May 5th, 2014

Familia..
   How are y'all doing? I don't have time to tell you all the amazing things that happened this week.. there's too many to count!! 
   Throughout my whole mission I have seen so many miracles, tender mercies, and seen the Lord's hand in this work. But I don't think it's ever hit me so hard as it has lately.. the reality of this Gospel. It is everything. I remember at the MTC, feeling the spirit stronger than I have ever felt it before, and thinking, "wow, this Church is true." Then again, as I watched an investigator enter the waters of baptism.. and thinking to myself "this is the neatest thing!" Again, I remember when President Slaughter called and told me that grandpa had passed away. Immediately, I felt Heavenly Father's love, and a feeling of peace come over me. I think that is the first time I realized we don't just teach the Plan of Salvation. We are living it. We chose to come here. And now we must choose what we do in this life. THIS is REAL life. 
      We had MLC this week and two brethren from the Church Missionary Department were there. Brother Hemingway and Brother Donaldson. It was amazing. President Slaughter shared a scripture to start the meeting. Alma 5:7 "Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word..." That is what we must do. We must wake others up to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But how can we do it, if we ourselves are sleeping? We have the most important news to share with the world! Let us each find one person this week to share the gospel with. Let us wake the world from this deep sleep with the message of the Restoration :)

    Time and time again, I have felt my testimony grow. I have had the blessing of watching others come unto Christ. And each time, my joy is even fuller! I imagine I feel a little like Lehi when he ate the fruit and desired that his family should partake of it too. This Gospel brings so much joy and happiness. It offers us peace and hope in a fallen world. I am so thankful for my Savior, for His atonement and the opportunity we all have to repent and become more like Him. God's whole plan, and all his work is to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Let's help Him by waking those who are sleeping. Maybe we ourselves need to stop pushing our own spiritual snooze button, and taste of the joy that this Gospel brings. Let's WAKE UP!
   I love the Savior. I know that this is His restored church on the earth today.
   I am so thankful for my mom and for her example to me. She has taught me so many things that I never would've been able to learn on my own. She's my best friend and has a great love for our Savior. Happy Mother's Day!

   I love y'all, have a great week! See you on Sunday! :)
Con amor,
  Hermana Egbert


p.s. transfer calls are sunday night.. i'll let you know on monday what's happening

i love these little girls! the Favila cousins :)

Rocio and her daughter Genesis.. she is getting baptized too! :) (She bought us matching bracelets)

April 28th, 2014

Mi familia..
  I don't even know where to start off this e-mail.. So much has happened this week and it's hard for me to choose what to write about with the short time I have. Each week, I try to write something that will uplift, encourage, and hopefully answer a prayer or two of yours. I pray that my e-mails help y'all in your day to day experiences and encourage you to share the gospel as well :)
   We saw too many miracles to count this week! I am hesitant to share them all because I don't want to downplay the significance of each one.. but I have to tell you, they are too good to keep to myself!

  On Tuesday, Erika text us that morning and asked if we could come over for lunch and teach her non member friend. After the lesson, we received a phone call from a member in our ward, Annie, who said her hair dresser wants to learn more about the gospel.

