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
No comments:
Post a Comment