September 16, 2013

Mother,

Yeah I don't think the whole broadcasting thing is going to work perfectly for awhile. I am glad it was uplifting! 

So we have had a few cool things happen recently. This last Friday, we had Elder Bowen come and talk to us. He spoke for General Conference a few years ago. A talk he gave has been turned into a Mormon Message. It is called Reclaimed.http://www.mormonchannel.org/come-follow-me-the-atonement-of-jesus-christ?v=1795507066001

He is pretty awesome and he taught us about who we are. We talked about the covenant we make at baptism, the Abrahamic covenant, the gathering of Israel, and the oath and covenant of the priesthood. It taught me a lot about those that have gone before me and how that relates to me. He was pretty cool.

The most recent things is something that happened today! This morning, when Elder Meline and I left to buy groceries, we were stopped by the property manager at our apartment. She is new there and she is only 22. We had invited her to an "Ice Cream Social" activity our ward was having on Friday. We gave her the address on a pass-along card and she said she would love to come. It turned out that she didn't but she has been really curious about religion recently so she has been thinking about the card all weekend. When she stopped us this morning we got to talk to her a little about what we believe and how she can know if Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are real and love her. It was pretty awesome because we could truly tell that she wanted to learn more.

Oh, and I have a little bit of a funny story. So I ripped one of my shirts the other day on a barbed wire fence. You know, running from a pitbull. Okay, not really but I did rip my shirt on a fence I was walking past. I bought some interfacing, ironed it on, and sewed up the rip perfectly. However, I noticed that the glue on the interfacing hadn't melted to the shirt so I started ironing it some more. Well, long story short, I put the heat on the iron up too high and I burnt the sleeve of my shirt. My companion was laughing at me because he said it was funny to watch me get angry because I don't actually do anything and it didn't even seem like I was mad except the fact that I kept saying, "I'm so mad that I burnt my shirt!" Soooo, I will forever remember to check what material the shirts I iron are made of.

Love,

Elder Engelman

August 26, 2013

Mother,

I am doing great. It has almost been seven months! It is pretty crazy to think about.

They can totally get baptized. I have wondered about that as well but President Schaefermeyer mentioned that Christ didn't excuse anyone from the need to be baptized. "Except a man be born of water and of the spirit." So yes, they still need to be baptized. It is kind of weird to teach them but we all need exaltation. In Frankford there was a recent convert that was bipolar. We didn't know until after but it was pretty weird. 

We do have an investigator family that we are teaching. There are two brothers and one of them is married so we are teaching his wife as well. They are all super awesome. We also just met a lady last night that is really cool. She is in her thirties I think and she told us we could definitely come back. We couldn't go in because we didn't have a male but I cannot wait to go back.

I cannot believe that brother Richardson was released! He is so awesome. I am sure David will find a love for the scriptures as well. 

How has nursery been?

I'm not really focusing right now so I'll just talk to you later.

Love,

Elder Engelman

August 19, 2013

Mother,

This week has been pretty fun. I did get a new companion and I think I told you about him already. He is still learning but aren't we all? I am having so much fun! My Zone leaders are both from other countries. One, Elder Taylor, is from Canada and is almost done with his mission. The other one, Elder Tahn, is from Malaysia. Elder Tahn just became my Zone leader and before him both of the Zone leaders were Elder Taylor. Pretty crazy, huh?

My health is doing pretty good. Don't worry, I am doing great. Did I tell you that I have totally gained weight? 20 pounds and I have realized that I have a bit of a gut now so I am going to start working out harder. My companion is a work out freak. Not in a bad way, he just loves working out. He is pretty ripped and he always talks about how he wants to be bigger.

I am glad to hear to got to drive down memory lane. Hey, you went to Mesa High, right? I thought you did but I'm not sure. Anyway, a missionary from here is from Mesa. He was actually my first Zone Leader and we figured out you would have been there at the same time as his parents. There last name is Dana. Just curious is you knew them.

I am pretty surprised you didn't stop to take pictures. speaking of pictures, did you get the ones I sent last week?

So we have been visiting a member that is in a behavioral Health Facility and it is on the third floor of a hospital. When we went to visit him it was lunch time so we couldn't. We had to go in the back entrance and we realized it was because everyone was gone for lunch. Well, when we tried to go back the way we came in the door was locked. So we got trapped in a seemingly abandoned hospital. We went all the way up the the top floor looking for someone because there wasn't anyone on any other floor. It was quite eerie. When we finally found someone she was just sitting alone on her phone. It was pretty embarrassing when we had to ask for help to get out of the abandoned hospital.

