September 28, 2015 Kære familie!

Kære familie!

I love all of you! I finally received the package and oh man was it awesome! We'll be making chicken tacos with guacamole here after we shop today! Also the nerf guns were much appreciated and I have no idea how that hilarious moose made it all the way through in the mail hahahaha! That made my whole week for sure! I had no idea how much I missed a good ol box of mac and cheese ahahah! The watch didn't come, though.  I don't remember if you said that should be coming or not hahaha.

Besides that it was a pretty normal week! It was zone conference here in Aarhus so we saw a bunch of missionaries again, which was a lot of fun! We got some great advice on how to teach more focused which is always good haha. We had a couple really big steps forward with the people we meet with! It was really pretty great stuff and we got a lot of stuff set up for this next week so big things ahead hopefully! We get to see every session of general conference because it's broadcast at the church so thats pretty nice and it is a great thing to invite people to! You should invite the elders over and your friend and watch conference together. Or see if they have anyone they want to invite.  I'm sure they'd appreciate that! :)

I lost the cord to send pictures ,so sorry I haven't had any lately! Also I don't have a ton of time to write today but I'll share a funny story! So I'm in the assistants' van with one of the Assistants Elder Mogenson (awesome) , Ældste Vance, and me (already a start to a pretty funny story right?) and I'm on the phone and Elder Vance is holding another phone up to Elder Mogensons ear while we're driving along this street at night, and its loud and we're having a good time and then we run over a hedgehog!! And we a let out a whooooaaaahhh yell thing and start laughing and then trying to explain what happened to the people on the phones and just all in all a really good time haha!

I love you all so much! Good luck with all those things you're working on! There's some serious power in routines as long as they're the right ones! haha

Din yndlings Danske Missionær

Ældste McBride

P.S. We're doing a big family history push over here, so if you can send me any sweet ancestor stories/more about our Danish ancestry that would be awesome! I know grandma sent some a little while ago, so you'll have to thank her for that because she was way ahead of the curve. It's gonna be a big thing over here.  Two sisters just got called as full time family history missionaries and no longer do "normal proselyting" all working with stakes and coordinating family history stuff! Pretty wild! So ya either in hard copy or email or both, some family history stories please! :)

September 21, 2015 Chili Peppers Are Hot

Kære Family

Ok this week we had 6 elders spend the night in our apartment because everyone came to Aarhus for Stake Conference and so we all ended up eating some really hot chili peppers as a challenge to build our brotherhood, of course. It was very painful and very hilarious and all in all just totally awesome!  In even more exciting news I got to work a day in Aalborg!  Æ Bradshaw rolled his ankle so he couldn't go on splits up there, so I got to go up with Elder Vance!  It was an incredible day!  Between the 4 of us up there we found a ton of people that could potentially be taught!  It was a miracle. That area got such a big boost, which is great because I love that place so much and also I was able to help them figure out who was worth getting in contact again from when I was there! It was probably one of the single most effective days on my mission and such a blast to just blitz that area! I also got to work a day in Horsens which was pretty fun, too, for splits with Æ Burton, my district leader. 

Unfortunately, all that meant that I spent a lot of time out of Århus but Æ Sakurada handled things like a stud!  I'll answer some of those questions now, but will you send me a bunch of Jack London quotes? Also, one more fun thing. I've made it a rule to talk to any person I see in a Yankees hat which is surprisingly quite a few. Only one person so far has known that it was a hat for a baseball team, but most at least know its New York. It's a pretty hilarious contacting technique! Also Æ Sakurada and I each ate a spider at an activity with the young men because they're doing survival skills right now hahaha it was really fun!

1. My companion is 19, didn't go to school first. Same with another person in my apartment and one went to a year of college and then came out.

2. Sundays are kind of just a normal day but with church in the mornings. There's only one ward of about 60 people that come every week here and after church we do all the same things we do on a normal day. It must be way weird with only 4 people in the family at church!

3. I don't know about everywhere, but tracting is the program not just a part of it. Just for an example that day in Aalborg, Æ Higby and I talked to people on the street for about 5 hours straight. That was a "heavy" finding day, but those are also the most effective days. I've always felt safe knocking doors, its a pretty safe place I live in haha.  Knocking isn't as bad as people build it up to be.  Its as effective as you are willing/ready for it to be!

