Transfers!

Hey everyone! It has been quite the week! So much has happened so I will do my best to remember it all. First things first, today was transfers and I got a new companion. His name is Elder Hamp and he is from Logan, Utah. He has been in Denmark for around 4 months. He seems super cool so I am excited. 

We had a great appointment with Anja on Tuesday and she set a date to stop smoking! She decided to stop on June 5th. Pray for her! I know she can do it.

We also met with Elizabeth and watched the Joseph Smith movie, then we talked about recieving answers. We also visited her on her birthday and sang I'm trying to be like Jesus.

We had a mission conference on Thursday and met Neil L. Andersen. He talked to us about finding and having the faith to find. It was super good. I am excited to go out again and find more people to teach. In fact we found a new investigator the next day. We have a lesson with her next Monday so we will see how it goes.

We got our transfer call on Saturday and found out that Elder Stephens was leaving for Horsens and that I was getting Elder Hamp. It will be a good transfer.

My favorite experience this week was experiencing Elder Andersen bearing his witness of Jesus Christ. It is pretty amazing the spirit felt when a prophet of God shares his humble testimony that Jesus is the Christ and that he is our saviour. I know I am not an apostle but I know that this is true as well. Jesus is our redeemer and because of his atonement we can be saved!

I love you all! Have a good week!

Elder Smith

To Mom:

Sorry I don't have tons of time :)

Elder Andersen was great. We got to shake his hand.

That sounds like a good sacrament that you got to go to.

Yay!!! Camp. I'm glad you get that calling again.

Patience is a Christlike attribute. It was one of my goals for the month of May.

It was fun burning a shirt. Both grandmas emailed and said I was crazy. Your mom asked if it was a perfectly good white shirt. Haha.

Keep studying Christ. I love it! It is slow for me too though.

Love you lots and lots. Have a good week.

Love, Elder Smith

Hey dad. Sorry I don't have much time. We had transfers today.

I'm glad you went on a less busy road. That could have been bad. Did someone have to come get you or what?

That is cool with the golden eagle. Hopefully they took care of it.

I'm glad you are working to get out of debt. I'm glad you are self reliant. I'm sorry that I am a bit reliant on you for now :)

It sounds like your talk went well. That is good that you got to use vietnamese. Was it hard?

I love you lots. Have a super good week.

Love, Elder Smith

We are meeting an apostle!

Well it has been a great week. I will have to see if I can remember everything...

It was mostly at the end of the week that we had stuff and the first thing I can remember is on Thursday. We went to a church here because a priest was giving a presentation on mormons. He was really nice and after his presentation he had us come up and answer some questions for people. It was a pretty good experience.

Thursday was also my one year mark so we went and had Flammen to celebrate. It's probably my favorite resaraunt in Denmark. After dinner we helped a member with their cobblestone on their driveway then we went home and I burned my shirt for my year mark. It was a fun day.

On Friday we decided to do a super long finding session so we went and knocked doors for a few hours and were gonna go longer, but forgot we had to do weekly planning, so we got a pastry and went home for that.

On Saturday we had mega splits, but I will talk about that in a minute.

Sunday was a good day. We had church and then we went to a catholic mass to see what it was like and to talk to some people. It was really interesting.

Okay so Saturday, blitz splits. All the missionaries here on Fyn (there are 12 of us) met at the church and we split into different companionships to go knock. I was with a new missionary Elder Saviano and that was a lot of fun. We knocked for a while and we even knocked into a member from the other ward. Near the end of our knocking she came out and said she has been really stressed with school exams and work and stuff and asked if we could come and give her a blessing. It was a pretty cool experience. I have never given a blessing in Danish so that was weird, but it was so cool thinking that we were in the area at the perfect time for her. I know that the lord places us in the right places at the right times. He watches over us and as long as we are listening, he will tell us what to do. 

I love you all. Things are warming up here (finally). I hope you are all enjoying some good weather. Have a good week!

Elder Smith

Oh yeah! Elder Niel L. Andersen is coming to our mission this week and we are having a mission conference! That is the explanation of the subject :)

Hello Mother dear,

I love you too. I'm glad my note has brought you joy two times now :)

I sewed one pair. They don't look that pretty but it is a spot that isn't seen very much so it will do.

I'm glad I didn't look too fat :)

We have done soooo much service haha. Springtime is when everyone wants our help. 

