Hello Everyone!
So.....two days ago the greatest thing in the history of the world happened and none of you even knew about it......................I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS TO TAMPA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am literally so excited that I can barely breathe! I'm pretty sure I jumped up and down for a good hour, screamed a couple times, and couldn't even eat dinner I was so excited! A week from Monday, the 28th of March, I will be gathering outside the travel office with my two companions and the two elders coming with us at 3:00 am. About 11 hours later, at 3:50 pm local time, we arrive in Tampa. I can literally not sit still when I think or talk about this, so I should probably move on to other topics since it is really hard to type, think, and jump up and down all at the same time!
It is amazing how isolated the MTC makes you. We are so cut off from news and the world that when we hear something we don't always know how to react. It is hard to remember that earthquakes, basketball tournaments and cell phones still exist! When I do hear about these things it always makes me think, "I am so grateful to be where I am." I mentioned this in my last letter, but missionaries and being a missionary is really cool. We can know and do things that would simply be impossible in any other setting.
I can't believe the responsibility and power of my call sometimes. I feel honored and inadequate a good portion of the time. One scripture I love is Mark 10:27. When Jesus is teaching the people he says, "With men it IS impossible, but not with God: for with God ALL things are possible." I know that is true. I know that with all my heart. Just yesterday I had a moment where I was so frustrated with Spanish that it consumed me. Then God gave me the opportunity to overhear some missionaries who had been here for two weeks...turns out I CAN speak Spanish. And you know what? They will too. I know that when I get out to the field and I here the natives speak to me and I try to respond I am going to be beyond frustrated, and feel like I don't know anything. But one thing I can do is bear my testimony. I KNOW I can do that in Spanish. And I KNOW that God will give me the Spanish that I need to teach his children. I just need to have faith.
Faith, now there is a topic that has been in my mind a lot lately. I was thinking about faith just yesterday in fact when talking with one of my investigators. She is having a really hard time committing to something because she doesn't know if it will work out the way she wants it to. I kept picturing a dark room. It is so much easier to stand in the dimly lit hallway than to step into the dark room, close the door, and look for the light switch. It doesn't matter that you KNOW there IS a light switch in there. It also doesn't matter that you don't really WANT to be in the hallway. When it comes right down to it, it is just plain scary to be in the dark. Then comes to mind the beautiful scripture in Ether 12:6, "I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because you see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.”
Faith is hard, and scary. But in every situation, if that dark room is a room that the Lord has directed you to, if you know that despite the difficulty and fear that it is the right place to be, that you will find the light switch and the light that comes will be brilliant beyond your comprehension. Trust in God. Trust that He will lead and guide you. He will. Have Faith.
Sometimes, I don't know what to say in these letters, in fact, I usually am not the one deciding. I hope that they help someone or answer some question that someone has. But if any of you out there have a question or a concern or anything at all, you have someone who will listen to your every burden, and gladly bear them with you. Turn to your Heavenly Father in every way, and in every thing you do. I would love to help in any way that I can, but know that I am simply a humble servant of my God, and he is the Master of my feet.
I love you all. I pray for each of you. I know that I have been blessed with some of the greatest people on earth to be a part of my life.
Love, Hermana Levanger
Friday, March 18, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
March 10, 2011
So I have decided that now that I have the hang of the MTC I should give you a detailed account of my day. So here it goes for yesterday:
6:25am: Alarm goes off. Try to turn it off as quickly as possible. Spend five minutes on my knees thanking my Father in Heaven for the greatest day ever yesterday (wednesday) and asking Him to direct my day.
6:33: Try to pry my companions out of bed because we have gym in two minutes and they are both still out cold.
6:37: Arrive at gym, two minutes late, but so is everyone else.
6:40-7:15 Play a very intense basketball game with five other sisters. Score some points, miss a LOT of shots, laugh a LOT, and add a few more bruises to my collection.
7:15 Leave gym ten minutes early so my companions can make sure their shower, hair, and make-up is done for the day. (Me: shower, throw my hair in a messy bun, do my make-up, and still have 15 minutes to study spanish verbs)
8:12 Leave for breakfast, at this point I should probably check my planner to have a feel for the day...hmm...after breakfast we have a green color-coded block, that means Hemano Christiansen is teaching (yes, I color code my planner, the mission is turning me into a crazy)
8:16 Arrive in the cafeteria...nuts, nothing edible..wait, they have bagels today! A bagel with cream cheese, some peaches, and three or four glasses of water it is!
8:43 Climb the 72 stairs to the top floor where our class is.
8:45 Start class with a hymn and prayer in Spanish, of course, and then grimace as one of the elders offers one of the many smells that I have now become accustomed to.
9:06 I'm freezing! My coat is at the dry-cleaners and the elders insist the air conditioning be turned to max! Please tell me it isn't so that we have this class until noon!
10:58 Break into three groups, two companionships practice for the TRC, one prepares to teach our teacher/investigator (Dan), and one companionship teaches him now without any prep time...Yep, let’s go teach Dan!
11:30 Leave our lesson with Dan, not sure if he is 100% there, but we have a baptism in three weeks, rock on!
11:40 Leave class early so my two companions can practice a musical piece they are doing together...that would make me the untalented third musical wheel! Climb down the 72 stairs.
12:15 We are officially in a blue block of my planner. We finally get the chello that was being used up until this point, but I discovered a couple of new things in my Patriarchal Blessing as I was waiting.
12:16-12:49 Listen to my companions practice their musical chello/piano piece while I write and translate Spanish sentences. (I also do this when I am stressed out, weird kind of stress relief I guess!) I must say that the piece is beautiful and I am very proud of them.
12:53 Go to Lunch....YAY, they have sandwiches made out of materials I can identify! Bonus, they also have a little bag of Cheetos to go with it, AND a pickle! Awesome!
1:33 Pick up my coat from the dry-cleaners, of course right now is the MOST beautiful day since I have been here and am currently standing in the sun with my eyes closed looking like an idiot, although a very happy one!
1:37 Pick up my Spanish scriptures from the book store now that they are embossed, they look beautiful!
1:43 Climb the 72 stairs to our class.
1:45 Sing again, pray again, and then start personal study. We have a lesson with Yuriko tonight and we need to teach her ALL of the commandments from lesson four since she is getting baptized in a week and a half. Of course, I haven't even started to study lesson four yet!
2:20 Finish with almost all of the commandments in outline form, but feel like I really need to study my scriptures for some reason. I start where I left off last time in Alma 18, gosh I LOVE this chapter!
2:37 The elders are talking about doctrine, I get sucked in and distracted, refocus about three minutes later.
2:45 Start companionship study, pray, bear our testimonies, recite our purpose and the first vision in Spanish. Fill out the teaching record for Dan, and take a few minutes to discuss what our next steps are with him. Spend twenty minutes talking about the commandments and Yuriko and how to approach our lesson this evening.
