April 23, 2012

Hello Everyone!,    Another week in paradise (also known as the hottest and most humid place on Earth). It is a great place to be though, the Lord's vineyard. I have had a fairly interesting, and yet uneventful week. I'm sorry that I don't have much to report on this week, it will be hard for me to top last week. The ward down here is having a lot of families move out in the next couple of months so I figure I will probably be a professional packer by the end of my mission, not that I don't have heaps of experience with that already! It is sad to be losing so many people, especially strong families, but I know the Lord knows what he is doing.    I had another wonderful visit with Jose, Elizabeth, and Adreanna yesterday as they once again came to the choir production. As we had all already seen it we just went outside and talked for the whole thing. I probably should have stayed and watched it, but I really miss them, and I always feel like I am at home when I am around them. They are such an incredible family, they have come so far. They also told me that they are anxiously awaiting Elizabeth's endowments in August and hope to be sealed as an eternal family shortly thereafter. I am so happy for them. That is a complete 180 degrees difference from the people I met over a year ago.    The Summer rainstorms are beginning. I remember now why I wondered how people could live in Florida all year round. I think I am still wondering. The colors are beautiful though, I daily see flowers and bits of every color imaginable. It is such a beautiful place. However, I think I will probably be one of those people who admires Florida as a great place to visit when I am no longer a missionary!    Have a wonderful week my family and friends. Sorry no excitement or pictures today, I will try to do better next week. I love you all!    Hermana Levanger

April 16, 2012

Hello Everyone!    Wow...I honestly do NOT even know where to begin. I have had the most interesting and amazing week...and almost none of it has to do with missionary work in my area! First things first, last Thursday I had one of the most amazing experiences of my mission. So, background first. The mission is organizing a huge choir production that required three practices and three performances, all of which were over a hundred miles from where I serve. The first two practices I stayed in Fort Myers with two other sisters who were not singing and was able to continue the missionary work in their area. However, the transfer Gods came through and wiped out my untalented allies and I am now currently the ONLY sister missionary in the entire south half of the mission who is not in the choir. As there is no one for me to stay behind with, I now have to go to everything, including the practice in Sarasota last Thursday, the first performance yesterday, and the final two performances the next two Sundays. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty frustrated with the amount of time I had to lose doing missionary work in my area, especially since my area needs a lot of work.    Needless to say, I was not a happy camper this week with the prospect of losing two full days of missionary work. However, Tuesday I received a letter from my Dad that was extremely interesting. Inside the letter was a postcard that said "Suzanne (my Mom), I have recently completed a new work of family history on the Powers line, but I no longer have your e-mail address. If you could contact me I would be happy to e-mail it to you. Love Cousin Hollis." the note from my Dad said that he had seen from my previous letters that I am occasionally in Fort Myers and that my cousin actually lived in Fort Myers. He said that he had gotten the letter back in January and had meant to send it on to my Mom, but had never gotten around to it. He said that if I had the chance I should knock on their door and meet them. That was Tuesday, and I had a trip planned to Sarasota (Fort Myers is on the way) on Thursday, two days later. So, I called the other sisters and asked if we could go a half an hour early to try and find my long-lost cousin. They were of course excited at the prospect and were perfectly willing to join in on the fun. So away we went on Thursday morning with a mission. We arrived at the address at about 11:15 am (thanks to my trusty GPS) and I knocked on their door, trying desperately to battle down the butterflies that were flying around in my stomach. No one was home. There was a 'for sale' sign in the front. I was starting to think that I was too late, after all, he had sent the post card in January. However, being the good detective that I am I peeked through their window for indication of whether or not anyone lived there. I saw a paper sitting on the kitchen table and was able to make out the date, April 12th. It took me a good 15 seconds or so to realize that was the date that day (missionary life messes with your concept of time and dates a lot!). So I went back to the car where everyone was waiting and started to get into my backpack to leave them a note. Lucky for me, I was surrounded by great missionaries who immediately started praying that they would come back so I could meet them, when they said 'amen' a car pulled up behind us wondering why we were in their driveway. I ran up to the man driving and said, "Excuse me sir, but do you happen to know Hollis Powers?"  His response was amazing..."I'm Hollis Powers." I was so excited I launched into this explanation of who I was and how I had come there at this time and how excited I was to meet him and to hear about our family. I think he was mostly in shock and then really excited too. In the end I was able to get two big books of names, dates and places of the paternal line of my Mom's side of the family. It was amazing! I am so sorry that I did not get a picture with him, I was too excited and it didn't even cross my mind. However, I did gain a firm testimony of why I was there at that time and why the Lord had to work so hard to make sure I was the only sister missionary around that wasn't in the choir so He could get me in Fort Myers that day. Did I mention that my cousin Hollis is moving to Tallahassee in two weeks? Talk about timing. It was such an amazingly cool experience for me. I am so grateful for that moment I had.       The next story is from Saturday. So, as you all know, missionaries are NOT allowed to go to the beach. However, there are occasional exceptions, like baptisms and service projects. Lucky for me, this Saturday happened to be one such occasion as the Bahia ward joined in the "Keep Collier County Beaches Beautiful" beach clean-up project. So Saturday morning found me on the beach at 8:00 am for the greatest service project that has ever been thought of. The service project was scheduled from 8-11, most of the cleaners lasted only about an hour, but we were there the whole time...shocking I know! It was so much fun walking along the beach and feeling the breeze and talking with my friends. Elder Boud just got down here from St Pete, so we had a lot of fun talking about all of our favorite people from there and the crazy things that happened to us there. It was awesome. Also, we may or may not have picked up a few seashells along with all the trash, it was a good day.      The final story is from yesterday. We went to the English ward at 9am so that we could take the Sacrament (FYI: hymns sound weird in English, and there are way too many blond people there.) Then we started to drive up to Lakeland at about 12:30. We had to pick up several missionaries along the way, and so didn't arrive in Lakeland until about 4:30. It was a VERY long drive. Again, I have to say that my attitude was not what it should have been (I am none to happy about missing church three weeks in a row when I have so few left to begin with). Oh well. Again, God knows me, and He knows how to humble me with unexpected blessings when I think that nothing good can come from a situation. As I was killing time in the hall waiting for the program to start at 6:30 I was talking to a few of the other missionaries, when all of a sudden Jose, Elizabeth, and Adreanna come walking around the corner (my favorite family in the whole world). I was literally in the middle of a bite of apple when I threw it in a bag threw everything down and said, "That's my family!" I ran to Elizabeth and squeezed her for a good two minutes (I may also have cried a little as well.) Then about fifteen minutes later as I was trying to get us all to choose our seats I had another surprise, Lazaro walked in, my first convert. I have never been so happy to see the people I love in my whole life, I felt like I was allowed to spend the evening at home. I am so grateful for last night and the love that I felt.     To sum up this VERY long e-mail, I want to testify to each of you that the hand of the Lord is in the details of our lives. He knows our struggles and He knows what we need. So often He is just waiting to give us blessings and open the windows of Heaven upon us. I need to to remember to not only be more grateful for the blessings that I have, but also the struggles. I invite each of you to see the good in a situation that right now seems very difficult. Know that the Lord loves you and is aware of your situation. Know that I love you, and am praying for you. Thank you all for the love and support that I constantly receive from each of you. I love you all!    Hermana Levanger

