Monday, May 31, 2010

May 31, 2010

Hi Family!


Happy Memorial Day! Hope you're having a relaxing day at least a little bit.

So I got your package on Thursday, thanks a lot! In the next package you send (whenever that is, I don't need it soon) could you also send me my white tie that was in that same bag all the other clothes were in?

So I read that book Believeing Christ. It was good. I loved all of the analogies that the author used in it. He did a good job of applying everything to the reader. So thanks for that too.

This week was way good. We didn't do that well with lessons and finding people to teach just because we were busy with stuff for the baptism and other things. On Thursday night we went over to a member's house (the Mejia's) with Karolyn and Jonathan. Elder Miller and I made up this game to play with them. Gospel Jeopardy! Ha-ha it was so fun. We made four categories: The Restoration, The Plan of Salvation, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, and The Commandments. With each category we had five questions worth from 100-500 points. It was the adults vs. the kids. Elder Miller and I were Alex Trebeck ha-ha-ha. So that was really fun.

The baptism was on Saturday. And it went SO well! A bunch of members showed up to support Karolyn and Jonathan and everything just ran smoothly. It was pretty cool to baptize Jonathan too :). Great experience! They asked us each to participate in the baptism and confirmation ordinances. So I got to baptize Jonathan on Saturday and then on Sunday I confirmed Karolyn and gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting. That was a great experience as well. I love them so much. They are going to be the best members! I gave Karolyn the copy of Believing Christ that you wanted me to and told her it was from you. She wanted me to thank you very much. And I told her that you would add her on facebook. So do that ha-ha. Karolyn Castro.

Well that's pretty much it for now. Tomorrow we have Zone Conference so that will be good. But yeah, I love you both! A lot. I miss you too. And I hope you have a blessed week.

--

Elder Austin Gable Engemann aka dubEE fresh

Photos May 31, 2010, Baptism Day for Karolyn and Jonathan!

Elder Miller, Karolyn, Jonathan, Elder Engemann




Monday, May 24, 2010

May 24, 2010

Hello family!


Sounds like you had a pretty good week Mother! Dad you're still ballin' it up, giving Mom flowers and whatnot for her birthday. Ha-ha, keepin' it fresh! Bet you loved it, huh Mom? :)

So great newsss, Karolyn and Jonathan are getting baptized this Saturday!! We’re so excited for them. I’ll be performing the baptism for Jonathan and Elder Miller will be for Karolyn. Ah I can't even explain to you how good of a family they are! Everything has just been perfect. They have no problems with anything. It’s been awesome getting to know them and helping them prepare towards baptism into the Lord's church. They are excited, but they also see the importance of this step in their lives. Which is a good thing!!

We are going to stop teaching Chalande and Nelson. It’s really not going anywhere because they won't take the initiative to come to church. Something always comes up. We even introduced them to a member family that lives right by them and they said that they would be more than happy to provide a ride for them. But it hasn't happened so we're going to have to stop meeting with them. They aren't progressing and they will be moving down south for the entire Summer. But they have been taught the lessons, so later down the line they will be prepared for other missionaries! I like how that works. The Lord prepares people little by little and at their own pace.

At the moment we're just trying to get some more investigators into our teaching pool. So we've been doing mostly finding activities lately and quite a bit of tracting. We’re still looking for the elect that will be willing and ready to accept the message. We’ve talked to a lot of really nice people though.

Dad it's really interesting that you brought up how you recently recorded a song for Kenneth Cope. First of all, that's awesome and I can't wait to hear it. But it's weird because this week, while I was knocking on doors, I started to sing "My Grown Up Christmas List" and "The Inn Keeper's Song". And I wrote down in my planner to tell you that you need to do an album. Pharrel !! (editorial comment: that mean’s “for real” to anyone 30 and under) . And I expect it to be done before I come home from my mission. Dead serious!! You’re too good to not do an album. So yeah, I expect that to be sent to me in the near future. No questions asked. Thanks :)

I love being a missionary. It’s cool to see how I’ve been progressing over the past weeks. As I continue to try to be in tune with the promptings of the Holy Spirit and pray for guidance, my words just flow off of my tongue. I can see myself being used as an instrument in God's hands and it's very humbling and just great!