We don't have any investigators that are progressing right now but that is okay. We just need to learn to rely on the Lord.

Yesterday was a cool at church because there were three youth speakers and they talked for the majority of the time. They all spoke on different things that related a lot. My favorite point one of them made is that we can't always alter our situation but we can always alter ourselves. This is definitely something I have realized myself.

Well, I love you, I'll talk to you later.

Yours Truly,

Elder Engelman

August 12, 2013

Mother,

Sooooo some crazy stuff has happened. Okay, not really crazy. Just sort of surprising. It turns out I am training a new missionary. I found out on Monday night last week and it was a total surprise to me. On Wednesday I got to go out in Philadelphia for a few hours with the new missionaries and contact people. I took two new Goldens and we tried to contact some people. One of the guys we talked to ended up being a person that had talked with the missionaries before. He had just been thinking of when he met them and then we said hello to him. It is crazy how God puts people in our path. I met my Golden later that night. My new companion is from Pleasant Grove, Utah. His name is Elder Meline and he has pretty much come pre-trained. Elder Meline is a super good teacher already and he isn't afraid of talking to people. I am excited to see him grow.

Love you :)

-Elder Engelman

August 5, 2013

Mother,  

You took the lessons three times? Wow you weren't giving in without a fight :)

Our investigators have come to church but this week they did not. I know we will get them there consistantly. The problem is that their mother isn't usually home so we can't really get parent involvement :(

One of the missionaries is going home tomorrow and he is from Peoria, AZ. Super cool guy. We had a mini party at the soccer game on Saturday and the Spanish Elders had an investigator there.

We have been doing service of some kind almost every week. It is pretty fun because I never got to do that in my last area. We even got to move someone yesterday because they had an emergency move. It was cool because we got to actually work with almost the entire Elders quorum as we played Tetris, trying to fit everything in the van.

One problem we seem to be having here is this ward is a lack of family-ness. Growing up, our ward was always pretty close, I knew everyone and talked to most of the people. Here, that isn't quite the case. All the members are SUPER nice but it just isn't as close-knit. A member got up yesterday and talked about how she feels alone sometimes. It is exactly what the ward needed to hear but it couldn't come from the missionaries. God prompted her to share her thoughts because it will make an impact. Moral of the story is follow the promptings you receive.

Another cool thing I have just noticed is the tendency the gospel has to make people happy. A less-active members son, we will call him John, just started coming to church. His mother has health issues that keeps her from coming but he decided he wants to come. When John was first coming to church he was quiet and it was a struggle to get him to tell you how he was feeling. Now, he smiles and makes comments in class. He is reading talks in his free time. It is pretty amazing what the simple gospel of Jesus Christ can do.

My companion is getting transferred. It has been really short but I am excited to get a new companion. I'll keep you updated and I'll send you pictures soon.

Elder Engelman

July, 29, 2013

Mother,

This week has been pretty good. I don't have much time to talk but I will give you the lo-down
We have a new investigator but I'm not sure  how committed she is. This summer was better than I thought it was going to be. I was seriously afraid it was going to be blazing hot but it has been totally bearable.
I'm probably going to sing in church in a few weeks. Just for fun, ya know.

I've been cutting some missionaries hair and luckily, I haven't messed up like I did on David.
I gots to go.

Love you,

Elder Engelman

p.s. sorry it is sooooo short but we have a zone activity that we are heading to.

July 16, 2013

Mom,

I had the fortunate experience to lose my voice this week!! I was annoyed but there wasn't much I could do. So I whispered a lot. It was awesome.

We got three new investigators this week with baptismal dates! They are really cool. The ages are 13, 11, and 9. They have been reading the Book of Mormon and two of them came to church yesterday. The oldest one had to work. Yes, they ALL work. They are all super mature for their age and pretty independent. I can't wait to continue teaching them.

We have been focusing a little bit on less actives because there are a lot of them in our ward.We have just been stopping by a few people every day to know if they have moved or whats up. Five of the people we have recently talked to came to church yesterday. I didn't even realize that until now.  It was pretty cool to see them walk in.

We played soccer again yesterday and I was super grateful for those socks! They worked really well. One of the spanish elders is super good at playing keeper. He only let three goals past and had a ton of shots on him. He isn't even super athletic. He definitely found his niche.One of the recent converts kids was playing with us and he is crazy!. He is only 7, I think, and he just kept slide tackling everyone. Before that he was playing keeper and he blocked a ton of shots!

