April 18, "God's ways are higher than our ways"

I have really been reminding myself of that scripture this week as my mission has taken an unexpected turn. I am sure most of you know but I am headed home this week due to health challenges. I have had a lot of mixed feelings about it, I am not sure whether to jump for joy or cry. I decided I will just do both :) I will tell you this though, I am a pretty indecisive person and I usually feel quite nervous about decisions. However, this time around I have no doubt in my mind that I am supposed to go home and for the first time in a long time I feel 100% clarity. My companion has been the biggest strength to me through this whole process. I could list sooo many reasons why this worked out perfectly despite the unfortunate nature of it. My whole district was talking to me about all the non "coincidences" of the situation this week and there is no question that Heavenly Father and His angels were busy in all the details.

I guess I just want to share two things:

#1 Tuan was baptized this last weekend. That is the best way for me to end. He blew me away as he shared his testimony about Faith being the ultimate anchor. He expressed that he realized that he needed something bigger than himself to help him in this life. The look on his face when he came up from the water after the baptism ordinance was a moment that is embedded in my memory. The peace and excitement that washed over his face caused the spirit to whisper to me, "This is what it is all about" I felt in that moment that my work was truly done here in the sweet OK. That boy has taught me so much and I will treasure those lessons for many years to come.

#2 When trials come we often ask "why me?" or "what did I do to deserve this?" instead this week I consciously decided to ask "please give me the strength to handle this." I think that is the only way we can truly allow ourselves to learn the lessons God would have us learn. Even though I am not exactly sure why this is playing out the way it is, I can tell  you one thing that Heavenly Father wanted me to know. That is, that God does love me more than I could really ever understand. These past couple weeks the outpouring of love from my zone leaders, my sister training leaders, my district leader, the mission President and his wife, and most of all, my companion, has been extraordinary. I have not felt that much love in a long time. I find myself doubting a lot how much Heavenly Father loves me simply because of my imperfections. This week as I was praying in pure gratitude for the love I felt, I felt Heavenly Father tell me that He loves me like they do but much much much more. That was a tangible peace that I know God knew I needed and will need as these next few weeks roll on. If nothing else that lesson is enough for me to endure this pain.

I testify that God lives, Jesus is truly the Christ, our Redeemer, the Savior for you. I know without a doubt in my mind this is the happiest way to live.

 "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." (Matthew 16:25)

Over the past 16 months I have truly found new life!

With all my love,

Sister Engelbrecht

Pics:

My first day out of the house in a week 

Sister Liddell was exhausted with all my packing :)

Tuans Baptism

April 11th, Charity

  This week I have felt a lot of charity from the Sisters around me. Unfortunately I don't have a whole lot to say because I have been pretty sick for 7 days now but I learned a lot about the Savior because of that.

   Tuesday and Wednesday I was throwing up and had a fever. Finally on Thursday we got a hold of a doctor and he gave me some meds. Because it was my IBS we had to wait it out. It has been pretty rough I can't lie but all  you can do is try to be positive.

That is something I am really learning lately. We are stronger than we think with the LORD. God made us with an eternal spirit limited by a mortal body. Because of that mortal body, the second we think we can do it alone we will be walking backwards. There was a moment this week where I just broke down and felt like I was going crazy after being in so much. However, with so much help from my sweet companion, I felt her love lift me and I was able to feel a bit more positive. If y'all know me at all, you know I whine and complain a lot. I am not sure why that changed but all I could do was just laugh this week. That is how the refiners fire works I guess. We have to be pushed and pulled until we have had enough of it that it would be stupid not to CHOOSE to be happy. It is hard but I know that the Savior wants to help us. We have to be moldable and handle those situations with as much grace as possible.

Enough preaching for today ;) The highlight of this week was learning how to play Skip Bo! I may have spent a whole day playing it but meh who is counting.

GUESS WHAT!!!!

TUAN IS GETTING BAPTIZED this next Saturday and we are so excited! His has been an interesting journey. He made a very profound comment the other day that Sister Liddell told me about. He said "I cannot feel the spirit as much in my life as I want to." This is a guy who had never known anything about Christianity and so he had to learn every basic thing. He told us that he found a scripture and he said "I guess if I want the spirit I have to keep all the commandments and one of those commandments is baptism, I guess I better be baptized" It truly is that simple Tuan understands more than anyone that all you need is a desire. God put us in the situations we are in knowing our weakness, they are no surprise to Him. Even still He knows we can do it, whatever we may be experiencing.

