November 30, 2009

Hello from Capadelo! Capadelo is the area where I am serving at! It is a smaller city just outside of Joao Pessoa kind of like sandy is just outside of Salt Lake City. It’s amazing here the people are amazing! They have been truly blessed for being members of the church! Our area is huge! We cover probably close to 15-20 square miles so we have a ton of people to contact! It’s really cool though we get to take a train to different parts of the area and a taxi everywhere else but don’t worry we do plenty of walking! Probable around 10-15 miles a day. We are very blessed to have taxis and trains! Most people around our house have heard our message so we travel a lot! We teach mostly children between the ages of 9-17 but we really try to teach men! We actually have a goal every day to contact so many men because the church really needs leaders! The kids love to hear me try and speak port agues they all laugh when I do. Its guaranteed that I will always say the prayer at the begging of the lesion and lunch appointment! It’s cool they also like to practice there English on me and then I get to laugh at them. My house is a two bedroom with a very small kitchen which is ok because we don’t really eat in it! We have a washing machine so don’t have to wash by hand. There are not very many bugs but tons and tons of ants and mosquitoes! Every night I have to put on repellent or else I will wake up with a thousand bits all over! No joke. Every day we eat lunch at a members house so I fill up there and will usually go till the end of the day the time for us to eat dinner is when we get home at 9 or 9:30 so I usually don’t eat dinner besides a banana same for breakfast! The fruit is amazing hear so much flavor to them! The U.S. has nothing on Brazil! And I’m not allergic to anything hear it’s wonderful! All of our lunch appointments are beans and rice with some kind of meet! Beans and rice are amazing I love them!The language is coming along! Elder Padilha is great! We are both trying to learn each other language so it can get kind of frustrating but everything eventually works out! Well I think that is everything! That has happened this week keep me posted on things back home!Love you all!
Elder Engh

November 25, 2009

Oi there my family! Well its official I am on my mission! Joao Pessoa is beautiful! Its the second greenest city in the world so you can only imagine! The flight over hear was great! It was a three hour flight to Racife and then a half hour flight to Joao Pessoa! And for the first time I got to see the ocean from the air! It is so pretty! We met president Fernandes when we got to the mission home! He is such a funny guy! I already love him so much! We had dinner with his family and then we found out where we were going to serve who our companions were and where we were going to live! And then that night we slept at the Moroni House, it’s an apartment by the mission home. All the missionaries say that the first night is the worst so now that that is over its all down hill from hear! I was really surprised to find out that most of the American missionaries who have been hear for 9 months struggle with English and those who have been hear for over a year have to really think about what they are trying to say! So there is hope that I will learn Portuguese!!!!This morning we went to the bus station to be shipped all over Joao Pessoa and also our companions. It was really hard to say goodbye to Elder Smedley! He was an awesome Companion and we got along so well! My new companion is Elder Padiha. I have been told that he is the best missionary in the mission so I’m very happy about that! And I got exactly what I prayed for! He speaks very little English! So let the good times roll! We are serving in a suburb of Joao Pessoa. It is very pretty hear. I had my first lunch appointment hear and the food was amazing, it was rice and beans, with a meat that was way good I have no idea what it was but it tasted good! My apartment is very humble; you can tell that missionaries have lived in it! Just down the street from the apartment is the ocean it is so beautiful I can’t even tell you! The weather here is not too bad it is kinda hot but I’m not sweating to bad, there is a constant breeze so it’s nice! Well I’m sure excited to see what this week will bring and to see how much i learn this week! Please pray for me to learn Portuguese I need a lot of help!
Love Elder Engh

