Feb. 22, 2016 Spiritual Feeling

​It has been another incredible week. I think God might have the wrong daughter to be blessing because I do not know what I did to deserve this.

The highlight of this week was going to Tulsa to hear from Elder Christofferson. Here we are with all of our mission and half the Bentonville Ar mission and in comes Elder Christofferson. We all stood up and the whole room went so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The spirit felt like it washed over the whole audience. As he spoke to us I felt like I was sitting at the Savior's feet. The humility that was there blew me a way a bit. He was so real and human but completely showed that He knew the Savior. Heavenly Father wants us to be the best version of ourselves not some robot. That is something I am learning a lot lately. For a while I thought (I might have talked about this before) if I am trying to become like Christ won't I lose my identity? The truth is though, as we come to know our Father who created us as divine beings we understand ourselves better and we become more of ourselves than we were before.

During that time we got to hear from an apostle Heavenly Father answered questions that I have had for months that I quite frankly stopped praying for. It really helped me realize that even when we don't see the immediate answers we need to not give up on reaching out and expressing our thoughts.

Mariah our recent convert who was baptized last Sunday is doing incredible and we are continually blown away with her. I love my mission and most of all I love the Savior so much.

Love you all,

Sister Engelbrecht

Feb. 15, 2016 Something Happened this week~

Feb. 15, 2016

​This week has literally been such a whirlwind of miracles. I cannot even express how humbled I am to have been able to be the Lord's instrument this week.

I don't even know where to start. This week we were able to start teaching 3 new investigators one of which accepted to be baptized in a month. One less active out of no where texted us and asked if he could meet with us. We have never met him before. Another less active that we have not been able to get a hold of set up an appointment and when we went over to teach her, her non member boyfriend was interested. Sister Liddell and I just had wide eyes this week as everything unraveled.

Along with that we were able to go to the temple which was such a great experience. The peace that I could feel when we walked in was tangible and I really think that made a difference in our week too. Sister Liddell and I started this thing this week with street contacting. She gets nervous to talk to sorority guys because they are punks sometimes and I don't really care so we set up a system. She talks to ALL the girls we see and I talk to all the guys we see. It works out perfect and there are no more excuses. Missionary work is scary sometimes okay :p Heavenly Father really has made our efforts count.

I definitely laughed more than ever this week and thanks to my companion I peed my self twice. No shame people no shame....okay a little shame. It was such a bummer though. I should probably get that checked out :p Being able to teach so many lessons this week has helped me to see how powerful God's hand is in each one of his children's lives (that grammar though).

For dinner yesterday we had salmon and I just about cried I was so excited. AND it was actually good salmon. I sure miss me so good Northwest food but I get to have other delicious things that y'all are missing out on like chicken and biscuits. Thank you YSA ward :)

Mariah Cooksey's baptism was last night and was the best valentines day present anyone could ever ask for! It was crazy chaotic all day getting everything set up but it turned out to be beautiful. My mom would be so proud of my decorating skills. We thought about using the relief society room instead of the chapel but I am SO glad we chose the chapel because it was full. Mariah's whole family was there and it was the coolest sight. As I watched the way she looked at her non member family and how they embraced her I felt the power that a family has. That can be nothing but divine love. 

We were able to have two of our investigators Tuan and Kymesha (who has a date for March) at the baptism and if they did not feel the spirit there then I quit ;) It was so strong and such a good thing for them to experience. As Kymesha was leaving she said "so March is mine right?!" It was so great to hear her excitement. Some people are just prepared and we have to invite.

I can't tell you enough how grateful I am to Heavenly Father to have given me that boost this week :D Hope your valentines was as good as mine ;)

Love,

Sister Engelbrecht

Feb. 8, 2016 Happy Valentines Day!

Feb. 8, 2016

​I am sorry this is going to be a shorty!

This week has been a blast and busy as ever...again. We got our car back so that is good. Sister Liddell is shocked at how bad I am at getting around but hey what is new?!

We have had a blast at the booth lately and even met with a girl this week whose friend is on a mission in the Philippines. She was such a sweetheart and agreed to meet with us this week.

I just wanted to share a little thought about conversion before I go,

Discipleship is all about learning to become as the Savior is. The Latin root of disciple is learner and as such we are on a pursuit to simply learn and act as the Savior would. That pursuit is a lifetime one and because of that it has the greatest rewards. It is all worth it and way simpler than we make it out to be. Satan wants us to look at the gospel and feel that it is all too much and so many little things but in all reality it is the clearest way of life we could possibly live.

I love the gospel and I know it truly works.

Love you all so much

Sister Engelbrecht

Feb. 1, 2016 No Fear of Man

Feb. 1st 2016

​Hello peeps <3 It is February :)

It's been a crazy busy week and then Saturday and Sunday extremely slow and I think it got to us because Sister Liddell and I have this crud: sore throat and congestion junk. Fun right?! That thing called IBS though, it is not kicking my butt this week so at least I am not on double duty with being sick.

