Elder Jonathan Engle, December 17, 2013

 Greetings and Salutations from the wonderful land of El Paso, TX.

 

Funny stuff:

 

Last night we were teaching a less-active part-member family about prophets. I used an object lesson where someone has to follow my hand with their eyes closed. The pen in my hand symbolizes a prophet being the connection between us and God. The first time, we do it without the pen, and while I was telling him to follow my hand, his dad said, "Use the Sharingan." Apparently Naruto doesn't need faith.

 

The same Father was talking about Full House, and said to his son, "Your generation rips off everything from our generation, but Jersey Shore. That's yours."

 

12/12/13 we met with an investigator whose been visited for quite a long time. She's very charming, but sometimes a bit eccentric saying, "The Lord does not like candy. God doesn't like candy. It's very sinful." Happy Buzz Kill Holidays everyone.

 

 

Spiritual goodness:

 

Last night we were meeting with a Part-Member Family. The wife is a recent convert and the husband is investigating. It's tricky, because between him and my companion, every lesson is a pretty deep philosophical discussion, with us guiding him towards the gospel. He's been a fan of eastern thought and martial arts his whole life, and that's where he's found peace. After months of these discussions, with minimal progress, last night he took us both by surprise. He finally became interested in trying out our invitations. Surprisingly enough, he wanted to start with the Word of Wisdom (which I obviously need some work on)! He agreed to get rid of his beer by tonight. It was definitely a miracle. I hope and pray that he will continue to accept our invitations, him having faith that he'll receive an answer.

 

Just as I was getting healthy and kicking, I'm sick again. Elder Gawrych told me, with a mix of serious and joking, that I'm probably being chastised for something. I thought that was insightful, in its own way.

 

Yesterday at Zone Conference, Elder Foster of the 2nd Quorum of the Seventy (I believe that's what he is), worked with us for quite awhile. The biggest thing that stood out to me is how the line between member and full-time missionaries is blurring. He talked about how everyone needs two things to share the gospel: Spiritually and Skills. With those two things, we are all prepared to share the Gospel. It was inspiring to hear his witness and testimony of the Gospel. The work is truly hastening. I see it every day, in big and small miracles.

 

What resounds in my mind is President Monson's call to action this past General Conference. It truly is the time for members and missionaries to come together. This Gospel is for everyone. Don't be a passive onlooker to these Latter-Days. We are all Called to Serve.

 

Now is the time to prepare to meet God. It's humbling to be a member of His church and an instrument in His hands. We all have that opportunity and blessing. Cast aside the burdens of sin, the bonds of iniquity, and embrace the Savior's Atonement. Be the person God wants you to be so you are prepared when He calls upon you to share His gospel. There is no greater joy.

 

I love you all and pray for your welfare. Your love and support is a great blessing to me. May we all remember the Savior and serve Him during this Christmas season. "He lives, my Savior lord and King."

 

Love,

Elder Engle

 

Jonathan Engle Nov 12, 2013

"How Great Will Be Your Joy"

This week's email will be short and sweet since I'm low on time.

 

Doctrine and Covenants 18:16

 

One funny story and one spiritual for this week:

 

So the marvelous adventures of a poor missionary's cooking never cease. This week I felt inspired to consume Chili Flavored Ramen. I wonder if that's just an El Paso thing...

 

Anyway, my companion, Elder Gawrych, laid out my fate before me, in his great wisdom:

 

"Did you bless it to nourish and strengthen your body? Or are you going to let it give you flaming hot diarrhea? Because those are your two options."

 

I believe this quote is an inspiring reminder of where our true Americanized-Ramen allegiances should lie: Chicken, Beef, and Pork. It's just that simple folks.

 

Spiritual Blast of the Week:

 

Doctrine and Covenants 18:16 is my theme for the week. I had the privilege of baptizing Brother and Sister Jones this week. It was an amazing service and my love for this family is overwhelming. No matter what sorrows or hardships lie ahead, for the next two years I can take great joy in knowing that this family has been brought into the fold of God. It is God's hand in all of this work. We are His humble hands.

 

Our Ward Mission Leader asked me at the Thanksgiving Dinner if I was excited. I don't have too many opportunities to really express how much joy I feel in this work sadly, so I was thankful for that simple question.

 

We find joy in the Gospel. Wickedness never was happiness. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ and receive the Restored Gospel. There's no happier way to live, whether you're on a Mission or not. Members are key to our work and it can't be done without them.

 

Thank you to everyone for your efforts in perfecting the saints and doing Missionary work. We shall harvest blessings for an eternity.

 

Lots of love

-Elder Engle

 Jonathan Engle Nov 4, 2013

Oh the Places You'll Go...