November 18, 2009

Hey all! Holy smokes one week from now I will be serving in Joao Pessoa!!! Crazy, I fly out Tuesday morning early and will spend the night with my mission president. On Wednesday I will be sent to my area! I’m pretty excited! My Portuguese is coming along! I can give the first three lessons and the law of chastity, tithing, and the word of wisdom, these are the three biggest problems in brazil! So with the help a companion who can speak Portuguese I think I will do really well! My week has been awesome! This last Friday we went proslighting in down town Sao Poulo! It was crazy nothing like it was by the ctm! If you have ever been to the black market in New York you have a very small idea of what I was in on Friday! It was crazy everyone was in a hurry to get to no were. But those who we talked to were really solid and really wanted to know more one guy actually called and set up an appointment to have the missionaries over while we were standing in front of him! The experience was so amazing! The way it felt to watch people get so excited about the gospel was so amazing! I’m so excited to be able to do this all day!Last night we had a broadcast from Provo again, Elder Holland talked. He is such a bold man! His talk was amazing. He said the world was a hospital and we are the doctors who just got out of school we don’t know much we have no experience but we go in the name of the great physician it. He said that it was time to grab our socks and grow up now! How we need to not do stupid things and how we must always remember that we are representing Christ in all we do! And yes he really did say stupid! And very powerfully! Well family it comes to that time when I must go but Know that I have a testimony in this gospel! The Book of Mormon is a true book it contains the teaching that we need to be able to return to live with our heavenly father! The atonement is real! Christ has suffered for us!
Go in faith!

Love Elder Engh

November 11, 2009

Hey everybody! How are things going with every one! It’s so good to hear from every one thank you for your letters! As for me not much is going on down here! I officially have two weeks until I will be in the field teaching the gospel! Crazy eh! The language is coming along, this Friday we are going in to down town Sao Pallo to go street contacting so I guess I will really see how much I know! My classes are going great we have finished making all of our own lessons so now we get to practice like a horse! The more and more I am here the more I realize how much the Lord loves these people! They are so blessed and so humble about it! It amazes me! Yesterday we got word that we will not receive any more North American missionaries until December 1 and then it will only be one missionary! I guess the brazilin government is only allowing 20 visas a month the U.S! So I feel very blessed to be here! This week we got word from one of the missionary who is in Joao Passoa for the past six weeks. He said to get ready to die of heat and walk like crazy! He said that he walks around 26 miles a day! He told us to learn how to teach very simply because most of our lessons will be taught to children! The people have nothing and yet they want to give you every thing they have! The houses are very humble. He said to bring lots of bug spray because the mosquitoes will eat you alive! My p-day will be on Mondays. He said it is really amazing and was very excited to have us join him in the work! Thank you all for all of your love and support! If you send any letters after this Friday send them to the mission home. Love Elder Engh

November 4, 2009

OI! Family! How is every one doing? How is the cold weather! For me its so hot down hear! We are in the summer time so it’s way hot! We went tracking on Friday and I was drenched when we cam back. I don’t know how humid it is cause I guess I have just gotten use to it, but my papers are always a little wet its crazy! Things this week have been great! Portuguese comes and goes there are times when I can understand it and times when I can speak it but for the most part is only have and half crazy crazy stuff! Tracking went great on Friday! They gave us 4 o livros de Mormon to pass out in two hours. It went really good we could understand people and we could kind of talk with them but they seamed to understand us! It has been one of the best experiences here so far! It was hard work but it was so rewarding to see how people are touched by hearing the words of Deus! It’s really quite a cool thing! And for the next two years I’m very excited to be able to bring people this happiness! People hear are way nice they will stop to listen to you whale they are on there way to some place. Elder Smedley and I are doing great our teachers keep saying that we are doing good and they remind us every day that the ctm is not to learn Portuguese but to learn the gospel! They promise us that in two years we will speak Portuguese so it gives me comfort! lol. Things here are really good though! They do their best to make us feel like we are at home! So its very nice! I’m so very glad that I am here doing the Lords work and bring blessings to families!I love you all so very much! Keep smiling!

Elder Engh!

