Christmas!

HI!

It was such a great week this week and an amazing Christmas. The ward ended up taking such good care of us afterall! I was super worried it was going to be a lonely Christmas but it was such a blessing to focus on the Savior and serve others. One of the best parts of Christmas is we went to an old folks home and sang Carols to the residents with a family from  our ward. There was one lady who followed us around the whole time and caroled with us. Christmas eve we went to the Christensen's for dinner and they were soo kind. We played minute to win it games and it was so much fun. Their parents had just got done with their mission in Oregon and it was really good to hear about their mission. Christmas morning we woke up and I jumped on Sister Cook to get her up. We played some Christmas music and it was GREAT. We went to the bishop's house and talked to our fam bams, which of course was soooo good. I definitely miss them, but it was good to get remotivated by the people I love.

Sorry it was so short but we are cut on email time. I hope you all had an amazing Christmas. I LOVE YA!!!

I love my Savior and am SOOOO grateful for him!

p.s. I have a lil seahawk pride!
Got to love these pjs THANKS MOM :D

Representing the Savior and loving people

Friends and Family,
Are you excited for this week? I am :)

It has been a pretty good week. Our area is blowing up right now with potential investigators. We went to a lady's house this week and she told us she was super interested in learning about our church because she felt that something was missing. We kind of just sat there with our jaws dropped for a second. We have an appointment with them after Christmas to teach their family.

This week we had Christmas Conference with the mission and it was super nice. It helped me to understand that missionary work is so much more than just teaching an appointment and waiting til the next week to see them again. It is being a representative of the Savior and truly loving people. Our bishop in the ward I am currently serving in is a prime example of that. He has SO much love for the ward even when he does not receive it back. I am so amazed to see that, that is truly all we need. Everything gets done when we are motivated by love. It is not always the easiest way to go but it it the way the Savior would do it and it was never easy for him.

I am so so grateful for the Savior and the patience that He has with me. I hope that we can have an incredible Christmas centered on the Savior. Thank you SO much for all the love you guys have shown me and the packages :)!!! It has been such a lovely Christmas season.

Love,
Sister Engelbrecht
Picture: reunited with my old companion at conference
Picture2: GINGERBREAD MAKING!!!

The Savior

Hey family and friends,

(I apologize for how short this is going to be today (we have a big meeting today)

I was definitely wallowing in my own self pity at the beginning of this Christmas season. I missed my family and the people that I wanted around me. In the midst of this I was beginning to stress about things that really don't matter. A couple days this week I ended up getting sick again ( the same old stuff ) however, it gave me an opportunity to reflect on why I was so upset. I realized that I was not focusing on the true meaning of Christmas : the Savior. Even as a missionary I was getting lost in all the people's hussle and bussle around me. If you have the new Christmas ensign, read some of it because that is what helped me. I realized that even though we may not have family around or the exact situations we hope for we have the ultimate family and gift with us all the time, the

This week we have had an awesome week. Something that I found really helped me was going to a gym our member has everyday this week and holy moly I am sore but it has helped my health issues a TON. I feel sooo good after I am done. Second with this new perspective Sister Cook and I were trying to share more with people. One of our investigators said that he wanted to be baptized on the 2nd lesson and that he wants their baby to be blessed. There were tears people. I cannot describe the joy that was in that room with the whole family. Willie does not have a date yet but we are going to work towards that with him.

I guess I just want to impress upon you my testimony of the Savior. This is the time when we should be turning outward and not just SAY we will. I would encourage you to invite 1 person to church this week and it can even be over text. The worst they will say is no. We should be the ones to bring people "glad tidings of great joy". D&C 8:33

For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift.

With all my love,
Sister Engelbrecht

p.s. christmas pillows :D
p.p.s. isnt my mom the best for sending me a peice of home

The basics

​So many times in church we are told to share the gospel and ​we know we should be unless we have been truly touched by the spirit it is REALLY hard to do. I had a moment this week with an investigator and his less active wife where the words on the pamphlets and the peices we were using to show the plan of Salvation became so REAL. This is WHY.

As I sat there and listened to the wife profess her love and longing to be with the investigator forever it became so REAL to me that this is not just a happy idea we have in our head of God's plan but IT TRULY is the only way to pure joy. Families really are the most important thing on this planet. NOTHING else matters. So the why?...its your family. When you are with your family you have a different connection with them unlike any other and we have the real opportunity to have that forever. It really is that simple.

I know that the gospel can seem like this cloud of understanding but as we go back to the basics and grow upon the knowledge we know, it will be made real to us AND attainable through His Atonement.

Love,
Sister Engelbrecht

Almost December!

Happy Happy Happy Almost December, I am really excited for the Christmas season this year. We have decorated already and decorated a tree! It was a blast.
It is pretty cold here though, Sister Cook's mom was so sweet and sent us heat packs!
I hope that everyone's Thanksgiving was a delight. Ours was really nice and laid back. It definitely made me grateful for my family and all of the traditions that we have. Cherish those, this Holiday season :)

I was especially grateful for the Elders this week for all the help they gave us in moving and getting settled. We finally got into our new apartment and it is 100 times better and feels better than the place we were at before. I however, did not realize how much work it would take to get moved in so this week was a bit weird.

Heavenly Father made up for it though because we were able to get two new investigators. Their names are Jeanette and David. They were related to a less active member that we were looking for. We did not end up finding him but we found them. Jeanette was the sweetest lady and let us right in the first time we met her. She has been going to a church for 30 years now. Her husband David was also the kindest man and talked and talked to us (we call that "Okie talkers" here) He and I got talking about our trips to Africa and I was thrilled. The first time we talked to David he told us that he had met some LDS people before and knew that a lot of the things that people say about them are not true. It was so refreshing to see. They invited us back and we were able to teach them the Restoration. The things that they kept asking were so perfect. They were definitely prepared by Heavenly Father for us and we loved how much the spirit was in their home. We were not able to get all the way through the lesson but its because they kept asking all these questions like "shouldn't everyone have a chance to be saved" and "I don't think that there is just a heaven or hell" We didn't even know where to start it was great.