3:17 Hermana Rex comes early to help Elder Hansen fix his tie. We get a little distracted talking to her, but we need to prepare for the TRC.
3:33 Hermana Rex asks if we can start class early because she remembered last night something important she forgot to tell us. Pray and sing again, read out loud D&C 4 (wow that sounds awful! We need to work on saying that one!) and wait for the bomb to drop that she forgot to tell us....
3:49 Now we are in the Purple block, meaning it is Hermana Rex Teaching. Hermana Rex asks us all to turn to Alma 18...wait a second! I just read that in my personal study! Alma gives us an example of how to approach and teach someone who doesn't know or believe in God, oh and by the way, our TRC investigator today is a non-Christian. It’s ok though, all I have to do is tell them the truth and bear testimony of what IS true, just like Alma.
4:02 Walk down the 72 stairs
4:07 Gather in a little prep room with the rest of my district and say a companionship prayer that the spirit will be with us and that the Gift of Tongues will be given to us as this entire lesson must be in Spanish.
4:09 Enter "the store" and order some things that we need, black dress shoes, comfortable, and will hold up to LOTS of walking for me please! Then ask her if she goes to church around here, she does, the Buddhist church. We tell her that we also believe that we had a life before this one, but that we know that we lived with our loving Heavenly Father, and not as plants (which is what she thinks she might have been in her last life!) She is intrigued by our testimony and asks if we can come back tomorrow to pick up our stuff that she will have at her house and teach her more.
4:27 Gather again in the prep room and try to figure out which principles she needs to KNOW from lessons one and two. We settle on parts from both, with our main focus being that God is our loving Heavenly Father and because he loves us he restored his gospel today as well as pre and post earth life.
4:34 Knock on the door of our investigator's 'house' and are surprised by two other people in the room, apparently she invited her two atheist friends to join in on the discussion with the 'Mormons!'
4:37-5:05 Start with a re-cap from the store for Vincent and Brooke (the Atheists). Bear simple and direct testimony that I know my father in Heaven loves me and that He loves each one of them. Testify that he created this world and share Alma 30:44 with Vincent the Atheist. And then when he asks me HOW I know all these things, testify of the power of prayer and that through God you can know and do all things. The spirit was definitely there.
5:05 Tell our investigators, 'of course we can come back tomorrow' when they asked us how soon we could come back!
5:12 Climb the 72 stairs back to our room.
5:15-5:37 Read the feedback from the 'investigators' and try to answer the questions Hermana Rex poses to us: How did we help bring Heavenly Father's children unto him? And what can we do this week to better prepare to do that with other investigators?
5:38 Sit down with Hermana Rex and have her correct and explain the mistakes I made with my Spanish sentences. I write the english in black, the spanish in red, and then she corrects in blue. Can I just say my paper is finally starting to look less like a victim of the great blue sword carnage!? I know something is bothering Hermana Rex. I ask her what is wrong, and she tells me she went to the dentist today. Then I tell her she is really good at deflecting. Apparently not very many people catch that, because she was pretty surprised that I noticed. I hope everything is ok. It is a blessing to be able to feel the concerns and worries of others as a missionary. We have to be perceptive to what others are feeling, and I absolutely believe we are given special powers of discernment as a part of our call. However, this also means that WE worry for and about them all the time. I try to focus, but the worry I feel for others, my teachers, companions, friends, and especially my family is sometimes over-whelming. Of course, Hermana Rex doesn't want to burden me with her problems, but I do tell her that I hope whatever, or more likely, whoever gets better, and that I will be thinking about her. I guess that and prayer is all we can really do. Did I mention that prayer is quite possibly the greatest thing on earth? I am literally talking with my father as His daughter. I miss my Dad and the talks we used to have so much, but now I talk to my Father in Heaven the same way I did with my Dad, and I can feel the love and recognition and understanding that He has for me. He KNOWS what I am going through and how I feel, and I love every second I get to spend talking with Him.
5:58 Sing in Spanish O My Father to the tune of Come Thou Fount, absolutely beautiful! My new favorite Spanish hymn (at least when it is sung to that tune).
6:02 Climb down the 72 stairs again, after telling Hermana Rex we would see her tomorrow and that I hoped everything would be ok.
6:05 Arrive at dinner....nothing...nothing I can even identify...thats ok, two bowls of cereal sound delicious! I'll even be healthyish and have one of Grape nuts and one of Corn Flakes.
6:37 Jeopardy anyone? Another chatting session.
6:43 Climb the 72 stairs again
6:46 Sing, pray, and try to finish going over the information for Yuriko from Lesson four while also trying to fit in some language study and tune out the Elders talking about who knows what (gosh do I love them, they are so great, and I am so lucky to have them around me everyday, every single one of them has made incredible progress the last six weeks and I am so proud of them.)
7:52 Down the 72 stairs we go.
7:53 Walk with Hermana Vogelsberg to our lesson with Yuriko (Hermana Clinger has to welcome the new district so will be on splits with the zone leaders) (Is it really only almost eight o'clock? I swear it has to be later than that!)
8:05 Start the daunting task of explaining Obedience, Pray Often, Study the Scriptures, Keep the Sabbath Day Holy, Baptism and Confirmation, Follow the Prophet, Keep the Ten Commandments, Law of Chastity, and the Word of Wisdom all in 45 minutes. Luckily the only one she really had an issue with was Sabbath day worship because of her job. Luckily I had personal experience with this from Tucson. I told her to trust in her testimony and to honor the respect and relationship she has built with her boss and have an open and honest discussion with him. It was still hard though.
8:53 Climb the 72 stairs back to the room.
9:05 Meet back up with Hermana Clinger and begin planning. Luckily it is P-day tomorrow and we don't have a whole lot to plan for! I think we will do initiatories tomorrow at the temple so that should be a good experience.
9:20 Sing and pray as a district and hike down the 72 stairs one last time.
9:35 Change, brush my teeth, and read my letter from my Dad. Have a great talk with Hermana Clinger about some of the concerns she is facing right now. Give another friend, Hermana King, a big hug because she is leaving in a couple of days for my favorite place in the world, Tucson!
10:29 Talk to my Heavenly Father and thank Him for the Best Day ever, which actually turned out to be today and not yesterday or the day before like I had thought then!
Well, there it is, a day in the life of an MTC missionary! This still can't convey the laughs, the conversations, and the incredible spirit that is here. All I can tell you all is that I feel more like a missionary today than I did yesterday, and I know that cycle will continue every day. I am so excited for every day that I have to be a missionary, it is the greatest thing I could ever do with my life. I am so excited to make every moment and second count. I love you all, and I am so grateful for the love and support you send me. Every once in a while it dawns on me that there are so many people who are thinking about me, fasting for me, going to the temple for me, and praying for me. Most of the time I don't feel like I deserve all that love, but know that I feel it and am so greateful for it every day. I couldn't serve the Lord to my full capacity without having that support. So truly, from the bottom to the top of my heart, thank you.