This week's been a wild ride here in the Podunk town of El Pasooo. To start things off:

 

Quotes of the week:

Sister Genera: "Ohhhh, someone feels anger."

Carlos: "I always feel anger."

 

While Sister Genera is an ex-Mormon gone maha shria, weird mix of eastern religion, etc. etc.... She's secretly training future Sith Lords, and we had front row seats.

 

Education in El  goes well, with impressive consistency and continuity.

 

Brother Rivera told us his life plan this Saturday:

 

"I guess once I retire I'll just mope around, watch TV, and die."

 

If you remember one of my previous emails, I quoted Danny, who has similar grandiose life goals. What a wonderful future and good luck!

 

Another misc. side-note: A part member family we're teaching named their child Kairi. Yes, she is named after Kairi from Kingdom Hearts. If they have another daughter they're naming her Naomi. Best. Baby. Names. Ever. My only disappointment is that they will not name any future sons Sora.

 

Now to get down to business.

 

This has definitely been a wild week. I spent a long time sending emails to individuals so I apologize for the brief weekly post.

 

We had a sister we hadn't met before this week that we decided to stop by. Apparently she's been inactive for 14 years, was baptized in the LDS church as a social thing, has never read the Book of Mormon, and has gone hardcore Jehovah's Witness. It was one of the saddest things ever. She decided to have her records removed and gave her a letter saying so. It was depressing as we discussed doctrine with her. This brings up another of this week's quotes. Elder Gawrych quoted Elder Headon, who quoted a member of his ward, saying "A man convinced against his will, believes his opinion still."

 

Elder Gawrych and I were really affected by having to deliver this letter to the Bishop. I want to come to him with more baptismal dates and awesome stories, not telling him that someone on his roster must be removed. In fact, this experience is the only time that I've really seen Elder Gawrych show much emotion. As we drove away, he talked about the day when we will have to make an accounting to Jesus Christ about our stewardship and what we've done with it. Experiences like that will be part of it. It's interesting how these facts really affected him. His eyes watered up, so to distract him from it, I asked him more about the doctrine he'd learned from the teachings of Joseph Smith. It broke my heart to have to do this, and while I'm constantly frustrated by my companion's seeming lack of emotions, it scared me to see him this way.

 

Things have been hard as a companionship because of how different we are. I'm really working hard to be like my Savior. I love my Savior Jesus Christ, and all I want to do is to do His will, the will of the Father, and become like Him. Everyone should read the talk, "The Fourth Missionary", by Lawrence E. Corbridge. If you're not on a mission, then change the vocabulary a little and apply it to your life. The way of the Fourth Missionary, where we give not only our "might and strength", but our "Mind and heart" as well. Through this unconditional surrender of all our desires, we are able to become one in purpose with Jesus Christ and God the Father. When we do this, we become unstoppable.

 

I'd be lying if I said this work is easy. It's joyous, but difficult. It's been a tough week, and I foresee some things getting tougher, but as long as I follow the path of my Savior and seek to do His will and have the Holy Ghost with me, I can overcome and do all things. I'm thankful for the difficulties before me.

 

There's great wisdom in Sister Van Wagner's quote from when we first came to Albuquerque. It goes along the lines of, "It's interesting how even with a companion, it's startlingly lonely out here sometimes." It's true in a physical and temporal sense, but in the grand scheme of things, there is no greater joy, and the Godhead looks over us and is with us. These challenges are going to make me stronger, no matter what decisions others make.

 

Please lemme know about your Missionary experiences. Remember!: Invite, Commit, Follow-Up. This is the basic pattern of sharing the Gospel. Live it.

 

Love you all!

-Elder Engle

Jonathan Engle Oct 28, 2013

"Week #...??? I Think I'm Getting Lost"

Jonathan Engle	Oct 28
to Jan, me, Jared, June, Sierra, MISAEL, pat, ross

Greetings and salutations from El Paso, Texas!

 

I would first of all like to clarify, that me saying "howdy" here is pretty much received as it was in Utah. I'm still weird, woo! Oh, and my companion summarized El Paso pretty well. We were walking by two men cleaning their yard. He said, "Raking rocks and blowing dirt. That summarizes El Paso pretty well." It's true. Their yard care makes a wonderful parallel for this wonderful town. The symbolism is powerful.

 

Misc. quotes of the week:

 

1)

A bunch of kids were playing in the grass (Grass is rare here, so it's kind of mind blowing), and this conversation occurred:

 

Child #1: "We need to take a break.

 

Child #2: There are no breaks...

 

Child #1: But he has asthma!...

 

Child #2: Just death."

