December 27, 2011

Hello Everyone!,
    Sorry this e-mail is a day late. We found out yesterday morning that all of the libraries were closed because of the Christmas holiday (apparently they still wanted their day off because Christmas was on Sunday!) The story will be the same next week too, so don't look for an e-mail from me until Tuesday. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that they were able to spend as much time with family and friends as possible. I know that at this time of year we tend to take account of all the things we have and are grateful for. I have to report that I am the same. I have been given so many blessings in the year 2011 and can't wait to continue my service as a missionary for a good portion of 2012. I know it will be a wonderful year full of adventure. This week, in response to the first presidency article in the December Ensign, I made a list of the things I am thankful for. I was amazed at the blessings I could count, and all those I could still list if I had more room!
   As for this past week, I have to admit I never really felt like it was Christmas, although I was surrounded by Christmas things and had the opportunity to talk to some members of my family. I don't know, either I am too focused on the work, or Christmas just isn't Christmas without your family around you. I can't really decide which one it is for me. Who knows, maybe the lack of snow contributed! I'm grateful it was the way it was though. I have the tendency to put a lot of emotion into the holidays, and since it never really felt like Christmas, I wasn't really sad or homesick and it was nice to talk to my Mom and Dad. I even got to see them as we were allowed to use Skype this year.
   As a missionary, Christmas gifts are somewhat subdued. We really don't need things. I can happily report that the number one gift for a missionary is candy, and I have a big mountain of it sitting on our kitchen counter. I highly doubt I will be able to eat it all. I'm kind of hoping Hermana Duarte will just go nuts on it and take care of it for me!


I did receive one amazing gift I wanted to mention...my last Sunday service in the relief society room with the Largo Spanish Branch. We had 50 people at sacrament, which was amazing because I felt like at least half the branch was gone for the holidays. The service was loud. The children could NOT sit still. It was hot, even a little suffocating...I loved it! Truly the best Christmas present I could have received as I sat there and thought, “We are going to feel this exact same way in the chapel by the end of next year.”
   I am very excited for the prospects of the work here in this area. I can't wait to hear how it continues to grow and progress, even after I move to other areas and when I complete my service as a missionary. I know the Lord has accomplished a lot here the last few months, that miracles are still occurring each day, and I am so grateful to have been a part of it. I am excited for all of the possibilities of a New Year. I hope each of you had a wonderful holiday and that your New Year begins in all the ways you are hoping for.
I love you All,
   Hermana Levanger

December 19, 2011

Hello Everyone!
   What a great week we had! I could almost not believe how busy we were, and how we managed to somehow get everything done! Every single day was driving from appointment to appointment. We were privileged to go to the 'Night in Bethlehem' on both Friday and Sunday nights (at the request of the Mission Assistants). This is a presentation of the birth of the Savior the Tampa Stake puts on each year. I was able to feel the spirit strongly as I watched both members and non-members enter the chapel after experiencing a reenactment of the birth of our Savior. I don't think anyone went home and said they hadn't felt something. As most of my missionary work has been through members and family and friends, I haven’t had a lot of experience talking with people I didn’t already have a connection with. I soon found out we did indeed have a great connection already, the Savior. I also found incredible joy in being able to speak with those who were of the Hispanic population in particular. I felt such joy and gratitude in once again realizing just how lucky I am to work with such a humble and joyful people. I got the contact information for several families and hopefully the missionaries assigned to their areas will be able to see the light that I saw in them and help them to come to the Savior by becoming members of His church in the coming weeks and months.
   This week is going to be great; I am determined to make it so. I know I will be tempted to be sad at times, as this is the first Christmas I will spend away from friends and family. However, I am absolutely committed to making it the best Christmas ever. I know my attitude will affect the joy and experiences of those around me, and what reason do we have to not feel joy? I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have the privilege of being so for almost eight more months. I can't wait for each and every day I have here.
   Last Saturday was our Branch Christmas party and the estimated attendance was 100 PEOPLE!!!!! Can you believe that? We had to put up more tables and we ran out of food! It was so amazing to see nearly every single person we know and are working with in the same room at the same time. What an incredible blessing that was. Here I am with Santa and Hermana Duarte at the party.


