November 29, 2011

Hello Everyone!, 
   Before church on Sunday we were talking to Maria and Jose and Maria said, "Every day I love the Church more." On Thanksgiving, Maria called us and said, "It is a day to be thankful. I am thankful for you, my new daughters, and for my brothers and sisters in the Church, and for my new Church. Every day I feel closer to God. I have such a greater relationship with my Savior now." It was so cool. She also knit wraps for Hermana Dollahite and me for when it is cold in that snowy and freezing place called Utah! (For some reason she thought it was even farther from here than California...which it might as well be!) I love them! Jose had his new convert interview with President Lopez. We didn't get details of course, but it seemed to go very well. I'm so proud!
   For Thanksgiving we had TWO dinners, and I nearly died from food inhalation. Hermana Dollahite rolled/waddled into the apartment afterwards, or at least it wasn't walking! Hermana Garnica also shot a video of Hermana Dollahite and me and e-mailed it to my Dad. It was a day when I felt very thankful to be where I am and for the many blessings that I have been given.


I did make a green bean casserole to take with us. Thanks for the recipe Mom!

   I can't believe this is my last week with my dear companion Hermana Dollahite. No avoiding the transfer this time. She is on her way home to Utah to spend Christmas with her family and then to continue her studies in the BYU nursing program. On Saturday, I should find out who my new companion is. I'm not really too nervous. I know whoever it is that she will be exactly the person this area and I need. It is a little weird to think that I will be spending Christmas and my birthday with someone completely new though!
   I hope everyone takes the opportunity to embrace the spirit of the Holiday this year. Remember the real reason for all we do, the Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for His sacrifice and His infinite atonement. I would truly be lost without it. I hope we will all take the opportunity to remember Him and to thank Him for all He has done for each one of us. I am very excited to spend the next several weeks bearing my testimony of Him as often as possible. What a joy it is to be a missionary during this time of the year! (Not to mention that the temperature is consistently in the 70s or 80s!)
   I love you All!
Hermana Levanger

November 21, 2011

Hello Everyone!
    As this is the week to be thankful I would like to share just a few things I am grateful for. First and foremost, of course, is my Savior. What a blessing it is to find freedom through Him each day through service and the use of His wonderful Atonement.
I know that at this point you are all probably thinking, oh great this is going to be another one of Hermana Levanger's philosophical tyraids...I'll try to restrain myself!
The next thing that I am incredibly and forever grateful for is Hermana Dollahite. What an incredible friend. She is my family, and the one I look to for confirmation and example. She is wise, loving, kind, and unfailingly accepting. She has influenced my life for the good. I will miss her desperately when she leaves and hope that I helped her even half as much as she has helped me.
I am so grateful for my family, for their love and support. They each have different ways of showing it, but I know that they do.
I am so grateful to be a missionary and to have the chance to share the Gospel with God's children. I have met incredible people and will be changed forever because of the calling I received. It seems like so long ago that I sat on my bed locked in my room by myself in Tucson, Arizona and with trembling fingers opened my call. I know without a doubt that I was called here at this time for a divine purpose, and I will be forever grateful for that.
 
Yesterday, Maria and Jose (who were baptized just last week) came to church early. Maria showed Hermana Dollahite a tithing envelope and asked, "Who do I give this to?" I watched with joy and admiration as this 74 year old woman walked over to the second counselor, the only member of the branch presidency in the room at the moment, and handed him the envelope, I was just so happy. I remember when we taught them the Law of the Tithe, and that tithing is paid with faith. They were so happy to pay their tithing! That is something I am grateful for, the example of others, even those who act simply because of their love for the Savior and their desire to do His will.
There were 62 people in Church yesterday! Last week we had 60, and that was the highest we had ever had. I keep thinking that we might hit some limit, wonderful as it might be, but just sort of level out and stay there...nope! When we first got to St. Pete, weekly attendance at church was 18-25 people. Hermana Dollahite and I wanted to take out the back row to make everyone sit closer to the front (the back row always fills up the fastest!). But now, if we took out the back row, people would be standing in the aisles. Our Stake High Councilor attended our branch yesterday, and he suggested to our branch presidency that they consider moving up the date of when we move to the chapel! (I honestly think we might be in violation of some fire codes or something!) The biggest blessing is that, where only one family member used to come to church, now families are sitting together. People have come back to church. People have joined the church. We count the people and get a number, but every single one of those people is known to us by name. We care about them. We know how hard they work, each week, to get to church. We see the blessings they receive in their lives because they have the gospel. What a joy it is to be a part of it, to have it! I am grateful for that.