 

2)

Adrian is a retired cop with coarse-language, and tiny chicken legs. He claims, and very likely did have, a spiritual encounter where a light started illuminating the area he was in, etc...... It was pretty convoluted but I guess it was possibly spiritual. He thinks it was. Here was his reaction:

 

"I was so afraid, my butthairs clinched together. It was like sandpaper rubbing back and forth."

 

Good stuff! I'll try to have funny quotes every week. People say the darndest things...

 

 

This past week was very exciting. We baptized Nick this past Saturday. My companion baptized him and I confirmed him in church. It was super awesome to already be having baptisms. When we first came out to NM, they said this is a baptizing mission. The only standard of excellence for our mission is to baptize weekly. It's deceiving simple and takes a lot of planning and effort, but it's very rewarding. Unfortunately, we won't have a baptism on the 2nd because the people preparing for that date are impossible to get in contact with and are probably avoiding us.

 

We've got the most amazing family EVER. The Jones family is progressing so well! Brother Jones has pretty bad PTSD from being a field medic in Iraq for three years. He's seen the worst side of humanity to say the least. He's handling it through some pretty intense therapy and of course, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. His wife is stellar as well, and their kids are hooked on Church (yes it's okay to be addicted to Church). We had to rush them out of Church early this past Sunday because the wife is almost full term with her baby boy, so we aren't sure what happened. They'll be baptized on November 9th, hopefully along with Carlos Figuero, someone we've been teaching for a long time.

 

 

I've definitely seen how tricky our reactivation efforts are. There are ~550 inactive members in our ward, so we visit tons of Less Actives.

 

One cool experience I'd like to share happened yesterday, this past Sunday. I was really pushing for us to try to meet our goals, but no one was answering their doors after hours of looking for Less Actives and Recent Converts, etc. We said a prayer and pondered many names. Without thinking much of it through, we chose one house and went there quickly. The Spirit guided us to catch him at a time when he wasn't working and to help him out. He even asked us to teach him, which never happens. He said he really needed us that night. He's been going single-parent status for awhile, which is everywhere, so it's really hard for him. Also, the two other houses we visited that night, I turned to their favorite scriptures and shared them without knowing they were their favorites. They both said they really needed that too. Super cool.

 

So many people are lost and confused. It's a hard world. I've seen so many people seemingly depraved of knowledge and direction in life. We had a prayer with someone we taught the other day that went for almost twenty minutes. He had huge pauses because he was crying. He's lost a lot of friends lately (I assume to drugs), and he's unable to find truth in this world right now. I'm excited to teach him and bring joy into his life. I hugged him and told him, at the very least, that we love him, and more importantly, God loves him.

 

The world is hungry. There's been a famine of words for too long. People need to hear the truth. The greatest gift you can give is to share the Gospel. Don't be selfish and keep it to yourself. Too much has happened, and too much has been sacrificed to let it all go to waste. The work is hastening. We have the words of eternal life.

 

This week's recommended reading: John 6.

 

What are you doing to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Jonathan Engle Oct 21, 2013

Weekly Letter:

 

Greetings and salutations fellow earthlings from the grand land of El Paso, Texas. I'm serving in the second most southern mission in the Albuquerque, NM Mission. My companion's name is Elder Gawrych and he's 6'6".

 

 We're right next to Juarez, Mexico, so tons of people speak Spanish. Most people here work for the military and border patrol, so times lately have been pretty hard on them. Most people here either work all the time or never seem to work. I don't totally get it when some people are home, but it makes our job easier!

 

I talk about how friendly people in El Paso are, but it's sort of a lie. Most people are busy and have their own agendas, so whenever people are rude or reject us, I've made up a game to explain it. For example, we scheduled an appointment with a lady we'd talked to. We came at the appointed time. She was in her yard, which for everyone here, is a bunch of rocks. She was putting out decorations. As we pulled up she quickly ran inside. We saw the door was still open but she had what is called a "Confession Door". Basically, you can't see the people inside much at all, which is SUPER annoying.  We knocked and knocked, etc., knowing she was there, and she never answered. My explanation is that she was in a hurry to run inside and get her burning pie out of the oven and then broke her leg silently. Makes sense right? :)

 

Really though, we've seen so many miracles. So many times we knock on a Less Active Members home, find out they've moved, but the new people there are interested in letting us in.

