wave of love

wave of love

noun

1. the overwhelming sensation one experiences on p-day reading emails from beloved family members and friends.

2. the random and rich joy the Lord grants people to feel from time to time, especially regarding people.

3. exactly how I feel right now toward all of you and toward my entire mission

IT IS SUCH A DANG GOOD LIFE MY LOVES!! Thanks for being such a happy happy part of it :) 

But really the Lord in His mercy just lets me feel that allll the time, and in the moments when I want to be like Laman and Lemuel and just complain and be faithless, He's so kind to me and gives me a little miracle or helps me feel the wonder of a little miracle He's already given and it just floors me that regardless of how good life is in any moment, it is always infinity times better when we invite the Lord to be a part of it.  Cool, eh?

There were about a BILLION little things this week that touched my heart and helped me grow and feel the Spirit and here are a few of them:

- on Tuesday afternoon Sister Slight and I contacted for four hours (warning: we did a looooot a lot a lot of contacting this week so just don't be alarmed or bored when you keep seeing that phrase) and it was a good block.  We met some really lovely people and some people who were really not interested and we learned some opening lines that work and some that don't work and it was a pretty standard happy-but-sometimes-hard-but-mostly-happy-i-get-to-learn-to-rely-on-the-Lord-and-believe-He-can-work-miracles-here-and-now-and-just-open-my-mouth-woohoo contacting block.  But THENNNN we walked past this really unpretentious woman waiting for the bus.  We said hello and she said hello and we just started talking to her.  It was very unspectacular and seemed to be another small talk convo, right?  She found out we were missionaries and told us she believes in God and already goes to her own church.  We were just talking and out of nowhere, I had the idea (from the spirit but also from Sister Slight who did this a few weeks ago when we were contacting and really inspired me) to ask her what her name is.  She said L and then I just looked her in the eye and said, "L, I know that God loves you and that He knows you and that He knows your situation."  And then this sweet woman just started bawling her eyes out.  She told us that her husband had died a few months ago and that even though she has children that she loves and is overcoming with, it's really, really hard for her.  We got to testify about the plan of salvation and her bus came before we got a chance to invite her to hear more.  But I was just so touched at that moment of vulnerability.  In a world where that doesn't happen very often, it was just so tender and sincere and it meant a lot that Heavenly Father let us be a witness of a tiny show of His great love.  He really does know His children and that was one of a million testaments of that this week.

- scripture study is ACTUALLY LIFE CHANGING and SO RELEVANT.  who knew?!  Last week with Elder Kacher we talked a lot about the scriptures and our responsibility to know them and how they change lives as missionaries.  I have enjoyed the scriptures a lot a lot on my mission, but this week in trying to study them on a different level I have found so many answers and cool insights!!  The Lord is pretty much a genius...who knew.  But for real, here are a few gems:

 - remember how Alma gave that killer sermon on faith in Alma 32?  

The people felt just as inspired as we all do but also felt that same "but uhh....how do I actually do this thing" feeling we sometimes feel.  But Alma gave an answer!  In the shape of four pieces of advice.  The first was prayer.  He talks in a lot of depth in Alma 33 and 34 about the role prayer should play in our life and how we should constantly be bettering our prayers and CONSTANTLY inviting the Lord in and counseling with Him.  Prayer is something I have come to learn a lot about on my mission and will be learning about for my whole life probably but I just love the fact that the Lord's given us a direct and personal link to Him--GOD--whenever we want it.  WHENEVER!!  In any situation or setting and for whatever need.  And He really answers!!  So pray always!  In all things and as often as you can.  The other advice Alma gives is to serve others, be grateful and acknowledge the sweet mercies of God in all things and give the Spirit room in your life.  If we do these things that are 100% possible and in our control, we ARE having faith and we will feel the Lord's influence more in our lives!  And man man man this is true. 

 - the time I read 1: Ne 13:23 

" 23 And he said: Behold it proceedeth out of the mouth of a Jew. And I, Nephi, beheld it; and he said unto me: The^abook that thou beholdest is a ^brecord of the ^cJews, which contains the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; and it also containeth many of the prophecies of the holy prophets; and it is a record like unto the engravings which are upon the ^dplates of brass, save there are not so many; nevertheless, they contain the covenants of the Lord, which he hath made unto the house of Israel; wherefore, they are of great worth unto the Gentiles."

and thought about how Nephi must have felt during this moment.  He didn't know from the very beginning that the book that would change the whole earth and help all God's people return again to know the Father that loves them so much was the same book he was writing day by day, but I wonder if he started to think about it as he saw this little bit.  I wonder if he realized that the messages he was writing were going to someday be accepted by the descendants of the brethren and people he loved and prayed and begged and toiled for.  I wonder if he got a little emotional realizing that the Lord in His mercy would someday help them accept these truths.  And then I got a little emotional realizing that the Lord is allowing us to do that today by helping people come unto Christ through the Book of Mormon.  He loves these people so much and numbers them and knows them perfectly and I just know He has such a great plan for these people here, even though so many people want us to think that it's impossible here.  How great the plan of our God!

- D&C 64:33...pretty much the motto.  Enough said :)

" 33 Wherefore, be not ^aweary in ^bwell-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of ^csmall things proceedeth that which is great."