I love you all,
Hermana Levanger
6:25am: Alarm goes off. Try to turn it off as quickly as possible. Spend five minutes on my knees thanking my Father in Heaven for the greatest day ever yesterday (wednesday) and asking Him to direct my day.
6:33: Try to pry my companions out of bed because we have gym in two minutes and they are both still out cold.
6:37: Arrive at gym, two minutes late, but so is everyone else.
6:40-7:15 Play a very intense basketball game with five other sisters. Score some points, miss a LOT of shots, laugh a LOT, and add a few more bruises to my collection.
7:15 Leave gym ten minutes early so my companions can make sure their shower, hair, and make-up is done for the day. (Me: shower, throw my hair in a messy bun, do my make-up, and still have 15 minutes to study spanish verbs)
8:12 Leave for breakfast, at this point I should probably check my planner to have a feel for the day...hmm...after breakfast we have a green color-coded block, that means Hemano Christiansen is teaching (yes, I color code my planner, the mission is turning me into a crazy)
8:16 Arrive in the cafeteria...nuts, nothing edible..wait, they have bagels today! A bagel with cream cheese, some peaches, and three or four glasses of water it is!
8:43 Climb the 72 stairs to the top floor where our class is.
8:45 Start class with a hymn and prayer in Spanish, of course, and then grimace as one of the elders offers one of the many smells that I have now become accustomed to.
9:06 I'm freezing! My coat is at the dry-cleaners and the elders insist the air conditioning be turned to max! Please tell me it isn't so that we have this class until noon!
10:58 Break into three groups, two companionships practice for the TRC, one prepares to teach our teacher/investigator (Dan), and one companionship teaches him now without any prep time...Yep, let’s go teach Dan!
11:30 Leave our lesson with Dan, not sure if he is 100% there, but we have a baptism in three weeks, rock on!
11:40 Leave class early so my two companions can practice a musical piece they are doing together...that would make me the untalented third musical wheel! Climb down the 72 stairs.
12:15 We are officially in a blue block of my planner. We finally get the chello that was being used up until this point, but I discovered a couple of new things in my Patriarchal Blessing as I was waiting.
12:16-12:49 Listen to my companions practice their musical chello/piano piece while I write and translate Spanish sentences. (I also do this when I am stressed out, weird kind of stress relief I guess!) I must say that the piece is beautiful and I am very proud of them.
12:53 Go to Lunch....YAY, they have sandwiches made out of materials I can identify! Bonus, they also have a little bag of Cheetos to go with it, AND a pickle! Awesome!
1:33 Pick up my coat from the dry-cleaners, of course right now is the MOST beautiful day since I have been here and am currently standing in the sun with my eyes closed looking like an idiot, although a very happy one!
1:37 Pick up my Spanish scriptures from the book store now that they are embossed, they look beautiful!
1:43 Climb the 72 stairs to our class.
1:45 Sing again, pray again, and then start personal study. We have a lesson with Yuriko tonight and we need to teach her ALL of the commandments from lesson four since she is getting baptized in a week and a half. Of course, I haven't even started to study lesson four yet!
2:20 Finish with almost all of the commandments in outline form, but feel like I really need to study my scriptures for some reason. I start where I left off last time in Alma 18, gosh I LOVE this chapter!
2:37 The elders are talking about doctrine, I get sucked in and distracted, refocus about three minutes later.
2:45 Start companionship study, pray, bear our testimonies, recite our purpose and the first vision in Spanish. Fill out the teaching record for Dan, and take a few minutes to discuss what our next steps are with him. Spend twenty minutes talking about the commandments and Yuriko and how to approach our lesson this evening.
3:17 Hermana Rex comes early to help Elder Hansen fix his tie. We get a little distracted talking to her, but we need to prepare for the TRC.
3:33 Hermana Rex asks if we can start class early because she remembered last night something important she forgot to tell us. Pray and sing again, read out loud D&C 4 (wow that sounds awful! We need to work on saying that one!) and wait for the bomb to drop that she forgot to tell us....
3:49 Now we are in the Purple block, meaning it is Hermana Rex Teaching. Hermana Rex asks us all to turn to Alma 18...wait a second! I just read that in my personal study! Alma gives us an example of how to approach and teach someone who doesn't know or believe in God, oh and by the way, our TRC investigator today is a non-Christian. It’s ok though, all I have to do is tell them the truth and bear testimony of what IS true, just like Alma.
4:02 Walk down the 72 stairs
4:07 Gather in a little prep room with the rest of my district and say a companionship prayer that the spirit will be with us and that the Gift of Tongues will be given to us as this entire lesson must be in Spanish.
4:09 Enter "the store" and order some things that we need, black dress shoes, comfortable, and will hold up to LOTS of walking for me please! Then ask her if she goes to church around here, she does, the Buddhist church. We tell her that we also believe that we had a life before this one, but that we know that we lived with our loving Heavenly Father, and not as plants (which is what she thinks she might have been in her last life!) She is intrigued by our testimony and asks if we can come back tomorrow to pick up our stuff that she will have at her house and teach her more.
4:27 Gather again in the prep room and try to figure out which principles she needs to KNOW from lessons one and two. We settle on parts from both, with our main focus being that God is our loving Heavenly Father and because he loves us he restored his gospel today as well as pre and post earth life.
4:34 Knock on the door of our investigator's 'house' and are surprised by two other people in the room, apparently she invited her two atheist friends to join in on the discussion with the 'Mormons!'
4:37-5:05 Start with a re-cap from the store for Vincent and Brooke (the Atheists). Bear simple and direct testimony that I know my father in Heaven loves me and that He loves each one of them. Testify that he created this world and share Alma 30:44 with Vincent the Atheist. And then when he asks me HOW I know all these things, testify of the power of prayer and that through God you can know and do all things. The spirit was definitely there.
5:05 Tell our investigators, 'of course we can come back tomorrow' when they asked us how soon we could come back!
5:12 Climb the 72 stairs back to our room.
5:15-5:37 Read the feedback from the 'investigators' and try to answer the questions Hermana Rex poses to us: How did we help bring Heavenly Father's children unto him? And what can we do this week to better prepare to do that with other investigators?