I walked out of their reflecting on all the confusion that many religions have and felt so grateful for the knowledge I have. We have had a lot of people ask us a lot about the gay/lesbian issues in the church lately and quite frankly I don't know a lot about it but I just feel so at peace that our church is under attack by the whole. The reason it gives me peace is because there is NO way that there would be such strong forces fighting us unless our church was the true church and Satan was working overtime. We have to keep our foundation strong :)

So funny story for the week :
We no longer have a washer and dryer in our house/apartment so we had to go to the laundromat. WELL here I am grabbing my journal and yarn for a scripture case I am making, to work on while we wait for the laundry. I couldn't hold it all so I put those two things in the laundry bag. Sure enough, you guessed it, I dumped ALL of it in. That called for a soaked journal and everything else. Let's just say me and the blow dryer were good friends that day. HAHAHA, mom I really do have a streak of bad luck.

Love you guys tons and hope you have a great week.
My new address:
300 Sunset Dr. SW #358
Ardmore, OK
73401

-SIS E

Wild week (Nov 16th)

My friends,

If life as a missionary is boring than the missionary is doing something wrong.

So first off, the wild part of this week-

Our neighbors had a drug bust, things got sticky and we are moving out this week. Packing up a whole house has been quite the project but a HUGE blessing that we have somewhere to go.

Sister Cook and I were not fed much this week but I made some dang good Taco Soup curtousy of my mother's recipe. Last night though a family invited us over for dinner last minute and we had...wait for it....SALMON. The first time on my mission. Definitely was a taste of home.

The work is going well here. We lost one of our investigators because he moved but he is getting baptized in OKC. We are still finding lots of potential people but it has been hard to get in with anyone. HOWEVER, we had 10 less actives at church yesterday so that was AWESOME!

I am so grateful for some revelation I received yesterday during the sacrament and I feel as though I need to share it with you all.

Sometimes we feel like we are failing. Sometimes we feel like we are doing really good. I get caught up in thinking I am not growing because I am moving back and forward and getting nowhere because I am making the same mistakes over and over again. Well what the spirit told me yesterday is that, really it is a squiggly line going up across our journey of life. There will be those ups and downs, times when we do well and times when we don't but in the grand scheme of things the line still moves forward and up. I wish I could draw it for you but, the point is. If we feel like we are falling on certain habits or that we are disappointing people or are not able to be everything we hoped to be, know that getting back up and trying again DOES matter. We are not just moving up and down in one place but rather we really are growing. Satan wants us to feel like we are not going anywhere but instead making the same mistakes over again and that we will never get over it. I know that the only thing that allows us to not stay in one place is the Savior and His Atonement. That moving forward is asking for the strength to try again. As I have looked back on this week I can really see the strength that the Savior provided me. In the moment I felt like I was weak but I know that without the Savior I would not have been able to just be weak but probably a little worse off. I am not sure if I am making sense but I want you all to know that I KNOW the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ works if we allow it to in our lives.

I love you guys tons and hope you are doing well.
Love,
Sister Engelbrecht
p.s. one of my sister training leaders (the pic)
Thank you for taking the time out to forward this to me. I have had such a horrible day and reading this was the best part of my day.

Great week! (Oct. 28th)

I cannot even tell you how great this week was!!! I have been so blessed with health and strength and thus we were able to go out ALL week. HALELUJAH! I had lots of moments when I wanted to just sit down for a minute BUT every time I would pray in my heart and without a fail, the strength to keep going came. My job was just to trust Heavenly Father. ​

I don't even know where to start but I guess I will just tell all y'all about some of the miracles that we saw this week.

Saturday the spirit was on fire!
We woke up and were right out of the apartment at 10! Haha, that really is the first miracle. Then, we were able to go check on some of our investigators. We got to this one door in a sketchier part of town and said our last prayers as we knocked on the door. (sorry mom and dad) An 18 year old answered the door and the mom who was bedridden immediately said, "I have found Jesus!" My usual response is "Man I am SO glad, how has he showed you His love in your life?!" Haha, it always cracks me up because when people say that the MORE we want to talk to them not the opposite. We were able to weasel our way in, which missionaries are pros at :p. When we got in we shared the Book of Mormon with her and the teenage boys that lived in the house. The one, was really interested in the same music Brady is! We bonded over that and got onto the topic of prayer. He told us that he had tried it before and really didn't feel like it was for him. Well, as we kept telling him about the gospel and where we meet for church, he wanted a Book of Mormon and without us even inviting him to church, he said "you know I am going to come to church tomorrow!" It was the coolest thing to see the spirit soften his heart. We set up a return appointment and now we have a potential new investigator! YEAH BUDDY. Miracles.

Unfortunately this week Elder Stout went home because of health issues. It was such a hectic thing that they basically left the apartment looking well...you can probably guess. After we snatched the peanut butter cups out of their freezer we decided to be nice and clean their apartment for the two new elders coming in this next week. HOLY CRAP.....and I am supposed to marry one of their kind :pppp?! It looked really good when we got done. You're welcome elders!

Sunday night we were able to get in with another one of the investigators that I have not met yet. She invited us to a Rally against Violence at the highschool and so we went with her. A couple months ago 2 boys from Ardmore shot another boy from Ardmore. The violence here is pretty bad and so this event we went to was a bunch of different pastors in the area coming together to inspire the public. I am definitely in Oklahoma, and I LOVE it. It was such good exposure for us missionaries because people recognized our tags and welcomed us with such huge arms. I was so impressed with the amount of love that was there. Something that I really think our members could be better at is fellowshipping and including every bit of diversity as we can. The messages were so good but I just kept thinking "There is even MORE happiness y'all can have. There is nothing greater than an eternal family". Guys, there are so many AMAZING people in the world who are fighting for peace and we NEED to unite with them, the spirit of Christ is infectious and will lead them to the gospel as we do this. After the deal, a pastor came up to us and invited us to dinner this week! Another pastor asked for our number so he could invite us to further events. Sister Erickson and I walked out of there with chills. It was such an incredible experience.

Anyways, there is my rant for the week, I hope you got something from it. Sister Erickson leaves this week and I get my new NEW missionary on Wednesday. I am so so nervous but also really excited.