I love you all, and I am grateful for each and every one of you!!!

Hermana Levanger

November 14, 2011

Hello Everyone!,
   Wow! What an amazing week! I wish I had a camcorder to show you how incredible this week was! All I can say is that once again I stand as a witness that God works miracles. What a privilege it is to be His representative in this incredible work. It is amazing to see the hearts and most basic desires of people change, including my own. How desperately I want to be found doing the Lord's work and being on His errand for the rest of my life.
   On Wednesday, we had an incredible conference in Tampa. We talked a lot about leaving it all behind and having an eye single to the glory of God. We were privileged to receive words of comfort and love from our leaders. We are more resolved as a mission to be found always doing those things the Savior would be doing were He here with us (which He is). I was also personally privileged to spend some private moments with President Summerhays. What a wonderful man he is. We have such mutual love and respect for each other. He continually laments with me over losing my wonderful companion Hermana Dollahite in a couple of weeks. We are both so sad to be losing her, proud to know her, and excited for the next step of her life. He also confirmed what I already expected, that I will be in St. Pete for at least one more transfer.
   Thursday found us in the home of our investigators Maria and Jose (yes Mary and Joseph in English!). Maria was beyond ready for her baptism and actually passed her baptismal interview over a week before. However, Jose was still staunchly refusing to act on his faith (even though he had a testimony of everything we had taught him, quit drinking coffee the week before after drinking it habitually for over fifty years and had no problem answering the baptismal interview questions!). We had a very powerful lesson on faith and proper priesthood authority. Luckily Hermana Dollahite was there, because she did her really cool, “stare at you without blinking until everyone in the room feels uncomfortable and wants to climb under a rock somewhere just to get away from it” thing. Maria and I were both desperately trying NOT to make eye-contact with anyone, but eventually I got curious as to who was winning the showdown and made eye-contact with Jose. He told me, “She keeps looking at me with those eyes that really see.” I said in response, " Yes, I have been on the receiving end of those eyes before, and I know that whenever she does that I always feel the love God has for me, but also that maybe I should think if there is a way to follow Him more closely. It is a gift that she has, we each have gifts. It is a part of our sacred calling to do that, to invite others to do that." Jose sat there for about twenty seconds and said, “Voy.” (I go). It took us a couple of minutes to realize he had just agreed to be baptized, but how sweet the Spirit was that filled the room with his proclamation.



   We scheduled the baptism for after church and were really starting to panic when Sacrament was half-over and they still weren't there! Luckily they got there not long after with several family members and of course had to sit in three different places because we had...SIXTY PEOPLE IN SACRAMENT!!!!!!! A new record for the Largo Spanish Branch! I honestly don't know how we all squished into that little tiny room, but I'm pretty sure God's angels were working overtime trying to push the walls out a couple more inches! It was amazing.
   I had the idea to take a branch picture for the Christmas newsletter a couple of weeks ago, had it approved through President Lopez and all arranged to take on the stage after sacrament. Let me tell you it was a squeeze to get all sixty of us in that picture! I loved every second of it, despite my outward appearance of panic!



   Finally the time for the baptism came. How incredible it was to see Jose, Maria, and their son Jose Miguel all dressed in white ready to be baptized (and for Jose Miguel to perform them). The service was loud (because over thirty people stayed for the baptism) but no one cared. it was so incredible to see Jose Miguel (a recent convert of only about eight months) help each of his parents into the water and say those sacred baptismal words, and then shortly thereafter confirm them members of the Church with the gift of the Holy Ghost. it was one of the sweetest feelings I have had on my mission. I am so grateful that they were able to do that together and to take this step together. After all, during their 46-year marriage they have had plenty of practice making decisions together. I pray that I have even half the love and happiness they have for each-other, not to mention their complete trust in the Lord.
   We had a little food after the baptism, but quickly left to catch our ride down to Bonita Springs (about two and a half hours away) for the missionary musical devotional. Hermana Dollahite was in most of the small groups and did a beautiful job. The spirit was very powerful, and felt by all, not to mention there were very few dry eyes at the end. We got home at about 10:30 and fell more than got into bed.
   What a wonderful, incredible, amazing life I have. I know that a lot of that comes from being a missionary, but more than anything, it comes from living my life for someone else--My Savior. I invite each of you to look for opportunities in your life to do the Savior's work. You will feel a lightness and happiness come into your lives like nothing else. I wish each of you could have that for yourself. I hope each of you can feel the love I have for you. I want you to know that I love God and Our Savior. I am grateful for each and every day I have been given of them.
I Love you All,
Hermana Levanger