 

Funny story:

Every night we eat in a member's home, and we were eating this past Thursday in with some members eating tons of delicious meat, etc. I was in heaven. We started talking about ages somehow and I made a failed attempt at joking about something like age 70 or something, assuming no one there was near that age. I genuinely to this day think no one there was even close to my joke, but they all decided to be offended, and the other 3 missionaries there jumped off my sinking ship. Offending the members... wooohooo? I'm so thankful for Repentance. :P

 

Anyway, two quick spiritual experiences I'd like to share:

 

The first is the Jones family. They're progressing very well. The husband's retiring from the military because of all the medical problems and PTSD he has, which is very common around here. His wife has a child on the way and they already have two daughters. They'd received the first lesson already, so we taught them about the Plan of Salvation. They loved everything we were talking about. At the end of the lesson, I invited them to Baptism, despite the distracting pitbulls and the fact that I said the husbands name right, but my companion didn't know his name correctly, so he cut me off and corrected me, then I corrected him, then I resumed. It almost failed ha ha (not his fault by the way), but then the spirit testified very powerfully and they both committed with enthusiasm.

 

Then the came to church this sunday, went to all three meetings, and are super enthusiastic about everything! They're being invited to all these cool events by the ward members and receiving tons of fellowship. I have no doubt that this is going nowhere but up, so I'm SUPER happy.

 

Nick is an investigator who's been taught for a very long time and is being baptized this Saturday. He's the coolest stud ever. 19 years old and he's already saving up for a mission, quit all his problems with the Word of Wisdom, resisted an intervention from his super-Catholic parents, and he even loves jeeping. He has the same Cherokee that we have at home Dad! His lift is a bit smaller but he's looking to get an 8" lift with 35" tires I think. Something like that... Anyway, he's awesome. He might serve a mini-mission with us. He'd stay with us for about a week and do everything that we do. It'll be sweet.

 

Second experience:

We were out with one of the brothers in the ward and he felt like we really needed to visit the Johnson family. We did and initially it was nice reminiscent and friendly chit-chat, but they essentially laid EVERYTHING out on the table. The husband's an RM and the wife was baptized about a year ago. They're both essentially scared of living, he's got a stressful job in the army, and he feels his mission wasn't successful. They both went on for a very long time about all the fears, doubts, concerns, etc. that they had. It paralyzed them and prevented them from communicating happily and were unable to go to church.

 

The Spirit guided every part of that lesson and I was able to promise them a miracle. If they read every word of the Book of Mormon as a couple, praying about all their problems before and after, and lean on their faith, these problems they expressed would go away, they'd be able to go to church, and have all their temple ordinances performed. It was very powerful and I was blessed to discern their thoughts and concerns and tell them what God needed them to hear. I know they're going to be okay. We'll keep in touch weekly with them.

 

 

 

So my companion is Elder Gawrych. He's the District Leader and he's 6'6". He's been out for about a year now and he knows his stuff. He's got an amazing memory and he teaches very well. He's a bit of a self-declared pessimist but he's a great guy. We got along well, even though I often have no idea how to communicate or express myself very well. He's kind of like a super human missionary with a hint of robotics or something. He's great though. We have a lot of random things in common and a lot not. He's great at teaching but I have to ask questions to learn most of what I do. For most of our time where we don't have appointments, we use his GPS, where he entered all the less actives and former investigators in our area. It's very useful and we've found a lot of people this past week because of our work.

 

I have so much to learn but I'm glad to be out in the field. I don't care when my visa comes, although I would love to be in Brazil during the World Cup, but that's more of a worldly desire than anything. The work is going strong here and the only standard of excellence our mission has is to baptize weekly. It's a big goal and requires a lot of planning and effort, but we're seeing miracles and people are being prepared.

 

Recommended reading:

I recommend reading about Lot and his wife. That was my favorite study session this week. I don't have time to tell all I learned from it. Needless to say, I learned a lot.

 

Everything's going well. It's really REALLY hard, but I love the work. It brings me great joy despite the many difficulties. Especially since there's so many "Super Catholics" as we sometimes call them. They're usually good people but they have so many walls and barriers. Anyway, love you all and buh-bye until next Monday!

 

My address is:

3650 George Dieter #1101

El Paso, Texas 79936

 

Love

-Elder Engle

Hey guess what!? I got my reassignment to the Albuquerque, New Mexico mission! I leave Monday morning, the 14th, at 4:30am and my flight is scheduled for 9:51 am. Sometime between those two times I'll be able to call home and say hello! I'm not sure what time, but I'll call and let you know how things are going, etc. while I'm in the airport. I'm using Delta Air Lines.

I know absolutely nothing about New Mexico except we have an Elder Shipley from my District who is from Albuquerque. Not sure what else to tell other than I'm super excited to serve anywhere. We've had orientation for the field all day today and I'm dying to get out and serve. These calls are just as inspired as my original calls and the Lord guided it. Elder Nielson, Elder Bednar, and a member of the Seventy are in charge of the reassignments and they're all inspired by the Lord. I'm thankful for every opportunity to serve.