Love you all,
Sister Engelbrecht
1210 10th AVE NW,
Ardmore, OK
73401

Ponderizing (Oct. 5)

So what are y'all ponderizing this week ;)

I am going to try that I think.
This week has been really great. We were able to find a lot of potential investigators. One of them ended up being 50 minutes away (a referral) and when we got there, there was a horse in front of their door. TYPICAL Oklahoma.
Last night we went to watch conference with our ward mission leader and it was so nice. They ended up feeding us dinner because we didn't have one and while we ate he told us about his experience sailing around the world. I mean no big deal right?!

I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes from conference this week

One of my absolute favorites was from Elder Kim B. Clark:
"The light will cut through confusion. Our burdens truly will be swallowed up in the redeemer and healing will be infused through the love of Christ"

"Exaltation is our goal, discipleship is our journey"

SO we need to look towards the Savior as we work on becoming like Christ. I love that one of the apostles talked about how he really does take us as we are. There is no reason we cannot move forward. The Lord is so aware of each one of us.

Sorry for such a short email this week but I want you all to know what how much I love the Savior and I KNOW that the words spoken this weekend are true
Love y'all

New companion! (Nov. 2)

Hey!

Such a crazy good week. I know that I am doing alright at something because I keep hitting the pillow hard each night. This week my baby came! Her name is Sister Cook. She is from Mapleton Utah and is a babe. She is definitely prepared for a mission. She is also a fashionista so that is a blast. She is doing really well. I am pretty overwhelmed but its so good for me. I know that the Lord knew that I needed this. There are three new missionaries in our area and I am the only one left who knows the area so that has been a bit of a pressure.

We got two new investigators this week and so that was a HUGE miracle. They live in humble circumstances and so it was really good for Sister Cook and I to let all the discomfort go and just focus on the Savior's love. The one lady's name is Shiree. She is in bed a lot and she has many "sons" she has taken in. The one that we met actually had been taught by missionaries and then moved. It was a huge miracle.

Halloween was really fun :) Definitely not the same as my house BUT we made it fun. During the day we went to the dog shelter and played with the cutest puppies. Can I just say male dogs are gross though...flip. Then we had a couple appointments also in humble circumstances...that is Ardmore. That night we went around with cards and candy and gave them out to people it was so much fun. There was a teenage boy we gave a card and candy to and when he grabbed it he said "THANK YOU JESUS!" It was so funny :) We got our car back on Halloween too and then managed to get it stuck in the mud. I'm good guys, SO good. Halloween night we carved our pumpkin and then roasted the seeds YUM. I painted our faces and then we painted our nubs (toes). It was pretty good for a makeshift halloween. We had to be in by 7 that night.

I am ready for another really good week. Trying to remember all the little things but also just to LOVE people and really help them. Ardmore is looking up :)

I hope everyone had a great holiday. Miss you guys!

With Love,
Sister Engelbrecht

Keep Calm and Pray on! (Nov. 23)

Hello my friends :)

you know I am really not sure all what to say this week. It has been a bit off but we relied on the Lord a whole lot.

Monday was a ton of fun. We went antique shopping which was really nice. I finally felt that I was rejuvenated for the week. Something that we have been doing a lot this week is working through our ward lists. President told us that if we did that we were promised a baptism. I absolutely have seen miracles this week, as always of course. We were supposed to move out of our house on wednesday, then friday, then Saturday, and now today so that occupied a lot of last minute plans this week. We mostly drove o the outer cities in our area and stopped and talked to a lot of people.

One particular night we went out to Healdton and went looking for a man. We had to talk to a neighbor and of course he knew about all the extended family of the man. I love that about OK, the people have lived here for quite some time usually, which makes our job a lot easier. We set up a time to come back and meet with him. Then we were able to find this mans relatives and set up an appointment with them as well. The coolest part was that as we were coming to a stop sign to leave, a less active member walked right in front of our car. I totally was a creep and yelled at her to "come here" but it turned out alright and we set up an appointment with her as well. I had only met this girl once several weeks ago and she is not even on the ward list. It was such a tender mercy that we would be thirty miles out of our town and at the precise moment God would put her in our path. As we drove home Sister Cook and I were saying "man I really wish we had a dinner" sure enough 5 minutes later the elders said the bishop invited us over. That day I was having a pretty down day and cranky out of  my mind. However after getting out and just turning all I had, no matter how small, over to God, He magnified my  efforts. I felt so much better when I could look back at how much love He had for me and His children. If we will just give every ounce of ourselves and give up things we struggle with He will make up the difference. We JUST have to DO it.

This week we also went to  sit by the lake and breathe a bit :p OH the water. Then lightened up things with a little prank on the elders. We put a plunger on their porch that said "plunge into the work!!!" OH it was soooo funny.

Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you have a great week. Keep Calm and Pray on :)
Love Sister Engelbrecht

Little miracles (Nov. 9)

Hey everyone,

I really do have an awesome companion. She likes to sing Ariel to me in the mornings. Our neighbors on the other hand not so awesome. We found out yesterday that they are using our water and they have been putting their trash in our garbage bin. Also, did you know that cats sound like babies crying when they are arguing? That woke me up last night! Oh the joys :)

No but really, this week has been a time for enduring to the end. Isn't that just how life is. Up's and down's. We saw a lot of miracles though as we pushed through and still kept our booties out working.

The coolest thing happened this week when we were out street contacting. We walked up to a lady sitting on our porch and she immediately said "Okay, I know who you are, you don't even have to do your shpeal, I have found Jesus and I do not plan on be converted to Mormon" We were a bit stunned as we had only said hi. Instead of walking away though we continued to ask her about her relationship with God and offered to at least share a card with her, she of course said "I already have them all" but MWAHA we had a new one from the Because He Lives video. She accepted and we began to walk away. As we did she started talking to us again and I could tell as she looked at the card the spirit literally softened her heart, you could see her whole demeanor change. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Those are the things you only hear about right? UMM NO, it really does happen. We were not able to set up an appointment but I know one thing is for sure. She felt the spirit.

Another miracle that happened this week is that we were able to teach an investigator who is really close to being baptized but just needs to quit smoking. We have tried and tried to make an appointment since I have been here but it hasn't worked. Finally after this whole time we sat down with him and talked about baptism. Joey is SO ready to be dunked. We are just working with him on addictions. Those are SO hard and it makes me SO grateful that the Savior knows EXACTLY how to help him even if we don't perfectly.

