June 17th, 2013

Familia!!

Wow it's been a crazy week! On Tuesday, we drove Sister Ferguson to meet the other departing missionaries. On Wednesday night Sister Regan and I drove up to San Antonio and spent the night with some of the sisters up there so we could attend transfer meeting Thursday morning. Sister Regan is now serving in San Antonio and i received my new companion that i am now training in Eagle Pass. Her name is Sister Salisbury. She's from Indiana and is awesome. She knows Spanish really well and wants to work hard. I know that we will accomplish a lot here in the next 6 weeks (hopefully 12). I never want to leave Eagle Pass!
Thursday night we had awful thunderstorms that lasted through the night. I woke up everytime the lightning struck. My companion woke me up because she was having a bad dream so we got out of our beds to pray and there was water all over the floor! we turned on the light and moved our furniture out of the way. Grabbed a bunch of towels and dried it up. We were able to finally go back to sleep but when we woke up the streets were completely flooded. President Jones told us to go do service all day so we canceled our lessons and got to work. A certain part of Eagle Pass was completely under water. You know the Velez family? We eat with them every Friday? They had to be taken out of their house by the border patrol boats because they couldn't open their door. We only had 2 hours of church in the English branch yesterday because people's homes were ruined and they needed help. It is such a humbling experience to see not only everyone helping, but also to see what really matters most in life. Presidente Velez kept saying "todo esta bien." He has one of the most beautiful homes in eagle pass and yet he is only concerned about his wife and kids. It's true though. This Gospel, which is centered around families, is all that matters. I love sharing that with people. It's been a bit of a rough week, a little bit of an emotional roller-coaster, but things are getting back on track and our investigators are progressing. I'm ready to get to work and bring others closer to Christ. I am constantly strengthening my relationship with my Heavenly Father. I have such a testimony of Prayer. the Power of Prayer is REAL. I pray for you all everyday. Thank you for all your support and prayers. I can feel them. They really do make a difference. The Church is true! The Book of Mormon is the Word of God and we have a living Prophet on the Earth today. How blessed are we! Have a safe and great week!
Love you all!
Hermana Egbert

p.s. we are completely fine mom, no damage was done to us, or our apartments :)

And i forgot to say.. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!!! I love you :) i hope you got your bolo tie!

Sister Upham and I at transfer meeting--she's one of the senior couple missionaries and is like a mother to me out here.

The floods.. 

Some of the work we were doing yesterday. 

presidente gutierrez and hermano flores.. they are hilarious!

cleaning the mud

elder humble and elder chipman.. went to school with them

president and sister jones

this is what we spent our sunday afternoon and night doing..

floods!

This is eagle pass and piedras..

June 10th, 2013

Family y Friends :)
Things have been going great in Eagle Pass! Still in the 100's and sunny every day. We have met lots of new people who are willing to listen to our message. We had 3 incredible investigators who all had baptismal dates but they are all moving this week. Talk about being crushed. But I have the faith and know that the Lord will put others in our path that are ready for this Gospel.
I'm so excited to be staying in Eagle Pass! We received transfer calls last night, and President Jones asked if i was ready to train.. I was completely humbled and extremely nervous. I am thankful for the opportunity i'm going to have to train a new missionary, but I am now noticing all my weaknesses more than before. I know that with the Lord's help I will be able to fulfill this assignment and I will become a better missionary. Sister Ferguson leaves this week :( which is going to be SO hard. She had been such an incredible missionary and example to me. Sister Regan is being transferred but she wont find out where to until transfer meeting on wednesday.
This week was incredible! We had the opportunity to hear from Edler Tad R Callister from the presidency of the seventy as well as Elder Dan W Jones from the seventy. Both of them gave powerful talks and bore powerful testimonies. Elder Callister talked about the Plan of Salvation. The way he taught and described things was incredible. He knows his scriptures like no one i've ever met before. It was incredible.. someone would make a reference to a scripture and there he was, just opening right up to it! We heard from Elder Jones about the Book of Mormon and the importance of using it in our teaching. He said that without the Book of Mormon, we have nothing to preach. I have always been taught that the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion and i have a testimony of it's truthfulness, but the way he was so passionately teaching about it motivated me to gain an even stronger testimony of it. We cannot teach something unless we are completely converted to it first. My companions and I have talked a few times about how we know the Book of Mormon is true. None of us have had a huge overwhelming feeling or had angels appear to us. But we have all felt the truthfulness of the Book. Personally, I have read each day for years, but never had a huge confirmation or a burning in the bosom. Instead, I have found true happiness and answers in the Book of Mormon. I love it. I find new things in it each time I read. After Elder Jones was finished speaking, we again heard from Elder Callister. He finished things off by talking about being concecrated missionaries. Wow. It was like a pregame speech. I was fired up and ready to get to work! He told us that it's not enough to "change" on our missions. It's not enough to "change our behavior." Because then we'll just fall back into the norms when we get home. He told us we needed to "change our nature." So that we can be a light to the world. So that we can be the people that God has intended for us to be. I am so thankful for this Gospel. I dont want to just go back to normal when I get home. I want to change my nature so that I can be the person that God knows I can be. I'm up for the challenge. I know it will be hard at times, and He's going to push me, but I know that if I remain faithful and do my best, He will make up the rest. I love missionary work. I'm so thankful for this Gospel! I pray that each of you will strengthen your testimonies of this Gospel. Of the Book of Mormon. And that you will truly Come Unto Christ. Have a great week! I love you all!
Love,
Hermana Egbert

This picture is of Angie and Hector. They had baptismal dates but they are moving to Wisconsin :( they have promised to find the missionaries there

This is our "little" friend we found right outside our door! nope, didn't sleep at all that night..

