Hello!
What it is home skillets. This week has been...so...sick! The members are throwing down on their friends and roommates. We met 4 new referrals this week and they allllll accepted baptism dates for October in our first meeting haha. It has been such a blessing! There is Dave for the 15th, Steve for the 29th, and Bery and Charlie for the 22nd. They are all so great! So prepared and just the biggest blessing from Heavenly Father ever haha. Dave has been to church a previous time. He came with members that he met while helping them carry in their groceries. Then Steve has never been but he is coming to a baptism today at 3. And then Bery came to church last week with a member and said we could come teach her. Then when we came by she brought her friend Charlie. They are both from China. They are all very sincere and just amazing all together. They have all recognized the Spirit and want change in their lives. It's awesome.
We are still meeting with Arden. She made us pancakes yesterday morning and there were 3 members there. We invited her to be baptized. She said she wants to but she wants to make sure it's ok with her husband, who is in another state right now, and his family. Long story. But please just pray for her and that her husband and in-laws hearts can be softened. Thanks. Arden is awesome. Then we saw April again yesterday right after breakfast and there were 2 members there. Our members are just on fire right now haha. It's sweet. But April is doing good. She is very sincere.
Earlier in the week we went down to Stuart on exchanges and on the way we stopped to see Karolyn and Jonathan. Karolyn has had some hard stuff that she has been through lately. She needs some love right now. It was SO good to see them but as I was talking to Karolyn I started to cry. I never thought that I could care about a person and desire their happiness so much. There is a very special bond between missionaries and the people that they help in the conversion process. It's pretty cool. I asked her if she would call you both and she said she would. I did that because I got a prompting as we talked that there was something you could say that would help her. Mom, I think I gave her your phone number. But if she doesn't call before next Thursday or so, will you call her? Will you also please pray before she calls or before you call and ask the Lord to help you know what to say? This means a lot to me so I would really appreciate it :) Anywayyyy...things are great! I'm so stoked for conference!!! Love you!
--
Elder Austin Gable Engemann
Friday, September 30, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
September 17, 2011
Hello my dearly beloved family.
Things here are greattt! Things are picking back up in our area. We've been struggling to find new people to teach consistently. We find tons of people but their schedules conflict with ours quite often because we have lots of meetings, exchanges with zone leaders, etc. We have people come to church each week that we just meet around and invite but then we can never get appointments set up with them. They are all Disney slaves. Don't tell them I said that because they get offended hahaha. We're trying to find a balance.
But Thursday and Friday we saw miracles! We taught 3 roommates of a member on Thursday. The member's name is Amy and she is from Orem. Went to Mountain View. So we know a lot of the same people. It's fun to play the "who do we both know" game in this ward haha. There is a girl in the ward named Elisheva that is from Sacramento and knows Hayley and her family and friends. She told me yesterday that she put a picture that Elder Gregson and I were in on Facebook and Gina Hernandez saw it and commented about how Elisheva and I know each other. Pretty funny stuff. Small world. LDS world. Any way back to Amy's friends: their names are April, Patti, and Kat. They all have catholic backgrounds and are pretty devoted. But Elder Gregson and I had a great lesson with them all.
Later that day we went to go see Alex (the recent-convert Alex) because we wanted to drop something off for her birthday. We gave her some treats and a balloon that says "Baby Girl" and is all cutesy and stuff. It's funny because before she was baptized she always joked about how she felt like she was preparing to get married, not baptized hahaha. So we wanted to congratulate her on her new baby girl haha. So while we were talking to her out on the sidewalk of her apartment complex a girl walked by named Mayra. We said something funny to her about wishing Alex a Happy Birthday and she stopped and talked to us for a while. She said she wanted to come to church. So we will be teaching her soon. Then right as we were about to get in the car, Elder Gregson started to say "Hey, you should call kens..." (Kensie is a member in our ward) when lo and behold Kensie and her 3 friends drove up and stopped. One of them, Amanda (the one that went on the Temple tour a long time ago), we have been trying to contact forever . . . so that was a miracle. And then one in the backseat said they wanted to come to church too and will be there tomorrow. Everything happened in such an amazingly timely manner that there is no way there wasn't some divine help from upstairs. It was unreal! Oh and I forgot to mention that the previous night, as we were praying, Elder Gregson had that impression that we need to go see Kensie so we could talk to Amanda. "...the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty..." (1 Nephi 1:20).