Chao!

With Love

-Elder Engle

More Pictures Week 5 at the MTC

 
 Oct 8th morning at temple
 
 10/1 P-Day  We seriously look like brothers.
 
 Elder Phipps pretending to cry...?

                                         Our last Sunday in the MTC. Many tender farewells as you can see.

                                         Pictures with our wonderful MTC Branch Presidency and their wives.
                                        They're super loving and I'm so thankful to know them.

Week 5- Week 6? Glooorious Conference!

Hello world! (turn on epic narration) This week's letter features the highlights of another glorious General Conference and Elder Engle gets his reassignment this Thursday! It's like a second mission call opening. (Thanks Morgan Freeman, paz)

Random funny experience: Some Elders in our District said that they were teaching and instead of expressing sadness that their investigator's mother had died, they apologized for killing their mother. That was HILARIOUS. Our teachers have definitely enjoyed pointing out all our weird things we've done.

I hope you all enjoyed General Conference as much as I did! It's so important to go in with important questions, because I promise that you will and probably did receive answers. This applies with study sessions and everything! Our class has two sessions a week where we do a group reading of the Book of Mormon. We take a few minutes to write down questions, then we read for a good half hour and have spiritual discussion, have time to ponder afterward, and then talk about what revelation we've received. Every single time my questions are answered and we teach and uplift each other (which is really just the Spirit working overtime). Apply this to Book of Mormon reading, Temple visits, General Conference, Sacrament meeting, etc. The possibilities are endless.

I think my favorite talk is Deither F. Uchtdorf's from Priesthood Session and President Monson's from Sunday morning. Sunday morning was my favorite session. I loved the sincerity of President Monson's talk. I loved the quote from the old man who was dying who said, "Thank you. Heavenly Father has been so good to me." Amen and AMEN! One of the greatest moments in a person's life is to feel God's love and know that He is. I'm so thankful for the revelation I received during General Conference. I had probably 15 questions written down and each were powerfully answered. I received VERY POWERFUL and specific revelation about people to write, what to say, my purpose in life, how to teach about certain subjects, how to teach in general, the love of God, and testimony about the Savior.

I would like to point out that whether you're a  Missionary, a member missionary, or anything missionary related, our purpose is the same: To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, Repentance, Baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.

I'm always running out of time so fast, but I get to send an email this coming Thursday as I get my reassignment. Brazilians RARELY get their visas in time, as is true with me. I'll go where the Lord wants me to go and serve with all my heart!

Thanks again to Bishop Blair for his email. It's given me a lot to think about with only a few sentences and it's been a powerful inspiration.

Love you all!

-Elder Engle

Here is a jumping district photo for you.

Week 4? -The Adventure Goes On

This work is a wondrous work we've been given. I wish I had more time today to share some experiences. A few quick things:

So our roommates, Elder Gwilliam and Elder Christie, in a lesson, mixed up the word for improve or better, with woman. "Melhor" vs. "Mulher". It was their first lesson with our new investigator (Eric Smith, AKA Irmao Smith, is teaching us) and they were trying to say was that their children can become better through the Gospel. What they ended up saying is "Your Children can become women through the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Their investigator paused for a moment and said, "Serio?" (seriously?) He was actually probably more excited about that ha. It was HILARIOUS.

Also, when they were teaching us about the Plan of Salvation, instead of saying we lived with our Father in Heaven before this life, they said we died with him before this life. That was hilarious.

I want to testify of two things this week that have really hit home for me:

1) The Spirit is the key to every good thing we are able to do. We are powerless and worthless without the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. 

D&C 121:36 is my scripture for the week:

"36 That the ^arights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be ^bcontrolled nor handled only upon the ^cprinciples of righteousness."

Amen! It's true. The power we have with the spirit is limitless. The sorrow and pain I feel without it is hard to bear. The simplest casual things can take away the spirit. I can think of 3 specific experiences where I really diminished the spirit during my time here. Each time I feel my ability to teach go away, my ability to speak is reduced, and I feel like a worthless Missionary. This is in contrast to the power I feel when I have the spirit flowing through me. I can do anything. I testify that the spirit changes people, not your words. If ye are prepared, ye shall know what to say in the very moment you need it (somewhere in D&C is that scripture).

2) We go where we're supposed to go when we're needed. I know I won't get my visa and I'm totally fine with that. As long as I have my calling as a Missionary. put me anywhere in the world and I'll serve with all my heart.

