Week 75: Hello From London
June 14th 2021
Week 75
Hello from London England
Since I last wrote I have had two companions, Sister Milone from France, and now I have been transferred to a new area and my companion is Sister Rodriguez from Spain. I am back in Hyde Park and I love it. In the last few weeks we’ve been able to see many of the sights of London: the Natural History Museum, Piccadilly Square, Big Ben, China Town, and The London Eye. Although we enjoyed ourselves, the greatest highlight of the last little bit has been being able to street contact again!
As a mission, after being in lock down for 16 months, we can now contact people on the street. We call it “Hiya time” where we just say hello to people, we ask them questions about their day and hold our books of mormon. This disarms most Londoners because they don’t typically say hello to strangers.
One day we had prayed specifically to find one person who needed God that day. We had half an hour and as we made our way up to Hyde park we found a man named Marius. Not three minutes into our conversation he looked at my tag and said “I’ve been to Utah, I have seen the temple.” Turns out he’d met with missionaries before and decided the church wasn't for him. But recently, after losing his mother and father to the pandemic, he said he felt lost and knew that meeting us was a sign from God. We got his number and invited him to Stake Conference the next Sunday.
That morning I prayed that Marius would have a spiritual experience to know that God loved him, our prayers were answered! Marius came and the Stake President shared a story of a girl who had lost her parents at a young age. When she felt at her lowest she said a prayer to God. Within the hour there was a knock at her door, it was two missionaries who said four words that changed her life forever. “What do you need?” they said. Those four words taught her two things. First, that she was not abandoned. Second, God cared for her. Afterwards Marius came to us, looked me in the eyes and said “Sister Levie, you and Sister Milone were my missionaries who knocked on my door and answered my prayer that day you found me in the park. I had prayed for God to show me the way.” At that moment it felt like the three of us were the only people in the room as we testified that God loved him and that as he lived the truths of the gospel he would find the direction he had prayed for and so much more. This is only one of the MANY miracles we have seen as we have shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with people. I have been transferred so he is now meeting with the sisters in the White Chapel area. I will definitely stay in touch with Marius.
I’ve come to learn that hard is good. In the England London mission, when someone asks how long we have been out we say “We are in the middle of our mission.” Now that I am coming to the close of the “middle” of my mission, I am so grateful for the people that I have met, more than that I am grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I have learned so much about how deep and all encompassing his atonement is. When we have faith in Him all things are possible. Miracles happen, they are so real. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are guiding their church, I can’t deny it.
On a lighter note, last week we went to a member's home to do service, which I have only done one other time during my whole mission, her name is Sheila. We were speaking with her and my companion mentioned how awesome the temple is. Sheila stopped her and said “Oh, don’t say awesome, that's too American. It doesn’t do the Temple justice to use that word, say amazing or lovely.” We laughed and promised to you those words when referring to the temple.
I hope you all have a lovely week.
Much love,
Sister Levie
Sis. Levie, It is fun to follow your adventures and your personal growth. Dedicating oneself to service to God and your fellow man always makes us better. We look forward to seeing you when you return.
ReplyDeleteHi sister Levie! Met you in the train last night. Is there any way of getting in touch?
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