i stand all amazed

Hi hi hi loves! 

WOW.  Wow.  There is so little time and so many feelings in my heart and all I can really say is wow.  God lives, this is His very own church and my dears, He is so, so, so good.

A lot has happened since last week (almost accidentally hiked to Kyrgystan in the snow last Monday...got my eyebrows threaded (read: cried a bit and now have great eyebrows)...saw an amazing, amazing human being--who at one point couldn't bring herself to even think of Christ as the Savior--testify of Him and His perfect love with power and conviction at her own baptism into His church...came to Turkey and fell in love with Istanbul...so dang many things, people) but because of time I'll just tell you about this weekend.  On Saturday, after having the most humbling and wonderful and beautiful baptism for A, we got on a flight to Turkey.

In the Blue Mosque in Turkey! :)

Yesterday, we got to go to sacrament meeting in the church here in Istanbul and I was blown away.  We met some of the members before and heard their stories and felt their faith and their love and all throughout that time and sacrament meeting itself, I just knew that I was in the presence of spiritual giants that Heavenly Father Himself is so proud of and loves so much and it was so special.  They have made so many sacrifices but love so much and are so willing to do all they do because they KNOW this is God's.  From the branch president--who is a Turkish convert who served a mission and married an American and had a great job and life there but decided to sell everything he had and come back here without any jobs or any promises because he knows the church is true and because he knew the call to help establish God's work in this part of the world was far greater than any sacrifice he made--to the man living in the city closest to Syria who singlehandedly opened a branch and has had 10 baptisms in the last few months just from sharing this precious gift that has changed his life with those he loved to the Pakistani people that came to the French people behind me to the happy family in front of me to the littlest kid in that audience, these are just people of such great faith and such great hope and surety that they are following none else but the living God.  Wow.  We were all together for an address from E. Holland (it was like a fireside for this region of the world) and it was so good. He talked about how the lives of pioneers have never been easy and never will be but how the little things we do--no matter how little we feel like they are--are not insignificant.  And he talked about the brother of Jared and told us how the Lord does 99% of the work and often lets us do the last 1% on our own and lots of times, we feel super ill-equipped to do that because we already rely on the Lord so much for everything else we are doing.  but when we show our faith and give the Lord our rocks (in his words, "the most uncreative, unimaginative, bland answer anyone could have given.  ROCKS!!  The Lord gave him this incredible blueprint and figured out everything except for lighting and had done it all, and even in the midst of that the best the brother of Jared could come up with was stupid rocks.  But the Lord saw this and said there had never been such great faith shown before.") with love and faith and offer up all we have, even when it's little, He will do the rest.  He also talked about the responsibility we have as individuals and in our branch to help the church and its members be able to be recognized by the Savior as His when He comes again.  woooow.  that was really big for me.  that really is the goal, you know?

 the Kazakh missionaries on our Sunday morning walk with President down to the Bosphorus.

along the Bosphorus.  Istanbul is seriously GORGEOUS and I want to live there someday. 

Today we had a session with him and there were so so so many amazing things he taught us I don't even have words to share them all right now.  He told us to never get down on ourselves or the work and talked about the fact that this is pioneer work and said so many things I needed to hear and gave us so many beautiful compliments and instruction and promises and it was amazing.  But in the very end, hearing him talk about the things we need to do to keep our faith alive (deep waters. we have to swim in deep waters, and keep kicking and stroking even when we don't feel like it ourselves), hearing the testimonies of the wives that were there, hearing him testify purely and with power and authority that this IS the truth and it is God's, hearing him plead before the Lord for us and this area and the work and our families and our happiness and faith and success in a kneeling prayer at the end and finally singing one verse of "God be with you till we meet again" and reflecting on the power of the spirit we had felt throughout that whole morning and being sad that it was ending but knowing that we WILL once again meet in a very literal way at the feet of our Savior...it was one of the most sacred and beautiful and special days of my entire life.  i don't really have words to describe that realm of feeling.  But I know what I felt, I know what I know and I know that there is no path backward.  This church is true and it IS God's.  He lives!  He loves us with a perfect love.  He sees our struggles and our growth and our efforts and our struggles and He is with us and I know that as we learn to use prayer the way He intended us to and then work and love and repent and act, we will know that He is leading us and He will confirm our faith.  Joseph Smith was a prophet and God did appear to him.  Thomas S. Monson is the Lord's prophet today.  The Book of Mormon is the word of God, the gospel is a life of love and second chances and Christ, our Savior, lives.  What a MIRACLE!!  What a privilege.  Wow.

 part of the Aya Sophia!  It's a church that was built by Christians but taken over by Muslims and turned into a Mosque throughout history and now it's just a museum.  SUPER gorgeous there

I love you all with all my heart and pray for you often, and I know the Lord is aware of you.  Thank you for your love and your faith and for being mine.  I love you I love you I love you.  I hope you have the happiest week and feel the Lord's love for you personally because that is real.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love,

Sister Hansen