Serve Serve Serve, it brings so many blessings.

Serve Serve Serve, it brings so many blessings. 

This week has been a lot of just that, service. 

Wichita Falls has had a lot of flooding around the outer areas and there are a lot of people moving out and in right now because there are several military bases around us. Unfortunately I was sick again for part of the week but the rest of the time, we packed a lot of boxes and helped many people in our ward. It has been really good for me because I have been able to get to know the ward members. I have such a testimony that God gives us gifts that we just have to develop. I saw that a lot with the people that we helped this week. I never knew some of the things I was capable of unitl I tried. Trust me, you will never regret getting out of your comfort zone. 

We have lost a few investigators this week which has been really hard due to some sad circumstances. One of the couples we teach got into some domestic abuse this week and are getting separated. Another one of our recent converts was kicked out of her house and is making bad choices with her boyfriend. The difference between these two is that the sweet Antoinette ( the previous wife of her husband Nate ) has leaned on the Savior an exponential amount and through something so extremely difficult. Where Ashley, our 22 year old recent convert has rejected what she has learned and despite receiving answers on where she should go she has left Texas and ignored her promptings. Now, I don't mean to be harsh but I learned a really important lesson this week. We cannot take the gospel for granted. We cannot take our Savior for granted. There are people in this world that would do anything to just find peace from the truth and we have it, He can and WILL help us if we let Him.

The rest of this week I have spent a lot of time immersed in the Book of Mormon. I finished it this week again and felt such a huge sense of peace when I finished it. That book just blew me away, especially the last few books. The words are directly for our time. 

​My biggest testimony builder for the week came from Mormon 9:31
"Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been.​"

This helped me to understand more fully why things happen the way they do. The imperfections of myself, my family, my companions, my environment, they all are there to make my experience unique and exactly what it is supposed to be. I am not so sure I can say I am grateful for the imperfections yet but I know I should be.

Try to change y'all's perspective this week!

Love you all a lot and thank you for emailing me :)

​Love,​

Sister Engelbrecht

Transferred!

NEW AREA: Wichita Falls, Texas
My thoughts- I so far love it to peices.
MY COMPANION: Sister Young
My thoughts- she is a blast, and a very consecrated missionary, it has been so good for me
OUR TRANSPORTATION: Every other day, bikes
My thoughts- mmmm not so sure about that part yet
THE WEATHER: Zillion degrees in stinking May
My thoughts- yup I am sure about that part and I am not digging it.
​
So now that you all have the low down I guess we can form some sentences now :p This week has been a really refreshing change. I love love love my first area but I also love Texas like mad. The people here are crazy and so down to earth which is so nice. They all talk very much like what you would expect but its so fun and they have lots of Texas Pride. Our apartment is so much nicer than in my last area but I feel like I will be looking for things for days after moving. I have been able to have so many cool experiences here already. Last week we went to a ladies house to help her unpack. Her family moved from Norway a month ago and so all of her things were in Swedish and her little boys both have some serious English and Swedish skills. She herself has a really good accent as well. I know I am a dork but I just loved hearing about her life and the culture she has grown up in. Their house is gorgeous and her husband is in the Norwegian Air force. There are a lot of people here who are in the Air force because Sheppard's Air force base is just a few minutes down the rode from us. ​Which brings me to my next new experience. The third day I was here, we went to teach a couple on the base and I have never been on a base before. We had to get visitor passes but it was so incredible to see everyone in Uniform and see the culture there is even in just the government bases. It opened my eyes to the bigger picture of the people that are training to fight for my freedoms. It was a really neat experience and I loved it.
Being in family ward is very different..haha very loud. But the best part is when I got here I was told I would be giving a talk at a baptism two days later. It was quite weird because I didn't know the lady. Her name is Donna and she is a nutty one, but a sweetheart. Last night we went to teach a guy named John he is from Nigeria as well. There are so many African's here I love love love it. He was a struggle though. He tested my patience and got a bit heated so now I know that I need to work on that Christlike attribute. It is a good area though and I am excited.
Last excitement. We had tornado sirens going off again this week and the sky was so gorgeous. We are all safe though and the Tornado missed us. Thank goodness.

Love you all so much here is my new address:
​3001 Kemp Blvd
#820
Whichita Falls Texas
76308

Time for a change!