Then on Friday we had a super-Spirit-filled lesson with a Canadian girl named Arden that came to church last week and another guy named Xander. We had 3 members there. It was a little pow-wow. We started by asking a little about their background and Xander explained how he was Buddhist. Right when he said that, in my head I was thinking "Oh no...this is going to be interesting teaching a Christian and a Buddhist at the same time." But it actually went reallyyy well. We talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and about the Book of Mormon. At the end we invited Xander to pray and he said a very sincere, heartfelt, kneeling prayer to Heavenly Father. The Spirit was very strong. We pointed it out and hope that they were able to recognize that the Holy Ghost was there with us. They said it felt peaceful, so that's a start! It was great.
On Tuesday we went to Deland on exchanges. I got to see Grandpa, so that was wonderful. I'm pretty sure he is struggling with health and some other things. He seemed a little worrisome. Please say a prayer for him.
Then on Wednesday we went on exchanges with the Orlando zone leaders, Elder Bennett and Elder Hyde (speaking of Elder Bennett, Mom, you asked when he gets home: December 27th). Every Wednesday they go set up a table and the University of Central Florida campus with posters and tons of supplies. So we were there from 9 am to 2 pm. I got a little tan haha. All the students walk by in floods so we talked to hundreds and hundreds of people. It was the funnest and funniest thing I've done in a while! There are a lot of scantily clad brazen hussies at UCF though :) . Gotta be careful! Eyes straight down sometimes hahaha.
It's actually really sad to see what the world is coming to concerning morals, dress, and modesty. It is so prevalent. Everywhere you look there is some type of pornographic picture or immoral something. The magazines in the grocery check out lines are disgusting. And that is what the world is saying is alright and even popular. Elder Oaks gave an awesome CES fireside about Tolerance vs. Truth this last Sunday. It was amazing. You should look it up actually. Anyway...that is my little spiel about morals this week. Hahaha.
Just to answer the other two questions you asked before we have to bounce: I'm sleeping great. I've never been more tired in my life. I've probably said that in previous emails but now...it's pharrelllllll. So tired. But the Lord is my strength, right!? Right! And concerning Elder Mullen: I see him all the time. He is in my old area, Hunter's Creek West. We live right across the street from him and we also see him every Monday at the office when we do accountability with President. So...hope everything is great with the both of you! Have a wonderful day, Sabbath, and rest of next week! Love you!
--
Elder Austin Gable Engemann
Things here are greattt! Things are picking back up in our area. We've been struggling to find new people to teach consistently. We find tons of people but their schedules conflict with ours quite often because we have lots of meetings, exchanges with zone leaders, etc. We have people come to church each week that we just meet around and invite but then we can never get appointments set up with them. They are all Disney slaves. Don't tell them I said that because they get offended hahaha. We're trying to find a balance.
But Thursday and Friday we saw miracles! We taught 3 roommates of a member on Thursday. The member's name is Amy and she is from Orem. Went to Mountain View. So we know a lot of the same people. It's fun to play the "who do we both know" game in this ward haha. There is a girl in the ward named Elisheva that is from Sacramento and knows Hayley and her family and friends. She told me yesterday that she put a picture that Elder Gregson and I were in on Facebook and Gina Hernandez saw it and commented about how Elisheva and I know each other. Pretty funny stuff. Small world. LDS world. Any way back to Amy's friends: their names are April, Patti, and Kat. They all have catholic backgrounds and are pretty devoted. But Elder Gregson and I had a great lesson with them all.
