Combine two objects together as one

[ThatDudeIrish]

Hi,  I'm a little rusty after a few years.  I'm trying to join these two letters together as one so that I can add an outline.  I've tried everything and I can't for the life of me figure it out.

Thank you for any help

[Monika Gause]

Open the Pathfinder Panel and click on the top left button

[Rene Andritsch]

As Monika said … it is the Unite function. If you hover over the button you get additional information which action you can take.