Well I said no more preaching but HECK I am a missionary :) Sorry I don't have any pictures from this week, even if I did they would probably be scary looking :p

Love,

Sister Engelbrecht

April 4th- Ariel traded places with me!

Mmmm....I got bored so I dyed my hair red, why not :p

This week consisted lots of Daniel! I do not know where he came from but wherever it was can we have more of them.

Once again I have a somewhat humorous miracle.

Tuesday I woke up mega sick but I was also excited out of my mind to teach Daniel the Plan of Salvation (my favorite lesson) so I tried everything I could to get feeling better. We were on our way to a lesson and I realized there was no way I was going to make it without my insides staying in (if you know what I mean). We went home and rested but then I got up to go to Daniel's and prayed specifically for the strength. There may have been threats from Sister Liddell that if I did not make it through the lesson she was not going to do well:p Ehhh....it was worth it. We got there and he told us he had already read to Jacob! We were shocked, the kid is brilliant. The lesson went really well and after the lesson we asked him to really think about baptism and he said "yes I think this is it, I am going to take it up with the Lord and my family" Miracles really do happen. Trust me people are not crazy enough to commit to being baptized unless their heart is opened and changed by the Savior. Getting out the appointment God clearly gave me the strength that I needed to because after the lesson I was in well not a happy place. We walked into our house and I puked. HAHAHA it is hilarious now...and well hilarious at the time.

He then came to FHE the next night and was at 3 sessions of General conference along with Tuan our other investigator. It was the coolest sight to see both of our investigators hanging out with the members in between conference. This ward is incredible simply because they love. That is all it takes...LOVE. The picture attached is of Tuan with a group of our members. Haha I feel like a proud mom:p Well I was proud until I flipped over the back of the institute chairs and flashed our less active....now lets really pray he comes back :/

Thought I would just teach y'all a new tracting method I discovered this week. We needed to find Cory. Getting to his house we walked up the stairs and saw the screen door. Because of the way that the light was shining it looked like there was a door behind the screen but there was not.... I flung the door open and the poor guy sitting on his chair jumped up. The living room was full of people...we couldnt even save it by sharing a card. Let's just say we got out of there quick. Forget the KNOCKING!

General Conference was the best experience as it always is. If you haven't  a chance to watch it please do...I know that that is how God speaks to us!!!

Keep Loving on!!!

Sister Engelbrecht

March 28, 2016 "All Smiles"

This week has been so full of good things. I would call it the calm after the rain. I don't know what we have done but Heavenly Father is very alive in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

This week we met a guy named Daniel. He just moved here in January and is going to school at OSU. The first time we knocked on his door was quite humorous. The door opened and he was shirtless. Sister Liddell half giggled from shock and said hi. He soon realized and said "hi.... (looks down) ....oh uh let me go put a shirt on." As he walked back he said "I thought you were Kenny, I am always giving him rides when he's drunk" We could not help but bust up laughing. He came back and we set an appointment with him. When we went back he was excited to talk to us. He has explored many churches. He was once, Baptist, Catholic, and Pentecostal. He told us that he had never been to a church that he could feel that all they taught was true. Reminded me a lot of Joseph Smith. As we taught the Restoration he was awe struck. He told us that he had never understood the apostasy so clearly. This boy is very much book smart and clearly not a crier. The spirit tends to break the barriers though. He had a dear friend that died in a car accident 2 years ago to the day before we were there. We asked him about what happened. We told him a bit of the plan of salvation. He shed tears. Yesterday he came to church and told us that he was very interested in learning more. Also that he had never been to a church so welcoming.

Easter as a whole was great. Sister Liddell and I made cupcakes to take to people and had a blast doing it. Although Jody Hannant for the record I still suck at frosting cupcakes :p

Here is a funny story for the week. 

Saturday night, I went to bed at 9:30 because I was sick again. 10:45 Sister Liddell wakes me up in dead sleep and says someone knocked on our door. I swear if I get woken up one more time on my mission in the middle of the night by unknown events it will be too soon. After we had a cardiac arrest we went to the door and she peeped through the blinds and the person said someone ordered a pizza for Abbi (my comps first name). We were then way spooked but after saying a prayer she kept knocking. We answered the door and it truly was pizza. Sister Liddell's mom ordered us a pizza and told the delivery people to keep knocking til we woke up. Good thing the pizza was delicious :p Happy Easter Eve.