Later that day we went to go see Alex (the recent-convert Alex) because we wanted to drop something off for her birthday. We gave her some treats and a balloon that says "Baby Girl" and is all cutesy and stuff. It's funny because before she was baptized she always joked about how she felt like she was preparing to get married, not baptized hahaha. So we wanted to congratulate her on her new baby girl haha. So while we were talking to her out on the sidewalk of her apartment complex a girl walked by named Mayra. We said something funny to her about wishing Alex a Happy Birthday and she stopped and talked to us for a while. She said she wanted to come to church. So we will be teaching her soon. Then right as we were about to get in the car, Elder Gregson started to say "Hey, you should call kens..." (Kensie is a member in our ward) when lo and behold Kensie and her 3 friends drove up and stopped. One of them, Amanda (the one that went on the Temple tour a long time ago), we have been trying to contact forever . . . so that was a miracle. And then one in the backseat said they wanted to come to church too and will be there tomorrow. Everything happened in such an amazingly timely manner that there is no way there wasn't some divine help from upstairs. It was unreal! Oh and I forgot to mention that the previous night, as we were praying, Elder Gregson had that impression that we need to go see Kensie so we could talk to Amanda. "...the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty..." (1 Nephi 1:20).
Then on Friday we had a super-Spirit-filled lesson with a Canadian girl named Arden that came to church last week and another guy named Xander. We had 3 members there. It was a little pow-wow. We started by asking a little about their background and Xander explained how he was Buddhist. Right when he said that, in my head I was thinking "Oh no...this is going to be interesting teaching a Christian and a Buddhist at the same time." But it actually went reallyyy well. We talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and about the Book of Mormon. At the end we invited Xander to pray and he said a very sincere, heartfelt, kneeling prayer to Heavenly Father. The Spirit was very strong. We pointed it out and hope that they were able to recognize that the Holy Ghost was there with us. They said it felt peaceful, so that's a start! It was great.
On Tuesday we went to Deland on exchanges. I got to see Grandpa, so that was wonderful. I'm pretty sure he is struggling with health and some other things. He seemed a little worrisome. Please say a prayer for him.
Then on Wednesday we went on exchanges with the Orlando zone leaders, Elder Bennett and Elder Hyde (speaking of Elder Bennett, Mom, you asked when he gets home: December 27th). Every Wednesday they go set up a table and the University of Central Florida campus with posters and tons of supplies. So we were there from 9 am to 2 pm. I got a little tan haha. All the students walk by in floods so we talked to hundreds and hundreds of people. It was the funnest and funniest thing I've done in a while! There are a lot of scantily clad brazen hussies at UCF though :) . Gotta be careful! Eyes straight down sometimes hahaha.
It's actually really sad to see what the world is coming to concerning morals, dress, and modesty. It is so prevalent. Everywhere you look there is some type of pornographic picture or immoral something. The magazines in the grocery check out lines are disgusting. And that is what the world is saying is alright and even popular. Elder Oaks gave an awesome CES fireside about Tolerance vs. Truth this last Sunday. It was amazing. You should look it up actually. Anyway...that is my little spiel about morals this week. Hahaha.
Just to answer the other two questions you asked before we have to bounce: I'm sleeping great. I've never been more tired in my life. I've probably said that in previous emails but now...it's pharrelllllll. So tired. But the Lord is my strength, right!? Right! And concerning Elder Mullen: I see him all the time. He is in my old area, Hunter's Creek West. We live right across the street from him and we also see him every Monday at the office when we do accountability with President. So...hope everything is great with the both of you! Have a wonderful day, Sabbath, and rest of next week! Love you!
--
Elder Austin Gable Engemann
Photo, September 17, 2011
This is our domain at the office. It may or may not look really clean. And that may or may not have been due to me. You be the judge...
Sunday, September 11, 2011
September 10. 2011
Hola Mom and Dad!
Another great week in the Florida Orlando Mission. Cooling down a little. We had Leadership Training on Wednesday and Thursday. It was good. The main focus was on helping people make and keep commitments. Another big part of it was inviting people to attend church. Tons of revelation was received by all who were present. Leadership Training is a meeting with all the zone leaders, district leaders, trainers, certain Sister companionships, us, and President and Sister Hall. Good times. So that took up a lot of our time this week.
Other than that we did a lot of busy work haha. We moved stuff around from apartment to apartment, did stuff in the office, and tried our best to teach in between all that. Dad, you asked if we are mostly in the field or doing administrative stuff...it's about half and half.
We have been going back to the bus stop. Shh...don't tell anyone. We aren't as active though because if we make a scene, we're doneski. We just kind of sit and wait for people to come sit by us. It's different, but we have found some cool people. Rather, the Lord has sat them down next to us on the bench haha. We didn't find them, they were placed there haha.