This week has been all sorts of crazy!
The weather first of all has been quite the experience. Every night we have had storms- thunder and lightning all the way. #1 Tornado sirens sound like the end of the world and #2 you will never find me in a stinking tiny tornado shelter unless we are all dying. Other than constantly dealing with Tornado threats this week we have been seeing so many miracles.
The highlight of this week is about a guy named Kyle. He is 26 and lives with his parents. He was a referral from the Del City Elders because they met him at Rose state college. We called him Thursday night and he answered the phone with much enthusiasm. He was excited to hear from us and told us that he had a lot of respect for the Mormon religion and wanted so badly to be a part of it. He asked how he could join?! Umm hello, when does that happen :) We then met with him Friday afternoon and taught him about baptism and got to know him a little better. He has studied a lot of different religions and he kept saying "I feel like this is the one I want for life, it is a new chapter." He was so excited about baptism that we could not get through the restoration and so we ended up inviting him to baptism for June 13 and he was stoked. After he accepted the tears started flowing and he insisted we pray right then and end the meeting. Sister Jones and I walked out of there shocked and so greatful. Kyle was a complete god send. Sunday rolled around and he came to Church and really enjoyed it.
I was so happy to be able to talk to my family yesterday and share a bit of my experiences. I love them so so much and the more I grow in my relationship with God the more I realize how important they are to me.
I am headed to Wichita Falls, Texas this week for transfers and my new companion will be Sister Young. It is going to be a good change. I am excited and obviously a bit nervous but I do love moving so that is definitely nice :) I will send me address next week and let y'all know how it is going. Love you so much!
-Sister Engelbrecht
​P.s. This is Sophia Iyiewuare from Nigeria...I am seriously gonna miss this girl!

Turning it all over~

This week has honestly been a bit of a blur. I was sick this week again which did not help but it was still a week that I am SO grateful to be on a mission. This week I have been thinking a lot about how I often feel like I don't give 100 % of what I could. The thought of coming home and feeling like I did not work hard enough kills me. It is hard because the natural man is so strong. "Sister Engelbrecht, sleeping in for 10 more minutes isn't going to make you a bad missionary" or "you don't want to go tracting, it is really just a waste of time. If you take your time at this appointment you won't have to." It is a constant battle in my head and even admitting that is hard. But you know what that is how I feel. I want to say "I love every second of my mission and everything about it" but that is just not the truth. My goal is to love my mission and to feel like I worked as hard as I could. However, it is a journey not a destination and my desire is there. I have prayed a lot for help with this struggle of mine and this is the answer I have received.

Alma 37:36-37

 36 Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.
 37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.
Now don't get me wrong at all, I really do love the work we do and I am grateful every single day for another day to be a missionary but after doing it 24/7 for 3 transfers now, it is easy to just mindlessly go through each day.
This scripture was shared with me by my STL and changed my perspective completely. What is it that brings me the most joy? The spirit. Everything I love about missionary work is brought by the spirit. The joy on people's faces as they finally understand God's plan for them, meeting people that are different from me and being able to recognize that God put diversity on the earth for a reason but that nonetheless they are my brother or they are my sister. These experiences all had the spirit there to teach me. SO what can I do to have the spirit more? Turn it all over to Him who created me and you. Every part of me needs to be given up. Elder Corbridge from the seventy spoke to us yesterday and said that "the only way to win is to lose". TO lose myself in the Lord. My initial thought was "then where is my will and how will I become what I want to be?" What I learned though, is that the only way to become what I want to be is to give it to the Lord, because all I want is to be happy and see others happy. The only way I can do that is by trusting in my Father in Heaven and my Savior because he has felt that natural man before. I can make myself a smudge of paint on a canvas by myself but truly the Lord can make me a masterpiece.
Love you all,
Sister Engelbrecht
Here are some pictures from the week. The Elders gave us chocolate bunnies and cards to play this week during lunch!
The moon is so gorgeous!

