June 13, 2011

Hello Everyone!
I have little to report from the field this week. We filled the role of 'Seed Planters' rather than 'Harvest Reapers.’ That’s ok though. That role needs to be done as well. Did you know that it takes an average of seven contacts with the Church for someone to take the steps necessary to truly investigate and get a testimony of it? I used to think it was so hard to give away a Book of Mormon. Now, I realize the giving is easy. It’s convincing them that they HAVE to read it if they really want to know if it is true or not that is hard. I do know this though: those who read the Book of Mormon prayerfully KNOW that it is true.
  This past month my mission has been reading the Book of Mormon together. We started reading it on April 6th, the day Joseph Smith started translating. We were supposed to finish June 30th, the day he finished, but I finished yesterday before church. As we read the Book of Mormon, we used a blue and a red pencil to mark the Requirements in Red and the Blessings of following them in Blue. Wow, there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of promised blessings if we simply follow the commandments we have been given.
  Today, In addition to mentioning the blessings promised in the Book of Mormon, I also want to say what a special blessing the Lord gave me personally in my companion, Hermana Dollahite. This Friday is her birthday. As missionaries, we will probably sing, and then just keep going on with our day. But I wish the world could know that it really is a special day. The above picture is of Sister Dollahite, Itzel (who is studying the gospel) and me.
You’ve heard the phrase, 'you don't get to choose your family, but you do have to love them anyway.' Well, let me just tell you all that you also DO NOT get to choose your companion in the mission field. You are ASSIGNED someone to live with seven days a week, 24 hours a day. You teach with them, share a tiny apartment with them, and you must remain within sight and sound of them at all times (only exception being bathroom!). I thought this would be hard, if not impossible for me. But, I had a true desire to serve God, and I put my faith in Him. I know that God loves me because he gave me Hermana Dollahite.
Like I said, you don't get to choose your companion, but the bond you form with your companion is more like family than anything else. Sometimes it is hard for me to remember that I have only known Hermana Dollahite for eleven weeks, because she has been more like family and sister than a friend or a companion.
We have transfers this next week and we may not be together after that. It is so weird that these relationships out here as missionaries are so transitory. Who knows? Maybe we will get to be together for one more six week stretch. I do know that I have met a true and beloved daughter of God, and she has been a true blessing and tender mercy of the Lord for my first two transfers. She truly loves and cares for everyone. She is perpetually happy (which does occasionally get on my nerves!) And she absolutely refuses to say anything negative about anyone. When I try to serve her, I do the obvious things like make food, or pick-up, or something like that.  When she serves it is in the way Christ would, by listening with openness and acceptance for exactly who you are, and an empathy that is truly selfless and un-judging. I know that being a missionary changes you, and I hope that when I have only six months left (the time Hermana Dollahite has left) that I am half the missionary she is.
  I love being a missionary, I love the Book of Mormon, I love this gospel, and I know it is true with everything that I am. I hope that my words can ring as true on paper as I feel them in my heart. I truly love each of you, and I pray for you every night. Have a wonderful week, and see if you can't find someone around you to lift up and make their day a little brighter, I know you will be blessed for it.
Love you all,
Hermana Levanger