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