Okay so want to hear something funny now, but not so funny in the moment?
Here we are at the house taking a BREATHER and all of a sudden the door handle starts rattling really hard. Sister Cook and I's heart started racing and we really had NO idea what to do. We call the elders immediately and they were like "oh no one is breaking in, it's probably just two nice guys" OH WE COULD HAVE KILLED THEM!!! It was them at the door. They totally saved their butts though because they had brought us chocolate cake and potato chips and sprite. The day before we had been talking about things we crave. It was SUPER funny later but my gosh, today we are getting pepper spray for our bags!

Well I hope you all are doing really well. Don't forget to pray :)
Love,
Sister Engelbrecht
p.s. it is starting to get REAL chilly here! We were wearing COATS INSIDE!

Heavenly Father wants us to have all (Oct 19th)

Another slow slow week but it was an awesome week. I definitely went hard on junk food....oops, I guess that is what stress does to you though.

I have been studying a ton this week about the Plan of Salvation. This talk I read just blew my mind, it is by a previous mission president. As I read it my understanding and peace of God's plan for us grew so immensely. I was thinking later how much I felt peace just from something written by man. If I could feel that much peace just from a talk, the amount of peace that I could feel hearing it from the Savior would be so much greater. It gave me hope and reminded me that even though I do not know the meaning of all things I do know that Heavenly Father loves His children (anyone recognize that scripture)? I kept thinking that if we REALLY understood the amount of love God has for us than we would completely jump in a heartbeat and do what He asks of us.

I have not always been one for rules and doing things that I don't understand. I have never thought it really was a big deal, but lately my testimony of the commandments have grown immensely. Heavenly Father wants us to have all He has, EVERYTHING. Why? Because it makes us happy! That is literally all. He doesn't send us to earth and say okay now figure out how you can make it here, He  says "Look this is literally the path to get the most joy ever, there is no other way." You can try it your way but I promise it won't work" How amazing is that? He literally hands it to us. Heavenly Fathers mercy is that He gives it to us and the justice is that we must follow that plan. I don't know if this is hitting you like it did me, but I feel like my eyes have been opened. I want to be better at keeping the commandments. There are so many things I don't understand especially as a missionary and having to keep rules BUT I know that I can show my love for God by following them. The mission is such a preparation for me to follow the bigger rules "Commandments." AHH, I just have to have enough faith to just do it. One day when we get to Heaven, we are going to say, "is that really all we had to do to receive this" I guess the thing that has helped me is praying for the desire and the help to do it. My nature is absolutely not to follow every rule, I like to tip toe just a bit over the edge.....I hate that but it is true. One thing I know though is that if I can pray for that help my nature can completely change and I am trusting that I really will be happier. I saw this in a woman's eyes yesterday when she cam e to church for the first time in 4 years. I could tell that she was an amazing person just got tired and as a result fell away. Her demeanor just changed at church and you could tell that she had felt the spirit. The spirit can change us if we let it. Our motivation has to be our family and our Savior.

Anyways that is enough for my rant this week ;) Now do y'all want to hear about a funny experience?
Here we are getting ready to go to a progressive dinner for the ward and I left the keys in the house but we locked the door...therefore 2 + 2 = we were locked out of our house. We got back with the elders that night and they tried everything to get us in. Card's were broken, bobby pins scrounged for in our purses, and a companion who is going to pee her pants, literally. We called the members that own our house and they came by with a box of keys....long story short, they did not have the keys. We were mega stressed out especially because it was after 11 pm. Sure enough we get a call from the AP's saying that Sister Erickson and I both are training this next transfer, she is leaving and shotgunning a new area. CRAZY night. We ended up staying at a members house that night and we got in the next day by demantling a window. Are you even surprised :p

AHH good times.
I hope y'all are doing fantastic!!! Keep going strong <3
-Sister E

The Lord takes care of His missionaries even when they are IDIOTS. (Oct. 12th)

​Hello World,

 

I hope you are all doing well. This week just FLEW by. I am pretty sure Sister Erickson and I just laughed all week. We had to, to liven things up. Things here are really slow BUT at the beginning of the week we were pumped to just jump right in.

We were on role visiting people and then Wednesday hit and we got into a car accident. We are okay, it was a miracle. 'nuff said.

 

We will be on bikes here for a bit...meaning a stinking while. I am just so grateful that we were okay. The Lord takes care of His missionaries even when they are IDIOTS.

 

The people here in Oklahoma are the kindest people. I feel blessed to be able to learn from them. I love that there is so much interfaith interaction here. Just the fact that we meet at the Methodist church on Sunday. I know that things are going to work out and if we are having fear for our world then we are not having enough faith. It is WAY easier to say than do, but it has been something I am working on.

 

This week I have received a lot if revelation on things that I could be better at. I know that that was a result of me asking. Its all the little things and I have just been taking it one step at a time.

 

I love y'all and hope you are doing well :)

 

p.s. we saw an armadillo this week...he was dead.

Love,

Sis E

God knows us! (Sept. 28th)

Hey Y'all​

God knows us and will grant us tender mercies every day but especially when we need them. THey might be as small as having a really hard night and to cheer you up, your companion is inspired to play ping pong with you and totally cheer you up. Everywhere we went there seemed to be dogs and I stinking love them. I am a huge dork but they just bring me so much happiness. This week has been really good for me to look inward. I have had a lot of time to reflect on my mission so far and why certain things have happened the way they have. I can say that I know that I was prepared to hear certain things at Zone Conference with our mission president this week as well as the General Women's conference. Can I just plead with you all to watch General Conference next week? I know, I know, I know that it can be boring if we just sit there. But if you go in with a specific question the spirit will cleanse you and you will feel a deeper love from your Heavenly Father because it becomes clear that He knows you. Your question will be answered. I have a huge testimony of that.

Just some thoughts that stuck out to me this week:

"Eternity is made up of nows"

“Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar His face is to us.” - Ezra Taft Benson

                  *That makes me want to strengthen my relationship with Him now because I know that when I get there I will be thinking, "man why did I not trust you more! You are my father, of course you wouldn't lead me astray.