5:38 Sit down with Hermana Rex and have her correct and explain the mistakes I made with my Spanish sentences. I write the english in black, the spanish in red, and then she corrects in blue. Can I just say my paper is finally starting to look less like a victim of the great blue sword carnage!? I know something is bothering Hermana Rex. I ask her what is wrong, and she tells me she went to the dentist today. Then I tell her she is really good at deflecting. Apparently not very many people catch that, because she was pretty surprised that I noticed. I hope everything is ok. It is a blessing to be able to feel the concerns and worries of others as a missionary. We have to be perceptive to what others are feeling, and I absolutely believe we are given special powers of discernment as a part of our call. However, this also means that WE worry for and about them all the time. I try to focus, but the worry I feel for others, my teachers, companions, friends, and especially my family is sometimes over-whelming. Of course, Hermana Rex doesn't want to burden me with her problems, but I do tell her that I hope whatever, or more likely, whoever gets better, and that I will be thinking about her. I guess that and prayer is all we can really do. Did I mention that prayer is quite possibly the greatest thing on earth? I am literally talking with my father as His daughter. I miss my Dad and the talks we used to have so much, but now I talk to my Father in Heaven the same way I did with my Dad, and I can feel the love and recognition and understanding that He has for me. He KNOWS what I am going through and how I feel, and I love every second I get to spend talking with Him.
5:58 Sing in Spanish O My Father to the tune of Come Thou Fount, absolutely beautiful! My new favorite Spanish hymn (at least when it is sung to that tune).
6:02 Climb down the 72 stairs again, after telling Hermana Rex we would see her tomorrow and that I hoped everything would be ok.
6:05 Arrive at dinner....nothing...nothing I can even identify...thats ok, two bowls of cereal sound delicious! I'll even be healthyish and have one of Grape nuts and one of Corn Flakes.
6:37 Jeopardy anyone? Another chatting session.
6:43 Climb the 72 stairs again
6:46 Sing, pray, and try to finish going over the information for Yuriko from Lesson four while also trying to fit in some language study and tune out the Elders talking about who knows what (gosh do I love them, they are so great, and I am so lucky to have them around me everyday, every single one of them has made incredible progress the last six weeks and I am so proud of them.)
7:52 Down the 72 stairs we go.
7:53 Walk with Hermana Vogelsberg to our lesson with Yuriko (Hermana Clinger has to welcome the new district so will be on splits with the zone leaders) (Is it really only almost eight o'clock? I swear it has to be later than that!)
8:05 Start the daunting task of explaining Obedience, Pray Often, Study the Scriptures, Keep the Sabbath Day Holy, Baptism and Confirmation, Follow the Prophet, Keep the Ten Commandments, Law of Chastity, and the Word of Wisdom all in 45 minutes. Luckily the only one she really had an issue with was Sabbath day worship because of her job. Luckily I had personal experience with this from Tucson. I told her to trust in her testimony and to honor the respect and relationship she has built with her boss and have an open and honest discussion with him. It was still hard though.
8:53 Climb the 72 stairs back to the room.
9:05 Meet back up with Hermana Clinger and begin planning. Luckily it is P-day tomorrow and we don't have a whole lot to plan for! I think we will do initiatories tomorrow at the temple so that should be a good experience.
9:20 Sing and pray as a district and hike down the 72 stairs one last time.
9:35 Change, brush my teeth, and read my letter from my Dad. Have a great talk with Hermana Clinger about some of the concerns she is facing right now. Give another friend, Hermana King, a big hug because she is leaving in a couple of days for my favorite place in the world, Tucson!
10:29 Talk to my Heavenly Father and thank Him for the Best Day ever, which actually turned out to be today and not yesterday or the day before like I had thought then!
Well, there it is, a day in the life of an MTC missionary! This still can't convey the laughs, the conversations, and the incredible spirit that is here. All I can tell you all is that I feel more like a missionary today than I did yesterday, and I know that cycle will continue every day. I am so excited for every day that I have to be a missionary, it is the greatest thing I could ever do with my life. I am so excited to make every moment and second count. I love you all, and I am so grateful for the love and support you send me. Every once in a while it dawns on me that there are so many people who are thinking about me, fasting for me, going to the temple for me, and praying for me. Most of the time I don't feel like I deserve all that love, but know that I feel it and am so greateful for it every day. I couldn't serve the Lord to my full capacity without having that support. So truly, from the bottom to the top of my heart, thank you.
I love you all,
Hermana Levanger
Saturday, March 5, 2011
March 4, 2011
Ok, big news of the moment....It is MARCH!!!!! And guess what....I will be in my mission in MARCH!!!!! I will be in my mission field by the end of this month and I can barely stand the excitement I feel every time I think about it! The MTC is great, I love my District, my teachers, my basketball sisters, and of course my companions. However, I CAN NOT WAIT to get to the real deal field! Oh it is going to be such a great day!
So I had an absolutely incredible week! I wish I could tell you all of it. Sunday and Monday were really big transformation days for me. On Sunday I had my mid-way interview with the first counselor of my branch presidency. To put into words where I have come from and where I was going was really good for me. I realized that I really have made a lot of progress, but I still need to let go.
Let go - that was really the message I took away. I need to let go of the things that are holding me back, that are in the past, and that are stopping the Lord from making me into what He needs me to be.
Well...'Here I am Lord, make me into what you need. ' This small change in attitude this week has made ALL of the difference for me. Another great day/experience was Monday. My favorite teacher Hermana Rex took us downstairs to talk about the Power and Authority of our call and to read the Standard of Truth.
As I sat on the stairs with sunlight shining through the windows surrounded by my district, my companions, looking at that wonderful picture of Christ coming forth in the second coming being heralded by angels and then looking at my nametag...I wish I could describe the feeling that came over me. I am humbled, and honored to have been chosen among many to do this great work. There is NOTHING I would rather be doing right now. I am literally receiving revelation and inspiration daily, if not hourly.
Serving a mission, no, serving God, is the most self-rewarding thing in this world. I feel so selfish every single day, because despite the fact that I work every second of every day, I KNOW that I am getting WAY more out of my mission than I can ever put in. I'm sorry I can't truly explain in words how I feel about my mission everyone. All I can say is, think of the most rewarding thing you have ever done in your life...then imagine being able to do that all day every day. This is the greatest work on Earth, and I wish I could tell you all in person, but you couldn't drag me home right now!
Cool, awesome, amazing story of the week: Yesterday (and every Thursday) was our time in the TRC (Training Resource Center). We go and participate in a scenario and practice teaching real people (volunteers) in a semi-real life situation. Yesterday the scenario was we were eating dinner in an investigator's restaurant and practicing ordering food and talking about what we like to eat. After that we left the room and then came back as if it was later that week and we were going to teach her the first lesson. Now because we have been here five weeks we are expected to do EVERYTHING in Spanish, not one english word allowed. So the first thing she asks me is if she can make me a fruit salad and what kind of fruit I want, immediately I respond with, 'oh I love manzanas and bananas' Ok well manzanas are apples, but bananas, definitely not bananas! I was surprised my comanions were able to keep going they were laughing so hard! FYI Bananas are platos!
