Monday, October 25, 2010

October 25, 2010

Hey hey heyyy. I’m glad you enjoyed the video from Brother Dion. He’s the man. We went to the BEST Cuban restaurant ever! It was so freaking good hahaha. I loved it. Just to answer some of your questions: we're having a ward party this Wednesday at the church. The ASL sisters are going to decorate a door and we are providing the candy. It’s going to be fun. The little kids will be trick or treating in the church. I don't know what I’m going to dress up as yet. I should probably figure it out though because it's coming up. Maybe I’ll dress up as the Book of Mormon or something like that. About transfers...I find out if I’m leaving or staying this Saturday so I’ll let you know next week. I have no idea what's happening to me so I’m a little anxious ha. Oh and thank you for the package! I loved all the stuff in it. About elder summers...I got a package of a bunch of sugary foods from him and a letter the other week. I wrote him back and he should be coming back out soon. Stoked about that. Tell Jake I say good luck with the National Guard thing. One of the counselors in the elder's quorum did that whole thing and he learned mandarin Chinese. I was actually talking to him about it yesterday at church. It seemed pretty intense.


This week was awesome. We set a date with this Vietnamese girl named Vy (pronounced vee) for November 20th but then we went back on Friday and she wasn't there so we'll see what happens with her. We only met with José for about 5 minutes on Saturday. We’re going to see if he's going to take it seriously and live the commandments that we've taught him and stuff. We might end up dropping him if he doesn't progress. That’s the way the cookie crumbles...but we taught a lot of other cool people this week. We taught a Chinese family with a RM that went to Canada, Mandarin speaking. All of our investigators in our teaching pool are foreigners haha. We’ve been giving out all these crazy languages for the BOM. Two Mandarin, one Vietnamese, one French. And they're all really cool but we just need to get them all to church! That’s always the problem. But it will work itself out somehow. On Saturday morning we ate breakfast at a members' house. The Pease family. That was fun. Then after that we went to help out a kid in the ward working on his eagle project. I remembered how much I appreciated the help I received for mine so I wanted to help him out. He’s collecting children's books to donate to the local library so we went around and put grocery bags with information on doors. Then Sunday, Doreen came to church like always. She was the only one there though. Then we ate a HUGE dinner at the Mapakoi's house. They always feed us so much food and make us eat it all ha-ha. They’re a really cool family. Samoans. Then we got an awesome call last night. Doreen called and said that she wants to get baptized on the 13th of November! It was great. Because up until that point she wouldn't accept a date. So she called us and set one herself! The best. Hopefully I’ll be able to be here for it. I either have to not get transferred or get transferred to an adjoining zone. We’ll see what happens. So that was my awesome week.

Love you both! Have a blessful week.

--

Elder Austin Gable Engemann aka dubEE fresh

Photos, October 25, 2010

Happy birthday Elder Rydalch (we all dressed up in his clothes and took a picture on his bed)


All the greenies (I don't like that word but I have to use it to explain this picture haha) just happened to be wearing green at district meeting so I used this great setting on my camera :) I'm an artist . . . I know.



District Meeting


Brother and Sister Mapakoi

Elder Fullmer and me, with Brother and Sister Mapakoi

October 18, 2010

Hey Family. It’s me, Elder E.


Dad, I’m glad you talked to Therma ha-ha. She’s cool. I love her family. And yeah I met the Hamilton’s at church on Sunday. They have a son that graduated from Timpview with me. He’s serving his mission in Tennessee right now. They said someone that met their son sent them a picture of him. So they did the same for you ha-ha. It was cool. And Brother Hamilton knows mike Mullen (my MTC companion) because he serves in a church calling with his dad. So I talked to him about Mike and it was cool. He should be coming out soon! So stoked.

The weather is getting so nice! This is why people live in Florida. Winter time. Not summer. Summer = not fun. Maybe when I’m old and rich I can become a snowbird like all the other people that come here in the winter ha-ha. But this last week was an interesting one. We’ve been meeting with José a lot and he just has a straight up hard life. We went over to teach him the gospel of Jesus Christ and it turned into a huge tangent (like always ha-ha) and he was just telling us all this stuff about his life and it made us really sad. When we left we just wanted to start crying ha-ha. But it honestly made me SO thankful for the life that you both have provided me with. My life has been easy. I am so grateful for you both! I love you guys so much!!! We’ve also been teaching Doreen and it's a struggle. We’re trying to help her increase her faith and recognize the Holy Ghost. It’s really hard. She awesome and wants to do what's right but it's hard to find ways to help her. Keep her and José in your prayers please. We’re going to put them both on the prayer list at the temple. Speaking of the temple...how often are you both going? You should go a lot! The temple is the best! It blesses us with our Heavenly Father's love and power, while at the same time blesses those spirits waiting for their work to be done. I wish we could go more but I guess that's not what my calling is right now. Once a quarter will suffice :)

Mom, here are the answers to your questions:

1. I went to two different orthodontists. The first said that he didn't do retainers for people that he didn't put braces on. So he referred me to another one and they said I could either get braces on my front few teeth on top or get the gaps filled in with fake stuff. No thanks. I’d rather just wait and take my chances on you randomly finding my retainer ha-ha. That would be the best situation.

2. I’m sleeping great now. I stopped taking that medicine a long time ago because I didn't like it. But I’m sleeping really well. It’s a blessing for sure.

3. I don't think I need anything but thank you for asking! I’ll probably be sending a package home soon with things that I don't want with me like some books and other things. I don't know when I’ll get around to it but sometime soon hopefully.