I miss giving blood. I like when people tell us they donate blood because they think we are Jehovas Witnesses and we say so do we!

Those are both really good talks :) I am really enjoying my study of Christ.

That is crazy that camp is coming up. Are you excited? I'm glad coop gets to go to EFY, that will be really good for him. Tell him to talk to lots of cute girls. I can't remember the times at all haha. I think they usually have multiple EFY groups at once so they have to have them come and go at different times to keep it from being too crowded.

Hikes are soooo much fun. I like that idea. Especially since when I went we didn't quite make it to the peak. I hope you all have a super fun trip :) and that you will want to do it again haha.

I think I have done good eating healthy, but then again we went to an all you can eat place for my year mark...

I love you mother! You are my favorite mother of all mothers! 

Love Elder Smith

Happy Mother's Day! 1 Day Late :)

Well hello everyone. Hope you had a good week. I definitely have. Yesterday I got to skype home and that was great of course. I sure do miss them and the rest of you.

We have been doing loads of service lately because spring is sort of here and everyone and their dog wants our help. We are a free moving, landscaping, cleaning, painting, and whatever else you can imagine service. It is good though. I like getting to know the members and they usually give us good food to go with it.

We had a good lesson with Anja this week and she is still working towards stopping smoking. We also had a lesson with Elizabeth and that went super well! She is willing to accept an answer from God, but has been a little reluctant to act on it. We invited her to start by coming to church. She said she would. She actually texted us the night before and said she didn't know if she was going to make it because her son was getting sick. She texted in the morning and said he wasn't feeling well so they couldn't come. Then, about an hour before church she called us on the phone and said "I actually changed my mind, we want to come," I asked if she was sure and she said "Yes, I think it will be good for us, we need to come to church." So that was a cool little miracle for the week.

Well I'm pretty happy right now because the library we are in is playing the Beatles. I think that's all I've got for the week. 

We had 3 of our investigators in church this week and they all really liked it. It is interesting to see what they notice. How happy we are. The spirit that is there. The meaning of the sacrament. A lot of things that we take for granted. I hope we can all become better at realizing what a blessing it is to be able to participate in church each week. I know it is the perfect place to be on a Sunday.

Have a great week! Do something fun!

Love, Ældste Smith

To Mom: 

I loved talking to you too :) I'm glad you were excited enough to wake up super early haha.

Sadly I didn't have that tie on. Some of the thread is loose so I have to figure out how to fix it. 

I'm glad I looked great haha. Did I look fat? I really hope things go well with the investigators we have right now. We are having a hard time finding people but the ones we have right now are really awesome.

I felt really blessed about the bike. Members are so great. I hate when stuff breaks or gets ruined.

Haha that's a good joke. I guess I'm lucky I'm not a missionary tracting in the African bush.

Well I love you lots. Thanks for being such a good mommy.

Have a good week! 

Love, Elder Smith

Far,

I really enjoyed Skyping you all yesterday. It was good to see you. The rest of the day was really good. We had a really big dinner and the family we were with had both their sets of parents over so it was a fun time.

What did you make mom for lunch? I will make some good Danish desserts when I come home. That's definitely my favorite type of food here.

I hope Aub can find a car. I hope I can find a car when I get home. And a job. And all that. Haha still don't know what I am going to do when I go to college, but that's not important now.

I will run trails with you when I get home as long as I don't get any fatter. I need to lose weight. Maybe I should get my organs removed like you did haha ;)

Does it mean you get more money since you are a regional manager? 

I love you too pops. That sounds like it will be fun. You two probably have some similar mission experiences. Just hearing about it makes me think of this talk from conference https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/the-language-of-the-gospel?lang=eng. You will do fine. Just recite a scripture or something haha. You should record it and send it to me. I want to here it.

I love you lots. Have a good week.

Love, Elder Smith

Broken Bike and Ripped Pants

Well this week has been great! As far as missionary work goes. 

We had an awesome lesson with Anja about the Plan of Salvation and the word of wisdom. She said she wants to be baptized but she will have to stop smoking first. Awesome!

Wednesday this week wasn't that fun. We were riding to go knock some doors and my bike was making a terrible squeaking noise and then something broke where the pedals turn so yeah. My bike is out of commision for now. We went home and grabbed an extra bike Elder Stephens has and went to knock again and then I got a flat tire. We walked for 30 minutes to get home then tried to fix the bikes. One of the times when I squatted to look at something my pants ripped to make it all better. Good day...