   On Wednesday, we went to contact the referral from Annie who had called us Tuesday. The woman's name is Rocio. We walked in and she asked us if she could do our hair. Before we could say anything she asked about our church. We sat down and talked to her for 30 minutes. At the end of the conversation she said "you need to teach me more. can we meet at Annie's house tomorrow? Let's say.. 12:30?" She told us she would call Annie and set it up!
   Later that night, we received another referral from Hermana Urbina. She is an older lady and is the only member in her family. Her children don't like the Church and refuse to talk to her about it. She asked us to go pray with her daughter who has cancer.. We decided to stop by Wednesday night. Hermana Urbina was there! Her daughter let us right in. We taught she, and two of her three kids. By the end of the lesson, each one of them accepted a baptismal date for May 24th! We will be passing them off the the English Sisters to teach the rest of the lessons. It was the neatest experience, they were so into it. I watched as the Spirit testified to each of them during the lesson, that the things we were saying were true. I love this gospel!! We walked outside and Hermana Urbina followed us. She only speaks Spanish so she had no idea what had just happened. I told her that her daughter and grandchildren wanted to be baptized and she said "Are you kidding? You told them you were Mormon, right?" I said yes! She started to cry.
  On Thursday, we met Rocio at Annie's house.(Annie served a mission and has 4 kids. She loves to be involved in missionary work, she's fantastic!) I cannot put into words what happened in the lesson with Rocio, she is the most prepared person I have come in contact with on my mission. She agreed with everything we were saying. When we talked about the apostasy, we read Amos 8:11-12 (when the people were running to and fro with hunger and thirst for the word of God, but couldn't find it) She looked up with tears in her eyes and said "This is what I've been thirsting for.. I have this hunger." As we continued talking, Annie bore powerful testimony and mentioned something about baptism. Rocio looked at us and said "I want to be baptized. Into your church." She has a date for the 17th of May! 

  Piano class went really well this week. Erika brought her friend and 3 kids who are all non members!

  Friday and Saturday were both really good days as well. We did exchanges with the Sisters in Riverside. I was able to teach Akemy! She is progressing and loves to read the Book of Mormon :) While on exchanges, Hermana Lund contacted a family we had found a few days earlier and set them with a baptismal date for the 24th of May! The English speaking elders will continue teaching them.
  Church was amazing yesterday. My mind was opened to so many new things and insights during sacrament meeting. This ward is incredible! I love the members.
   The Lord is hastening His work. Are we staying up to speed? When was the last time we invited someone to listen to the missionaries? Are we doing our part as well? These people are ready! They are running to and fro searching for what we have.
   I was looking back at the beginning of my mission.. wondering why i'm seeing all these miracles now, and how I wish I would've been a more effective missionary earlier on in my mission. Then I realized.. line upon line, precept on precept. I have changed. I am becoming who Heavenly Father wants me to become. I didn't work these miracles this week, neither did my companion. This is the Lord's work. All He asks is that we do our part. I am so thankful that He has allowed me to witness these miracles. That He lets me experience the change in these people. I love my mission. I love Our Savior. This is His Church, restored again on the Earth today. 

   I love y'all and pray that we can all do our part. The Gospel is true!!
Con Amor,
Hermana Egbert

Rocio :)

Ashley and Patrick Banda- we made a title of liberty with them this week :)

April 21st, 2014

Familia :)
   Happy Easter yesterday! I hope you all were able to feel of our Savior's love and reflect on His life and resurrection.
  We had a great day at church.. We sang "Where Can I Turn for Peace." Afterwards, Erika spoke! She was so nervous beforehand.. but we had her review it with us the night before and she did a beautiful job! Hermana Castor sat behind us at church and kept tapping my shoulder.. i looked back and she had an engagement ring on her finger! She and Hermano Sanchez are getting married! :) I am so happy for them! (I've talked about them before.. but she is our YW President and he is our Ward Mission Leader) 
   I mentioned last week how Erika asked us to teach her family. Last Monday, we had a lesson with Olga. Erika's brother, Pablo is a member. He hasn't been to church in almost 10 years. His girlfriend, Olga wants to be baptized. We had an incredible lesson with Pablo, Olga, and Rosa. (Erika's mom) We talked about Jesus Christs life and ministry, but once we mentioned how Joseph Smith was searching for the truth, Olga lit up. She said "That's how i feel!" We talked about the restoration and she agreed with everything that was said. We invited her to be baptized and she accepted! As we were about to leave, she asked about the temple. We told her a little bit about it, I showed her a pass-along card of the Salt Lake Temple and she couldn't take her eyes off of it! We then invited them both to set a goal to be sealed in the temple a year from now. They accepted! It was amazing. The only issue is getting her a job where she doesn't have to work Sundays. She hasn't been able to come to church yet, but still wants to be baptized. She has a 9 year old daughter as well who wants to be baptized too :) Keep them in your prayers.
   Wednesday was incredible! We had Zone Conference with President Slaughter.. He is a man that is called of God. These past few weeks he has asked us to prepare ourselves for this conference so that we might receive insight and guidance from the spirit. I did what he asked, and can testify first-hand, the power of the Holy Ghost that was present in the meeting. He started the conference by talking about revelation. With participation and questions from those of us in the conference, he let the Spirit guide. It was the coolest experience. We all sat there and received what we needed individually. We talked about all different topics, doctrine and teaching skills. I had all my questions answered. I am so grateful for a mission president who is in tune with the Spirit and who leads and guides us. He doesn't just teach us how to be missionaries, he teaches us how to understand who we are. "Today and Always" In his first conference with us, almost a year ago, he gave us these 7 expectations:

