HELLO MY DEARS!!
How are you today? Last night we had the first real real snow and Sister Waldie and I spent the first 10 minutes of this morning just looking out the window and appreciating it. And then when we went outside after studies I just felt SO DANG HAPPY. I've fought it for a long time but my name is Sister Hansen and I LOVE SNOW.
(Also, I kind of like some country music sometimes. I like having solo dance parties in the middle of the night when I'm not a missionary. Once I ate straight hot chocolate mix at 4am during a finals week in order to have the energy to stay awake. #confessiontrain) Really though, life is good and I am so dang happy to be where I am and to be doing what I'm doing, even when I'm surrounded by 11 year old gamer boys that are speaking in noob both in Russian AND English. Some things are stronger than barriers <3 but bad jokes aside, I'm happy and I really really hope all of yous are too. Also, SHOUTOUT TO TAYLOR HANSEN FOR GETTING THE BIG WHITE ENVELOPE
AND GOING TO ROME HOLLA HOLLA.
Hansen, Waldie and Johnson
This week was so good and so CRAZY. Seriously in the last 3 weeks we have eaten like 7 meals at home and there is SO MUCH TO DO. This week we met with A like 2834092349302 times and had some really wonderful lessons with her because she is officially GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!! It is a miracle!! She understands everything so well and has such strong faith and testimony and knows that Heavenly Father has been the one leading her this whole time and being a part of it has been so humbling and SO HAPPY. The worth of souls is so great! We were also really busy prepping for Halloween parties because the school for kids with disabilities where we volunteer asked us to help with (read: plan and execute) their Halloween party and the branch put the missionaries in charge of the Halloween party and that was ridiculous. But the parties were actually pretty good. Especially the one at the school! That made my day and probably week. Those kids are so sharp and funny and happy and just soo good and pure and wonderful. Really made me look forward to the Resurrection when their little bodies will be as strong as their brave little hearts. They are the CUTEST!! And have so much love and grit and inspire me to know the Savior so much better. Super grateful for that opportunity.
Yesterday we were at the church for like 10 hours teaching lessons after church and it was seriously a miracle to be a part of. People are waiting and ready for the gospel!! I am so convinced! And my favorite lesson (is this even allowed to say? Whoops...) was with this girl, N. She's 20 and so dang great. She's poised and funny and cool and kind and real and knows what she wants and I LOVE her and YOU HAVE TO HEAR HER STORY. hahahha prepare yourselves.
Once upon a time, this cool kid, S, was a member of our branch. He's 21 and just left a few weeks ago to serve a mission in Ukraine. What we didn't know is that he has a girlfriend that he's known for 4 years and has been seriously dating for the last 4 months, and what SHE didn't know is that he was a member of the church or a kid that believes in God at all. He never told her anything about that. They saw each other every day but on Sundays, he was always "at his uncle's" or "at work" or something. When the mission came up, he told her that his uncle had found this great but suuper strict university in Spain (editor's note: this is the MTC Russian speaking kids go to and they're only there for two weeks). There, they wouldn't be allowed to drink or smoke or fool around and would only be able to write once a week. He told her he'd be gone for two years and she was in shock but believed that it must be a good decision based on what he told her and she supported him. There was even a time when he was like "nope jk I can't do it I'm not going" and told her that, she encouraged him and said "listen, this will be good for you and I believe that. you should go" and was just SUCH A KILLER GIRLFRIEND. He left and wrote to her every Monday, but two weeks in told her he was moved to Ukraine and she started to think maybe it wasn't a school after all. The next week, he came clean. He said "hi, actually, I believe in God, am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and am here as a missionary for my church. And I love you and hope you still love me...and also if you have more questions, here's my mum's number" (editor's note: I DIED OF LAUGHTER HERE I MEAN REALLY). She had NEVER MET HIS MUM and she is kind of an intimidating woman, but being a believer (but not ever having associated with religion) herself, decided she would call her. O, S's mum, told her to meet her at a parking lot at 4pm next Saturday (which was last Saturday if that makes sense). N thought they would discuss it all but O just brought her to the RS activity where she introduced her to us and let us take over. We knew NONE OF THIS and didn't get to meet with her until yesterday, but she came to church both Sundays and to the Halloween party Saturday night and IS A MIRACLE. She is so so SO open and so sensitive to the Spirit and so aware that there is something more and that there's something different about what we believe and is just SO DANG COOL and we love her a lot. SO yeah. We started teaching her yesterday and, on the fly after Church, had an unplanned and super spiritual Restoration lesson in full. She's so open and ready and between her (the girlfriend of a longtime member) and A (the sister of a longtime member) I am convinced that everyone has at least one close person in their lives that is ready for the gospel and that would accept it if we shared it with them! And it really is the happiest and most complete and life-changing gift we could give ANYONE and that means we gotta follow that repetitious D&C promise and open our mouths!! Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by President Eyring:
"Again I have a caution and a promise. The caution is that sorrow will come from failure either to love or to bear witness. If we fail to feel and show honest concern for those we approach with the gospel, they will reasonably distrust our message. But if out of fear of rejection we fail to tell them what the gospel has meant in our lives and could mean in theirs, we will someday share their sorrow. Either in this life or in the life to come, they will know that we failed to share with them the priceless gift of the gospel. They will know that accepting the gospel was the only way for them to inherit eternal life. And they will know that we received the gospel with a promise that we would share it.
"I can make two promises to those who offer the gospel to others. The first is that even those who reject it will someday thank us. More than once I have asked missionaries to visit friends far from where I lived, learned that the missionaries had been rejected, and then received a letter from my friend with words like this: 'I was honored that would offer to me something that I knew meant so much to you.' If not in this life, such messages will be sent to us in the world to come when those we approached will know the truth and how much we cared for them. My second promise is that as you offer the gospel to others, it will go down more deeply into your own heart. It becomes the well of water springing up into eternal life for us as we offer it to others."
And my dear friends, I testify that this is TRUE! I know the Atonement is for ALL of us and that with faith in Christ and in the love and healing and mercy of His we've felt throughout our lives, He WILL help us share this perfect gift with these brothers and sisters of ours. And I challenge all of us--you and me--to do this better. Let's get to it, aye? :) WHAT A HAPPY WORK MY LOVES!!
pday excursions...
Okay, well, I should go, but just know that I love you with all my heart and pray for you always and am happy because I know Heavenly Father's got you 100% and that means no worries. He has your best interests in mind and loves you SO much. Even more than me and that's pretty substantial. :) Just keep praying and reading your scriptures and trying every day to be the person that helps someone else know Christ better (through example, little acts of spontaneous goodness, words, WHATEVER YOUR MEDIUM MAY BE YOU DO YOU) and you will feel this personal love yourselves! WHAT A GOOD LIFE IT IS :)
Allllll the love,
Sister Hansen
Happy Halloween! :) xoxo
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