 

There was a particular day this week that was really hard as far as health goes. I was able to get up and do my studies and it was such a good one. I don't usually to the Preach my Gospel activities, but this particular day I decided to. I ended up reading D&C 138, which I had never read before then. When I read it the spirit touched me so much and my testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith was strengthened as he testified of the Savior. He also talked a lot about the spirit world and I loved it. Well that night I wanted to try to go out. I said a prayer and told Heavenly Father that I wanted to go out and I would but I really needed Him to give me the strength to do it because I didn't have any at that moment. We got up and left. That night was the General women's conference and so we went to go invite less actives to come. We knocked on a couple doors and they did not answer. We decided to try one more. We stop in on a woman on our list. She invited us right in. We sat down and chatted with her for a few moments and she ended up telling us that her daughter died of ovarian cancer when she was almost 15. They were all converts to the church and right before she died was the happiest most spiritual time of their life. I felt impressed to share that section of Doctrine and Covenants from that morning. I read it to her and while I did I could feel her daughter there with us telling me that her work had not been done. It was such a precious experience. When we stopped reading she asked us to mark those verses. Her eyes swelled up and we told her that her daughter needed her to get to the temple and get her work done. It was very bold but it was what the spirit needed her to hear that. She said "I have never thought of it like that. I really do need to get there" We asked her what we could do to help her and she said "you know I really need to be better at reading my scriptures. Do you think you could come and help me?"

The humility she showed was inspiring. As we walked out of there we had huge smiles on our faces. How incredible was it that God had prepared us that day and especially in my studies. I did not think I was going to be able to go out that day but God had hope in me and provided a way. That was such a sweet reminder that God knows what we can be. He knows our potential and will give us the strength to get there.

 

Sister Erickson told me an analogy last night that goes right along with this:

The moon was created by lots of asteroids bumping into it, which is why it has so many craters. Even though the moon is not perfect it was created to shed light in the darkness and it can even with imperfections. The craters were trials in the moons life that shaped it to be the magnificent light that it is today.

I know that I am no perfect missionary x100 BUT I can still be light to those I serve. Give yourself more credit because we touch more people than we know.

I am so grateful for the Savior, it is because of His light that we can shine. I pray that we can all have an incredible conference experience.

Love,

Sis E.

"God brings us down, just so He can lift us higher."

Oh Ardmore,

What do I even say :) It is quite different than any of my areas so far. Pretty sketchy BUT a lot of people that need the gospel. The work here is pretty slow but that just means I need to square my shoulders and knock on doors. The members and people are really nice haha but all they have said is how sorry they are that we have been sent here. I just find it hilarious. Time to turn things around, the question I ask myself is "Do I have the faith sufficient?" YES Lets do this. It is definitely going to be a challenge. 

Let me just tell you though, God does reward us for our diligence. There is a quote I found in my studies this morning:

"God brings us down, just so He can lift us higher." 

That is my motto for this transfer and I saw that fulfilled this week.

Here we are day 1 going to see 4 different people and they all fell through, several doors tracted, and less actives checked on- no answer. Day 2 just about the same. Day three, a mimic of the day before. They felt like the longest days of my life. Day 4- THE MIRACLE

Our whole day looked about the exact same and then the evening hit.

We went to go check on a woman and there was a girl sitting on the porch who we asked "Is Debra home?" She went and looked and while she did that the little boy on the front porch was trying to get his brother to play football with him. He wouldn't and so I told him to throw it to me. MAN, I love kids, I think sometimes I forget being on a mission because there are so many restrictions on how we interact with them. Then the dad came out and we started talking about the Book of Mormon. He was really open minded and we gave him one. He read several scriptures from it and overtime 5 or 6 more people came out on the porch and joined us. When we brought up being able to be with our families for eternity their eyes were opened and they wanted to know more. We ended up giving out 3 Book of Mormons. 

That night we went to dinner and once we got in I realized I did not lock the car. We went back out and as I locked it, a man in a truck was calling for us. We walked over and he told us he saw the elders get out of the car earlier and so he put his information on a sticky note and stuck it on our car. He used to go to church because his ex wife was a member and he ended up reading the Book of Mormon and felt it was true but was not ready to change. He told us he wanted to meet with us. HOLY MOLY!

Had we not come to dinner at that very specific time, we probably would not have met that man. 

The lesson learned is that- when you are doing things in your life that feel like they are tedious, keep going. God blesses us for our efforts and really does make the difference. We had tracted all week and it was doing nothing, but out of no where the rewards were there. 

I am so grateful that God works in very specific ways in our lives. I am excited to be here in Ardmore but I have a feeling this is going to be a transfer to remember :)

For our crazy moment of the week:

We went to volunteer at the humane society and walked dogs. I picked a pit bull (I love them) and she was pulling on me real hard, I have got marks on my hands from the leash still. When we got done with the walk I went to put her back in the kennel and she launched at another dog and they got into a fight. My adrenaline was pumping. Thankfully someone came and helped us, but there was blood everywhere and on my shoes. That was quite the experience. The next time I just chose a small little harmless puppy...

For anyone that would like it, here is my new address 

1210 10th Ave NW

Ardmore, OK

73401

Hope you are all doing well, would love to hear from ya ;)

Love,

SIS E

Hornets nest

Y'all ready for this :)

Remind me to stop buying ANYTHING. I hate having to get rid of stuff and pack for new areas. ALRIGHT so I am headed to Ardmore Oklahoma Wednesday Morning.
There were plenty of tender mercies this week. I was dealing with body issues again....the email I don't say that in will be a cause for celebration with ice cream...probably not cake that has gluten in it.

I am going to miss everyone here quite a bit. I really do love Texas but God has a plan for me that I am allowed to shape. My missi0n has taught me so much about being positive about situations. I remember growing up and when hard things happened I was so so bogged down by them. I felt miserable a lot when those kind of things happened. BUT that is life right? Hard things are just bound to happen. I have finally started to learn that what mom said about choosing to have a good attitude is completely true. Situations are going to happen and we can either choose to have a good attitude or a bad one. We are going to have to handle it either way so we might as well let it change us. When trials feel unbearable it really is because we are not letting the Savior take enough of the weight. How do we do that though? SIMPLY let go. There is a story of this little girl and a hornets nest, a member told us this week I would love to share.