- the time these two kids were wrestling in the snow and one of them was clearly stronger and Sister Slight and I were concerned and stopped walking to look back.  We were trying to decide if we should go and interfere when the kid who was getting beat up shouted to us, "мы играем" (we're playing)...hahahah KIDS ARE THE SAME IN EVERY COUNTRY.

okay okay i have to go but i just love you and this world and my heart is full of gratitude and love!!  how grateful i am for the Atonement that can change our natures and hearts as we let it in through little things that improve us and help others every every every day.  LOVE YOU MY DEARS.  thanks for all you do.  love and prayers always :)

love love love,

sister hansen

all hail the winter 2015-16 fall champion of astana

HELLO LOVED ONES!!

wowowowoow i am so happy and excited to write this email!!  HAPPY MONDAY!!  how are all of you?!  this morning i woke up with tears in my eyes because the longer i'm on my mission, the more i feel like 10:30-6:30 is secretly actually only 30 seconds long but during studies i just felt so much SUNSHINE in my soul and now i get to talk to you, people i really love!!  joy of the gospel, you know?!  and the joy of people.  and love.  and relationships.  so many dang blessings.  IT'S A GREAT WAVE.

This week we had zone conference with President and Sister Toronto and Elder and Sister Kacher from the area presidency/quorum of the 70 (which was cool bc he pretty much changed my life about a year ago when I was getting ready to leave the MTC and he told us this: "do not deny the Lord the opportunity to work miracles").  SO GOOD.  It alllll started with interviews with President on Thursday night.  Found out some pretty cool news...THERE ARE MORE SISTERS COMING TO KZ!!  Aaaaaand THERE ARE SISTERS GOING TO TURKEY!!  Brothers and sisters, that is truly a miracle.  We were talking about going home (which will happen in July...JULY.  SO DANG SOON.  WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT.) and life after and making decisions and it was happy.  Then we started talking about finishing strong and struggles with feelings of inadequacy and the entire feeling in the room changed.  President started telling me about his own experiences with that feeling and how there have been lots of times in his life when he felt sad--whether as a missionary or a person--because he felt like he was trying to do his best but that it wasn't enough.  He then told me about how at some unidentifiable point in his life, he just realized that the Savior, in His perfect grace, mercy and unbounded love, completed the Atonement for those feelings, too.  And he said he decided to let it in.  And he stopped caring about whether or not he was doing things perfectly and just continued to do his best and let the Savior do what He promised to do and heal him.  He talked about Eve and how she realized that we had to make mistakes if we ever wanted to grow and experience happiness and he said to let mistakes happen because that's how we grow and to just go forward doing my best and with the Atonement.  He said "Christianity is a positive experience"--and I loved that.  It just answered so many of the questions of my heart.  I wish I could just share the peace and the joy I felt.  The spirit was so strong and it was so enabling to realize that these mistakes that plague me so often can be what push me closer to the Lord instead of what keeps us distant--all because of the Atonement.  Reminds me of a quote from Elder Packer:

"I bear witness that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the living God. He stands at the head of the Church.Through His Atonement and the 

power of the priesthood, families which are begun in mortality can be together through the eternities. The Atonement, which can reclaim each one of us, bears no scars. That means that no matter what we have done or where we have been or how something happened, if we truly repent, He has promised that He would atone. And when He atoned, that settled that. There are so many of us who are thrashing around, as it were, with feelings of guilt, not knowing quite how to escape. You escape by accepting the Atonement of Christ, and all that was heartache can turn to beauty and love and eternity."

And that is TRUE!!  So good.  We also talked about how the gospel is all about relationships and sincerity and agreed to go on a double date someday in life.  Basically, he is the best and the gospel changes lives.  That's all.

The next day, we had a meeting with everyone and Elder Kacher.  

Elder Larry S. Kacher

A few big themes were faith, boldness and knowing the Lord through scripture study, and the Book of Mormon in particular.  So good!  E. K shared a story about his mission in Tahiti that I looooved (p.s. he was a convert who moved to Utah to ski when he was 17 and wrote an essay at BYU about why he would never join the church.  The gospel changes hearts you feel me).  Once, his president told him he had to go to these islands where there were a bunch of people and no missionaries and just testify.  The boat stopped at each island for like 30 minutes and he was told to get off and just testify to everyone with his whole soul.  The first time he did it, he gave kind of a weak effort and felt really awkward and said he got back on the boat feeling like a failure because he hadn't given his all to the Lord.  so every time he went back, he got better and better and bolder and bolder until he finally felt like he was giving the Lord everything he had to give.  He then said that the greatest joy and satisfaction of his mission wasn't the outward success or the baptisms but simply the feeling of really knowing he had given it all to the Lord.  And that's the DREAM.  I love that.  And I'm working on it.  And a tender truth of the gospel that never ceases to impress me is the fact that as we take whatever tiny steps we can manage to the Lord, He rushes in and multiplies all our efforts and blessings.  Too good.  It reminds me of this quote: 

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do, not that the nature of the thing has changed but that our power to do has increased.”

Mannnnn okay okay okay time is getting tight but basically, Elder Longin and I won the awards of "most falls" and were gifted ice grips (hahahahah SO DANG EMBARRASSING.  we finished at 13 and 10, respectively)

From Sis. Toronto (Mission President's wife: "These two are the winners of boot grips. Why?? They hold the record for the most falls this winter in Frozen Kazakhstan! We love these two wonderful young people!

President and Sister Toronto")

and I got your package and we contacted a lot and life is a GREAT WAVE.  I just love the gospel.  and being a missionary.  And all of you.  And the Lord.  And it is such a blessing to be here.  The church is true!!  God is good!  1 Thess 2:8 

" 8 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own ^asouls, because ye were dear unto us."

is the dream and I'm leaving my heart and my regrets in Kazakhstan.  And I just hope that each of you this week feel that same uplifting and healing power of the Atonement as we continue to seek to come unto Christ and be a little more.  His burden is easy and His yoke is light.  And you can do it now :) 

Sorry this is cheesy and long but i just love yous.  Have a happy week my dears!!  Love you and pray for you always always always.

Love,

Sister Hansen