall here. Denmark is pretty in the fall, because there are so many plants and trees to change color.

I like reading about the city of Enoch, it would be interesting to be a part of a city like that. That sounds like a good talk from Elder Christofferson, I will have to look it up.

That's good you got a couple runs in. I would like to run, but it is hard to be dedicated and my companion doesn't want to run. Hopefully your race goes well. Just enjoy it and run hard. Is it a trail run again? 

I always liked preparing the yard for winter haha. Have all the leaves fallen yet? Are you going to make a giant leaf pile out in the field? Haha how did Cooper convince you to do another deer hunt? You promised to never do that again haha. Oh well I'm sure Coop is happy about it.

I love you lots. I will try and send you some good stories next week. I am writing it down. Well. I love you lots. Have a good week! 

Love, Elder Smith

Moving, moving again, and conference

Well it was a good week. We weren't too busy at the beginning, just the usual. Knocking lots of doors and teaching. We didn't have any splits or anything so we just got to work. However, the end of the week got more exciting. 

On Friday we held our Book of Mormon project again in Copenhagen and that went well. It is really fun with so many people around just sharing the Book of Mormon as much as possible.

On Saturday we helped a member move and that went quickly, but after that we had to help some of the sisters in the zone move apartments. We moved them into another set of sisters apartment and thought we were good. Then that evening we were getting ready to go to general conference, but we got a call from President O'Bryant right before we left. He said that the apartment that they moved out of was the wrong one and they were actually supposed to move into the one we emptied, so we spent the rest of the evening emergency moving 4 sisters stuff and furniture to another apartment. It went pretty quickly compared to how much stuff it was. 

On Sunday we watched general conference. Sister O'Bryant came and made a big chili dinner for the missionaries so that was awesome. I really enjoyed all the talks. I think priesthood session was my favorite.

Well transfers are today and Elder Whitaker and I are staying together in Taastrup for another transfer. It has been a while since I have had a companion for this long. It will be good.

Everyone make sure to review your conference notes this week. I know that each time you look at them you will recieve a confirmation that these men are prophets of God. And if you haven't found it yet, look for that thing during conference that was personally for you. 

I love you all. Have a good week. 

Elder Smith

Hey Mom!

Elder Whitaker took a video so I might be able to send it to you. We sang a song called "I Danmark er jeg født" (I was born in Denmark) Which is ironic because we were all American.

I really enjoyed conference as well. It was a really good one. We had tons of candy from a candy store, but I felt kind of sick after eating so much straight sugar. We go all out for conference though.

I will try to get some pictures sent. My camera has been full and I keep forgetting to switch the pictures to my flash drive, but I will do that. The hard part will be getting fall pictures without rain :(

I haven't heard Uchtdorf's talk just yet.

My teeth are pretty good now. It was just a really bad cavity. He said there are some other things that can get done, but that they can wait till I get home.

I'm not too scared about home, but I need to think about it soon. I will have to choose a school and classes and register and all that this spring if I want to go to school in the fall. I'm sure it will work out, but I do need to think about it soon.

I'm excited to hear how your temple goal goes. I am making a goal to go this transfer. I have a family name I found early in my mission so I need to do that soon.

I love you lots and lots and lots and some more! Have a good week!

Love, Elder Smith

Hey dad,

I'm good. The week was pretty normal, besides the weekend. Yeah I have seen the priesthood session, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning. Hopefully I will see the other two this week.

Sorry your week was a little boring. And sorry your religion class isn't super exciting. I guess you can enjoy the material. That is an awesome study topic. What kind of stuff did you learn studying the fall and the creation? 

It was really sad President Monson wasn't there. I didn't know about Elder Hales until I checked my email. That is sad. One of my favorites was the one by Richard J. Maynes. I really liked priesthood session. That is sad Cooper wasn't able to go with you. I miss going with you guys. We will get to next fall. Make sure he hears it. Could you ask him if he ever read the talk I sent him? 

I will make sure to read that talk. I think I have read it recently, but I'm not sure. I will find it today. I love you lots. Thanks for being my dad. Have a great week. 

Love, Elder Smith

Feel the Spirit Music Brings

So we had another week full of stuff. It was awesome.