The area here is a blast. It is super easy to get distracted with all the cute stores. I am college age living in a college town but a missionary so I kind of feel like "ooh shiny" at times. It is so good for me though to learn sacrifice. That is something that has been focused on a lot here lately just in lessons and in my studies. Heavenly Father I am sure is trying to tell me something. It is really easy for me to be intimidated by so many people my age but I am trying to get over it and remember my purpose is to share the gift of the gospel. I have found myself at times thinking "man I just want to get on with my major and go save the world :p" but then every time the spirit reminds me that sharing the gospel right now is the best way anyone could ever start to change the world. In Helaman it talks about how if Sodom and Gomorra even had 10 people that were righteous, God would not have destroyed the city, but it didn't even have that. It taught me that each individual righteous person really does make a difference in a world of shifting values. Every righteous decision we make REALLY does matter.

There are a couple people that displayed this to me this week. There is a recent convert here who is in a sorority. She had a huge initiation meeting on Sunday for all the girls coming  in and it was a big deal for her to be there. She told us that she would be going to an earlier service of church instead of ours which was at one. We show up to church and here comes Sydney, this girl, walking in at the one o' clock time and so we asked her what happened. She told us that she was asked to teach Relief Society last minute and so she figured God wanted her at church more. We were amazed at the sacrifice she made just so she could teach Relief Society. I was really inspired by her faith. Mariah is another one that has been teaching me so much recently. She is an investigator who is getting baptized on Valentines Day. She is so ridiculously excited to go to the temple, she could skip baptism as a whole. It is the most precious blessing to see people follow God and as a result make you better. I love being a missionary! Those good times make up for the hard times 100 fold.

Love,

Sister Engelbrecht

p.s. the pic is of Mariah (she is a little peanut)

Jan. 11, 2016 Reflecting

Hey everyone!

It has been another really really good week. It is such a blessing to see the Lord's hand in this area because I did not do anything to make it happen. ​

Michael and Chelsea are doing so good. We had two lessons with them this week and we realized that one of the biggest things holding them back was that they did not have a faith in Jesus Christ. Without that very first basic step the Gospel will not make sense. After all it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We decided to dedicate a whole lesson on Him and why it is important that we have a Savior. As we were testifying of Jesus Christ, Michael lit up and started giggling and smiling. We asked him what was up and he told us he just felt like crying, like a huge wave of peace washed over him. The spirit truly does testify of Jesus Christ. It was another reminder of my testimony and it was so refreshing to see that the gospel REALLY does work. Sunday they came to church and they were determined even after they had to get their car jumped. The sacrament talks could have gone a bit better but I had to remind myself that all those things are in God's hands and I am merely his instrument. 

We also had Anna come to church another one of our investigators and I was so grateful!! 

I have been reflecting lately on how easy it is to get frustrated with people....because we are human. Jesus Christ tells us that we will be judged how we judge. As I was thinking about that I thought that often times when we judge it is because there is more that we do not understand. We must look inward to see what it is that we can change first, sometimes that is the hardest thing but I feel like that is when we become better. 

I am really grateful for this gospel and the peace that it TRULY brings in to my life. It really works we just have to ACT on faith. Here is a really good video that has helped me a lot this week. 3 minutes that will be worth it :)

https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/patterns-of-light-spirit-of-revelation-1

Love you all!

Sister Engelbrecht

Jan. 25th, 2016 New surroundings!

Hey!

It has been a pretty good week. Leaving Ardmore was WAY harder than I thought it would be, there are so many people that I just love so dearly there. Leaving was quite insane. I have attached a few pics of people that I LOVE LOVE. I got here on Wednesday and just died at how beautiful campus is. It is such a strange thing to be on a campus with SO many people my age.

We did a booth this week on campus and it was FRIGID outside. Super funny though because there was a guy that Sister Liddell asked to take the survey and he said "Oh no sorry, it is too cold" yet he was HOLDING his jacket. Dumbest excuse ever. It was a lot of fun though. It has been pretty cold but we have managed to bundle up real good.

Last night we did a thing called Ward prayer at the Institute. We were able to get together as a ward (like 30 of us :p) and pray for a bunch of things as a group. It was a really neat bonding experience. Everyone here has welcomed me in so well and I am really excited to be here. I hope everything is going well for everyone!

Love,

Sister Engelbrecht

Jan. 18, 2016 There is no growth in the comfort zone

Hello everyone,

Remember how I had said a few months ago that Heavenly Father pushes you as far as you can go and let a little more so that we have to rely on him? I definitely experienced that this week. ​There was some things that happened in our area with investigators that made things very sticky and we had to be very careful how we handled it. Along with that we blew most of our miles for the month between us and the elders, so we are pretty much a bike area with 20 miles a day. It has been very difficult. In other areas can I just say that communication is KEY. It has been pretty emotionally exhausting. I gave a talk this weekend and I think it went okay and we also got transfer calls. SOOO....needless to say I have really been leaning on the Savior to guide me minute by minute. Sometimes that is all we can do. 

On the brighter side I am being transferred this Wednesday to Oklahoma State University in the singles ward. I am so excited to go back to another singles ward and it will be a good place to probably end my mission. Sister Cook is pretty nervous to take over the area and so we are trying to tie a lot of loose ends. I feel like we just moved but looks like I am packing again.......I used to like to pack....USED TO is the key word there. I just have to much stuff! 

Sunday was fantastic! Finally Willie was able to come to church and Michael and Chelsea came as well. It was amazing to look out in the congregation and see three investigators that God has blessed me with. WOw.... I am in awe of His love. 

The pics below are Michael and Chelsea, the SNOW this week, and Sarah and Willie <3

Hope you have a great week :) LOVE YOU all

Sister Engelbrecht