October 31, 2016 3 is the Magic Number!

Kære Familie,

I am happy to announce that Elder Gardner and I are staying a third transfer together here in Fredericia! We were both pretty excited :) President's words were "No change, but only one more." It has been great here.

One highlight of this week is that we ate at a Chinese buffet with a member from mainland China. She was baptized a few years ago and is really awesome. The food was also awesome. Didn't you guys say something about branches in mainland China? Do you know anything about that because she can't go to church when she visits back there.

By the way, thanks so much for the Halloween package! An old companion was on splits and told me I get very random things sent to me. Wouldn't have it any other way. Also tell Kirsten and Kirk Pinto thanks for me, They sent a package too :) Feeling the love. That's a little funny how serious Joseph is after coming home. I don't know if you'll have that same problem with me. Also Denmark is pretty luxurious so I don't think here is the best place to learn those lessons against "excessive living" haha :)

This week Elder Poul Johnson of the 70 toured the mission. He is a great man. We got to meet with him and all the Zone Leaders and he taught us a cool lesson about leadership. Basically in the church, never let any assignment go to your head because your position in the church has no effect on you going to heaven. Also he gave a great training in a zone conference. I was given the opportunity to have a one on one interview with him. We only talked for about 10 minutes, but I was just blown away by his genuineness. You could just feel that even though he is constantly in meetings and interviews when he looks at you he really wants to get to know you. What a great example and a great experience!

Anyways thats about it this week! I love you guys! Happy Halloween!

MKH 

Ældste McBride

October 24, 2016 Lej Godt!

Kære Familie,

In fun news,We went to Legoland this week!!! That made me miss the little bros a lot but it was sweet. LEGO is a shortening of the phrase Lej Godt which means play well! I'm going to send you all a postcard from there here in a bit. It was a lot of fun :) 

In other news, Elder Gardner and I have been on splits a lot lately! We did 4 splits in 8 days which was crazy. Busy busy. One of my favorites was that Elder Weese, my comp from Holbæk came. He is hilarious! I love him to death! He has grown a ton since we left each other. He made us go to a running sushi restaurant which was awesome. I had no idea sushi tasted so good! 

In M--- news, she is still doing great. She sent us a text saying how her friends were starting to follow her example so instead of clubbing that chat and drink wine and she drinks juice. :) She's got it.

In boldness news, I've got a story. I was on splits with a younger missionary and I took him to go stop by somebody. A different guy than I was expecting answered the door and we started talking. I asked him what he believed in and he looked at me dead in the eyes and said he was a Satanist. I think he was expecting me to be a little more shocked but I've been doing this missionary thing for a while so I didn't really get phased. I looked at him straight in the eyes and asked how that happened to him and why he would ever do that. He told me he just likes Satan more than God and he has even read the satanist bible. He was really trying to freak us out. I asked him if he wanted to know the truth about Jesus Christ and God. He said sure bring it, I don't think he actually expected that we had anything to say about it haha. I told him that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to have true lasting happiness in this life and after this life. Then I told him that Satan doesn't want him to be happy at all. He responded by saying he was happy. I told him he wouldn't be if he kept following Satan (should be a no brainer right). Then we politely shook hands and went on with the day. I think the missionary I was on splits with was pretty surprised by the whole encounter. The least I could do was to tell that guy the truth!

In future news, we have a member of the Europe Area Presidency visiting the mission this week! I got invited to be interviewed by him. 10 minutes one on one with a seventy. It should be sweet, I'm a little nervous.

In international news, we have a new investigator from Greece. Still working on getting some greek food ;)

That's about all the news I got! Thanks for sending me the news from back home with all of you! Sounds like you guys are prepared for Halloween, I'm excited to see the costumes! I love you!

Knus

Ældste McBride

We made pumpkins with the youth in Fredericia! Dad you'd be proud mine is the one throwing up!

October 17, 2016 Tilykke med fødselsdag Mor!

Kære Familie,

I'd like to start by saying happy birthday to my angel mother (haha I know you don't like that phrase! ;))  I hope you had a really great fantastic wonderful birthday! I love you. This morning I read about the stripling warriors so Mom you have been on my mind! Thanks for everything you've done/do to help make me into a good guy :) Seriously mom, you are awesome! It will be fun to hang out with you again someday! Those trips look like so much fun! And to answer your question, no there is not really any homeless people in Denmark. So cute that Isaac likes doing that!

