helllllo my dear loved ones!!

helllllo my dear loved ones!! 

today is a really beautiful day here in kz and is SUCH A GREAT DAY TO BE A MISSIONARY.  And a member of the church.  And also alive.  And basically, there is sunshine in my soul today and SO DANG MUCH LOVE IN MY HEART.  I hope it's like that for all of you, too :) 

This week was a week of miracles and lessons about the Atonement of Jesus Christ!  On Monday night, we taught A the last half of the gospel of Jesus Christ and invited her to be baptized next week and she said YES!  She was smiling SO BIG and there was so much love in that room as she told us about her own journey with Heavenly Father to come to that conclusion answer.  She told us about how even after she'd agreed to meet with us, she'd loved to fight and was sure that Jesus wasn't the Christ and that even after the first time she'd felt the spirit with us, she was sure that she would never get baptized but that after her own prayers and strugglings in the spirit and reading the Book of Mormon and seeking to have her own relationship with God and to recognize His voice in her life, she herself had come to the conclusion that very morning that she wanted to be baptized.  And she basically just testified for 10 minutes about Jesus Christ as her Savior and about how God has led her to where she is and OUR HEARTS WERE SO FULL.  We just smiled and cried and really felt just a glimpse of the joy they talk about in D&C 18:10-17. 

"10 Remember the ^aworth of ^bsouls is great in the sight of God;

 11 For, behold, the Lord your ^aRedeemer suffered ^bdeathin the flesh; wherefore he ^csuffered the ^dpain of all men, that all men might repent and ^ecome unto him.

 12 And he hath ^arisen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of ^brepentance.

 13 And how great is his ^ajoy in the ^bsoul that ^crepenteth!

 14 Wherefore, you are called to ^acry repentance unto this people.

 15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one ^asoul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

 16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the ^akingdom of my Father, how great will be your ^bjoy if you should bring many ^csouls unto me!

 17 Behold, you have my gospel before you, and my rock, and my ^asalvation."

His love is so real and so all emcompassing and for EVERYONE!!  And THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

(also that night we ended up having to go back to the church at 10:15pm because there was convincing evidence that a crazy person might have tried to sneak in there and live there and we had to go check so we did that thing like real policemen with flashlights and the proper "scoping the room out thing" and everything...also sister johnson had a pull-up bar as a weapon and we had brother dan skinner with us so no worries everything was great it's a casual thing) (but no one was there so fear not) (shoutout to dads for being the bravest humans and to moms for bravely letting them go examine scary things) (for real)

Besides that this week was really busy and we got a lot done and even got to do some early morning contacting and had some great meetings (like with Y, the Bishkek woman and with Babuska G who is ACTUALLY the cutest and bore such strong testimony and has SO much love and faith even though she's blind and confined to her bedroom and has all these problems.  always learn a lot about the Savior from being with her.  also, we totes took some photos and she blew you some kisses so just know that in Almaty, Kazakhstan there's a grandma that already loves you a lot okay and with M and THERE IS JUST SO MUCH GOOD IN THE WORLD) and some awkward meetings and saw the first snowfall (and then shed tears because SNOW IS THE WORST) 

boo...

and saw some miracles and such.  the norm.  but I really loved what happened yesterday!  Sundays have really become such a special day for me, especially as a missionary, because even though we do pretty much the same thing we do every other day of the week, we have the opportunity to enjoy the blessings of church!  We get to take the sacrament and have a really personal, reverent moment to remember the Savior and just have a little chat with Heavenly Father, and then we get to interact with and uplift and feel uplifted by the rest of the people who are also just doing their best on their path back to Heavenly Father.  I feel like I always get a lot of epiphanies on Sundays and just feel so much love.  Listening to our discussion in Relief Society, a lot of things came together and made sense for me.  Doubt and faith, as President Monson just reiterated, can't coexist.  And duh, that's true.  But I realized how often I doubt myself or the fact that I have anything to say or my ability to express it and realized that I can't believe that the Lord will do His work through us and that this is the most important work I'll ever do and at the same time be filled with doubts, even if they're just about myself.  D&C 6:36, ya feel?  

"36 ^aLook unto me in every ^bthought; ^cdoubt not, fear not."

That made me really happy.  Then 1 Cor 2:1-5 just made my burdens feel lighter 

" 1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the^atestimony of God.

 2 For I determined not to know any thing among you,^asave Jesus Christ, and him ^bcrucified.

3 And I was with you in ^aweakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.

 4 And my ^aspeech and my preaching was not with^benticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the ^cSpirit and of ^dpower:

 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the ^apower of God."

because if I can testify of Christ with all my heart, that really is enough.  The Lord is what will make up the difference.  And then this morning I reread Elder Martino's talk from this recent conference

(plus the priesthood one about faith being a choice.  MONEY) 

and realized that 

THERE IS NEVER ENOUGH TIME TO GET TO WHAT ACTUALLY MATTERS.  But basically, if we will just trust the Lord enough to make His will our will, no matter how big or out of our power it may seem, and work with all our hearts to make His purposes happen, all works out.  I know that!  And I know it's only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  He is our Savior and our biggest fan and greatest ally, and I know He knows all of us perfectly and loves us with an individual love.  If we will but remember that and strengthen our faith and act to do what He wants us to, we will find safety and peace.  

Primary kids have it right, yo.  Love you all with all the love in the world and pray for you always.  have a happy week my dears!!

love love love,

s. hansy