4. Service is usually just random projects for members, but we're trying some new stuff here soon.

5. Cooking and cleaning just kind of happen. Things are never spotless, but not usually a disaster. I feel like I know how to clean/ cook pretty fine yep!

6. Usually people have like at least one thing they do really well. I make good tacos, Æ Sakurada makes really good chicken teriyaki!

7. P-days it kind of depends but usually go to a park or something.

8. Sometimes jog, sometimes push ups, sometimes just fight to not fall asleep on the carpet. I'm still not a morning person unfortunately haha

9. Ya I've heard from a few of them yep! :)

10. Mom there's like a million crazy things I can't tell you haha. The missionary schedule is designed so you wake up, study, eat, and then you have 8.5 hours a day to go have crazy experiences. Hahaha but don't worry you just kind of get used to all the crazy!

11. I have seen the blessings of fasting on my mission. Whenever we make a big plan, we fast about it to ask if that is the right plan and then we go out and work! I don't think its a cure all, though, like it should be used for special things.

12. I have not gotten the package yet, but I should in a couple days at zone conference!

Ok that was that! Tell Cole he can't have a girlfriend until after I'm home from my mission!

Love you all

Ældste Max McBride

September 14, 2015 What a Week!

Kærste means more like girlfriend/boyfriend haha. Try skat! It means literally treasure but danes use it as like "hey honey"!  {We have been trying to find the ideal Danish term of endearment for Max}  The Danish people have approximately 1 bajillion random holidays.  Ok not quite that much, but they do really like their holidays. I don't know what they're all called but every couple weeks it seems like there is a new one! Isaac's car is awesome! Way to go the McBrides are still in the pinewood derby competition! Handshakes all around.

Mom that missionary experience is unbelievable! That must have been one of the best calls the elders there have ever gotten! Wow good luck with all that! That's about the ideal situation for a true conversion thats fantastic! Keep that up, we'll be praying for you and her over here! :) Ask the elders if they've had anything thats been working really well recently and let me know! It's always good to get information from all over!

Well this week was honestly really really awesome! Last Friday we were going through our weekly planning and we came to a realization that we had a lot of empty time coming up this week... like a lot a lot of time without anything going on. So we looked at eachother and decided right there and then that we were going to kickstart the area in a week. That was our vision. Then we went out and found and found and talked to people and knocked and contacted and stayed focused and pumped about finding new people who we could start working with for almost the whole week. We kept track of all the time used finding and the number of people talked to in order to keep us honest. Because we asked for so much, we started receiving and receiving! We hit some serious highs and then we hit some serious lows that Friday. Our focus shifted a little bit and we got a little cocky and a little distracted from some of the other aspects of missionary work and so we repented and changed our focus. So we didn't quite reach our goal which was to spend 40 hours dedicated to finding in that week, but it was a bit of a Zion's camp situation really. The destination wasn't met but the lessons required were learned and now the area is moving. It was really exciting work. We would come home with all our little miracles every night and then Ældste Vance and Bradshaw would come home with a bunch of miracles themselves! It was insane. The energy in our apartment was through the roof and it was unbelievable. I love Ældste Sakurada so much.  We made the decision last week when we made this goal to use our friendship as a driving force to really push ourselves because nothing is really to hard if you're with a great friend.

Ya I guess that was about it. I don't have very many really great stories just that if you ask for something, then do everything you can to prepare to receive it, then it'll come. Thats the truth!

I love all of you mwah!

MKH

Ældste McBride

A Pretty View of the Ocean

More Epic Street Art

Århus Theatre Building

September 7, 2015 Adventure in Århus

Ok before I get rambling all about me and my adventures, I just gotta say, you guys have really upped the number of vacations since Sam and I left. Hmmmm what's up with that! It's weird hearing how warm and sunny it still is at home. It's starting to get colder and it rained almost every day hahaha! It's been quite the experience.

Ældste Sakurada and I became really good friends really really fast and so we just laugh all the time. It's made everything really fun and has helped us to really attack the area!  We've been using the "I'm lost, can you help me?" contacting technique which has been pretty fun and also very true. One day we basically just talked to people while wandering around the city and taking buses and trying to find addresses and we had some amazing experiences. 

We talked to this Greenlandic girl who is a big fan of the band Muse, some Muslim guys that led to another chat in a mosque (but this time it was dumb, not epic because a random guy plopped down in the middle of our good conversation, rambled for 20 minutes and then we had to go because it was time for them to pray), but the craziest story is about a woman that we met late that night. 

