Pie, Shot-Guns, & Shoot-Outs

Dear Family,

  First I would like to say that I am sorry for not saying this last email, But HAPPY BIRTHDAY SETH!!!!. I ran out of time so I wasn't able to tell you, I hope you had a great birthday. Oh and dad could you please send me my license, mine is about to expire and I need it to get the green light and be able to drive.  Please have it here no later than March 13th 

  A short recap on last week: we had Zone conference it was great, we later had ribs for dinner, when we got home we went out and tracted and we didn't get anyone.  We planned to teach the Law of Chasity and give the proclamation to the world to the Nolan's, but never got the chance because they left on an impromptu vacation to go to a wedding of a parent. We later gave service and were fed lunch, they fed us apple pie and no one, I repeat no one ate the apple pie for the entire hour that we were there for lunch so as any good boy from Missouri, I sacrificed my self and ate the ENTIRE pie (NON HACKERS.)  Tracted some more, then had dinner and taught the plan of salvation. There were 4 baptisms scheduled for that week but all of them dropped because they were unsure and didn't know for themselves. We went and visited some less active people and taught the restoration. We visited a guy who fried his brain and wanted to find god.  Oh, and we met a couple over here that are still having kids in their 60's. We have to teach gospel principles because there is no ward mission leader at the moment to teach the lessons.  The bishop on Sunday, taught something very profound, he said " Because I hold the Priesthood keys for the ward, I am dismissing the ward, so go home and enjoy the Sabbath day" (yes, out at 3:30 instead of 4, we could make an appointment). Oh and Mom, my side of the room is spotlessly clean and organized, so the rest of you can all stop the looks of disbelief and shock.

2-2-16

District meeting was today it was awesome and fun. Elder Hirst has a bread maker out here and has offered to make 2 loaves of bread for 5$, it's nice considering that we pay 3-4$ a loaf and that is for the cheaper stuff. We went tracting and found 3 new potential investigators, we later had dinner with a member of the ward, he served in Holland, speaking Dutch.  Later that evening went and taught scripture study and prayer, and the person we taught has surgery on his eye and is only able to get 2 days off instead of the full week that the doctor said.

2-3-16

We had a 4 week training meeting "down the hill"(everyone says that here and it gets annoying when EVERYONE  says that in every sentence). In the meeting I learned that I need to utilize the first 3 hours of my day better, we got back later then we intended.  We met a crazy guy who was going off about how the Roman Catholic church is not the true church and how we all are going to burn in hell because we don't belong to the Roman Catholic church all I have to say to that is READ the Book of Mormon and Chapter 40 of Jesus the Christ.

2-4-16

We did impromptu service today by moving a compost bin.  (Everyone out here is into their own garden, and being a young boy from the church and Missouri we are highly desired because we get in and do the work and we offer tips like raised beds or train your dog to eat the coyotes.) We were dropped by an investigator today because he didn't want to meet us ever again. We weren't able to teach anyone much because the NBA game was on and people didn't want to miss it.

2-5-16

Weekly planning sucks. It takes up way to much time in our day, we got to meet with a lady who doesn't come to church because the Bishop here is still Bishop, she is a VERY HIGHLY OPINIONATED woman on how she thinks the church should be run.  Again, tracting the day away trying to met people, part of me is tempted to let a dog bite me so that we can go up and actually talk to the person, and maybe teach them but alas the only dogs here that could do that is Vlad, who is not even in our area and is roughly the size of Aslan (from Narnia, who actually lives here in our area but we can't go see him because tours are on Saturday's) and to make matters worse he is nice and belongs to a member, so not an option. We had dinner with Bro. Rowland and he stuffed us proper with food. And then we had exchanges.

2-6-16

Elder Carson and I were on exchanges here in Mojave river, and we tracted the whole day, we dedicated the entire day to visiting less active and recent converts and no one was home, no one, even members would answer the door at night or in broad daylight. We visited a family who had the flu, don't worry I didn't catch anything... (sorry I sneezed)  We visited a person with a fried brain who was on the way to go meet people at a fast food place but he sits in the corner and doesn't talk to people at all, even to order. Had an appointment that we had canceled, so that was our exchange.

2-7-16

We had a walk-in investigator come to church today and we got him to stay all 3 hours, he got up and bore his testimony. He is interested in the Plan of Salvation so we are setting something up for us to go and visit and teach him. Bro Rowland also fed us dinner again.  We tracted into a Jehovah witness who was bashing against us, and we didn't even engage him until we wanted him to go away, so we asked him "where are the prophets and apostles of his church, if god has called them in the past where are they now?" Needless to say he couldn't answer our question and we were finally able to leave.

Oh, the Elder's quorum here had a shotgun shoot out, in which they had fun, but they were talking about how they hit something like 17/30, and all the while I'm thinking to myself (well, no wonder California is against guns, no one here can hit anything). California is weird and crazy, it is like Missouri but drier and the crazy people here are not in a asylum. Please send me information on how thing are going back home because I am feeling a little out of the loop.

I love you all!

Sincerely yours in the service of the lord,

    Elder Van Engelenhoven