We had some splits on Tuesday and I was with Elder McKinnon, one of the new missionaries. We knocked for about 3 hours without much luck, but we did find one really positive lady!

We had our splits on Wednesday this week, because we had a super cool one! We have this friend Nicklas, who took us on a tour in Copenhagen. We went to Rosenborg slot, where they keep the crown jewels. After that we went and saw the botanical gardens. They were beautiful. After that we went and got our feet eaten by little fish! It was nasty and weird! It was a really fun Pday though.

We had lots of knocking and lots of teaching throughout the week and that is always good. On Sunday the stake had a fall music concert and I got the opportunity to sing a bit in it. It was really fun. It is always cool to feel the spirit music brings. I may be biased, but I think sometimes it brings the spirit more than words. Anyways, it has been a good week. I hope you all are looking forward to conference this week. I know that this is an opportunity to hear from prophets of God and that they will tell us exactly what we need to hear at this time. Make sure to set the time aside to hear them speak. It will be worth it.

I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Love, Elder Smith

To Mom:

Autumn is very pretty here. The leaves are just barely starting to change colors. I really love fall. Definitely my favorite time of year.

Haha I wonder why that is that President Uchtdorf always speaks at that. I'm glad it was good. I am super excited for general conference. It is always so great. I will definitely look up Uchtdorfs talk. That sounds super good.

The dentist went well. I found a member who is a dentist and he did it for free. The members here are always so helpful and I'm really grateful for them. I don't like going to the dentist, but it was good.

Sorry about Aub's car. That doesn't sound like fun. I hope you are able to figure something out easy. I am not looking forward to figuring out a car, and school and stuff. I don't really think about it because I have a long time to go, but every once in a while it flashes in my mind that I have to figure all that out eventually. I'm kind of scared.

I can't remember about the rattlesnake. You will have to tell me again. I am excited to see those trails. I really miss hiking and stuff. I don't think I will be able to get enough of that when I get home.

I haven't gotten to go to the temple yet. I think we can go once a transfer. I will try extra hard to go soon. Why is it 20 times before my birthday? That is a good goal though.

I love all the experiences too. Cool story! One of my favorite investigators is in Seden. Her name is Elizabeth. We worked with her a lot while I was there, and right before I left she left for vacation in Iceland, where she comes from. The missionaries lost contact with her, but just recently they got in contact again and she had a cool experience! She said a prayer that God would guide her. She opened up in the BOM and read 2 Nephi 31. She felt like it might be right to be baptized so she might be getting baptised soon!!!

I will get to hear most of conference this weekend. I am super excited.

I love you mom. Have a great week!

Love, Elder Smith

Dear Dad,

Hey, I am doing pretty good. It has been stressful recently but good. I don't know what the funniest thing was. We were able to attend a baptism on Saturday and the new baptism bore her testimony at the end and the spirit was very strong. Something I learned this week from other missionaries is the example I want to be. I just thought about our splits throughout the transfer and what we could have done better. I looked at myself and how I am at getting up in the morning and staying focused. I made some goals to do better. It has gone good so far. I worry sometimes my companions desires are a little different from mine. Some missionaries duck their head and do the work because they have to and others do it because they want to. Both do the work, both make mistakes, but there are other differences that are a lot bigger. The weather is okay. It was a little rainy, but that slowed down this week. It is definitely getting colder and darker.

Wow, that is a crazy week. Do you feel good about weeks like that? I think they are always so stressful, bu they also feel a little satisfying. I am glad you got all your homework done. What is your religion class on this time around? do you enjoy it? Sounds like you got a lot of driving time in. I wish I could hear all your talks in the different wards. I'm sure no one thinks they are dumb. I hope you are still in the high council when I report my mission. That would be cool. I am really looking forward to conference as well. It is one of the highlights of the mission. It definitely feels different as a missionary.

You can keep telling people I am doing great. I promise I am. You have served a mission so you know how hard it is, but I really love being here. I love this type of service and most of the time I wish it was longer than it is. I am glad you have been blessed. Thanks for letting me know. I wish I could help you more. I am sorry I haven't been the best with money. I have even bought unneccesary things on my mission that I feel bad about. I am thankful for the support you have given me and I love you lots. Thanks for everything.

Love, Elder Smith