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Man these past two weeks have been a whirlwind. Everyday I love it more and more here. I have seen so many miracles and also been tested more than I thought was possible but I have learned that it is just an opportunity for me to lean on my Savior more for support.
Staying skinny here is stinking difficult, there are food joints every 2 feet and everything you could possibly imagine. The members here are really great though because they feed us every night. There is so much work to be done here that we are always always busy, we hardly have time to find new people.
1. One of our investigators, Mariah is progressing amazingly!!! Two weeks ago we set a final baptism date for her to shoot for and she and her boyfriend then came across racial issues in the gospel, "blacks in the Priesthood" and the curse of the skin in 2 Nephi Chapter 5, and these two investigators are black themselves. Sister Odom and I got on our knees and prayed so hard for what we needed to do.It took a ton of faith to teach him and direct him to going to God with the lack of understanding. It is amazing how the adversary works on those who are just about ready to be converted to the gospel. However Mariah came to Stake Conference lately and the fasting and praying lesson that we taught her this past week made her light up. She has a crazy desire to do those things :)!!! We know she is so ready but she just needs to realize that she is ready as well.
2. Sister Odom and I were driving the other day and the sunlight was shining right in her face. We ended up brushing against the truck that was merging and he got out and looked at his car and said "It's okay, don't even worry about it"....SHEER MIRACLE!!! Our car has a few small scratches but everything is fine.
3. We went on the university campus the other day and we were talking to people about the gospel...yes I am actually doing that, I would've never done that before, I feel so blessed to be set apart and literally armed with the strength of God. Anyways, we were on campus and there were a ton of fire trucks and the alarms of all the apartments were going off. It was really bad timing for us to be there but we figured out that the alarms were just a drill the students didn't know about. Well as we began to walk to the car there was a girl standing outside in her slippers with a pan of eggs and her phone. We walked up to her and she had said she had no idea what was going on. Poor girl was freezing. We sat and talked to here for a few minutes and found out she was from Italy and she though that the reason there were fire alarms was because she was cooking. SO funny. She told us that she would call us. It was a huge blessing because she was so clearly put in our path and needed someone there to comfort her. I love being able to be the Saviors hands and feet so often.
4. Funny story!
Sister Odom and I were getting ready for church last Sunday and we heard this yelling outside of the door so we looked through the door peephole and someone was in an argument outside. What had happened is that there is a 65 year old woman who lives across from us but is in horrible health. Only 35% of her heart works and she cant walk AND she smokes...she also happens to be a member of the church. That is how a lot of people are here. They are members only on Sundays. Smoking is pretty big here. I have already taught two women who are pregnant and still smoking so sad. This woman lives with her son and I guess their bathroom was flooding because the people upstairs had been running there washer all night. So this woman and her son went up the night before at 3 am and knocked on the door to try to get them to stop. Well the fuss was I guess they "scared the wife that lived upstairs who was pregnant". The husband was outside of the ladies apartment screaming at her and threatening her with guns so we stepped outside and called the cops...it was insane because the cops came and told the woman that she shouldn't have taken it as a threat...SO FRUSTRATING. People are so silly honestly, fussy fussy fussy. That was an eventful morning.
1. One of our investigators, Mariah is progressing amazingly!!! Two weeks ago we set a final baptism date for her to shoot for and she and her boyfriend then came across racial issues in the gospel, "blacks in the Priesthood" and the curse of the skin in 2 Nephi Chapter 5, and these two investigators are black themselves. Sister Odom and I got on our knees and prayed so hard for what we needed to do.It took a ton of faith to teach him and direct him to going to God with the lack of understanding. It is amazing how the adversary works on those who are just about ready to be converted to the gospel. However Mariah came to Stake Conference lately and the fasting and praying lesson that we taught her this past week made her light up. She has a crazy desire to do those things :)!!! We know she is so ready but she just needs to realize that she is ready as well.
2. Sister Odom and I were driving the other day and the sunlight was shining right in her face. We ended up brushing against the truck that was merging and he got out and looked at his car and said "It's okay, don't even worry about it"....SHEER MIRACLE!!! Our car has a few small scratches but everything is fine.
3. We went on the university campus the other day and we were talking to people about the gospel...yes I am actually doing that, I would've never done that before, I feel so blessed to be set apart and literally armed with the strength of God. Anyways, we were on campus and there were a ton of fire trucks and the alarms of all the apartments were going off. It was really bad timing for us to be there but we figured out that the alarms were just a drill the students didn't know about. Well as we began to walk to the car there was a girl standing outside in her slippers with a pan of eggs and her phone. We walked up to her and she had said she had no idea what was going on. Poor girl was freezing. We sat and talked to here for a few minutes and found out she was from Italy and she though that the reason there were fire alarms was because she was cooking. SO funny. She told us that she would call us. It was a huge blessing because she was so clearly put in our path and needed someone there to comfort her. I love being able to be the Saviors hands and feet so often.
4. Funny story!
Sister Odom and I were getting ready for church last Sunday and we heard this yelling outside of the door so we looked through the door peephole and someone was in an argument outside. What had happened is that there is a 65 year old woman who lives across from us but is in horrible health. Only 35% of her heart works and she cant walk AND she smokes...she also happens to be a member of the church. That is how a lot of people are here. They are members only on Sundays. Smoking is pretty big here. I have already taught two women who are pregnant and still smoking so sad. This woman lives with her son and I guess their bathroom was flooding because the people upstairs had been running there washer all night. So this woman and her son went up the night before at 3 am and knocked on the door to try to get them to stop. Well the fuss was I guess they "scared the wife that lived upstairs who was pregnant". The husband was outside of the ladies apartment screaming at her and threatening her with guns so we stepped outside and called the cops...it was insane because the cops came and told the woman that she shouldn't have taken it as a threat...SO FRUSTRATING. People are so silly honestly, fussy fussy fussy. That was an eventful morning.
These past couple weeks have been weeks of faith. LOTS of it. I gave a talk in church last Sunday on it and it was something I really needed. As we teach people I have began to realize how many things I don't understand and sometimes their questions can be offsetting but I have really relied on that faith especially this week. A specific thing that i have been struggling with is the Restoration and the translation and vision. I have never questioned that before but for some reason it has tried my faith lately. Last Monday was a really tough day for me and I had to give it all to God...I have never really understood the Atonement as well as I do now. When you don't have a choice but to rely on Christ your understanding is quite amazing. But the timing of those hard things were perfect because the next day we were able to go to the temple. I had such a special experience in the temple and as I sat in the Celestial room I could feel in my heart that Joseph Smith was absolutely a prophet of God and God's plan for me is something I won't be able to understand but that I needed to just trust. I am so grateful for that experience and I have gained such a love for the opportunity to serve my Savior.
Love,
Sister Engelbrecht
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Sister Engelbrecht
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