Anyway...things are wonderful. And I love you both. And hope you have an amazing week.

Be blessed~

--

Elder Austin Gable Engemann aka DubEE fresh

Photos May 24, 2010



Elder Miller, Jonathan, Karolyn, and Elder Engemann


Zone Development Meeting. Austin is on the right.


Monday, May 17, 2010

May 17, 2010

First of all, Mom...HAPPY BIRTHDAY in a few days! I love you! Going on 25 now? Alright! :)

So I have good newsss. I’m staying in Port St. Lucie. It was a big surprise though because we all thought for sure that I’d be leaving. Pretty cool though. Now I get to chill with these elders for 6 more weeks. And I get to see some baptisms!

As of right now the most positive baptism date is Karolyn and Jonathan for the 29th. I’m so excited for them. I really hope they can see the importance of it and how much the Lord will bless them for taking this step in their lives.

We had an ok week though. We didn't find too many people to teach. A lot went on so we didn't get to do much finding. We had cleaning checks and a lot of service this week though. So that was great. Karolyn and Jonathan are doing awesome! She fed us steaks two times this last week. Investigator meals are sweet ha-ha. And those steaks were SO good. I can't even tell you. They are an awesome family. I love them.

Not much else is going on in the work though. We have to push back Chalande and Nelson's baptism date because they weren't able to make it to church yesterday. But they'll come next week. We got them a ride with some members that live close to them. They are understanding everything well too. We just need to get someone who speaks Creole over there so we can communicate with the parents (even though they don't seem interested at all). But that's about it for now. I love you guys a lot! Have a blessed week!

--

Elder Austin Gable Engemann aka dubEE fresh

Photos May 17, 2010


  
District Meeting, Left to Right: Elders  Engemann & Bennett, Sister Johnson, Elder Bowling, Sister Rainey, Elders Kimpel, Stolle & Miller



Getting the Wiggles Out!



Suzanne's Mother's Day Package 2010!






Monday, May 10, 2010

May 10, 2010 Hi Mom and Dad!

Hi Mom and Dad!

Yesterday’s Mother’s Day phone call with you was awesommeee! It was so good to talk to both of you! Best thing ever. I love you both very much. I don't really know what to tell you because I told you a lot on the phone ha-ha. So this will probably be short.

This last week was really good...as usual. We have a date set with this girl named Chalande and her little brother Nelson for the 29th. Their parents only speak Creole so we are going to try to get someone who speaks Creole to come to their home with us soon. Larry and Darlena are also set for the 29th so we just need to consistently meet with them like I told you and things will be good. And of course Karolyn and Jonathan are progressing veryyy well so we'll set a baptismal date with them sometime this week probably. And hopefully next week, when I get transferred, I’m hoping that I wind up in the next zone over so I can make it to some of these people's baptisms. It’ll be a bummer if I can't but I’ll go where the Lord wants me to go and where I’m needed in the mission.

I love you so much and hope you have an amazing week! Be blessed. Oh and could you send me one of those nice harmonicas that are in my room in my next package. Preferably the big one that can change octaves by pushing that thing in. Ha-ha hope that makes sense. I’m pretty sure they are either in or on top of my white file cabinets. No rush. Thanks!

--
Elder Austin Gable Engemann aka dubEE fresh

Photos! May 10, 2010

Jerry's Baptism (with Fort Pierce Missionaries)

 
Yeah, that's how I roll: hard!

Darn flash didn't go off.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

May 3, 2010

Hello Hello!


Hi Family!

Mom...HAPPY EARLY MOTHER'S DAY! You’re the best mom in the universe and I am so grateful for everything you have done for me in my life. Every day I realize more and more what you have done for me. I LOVE YOU! And I’ll be talking to you this Sunday :) so don't fret. I’m not sure what time but I’ll try to make sure it's after you get home from church. I’ll do my best but I’m not really sure how it will all be working out so just keep the phone by your side, ha-ha.

So guess who I saw at this grocery store called "Bravo"? Julio and his family from Peru!! Pretty crazy! I talked to them for a little bit and it was really great. Oh another thing is that there is a lady in my ward named Sue Nibley. And she said she knows the Engemanns because she was in the Studio City Ward in California. She used to date Uncle Bill too, ha-ha, pretty cool. She is really nice though. Small world when you are a member of the Lord's true church! Hopefully we can change that, ha-ha.

