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
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