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