June 3rd, 2013

Wow time is flying! It's amazing how fast time goes when you're serving others and doing the Lord's work. I love every minute of it though. We had an incredible week. My trainer, Sister Ferguson, is a Sister Training Leader so she's been doing exchanges a lot lately. It's been Sister Regan and I, left to fend for ourselves, but we've had some incredible things happen! 

The weather just keeps getting hotter and hotter. No rain, no floods, just sun. Perfect for knocking doors.. everyone lets us come in and get a drink of water! But as soon as we tell them we don't worship the Virgin Mary shrine that is in their front yard, they kindly ask us to leave haha Everyone we talk to says "soy catholico" but they all admit to never going to church.. That's one thing I am so thankful for is church. Every Sunday we have incredible meetings with both our Spanish and English Branch but for some reason yesterday was even more amazing. We had powerful lessons and testimonies shared. Ah i love Sundays. I had the opportunity to play not only in sacrament meeting, but also in relief society, primary, and Larissa's baptism! I couldn't do it without the Lord's help. I guess all those piano lessons are paying off Mom and Dad.. 

Larissa was baptized yesterday! It was amazing. She's the 9 year old that we have been teaching, we went to her softball game.. if you remember me talking about that. Anyway, she and her little brother Junior are my favorites. they are hilarious. Her grandma is a super strong member in the English Branch. Her grandpa isn't a member and hasn't wanted anything to do with the church. But yesterday, he LOVED the baptism! He came up to us after and asked if we could come over and have dinner with them this week. Before, he's always gone in his room when we have come over and hasn't been to church in years. But I think Larissa's baptism may have changed him for the better. Larissa was so excited. She invited everyone she knew! The gym was packed. It was great to see so many people support her though. I loved being able to see Larissa come up out of the water. she had the biggest smile on her face! And then when she received the holy ghost, the room was overflowing with the spirit! After she was confirmed, i looked at her grandpa and tears were falling from his eyes. The Holy Ghost truly is a testifier of Truth. I am so thankful that I have the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I'm thankful that I am a missionary. I've never felt so close to the Spirit. I pray that we all can grow our testimonies and increase our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are never alone. The Holy Ghost is always with us. All we have to do is live worthy of it. I'm so thankful for this Gospel. I love it. I love being a missionary. Thank you for all your love and prayers! Tengan una buena semana!

Love,

Hermana Egbert

Larissa and I before her baptism

Junior and I - Larissa's little brother

May 27th, 2013

Hola Familia y amigos!
This week has been a whirlwind of lots of different things.. We've had some of our lowest lows and some of our highest highs. The Lord continues to bless us though and I am thankful for it. We have had to drop a few of our investigators because they aren't progressing and have no desire anymore. We have a really awesome spanish investigator though. Her name is Hermenia. We knocked into her about 3 weeks ago. She said she was catholic and slammed the door in our face. We knocked again and she said that we worship Joseph Smith. Third times a charm.. We set up an appointment with her, with little faith that anything would come of it, but when we went back for the appointment, there was a change in her eyes and she welcomed us in and was very receptive to everything! Ah she's super excited about this Gospel and loved the lesson we had with her on the Plan of Salvation. Hopefully she continues to progress.
After our appointment with her on saturday night, we got a call from the Branch President. He asked if we could speak in church the next day. We debated it for a second, and then felt silly that we even had to think about it. We accepted and he was thrilled.. oh and of course, it was the Spanish branch president. We had 2 hours to prepare a 15 minute talk in spanish. If i didn't have a testimony of the gift of tongues before, i do now. I printed out Elder Holland's talk "we are all enlisted." It was an inspiring talk and i was able to relate it to "the game of life". We have to practice each and every day (reading the scriptures, praying, attending church weekly) if we want to win. (obtain eternal life). Just like in sports, we have a coach, Our Heavenly Father, to help us through our hard times and to celebrate with us when we win and triumph. We have family members in the stands cheering us on. 

it is our responsibility to make them proud. to finish the race. we can't give up. we need to continue through the hard times and come closer to our heavenly father. then, when the time comes, we can win. we can have eternal life and live with our families for eternity. "the greatest gift of God"
But, how fun would it be if we didnt have our family with us to celebrate at the finish line? This is why we need to get involved in missionary work! share the gospel. invite others to have the same wonderful opportunity that you have to know that families can be forever, that you can live with our Savior and Heavenly Father after this life. Especially today, on Memorial Day, my thoughts are with all those who have lost loved ones. But through this Gospel, we can find peace knowing that we can live with them again. I love this Gospel with all my heart. I know my Savior lives. I feel my Heavenly Father's love for me each day. I know the Book of Mormon is TRUE. I love being a missionary!
Thank you all for your support and prayers! I miss you and love you all!! Have a good week!!

Hermana Egbert

We had a baptism this week with "Pin Pin" (Manuel Sanchez) who just turned 8! His family is recently back to activity and they are INCREDIBLE. i love them so much.