Anyway, the really cool part was when we went back into the room (her house) to teach her the first lesson. I kid you not ladies and gentlemen I SPOKE SPANISH!!!!!! It was amazing! This is the first time I have spoken Spanish at any kind of normal tempo and I didn't even have to translate it in my head first, it just came out! Best Day Ever. I have been working so hard on the language and the gospel, and praying even harder. Es muy dificil a aprender un nueva idioma. Pero cuando es por Dios and con Dios, es posible. (It is very difficult to learn a new language, but when it is for God and with God, it is possible.)
Not much else to report this week, another week done in the MTC, another week of my mission gone. All I can say is that this Church is true, and that this is the greatest work on earth and it is going forth nobly and boldly and no unhallowed hand can stop it. I love you all.
Con Amor,
Hermana Levanger
So I had an absolutely incredible week! I wish I could tell you all of it. Sunday and Monday were really big transformation days for me. On Sunday I had my mid-way interview with the first counselor of my branch presidency. To put into words where I have come from and where I was going was really good for me. I realized that I really have made a lot of progress, but I still need to let go.
Let go - that was really the message I took away. I need to let go of the things that are holding me back, that are in the past, and that are stopping the Lord from making me into what He needs me to be.
Well...'Here I am Lord, make me into what you need. ' This small change in attitude this week has made ALL of the difference for me. Another great day/experience was Monday. My favorite teacher Hermana Rex took us downstairs to talk about the Power and Authority of our call and to read the Standard of Truth.
As I sat on the stairs with sunlight shining through the windows surrounded by my district, my companions, looking at that wonderful picture of Christ coming forth in the second coming being heralded by angels and then looking at my nametag...I wish I could describe the feeling that came over me. I am humbled, and honored to have been chosen among many to do this great work. There is NOTHING I would rather be doing right now. I am literally receiving revelation and inspiration daily, if not hourly.
Serving a mission, no, serving God, is the most self-rewarding thing in this world. I feel so selfish every single day, because despite the fact that I work every second of every day, I KNOW that I am getting WAY more out of my mission than I can ever put in. I'm sorry I can't truly explain in words how I feel about my mission everyone. All I can say is, think of the most rewarding thing you have ever done in your life...then imagine being able to do that all day every day. This is the greatest work on Earth, and I wish I could tell you all in person, but you couldn't drag me home right now!
Cool, awesome, amazing story of the week: Yesterday (and every Thursday) was our time in the TRC (Training Resource Center). We go and participate in a scenario and practice teaching real people (volunteers) in a semi-real life situation. Yesterday the scenario was we were eating dinner in an investigator's restaurant and practicing ordering food and talking about what we like to eat. After that we left the room and then came back as if it was later that week and we were going to teach her the first lesson. Now because we have been here five weeks we are expected to do EVERYTHING in Spanish, not one english word allowed. So the first thing she asks me is if she can make me a fruit salad and what kind of fruit I want, immediately I respond with, 'oh I love manzanas and bananas' Ok well manzanas are apples, but bananas, definitely not bananas! I was surprised my comanions were able to keep going they were laughing so hard! FYI Bananas are platos!
Anyway, the really cool part was when we went back into the room (her house) to teach her the first lesson. I kid you not ladies and gentlemen I SPOKE SPANISH!!!!!! It was amazing! This is the first time I have spoken Spanish at any kind of normal tempo and I didn't even have to translate it in my head first, it just came out! Best Day Ever. I have been working so hard on the language and the gospel, and praying even harder. Es muy dificil a aprender un nueva idioma. Pero cuando es por Dios and con Dios, es posible. (It is very difficult to learn a new language, but when it is for God and with God, it is possible.)
Not much else to report this week, another week done in the MTC, another week of my mission gone. All I can say is that this Church is true, and that this is the greatest work on earth and it is going forth nobly and boldly and no unhallowed hand can stop it. I love you all.
Con Amor,
Hermana Levanger
February 25, 2011
So this is going to shock you (or maybe just me) but I am officially half-way through my time at the MTC!!!!! Can you believe it? I leave in four weeks and about three days (it is supposed to be March 28th). Crazy! Sometimes I forget that I still have my ACTUAL mission after the MTC. I am beyond excited to get out into the field . This morning I woke up to a good six inches of snow, and that just sealed the deal for me-I NEED to get to FLORIDA ASAP!!!!!!! Once again, confirmation that I have the world's greatest mission. So.....what to write.....
Let me start with my spiritual experience of the week. We have our first scheduled baptism for an investigator! It happened last night. We were teaching our investigator Yuriko for the third time. She had asked a question about what she should do if God answered her prayers and expressing fear about it if he actually did. It bothered me all day and I spent a good chunk of my MDT (Missionary Directed Time) trying to find an answer for her. I finally found 2 Nephi 32: 1-5. Capter 32 is like the world's greatest cookie filling to the best chapters ever 31 and 33. Anyway, I kept being led to the Holy Ghost and the comfort it provides not only in our prayers, but to let us know God's will. We read that scripture together and the last line was so great, "recieve the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do." I challenged her to be baptized, but she was still heistant. My companion then asked her to read the parable of the vine and the branches in John 15, but I accidentally turned to John 14 and handed her my scriptures, it was then that she accidently read John 14:1 "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me."
Let me just tell you, anyone reading this right now, there was nothing accidental about that. It took four more times asking her to be baptized, but she kept coming back to that verse and she agreed, in three weeks she will be baptized. Now I realize this is not a real person. This person has the gospel already in their life and is providing a teaching experience for us missionaries. But I tell you all now, there was nothing fake about last night. The spirit was so strong it was suffocating. I literally could barely breath. I and my companions did absolutely nothing in that lesson, it was all the spirit. I hope everyone can gain a testimony of the Holy Ghost that I have been able to gain this week. Your life will never be the same.
Now, on a lighter note. Funny story of the week: I have two words for you all 'Spanish Day.' As a district we dicided to make it a goal this week to speak only Spanish on Wednesday, also known as 'no ingles miercoles!' Need I remind you that we have been here FOUR weeks! I took two years of Spanish and couldn't have said more than five or six sentences. This was an ENTIRE day of Spanish! Needless to say I had a lot of time to think, since it was much quieter than usual! However, it really pushed every one of us, and we laughed almost all day long at our sorry attempts to communicate (over-enunciations, sign language, dictionaries, charades, etc). I will say this though, when I woke up on Thursday, I could speak twice as much Spanish as I could on Tuesday. Amazing.
This coming week is teaching week for us. We have about 1/4 the amount of class time we usually have and are supposed to teach lessons to anyone and everyone we can find with all the time we have. Of course, ALL in Spanish. I have a feeling I might be tired by next Saturday. (Who am I kidding, I am ALWAYS tired!) It is the best kind of tired though. It is the tired that at the end of the day you literally can barely muster the strength to pull the blankets up, and sometimes not even that happens!