Anyways a member is loaning me a bike for now. 

We had an awesome day Saturday. We played soccer in the morning and then went to do service for our ward mission leader. We had lots of hot dogs, pizza, and cake too. Then we helped them set up their trampoline so that was a blast.

We found a girl named Eda this week who is questioning whether God exists or not and has been thinking about looking for a faith, so we knocked on her door. She said we can come again and wants invited to church activities. Woohoo!

That's all I can think of for the week. Remember to share your testimony this week! An honest testimony means a lot more from a friend than from a weird missionary. Work hard at being a good member missionary and bring others to the joy and happiness that you have. 

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

Elder Smith

Hey Dad,

It has been pretty good. We had two really nice days this week, but it looks like it's going downhill again. We are planning on going to the beach today so hopefully it isn't too terrible. Are you still using the same work truck? I hate when it's super hot. That's sometimes worse than being cold.

Those sound like some good runs. I went running twice this week too. Nothing quite as good as the rim trail, but it felt good to run. I'm too fat. But I'm working on it. I bought nasty whole grain pasta and spinach and stuff.

Haha I guess that's a good way to get Coop out of bed. Sometimes there are a few too many animals living at our little farm. Have there been any skunks lately? How are all the animals doing?

Do you like being the lead student? I remember this last time around reading the book of mormon, I really liked the war chapters. The symbolism and comparisons stood out to me a little more than I thought they would and I got a lot out of them. I've been studying Christ's life lately and it has been pretty awesome. It has been a while since I have been feeling like I have been getting stuff out of my studies, so this project is really good.

I can't believe Calvin already has his call. That is crazy. I still remember those camps too haha. My toes are dead!

I have been super busy lately. We actually found a few potential investigators this week which felt really good. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong because It seems like I have had a really hard time finding new investigators the past fe transfers. I love you dad thanks for being a good example and everything. You rock.

So my bike isn't fixed yet. A member took it to a cheaper mechanic he knows but I won't even find out how much it will cost until sometime this week. I think it is mostly miles. It has over 2000 miles on it. It's just anoying...

Love, Elder Smith

Mother Mom!

Things are going good with Anja! And with our other investigators. We just need to find more. Things are going fine with Elder Stephens. 

I can't think of anything too funny unless ripping two pairs of pants is funny. I will be able to fix one of them because it ripped at the seam, but the other pair is done for. It has been a bad week as far as ruining things goes but good for missionary work.

Hahaha that's a good joke.

I ran a couple times this week! I'm going to try really hard to lose some weight because I'm a fatty. I even bought healthy food. :P

I'm super excited to call you next week!!! It will probably be around 3:30 or 4 my time. I will let you know if that changes.

I love you mommy. You're the best. Have a good week. :D

Love, Elder Smith 

It's May!

Happy May everyone! I hope you are having a good spring! It snowed and hailed a couple times this week, but I think it is starting to warm up a bit.

Well I will try and think of everything that happened this week.

On Tuesday we went on splits with the other elders and that was fun. I was a little closer to the city than I usually am.

On Wednesday we had a zone training in Fredericia. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and that was pretty good. I also got to see some of the sisters from my MTC group and a couple of my past companions. Elder Weese and Elder Olson are my zone leaders so that is fun.

Friday was fun and busy. We did some service for one of the members in our ward and there were a lot of snails around so we made a pile of them. After service we went with the member and played quidditch with some people he plays with every week. That was also fun. After quidditch we biked all the way out to a little town called Munkebo for an eating appointment then back for an appointment we had that evening with our investigator Elizabeth. We had a good lesson about the Gospel of Christ and she made us a lagekage which was delicious. 

On Sunday our investigator Anja came to church and she acted like she was a member already. She came to guest class and was the MVP of perfect comments. We talked about prayer and everything she said sounded like she was a member. We have an appointment with her this Friday so that should be pretty great.

That was all for the week as far as I can remember. It was a good one.

I was studying some of the events in Christ's life this week and it was really cool. It is amazing to see how he was a perfect teacher and a perfect example in everything he did. When he was teaching at the temple as a young boy the scriptures say that those listening were amazed at his understanding. And He has always been that way. He understands us and our questions and our needs and He is there for us. 

Well I hope you all have a great week. I love you all. Thanks for being great.

Love, Elder Smith

Hey Dad!