So yeah I got a call from the Elders serving in the St. Cloud ward earlier in the week and they said that they met Kirsten Clark. Apparently she has a family member that is getting married down here or something. I feel so weird because I have been away from all my friends in Utah for such a long time. It's like a completely different part of my life now. Super weird ha. And Micah has a CHILD!? Whattt...that is unreal hahaha. If you see him tell him I love him and am glad that he's happy. And Stephen Clawson is such a baller. Tell him I love him. Those were some really nice things that he said about me. It definitely put a smile on my face.
I still haven't found the memory card. Lo siento. I can't believe that happened. It's like out of a movie. It will show up somewhere hopefully. And if not, when the world comes to an end, and righteousness prevails, we'll be able to see what happened to it hahaha. And we'll probably be able to see all the snapshots I took too :)
Things here are great. Trying hard to find people to teach. Brad is good. Delphine is taking it slow right now. The members in the ward are awesome! We're going to play volleyball right now with a ton of them and some nonmembers too. It will be great.
Hope things are well for you both! Love you! Have a splendidly spectacularly sick week!
--
Elder Austin Gable Engemann
Another great week in the Florida Orlando Mission. Cooling down a little. We had Leadership Training on Wednesday and Thursday. It was good. The main focus was on helping people make and keep commitments. Another big part of it was inviting people to attend church. Tons of revelation was received by all who were present. Leadership Training is a meeting with all the zone leaders, district leaders, trainers, certain Sister companionships, us, and President and Sister Hall. Good times. So that took up a lot of our time this week.
Other than that we did a lot of busy work haha. We moved stuff around from apartment to apartment, did stuff in the office, and tried our best to teach in between all that. Dad, you asked if we are mostly in the field or doing administrative stuff...it's about half and half.
We have been going back to the bus stop. Shh...don't tell anyone. We aren't as active though because if we make a scene, we're doneski. We just kind of sit and wait for people to come sit by us. It's different, but we have found some cool people. Rather, the Lord has sat them down next to us on the bench haha. We didn't find them, they were placed there haha.
So yeah I got a call from the Elders serving in the St. Cloud ward earlier in the week and they said that they met Kirsten Clark. Apparently she has a family member that is getting married down here or something. I feel so weird because I have been away from all my friends in Utah for such a long time. It's like a completely different part of my life now. Super weird ha. And Micah has a CHILD!? Whattt...that is unreal hahaha. If you see him tell him I love him and am glad that he's happy. And Stephen Clawson is such a baller. Tell him I love him. Those were some really nice things that he said about me. It definitely put a smile on my face.
I still haven't found the memory card. Lo siento. I can't believe that happened. It's like out of a movie. It will show up somewhere hopefully. And if not, when the world comes to an end, and righteousness prevails, we'll be able to see what happened to it hahaha. And we'll probably be able to see all the snapshots I took too :)
Things here are great. Trying hard to find people to teach. Brad is good. Delphine is taking it slow right now. The members in the ward are awesome! We're going to play volleyball right now with a ton of them and some nonmembers too. It will be great.
Hope things are well for you both! Love you! Have a splendidly spectacularly sick week!
--
Elder Austin Gable Engemann
Saturday, September 3, 2011
September 3, 2011
Hey Mom and Dad!
So you said in your emails that the things I said in my last email were things that you needed to hear. Let me tell you...things in YOUR email this week were things that I reallyyy needed to hear. Everything you said and, as lame as this may sound (haha), the things that you showed me my friends put on FaceBook was a tender mercy of the Lord. It's kind of been a hard week for me. I don't really know how to explain it but I just haven't been as happy as I normally am. I think Satan has been working on me. That punk haha. But I'm good you don't need to worry :)
Alex got baptized on Thursday!!! It was so great. Elder Gregson baptized her. She asked me if I would confirm her so that will be tomorrow. I am honored. She is so cool. I'm stoked to go see her in Vegas after the mission.
We went on a Temple tour with Delphine on Wednesday. She enjoyed the information but disagreed with some things. We want to help her gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Everything else will work out if she has that testimony. That's the formula A + B = C. Read + Pray = Testimony haha.
We've been doing a lot of work on the computer lately. It's been a huge project over the past few weeks. We made documents for Stake/Ward monthly numbers for every ward in the mission. It took forever but we finished late last night.
