August 27, 2011

Hi Mother and Father!

So we had the craziest hurricane ever here in Orlando! Huge! 10 mph winds with a 15 minute rain shower! I thought we were going to die! Ha yeah nothing happened. At all. Not even windy. I'm really thankful that it didn't hit us though. Near the beginning of the mission, I wanted one to hit. But now I definitely don't. That would be horrible. Thanks for the prayers :)

Sooooo...no memory card. I've looked places that it could be but no luck. I am 99.9% positive I put it in the box. So it might be lost. But we can still pray for miracles. Hopefully it will show up somewhere.

So if you have problems at the DMV for my license I can just get a FL license. I would just need my birth certificate. Just let me know what happens.

Mom to answer your question about the College Program: The program goes from anywhere between 3-12 months. And basically the purpose of it is to just come and have the experience of working with Disney. Some people want to work with Disney full-time eventually but most people we talk to just do it for fun. Students from all over the world come to do it. It's cool.

So this week was busy with transfers and whatnot. Lots of running around. It's great though because I've learned how to step outside of stressful situations and stay in control of the things that I have control over (if that makes sense). I've learned a lot about that. So we met with Alex this week. We taught her with a member from Spanish Fork named Jocelyn. It was perfect too because Alex needed to hear someone else's testimony besides ours. So it went great and Alex said that she would be baptized this coming Thursday. PLEASE keep her in your prayers as you have so far because she needs it badly. She is seriously so prepared but Satan is working on her hard. And once she is baptized she will be such a good member!

Thanks for the prayers that you have said on her behalf so far :) We also met with a girl named Delphine this week. She is awesome! Super intelligent and has tons of great questions. She has a catholic background and loves to learn. She lives with a member named Leah and they have talked about the church a little. But Delphine is doing all the right things to find out the truthfulness of the Gospel. She is reading, praying, and coming to church tomorrow. We have had two amazing lessons with her. Please keep her in your prayers as well.

I am really thankful for all the prayers that you both send out for me and the people that I work with. Prayer makes a huge difference in so many things. Prayer changes things. I love it. There is so much power in a kneeling prayer. I am always reminded of the story of Alma the younger and the four sons of Mosiah seeking to destroy the church. When the angel appears to them in verse 14 of chapter 27 he says: "Behold, the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth; therefore, for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith." It's cool to think that the whole reason an ANGEL OF GOD appeared to Alma the younger was because of his father's prayers. I wonder if anything would have happened if Alma the elder hadn't prayed in faith for his son. Interesting thought. This is why it is so crucial to pray for investigators; so they can "be brought to the knowledge of the truth".

I love prayer. It's amazing to think that we can actually speak with our Heavenly Father. I think a lot about how excited I am to meet God one day (in fact about an hour ago I told Elder Gregson how excited I was to meet God haha)...but while we are here we can literally speak with him. That's how he is able to bless us so much when we pray. All miracles and blessings are according to our faith in Him and in Christ "whom [we have] never before heard nor seen". Think of the faith that it takes to get down on your knees, with your eyes closed, and just start talking to someone that you can't see. My testimony has gotten to a point where I know that when I'm on my knees talking, God is right there listening. I pray that testimony will continue to increase. I don't know how He does it. I don't know how he hears and answers every single one of His children's prayers. And it's something that I don't necessarily need to fully comprehend right now because I know that one day I WILL know. But I've never believed as much as I do right now that when we pray to Him in the name of Christ, He hears, and answers through the power of the Holy Ghost, which is undeniable. So thank you for your prayers.

I love you so much! I hope you are happy and healthy. Stay fresh and go to the Temple! I want to invite you actually to do this: on a day that you can, go to the Temple and do initiatories, then and endowment session, then sealings. It might take a while but you won't regret it! (you know that though ;)) Ha I don't know why I am inviting you to do that but it would be great! Tell everyone in the family and all my friends that you see that I miss them and love them. LOVE YOU TOO! Have a blessed week!

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Elder Austin Gable Engemann