I have been able to reflect this week on how much I love being a missionary. I am trying my best to give each day all I have.

Please watch the general women's conference if you hadn't already. It gave me so much hope and helped me to see that I can be on the front line of helping other people be ready to help refugees :D

https://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng

Love,

Sister Engelbrecht

March 21, 2016 "Stilly is Back!"

Well.....let's just say we are happy that Stillwater has decided to come alive again :D

Let's also just say we are happy that my body decided to come alive again. I had a bit of a flair this week so unfortunately I spent a lot of time in bed. I really gained a deeper testimony of the enabling power of the Atonement though as I stretched myself as far as I could and then allowed the Savior to step in.

I was able to learn something this week that I would not of any other way though (isn't it awesome how God works in mysterious ways). While I was laying in bed Sister Liddell asked if I wanted to watch a movie and I would usually say no but I was getting pretty stir crazy. The movie was Ephraim's rescue. I had never seen it and so I wasn't really sure what to expect but it completely gave me an appreciation of the easy access that the gospel is in my life.

Our investigator Tuan who's baptismal date is this weekend has been in Vietnam for spring break so we are praying that he is ready when he comes home!

This week we had a couple really neat miracles.

Last minute our member came out with us and was the reason we were able to get our less active moxie, to church in the first time in 3 years. She got up and had to leave early because of anxiety but it was a big step.

Our Savior really knows His brothers and Sisters more than we know. Watching all the speakers yesterday at church helped me to realize that we are all on the same journey with one big coach who knows all the rules!

THANK GOODNESS!

For funzies: the pics

When sister Engelbrecht gets stressed we just decide to move the house around...thanks mom you definitely cursed me ;) and it was way cold this week!!!

March 14, 2016 And Stillwater goes pretty still!

What happens when 20,000 people get up and leave? That just happened here at OSU! Everyone left for spring break. We are bout to get real creative in our little corner here. Service anyone?

This week was well....wet. Lots of rain. Seattle weather 100% I was loving it. We went to do service on Tuesday and we were helping a guy move. It started dumping and thundering and lightning and all his stuff was soaked pour guy. On our way there we found a statue of a little girl standing on a globe. I fell in love with it and had to take a picture!

The easter initiative came out this week and we as missionaries are stoked. It is just like the Christmas one but a 2.o version. Please share it and watch it. I cannot get over the sincerity of the words spoken at the end are; "Hallelujah". We truly can have a new life in the Savior.

Last night we had quite a cool experience. We went to check on a less active in the middle of nowhere (surprised? I am not, we are in Oklahoma people). We accidentally took the wrong turn and went down a dirt road. Okay well we slid down a dirt road. We had a big thunderstorm yesterday and so the mud was slush. We got in a mile and a half and then got to a bridge thinking we were done. Surely we weren't there was a much worse road to go on right ahead of us. We said a prayer and went for it. I kid you not there is no way we should have made it but we did. Our lesson with the less active went phenomenal and it was a miracle.

Wish us luck cleaning the car today, we practically went mudding!

Love,

Sister Engelbrecht

March 7, 2016 The temple is literally the best place in the world!

​It has been a bit of a strenuous week and I think because it has been really slow here. Every night we have been searching for things to do and its been not successful but I have faith that the Lord will help it all be worth it, the blessings will come soon I just know it.

We had a couple miracle lessons this week.

The first one was on Thursday. I was down sick in bed for the day. I wanted to go to this lesson with Kymesha but I just couldn't get up without getting dizzy. SO the Hermana Ryan went with Sister Liddell. They taught her the Word of Wisdom and as it turned out, Hermana Ryan because she is a convert she struggled with the Word of Wisdom and was able to testify powerfully to Kymesha. It was an awesome lesson and it was inspired that Hermana Ryan was supposed to be there.

Then we brought in the big guns on Tuan, another one of our investigators. We have been worried about the word of wisdom lesson with him for weeks. We taught it and after explaining it all to him he was on board. We were so stunned and excited. There is no other way something like that would have happened without the power of the spirit.

How grateful am I for the gospel! IT WORKS! We went to the temple with a convert in our ward Hannah Mills and it was the most incredible experience. We were able to do baptisms. The way that the light shined in on that room from the stain glass helped me to remember how sacred and important this work its! GO, if you haven't been in a while!!!!

Love you all,

Sister Engelbrecht