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