baby during the first Gulf War, when Scud missiles hit the country and the Hansens were wearing gas masks that they still keep handy. "Every couple of years we have these flare-ups, but they're usually much shorter in duration," about two weeks, and then things settle down for a while, she said.

"It's something we always live with. Everyone here basically is in the army — if you're not, your neighbors or relatives are."

She said the latest hostilities were frightening because rockets were coming deeper into Israeli territory than they had before, but the attacks came as no surprise.

"For the past 18 months, Hezbollah has been trying to kidnap soldiers and civilians. In 2000 they actually did kidnap some and killed them. They kept the bodies for three years."

The small college where she teaches in the nearby town of Safat was hit hard with rocket fire, surprising many residents because a large percentage are Arabs, as are two-thirds of her students. In the classroom where she teaches English as a second language, a rocket went through the roof, down two floors and into the library in the basement, narrowly missing one of Hansen's friends who had stepped out a minute earlier.

Though Muslims, Christians and Jews all live in the area, she said most have felt the shelling was random, while some have tried to place blame. "In most places, everyone is just trying to understand the ferocity and viciousness of it all."

Even so, she said, she wouldn't change the decision she made years ago to stay in a place that will likely continue to be a hotbed of unrest. Faith and family are the bulwarks of her life, even though "it's not easy to be an active LDS member here. Most of us in our branch are living on very basic incomes," and church members have infrequent contact, meeting only every other week for church services.

Latter-day Saints are not free to speak of their faith publicly, she said, and she admits it is often lonely to keep much of what she feels inside.

Yet she has had many spiritual experiences she said are too personal to share, but "I live almost a stone's throw from the Sea of Galilee and the Mount of Beatitudes. Every day I pass that mount, and my home looks out over the sea.

"There's such a feeling — even in turbulent times — such a feeling of calm that it brings. I know there are places that are more spectacular in beauty, but there's something here that really grabs your heart.

"Jesus could have chosen anywhere in the world to live, but he chose here. If you stand still long enough, you can really feel almost this overwhelming sense for the importance of the things he did. It's hard to explain, but there's something goes into your heart and will get you through anything."

And what of the future?

"It's probably going to get rougher, but we'll survive."

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E-mail: carrie@desnews.com