March 11, 2013

Elder Olaveson jumped on me early this morning. Don't worry, I'm having a great birthday Yesterday, I totally forgot that it was going to be my birthday.
We haven't been able to meet with Carlos and Samantha since my last email and they didn't come to church. They are planning on moving to Florida soon because her grandmother is sick. Samantha said they might be moving sooner and I think that's why we haven't been able to meet with them. She said they have been reading everyday and she wants to meet because she doesn't understand everything all the time.
We have had the chance to also meet with a lady named Gertrude. She's 30 but I swear she looks like she is only 22ish. She is from Haiti and she speaks three languages(Creole, French, and English). The first time we met with her we didn't get to teach much because her kids are crazy but she came to church yesterday. I was kind of afraid that she wasn't liking it because she had a really straight face most of the time but after church she was saying that she wants to bring her friend next week. We are pretty excited!
Yesterday, in sacrament meeting, the relief society presidency gave talks on the relief society. Two of them were pretty good and the other one was just downright boring. The lady gave a talk about the HISTORY of relief society. Don't get me wrong, I like history but not in church. Elder O pointed out later that the other talks were good because they connected them to Christ. Every time we talk in church or about any subject relating to the gospel we should talk about how it connects to Christ. People often talk about family history work but without connecting it to Jesus Christ and His gospel family history work is just researching a bunch of old peoples names. Christ needs to be the central focus of every talk or lesson.
Sis Matthews is the best. She probably didn't think so but she was awesome when she was my teacher. We really do need to allow time for the Spirit. We met a lady yesterday named Luz(pronounced as loose). She was slightly handicapped and told us how she had been beaten. It looked like her face had never healed right and she walked with a cane but she was telling us how excited she is to know that one day she can live with Christ and have a beautiful body again. She was pretty cool and extremely sweet.
On Saturday, a preacher started talking to us on the street. He told us that he never messes up or yields to temptations. I was taken back by this a little bit because that would mean he is perfect. Weird.
Your Missionary
Elder Engelman