Elder Jonathan Engle 04/20/2015 Conference, Better Late Than Never!

Conference, Better Late Than Never!

Dear People of Earth,

This Sunday, by way of many simple miracles, we were able to watch the Saturday Afternoon session of General Conference with our group here. It was wonderful to hear the voice of the living prophets! I never in my life had to sacrifice to do something as simple as watch General Conference. Here, it was down to the very last minute that it worked out. The Lord provided all that we needed, but it was literally minutes before our Sunday meeting that piece fell in its place. We were also blessed to have our a growing frequency. Last week we had 21 people in our Sacrament Meeting. This week we had 22! The Lord grows His work through small and simple ways.

Yet again, I have more exciting news from Santa Inês. This Wednesday, Elder Gouvea and I are going to separate into Santa Inês 1 and 2, receiving new companions. I´ll be training a new American here in Brazil named Elder Walker. Elder Gouvea will serve with Elder Ruiquelme, from Chile. With two duos working here, it´ll be much easier to meet and beat our goals. Just to give an idea of how much we need two companionships here, here´s some numbers of what´s happened here: The Church has been opened here for about a month. In this month, we have 4 complete member families already (2 in Santa Inês and 2 in a nearby city, Vitórial, which comes one time per month). We have 18 families to teach and many other individuals, almost all of which are men. We already have a building full built and functioning in which we have our services. The Lord´s prepared this city for a very long time.

I´ve come to learn for myself how much the gospel is necessary in this very fallen world. There truly is opposition in all things. I warn you all, there is no happiness in sin. Wickedness never was happiness.

Love,

Elder Engle

When we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost after baptism, we are filled with the heavenly music that accompanies conversion. Our hearts are changed, and we “have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2).

Elder Jonathan Engle 04/13/2015 A Historic Week Indeed

A Historic Week Indeed

Dear People of Earth,

This was a very historic week. I don´t have photos yet, because they´re on my companion´s camera (which he forgot to bring to the Lan House today), but yesterday we had the very first baptism in Santa Ines, Maranhãol, Brazil. What a glorious day of miracles it was. There was very little water in the baptism font because our house doesn´t have water for most of the day. When our Mission President arrived for the baptism, there wasn´t enough water to baptize, but after he arrived, the font started to fill twice as fast. It was soon enough to baptized. We changed clothes and I baptized a young lady named Sarah. She had to lay down in the water to be fully immersed. I had to push her down to get her all the way under. When I tried to lift her up, it was harder than I thought it would be. I slipped and fell in the water as well. It wasn´t the most graceful baptism in the world, but it´s still valid!

On a side story, the other night when we arrived home, there was a large tarantula in our main room. If you kill them by squishing, etc. their hairs can explode and cause serious itching. We used my Axe deoderant and a lighter. Our homemade flame thrower made for a wonderful roasted spider, which we decided not to eat.

As of yesterday I am also the Group Leader for our Group Santa Inês. It was with another missionary couple, Elder and Sister Borges, but Sister Borges became very very sick and they´ll be returning to their home in the Rio Grande do Sul. It´s going to be a great challenge as we literally do everything now, but we have delivered this work in the hands of the Lord and He answers all of our prayers. What a joy it is to lose yourself in His holy work.

Love,

Elder Engle

P.S. The first photo is with Elder Borges and President Siedschlag. The second is the chicken that I cooked the other night. 

Elader Jonathan Engle 04/06/2015 It Wasn´t Conference!?

It Wasn´t Conference!?

Dear People of Earth,

It wasn´t Conference!? Exactly! We didn´t watch General Conference this last weekend because there´s no way how to watch it from here in the middle of Maranhão. Every time it rains, the internet cuts out. We had our sacrament meeting, which was very spiritual. We only held two hours of meetings, because we don´t have professor or people to give or watch the meetings. 9am I gave a devotional about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 9:30am President Barros, counselor to President Siedschlag, gave a training/testimony. For the Sacrament meeting, we had to disconnect the wall fans because they make too much noise to hear. We roasted for two and a half hours there,  but it was worth it. Sister Antônia gave a talk about religious liberties, I gave a talk about listening to the still small voice of the spirit and President Barros gave a sermon on miracles. What a meeting!

Our home is now clean of the thousands of spiders that lived downstairs and the baptismal font only falts ceramic to be complete. 

Love,

Elder Engle

Elder Jonathan Engle 03/31/2015 The Field is White

The Field is White

Dear People of Earth,

There´s quite a bit of news this week! It´s one week until the transfer, and I´ve already been transferred. I was transferred to Santa Inês, a new area in our mission. The Assistants to the President came here two weeks ago, and with less than 40 minutes in the city had already met two member families and going to lunch with one of them. The past two Sundays had a frequency of 21 and 20 people. Today we met another man, José Wilson, who is baptized and will return to church now.

I can´t begin to describe the miracles that we´re seeing here. The field is white and ready to harvest. Our last lesson before coming to the LAN House was with José Wilson, for the first time. He arrived late to our commitment. We were talking with his mom. She saw our name tags and realized she´d never seen our church before. She read out loud "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" and began to cry. She said the Lord touched her in a way she´d never been touched before. She recognized it to be an answer from God and we marked her baptism date.

This morning as we were showering and getting ready for the day, my new companion Elder Gouveia was cleaning his bathroom. As he cleaned it, he called my name. When I came, he showed me a huge tarantula that was in his towel. The spider was huge and running! We killed it and threw his body out, but our house is full of spiders! When they rented the house, there wasn´t time to clean before moving in. It´s been abandoned for awhile and needs a little bit of cleaning. It´s already very well prepared for us. It´s in a great location, two stories, etc. Today we got President Barros from the bus station, counselor to President Siedschlag. This week he´s going to construct a baptismal font in the yard and tear down some walls inside to make the sacramental hall bigger.

What an honor and blessing it is to be here. I feel humbled, very very humbled. There´s something very different about this city. The Gospel will spread like a wildfire here. We´re starting with a group, but I don´t doubt that soon I´ll be sending an email about the Santa Inês branch and soon after Santa Inês Ward. This is holy land here.

We won´t be watching General Conference this weekend because there´s no way to watch it here. The internet here is really bad and we just arrived, so it wouldn´t make sense to travel to watch conference. We´re going to work, work work and thrust in the cythe. The harvest is awaiting!

Love,

Elder Engle

I read this scripture as we arrived here by bus. What a wonderful and applicable section of Doctrine and Covenants.

 Doctrine and Covenants 112:19 "Wherefore, whithersoever they shall send you, go ye, and I will be with you; and in whatsoever place ye shall proclaim my name an effectual door shall be opened unto you, that they may receive my word."