1. Know who you are, your inherent purpose, and act accordingly–today and always.

2. Learn to discern the Spirit and submit to its promptings–today and always.

3. Attain an unshaken and unwavering testimony of the Restoration–today and always.

4. Possess a sound understanding of the gospel and teach with power and authority–today and always.

5. Understand the doctrine of the gathering and the principles of finding the elect–today and always.

6. Learn and apply the principles of leadership–today and always.

7. Have an internal and constant desire and willingness to improve yourself–today and always.

You, too, can live to achieve the expectations!
   I am so grateful for my mission. I say it every week, and i pray that you can feel the power of me saying that, grow each week. I know that this is God's kingdom on the earth today. I know Joseph Smith restored the Priesthood keys and the Gospel in its fulness to the earth in our day. I know who I am. The mission has changed me. I have become something better. And i'm not turning back.   I pray that we all can know for ourselves, and then share with others, the truthfulness of this Gospel! :)

I love y'all!! Have an amazing week!

Con Amor,
   Hermana Egbert


 Hermana Velez from Eagle Pass was visiting her sister in Austin and came to church yesterday! :)

Melissa Banda :) one of my favorite families here

April 14th, 2014

Familia
   It is pouring rain right now.. I love Texas thunderstorms. The sky is huge and the lighting literally fills the entire sky. 
   This week was crazy.. We went to San Antonio for MLC on Tuesday. It was amazing! I love listening to President Slaughter's words. He is so inspired. He talked about taking upon the "name" of Christ. Wow. I learned so much! We literally take upon us His name at baptism. There is deeper doctrine and more references, but I'll save those for later :) 
   We taught Erika and Carlos on Wednesday, then headed out the door. We decided to run back in and ask if we could fill up our water bottles. As we walked back in she said "Hermanas.. my sister wants to be baptized. Can you teach her?" I almost dropped my water bottle! Of course! We are going to meet her tonight. 
   Piano lessons are going great! We still have a full class size of both active, and less active members. We had a less active Hermana come to piano class with her son. It was the first time she had been to the church in over 10 years! 
  We were asked to do an exchange with a companionship of new Sister Training Leaders in South Austin this week.They are in an English area, and I found myself feeling really out of place. The exchange went well though, but I missed our area and the people in Lake Austin. I love these people. We have the most amazing ward. 
   On Saturday we taught lots of lessons. We had a miracle lesson with a part member family. The Morales'. The mom is a member and was baptized when she was 15 but hasn't been to church in over 30 years. Her husband and 2 kids are really interested. Hermana King and I tried stopping by occasionally but they always seemed to have a wall up once we started talking about baptism and the Book of Mormon. Hermana Lund and I stopped by on Saturday and talked to them. They talked about their home in Guatemala and showed us pictures. She offered us a glass of water. Her daughter came out of her room and told us all about David Archuletta being home from his mission. (She is obsessed with him haha) We felt them opening up more and more.. I finally felt the impression to ask her why she stopped going to church. Silence filled the room. But then as she started talking, the spirit came in.. it was undeniable. She told us what had happened, but that she had even had an interview with her bishop to serve a mission! We taught about the blessings of the temple and all the family agreed to have a Family Home Evening this week with us. Hermana Morales offered the closing prayer.. wow. It was amazing. I know that everything works in the Lord's timing. This family is a first hand testimony of that. Their hearts are softening and we hope to be able to help them along their journey to the temple. 
   Erika is doing amazing. She came with us to a lesson this week and testified so powerfully of the blessings of the temple! I asked her to write her testimony down so I could put it in my journal. As we walked down the street back to the car, she pointed to a house and said "my friend and her family live there.. we should teach them sometime." Okay! Then, at church yesterday, she walks in and said "My less-active brother is here.. His wife isn't a member and neither is his 9 year-old daughter. Can you teach them too?" Of course! 
    Miracles have been happening left and right. I pray that all these people will be able to accept the message we have to share and will be able to be baptized. So that, one day, they can all go to the temple as a family. I know that this Gospel is true. 
   I know that Jesus Christ lives. That He set the way. He was and is our example. Let us think of His life this week, and always. As we celebrate Easter, I invite you all to write down your thoughts and feelings, and why you are grateful for our Savior. Many of us have already taken His name upon us.. so now, what are we going to do with that? I love Him and I know that this is His work.
   Have a fantastic week. The Church is true!! I love you!!!

