Miracles

Hey everyone! It has been an awesome week! We have been working hard and waiting for success and this week we were able to find 4 new investigators. Two of them are very positive and we are excited to start working with them. They are also neighbors! One is an older lady from Norway and the other is a man from Canada who has lived here for four years. He told us he cannot guarantee he will be baptized, but he is very interested in learning what we actually believe in.

A couple miracles. We have been going through our area book and pulling out former investigators that may have potential. We pulled one out named Sarah who has not been taught for 8 years, when she was 18. We called and set up an appointment and found out it was in the other Elders area. They went and taught her yesterday and she was super positive. It was a miracle because the record had just been sitting in our area book for years while this lady was prepared and matured for the perfect time we could call her and set up the appointment. Another one happened because Elder Hunsaker and I were biking around in the freezing cold. I somehow thought of an old investigator I had visited last year the first time I was here in Aalborg. I felt like we should go visit her. We went and searched for a while, but we couldn't find her apartment. We went home and found her record and went by. Turns out she was in the process of moving and she had gotten a new phone number so if we would have waited much longer she would have been gone forever. We will hopefully meet with her soon. 

On Monday we went and saw this cool old lighthouse in the middle of nowhere and it was snowing so we got some cool pictures. I think that about wraps up most of what happened this week.

Those two little miracles really strengthened my testimony that the Lord really is leading and guiding us in His work. If we are ready to follow impressions and try our best, he will use us to work miracles and we will be tools in his hands. Try your best to be where you need to be. Always be prepared to follow spiritual impressions the Lord may send your way. 

I love you all. Have a good week.

Elder Smith

Hey Dad I'm doing pretty well. The work has been going well. We are finally seeing some success. It is true Elder Hunsaker has been much happier the past few days with the success we have had.

Sorry you have had to be away with work and stuff. That is hard. That is sad about the boy with leukemia though. I think it is funny you run so much and complain about it. Either be happy for it or don't do it haha. Or just do less. You are already skinnier than me. Speaking of classes I found out I got accepted into BYU! So I guess that is another option. I still don't know where I'm going to go, but good to have options.

I'm glad Aubrey is coming to visit. That will be good. 

I will keep working hard. Sorry for the short email this week. I am running out of time. I love you lots dad. Have a good week.

Love, Elder Smith

Hey!

I am so glad you are so faithful and happy. It reminds me of when Elder Sabin was here and he said if there is one thing Mormons are good at it is that they are always happy no matter what happens.

I'm glad you are healing up. Sorry it is slow, but it will come.

It was super super super cold earlier this week but it has been so much better the past couple of days. I will probably bring my coat home with me. I sold my bike right before I went to a car area so I wouldn't have to bring it around with me. I've been using an area bike so no worries there. I am going to try to bring my guitar home, but we will see.

I sent more pictures this week too! I hope you all are happy now!!!

The cookies have been great. It seems like the members just automatically like us more.

I'm sorry I don't have enough time to tell stories, but I will try to prioritize it next week. I'm just running out of time. Have a great week! I love you!

Love, Ældste Smith 

Photos from Eva Stokholm

More Pictures

Lost Backpack and General Conference

Hey Everybody!

It was a long busy week, but it was good. We did get a bit of time to find in our area despite that we had a lot of meetings and splits this week. Unfortunately it has been a little slow as far as new investigators, but we set a high goal this week and we are determined to find some new people throughout the week.

A little miracle for the week. We were on a bus and I had an extra bag because we were going on splits that evening. When we got off the bus I realized I had left my backpack on there. The backpack had my camera, my journal, notes from general conference and zone conferences, and a bunch of other important stuff. I thought it was gone forever. But then we had splits in Birkerød on Wednesday and that was pretty good. I was with Elder Lex. He is a funny guy and we had a good time. While we were there I called the bus people and they had my bag! So we had to travel all the way into Copenhagen to get it because the place was about to close for like a week. I was pretty happy to get the bag back though.

We had a zone conference this week and I really enjoyed it President talked about the plan of salvationa and it was really good. What a cool thing the plan of salvation is. It amazes me how perfect it is.

General conference was great. This conference really gave me a strong testimony of a living prophet and a living church. The things Russel M. Nelson said and the changes that were made felt so right and so great for this time. I am looking forward to it all. 

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

Elder Smith

Some pictures from this week and last week.

To Dad: 

 It has been a good week. Pretty busy. We had zone conference and general conference in the same week so a lot going on. It was great though. I really enjoyed conference. I agree. I definitely felt that everything was just so right and I am excited for the new changes. I haven't seen the last session yet, but I think we will do that tonight.

You did some fun stuff this week! Not just work and running haha. I'm glad you were able to spend some time with Cooper. That sounds like a lot of fun. 

Everything is good. I can't believe there are only 4 weeks left. I have a lot of mixed emotions and my motivation goes on some roller coasters, but overall I am doing really well and enjoying these last weeks. We are working hard and life is good. Well. I love you lots. Thanks for everything you do. Have a good week.

