"ах, мормоны ищут блины" (ah, Mormons seek pancakes)

[Note from Sis. Hansen's mum: I'm just prefacing her email with a part of her correspondence with me. I thought it would be appropriate to put this here. -lh  "also, sorry for being so bad about emailing today (and every day, but especially today).  i'm trying to figure out how to write to president and what to say in the big email and i don't know how to do it because my heart is all jsiroaj rioajsrklasemrlkawrjkalerjawlk4jwlkwlka right now.  i thought i would be stoked to go back to almaty and to train in my "homeland", and i am, but my heart is breaking leaving these people and knowing their faith and just a tiny bit of how hard it is for them and knowing that they need Him just as much as I do  aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh mum.  jaklsj aklsrjlksarjaklrjlksrjsarlkasrej.]

(one of the rules in kz is that we aren't allowed to talk about religion right off the bat and we aren't supposed to just approach people to try to talk to them about God...so we end up asking looots of questions about where to find things when we talk to people on the street in order to get them to stop and talk to us.  the title is one of the reactions we got from a lady who reallllly wanted to help us find blini 

Blini - Russian crepes 

(Photo source: http://tarasmulticulturaltable.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/blini-1-of-3.jpg)

and found out we were mormons in the meantime. priceless.)

hellllo loved ones.

astana, kazakhstan is zion.  i just hope you all know that.

M felt the spirit this week.  we were at sister stice's house and listening to stories about their trip to taraz when sister stice invited us to share a spiritual thought.  we hadn't planned anything but we had talked a bit about what we would share with M if the chance came up and decided to talk about President Uchtdorf's most recent conference address.  

background: M NEVER talks about God herself and sometimes makes us think that talking about religion in general is suuper uncomfortable for her, and even though she's a member we sometimes think that maybe she doesn't consider herself a member anymore.  but she has a soul of GOLD, and this week we got a text from her that said "do you really believe that God loves everyone?  or is that just something you've been taught since childhood?" we were shocked.  but as we really prayed and discussed the reasons why we know that and how that truth became part of our souls, we really felt the spirit and gave her an answer.  she never replied.  but on friday, while we were at the stices, we explained the story of dresden [during the war, and today].  

(Photos courtesy broadcast.lds.org)

and then we just got to share a simple story about when we felt like that city and that the healing we have felt in how the Lord has so lovingly and carefully put us back together.  we cried a little bit.  and she did too.  and we know that the Lord gave us the testimony she needed to hear.  He loves her and loves all of us and it never ceases to amaze me the lengths He will go to to orchestrate a moment that will touch the heart of just ONE of His children.

Sis. Hansen and her friend (cropped out for privacy reasons), Astana, KZ

N came to church yesterday for the first time in almost a year.  he translated my talk and even though before i'd been nervous to give it, i have never smiled so big walking up to the podium before.  testifying about the power of Jesus Christ to heal our hearts and that in His eyes, it's never too late for any of us--that there's no such thing as a hopeless cause--i was just so grateful for the chance to share that part of my heart with N.  even if no one else listened, i know he did and i pray with my whole heart that he felt it and knew it was true for himself.

sister z--a mongolian sister that is just a rock and speaks not super proper russian and that i think people tend to take for granted sometimes--told us yesterday that sometimes she thinks about leaving the church and going back where it's easier.  it is so hard to do what she does.  beyond the regular struggles of a branch and missionary work, the church is facing some potential legal problems here and she is worried that if things DO escalate, they will arrest her because she's the one that signs all the documents.  she basically has the branch on her shoulders, spiritually and in a logical sense.  and usually she bears it all with laughter and with such childlike patience, but yesterday she told us that sometimes it's just so hard.  we were just bawling listening to this Christlike woman--who always puts 5000 tenge (5000 Kazakhstani Tenge equals
14.9134 US Dollar) into the missionary fund each month because she's sad that her home (which is outside of the city and doesn't even have running water) is too far away and in too poor of a condition to have missionaries over for dinner--talk about how she believes it all and loves the temple and knows it's true but sometimes feels like it's too much and that her strength isn't enough.  getting to testify about the strength of the Savior to pick us up and carry us and testifying that THAT is what we should rely on because it will ALWAYS be enough, even when our strength truly isn't...it just was so special.

the turkey elders are life-changing, and even though they are 4 time zones away and we see each other really rarely, there are few people in the world that i admire as much as them and that i seek to emulate as much as them.

also, jeremiah 16:14-16.  

"14 ¶Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

 15 But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.

 16 ¶Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks."

yes.  from the beginning this scripture has just been the realest.  too good. 

serving with sister slight has been heavenly.  

Sis. Slight and Sis. Hansen at a bus stop, Astana, KZ

i mean that in every sense you could imagine.  we have sought every day to be more than just girls doing a good thing in a foreign country and to give up our hearts and souls and weaknesses and fears and favorite sins and inadequacies and doubts to serve the Lord, to serve the Savior and to serve Heavenly Father's precious children.  i wish i could tell you how much i admire her or all the reasons why, but the joy and the sorrow we have felt together has been felt by people like alma and amulek, like lehi and moroni, like ammon and aaron.  and even though our contributions have been imperfect, the divinity we have felt while doing it is undeniable and i could not be more grateful.  the Lord has been with us every step of the way.  He really, really, really loves us.  He loves them.  He loves you.  and i'm trying to love Him with my whole heart, too.

"my brothers and my brethren, behold i say unto you, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from the land into the land of astana that God would have granted unto us such great blessings? ... behold, i say unto you, i cannot say the smallest part which i feel."

life is heavy and God is good.

love you all with my whole heart.  pray for you always and hope that you feel His hand and love in every moment this week.  as we draw near to Him, He draws near to us and that i know.  

with all the love in the world.

sister hansen