I know this church is true and that we receive revelation through the Holy Spirit. Thank you all for your emails and I hope to continue to receive more and more! I love feeling love from home and it keeps me grounded. I bear testimony of the Divinity of this Church. It's all entered around Jesus Christ. 

Remember Alma 26:12!

Love

-Elder Engle

Week 3- Trials and Fruits of Faith

 Week 3- Trials and Fruits of Faith

Hello all! I'll try to keep my letters more brief and organize them into important stories and sections so you can get samples of the good stuff if that's all you want.

First a quick funny story. I take my dictionary everywhere. I like to look up really weird or funny phrases because it confuses our teachers when we say random stuff that they wouldn't expect us to. I wanted to say in Portuguese, to Brother Beck, "Can I tickle my companion?" I think I said, "Con Licenca Irmao Beck, agrado meu companhero?" He gave me a puzzled look and told me to ask again. I repeated it and he freaked out sort of. He asked me what I was trying to say, so I told him in English. He laughed and told me that while "Agradar" technically is a verb for "to tickle", it also means, "to please", which is the much more common usage. Everyone busted up. Needless to say, I'm not using that verb anymore.

We're actually getting kicked out of the Residence Hall we're in. We were only given like one day of notice, and we have to pack up and move. We have to move out by 10:00am tomorrow and we don't even know where we're moving yet! I guess it gives real meaning to "I'll go where you want me to go." It does really stink though because I'm sicker than a sick dog and we have to pack up and move all our stuff. I don't know how we're going to move all the food we managed to hoard in our room.

So we have the craziest teaching schedule. First of all, we only really get 7 hours of sleep tops every night, since we have breakfast at 6:30 and such. It's kind of ridiculous. The 8 hours of sleep for a mission is a lie! It's okay though. 

We also have the weirdest occurrences with who is teaching us. Our teachers have been Brother Beck and Brother Hansen, but we've had Brother Gessel, Brother Mummmey, and Brother Belchior for substitutes, and our new teachers are going to be Brother Smith (Eric Smith... hehheeh :) ), and Sister Hart. 

Brother Belchior was the craziest teacher ever. It was awesome. He's from Mozambique, served a Spanish speaking mission, but speaks Portuguese and English too. He was very cool. He started his lesson teaching us how to look like we're studying, while actually sleeping. Hilarious. Then he asked me what he should do for his date that he had later that night. I gave him some good tips since I'm from Provo. It was a riot, yet he got really serious, invited us to repent of our fears and worries, etc.

He taught us some Portuguese grammar, and inspired us with stories about his Mission. I won't go into detail so that my Mom doesn't faint or anything, but he had some wild experiences. Honestly, the Lord watches over you. I've even heard General Authorities say that for every Missionary, they are assigned an angel to watch over and guide them. Miracles happen daily. I can't wait to get healthy and keep growing and learning. I'm actually pretty happy to be reassigned before heading to Brazil. It's a wonderful opportunity to serve "two missions". Or at least two different experiences.

Talk about a week of trials and testing of faith!

This past Thursday I sprained my right ankle playing Volleyball. I blocked their spike at the net, landed on it almost toe pointed, and my foot snapped backwards. I have to admit, that one was probably worse than the other two times I sprained my ankle. It hurt more, etc. etc. Anyway, I got treatment really quick and sent me away on those "good ol'" crutches.

It was really funny because Elder Christie in our District had been on crutches, and had turned in his crutches just an hour before I needed them, so I got his. Just thought we'd take turns.

The next morning I received a Priesthood blessing. Elder Clayson, who is now our new District Leader, annointed, and my companion, Elder Phipps, sealed it. It was a good blessing, and I want to testify to all of you that I've experienced many miracles this past week. I only injured it this past Thursday, and the swelling is almost entirely gone and I'm walking everywhere with a brace. A tender mercy would be an understatement. It's a miracle that it's healed so quickly, and I've been the recipient of a lot of love.

At the same time that my ankle was just getting to where I could walk on it, Sunday I started to feel sick. Considering how many shots I got before my mission, I think it's a cruel irony. Monday I woke up with a great Batman/Bane voice, but by the end of the night, I was dying. I seriously felt terrible. I was doing all I could just to stay conscious and I felt like my whole body was shutting down. In my mind I was thinking the usual good stuff like, "It'll help me to grow", "It's only a short time," "I can learn from this", etc. but it wasn't in my heart. In my heart I just wanted to give up. I was beaten up and ready to call it in. I'm not saying I necessarily wanted to just go home, because no matter where I was, I'd still be sick, but it was harder and harder to feel the spirit and I knew it was disastrous for my disposition.

