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

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

I guess I just want to share two things:

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

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

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

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

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

With all my love,

Sister Engelbrecht

Pics:

My first day out of the house in a week 

Sister Liddell was exhausted with all my packing :)

Tuans Baptism

April 11th, Charity

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

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

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

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

GUESS WHAT!!!!

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

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

Love,

Sister Engelbrecht

April 4th- Ariel traded places with me!

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

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

Once again I have a somewhat humorous miracle.

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

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

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

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

Keep Loving on!!!

Sister Engelbrecht