We were talking to this one guy and this woman walked past and said in English, "Hey you're Mormons", so I split off and started talking to her. She was an exchange student with a Mormon family in California about 30 years ago. We started talking and I said something, don't remember what, and she started bawling right there on the street, just tears, and I got a little worried, but then I said "Is this something you've been searching for for a long time?" and she nodded and cried. The Spirit basically dropped on us like a brick at that point. At that point Ældste Sakurada had come over and helped to lighten the situation a little bit because it was really intense and then we walked with her to where she was going. She wouldn't give us her number or address, but I think that's because she's still got the wrong ideas about Mormons, but clearly she had a strong faith in Jesus Christ!  Anyway that was probably my super experience of the week!
 

Ok I have to get going.  Sorry it's so short! You have any questions ask em and I'll definitely answer next time! I love it here and I love you all!

MKH

Sukker

We found tags that said Elder Goof and Elder Ball so this is us putting them on and then us laughing at how hilarious we are!

Sweet pic of us by this lake thing!

August 31, 2015 Surprise!! (Again) I'm in Åarhus

Transfers just happened and I was on the train again. Back up to the northern kingdom! Yep, I'm headed to the beautiful city of Århus, the 2nd biggest in Denmark! I'm in a 4 man apartment and Ældste Sakurada is my companion. I've heard the best things about Aarhus and I have a really really good feeling about it. We're reopening the 2nd Elders Area which has been closed the last two transfers, being covered by the other elders. We're really excited and we have a ton to figure out and a lot of work to do so we can really crush it here. It's going to be a ton of fun! It's also a 7 week transfer so I'm guaranteed at least a little more time then in my last area!

Besides that, my last few days in Odense went really great! I--- has already begun sharing the gospel. She has maids that come and they noticed that there was something different about her, a happiness, that they hadn't seen before and complimented her on it. This of course being after her baptism, how awesome is that?! She started telling one of them about the church and trying to answer all of her questions and later she called us and asked if we could bring some pamphlets for her because, paraphrasing, they just explain all those big questions about death and life so easily! She's awesome! It was pretty sad saying goodbye but she's in good hands!

Well besides that nothing really major happened, just transfer craziness! 12 new missionaries come in tomorrow. Ældste Lee is training, Ælsdte Hartmann and Murphy are turn around training so they're training at 11 weeks in the land. Crazy! I'm also getting a mission brother because Ældste Bateman is training again!

That's about it! Love you all! I'm expecting big big things here! :)

Med Kærlig Hilsen,

Ældste McBride

August 24, 2015 En dejlige dåb

Hey familie guess what? I---'s baptism was awesome! more on that later! I'll try and answer all your questions first!

First off mom that sounds pretty much like your dream job! I hope that ends up being as perfect as it sounds! Also Cole sounds like he's just crushing it at Fremont he wrestles, playes football, swims, and plays water polo? Tell him if he's ever tired or worn out to just think about how buff he's going to be by the time I get home! Isaac way to go on the talk little man thats awesome! Dad as usual hogging the mic haha ;)

Question time:

1.  How do you like living in the city?  Is it a non-stop pace?  Do you love it or does it wear you out?   I love that you live in cities with Art in public spaces.  Do you see much of that, Sam?  Or is most of your public art graffiti?

The city isn't really big but there are a lot of different places to go which is nice, so we can mix up where we work, but for the past week there has been a festival on our street with concerts every night that are super loud so we've been running on very Little sleep haha but I love it!

2.  What do you have in your kitchens?  Do you have a toaster?  A blender?  A mixer?  A crock pot?  Would you want one?

This kitchen has a toaster and a microwave. None of that other fancy stuff. Actually I'm in need of measuring cups like maybe some of those collapsible ones or whatever because I've been estimating amounts for almost everything I bake but its been turning out ok anyway so thats pretty good! 

3.  Do you eat most of your meals at home?  How often do you get fed by members?  

Yep!  Most of the meals are at home but when members feed us they feed us a lot. It just depends on the week/if people are on vacation type of thing. We'll be at a bunch of members houses this week which will be really nice! My meal plan is basically chicken or beef on buns or tortillas, and then fried rice. I make really really awesome Nutella no bakes though (yes I'm bragging)

4.  What's your favorite thing you are studying right now?

I've been studying the life of Jesus Christ lately and its been really enlightening and I've been taking it really slow through the new testament so I can really chew stuff over.