God's time and not mine

Okay first off:

This morning was an adventure, no doubt...or something of that nature.
Laundry is always fun (replace fun with gross) in our apartment complex, especially this morning. As I went to put my clothes in the washer I found 3 cockroaches just chilling...UMM EWWW. Later on as I was hanging up my what should have been clean clothes...I found a cigarette but in the pile. SO not clean. Ahh people the struggle is real. Just got to tough it out I guess and laugh about it later. However I am not quite at the laughing point yet.
This week was so full of miracles I can't even begin to describe. I will try though I guess :P

Last Monday Sister Jones and I went to the Oklahoma City Bombing memorial which was a priceless experience. I love being near the city where there are so many historical and cultural experiences. That night we dropped our car off at the collision center to get fixed from the fender bender we got into a few weeks ago. 2 sister missionaries + no car = yup you guessed it, a lot of biking. It was really refreshing though! My legs were so extremely sore and biking in a skirt is well fun and sometimes another way to share your religion if you are not careful but it is all a learning experience right?! We were on our bike for 4 days and it turned out the weather was perfect in the 70's. It has actually been so stormy here all months and there are so many thunder and lightning storms I love it.

One of our miracles this week happened with our investigator Jake. We were teaching him the plan of salvation. Before we left the apartment though we realized we hadn't taught him the restoration yet. I had a feeling that we still needed to teach him the plan of salvation lesson so we did. We met at the UCO library and as we taught him he opened up a ton and said things like "the God I worship would do it this way" and other things about the way he was feeling the spirit. Sister Jones invited him to be baptized which I did not see coming, and he said that he would have to learn more because it is a huge decision to him. IT WAS CRAZY THOUGH BECAUSE he was open and it was his first real lesson. A lot of times when I read missionary letters I think that the stories go very similar. "we met so and so, then we taught them it was up and down and then a miracle happened and they were baptized". The think is though, it actually happens people! These are people that are around you everyday just minding there own business and one minute of courage can be the beginning of their salvation!!! I am amazed at the people that are prepared. The thing is, every one on this earth already has accepted Christ once. As we teach and SHARE by the spirit all we are doing is reminding them of truths they already know. In preach my gospel there is a quote that is pretty much my most favorite quote right now: “We are commanded by God to take this gospel to all the world. That is the cause that must unite us today. Only the gospel will save the world from the calamity of its own self-destruction. Only the gospel will unite men of all races and nationalities in peace. Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the human family”
It is so true, I have seen it happen in just a small way here in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Another miracle that happened this week was again with Phillip (who I talked about last week as well. He is the one that came to church). Saturday morning we invited him to come play basketball with all of us missionaries at the church. Okay so we play at 6, meaning we have to wake up at 5:30. Most normal people don't get up that early just to play a sport that really we all suck at playing. Well Phillip did and not only did he come, he brought his roommate Michael. All the elders had there game face on, especially because Phillip and Michael can stinking jump and swivel the ball like no other between their legs...its in their blood. It was so fun to play with them though. I have had so much fun playing sports with the elders lately because they actually appreciate when the sisters try, and oh I try :p I suck but I try. I am getting really good at stealing passes though and making shots. Who would have thought the girl who is absolutely not sporty at all, could make a shot, Elder McGinnis apparently (he is the one that taught me). Well after basketball Phillip wanted to take us to Ihop so we showered and then met him there. He is such a nice guy and is so in tune with the spirit. He told us how he feels different from all his friends because he doesn't drink anymore doesn't go to places where he cannot feel the spirit and has really changed his life. He told us that as of now he doesn't really see himself being baptized into our church but that if that is what the Lord wants for him then he will. We are trying to help him to feel the spirit of the Priesthood and get him to start coming to church. Later that night we met with him again and read Alma 32 with him. He is reading between the French and English version of the Book of Mormon and is having a hard time understanding it. As we talked about it though, the spirit was there and we could see his heart soften and his ideas begin to change. We talked a lot about faith coming AFTER we act. As a missionary I have really learned that a lot of the time God requires me to make a decision based on a leap of faith and then after that I will be able to have better faith. He is wrestling with that idea in regard to leaving life church for a bit and coming to the LDS church. He knows that the only way he is going to be able to feel that it is true is by coming to church and experimenting with it. Man, I really feel God's love for him and want so badly for it to click for him, it takes time though. God's time and not mine.

Well, my friends that was a lot I know but so many good things are happening here. Lots of ups and downs everyday but I know that I am just an instrument and to that is becoming worth it.

Love you all,  hope you are doing well,
Sister Engelbrecht