Anyway, how is life back home? I hope it is going well. Did you get the scripture I sent to you?

Love,

Elder Joseph Engelman

July 9, 2013

My week has been super duper awesome. On Saturday we had interviews with our new mission president. He is so nice. He wanted to know all about me and my life so I started with my family and that is pretty much all I talked about. What really surprised me is how much love I felt from him. I don't hardly know him and I felt just about the closest thing to pure love coming from him. He doesn't even know me but what I told him and he just showed genuine care. It is really amazing how God puts the right people in the right place to teach us things. I know I have a lot to learn from him.

We haven't had a lot of success in teaching a lot of lessons recently but I know we are going to have more opportunities soon. Tonight, we are teaching a cool lesson to an active family in our ward. It involves fire so you know I am going to love it. 

Did I tell you that we got sister missionaries in our ward? Right when I got here we split the area with sister missionaries. They are both super cool. One of them is brand new and the first day they got here they didn't have any furniture or utensils whatsoever. They got beds that night but the ward is supposed to provide them with furniture and cooking stuff and basically everything. It is crazy because in about two weeks they now have a fully furnished apartment and all the furniture somehow matches. It is crazy how that happened. It really makes me think of how the scriptures talk about going out to preach the gospel without purse or script just as the apostles did in the New Testament. They came here with nothing and the members provided.

Okay, so there was a cool announcement a few weeks ago about the church going more towards the internet and elctronics. Our mission was ahead of the game because they were testing its effectiveness here.

Well Mom, I love you.

July 1, 2013

 I am now in the Reading area. We are serving in the Reading 2nd ward. It is a really cool place with nice people. I am slowly learning spanish because of all the Puerto Rican, and Dominican people living here. There are actually two sets of Spanish elders that live right next to/above us. They are also really cool. My new companion is Elder Smith. He is from Farmington Utah and we get along super well. We have a car in this area but we don't have a ton of miles so we walk a fair amount. I am now in an apartment complex thing so you can send me packages. 

We get to play soccer every week so I am going to be slowly improving my soccer skills. The Spanish elders organize a weekly soccer game to fellowship investigators. I have been to one so far but it was really fun. I must have somehow absorbed some of David's soccer skills because, much to my surprise, I was tearing it up on the field.

We got a new mission president on Saturday. His name is President Anderson. He Is from Utah and is really cool. He used to be a business guy and his wife is super nice. She cries a lot.

555 Pearl St. Apt 103

That is my address. You can send packages there and they won't be stolen.

One of the cool things about this part of Pennsylvania is fireflies. I never knew they really existed. Fireflies light up as they fly upwards. It is really cool because you can look over a field and watch them drift up. It almost looks like tiny stars. Super sweet!

I can't see the picture :( 

Love,

Elder Engelman

June 17, 2013

June, 24, 2013

This Sunday was my last week in the Frankford Branch. I am getting transferred! I sang in church yesterday and it didn't quite go as planned. I was planning on singing the song I Heard Him Come but the lady that plays piano for our branch had a bad migraine and so I had to figure something out last minute because she wasn't coming. Luckily, the organ we have is computerized so I sang Hymn #62 All Creatures of Our God and King. It was good. We also had the Temple President from the D.C. temple and his wife speak. They were awesome! His wife talked about how they have a special needs daughter that is 40 years old that started working in the temple after she received her endowment. It was really inspiring. I am sure going to miss the people here but I know I am needed somewhere else. Or, the more likely reason, I have something to learn in a different area, from different people. I love Philly!

This is Daryl. He is a preacher that preaches on the street a lot. He seemed to want to just argue with us at first but he is really nice to us. He seems to feel like he is a father figure of sorts. He is pretty cool. By the way, I cut my hair pretty short.