Ok, this week I got to go on splits with a kid from Mountain View High School, yep that's right. John Smith Gardner. If thats not a Mountain View name, I don't know what is haha. He got to the land about 4 weeks ago so he's totally fresh. He's in my old district but serving up in Frederickshavn. He graduated just a couple months ago, pretty crazy. We had a lot of fun and a couple pretty good experiences. He knows and has a crush on Olivia Johnson.  I thought that was hilarious.  You'll have to tell Olivia hahahah.  Man funny stuff.  I basically just got to goof with him about Mountain View and play the "did you know so and so?" game. Super funny!  They were in town on unplanned splits because they were sleeping over before mission conference.

An area Seventy, President Dyches came and spoke to us and it was a pretty great learning experience. Still trying to figure out how to implement everything into our day to day work, but its getting there. It was really fun too because we were together as a whole mission, which meant I got to see the Aalborg missionaries again and the people from my MTC group!

I---'s baptism was on saturday!  At 73 years young she became a member of Jesu Kristi Kirke af Sidste Dages Hellige just 4 months after missionaries knocked on her door. She is amazing!  Just so so ready and loved everything we missionaries have taught her!  So back to back weekends I got to be a witness to a baptism.  I'm hoping that's not the only time I get to say that on my mission, but I've got to say it felt incredible!  Ældste Lee gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday and everything is just great. It was the finish of what I've called the young gun sprint, because things have been crazy the past two weeks trying to get everything together and a bunch of unforseen challenges popped up with putting together a baptismal service that got all cleared up basically the day before. It's been stressful and fast but we stumbled through the finish line and had a beautiful baptism!

Wooooooh I love ya'll! Have an (word other than awesome because I overuse that like crazy) week!

MKH

Ældste McBride

Happy Baptism Day, I---!

August 17, 2015 Sorry About the Late Letter

Ok here is the real letter! Yesterday we spent all day traveling to København to take a language test to prove we're ok to stay in Denmark. It was super easy but it took forever to use public transport to get there and back and it kind of just shot our P day! So because of that we only got on email for like 15 minutes and all I was able to was read everything before we had to take off! So we're writing today to make up for it! 

It is so awesome to see Cole and Isaac head off to school. Cole looks about 1000 times cooler than I did starting 7th grade! He's going to have an awesome awesome time. Isaac just looks like his usual goofball self hahaha! I feel like now that they're back in school they should probably have time to write their big brothers! right? yes i think so ;) That read a thon sounds crazy, I don't think I have the attention span to do that! 

Anyway today was just a little bit up and down and all over the place but I'll share the big stuff. On Friday we were doing service and Ældste Lee stepped on a nail. It went all the way through the sole of his shoe and into his foot. The guy whose house we were at drove us to the hospital and after an hour an half wait Æ Lee got well taken care of but its still hurting him everytime he takes a step whcih is really lame. So since that day we've had a lot of time inside which means a lot of time trying to figure out anything to do. I organized just about everything I own, put up some decorations around the apartment, went through the whole area book, finished Jesus the Christ, and read a bunch of scriptures. So ya the rest of friday was inside, Saturday was in Aalborg, Sunday was inside except church, and Monday was in København. It's just really boring as a missionary not having anything to do and its way worse because my companion is in pain but we still have to do stuff and ya I dont know! But Aalborg was so so so so so great!

We traveled up there and I got to see so many people that I've really missed! The most important being of course, ---! She was all smiles and it was so awesome to see her take this giant step. ---, who baptized her, was also just grinning ear to ear. I also got to see my dad, Ældste Bateman, my godfather Æ Hafen and his son Æ Hartmann. We have so much fun when we're all together! My time with them last transfer was just awesome and to be able to reunite for such a great reason was seriously the best thing ever! It was a really special day and there was a wonderful spirit throughout the whole thing! 

I'm going to include a bunch of pictures right now, so hopefully that makes up for the lack of content in this letter haha, but I love ya'll so much!

MKH

Ældste McBride

This is the young guns just chilling

This is one of the giant, beautiful brick churches that are literally right outside our apartment! 

This is a weird statue right by the train station in Odense.
There are very strange statues basically all over the place here pretty funny stuff!

And this is another awesome building and part of the flower festival that happened this weekend!

There was this giant flower festival and there were tons and tons of flowers and flower structures
and stuff all over everywhere Pretty crazy!

That is this epic map we put together! (not pretty but very helpful)