Hi Mom!

I can't believe it is only one month! I feel the same way as you. It is very bitter-sweet. I can't believe Aubrey is engaged! That is so crazy.

It has been hard with the new area for the last transfer, but it is getting better. As far as I know my purpose here is missionary work :) haha I haven't found any specifics yet. 

We use public transportation like busses and trains and we bike. No we just had to give the car to another area because it was their's originally. This area just needed it the transfer before I got here.

I also really enjoyed conference. I am excited for the new changes. I haven't seen the last session yet, but the ministering sounds really cool.

I love you mommy! I can't wait to see you in 4 weeks! Happy Easter!!! Today is second Easter in Denmark :) Have a good week!

Rubbish

Well it has been an adjustment this past week. After the unexpected transfer and the black and white difference between Aalborg and Ballerup, it has been a somewhat stressful week. We should have a much better week this week and we have some great goals and plans.

So when I got here to the area we had a car that they had been using last transfer, but a couple days into the transfer President called and said that the car would be given to another area, so multiple days got a bit ruined trying to figure things out our new way of transportation and getting the car to it's new area.

I have had a great time with Elder Woodforth. He has been helpful in the transition and he is always willing to get things done. He is trying to teach me that the proper word for garbage or trash is actually "rubbish" but I don't know if it is going to stick. We seem to work well together and I think it will be a successful transfer.

I am looking forward to general conference this weekend. It is always so great to recieve council from our prophets and leaders. I know that these men receive direct guidance from the Lord on what we need to hear, so it is probably important. I invite you all to prepare for conference with questions and prayer so you can get something great out of it.

I love you all. Have a great week!

Elder Smith

To Mom:

Haha I can't believe Elder Hunsaker has sent that video to everyone. It's okay though Elder Maready actually cleaned it up. The story is that I asked Elder Maready to cut my hair and we were at our apartment so he didn't have his own clippers. The numbers are different on ours so when he used the same number and started to cut it was way shorter than expected. It isn't bad though. It is a tiny bit shorter in the back, but it's not bad at all.

I'm glad your wrist is healing up. I'm sorry it is going so slow, but I'm sure it will be done soon. I'm so glad you can play the violin, that's a miracle! Does it hurt really bad to play?

I enjoy being with Elder Woodforth. It is hard adjusting to the new area, but it is okay. It has been a little harder than the typical area change, I think mostly because it was so unexpected and Aalborg is so different from Copenhagen. It has been hard this week, but I think things will be calmed down this week so it will be much better. I just want to be effective and do missionary work.

I will be all alone on the way home. It won't be too bad. More time to think and ponder. Thank you for praying for me. I'm sure the Lord has been transferring me a bunch for some reason so I guess I need to figure it out.

I'm glad you had some good runs with Toni. That is an awesome comparison. It is amazing how God teaches us so much through his creations and parables. Super cool.

Well I love you lots. Thanks for being my mom. I hope you have a super good week and enjoy general conference.

Love Elder Smith

(photos sent to mom from Elder Hunsaker's mom)

Hey Dad!

Things are going okay. It was hard moving here to the new area. I miss Aalborg and things are so different here. It's not so bad it was just so unexpected. It is a little like Taastrup, but less muslims. My companion is cool. He does speak with an Australian accent. We get along well and have fun. He has been in the area for a transfer and this is his 5th transfer on the mission. We have one investigator that I was supposed to meet today but he canceled our appointment. He is pretty positive though so I am excited to meet him. That is about all we have right now. The ward is big and there are a lot of great people. I am excited to get to know them.

I usually don't have anything special to write about either so it is okay that most of your weeks are the same. Is it not too muddy out there at McCoy Flats? I remember it being so muddy in early spring.

Keep working hard with school. Are you learning stuff?  What kinds of classes do you have?

That sounds like a great talk you gave. I really love the one from Jeffrey R. Holland. I am pretty excited for general conference this weekend. It will be my last one as a missionary. Our week will be pretty busy this week because we have zone conference and general conference.

It was quite the surprise to get transfered again. I didn't get so moved around the first part of my mission but these last few transfers have been crazy. I feel like I know some of the reasons I have been where I've been and been with who I've been with but I don't know all of the reasons. I feel happy about my mission and successful. I have had a lot of ups and downs on my attitude towards myself but in reality I think things have been a steady uphill most of the time. I have grown a lot in many Christlike attributes and my testimony is so much more real now than it was before. I feel like the hardest thing at home will be finding time for things at home. I'm not as worried about being idle as I thought I would be but I feel like I won't have time for everything I want to do, especially scripture study. It has been hard for me to find time for it on a mission so I don't know how easy it will be at home.

For when I get home I don't have any specific feelings about it. Whatever works best for everyone else.

I love you dad. Thanks for everything you do for me. I hope you have a great week.

Love Elder Smith