A little girl is walking down the street and she sees a little puppy following her. She is so enthralled in this sweet little brown eyed puppy following her and so she keeps walking waiting for him. As she looks back he falls into a big hole with a hornets nest in it. The poor puppy is yelping and is being stung all over. She knows that if she were to go get help then he would be stung too much by the time she got back. Instead the little girl bows her head to pray and just begs God for the help. She says she cannot stand to see the puppy suffer and so she is going to save him, but she needs help. She leans down puts her arm in and grabs the puppy out. Her arms are not stung at all. God helped her with something that she KNEW was impossible to do on her own. This actually happened and the woman that was once this little girl made the connection to the Atonement later in her life.
If we walk forward in faith, letting all our fears go, the Lord will carry them and we will come off conquerer. I absolutely KNOW this to be true. Try it this week. One thing that you need to change but you just don't want to or think you can. I know that you can.

I am so grateful for the people in this area that have helped my spiritual growth and my physical growth (from my belly out). I am going to miss them. My district leader goes home this week and poor kid is struggle bussing. I am grateful that I still have a while!!!
Love you all,
Sister Engelbrecht

Shorty

Hey everyone :)
A shorty today. It has been a good week but I thought I would let you know I am being transferred back to OK, not quite sure yet where but I will let you know when I do find out :)
If you have not read the story of Alma the younger lately (Alma 26) take a look, the Lord really does love everyone!
LOVE,
SIS E

A lot of times you get to see Heavenly Father's children for who they are.

Hello :)
It has been quite the week. Honestly it has been one of those weeks where I really don't know what to tell ya. Lets just say, we did not burn up in flames, our area did not burn up in flames, and that was probably due to the surplus of fake tears that we were too stressed to cry. HOWEVER, there was no boring part this week.
We could say that the highlight of our week this week was Wednesday night. It was another really tough day with many things coming up unexpectedly and so at the end of the day my sanity was pretty much gone. I was craving a cookie dough brownie blizzard from DQ (Shoutout to BRADY). We typed in the gps Dairy Queen and the only one that popped up was in Holliday Texas 10 miles away. I WANTED ONE and so did Sister Esplin. Well we pull up to this dinky little dairy queen at 9:00 pm btw our curfew dont judge and then we headed home. It was quite literally in the middle of nowhere. We got home and the next day we told the elders what we had done. They said " you know there is one right across the street right?" OH MY GOSH....I am such a ditz. There definitely is one that you can see from our apartment. ONLY me. I just have to accept it I guess, and pray hard for my future FUTURE husband.
Even though it was a really hard week I had a moment this week where I was sitting with a 62 year old man and as he was crying I realized how special my calling is. The walls are able to be broken down as a missionary. A lot of the time you see Heavenly Father's children for who they really are. That is the greatest gift of all.

Here are some other not AS amazing gifts but maybe PRETTY CLOSE :)
It was a fun morning.

He KNOWS your name

Well my friends I am super excited because I got me some boots this week and they are wrapped up for my Birthday next week. There is a fair in town and I LOVE fairs so we are going to see if it will be open for Monday- pday. I totally lucked out because my birthday is on a Pday. Okay now enough of completely vain thoughts.
This week has been another really good one. It went by quite a bit slower but nonetheless it was a good one. The highlight of this week was definitely going to the temple in Oklahoma City on Wednesday. Can I just say God protects his missionaries. Mom and Dad I drove 2 and a half hours and we did not die! It was nice though to be there. The temple is such a blessing. It never seems easy to get there but I have a testimony that the peace we feel there is worth every trial we face to get there.
Miss Emily (deaf)! We were able to teach her on Tuesday and it actually worked. It was not without struggle but the spirit was there so we did something right. However, the whole time Sister Esplin would say something and Emily hardly understood her so then I would have to sign what it was and clarify and it went like that back and forth until we could get a sentence out. Well, when we got to the first vision it landed on Sister Esplin to say it. She looked a bit panicked and I was on the edge of my seat waiting to have to clarify things. You will not believe it but: She said the whole first vision and not once did we have to stop. She understood EVERY word. The church is true :) The spirit taught her in that moment and it was a miracle.
Yesterday at church I had a really neat moment.
I was sitting in the relief society and on my left was a deaf woman, on my right was a schizophrenic, and in front of me was a recovering meth addict. I was struggling to help the two on both sides of me and Sister Esplin was helping the woman in front of me but after a few minutes the spirit opened my eyes and whispered to me how blessed I am to be able to minister to them. I have the opportunity to be Christ's hands as I sign and his voice as I clarify to my right. Goose pimples (as they say in texas) filled my arms and I could not be more at peace. The savior will give us strength to do the things we think we cannot do on our own. I love Him, he is my saving Grace :) Turn to Him, HE KNOWS  YOUR NAME. YOU ARE NUMBERED AMONG HIS FOLD.
In the name of Jesus Christ Amen
Love
Sis E

There are no poor connections and the wifi is perfect!

I loved this week!!!

So many great experiences. I have such a testimony that as we are paying attention, God works in the details and that is what can bring us joy in this life. We are placed in certain paths for very specific reasons but we just have to be looking. 

Yesterday during church the bishop came into relief society and asked if anyone knew ASL. Both an investigator and I did but she wasn't real confident in her ability so she had me go. There was a non member woman who had come in the doors with a pamphlet to give to the bishop about getting a system for her to be able to come to church. She is deaf but does not know sign language completely, so an interpreter would not work. I was able to translate as much as I could to the bishop as she read lips and signed a bit. My heart was so full because we were able to set up an appointment to teach her this Tuesday. Such an incredible experience, I am so excited. 

Something that I have noticed about the members here is that they have such a profound understanding of building a relationship with God even though He is not right there. Because many of the families are military families, the husbands are deployed quite often and/or gone from the home. It is so cool to see these families make things work normally as a family with dad being out of town or overseas. Skype is a miracle. Our "skype" is prayer. Heavenly Father wants us to show Him that we want that relationship. When we do, He ALWAYS picks up. There are no poor connections and the wifi is perfect as long as we listen. I am so grateful to have been able to experience this by their example.

Steve got out of the hospital this week and he is doing well. He found out he won't be able to ever walk on his foot again so he has been a bit discouraged but we are keeping him in our care :) 

Sister Young and I had some fun car moments this week! We got quite lost and it was so stressful, but 30 minutes later we ended up getting to dinner. The best part about it is that we had been there several times before. Some things never change.

