Fastelavns!

Well it's been another week already. Time is just flying by. The transfer ends next Monday so I will find out if anything is changing next Monday. I am hoping I stay here in Aalborg with Elder Halling. Things are pretty good here.

This week was fun. We had a zone conference in Århus on Wednesday and that was good. We talked a lot about inviting people to church and teaching the importance of church. We also talked about working and building our relationships with members, which went well with our experience from last week.

On Thursday we traveled out to Aabybro to visit some less active members. All of them were home. All of them had been away from the church for a very long time and weren't interested in coming back for now. That was pretty sad but it was good to give them a visit.

Thursday night we ate at flammen again. The meat buffet. It was awesome. It's good to go out every once in a while when your main staple of life is rice or pasta. :)

We had a fastelavns party at the church on Saturday. Fastelavns is a holiday here where everyone dresses up. They have a special pastry for it (delicious), and a lot of fun games. One of them is where they put a black cat in a barrel and beat the barrel with sticks until the cat dies and the barrel breaks apart (it's to get rid of bad luck). They don't do the cat in the barrel thing anymore, but they do it with popcorn or treats so it's fun enough for me.

That's about everything exciting that happened this week. I thought I would tell you about a study I had this week. I studied Christ's Atonement, because I made a goal that I want to understand it more. Reading and learning about it has been so good. I still can't explain it perfectly, but I know it works and I know that it is the way. I hope all of you are striving everyday to take advantage of the blessing of the atonement and turn your wrongs into rights. It isn't always easy, but it is always worth it when you experience the true joy and happiness that comes from the atonement. 

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

Elder Smith

Dear Mother,

I can hear you loud and clear! I'm glad I'm here too. It's worth it. If you ever decide to come to Denmark I will gladly be your tour guide.

That doesn't sound fun with the car. It is really annoying when random things happen that just cost money. I'm sorry about the bike and that it happened at the same time. It was embarrassing because I should know how to clean them without breaking them. It is working now though so that it good. After walking so much last week, I am glad to have it back.

I didn't write down a funny story... I guess I'm not good at remembering things or having funny things to tell. 

I'm glad you went for a walk in the sun. The sunlight is precious. It has rained the past couple of days which isn't so nice in the cold. Sometimes Denmark weather is alright temperature-wise, but I'm not a fan of the rain and wind. It gets way to cold when you are on a bike.

We walked around for a while, but we weren't in our area and the town was so small there weren't many people to talk to, but we did give out a book of mormon.

We gave up stracciatella yoghurt haha. It is a really thick vanilla yoghurt with chocolate chips in it. It is really really good. She texted and said it has been really hard. She said she didn't have coffee 3 days out of 8. Not perfect, but she is trying which is awesome. We are going to try to get her to come to church this week. 

I love you lots too. I'm sorry if I don't say that much to you in my emails. I try to say most things on my group email, but I'm not very good at remembering things like stories. I will always answer questions though. My apartment right now is pretty big. We have a room for our desks and study and a living room to relax. The food is still good. I don't think I have eaten anything weird recently. There are a lot of little differences here but nothing to extreme. People here have a very liberal view. They aren't so talkative or outgoing but they are usually nice. They just keep to themselves a lot and don't like to do very much. Denmark is pretty worldly. Even though the food here is good, I miss a lot of american food. They don't have a lot of things here and a lot of the things they do have are really expensive. A jar of peanut butter is almost 10 dollars. I miss a lot of American candy too. The streets here are cool and the roads look nice in cobblestone, but sometimes the big functional roads in america are nicer. Sometimes a pastry is better than in america but you can't get a good donut here. There are tons of things good about both and plenty not as good. You should send a package later this spring with some easter candy I can't get here. Like jelly beans and cadbury eggs and reese's. I still have to send you something I got for you around christmas time.

I haven't written you all in a while so I will try to soon. I love you lots mommy! Share your email with the rest of the family because theirs were short and I don't have much time. Have a good week!!!

Love, Elder Smith

Dear Dad,

I'm doing good. It has been a fun week. We don't really have any investigators besides E. I learned some new things about the atonement this week. The language is going well. It is hard though because I keep making grammar mistakes. We are struggling with finding people. We haven't found any new investigators this transfer. Lot's of potentials but no new investigators.

That is a crazy story with the snow. We don't really have any snow anymore. It sounds like it has been pretty crazy over there, though. I'm glad you made it out though. That would have been pretty bad to be stuck up there. You have had a lot of fun delays lately. 

Mom sent me the What is Truth talk so I will be sure to read it. It looks really good.

That is so crazy that all those people will be getting their calls. Time is going by so fast. I still feel like I just barely started. 

Well I'm sorry I don't have a lot of time. I hope you have a good week. I love you.

Love, Elder Smith