It has been a good week. And pretty productive. No good stories that I can think of. We work well together. Sometimes it's hard but we get along well. I think we are learning from eachother. I like the ward a lot. I think the members like me so far.

Elder Stephens and I made a goal to run twice a week so that will be good. I keep telling myself I need to eat better and lose weight but it doesn't really work, so I made a plan this week and I am going to go hard and get fit.

I can't wait for better weather. It snowed and hailed a couple times. It doesn't really get too hot here until August.

Keep going strong with your classes. What kind of math is it? I am scared to have a math class again. I'm sure it will be worth it. We are always supposed to be learning right? :)

Things are going well. I've been happy lately. For a while it was hard to focus and I was just getting a little tired, but recently things have been really good. I feel like I am learning a lot and becoming a better missionary. I was reading this week when Christ gathers up the apostles and it reminded me of the avengers how they just gather them all up and then go do their thing haha. Jesus just goes from one place to another telling people to follow him and they do it. It was pretty cool. I also like all the scriptures about becoming fishers of men. My companion is pretty weird. He takes a lot of patience. He works hard and has only good intentions. He is just a little different, but it's all good. I hope I get to train soon. There are a lot of trainees in the mission right now and it makes me want to train. Elder Weese is my zone leader now so that is pretty fun. I haven't seen him hardly at all since training. Today is May 1st and my release date is May 1st next year. That's pretty crazy. My year mark is in a couple weeks. Well I can't think of anything else on my mind, but I love you lots. Thanks for being an awesome dad.

Love, Elder Smith

Hey Mom!

That's awesome that you brought Kelsey with you! From the emails I've gotten it sounds to me like she is doing well too. I heard a while ago she has been meeting with the missionaries. She sent me a picture of her with them a while ago. It's pretty cool. I'm not sure what she would want for a birthday present. I'm glad she couldn't find an excuse to not go with you. You are a good missionary. I hope she can connect with the gospel and get baptised!

That stake conference sounds like it was really good.

Guess what!!! I thought of a story you will probably think is funny. A couple weeks ago we were at an eating appointment. One of the sisters from my MTC group is in the ward so she was there. When one of the members asked her how long she had been in Denmark she said 10 months then pointed to me and said "vi kom sammen" which translates directly to we came together, but with Danish it ment more like we got together as in like a relationship type of way. So that was pretty weird, silly Danish. I didn't know that either though so I'm just glad it wasn't me that said it. I haven't made very many funny Danish mistakes luckily haha. knock on wood.

Our investigators are doing well. Each of them have things to work out, but I think it will go well. I talked to Elder Hager yesterday and he said that Jan's date will probably have to be pushed back a little bit, but that things are still going well. Things are alright with my new companion. He is kind of weird and takes a lot of patience, but we get along well. I just have to try really hard not to get upset at him.

We have had a bit of spring weather but mostly wind, rain, snow, and hail. Haha.

I love you lots! I can't wait to talk to you either! You are a good mom. Have a good week good mom.

Love, Elder Smith

Chillin in Seden

Hey y'all! It's been a good week. I am getting used to the area and a lot of good stuff is happening. We have been extra occupied with all sorts of lessons, finding and activities. We have two really positive investigators and had some good appointments with them.

During our lesson with one of them, she told us that every once in a while she doubts her faith and wonders if God and heaven really exist. It was during one of these times that the missionaries knocked on her door. Awesome!!

We bike a lot here in Seden. A lot. We have a lot of things in Odense like church and that is a 30 minute bike ride away. It's okay though because I biked a ton in Aalborg. I'm used to it.

The ward here is great and there are a lot of nice people. I'm excited to be here.

My companions name is Elder Stephens and he is a nice fellow. A little different but I am excited to work with him. He is from Tennessee and likes cooking. 

I can't think of anything else too exciting. 

The pics are of these cool xylophone things we found in the woods.

In church yesterday all the talks and stuff were on the Holy Ghost. It is so great to think of what an amazing gift we have been given to always have a companion at our side who will help us no matter what. I hope we are all striving to be worthy of the Spirit and listening to it's promptings. 

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

Love, Elder Smith

My new address is:

Hvenekildeløkken 198 st.

5240 Odense, DK

MOM:

Haha I wonder why I said that. It must have been a good day.

I am a very happy person. I don't know how often I say that as a missionary but I definitely have said it before.

I'm glad you all had a good trip to four corners. The pictures look like it was pretty cool. I like Coop's style haha. 