Interesting side-note apparently it is the 50th anniversary of the MTC, no one told us, but my companion was told in a letter by her friend. Anyway last tuesday there were a bunch of film crews at our devotional. So look for several spots on KSL in the next few weeks and a big special on the MTC between sessions of conference. Weird, you might even see me! I doubt it though (I wasn't in the choir. Shocker I know!!!!!) I hope they filmed the special arrangement of Called to Serve though, it was amazing. We started off the first verse really soft like we were an army coming over the hill, then it got progressively louder until we were all standing on our feet singing at the top of our lungs. The air vibrated it was so powerful. I hope you at least get to see the film. It won't be the same, but still awesome.
Well, I should probably wrap this up for the week. I love you all so much. Stay true to the faith, stay true to yourselves, and stay close to God in everything you do.
Con Amor,
Hermana Levanger (Beck)
Let me start with my spiritual experience of the week. We have our first scheduled baptism for an investigator! It happened last night. We were teaching our investigator Yuriko for the third time. She had asked a question about what she should do if God answered her prayers and expressing fear about it if he actually did. It bothered me all day and I spent a good chunk of my MDT (Missionary Directed Time) trying to find an answer for her. I finally found 2 Nephi 32: 1-5. Capter 32 is like the world's greatest cookie filling to the best chapters ever 31 and 33. Anyway, I kept being led to the Holy Ghost and the comfort it provides not only in our prayers, but to let us know God's will. We read that scripture together and the last line was so great, "recieve the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do." I challenged her to be baptized, but she was still heistant. My companion then asked her to read the parable of the vine and the branches in John 15, but I accidentally turned to John 14 and handed her my scriptures, it was then that she accidently read John 14:1 "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me."
Let me just tell you, anyone reading this right now, there was nothing accidental about that. It took four more times asking her to be baptized, but she kept coming back to that verse and she agreed, in three weeks she will be baptized. Now I realize this is not a real person. This person has the gospel already in their life and is providing a teaching experience for us missionaries. But I tell you all now, there was nothing fake about last night. The spirit was so strong it was suffocating. I literally could barely breath. I and my companions did absolutely nothing in that lesson, it was all the spirit. I hope everyone can gain a testimony of the Holy Ghost that I have been able to gain this week. Your life will never be the same.
Now, on a lighter note. Funny story of the week: I have two words for you all 'Spanish Day.' As a district we dicided to make it a goal this week to speak only Spanish on Wednesday, also known as 'no ingles miercoles!' Need I remind you that we have been here FOUR weeks! I took two years of Spanish and couldn't have said more than five or six sentences. This was an ENTIRE day of Spanish! Needless to say I had a lot of time to think, since it was much quieter than usual! However, it really pushed every one of us, and we laughed almost all day long at our sorry attempts to communicate (over-enunciations, sign language, dictionaries, charades, etc). I will say this though, when I woke up on Thursday, I could speak twice as much Spanish as I could on Tuesday. Amazing.
This coming week is teaching week for us. We have about 1/4 the amount of class time we usually have and are supposed to teach lessons to anyone and everyone we can find with all the time we have. Of course, ALL in Spanish. I have a feeling I might be tired by next Saturday. (Who am I kidding, I am ALWAYS tired!) It is the best kind of tired though. It is the tired that at the end of the day you literally can barely muster the strength to pull the blankets up, and sometimes not even that happens!
Interesting side-note apparently it is the 50th anniversary of the MTC, no one told us, but my companion was told in a letter by her friend. Anyway last tuesday there were a bunch of film crews at our devotional. So look for several spots on KSL in the next few weeks and a big special on the MTC between sessions of conference. Weird, you might even see me! I doubt it though (I wasn't in the choir. Shocker I know!!!!!) I hope they filmed the special arrangement of Called to Serve though, it was amazing. We started off the first verse really soft like we were an army coming over the hill, then it got progressively louder until we were all standing on our feet singing at the top of our lungs. The air vibrated it was so powerful. I hope you at least get to see the film. It won't be the same, but still awesome.
Well, I should probably wrap this up for the week. I love you all so much. Stay true to the faith, stay true to yourselves, and stay close to God in everything you do.
Con Amor,
Hermana Levanger (Beck)
February 18, 2011
Ok well first things first....HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe that I am missing your 18th birthday, but I am so proud of you I can barely even stand it! Congratulations. I know you don't think it is a big deal, and I can kind of relate seeing as how I don't care much about birthdays, but you are a shining star of an 18 year old, and everyone should know and celebrate that. Thank you for being my brother.
Now, on to other news. First disclaimer is that I am sorry if my grammer or spelling is off. I am starting to think in Spanish a little bit and it is really hard to go back and forth all day!
Funny story of the week though: I have been learning about the past tense (kind of important when telling people about the history of the church huh?). Anyway, in order to improve on my conjugation I have been writing out english sentences on the different sections of Preach My Gospel and then translating them into Spanish. When I do all I can remember I try to look up the rest and then have my teacher look over them and give me feedback. Well this week I was writing questions for Christ's earthly ministry and the Great Apostacy. I was trying to translate the sentence "Jesus and his prophets were killed." as a transition to the Apostacy. Well, turns out what I said in Spanish was 'Jesus and his Prophets killed'.... as in killed other people!!!! Oh man, my teacher laughed for a good five minutes!
I love my one teacher Hermana Rex, she is only about six months older than I am and she served in Tucson. She is always willing to help. She is studying to become a teacher and is taking a sewing class right now. She has been struggling in the class because she doesn't really like it. Yesterday she was frustrated because she had to sew her zipper on three different times. I decided to brighten her day by sharing my 'Sewing through my finger Incident' from eighth grade. After she stopped laughing (and crying a little bit) she said, "so you are the kid my teachers warned me about when I have my own sewing class!" Needless to say, I felt very proud.
Spiritual story of the week: WAYYYYYYYYY too many to possibly do justice. However, I do want to share one. This happened Wednesday night. We were teaching our teacher as her investigator Summer (it is weird how much it feels like an actual different person when we are in there). Anyway, this was our third time meeting with Summer. It was so frustrating because she kept saying she would try to read and try to pray, but never agree. When we went in there this time we were prepared to start teaching lesson 2 (Plan of Salvation) but when we asked her if she had read the readings we gave her and prayed she said that she read but didn't pray because she was embarrassed and it was weird.
I can't even tell you how incredible what happened next was. So we are sitting in this room and the three of us are in a row I'm closest to the door and Hermana Clinger (H.C.) is in the middle and Hermana Vogelsberg (H.V.) is on the other side. Our investigator is in front of us. So from where I am I can see every person's face. In most lessons I end up talking quite a bit, H.V. most of the rest of the time and H.C. hardly at all. Now keep in mind this whole lesson is in Spanish. We started talking about prayer, and how it is truly a one on one conversation with God. And how important it is to bring our worries and questions to Him.