I am so grateful for the scriptures. TRULY and 100% as long as we are reading them the spirit will direct us in ALL things. This week sister young and I were studying for someone and when we came together the things we shared were EXACTLY the same. There was no doubt in our minds that the spirit directed us so perfectly. The spirit in the room was pretty cool and there were definitely tears.

Love you all,

Sis E.

Each day is a gift!

You never know what each day will bring. We had some unexpected things happen this week that had us on our knees more and exercising more faith.
        We got news Monday that our investigator Steve was sent to the hospital for hallucinating and shaking. We went to go visit him every other day and came to find out his Kidney had failed and he would have to be put on dialysis for the rest of his life. Steve was just waiting to get out of the nursing home (by then his foot would be healed enough to get wet) we were hoping for October, but now we are not sure what the plan is. The first day we went to see him, I almost did not recognize him, the poor guy was twitching and hallucinating and would start talking and then trail off. The next time we saw him he had rapidly decreased and it was clear he was in quite a lot of pain. The prayer we said with him that day was one of the most spiritual experiences. The spirit is strong even when the body is weak. We prayed holding each other's hands and at the end of the pray I felt him squeeze my hand with the little strength he had in him. I am so so so grateful for that simple gesture of fight in him showing us that he knew what we were doing and why we were there. That night we prayed so hard for him and God delivered. We went to go see him a couple days later and he looked at us right when we walked in. We said "it is the sisters!" He said "Thank God, I love you guys so much" Granted he was just out of surgery for his dialysis and was a bit loopy but he looked 100 times better. Even though he was crying the whole time we felt so blessed to be able to experience such a miracle. We were able to pray with him that time and he mustered up a smile in the tiny corners of his mouth. Let me say this again, the human spirit is strong. 

        This weekend we went to go see Melinda and it was the most fulfilling lesson! We have been working on teaching the Restoration the past few times. This time we were trying to get her to understand the importance of priesthood. She finally got it, and it took quite some time but I lit up so much and stood up so excited. There is nothing better than seeing someone be able to learn and know Christ better! It is going to take some time but now she has been at church three times and is taking notes. I love that girl!

Not just names, these are people I love

Hello Everyone,
I hope you had a lovely fourth of July. We had a lot of fun and spent time on Sheppard Air Force Base. This week I have started to fall so in love with the people we spend each week with. Christ has shown me so much love for them and I am starting to get really attached to them. There have at the same time been many events that happened that caused me to get on my knees for them.

Melinda- came to church yesterday and we were so excited. We are not sure how much she really understood but when she got home she told her foster mom that we baptized her at the church in a blue dress. It was quite alarming to us and we are really worried about how much we can prepare her and how well she will understand the gospel. She is such a special daughter of God and all I want for her is to be able to know in all purity Heavenly Father. However, I am sure she has a special relationship with them far before this earth life.

Mike and Steve- It was Mike's birthday this week, he turned 54. He has never been married or had kids and we knew that no one would come to visit him, so we planned something special. He has been sick now for a whole month and was not in the best of shape when we saw him. We came in with the squeaker things you blow in for birthdays and also a couple Happy Birthday banners. We made him put on a birthday hat on for a few minutes. He was so surprised and I know that it was love that he needed. We had a lesson with just Steve and he was so prepared and knew that the things we were teaching were true. His heart is so open to the spirit and he has such a desire in his eyes to understand, I love him so much. Last night we received a call from Mike saying that Steve did not know if Joseph Smith could in any way be a prophet and if it wasn't resolved we would need to stop teaching him. It came out of nowhere and broke my heart. That is where my faith has to come in. I cannot make Steve know that Joseph Smith was a prophet but I KNOW the spirit can. We are going to need to go into this coming lesson with complete trust in the Savior.

Terry- (A recent convert from California who moved here to get away from her drug and alcoholic past) She has had a really rough week. The 18 year old homeless boy she has living with her got arrested this week for breaking and entering as well as stealing. The problem and the blessing is that Terry has such a good heart but she gets herself in bad situations. She is such an amazing, strong woman for pulling through all the hard things she has done. We are worried about her and the people she is around. The way she applies the gospel in her life is remarkable. I TESTIFY that the Atonement works and that the power of your Savior Jesus Christ heals ALL wounds. I am so grateful to be a missionary and to be trusted in this sacred work.

These are not just names, they are people that I love so dearly and I am turning over completely to the Lord. I am learning that when love becomes completely selfless, it is the love of Christ. When my thoughts are directed to the Salvation of Heavenly Father's children, this is when the change comes.
I love it here in Texas and I know that the Lord is shaping me and those around me through His grace. My companion is incredible! When I woke up this morning and looked in the mirror there were 20 notes waiting for me of scriptures and the sweetest comments. It said "Happy Six Months". She is teaching me how important it is to listen and turn my heart outward. God knew that I needed her and that hopefully I can be even the smallest impact on her. I am so blessed.
LOVE YOU MUCH!!!
-Sister Engelbrecht

GO TO CHURCH!

Life is made up of thousands of tiny moments in time that change us and help us mold into what the Savior wants us to become. That has never been truer to me than it has this past week.
We lost a couple elders in this area this week because the mission has had so many missionaries going home lately, but truly it has been a big blessing. Sister Young and I have been so incredibly busy this week which made this week feel like a blink of an eye.
Every night this week when I sat down to write in my journal, there was so much to write, but I felt so grateful for the outpouring of work the Lord has given us.
We gained 5 new people to teach, 3 of which are investigators.

Let me start by telling you about Melinda. She is a 27 year old who is in the foster care system. She has schizophrenia (I cannot spell it) and something else. Her mother and father and and aunt and grandparents are all dead. She has an aunt left who is just horrid. We met her because the elders had run into her from talking to her foster mom who happens to be a less active. We were able to teach her first lesson with them and she is incredible. She "sees spirits" and has a crazy imagination. The moment I met her I was overcome with love for her. She has been very mistreated her whole life and knew that as missionaries we had the potential be change her life through the message of the gospel and the healing power of the Atonement. As we taught her about God's love her demeanor calmed and she lit up as we talked about the savior she was smiling from ear to ear as she said "I love Him, Jesus, I love Him" Chills. The second time Sister Young and I went to teach her she felt the spirit so strongly that she was shaking and in awe. She kept telling us that she was able to feel the peace that she has been longing for. It is going to take us quite some time to teach her and make sure that she is accountable enough to be baptized but this girl, man she is incredible. Her baptism date is for August 8, 2015.