June 17, 2013

So last week we had Zone Conference and it was off the chain! Our mission president is going home so we sang him a song. Do you remember when I sang a song written by one of the other missionaries a few months ago? Well, he wrote another song and this one was just for President and Sister Schaefermeyer. It was pretty awesome. One of the Elders played guitar and we had some beatboxing on the chorus. We did it in the gym so it wasn't too irreverent. The mission president's wife was crying the whole time. It was really pretty cool because our whole zone, about 36 missionaries, were all singing. There were a few solos and the spanish missionaries sang their line in spanish. It was seriously awesome.
We have one person right now with a baptismal date. He is ten years old and his family are members. He didn't get baptized for some reason but we are teaching him now. We have taught him twice and the first time we went over the Restoration. He actually told us all about Joseph Smith's experience and the Book of Mormon. It was pretty cool. This family has about 7 children and they are awesome. The youngest one is approx. eighteen months old and she is super quiet. However, Elder Riehle and I have recently got her to talk and play with us a little. She mainly will just bring us random objects but I also got a few high-fives so I am pretty proud of myself.
This last two weeks we have had a lot of appointments on our schedule. A lot of them fell through but that is irrelevant. Elder Riehle and I both felt like we needed to spend some time finding more people. On this last Friday we went on an exchange. Elder Lovaas, a missionary that came out with me, came into my area for the day. We had planned about 4 hours of tracting. Most missionaries don't like tracting very much and neither Elder Lovaas nor I have done much of it. We needed to find people so we did it anyway. Knocking on random peoples' doors is a little intimidating but when it comes down to it, I know this will make them happier so that thought makes it a little easier.
Elder Lovaas and I tracted into a few really cool people. One such human being(I know, shocking) is a nineteen year old kid. He is Christian and loves God a lot. He likes to read so when we told him about the Book of Mormon he was excited. We brought one by on Saturday and he was pretty happy. We are going to meet with him this week so I will let you know how that goes. His name is Bernard and he is super nice. I can't wait to teach him because he is really down to earth.
 One last thing I wanted to share with you. I have been trying to really improve my teaching skills. My mission president told me in an email to ask inspired questions, teach simply, and testify more often. I tried to do just that and it worked! Elder Riehle and I were teaching one of our investigators and he seems to have a problem with coming to church. He doesn't give us a reason but he just says no. This time I asked a few simple questions. I asked him if he would pray about it and he said yes. I then proceeded to testify to him that I knew what blessings come from church and that he can have some of his questions answered. It was pretty cool because when we left that lesson he had more understanding than I have ever seen him have. I have taught this investigator six or seven times with Elder Olaveson. The lesson is learn to be simple and the Spirit will have a lot more room to teach.
Love,
Elder Joseph Engelman

Mormon Helping Hands Day - Elder Engelman got into some poison oak

June 11, 2013

On Sunday, we got to hear a talk from Elder Rasband, the president of the Quorum of the Seventy. He didn't actually prepare a talk but he did a question and answer session. He wanted to know "what [kept us] up at night?" He answered about three questions and one of them was "why do bad things happen to good people?" He first told us that we would need a few hours for him to explain but he answered it anyway. He told us some pretty cool stories but it came down to the fact that people have been given agency. If he were to stop people from exercising that agency, despite the evil intent, he would frustrate and ruin the Plan of Salvation. He also told us to look up his talk from General Conference in 2012 called "Special Experiences".

June 2, 2013

It has been pretty warm lately and the Humidity is pretty fine. I have been fine but I think short sleeve shirts will be more comfortable.

The work has been awesome. Elder Riehle has learned that I am a procrastinator but I am getting better. I haven't been falling asleep as much so he doesn't even know how easily I can sleep. We have been doing great. The investigators we have are few right now. Christina and her sons have a baptismal date but it is going to be pushed back because we haven't been able to teach them. We have a new investigator that we met on Wednesday but we haven't had the chance to meet with him yet. His name is Damien and he is in his 40s. He has battled leukymia three times! He stopped and talked to us and asked us to help him get his faith back. All four of the missionaries in this branch were teaching together when we talked to him. It was cool but really hard. He said he felt a lot better after talking to us and when we asked when we could come teach him some more he said he was just about to ask the same thing. It was pretty much awesome.
I have just started reading conference addresses from past years. In the scriptures it talks about how anything that is said by the spirit is scripture. Conference talks are scripture so I have decided I want to read all of them. I'm not sure how many I am going to be able to read on my mission but I want to try.