October 28, 2009

Hey family! How is everyone doing? How goes the cold weather? Well down here in ol’ Sao Polo things are going great the language is coming and I’m working really hard to get it down even better! Quick question my socks shrink in the wash!? Anybody have any idea? Rasmussen family, if you need any socks for Rachel let me know I have like four pairs that would fit just perfect! Anyway back to the work ;) on Saturday teaching the members went really well the lord has really helped me pick up this language we taught them about how to pray and how God loves us why families are here and the o Livro de Mormon! Our teacher said we did really well with involving the "investigators" so we were really happy with that! Elder Scott came and talked to us this week! He talked about the importance of following the spirit when it tells you some thing! Then we all got to shake his hand! It was supper cool! So right now we are learning how to street contact, on this Friday we are going out! They give us 4 o Livros de Mormon to hand out and we can’t come back until they are handed out! I’m pretty excited, I’m super nervous they talk so dang fast and it’s some times hard to understand them! But the lord has already helped me out a lot so I know he will help me out now! Elder Smedley and I are staying really positive, when times get stressful we just crack a joke and it makes every thing better! So this week for what goes on hear in Brazil, every morning we have ham and cheese sandwiches with hot coco! I guess that is really common around hear! It gets kinda old, but its good for the most part! And every night after class at 9:30 we have cake and chocolate milk! Oh man oh man it’s so good! They make some crazy cake here like pineapple, guava apple; these are not very good at all. But they make a wicked lemon, chocolate chip, and spice cake. We have also had corn bread for cake and it’s really good! Oh yes and one last thing we just had a corn Popsicle! It was pretty good! Anyway thank you so much for all your support and love! The gospel is true! I know that Deus does hear our prayers and he loves all of us so much! Love the church and it will love you!

Elder Engh

One Month Out!

Well hey there family!How is everything going? I hope all is well, and it sounds like you are having fun up there! My week has been pretty good! This Saturday we get to teach investigators so I’m pretty excited, I’m way scared though I don’t know if i can speak good enough but all of the instructors say this is when the gift of tongues really come out cause we will say things we don’t know! And then next week we get to go tracting!!!! Ah wow pretty crazy! The language is coming much better! The lord is definitely helping me through this time in my life! That is about all the excitement in my life!So just a little bit about my amazing instructor; he heard about the church when he was 15, is parents forbid him to learn any more and that he was not to be baptized, however he would go to the temple every week to be taught and on his 18th birthday he was baptized. He severed a mission when he was 19 in Brazil. His family is still not active but will accept him! That is pretty much the way it is down hear for all the Brazilians. but this is not the end of his story he works full time goes to school full time, and lives 2 hours away from the ctm he gets a total of 4 hours of sleep a night, and that is if he can sleep. He has a ton of ulcers all over his stomach and can not lie down so he stands up. And all this time he has not complained once, in fact all he says is that the lord just keeps blessing him in so many different ways! He is an amazing guy. Brother Siva is his name.Anyway I love you all!

-Elder Engh

Week 3

Hey there family! How is every thing going at home! Thank you for sending all the letters, still haven’t got any though. I’m sure they will be here soon! Anyway things are great here. Still leaning the language and sitting in class all day! But I’m learning! Its a lot of fun to translate sentences cause every thing is so backwards! My week has been great but I will share my most favorite moment! On Tuesday we have a devotional, and this week we had a broadcast from Provo that Elder Scott talked at; and wow it was so amazing I loved it so much! At the beginning of the talk he blessed all of us with the gift of tongues! Wow that was totally needed! Then he talked about following the guidance of the sprit and it was way cool, he asked the question, if we knew when to know if it was the sprit or if it was our own thoughts, then said it doesn’t matter! As long as we are keeping the commandments we will receive thoughts in to our head! I didn’t even know that I was totally blown away! And then at the end of the talk the blessed all the missionaries with a blanked of protection that the devils will pass us bye and we will complete a mission in safety against all things! And for the huge thing of the whole meeting was when he bore his testimony! It was a testimony that really makes you wonder if he has seen Jesus Christ! He said that if we don’t remember anything from this meeting to remember that he knows! He knows that Christ lives that he put the plan of salvation in to action and that we will return to our father in heaven! Wow how powerful! It was way good!
I realized that I really haven’t explained how cool my P day is! We as missionaries actually get to go out in to Brazil and interact with the people! We go on the streets and do what we need to do! Its way cool we have to speak in as much Portuguese as possible! I love it! It gets pretty funny at times but its way cool!Any way I need to run but I love you all, thank you so much for everything!
-Elder Engh

Bugs and Hair, What a Pair!