April 9, 2012

Hello Everyone!
   The meals situation in Naples is not one of its positives. I have eaten with members only three times in the past six weeks and was very depressed at the prospect of Top Ramen or Mac and Cheese for Easter dinner. Luckily God heard the silent prayers my stomach was offering and President Thompson (counselor in the mission presidency) and his wife took pity on us. Yesterday I ate the most delicious AMERICAN Easter dinner I have had in years. (I know I sound pathetic right now, but you don't realize how much you miss real food until you get it again.) It was the most beautiful spread of ham, sweet potatoes, and rolls (funnily enough, my Dad and younger brother Erik had the EXACT same thing in Utah!). I ate at least five rolls and almost cried as I held the first buttered and jammed delicious morsel of heaven in my hands (Sister Thompson couldn't decide between laughing and taking a picture of me or crying because she felt so bad for me!). I had an amazing Easter. Sister Thompson even made us little Easter Baskets with our names on them...I felt like a queen!
   On the spiritual side of things...Easter truly was a beautiful day. The talks at church were excellent and we spent some really good time with some struggling members at the end of the day. We even came across a part member family that wasn't on the records and that we are going to begin teaching (my specialty!). Transfers were on Saturday and both my companion (Sister Furse) and I are staying here in Naples. I will almost certainly finish my mission here in Naples, which is a good thing since there is so much work to be done. The truly exciting news from transfers is that Elder Boud is coming down here from St. Pete! He is the most obedient and hardest working elder I have served around, and I am VERY excited to be serving with him again. Look out Naples, things are going to start moving.
   I hope you are taking the opportunity to enjoy God's creations as spring comes again. I am truly in a paradise and love seeing the hundreds of colors of green that are all around me. I have enjoyed the time I have spent in Naples so far, and look forward to at least six more great weeks. I know the Lord has many miracles planned for this area and am grateful to be a part of the work here. We have a lot of work to do, somehow we have to find a way to replace the eight strong families that are moving out of the ward in the next three months. I know we can do it, but we have an uphill battle ahead of us!
I love you all!,
   Hermana Levanger

April 2, 2012

Hello Everyone!
   What an amazing weekend! As a missionary, I am convinced that General Conference is the greatest thing ever! I watched every second of it (minus the priesthood session-trust me I tried to scheme my way into that one too!) and had a very spiritual experience this last weekend. I’ve spent the last two weeks talking about it to all of our investigators and promised them if they would watch conference with a list of questions they wanted answered they would hear the answers by the end. I then realized I had yet to put that faith into action myself. So, Friday evening I made a list. Some of my questions were obvious, to me anyway. They were things that have bothered me for months, if not years. Other questions surprised me, and honestly scared me. However, I can report that each and every question was answered, about half in the first session on Saturday. I LOVED conference. It was the first time on my mission I was able to watch it all in English. I felt the spirit so strongly as each person spoke, I'm converted!
   I hope each of you felt as uplifted and loved as a child of God as I did this Conference. I am so excited for the direction that we are all headed. I have never felt closer to each of you, despite the fact that I have never been gone for so long. I love you and I pray for each of you.
I love you All!
Hermana Levanger