Well...I love you both so much and hope you have an amazazing week! Be blessed family.

--

Elder Austin Gable Engemann aka dubEE fresh

Photos, October 18, 2010

Steak n shake...mmmmmm...

Monday, October 11, 2010

October 11, 2010


Hello my family. First of all, Dad...HAPPY BIRTHDAY on Friday! I hope it's the best one ever! Here’s a hug from 3000 miles away: O. so yesterday was 10/10/10. It was pretty epic. I recorded my watch turning to 10:10:10 pm on 10/10/10 and it was a party. Exhilarating. 

So this week was gooooooooood. Doreen is progressing really well. But will you keep her in your prayers so that she can understand the BOM and that her family will support her. So we found out that José has schizophrenia (I think that's how you spell it). We’re still trying to work with him though. We were supposed to give him a blessing yesterday but he wasn't able to make it to church because of a death in his family. We’re still teaching Sister Christopher. I think I told you about her. On Saturday morning we went over to her house with a member and she fed us lunch after we taught her a lesson. Then we helped her organize her garage a little bit. Service is great. I’m going to serve you both more when I get home ha-ha. We also taught this awesome family of 5 on Saturday night. We aren't meeting with them for a couple weeks though so I’ll tell you about them later. Other than that we've just been working trying to find more people to teach. Today is zone p day and we're going to play dodge ball at the church. It’s going to be great. I feel like I’m forgetting to tell you something but that's all I can really think of right now ha-ha sorry.

I love you guys so much though. Have a great week! Stay fresh and be blessed! Oh by the way can you get me Bud's email address as well as matt's? I'd really appreciate that. I need to talk to them! Thanks :)

--
Elder Austin Gable Engemann aka dubEE fresh

Photos, October 11, 2010

My new fuzzy socks from the Dollar Store! So comfy!


I don't know if you can see it, but an airplane was flying around spelling things in the sky. Right here it says "Love".


Then later he spelled out "Love God". I guess that guy (or girl) does that all the time and just spells out little reminders about God and stuff. It's pretty cool.

Monday, October 4, 2010

October 10, 2010

A few words before I tell you about my awesome week: 1. I love you. 2. Thank you so much for the package. I loved the treats and the CDs are awesome. 3. Dad I am planning on working with you in Xocai when I get home so keep that spot! 4. The Xocai protein powder is awesome. I was wondering if you could send me some Xe? :) 5. How good was conference!!! Ah. It was like Christmas for me. So much good stuff. President Uchtdorf's talk on pride made me feel about as big as an ant. Ha no but it was so good. And Elder Christofferson's talk on 5 principles of a consecrated life was great. And President Eyring's talk on trusting in the Lord. The theme that I came up with for General Conference is: faithfully choosing to obey and trust in the Lord's commandments given through his holy prophets. All the talk about following the prophet makes me feel like something big is going to happen soon. Hmm? Only time will tell. 6. I’m glad grandpa's lawsuit stuff against Marie is almost over. It sounds like it has been a really long and tiring process. Tell him I love him and he's in my prayers. 7. Mom I’m glad you're going to get to spend some time with grandma, Uncle Ed, and Aunt Verna at Uncle Bryce and Aunt Wendy’s this thanksgiving. That will be fun! 8. Well...there was supposed to be an 8 but I don't remember ha-ha sorry. OH! I remember. I’m so stoked to see your picture! Send it quick!

Alright, so...my week was great. We met this guy named José who was a referral from the Spanish missionaries. He’s really cool and a good guy. Apparently he got abducted by aliens and they messed up his life. There’s a lot more to that story but I don't know if posting it on the internet would be appropriate Hahaha. Maybe I can tell you about it when I call you on Christmas hahahaha. He’s funny though. And he's an AMAZING artist. So good. Anyway. We set a date with him for the 23rd of this month. He came to general conference and said it was "interesting". He has strong faith. We’ll see what happens.

We also met with Doreen, the 16 year old girl that was referred to us by a member. She’s awesome! She wants to get baptized. We had two lessons with her this last week. The first one was a little hard because she doesn't know much about Jesus Christ or the gospel but it ended really well and she had the desire to learn more. She read from the BOM and has lots of questions. We love questions. anyway then on Saturday after the first session of general conference we met with her at Brother Netane's house with the Netane family and some of Doreen’s other friends/family. We watched "The Testaments" so it would be easier for her to understand about what our Savior did and how he also came to the Americas. The Spirit was SO strong after the movie. It just filled the entire room. And everyone there was feeling it. We testified of Jesus Christ and his atonement as well as baptism. Then we invited her to be baptized and she accepted. She just wants all of her family's support. She such a cool girl and has a strong desire to follow the Lord. But it was just a super spiritual meeting. I love those. But she came to general conference too with the Netane family on Sunday.

On Wednesday we gave Raldy and her family a church tour. Remember Raldy? Yeah we had dropped her but felt inspired to get her to the church so we could get her comfortable with it. We had a really cool member family named the rich family that came to help with it. She said "it helped a lot" but we couldn't get a hold of her to come to general conference. Hopefully we can help her get to CHURCH!!!

We are teaching a few other people right now and if they progress a little more I’ll tell you about them. That’s it for now. Love you both very much! And miss you like crazy. You in my prayers every night :) stay fresh and are blessed.

--Elder Austin Gable Engemann aka dubEEfresh

Photos, October 4, 2010

You can't really tell but it was POURING

This one is for Grandma Barnes haha



E. Engemann and E. Barnes reunited!