We did find a really cool investigator this week though. A guy named Brad. We went over to a recently returned missionary named Jeff's apartment to teach him and found out that all his roommates aren't members. Brad sat down with us and we answered some of his questions about the Word of Wisdom, Joseph Smith, and some other things. We are meeting with him again tonight at 6:30. He's way cool. Say a prayer for him.
What else...I don't know haha. Just staying super busy. Trying to teach as much as possible. We need to find more people. We are kind of starting over right now. From square one. Things will pick up soon though. I am going to go to the post office today to see if they have the memory card. Cross your fingers. Or say a prayer. That will probably work better haha.
I finished the Book of Mormon last Saturday. It's true! Did you know that!? Yep. The best part about finishing the Book of Mormon is reading it again haha. When Elder Bednar came here a few months ago someone asked him "If there was one thing that you wanted to leave with us today, what would it be?" He replied "To gain an ever-increasing desire to understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ." He then invited us to read the missionary copy of BOM (the cheapest, soft cover edition) and mark when it talks about the strengthening power of the Atonement. And then at the end to write what you learned in the back. And then to do it again with another copy. And then again. And again. And again. And again. For the rest of your life. So I started. And I learned more about the Atonement in the first 3 chapters of 1 Nephi than I have in my life haha. Pretty cool. So I'd invite you to do the same.
So that's all folks! I love you both a ton! Have a great week!
--
Elder Austin Gable Engemann
So you said in your emails that the things I said in my last email were things that you needed to hear. Let me tell you...things in YOUR email this week were things that I reallyyy needed to hear. Everything you said and, as lame as this may sound (haha), the things that you showed me my friends put on FaceBook was a tender mercy of the Lord. It's kind of been a hard week for me. I don't really know how to explain it but I just haven't been as happy as I normally am. I think Satan has been working on me. That punk haha. But I'm good you don't need to worry :)
Alex got baptized on Thursday!!! It was so great. Elder Gregson baptized her. She asked me if I would confirm her so that will be tomorrow. I am honored. She is so cool. I'm stoked to go see her in Vegas after the mission.
We went on a Temple tour with Delphine on Wednesday. She enjoyed the information but disagreed with some things. We want to help her gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Everything else will work out if she has that testimony. That's the formula A + B = C. Read + Pray = Testimony haha.
We've been doing a lot of work on the computer lately. It's been a huge project over the past few weeks. We made documents for Stake/Ward monthly numbers for every ward in the mission. It took forever but we finished late last night.
We did find a really cool investigator this week though. A guy named Brad. We went over to a recently returned missionary named Jeff's apartment to teach him and found out that all his roommates aren't members. Brad sat down with us and we answered some of his questions about the Word of Wisdom, Joseph Smith, and some other things. We are meeting with him again tonight at 6:30. He's way cool. Say a prayer for him.
What else...I don't know haha. Just staying super busy. Trying to teach as much as possible. We need to find more people. We are kind of starting over right now. From square one. Things will pick up soon though. I am going to go to the post office today to see if they have the memory card. Cross your fingers. Or say a prayer. That will probably work better haha.
I finished the Book of Mormon last Saturday. It's true! Did you know that!? Yep. The best part about finishing the Book of Mormon is reading it again haha. When Elder Bednar came here a few months ago someone asked him "If there was one thing that you wanted to leave with us today, what would it be?" He replied "To gain an ever-increasing desire to understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ." He then invited us to read the missionary copy of BOM (the cheapest, soft cover edition) and mark when it talks about the strengthening power of the Atonement. And then at the end to write what you learned in the back. And then to do it again with another copy. And then again. And again. And again. And again. For the rest of your life. So I started. And I learned more about the Atonement in the first 3 chapters of 1 Nephi than I have in my life haha. Pretty cool. So I'd invite you to do the same.
So that's all folks! I love you both a ton! Have a great week!
--
Elder Austin Gable Engemann
September 3, 2011
Cabin fever in the office (Cabin fever means you feel cooped up, right? Hopefully it's not something dirty and I'm just naive hahaha)
Open road
Painting in the sky
Alex's Baptism Nice
Alex's Baptism Weird
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