One thing I forgot to tell you last week was that on April 24th we had our day of service. I’m pretty sure it's a worldwide church thing but I’m not sure. We went to a house and put up dry wall and painted the outside. I was putting up dry wall the whole time. We got a lot done. It was with this organization called "Habitat for Humanity". It is a really good organization. It was a really good day of service though. I enjoyed it a lot.

So I CAN"T (Sorry!) send you my talk because I’m saving it for if I ever need it on a "spur of the moment" thing. :)

This next transfer will be president Darrington's last transfer. So he has about 2 months left till he bounces. Then we get a new one. I’ve heard good things about him and he sounds like a really cool guy.

It sounds like you all had a really good time at Ezra’s birthday! I’m glad to hear it. I bet it was nice to see everyone. That baby is pretty cute! Ha-ha.

So this last week was a great week. We got a lot of work done. We set 2 baptismal dates! One with a kid named Nick for the May 22nd. And one with...drum roll please...................Tiffany! Pretty awesome!! But she didn't come to church! Oooh..... I’m so ticked at her, ha-ha. She said she would be there. It’s ok though, ha-ha. But I had the best day of my mission so far this last Tuesday. Elder Miller and I were guided by the Spirit to do so many things. It was amazing! Just one example was that we had planned to tract some streets and when we got there we decided to finish one that we had already started a previous day instead of doing the planned ones. So we did it and had very little success. And when we were almost done we saw this 20 year old kid who had just finished running and was walking to his house. We talked to him and invited him to learn more. So he said we could come in to his house, which we were right next to at the time. We sat down with him and started teaching him. Then his mom walked in and told us that she was raised a member of the church and then she got married and converted to Catholicism. But anyway, we kept teaching him and we could just see that he was feeling the Spirit. His eyes were lighting up and he was smiling huge and it was the best thing to see ever, ha-ha. We KNEW he was feeling the influence of the Spirit. So we used the Lord's words from the scriptures in Alma 7 to invite him to be baptized into the Lord's church. And guess what...he accepted!!! And we set a date with him for the 22nd. (That was Nick by the way.) We left realizing how the Spirit directed our path to him and directed our invitation on our first meeting we had with him. Pretty great stuff!! But since then we haven't been able to get in contact with him because he doesn't have a cell phone and he has been with his friends in another city. But we'll get in contact with him this week.

Then another good experience I had was teaching Tiffany. Elder Miller and I planned to have a very clear and direct lesson with her. We started to teach her the Plan of Salvation. I don't remember EVERYTHING we talked about but there was a lot. We were there for a long time and she had a lot of questions. We had to stop trying to be nice in explaining things, ha. Like normally when someone asks if we are saying that our church is the only true church on the earth we will say something like "well most all churches are good and teach good things but they lack the authority that Jesus Christ gave to his apostles when he was on the earth. And that authority was restored onto the earth again by Jesus Christ through Joseph Smith." You know, just so they don't get offended. But this time we just HAD to say "YES. THIS IS THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH ON THE EARTH. BAPTISM BY SOMEONE HOLDING THE PROPER AUTHORITY, WHICH IS HELD WITHIN THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS, IS THE ONLY WAY." Ha- it was so intense. We were just spiritually wrestling with her. But she accepted the Lord's invitation to be baptized on May 15th. Elder Miller and I left very spiritually tired, but at the same time relieved and excited. It was a good lesson :). We haven't been able to get in contact with Christie so I think we might need to drop her. She isn't taking it serious enough. I hate dropping people. But we need to spend our time on people who are willing to keep commitments and progress towards baptism.
So that was my week~.

Oh and yesterday was the hottest day ever! It was like 94 degrees with 100% humidity (that's just an exaggerated guesstimate, but seriously it was way humid). Elder Miller and I were just soaking in sweat the whole time. And we had to bike way far too. I almost died. Ha-ha-ha.

Anyway...I love you guys so much. I can't wait to talk to you next week! Have a blessed week and I’ll talk to you on Sundayyyyyy!

--

Elder Austin Gable Engemann aka DubEE Fresh

Photos, "Worldwide Day of Service" Habitat for Humanity April 2010