June 20, 2011

Hello Everyone!,
Yeah! I get to stay here in St. Petersburg with Hermana Dollahite for another transfer!!!! It is unusual to have sister missionaries together for more than two transfers, but there are some exciting extenuating circumstances involved...We are getting Spanish Elders to help us out! I am so excited! President Summerhays transferred two Elders here to work with us in our same geographic area. We are truly going to be doing missionary work as it has never been done before. It is unheard of to not have defined lines for areas, and to have missionaries actively working together and putting the needs of the people above competition for baptisms and numbers. This area is truly ready to catch on fire, and the four of us are going to do just that. I am so excited! 
   I am so proud of the work the Lord has allowed to happen here over the last twelve weeks. We have only had one baptism, but the change is so much greater than that. I look back on our little branch twelve weeks ago and I would have described it as stressed and tired (and those are probably generous adjectives!). Today, the Lord is doing miracles here. We have had the privilege of teaching in member's homes 76 times in the last six weeks (Trust me when I tell you we do NOT have 76 members!). We have had 45 lessons taught with a member present.
The Lord is turning this branch around. It is slowly but surely turning from tired and stressed to being energized. The members of the branch are working WITH us, and coming to church more regularly. The size of our branch is substantially larger, not in new members, but in people who have come back to the church. We are working with several part-member families, and ALL of our pending baptisms will be either completing or adding to part-member families.
   We are so excited to be members of this branch and to be working with the people here. It is a true honor and blessing to be able to stay here for at least one more six-week transfer period. I am so excited, humbled, and honored to be a part of this new way of looking at and doing missionary work. The work of the Lord 'will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent' and it is indeed here in St. Petersburg, Florida. I challenge each of you to look for missionary experiences in your lives today. I promise you the Lord will qualify you and allow you to see miracles you wouldn't DREAM of.
I love you all,
Hermana Levanger