November 7, 2011

Hello Everyone!
   Wow! What an incredible week it has been! I have a really strong testimony of the blessings of the Gospel, the temple and the priesthood, but what I had before this week doesn't compare to what I feel now.
   We have seven more endowed members today than we did even three months ago. Isn't that amazing?! Four of our incredible members, three of which were basically inactive at the beginning of the year, went to the Orlando temple with just about every other endowed member of the branch, and received their endowment! How I wish I could have seen it! One of our most incredible and strongest members called us on the drive home and said that she (a return missionary) had never seen so many miracles in one day, and that it was something she would never in her whole life forget. What a blessing they will bring to our branch! What strength and fire and spirit I felt as they each bore their testimony yesterday in Sacrament meeting. I felt like the room was full of a bright light and a fiery presence. What an incredible wonderful blessing the temple is.
   Two of the men who received their endowments Saturday are married to women who received their endowments at the end of August, which means that in the next couple of weeks we will have two more families in our little branch that are sealed together for time and all eternity.
   One thing that broke my heart a little bit was Jose, Elizabeth's husband. Because Elizabeth was baptized in July, she will not be able to go to the temple until next July. However, Jose, having been a member since childhood but only recently re-activated, and a new Melchizedek priesthood holder, was ready. Our Branch president encouraged Jose to go and that they will be able to go together and be sealed when she can go as well. Jose took this advice, as was right (never put off making sacred covenants with God), and prepared himself to go to the temple. It was beautiful and he was so full of light when he came back, but as he bore his testimony he expressed how sad he was that he was there alone, without his wife and baby daughter or his parents and siblings (who have not lived the correct path). My heart hurt for him. I know how he feels. However, Elizabeth went with him. She waited outside with their daughter and vocally expressed her desire to go as soon as possible. I know they will go together and be sealed as an eternal family the second they can. I will be grateful for the rest of my life for the opportunity I had to know them. I pray that somehow I will be able to go to their sealing next year.
   Elizabeth also bore her testimony on Sunday, something we have been pleading for her to do since July! She always puts it off or says she doesn't want to. It was funny because as missionaries we always get excited for investigators to come to a fast and testimony meeting because the spirit is so strong. However, with Elizabeth, it was always the opposite. She was annoyed by the women who would get up there and cry, and couldn't understand what they could possibly be crying about. She also had a personal issue with people who just got up there and said, "I know the church is true, I know the Book of Mormon is the Word of God, etc..." She always said, HOW do they know? I want them to tell me something of substance not just short little statements that don't really tell you anything. How much she has changed! I couldn't help but shed a tear or two as she stood in front of everyone with tears coursing down her face to simply say, "I know this church is true. it is the only true church. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and it has changed my life." I was happy to see her sharing her spirit with her Branch family. A proud, and well-educated woman, I know she and her family will effect thousands of lives for the better. They have truly humbled themselves, come together, and put their Father in Heaven at the center of all they do. They are changed forever, and yet they are the same wonderful people I met on my third day in the field.
   As for other exciting news...the Branch has a second counselor! That's right, we have grown so much that not only are we moving into the chapel at the beginning of the year, but the Stake President called another counselor to help carry the load. What a great Sunday it was to have the Stake President in our Sacrament meeting (This is only the second time this year.), when several of the recently endowed members bore their testimony, we got a second counselor, and once again we were full to bursting with 56 people crammed into the little tiny relief society room! Not to mention the fact that people were literally elbowing their way to the stand to bear their testimony and we went over about fifteen minutes because President couldn't get up fast enough to cut them off!
I love you All,
Hermana Levanger