Ok family we have a problem here in Brazil! I receive the second to least amount of mail! I thought I would get embarrassed with how much mail I get but on the contrary I have received 3 letters two from mom and one from Jen let’s work on this people. :) I say that with all my love in my heart!Well my week has been awesome! Its gone by so dang fast I really don’t know what happened through all of it! A missionary told us that the days seem like weeks and the weeks seam like days! So true! I cant even believe how fast two weeks has gone! So the ctm stands forcentro de treinamento missionario. Translated in to the central missionary training center! The language is definitely coming! I was able to teach a short lesson 3-5 min about the restoration in portages! So its going much better! Thank you so much for your prayers! Now I just need to learn how to communicate other then gospel subjects! Let me tell you a little about what its like in the ctm, when I take a shower I take it with a thousand bugs joining me. I have to make sure I shake my garments out or else I end up with them joining me for the day, they don’t bite, they are really friendly! When we eat we have to pick out hairs and other weird things that I really don’t want to know what they are. The people who work here cleaning and cooking usually are not members but are so nice! The teachers are all brazilin and have learned ingles from there mission compainaros. They are mostly converts to the church and have testimonies that you would not believe. The average family around here lives off 1000 rehi or about 500 us dollars a month. If you wonder why we clap instead of nock on the doors its cause there is 12 ft tall fences in front of their house so you clap and then they let you in. I love it here, even the parts that don’t seem good I love! The bugs keep me company and the hair gives me some thing to look forward to at the meals. We eat a ton of rice and beans and frankly, I love them they just get kinda old but I keep eating them and putting on the weight I have gained 6 kilos down hear, you do the math! Conference was amazing! We watched every thing at the same time you did except for priesthood it started at 10 pm our time so it would have been midnight before it ended so we watched it Sunday morning! I got so much more out of it when you have to be in a suite taking notes! It was great! My favorite talk was Elder Holland’s! What a powerful testimony! We loved it here at the ctm! But there were so many good talks!I found out some more things about my mission that you might be interested in. my mission president only speaks Portuguese. It’s the highest baptizing mission in the church when I come home I should have baptized any where from 200-300 ´pessoas. They have rats there that are the size of cats and the people eat them for meals! Its one of the more poor parts of Brazil, the new temple that was announced is in the south I will be in the north. It gets hot and humid but it gets really windy! I’m so excited to go! I cant wait until I’m out in the field teaching the gospel!Guys I want you to know that I love this gospel it has indeed been restored to this earth by a prophet of god! Pai Celestial loves us and wants out happiness! The book of Mormon is the word of god!I love you all so much! Have a great week! Remember lets write Elder Engh letters! Also as much as I love e mail I don’t have a lot of time on the computers though so try to keep your email shorter and your letters longer!Love ya
Elder David Engh

The First Email

Hey guys how is every thing going? How has your week been? My week has flown by! I can’t even believe how fast it’s gone! Thank you so much for your letters of encouragement! I am still finding them!
Well as you might have noticed I have made it down to Brazil! I love it here! The plane ride was really long I spent about 16 hrs on a plane so by the time we arrived in Brazil I was very happy! Brazil is amazing it’s so pretty it’s nothing like I expected! So far the people seem to be way nice! The ctm is amazing I love it hear it so beautiful to have the sprit with me at all times! The food is amazing we are eating actually Brazilian food so its lots of beans and rice and meat! The meat is really good and I have grown to love rice and beans seriously! I have already put on three pounds! It’s so delicious! The weather here is nothing like what I expected! It is a pattern of hot, cold and rain! One day it gets so hot and humid that it will rain the next day and that night it gets cold then it gets hot and humid again! That is all I have seen!
Class is long we spend about 8-9 hours in the class learning about pourtagues and the gospel its good but kinda frustrating! The language is really hard! The sounds are weird! But the language is really pretty once you get good! To day we got to go to the temple in sao paulo! It was very nice to go to the temple! It was just what I needed! The temple is so beautiful I love it! I got my first injury hear! I cut my head open on a closet lock! It hurt but I didn’t have to get stitches so don’t worry it’s just my monumental experience hear at the ctm! My companion is supper cool elder smedley! He is from Idaho! I like him a lot!
Dad I have no idea what ctm stands for it just what we call it, you could probably look it up. Thank you so much for your emails from now on I cant check my aol so just send emails to me hear! I was wrong about packages you can send them to me just make sure to do it through the US mail! (Post office) and when you send me letters put the return address on the back otherwise they get confused where to send it! Mom I got your letter on Friday.
Guy’s thank you so much for all of your encouragement! I love you guys so much! I love you all very much you mean the world to me! I am having a wonderful time and I know I’m out here for a reason! Pray for me that I might learn the language!
Love Elder Engh