Then I had the opposite of the gift of tongues happen to me, I could suddenly understand every single word that was said and could not speak to save my life. I sat there and watched in rapture as my two companions spewed the spirit at our investigator. I felt like I was sitting on the sidelines with the spirit and God saying, 'would you look at that, they are doing awesome!' Oh, it was soooooo cool, I wish I could explain it better.
My one contribution when Summer still wouldn't pray was when I asked her if I prayed first if she would pray. So I prayed, I kept it simple. Then H.C. prayed, then H.V. prayed. Finally we asked Summer to pray. It was AMAZING! She started by saying 'Hello God, how are you? I'm doing well." She went on to say the most beautiful simple and sweet prayer I have ever heard. I wish I could tell you all this story in person, because it was just... incredible.
Well, I wish I could tell you all about every minute I have here. I am changing and learning and growing so much that I barely recognize myself any more.
We have had some incredible speakers at the devotionals and firesides. We have watched some amazing talks. Don't get me wrong, I don't love being at the MTC. But I can say that I DO love being on a mission. There is NOTHING that tops this. You forget about yourself completely. Your whole life is the gospel. It is simply perfection. I can't believe how lucky I am to be a part of this great work. There is no greater calling in the history of mankind. In the words of Elder Holland, 'My mission means EVERYTHING to me." And I truly have the best, hardest, and most rewarding 17 months in my life ahead of me. I can't wait.
Con Amor,
Hermana Levanger (Beck)
Now, on to other news. First disclaimer is that I am sorry if my grammer or spelling is off. I am starting to think in Spanish a little bit and it is really hard to go back and forth all day!
Funny story of the week though: I have been learning about the past tense (kind of important when telling people about the history of the church huh?). Anyway, in order to improve on my conjugation I have been writing out english sentences on the different sections of Preach My Gospel and then translating them into Spanish. When I do all I can remember I try to look up the rest and then have my teacher look over them and give me feedback. Well this week I was writing questions for Christ's earthly ministry and the Great Apostacy. I was trying to translate the sentence "Jesus and his prophets were killed." as a transition to the Apostacy. Well, turns out what I said in Spanish was 'Jesus and his Prophets killed'.... as in killed other people!!!! Oh man, my teacher laughed for a good five minutes!
I love my one teacher Hermana Rex, she is only about six months older than I am and she served in Tucson. She is always willing to help. She is studying to become a teacher and is taking a sewing class right now. She has been struggling in the class because she doesn't really like it. Yesterday she was frustrated because she had to sew her zipper on three different times. I decided to brighten her day by sharing my 'Sewing through my finger Incident' from eighth grade. After she stopped laughing (and crying a little bit) she said, "so you are the kid my teachers warned me about when I have my own sewing class!" Needless to say, I felt very proud.
Spiritual story of the week: WAYYYYYYYYY too many to possibly do justice. However, I do want to share one. This happened Wednesday night. We were teaching our teacher as her investigator Summer (it is weird how much it feels like an actual different person when we are in there). Anyway, this was our third time meeting with Summer. It was so frustrating because she kept saying she would try to read and try to pray, but never agree. When we went in there this time we were prepared to start teaching lesson 2 (Plan of Salvation) but when we asked her if she had read the readings we gave her and prayed she said that she read but didn't pray because she was embarrassed and it was weird.
I can't even tell you how incredible what happened next was. So we are sitting in this room and the three of us are in a row I'm closest to the door and Hermana Clinger (H.C.) is in the middle and Hermana Vogelsberg (H.V.) is on the other side. Our investigator is in front of us. So from where I am I can see every person's face. In most lessons I end up talking quite a bit, H.V. most of the rest of the time and H.C. hardly at all. Now keep in mind this whole lesson is in Spanish. We started talking about prayer, and how it is truly a one on one conversation with God. And how important it is to bring our worries and questions to Him.
Then I had the opposite of the gift of tongues happen to me, I could suddenly understand every single word that was said and could not speak to save my life. I sat there and watched in rapture as my two companions spewed the spirit at our investigator. I felt like I was sitting on the sidelines with the spirit and God saying, 'would you look at that, they are doing awesome!' Oh, it was soooooo cool, I wish I could explain it better.
My one contribution when Summer still wouldn't pray was when I asked her if I prayed first if she would pray. So I prayed, I kept it simple. Then H.C. prayed, then H.V. prayed. Finally we asked Summer to pray. It was AMAZING! She started by saying 'Hello God, how are you? I'm doing well." She went on to say the most beautiful simple and sweet prayer I have ever heard. I wish I could tell you all this story in person, because it was just... incredible.
Well, I wish I could tell you all about every minute I have here. I am changing and learning and growing so much that I barely recognize myself any more.
We have had some incredible speakers at the devotionals and firesides. We have watched some amazing talks. Don't get me wrong, I don't love being at the MTC. But I can say that I DO love being on a mission. There is NOTHING that tops this. You forget about yourself completely. Your whole life is the gospel. It is simply perfection. I can't believe how lucky I am to be a part of this great work. There is no greater calling in the history of mankind. In the words of Elder Holland, 'My mission means EVERYTHING to me." And I truly have the best, hardest, and most rewarding 17 months in my life ahead of me. I can't wait.
Con Amor,
Hermana Levanger (Beck)
February 11, 2011
Wow, what a week I have had! I feel so much older and wiser, and yet dumber than ever at the same time! I am so lucky to be here. The spirit is literally so thick you could slice it with a knife (you are right Sis, you should be way jealous!). Everything about the MTC is just a life changing experience.
My companionship is getting better and better. I have had one goal this week: whenever I get frustrated, or angry, or annoyed, or offended I ask myself, 'what am I doing wrong.' I've learned that it is you who chooses to make those situations negative. You will never be able to change another person, nor should you. But you can change yourself, and I can tell you all I have already changed for the better. What a life-altering realization.
The MTC is busy and hectic and I am learning more than I ever thought possible. There are a lot of rules, and you certainly can't do whatever you want. That's ok though, I've spent 24 years doing whatever I want. I think I can take a break from me right now. One of my favorite sayings in the world now is S-O-C-K-S, or in spanish 'eso si que es' which translates to 'That's the way it is.' LOVE IT.
I know to all of you I haven't been gone that long. However, I feel like I have been gone FOREVER! I wasn't kidding when I told you that days feel like weeks and weeks feel like hours. Most of the time I think I just got here, but I can barely remember what it is like to live a normal life! I love it though, and I wouldn't trade it for anything right now.