   I have one story that really meant a lot to me this week. A few weeks ago a less-active member told me that she would be graduating from college on Saturday at one. I asked her if we could go, which surprised her, but she said of course we could. Earlier this week she gave me the address and a map to get there, but I could tell she wasn't really expecting us to come. Well, Saturday we showed up at the auditorium and saw that there were about 1,000 people graduating from this little college! After about an hour of sitting there listening to speeches that had nothing to do with missionary work, and hearing names of people who neither of us knew, I was starting to think I had made a mistake.
   I thought, "Oh no, this is a terrible use of missionary time, and I'm supposed to be setting an example for Hna Duarte and I can't even find Venus' name in the program!"
   Finally, as the last ten people stood up to make their way towards the front of the room to cross the stage and receive their diplomas, I saw Venus. She had a gigantic grin on her face and said, "Missionaries, hi!"
   I waved and said, "Yeah Venus way to go!" and she just grinned again. As she walked across the stage she was beaming. Later that night, at the Christmas party, she came a few minutes late and literally ran into my arms and gave me one of the biggest hugs I have ever received! She said, "I am so happy you came to my graduation, thank you so much."
   It was than that I looked behind her and saw her two daughters, her two sisters, her step-sister, and her step-mother as well as...her HUSBAND!!! In all the time I have served here I have never seen her husband inside a church building. It was truly a miracle. So I again have firmly in place a testimony of the many ways that missionary work can be done!
   I have had so many tender mercies this week. Thank you all for your prayers of support and love. I know that there were a lot of you praying extra hard for me this past week. Thank you. I am praying for each of you too, and I am so grateful to have you in my life. Thank you for all you are to me. Merry Christmas.
I love you All,
Hermana Levanger

December 12, 2011

Hello Everyone!,
   What a week. I am trying to adjust to all the changes and to my new responsibilities. My new companion is Hermana Duarte. Hna Duarte is from Salina, Utah and just got to the mission field from the MTC. She is excited to be a missionary and brings a lot of really good energy with her. That’s good because we have so much to do. We have an extra hour of studies each day (a training hour), and that has proved difficult for me to get used to. I'm sure I will end up learning more from it than she will!



   We had a Relief Society enrichment activity this week that was really fun. We decorated little glass bowls for the holiday season. Mine looks like an ornament, and I have to say that I am quite proud of how it turned out!



   We also have our Branch Christmas party this Saturday night, so there should be some fun stories from that. Church was of course great, 56 people as a few were traveling. It was kind of insanely busy trying to talk to everyone, introduce Hna Duarte to everyone, and also set up appointments in times that we don't have available. I had a little bit of a melt-down with the schedule (It is literally so packed that we just can't see everyone this week.), but I have now made my peace with it and will be happy seeing all the people that we CAN see.
   I am so grateful to be a missionary. I miss family and friends a lot right now, especially with the holiday season upon us. However, I know that if I were anywhere else I would wish that I were here. I'm so glad to be here with my Largo Branch family and to be able to share with everyone just how loved they are by their Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ. I'm praying for each of you, and truly appreciate each of the prayers you offer for me. I'm so grateful for your love and support.
I love you all,
Hermana Levanger

December 5, 2011

Hello Everyone!
   I write this with mixed emotions today. Of course you all know by now that Hermana Dollahite is heading home on Wednesday morning after an incredible mission of dedicated service. I feel peace when I think of her future and know that the Lord always has great blessings awaiting his faithful missionaries when they return home, especially those missionaries who have served the way she has, with her whole heart. This picture shows us with those we've taught together and who have been baptized.