Happy Easter!!

Con Amor,
  Hermana Egbert

Los Santana-less actives, but amazing people!

Exchanges with Sister Thorner

April 7th, 2014

Familia :)
   Wow. I can't explain how uplifted and edified I feel after watching General Conference this weekend. How blessed we are to have a living prophet on the earth today!
   This week, more than before, I have realized the importance and power of words. I'll share with you a few experiences I have had this week...
  We were having a really rough day this week. Hermana Lund was sick and literally every appointment we had fell through. We went and visited Yoanna and read The Living Christ. I was reminded of the power and the truth that is in that amazing statement. Yoanna loved it and said she is going to read it over and over again. The words on that simple piece of paper, describe the majesty and divinity of our Savior. I am grateful for the knowledge I have. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that His way, is the only way. I am so thankful for Him and His life. He lives. 
   Afterwards, we went and contacted a few people in a trailer park development. A few of our strongest members live there as well. It was getting late and we hadn't gotten in a single door. We decided to go see Hermana Favila. She served a mission, has 3 kids, and was just recently divorced. (She is the one we gave the shoes to a few months back). As we sat and talked with her, she told us how her friend in Mexico put a picture on Facebook of 12 companionships of missionaries in her one ward. We were really impressed! 24 missionaries in one ward? wow! She looked at Hermana Lund and I and said.. "Hermanas.. I would rather have you 2 covering my ward, than 12 companionships." She told us how much she appreciates what we do and how she knows we are hardworking missionaries. She says it takes a lot to be a great missionary, and that we are doing it. She is such an example to me. The faith and strength she has.. it's amazing. It was just the thing I needed to hear. As time goes on in my mission, I feel like some days fly by, and others have never gone so slowly. I love this work, and when I realize the importance of the message I carry, it is all worth it. 
   Saturday night, all our appointments cancelled. It was hard to imagine, because we had just been so spiritually fed with conference that afternoon and had the mindset that everyone would want to hear our message now! We returned back to our apartment having taught only one lesson all day. I received a letter from my 10 year old niece. She sent me her notes from Women's Conference and a note. I hope she won't be mad at me sharing some things she said.. "On Sunday, we went to church and I felt so much power of God reaching out to me, my hart was lifted a lot when people shared there testimonies. I felt the spiret so strong and i saw you sitting wright next to me. I know you made the write dissishon and i have you for a example. A wonderful example. I learned about the Brother of Jared and it felt so good in my hart. I know you teach people about the gosple too! I also know how hard it is and how good it feels. I love you!" I was so overwhelmed with the power in the her testimony. Her words helped me remember why I am here. 
   Missionary work is amazing. It is hard. but just like Elder Holland said this weekend, "It is worth it!" 
   I could've written all about conference, but I pray that each of you will go and watch it again, and again. I have been changed forever. Study it out in your minds. Be disciples of Jesus Christ. Testify to those who don't know. Apply the Atonement in your life EVERY day. Live in gratitude. Study Preach My Gospel. Go share the Gospel with the world! We can make the difference. Trust in the Lord. He loves us. 
  I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true church on the earth. I know that we have the priesthood power today. I know that we can live together as a family forever. Let us Love One Another and build the Lord's Kingdom. 
Have a great week! I love you all!!!

