Hi America hi hi hi hi hi.
Welllll loved ones, this was a BEAUTIFUL WEEK!! We worked really hard and contacted a lot and are just working and praying to find people to teach and to strengthen those that have already joined the church but maybe have forgotten why. AND IT WAS SO MARVELOUS. Here are some reasons why:
- A, the woman who originally thought we were a sect (just like a solid 60% of the population) and then felt the spirit and really wanted a Book of Mormon
- the time I got to go to Karaganda with the Morrisons!
the train to karaganda! (an electric one)
First of all...it was a crazy day. We woke up at 4:30 am to take Sister Slight to the airport and then after dropping her off, we had like 4 hours until our train left so we just sat in a diner and told life stories (read: I heard their life stories and they gave me life advice. The Morrisons are seriously the coolest and I hope to be like them when I grow up. The end.) while Sister Morrison ate a dry Kazakh pastry. And THEN we were on the train to get there, which was like 4 hours long. We were nearing the end when I started talking to the woman in the area of chairs next to us. She had talked pretty loudly throughout the trip and told probably 50 people on the phone that she was going to Karaganda, and she told me the same thing when I talked to her (also, so cool--she found out I was here as a missionary and was like "WHY DIDN'T YOU TALK TO ME SOONER" and had me write down our number and the address of the church heh heh)...so when she got off, we got off too. We walked through this peaceful little town to a bus stop and had Elder Morrison's phone out to try to figure out how to get to their house (oh p.s. we were in Karaganda because there is a member there! She got baptized in December in Canada and then moved back here and hasn't had contact with the church since. We weren't even sure she knew that the church is here. The Halifax Canada mission office contacted us because she still needed to sign her baptism record) when the woman from the bus saw me. I smiled and she was like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" and I was like "well helllooo, we're in Karaganda!" and was like "no, this isn't Karaganda. this is an obscure little village 1.5 hours away from Karaganda." hahahah WOW. So with the help of a super, super nice man, we rode a crazy bus for an hour that ended up taking us through obscurity almost exactly to her doorstep. Neato. Theeen, we rang her domaphone (the phone connected to her apartment)...and it made the noise it makes when that apartment doesn't exist. Out of nowhere, a little girl walked down the street and opened the door and let us in. We knocked on their door and her mom answered, and then A--the member--was like "how can I help you?" When we told her we were here from the church, I honestly thought she was going to start crying. She was so happy and excited and surprised that we were here and that we'd traveled all this way just to see her! They had just been about to leave but instead we all got lunch together and it was so neat. She has such a cool story and even though her mom is from a different faith, she is such a good woman and it was a good time. We got back to our train station and had a sleeping compartment this time.
the bed thing [sleeper car] on the train back home (a steam one)
We almost missed our train (for real...we were running down the track. hahaha) but we got on and then walked through 5 different cars (and saw people in various stages of...casualness. Sometimes you get stoked getting glimpses into people's lives and sometimes they make you want to gouge your own eyes out but that's okay too) and got to ours and it was a fun ride home. That night I got to sleep over at the Morrisons and we woke up at 4:30 the next morning to pick Sister Slight up! hahahah wahooooooo!
- K, the girl we contacted that was in shock that we have a living prophet. SO INTERESTING. She would hear something about what we believed and think for a second and then be like "nope, that's not possible"...but then she kept asking us questions and really listening to our responses. She is now researching the church and and we really felt the spirit testify through us. Miracles don't always look like miracles right away, but this one was so good.
- D&C 84:85 and the commitment to really live by this and believe in this promise.
"85 Neither take ye thought beforehand a what ye shall say; but b treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be c given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man."
This week we're felt a lot of urgency and desire for people's well-being and salvation and it was a blessing of seeking to open our mouths to everything, I think. And it's been SO NEAT to get to see people through the eyes of the Lord in some small way. He loves us so much. It's not something I can comprehend 100% but I feel it and am so so grateful for that.
- N--a 21 year old less active--QUIT HIS BARTENDING JOB. We met with him and we just had a super real talk with him and he told us why he's inactive. He was like "in the beginning, it was probably laziness...but then i just got used to it." and then we asked him how he feels about the church now (does he think it's true, etc etc) and he was quiet and then we were like, "just be honest" and he said "I was just trying to think of a reason why i stopped coming to church. I don't think my testimony is as strong now as it used to be, but I think the gospel would bless me more now than it did before." I wanted to cry. THE LORD IS WORKING CHANGES IN HIM. And he still didn't come to church yesterday but he did go with us to deliver a Book of Mormon to this woman and we just see how the Lord is leading His work here (in this instances and in a billion other instances this week) because He loves His children. Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah for Israel.
- Sister Hessenaur, a woman from South Africa, shared her conversion experience with us. She told us the thing that struck her the most about her missionaries was their patience with her and the Christlike qualities that they embodied. She wasn't immediately in love with our message and didn't move very quickly but she saw that they were good men and that they really exemplified Christlike love for her and her family. At the time, her husband was an alcoholic and the contrast really struck her. She just got very emotional and said, "you know, missionaries can really save lives." It was so tender and really taught me that who we are and how we treat them is just as important as what we say and share with them. Working on doing that better. This week we got challenged by the Torontos to read Jesus the Christ
and to really imagine Jesus Christ being on our right hand and on our left like it's promised in D&C 84:88
"88 And whoso a receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go b before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my c Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mined angels round about you, to bear you up."
and it has been SO special. There is a long way to go to be like Him but it is truly the most glorious journey. How I love our Savior. And infinitely more important, how He loves us all!
- lastly, two quotes that really struck me this week. The first is from Elder Bednar, and it's pretty bold so get ready:
"We properly pray for the safety and success of the full-time missionaries throughout the world. And a common element in many of our prayers is a request that the missionaries will be led to individuals and families who are prepared to receive the message of the Restoration. But ultimately it is my responsibility and your responsibility to find people for the missionaries to teach. Missionaries are full-time teachers; you and I are full-time finders. And you and I as lifelong missionaries should not be praying for the full-time missionaries to do our work!
If you and I would truly pray and ask in faith, as did Joseph Smith—if we would pray with the expectation to act and not just to express—then the work of proclaiming the gospel would move forward in a remarkable way."
Wow! Last week a friend of mine asked how I would have prepared better for the mission and I realized that the answer was just to have shared the gospel more. I challenge ALL of us to do that better and to love our brothers and sisters in every way--including finding ways to share with them the things that have changed and bless us and can heal and lift them, too.
"Each of us has more opportunities to do good and to be good than we ever use. These opportunities lie all around us. Whatever the size of our present circle of effective influence, if we were to improve our performance even a little bit, that circle would be enlarged. There are many individuals waiting to be touched and loved if we care enough to improve in our performance.
"We must remember that those mortals we meet in parking lots, offices, elevators, and elsewhere are that portion of mankind God has given us to love and to serve. It will do us little good to speak of the general brotherhood of mankind if we cannot regard those who are all around us as our brothers and sisters. If our sample of humanity seems unglamorous or so very small, we need to remember the parable Jesus gave us in which he reminded us that greatness is not always a matter of size or scale, but of the quality of one’s life. If we do well with our talents and with the opportunities around us, this will not go unnoticed by God. And to those who do well with the opportunities given them, even more will be given!"
So let's get to it :) I love you all heaps and heaps! The gospel is true and blesses lives and changes hearts and I am so grateful for the mercy and goodness and strength of our Heavenly Father. I hope you feel His love and strengthening hand throughout this week and time too, especially as Tay gets ready to go. I love you with all my heart and pray for you always. Happy happy happy Monday, dear ones.
All the love,
Sister Hansen
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