**Important Part**

That night, after our district prayer in the residence hall, I asked for a blessing, and I tried to get it from people who hadn't given them before. Elder Phipps annointed me and Elder Richards sealed it. It was Elder Richard's first time. I love him tons. He struggles with the language a lot, which is often kind of funny when I literally translate what he says, but despite whatever things he has a harder time with, he bears very powerful testimony, which always brings the spirit. We do a lot of role-playing together, and no matter how confusing his lessons, his testimony always made me want to commit to his invitations and be a better person. He gave me the most amazing blessing I think I've ever been given.

God promised me that I'd be able to get the rest I needed. I'd be able to feel the power of the priesthood and know of its true power. This experience would be an opportunity for growth and that it would be something that I can testify of. He promised a lot of things, but these are the highlights.

I want to bear witness of the power of the priesthood. I try to bear trials and afflictions with a smiley disposition, but this one kicked me down. I was depressed, grumpy, and the spirit wasn't as near as I need it to be. I was geting thrashed. After this blessing, I'd say my symptoms were at least cut in half. What stood out most of all was how happy I felt. I was healed spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. God didn't abandon me, but it is only until after a trial of your faith that you receive your witness. I know this is true. I'm not saying I was fully healed. I still feel terrible, but my testimony has grown from this and I'm humbled that God's been able to bless me with this experience.

This Church is true. We take it for granted, but it's the most beautiful thing throughout all of the eternities. God loves all of His children and wants us to succeed. The power of a Mission call should never be underestimated. The sheer fact of being called entails so much. God wants you to succeed as a Missionary. He wants you to learn the language and how to teach. He blesses us with unique power to testify and teach our fellow brethren. Even men such as Institute teachers, etc. who know the gospel better than we probably do, don't have the authority to teach in a way that we can. It's amazing. D&C 4:3 says (from memory so maybe not perfect), "Therefore, if ye have a desire to serve ye are called to the work." It's true. I bear witness of the power of the Priesthood, the gifts of the spirit, the authenticity and fore-ordination of Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith is a prophet and Thomas S. Monson is our modern day prophet. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Jonathan Engle Sep 17, 2013

Week 2- The Clouds, the Mountains, and the Valleys

As of this Wednesday, we will already be considered a Senior district in our branch! A few of the seasoned districts are off on mostly re-assignments, and we're getting two new districts this Wednesday. Pretty wild!

I explained a lot about the MTC life and how it is, etc. in my first letter, so I'd rather focus on the spiritual wonders of this magnificent place. Although, the food is still awesome, people are great, etc.

On Sunday night, we were watching a "movie", a talk by Elder Bednar titled, "Becoming a Missionary". In it, I focused more on the spiritual promptings rather than what he said, which was wonderful.

**Interruption**

We went to go get our laundry, and right as we got in the drier, the sky exploded with hail and in the basement of 1M, it exploded with noise. It was awesome. When you're stuck inside most of the day, that was pretty epic.

**Resume**

Throughout almost the entire talk, an Elder and Sister were behind me flirting. It was distracting and very much against the rules.

I felt a distinct impression during the talk that I needed to be ready to teach at any time in my life and always be ready to teach.

Almost 5 minutes after that thought, which I wrote down, I felt a powerful prompting from the spirit to turn around and look those two in the eyes and say, "Are you focused on your missions?" It was a scary thought, and it felt just like when I'm in a Fast and Testimony meeting and the spirit prompts me to stand up and bear my testimony. This familiarity helped me to act on this prompting, but I was still nervous, so I didn't act as quickly as I should have. They stopped flirting for a bit, and I felt another prompting, stronger and more forceful, telling me to say, "Can you hear the spirit? It's speaking to you. Listen." After this second prompting I turned around and said what I was prompted to say, and turned back around. I was nervous for when it would end, how I would be received.

I was amazed because the Elder asked me where I was from, where I was going, how long I'd been here, etc. and wished me luck. He never mentioned a single thing about what I'd said, but the spirit of discernment told me that I had blessed his life and mission. The spirit also told me that the sister definitely wasn't as positive about this experience. She looked at me as if I was self-righteous and manipulating her. That's fine. I know I acted on a strong spiritual prompting and did God's will. I'm thankful for this experience, and it's just the tip of the iceberg from all the experiences I've had here.

So why did I call the title of this email, Clouds, Mountains, and Valleys, you ask? Well, that's what Mission is like. The experience I just shared, however simple, was me acting on God's will, and blessing other people's lives. There are many opportunities and experiences similar, because there are many different degrees to which Elders and Sisters follow the rules. It's a shame but it happens. Loving correction helps these people to have better Missions. These experience are what I call clouds. Times where you're sky high full of the spirit and filled with great joy for all that we do. I shared a simple experience, and I've had much more "miraculous" experiences, but it's a great example of how God gives us these experiences to motivate us and strengthen us.