   While I will miss her greatly, I am also very excited for the next great adventure in my missionary service! My mission president called me first thing in the morning on Saturday to tell me that the Lord has called me to be a trainer. I'm very excited for the opportunity and the responsibility. I know that whoever she is, she will be exactly who the area needs, not to mention me. It is also exciting, because she is only the second new sister in our mission since me (the other was right after me) so it will be really nice to have that fresh enthusiasm and excitement in the Spanish sisters faction of the mission again! (I feel kind of spoiled to get to work with her!).
   This last week has been amazing. We have seen many miracles and we worked harder than ever. We have a lot of momentum going into this next transfer and I am excited to get my hands dirty (in a good way!). Church yesterday was really depressing, I'm not going to lie. I kind of felt like I was at Hermana Dollahite's funeral all day, which I guess it kind of was! Oh well, it was nice to hear how loved and appreciated we are, not to mention plenty of tears.
   Two incredible miracles happened yesterday. First, the husband of a less-active came to church with his son. This is a man who has staunchly refused any offers of the gospel and invitations to church, who has never set foot in one of our buildings, and who truly had no desire to hear anything we had to say. Yesterday he not only came, but he came in spite of the fact that his wife had to work and he stayed all three hours! He still has a very long road ahead of him, but it would be such an incredible joy to see him baptize his son when he turns eight in a little over a year...I'm counting on it.
   The second miracle was truly a tender mercy from the Lord for me, a symbol of truly how full-circle I have come. The first lesson I ever taught (attended?) in the field as a missionary was a convert who is wonderful, has a very sweet spirit, but also has some learning disabilities. She struggles to read, and can't write. In addition, she is morbidly shy and it is very difficult for her to stand in front of people. I remember in that very first lesson I had the impression to challenge her to bear her testimony in the next fast Sunday we had. She said no. We have continued to invite her to bear her testimony every month since, as well as the weeks between, but always it was no. This month when we asked her, again she said no, but she agreed to pray for the confidence to do it. As she was praying I received the distinct impression that she would be able to do it if she wrote her testimony down in advance and read it. We had been working with her on saying prayers for the classes, reading scriptures and passages aloud in class, and she was now quite comfortable doing all that.
   At first when I presented the idea after she closed her prayer, she said she couldn't because she didn't know how to write. I asked her if she would think about what she wanted to say, and that we could come back the next day and Hermana Dollahite would write it down for her if she told it to us. When we went back she was ready to go, and seemed almost relieved to finally be able to share her testimony with someone, even if it was just the two of us in her little kitchen. She kept the paper we wrote for her and practiced it each day before Sunday.
   Yesterday she would have been the first to the stand if someone hadn't beaten her there (We still have people fighting for the time on testimony Sunday!), so instead she was second. I wish I could describe the feeling of joy that came over me as she read her testimony. All of my fears and sadness about losing Hermana Dollahite and the feelings of inadequacy to be training were swept away, and I remembered what pure joy there is in missionary work! I looked around the room and saw many branch members, President Lopez, Hermana Jensen, and many others simply beaming with pride that Virginia was up there on her own sharing her testimony. It was such a sweet moment for me, seeing how far she and I have come since that first lesson we shared together.
   While I do feel like I am losing a part of my family with Hermana Dollahite's departure, I know that my Largo Branch family is still here, and I need them just as much as they need me. I am so grateful that I will be able to stay here for at least 12 more weeks. (The training program is a minimum of 2 transfers.) I also bore my testimony yesterday, and as I looked at our packed little room (61 again) and saw all those incredible people looking at me with such love, I truly had manifested to me that this is where I am meant to be, and that the Lord really does have His hand in the details of our lives.
   I testify to each of you that The Savior lives, that He gave His life for us, and that He wants nothing more than for us to turn to Him for comfort and peace. I challenge each of you to give your heart to the Savior this Christmas season. You will receive more than you can ever imagine, more than you can ever hope to give.
   I love you all!,
Hermana Levanger