May 13, 2013

I have a little time to write you so don't worry. I dropped off Elder Olaveson at the mission home today and I don't think I will see him again. Tomorrow I get a new companion so as of right now, I am with another missionary whose companion went home. I am in New Jersey for the day and tomorrow I will receive a new companion. I can't wait to see who he is. I know we are going to get a long great because honestly, who can look at this face and be angry. I just hope he doesn't cry when he gets emotional or when he teaches. I think we both know how much I don't like tears.
Okay so I don't know if I told you about Bob but he is the neighbor to the set of Elders that live really close to us. He usually takes us shopping on P-Day and it is often that he feeds us dinner on Monday nights. He is 80 and had a stroke about 6 years ago. He still drives, talks very well, and is super witty. He always has a quick response to tease us. He is pretty much awesome. Yesterday he gave me a safety razor! I have wanted one because I know how close they shave, not that I have much facial hair. It is pretty cool and I am excited to use it. Hopefully I don't cut my face open. I think I'll be fine but I don't want to hurt my money maker. Well, have a good week :)
I am so sure this is where I am meant to be! It is weird how well I fit this place. I love the people and there are some pretty cool missionaries.

May 5, 2013

I have the same companion for now. He will be going home on the 18th but I'll get a new companion on the 13th or 14th. I hope I stay in this area for awhile because I love it! Elder Olaveson and I fasted to be able to find less active members that we could talk to or help out. This week we totally saw those prayers get answered! On Saturday we got to talk to 2 less-active members and we were able to teach one of them. It was pretty cool because I wasn't even thinking about the fact that we had fasted for it. Elder Olaveson reminded me later that night. The Lord hears our prayers and if we are listening and watching for them, we can receive answers.
Love,

Elder Engelman

April 29, 203

So the coolest thing about this last week was Mormon Helping Hands. It was pretty spectacular. Not only did we get to put on regular clothes, but we also got to do manual labor. It was so much fun. I ended up working on clearing off a sidewalk. It sounds lame but it was definitely really tough. we were working for about 3 hours and there were probably 50 people working where I was. This stretch of sidewalk was approximately a yard and a half wide and probably 200 yards long. There was trees that had grown over it and nobody had touched it for, it seemed like, years. The dirt and roots were about 6 inches deep over the entire thing so we had to cut the roots and basically roll it off the sidewalk. The hard part was that a lot of the roots had grown into the crack of the sidewalk of were just so thick that they were almost impervious to any cutting tool we had. The only chainsaw there died after about an hour. It was tough work because there was about a foot of leaves on top that wwe had to clear off first. It was incredibly fun. We got to get dirty and get all cut up. I was sooooo sore the next day! My back and legs hurt but it is a good hurt. One of our investigator came and she had a good time. It was pretty much just awesome. I forgot to mention that I was standing in a lot of poison ivy. Pretty cool, huh?

We had to rush to an appointment afterward so we got to take three minute showers and the shower was just covered in dirt. It turned out the person wasn't home so we ate because we were both dying. We didn't end up having any lessons that night but it was still a great day.

Yesterday ws fast Sunday and I was dying. It felt like my stomach was eating itself but we had a super cool experience, Elder O and I were fasting to be able to find some less active members to teach and then one came to church today. He is 19 and he decided top come today. The best part is that he went up and bore his testimoony. Miracles happen all the time and God truly answers our prayers.

We-we-we-we-well Th-That's All Folks.

Love,

Elder Engelman

April 22, 2013

Did I tell you that I missed the first session of General Conference? We were having a lesson and we watched part of it with them but we ended up missing the whole thing by the time we got back to the church. The priesthood session was killer!
Gertrude, our Haitian investigator moved still within the branch boundaries but out of my area. She now has a different set of Elders that are awesome but I am going to miss her(and her cooking). On Saturday we had Congolie food. It was interesting. I kind of liked it. Do you recall how I always have a stupid habit of heating really hot stuff despite the warnings I get from people? Well I have yet to break that habit. They had some really hot peppers and so I ate a spoonful. It didn't burn at all for almost a minute. The spice pretty much hit me all at once. The best part is that when Jo Jo(the 15 year old boy from Congo) ate some he was crying. It was pretty entertaining.
This month, our zone's focus is to rid our selves of pride. We read a talk by Ezra Taft Benson called Beware of Pride(I think that's the title) and it basically punched me in the face. It tells us how people often think pride is a sin committed only by the wealthy but it consists of a lot more. Pride is what keeps people from opening their mouth about the gospel because they are afraid of what others will think. He said that a proud man cares more about what man thinks than what God thinks. It is some pretty heavy stuff.
I have been having a lot of fun. I have realized that hard work can be synonymous with fun. I have always had fun no matter what but this last week has been a blast and every day was productive. It was pretty cool.
 Yours Truly,
Elder Joseph Richard Engelman