I liken clouds to Alma 26:12. Through God, we can do all things.

Mountains is where we usually are. It's a very spiritual place and I often feel like I'm on top of the world. It doesn't stand out in specific ways, but is rather of state of being. Overall, the MTC is a very happy place and I'm right in my element. Mountains- pretty straight forward.

Valleys are the unfortunate places we sometimes end up. They don't last long usually, but it's a very sad feeling. It's definitely very hard here. I could rattle any number of reasons, but in a nutshell, if you're focused on the work, there are no valleys. People often say something along the lines of, "Wow, you can see your house from our classroom? I bet that's really hard! How do you survive!?" If I'm focused on the work, I don't care if my house is next door. It doesn't matter. Besides, I'm blessing my home more by being on a Mission rather than wasting your time thinking about the "what ifs" of not serving. Those "what ifs" are not what we need. I love you all more and more, and I look forward to all that life will bring, but living in the moment, focusing on the spirit, and striving for revelation and further knowledge is what keeps us focused no matter what comes our way.

That being said, anyone not focused on the work is either wasting their time on their missions, or is not going to survive a mission. Any time I'm not focused, it becomes very hard to accomplish anything more than survive. I definitely understand better, "Lose yourself and go to work."

Anyway, a few shout outs since I have no contact information for anyone (AKA, I'd love your information please!):

Elizabeth: 

It's funny to reflect on all the Journalism stuff we've done, etc. etc. because my English is terrible now! I'm swapping my English for Portuguese. I guess it's okay, because English is useless for the next two years.

All my friends attending BYU:

Good luck at the Y! I've got numerous fellow Elders planning on going to BYU after my mission, which makes me happy, since I love my District tons. I can see a lot of campus, which is kinda funny. They are having tonight's devotional over at the Marriot Center, so I'm curious to see if they combine that with the BYU devotional, in which case, I may see many of you! Please write me and lemme know how life is at the Y, etc. etc. I'm like a confuscious just waiting to heal all your collegiate stress with my spiritual experiences, etc. :)

Sierra:

It's pretty funny because a lot of missionaries in our district say stuff like "erry day", etc. so I get a good kick out of that. Oh, and Elder Shipley in our District is the blackest white guy I've ever met. He may be white on the outside, but he's straight up black. He can ball super hard, and his best friend from pre-mission life was his bro Atwuama (I spelled it wrong, but it's the sweetest name ever).

Nathan Tucker: 

I can't wait for you to get here and partake of all the delicious food, hehehehehehh. A lot of Elders in my District love kingdom hearts, and most Elders here will have plenty to talk about, like the abridged series, etc. You'll be right at home just like me! When do you get here? I hope you're pretty solid with Japanese because it is NUTS! The Elders here doing it definitely got their work cut out for them and are here for 9 weeks. I think 6 weeks is as much as I can do and be sane :)

Everyone:

Please do whatever you need to in your lives to get on a mission if that's what you're supposed to do in life. It's the most wonderful joy you will ever partake of up to this point. I'm so happy here and missionary work is one of the greatest ways that we can show our love for God. My many experiences that have prepared me for this opportunity are paying off in so many ways. I'll have to write in more detail, but definitely shout outs to everyone I've grown up with, such as OH1 Ward, my fellow priesthood brethren there, all my primary kids, Niel Christensen, Brent Avery, and many more. Love you all!

Scripture of the week: Alma 25:26. Actually, the entire chapter of Alma 25. SO GOOD. This is a Christ-centered Gospel. ANY problem, concern, doubt, question, etc. can be resolved through Jesus Christ and his Atonement. Remember the Missionary Purpose: To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end.

In that simple statement, we find almost the entirety of the Gospel.

Here's a brief testimony in Portuguese (I'm lazy so I'm not typing it exactly correct spelling and switching to a Brazil Keyboard, because that's kind of a pain):

Eu sei que o evangelho resteraudo e verdade e muito bonito. Eu grato por o evangelho em minha vida. Eu sei que Jesus Cristo e meu Salvador e Redentor. Deus tem mutio amor para todas pessoas a mundo. Cuando ando com o espirito e cristo, posso fazer todas coisas, comparto o evangelho em portuguese muito bem, e ajuda meus irmaos para ensinar mais bem e sentem o espirito mais. Eu grato por este oportunidade para servir meu Deus com todo de minha coracao.\

Meu pais podem uso Irmao Fox o Wright para entender o que eu falo. Boa Sorche e chao!