Con Amor,
Hermana Egbert

Notes from Londyn 

Last P-Day we played soccer with all these little hispanics :)

Hermana Favila's daughter (hugging me) and her cousins :)
Homemade cinnamon rolls for conference!
Sister Simonsen and I at transfer meeting

hahaha we have too much fun!

March 31st, 2014

Familia..

     I'm staying in Lake Austin!! We received transfer calls last night. Hermana Lund and I are so excited to be staying together. She is a fantastic missionary and i'm so thankful to be her companion. We are ready to hit the ground running and continue to work hard.
     We had the opportunity of going to the temple this week with our recent convert, Erika. We drove down with the Bishop and his wife and met a few other members there. It was an amazing experience! As we pulled up to the temple, Erika began to cry. She was so excited! I am so grateful for temples and the blessings we receive from attending them regularly. As we got home that night, Erika asked when we can go back. It was so humbling to see her joy and excitement of visiting the temple.
     Women's conference was incredible. I LOVED IT!! Seeing all of temple square and the temple made me miss Utah.. How blessed we are to live so close to the conference center, the temple, the tabernacle, and all the other amazing places. I now know how other people feel when they want to go to Salt Lake City to see our prophet. Or to visit the temple. Yoanna, one of our investigators, came to the women's conference and sat with the hermana's in the relief society room. Esmeralda, a young woman in our ward, wanted to watch it in English so we went with her in the chapel. She's 12 years old and is such an example to me. She had her journal in hand and was so excited to be there. She lit up as the meeting began, and took notes the entire time. Afterwards, I asked her what she thought and she opened up her journal and started reading passages to me. She hadn't written quotes or sayings.. instead, she wrote her feelings and things she wanted to apply to her life. Esmeralda is amazing and already understands how to live the gospel. I am so excited to watch as she serves a mission one day :)
     If any of you didn't have the opportunity to watch the women's conference.. DO IT NOW. Each of us have made, or will make, covenants with our Father in Heaven. We must know how to honor them and live the gospel. Hermana Lund and I sang to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir the whole way home. Haha We were so happy! And so full of joy :) That's what this gospel is.. Joy.
     I am so thankful for each one of you. I am thankful to have been born in the covenant and to be able to make more covenants as I grow older. I know that this Church is true. It is the only true church. Let us prepare ourselves to hear the words of our beloved Prophet this week. Let us make time for each session. I promise that as we do so, we will find answers. We will find peace. And we will be better prepared for what is to come. Invite your friends and family. Let them experience this joy that we have. I love you all!!!

Con Amor,
  Hermana Egbert
   
Temple trip with Erika :)
(The Aguilera's, Hermano Sanchez, Hermana Castor, me, Hermana Lund, Erika, The Winert's)

Before piano classes with Raquel and her cousin Victoria :)

Our district- Lake Austin

Hermano Ospinal.. cutest peruvian man in the world :)

teaching erika and clara how to make cookies!! and a bundt :)