I am almost finished with the Believing Christ book. I like it a lot. It makes things really easy to understand and is awesome.

Haha that's a really funny story. Coop is a goof. I wish I had a good funny story but I don't you always make me feel guilty because I don't have anything exciting to write about. There are funny things that happen but you would probably have to see it to laugh. Like on Saturday we played soccer and someone kicked the ball into someone else's face. I will try to be better. I'm sorry I'm bad at funny stories...

Answers to questions:

Seden is a really small place outside of Odense. I don't think you would find much on Google. Search Odense :) It's a cozy little neighborhood outside of that place.

Elder Stephens is very different from all my other companions, but I will be fun. We get along well.

The apartment is small but nice. The bathroom is big which is opposite of most Danish bathrooms. I will send you a picture of the appartement next week.

The ward is great. There are a lot of really nice and cool people. It is a pretty good size too. About 100 people at church.

We haven't found anyone new to teach yet if that is what you mean by contacts. But there are some really good investigators already here!

I got pants! It was hard to find ones that fit, but I did it. They are nice. 

The first guy is Jan. The one getting baptised in may.

The other guy is an old member named Leif Olesen. He is cool. We visited him every couple weeks.

The man with the two boys is the ward mission leader Matts and his 2 sons. He is awesome. One of my favorite members ever.

The man with the baby is Mark Sørensen. He's a cool dude in the ward.

I love you 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,

Glad you are all home and that you had a good time. I hope there aren't any messes too big you have to clean up.

I am doing good. I like the new area. There isn't a ton of work going on besides finding, but there are a couple good solid investigators.

Our area is pretty big but not nearly as big as my other areas. It covers the top right corner of an island called Fyn. The middle island in Denmark. I have been exersizing every morning so that is good. My new companion is different but a good guy. He is from Tennessee. He has kind of weird Danish but yeah he helps a bit with the language. I'm not sure how much I'm struggling right now. I definitely am at an up point. I mean some days are hard when we are just finding all day and can't find anyone, but we have just been busy and too occupied to worry about too much.

I'm glad Coop got to do some missionary work. 

Ooh. Don't talk about mountains haha. I really miss those. Sounds like some cool stuff though. Where did you ride a train to? I ride trains all the time haha. That is a ton of driving!!! We will all have to do it again when I get home.

That sounds like it was a really good fireside. Obedience is important and I definitely can see that when we do all the things we are supposed to that a lot more happens.

Those sound like a good talk. What stories did you share from your mission? I will have to look at that conference talk.

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

Love, Elder Smith

Transfers and Easter

Well it has been a good week and it has been a good time in Aalborg. Today I transfer to Seden it is close to a city called Odense on the island called Fyn. It will be fun. My companion is Elder Stephens and he was in the Aalborg ward a few transfers ago so we know eachother. I'm really excited to work hard here this transfer.

We had a couple lessons with Jan this week and he is planning on being baptised either the 6th or the 13th of May. That is super exciting. I will be visiting Aalborg again for his baptism if all goes well.

On Friday we went up to Frederikshavn for splits and we visited a little place called Skagen, the very tip of Denmark. It was sweet! I got some good pics.

On Saturday there was a baptism in Frederikshavn so we stayed and attended. It was so cool to see their friend Matt start his journey of becoming like Christ.

That's about all I've got for the week. I hope you all have had a good easter and whatnot. I'm loving my mission and time here in Denmark. It has been the best testimony builder whether it is a hard day or an easy day. I know the church is true and I assure you I wouldn't be out telling people about it every day if it wasn't.

I love you all. Have a great week and stay happy!

Elder Smith

Hi Mom Smith

I miss you and love you too. It sounds like you have all had a good time with Gramps and Grams. I'm glad the missionaries there get to spend some time with you. Haha that is crazy that they had you speak in a ward as visitors. Some members invited us over for dinner and we had rice with curry chicken gravy. It was fun. I packed for Easter. Jan came to church!

I liked the rest of my package too. The books are great! I ate all of my candy before I transfered today. It was good. I don't know if you can get swiss chard here. There is a lot of stuff that they don't have. Or I just don't know the name for it.

I really can't think of a funny story. Maybe I will have one next week. 

I can't believe Cooper is 16. That's impossible.

I'm doing President Neslon's challenge and reading your books. You should do it too!

I love you lots! Have a good week! Happy second Easter! (they have that here).

Love, Elder Smith