As far as the supreme court ruling on Friday, I want you all to know that I have a testimony of this gospel and I have absolutely no worry that God is going to take care of the hard times. I am grateful that we all have different perspectives, that was His plan for us all to be unique and we just have to love each other. We are told that the world is going to get more difficult and the only thing we can do is the simple things. GO TO CHURCH. READ and CLING to the scriptures. Most of all lets pray our hearts out and thank God for our freedom to believe in Him and His plan.

Lookuing back on this week I am reminded of so many faces and so many experiences that I feel so blessed to have been a part of. What made them even better is that I was 100% focused on each one of those moments and not worrying what was coming next. Quality time cannot be replaced.
LoVEs and KIsSes
SiS. E

-Sister Engelbrecht

Learning how to turn Lemons into Lemonade

Hey you,
There are two ways that I could look at this past week. I am going to choose to look at it as the week that made me stretch to my limits and then expand some. I know that there are just going to be hard times, that is simply just how life is. Wichita Falls is a tough area because our area is relatively small and all the doors have been tracted a couple times. The people are nice but there has been a lot of rejection lately. We have spent a ton of times on our bikes again this week just trying to find people to talk to BUT I can testify that it is not until after a trial of our faith that we see the blessings. Yesterday we were able to see a miracle though!
We have been teaching a lady named Betty Swan. She is 89 and such a doll. She has been taught on and off for a couple years and is getting close to her time on this earth. Well last time we met with her she said "ya know, I think I am going to be baptized in your church" we were so excited. Yesterday we were able to invite her to be baptized and she remembered and said YES!!! We are so excited and her date is in the middle of July. She has lots of hurdles to go through with her kids but we know she can make it.
There are two other sweet kiddos we are teaching named Tiffany and Robbie. They are 10 and 12. Those two have been waiting and waiting to be baptized but cannot until their court date in July when we find out if their grandma gets to keep them. We are praying really hard otherwise they will have to wait until they are older. It is incredible to see the light of Christ in children and the strength of their desires.
​The ward here is stinking hilarious! The kids are so routy is cracks me up. ​Today when we drove to Walmart to get our groceries and we saw a little girl who had climbed up on top of the car. I was dying of laughter and then we realized OF COURSE, it was a little girl in our ward, sure enough there goes her mother. So good. Discipline people, it is a thing! See the mission prepares you for life :p
I have learned a lot about the spirit this week. I can promise that as we follow the promptings the spirit gives us it does not get less scary haha, BUT we do recognize the promptings more easily and the spirit can work more fully in my our lives. I have found so much comfort from learning to recognize the spirit. The first several times everything is a bit hazy but it gets clearer as God sees that He can trust us with the tasks He has for us.
I love this gospel so much and I am so grateful for it. I hope you are all having a good week. Thank you so so so much for all the letters this week it meant the WORLD to me. Mail helps TONS.
P.s. Planning on the balcony helps!
Love,

-Sister Engelbrecht

Hard work feels so good!

This week we have busted our behinds! I started a journal this week to record a spiritual experience I have each day. It has helped me see how much God's hand has been in my life. I have been on my knees quite a bit the past couple weeks with my health and I think that I have finally found my answer. Wait for it...this past week I went gluten free. Doing this on a mission was is really difficult but after that advice kept coming over and over again I knew it was time I try it. It has helped me so much. I am feeling so much better. I know that I am supposed to be in Wichita Falls at this time because of all the people that know a lot about Gluten free diets that have been placed in my path. If anyone has any advice or ideas let me know, the journey has begun I guess. The elders in my district are awesome though because two of them have done it with me and helped encourage me.

Also this week we were able to focus on less actives, and through that we have found several potentials. One of the days this week we biked all day in the 97-100 degree weather plus humidity and I thought I was going to die (no drama :p). I had prayed a lot for courage that morning and I was determined to let all my fear go. I know that through Christ anything is possible! Sure enough we did stop and talk to everyone. The first person we met was Justin. We were looking for a ladies house and the house looked vacant so we asked him for directions. He told us that they had moved downtown and told us how we could get there. At the time he was working on his car but he seemed nice enough to talk to us. When I offered him a pass along card he smirked and laughed at the fact that it was a picture of Christ. I tried to not let it back me down and continued to press forward handing him the card. When he took it, we testified of the Savior. I told him that the Savior loved him and Sister Young bore an awesome testimony too. In that moment I saw his demeanor change and there was a light in his eyes. I know that a simple testimony of Christ can soften someone's heart. Even three sentences and the spirit is there. This is God's work not ours, but we have to be the medium through which He works.

Another man that we talked to was Ronny. We stopped and talked to him as he was taking a walk down the road. When we told him about God he told us how much he loved him. He served in Afghanistan and lost both his leg and his eye. To hear a burley guy express his love for God was so humbling and reminded me that we truly are all his children. We gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read 3 Nephi 11 about when the Savior comes to the Americas to minister to the people, just like when the Savior went to Jerusalem in the bible to minister to the people there also. He told us he would read it and asked us if we could come over that night and tell him more. We unfortunately had other appointments but told him we could come back the next night. Unfortunately, when we went back a woman answered the door and said he was in treatment and was not doing well. We are not sure if that was the full truth since we had just barely talked to him the day before, but we have his phone number so we think we will give him a call.

Everyday this week, Sister Young and I have come home completely wiped. It is such a good feeling to know that you gave it your all and that the Lord has to be proud. Something that I have realized is that in order to be the person I want to when I get home, I cannot put energy into changing myself but rather I have to put all my energy into serving the best I can and that is the only way I can become that person. I love the Lord so much, I have a testimony that He can help us with absolutely anything even biking in 97 degree weather. He hears us and knows us! When was the last time you let your fear go and did something that forced you to trust God?

Love,

Sister Engelbrecht

​(Signs are everywhere thanking God for rain...such a different world here)​