Have I mentioned to you that being in a tripanionship is HARD!!!!? It is. I love both of my companions and we all have very different strengths and weaknesses (that we are finally starting to use to our advantage) but it is so hard to deal with two minds, feelings, and ideas besides the thousands that you yourself have! I was asked to take over as Senior Companion this coming Sunday and will be for the next three weeks. I really don't know how to feel about it. I though that was what I wanted. But I had no idea how nice it was to only have to worry about how I was doing at any given moment. Have I mentioned that girls are also very emotional? I know it will be a great learning experience though; for me and my companions.
Spanish is coming, slowly but surely. My teacher told me the other day that I was ahead of most of my class, but I still feel like an idiot! I can tell you this though: Yo se mi Padre Celestial as muy amoroso y sobre Dios mi familia es eterna. Yo se que Jose Smith restaurdo el evangelio en los ultimos dias. Yo se que esto evangelio es verdadero con todo mi corazon. (This is not grammatically correct Spanish but it says: I know that my Heavenly Father is very loving and through God my family is eternal. I know that Joseph Smith restored this gospel in these latter days. I know that this gospel is true with all my heart.)
Love, Hermana Levanger
My companionship is getting better and better. I have had one goal this week: whenever I get frustrated, or angry, or annoyed, or offended I ask myself, 'what am I doing wrong.' I've learned that it is you who chooses to make those situations negative. You will never be able to change another person, nor should you. But you can change yourself, and I can tell you all I have already changed for the better. What a life-altering realization.
The MTC is busy and hectic and I am learning more than I ever thought possible. There are a lot of rules, and you certainly can't do whatever you want. That's ok though, I've spent 24 years doing whatever I want. I think I can take a break from me right now. One of my favorite sayings in the world now is S-O-C-K-S, or in spanish 'eso si que es' which translates to 'That's the way it is.' LOVE IT.
I know to all of you I haven't been gone that long. However, I feel like I have been gone FOREVER! I wasn't kidding when I told you that days feel like weeks and weeks feel like hours. Most of the time I think I just got here, but I can barely remember what it is like to live a normal life! I love it though, and I wouldn't trade it for anything right now.
Have I mentioned to you that being in a tripanionship is HARD!!!!? It is. I love both of my companions and we all have very different strengths and weaknesses (that we are finally starting to use to our advantage) but it is so hard to deal with two minds, feelings, and ideas besides the thousands that you yourself have! I was asked to take over as Senior Companion this coming Sunday and will be for the next three weeks. I really don't know how to feel about it. I though that was what I wanted. But I had no idea how nice it was to only have to worry about how I was doing at any given moment. Have I mentioned that girls are also very emotional? I know it will be a great learning experience though; for me and my companions.
Spanish is coming, slowly but surely. My teacher told me the other day that I was ahead of most of my class, but I still feel like an idiot! I can tell you this though: Yo se mi Padre Celestial as muy amoroso y sobre Dios mi familia es eterna. Yo se que Jose Smith restaurdo el evangelio en los ultimos dias. Yo se que esto evangelio es verdadero con todo mi corazon. (This is not grammatically correct Spanish but it says: I know that my Heavenly Father is very loving and through God my family is eternal. I know that Joseph Smith restored this gospel in these latter days. I know that this gospel is true with all my heart.)
Love, Hermana Levanger
February 4, 2011
First, the MTC or Major Transformation Center as I like to call it. I would love to tell you all what I am learning, but that would literally take days. I have never felt the spirit of God so powerfully and all-consuming than I do here. It is literally everywhere you go and in everything you do. It is a humbling experience. I tend to vacillate between feeling like I could go out today and do a great job and feeling 100% inadequate to do anything at all. I really need to work on finding a happy medium.
I have learned something though: God loves every single one of us as individuals for our strengths AND our weaknesses. It might be easier to just say how I'm feeling about each of those things. My strengths: I have a solid work ethic and am addicted to keeping a schedule, I WANT to learn EVERYTHING I am taught RIGHT NOW! I know that Christ restored the fullness of His gospel. allowed another testament of His words and works the Book of Mormon, and that He still speaks to us today.
All I can say is thank goodness for the ten or twenty small miracles I witness every day, otherwise I might question why I'm here. I’ve learned that love and devotion to the Gospel isn't enough, because I definitely can't whip scriptures out of the top of my head. Spanish is coming, very slowly. I am able to recognize almost everything my teachers say (of course they are speaking slowly and over enunciating), but I have a hard time whipping words out of my head and forming sentences. I love the language though and I learn more every day (Rosetta Stone definitely gave me a great foundation and I am regretting my lack of commitment now).
My daily schedule is pretty much the same except Friday (P-day) and Sundays when I have no class, a great talk in the evening and then a church movie. EVERY morning we wake up at six-thirty, have three meals, lots of class, 50 minutes of gym, and MDT (which is short for comp and personal study as well as language. Planning at 9 and lights out at 10:30. I love the structure of my day, and the rich learning environment. The two things that get me through my day are telling myself that I will MAKE the next day great and hearing from you wonderful people.
We have a time-warp issue in the MTC. A day feels like a year and a week feels like an hour. Weird. As many notes and letters as you can send while I am here the better, I know it will be different in the field, but it is so important right now and we love being able to tell everyone we got something! The elders are great and they all reminding me a little bit of Erik, which makes me sad and happy at the same time. I love all of you.
Hermana Levanger
I have learned something though: God loves every single one of us as individuals for our strengths AND our weaknesses. It might be easier to just say how I'm feeling about each of those things. My strengths: I have a solid work ethic and am addicted to keeping a schedule, I WANT to learn EVERYTHING I am taught RIGHT NOW! I know that Christ restored the fullness of His gospel. allowed another testament of His words and works the Book of Mormon, and that He still speaks to us today.
All I can say is thank goodness for the ten or twenty small miracles I witness every day, otherwise I might question why I'm here. I’ve learned that love and devotion to the Gospel isn't enough, because I definitely can't whip scriptures out of the top of my head. Spanish is coming, very slowly. I am able to recognize almost everything my teachers say (of course they are speaking slowly and over enunciating), but I have a hard time whipping words out of my head and forming sentences. I love the language though and I learn more every day (Rosetta Stone definitely gave me a great foundation and I am regretting my lack of commitment now).
My daily schedule is pretty much the same except Friday (P-day) and Sundays when I have no class, a great talk in the evening and then a church movie. EVERY morning we wake up at six-thirty, have three meals, lots of class, 50 minutes of gym, and MDT (which is short for comp and personal study as well as language. Planning at 9 and lights out at 10:30. I love the structure of my day, and the rich learning environment. The two things that get me through my day are telling myself that I will MAKE the next day great and hearing from you wonderful people.
We have a time-warp issue in the MTC. A day feels like a year and a week feels like an hour. Weird. As many notes and letters as you can send while I am here the better, I know it will be different in the field, but it is so important right now and we love being able to tell everyone we got something! The elders are great and they all reminding me a little bit of Erik, which makes me sad and happy at the same time. I love all of you.
Hermana Levanger
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