Its pretty cool to see pics of all those guys! Kevan looks like a straight up viking! So sweet to see Bill Pickron, what an awesome guy! Oh man it is so crazy that Seth is home! How is he doing? I loved his tie with the little llama on it!

We had a great week here, again. Elder Gardner are almost confused about how well things are going here for us in Fredericia! We're hoping we stay a 3rd transfer together but its not looking likely. We kept getting texts from M--- this week that would start out with, "Now that I'm an LDS Mormon woman I got to know..." We went to her place, ate pizza, and watched meet the Mormons. Tons of fun!

Anyways I can't think of any big stories this time but I'm doing great! I love you guys!

MKH

Ældste McBride

p.s. I was thinking that since I get home a couple months after Christmas, you guys don't need to worry about sending gifts or an expensive package or anything. It sure costs a lot to mail stuff! 

October 10, 2016 M--- is baptized!!!!!!!

Kære familie,

This was a very exciting week! M--- was baptized!!!!! YAAAAAA!!!! She was so happy! It's crazy to think that we met her for the first time just two months ago. :) A little after the Baptism we were in the hall talking and I told her, "hey M---, now you're a Mormon" You should have seen the smile haha!

The week leading up to the day involved a lot of last questions and long talks but when Saturday rolled around she was more than ready! Elder Gardner performed the Baptism and I confirmed her the next day. She loved it! She was seriously so happy. She shared her testimony at the Baptism and sang two songs from the pulpit. She said that was the best way for her to express her feelings. Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and she stood up again to share her testimony! Brave, right? Well she stood up said a few words and then sang loud and proud, completely accapella Amazing Grace. It. Was. So. Awesome. She is really adding some spice to this ward! :) It has seriously been so special watching this woman grow and change as she learned the Gospel of Jesus Christ! She has incredible faith and it was great to see her kids and her friends come to the baptism to support her! 

I'm definitely not doing a good enough job explaining how sweet this whole week was but I'm trying! Being a missionary is the best because you get to see people start to realize how huge their potential is as children of God. I love being a missionary!!

Much Love,

Ældste McBride

October 3, 2016 Woah!

Kære Familie,

Sounds like you all had a busy week! We did too. There are just a lot of great things happening! :) We had a zone training where President and Sister O'bryant preached about the Book of Mormon, then this weekend was conference. We watched all the sessions except sunday afternoon in the church. In the words of one of our friends, "Wow that was something". It was her first time seeing conference and so it was fun to point out who the apostles are and who the prophet is! She was amazed to see so many mormons in one place haha!

Maybe the highlight of the whole week was a man named R---. R--- is married to a less active member who was baptized about 10 years ago, B---. She loves the church but has fallen out of the habit. Elder and Sister Yates (the senior couple missionaries here in Fredericia who are basically our grandparents) invited them both to Institute last week and they came! We got a call from them the next week asking us to come over and teach R--- a lesson. That was pretty unique, receiving a phone call to come and teach a lesson. We went over there last Thursday night and just prepared to talk about the atonement and repentance, we didn't know what to expect. We sat down and they told us that since institute they haven't been able to stop thinking about the church and they talk about it all the time. Then they told us that they had set a goal to quit smoking and stop drinking coffee. Then R--- said he wants to be baptized. Then B--- says they want to be sealed in the temple someday. At this point we share our message about how Jesus Christ and his atonement is how they can accomplish all those goals. They told us some more spiritual experiences they've had and we invited them to pray about a specific date for R---'s baptism. B--- volunteered to say the prayer at the end and we all kneeled down. As soon as she said amen R--- jumped up and said 7 I felt like it is something with the 7th. We looked at our calendars and all of us wrote down November 7th. Two days later we came by and R--- had stopped smoking. He is showing so much faith right now and is sincerely repenting! There is still a lot of work to do but woah these people are great!

So ya it has been a great week! I love you guys! Time is flying :)

MKH

Ældste McBride

p.s. at omvende-to repent does mean literally to turn around in Danish too :)

We are preparing our apartment for winter