greetings and salutations once again!

another week has passed and i have now been in this great land for three weeks. good times indeed. life is wonderful. there are so many great things in this world. so many wonderful people. i still feel like i am in a bit of whirlwind but it's getting there. we have some promising investigators that we've been meeting with. one that we taught last night, her name is meriella. she is the cousin of a family in our ward. the lessons are swell - she is very interested and as we taught her the plan of salvation last night, she seemed so happy. i asked her why this would be important to her and how she felt about it, and she really loved it. she had never thought of life having this great meaning and a plan. it was a great lesson because i thought a lot about how much of a GLORIOUS message it is that we are sharing and that i just need to be super happy about it all the time because its so fabulous. so, we meet a lot with members and share a little lesson, one topic that seems to come up a lot is how continuing with our prayer, scriptures and church attendance - the small things - can really affect our lives. i call it the trifecta of salvation. i notice how its so easy to fall into a pattern of habit, even if its a good thing - we start doing things out of habit instead of TRULYYYY being aware and involved and conscious of our thoughts and actions always. i don't want to fall into that pattern. i want to mix it up everyday. say something new. go a different way. because i don't know the best way to live my life yet, so i will keep trying to change it up. and it helps me become more cognisant of what goes on around me. back at the good old MTC, we would teach little lessons to members or returned missionaries in dutch, and i came up with this plan to teach the doctrine of Christ - where we all draw a picture of how we use this in our life. faith, repentance, baptism(sacrament), the holy ghost and enduring to the end. and i asked them to just draw whatever came to them, and we would do it as well. then we would go around the room explaining how we saw it. it was SO cool. everyone drew something totally different and unique but using the same doctrine. i loved it. it really makes one stop and think about how we apply the gospel everyday. so, we tried that with some members here during a lesson and at first it sounded a bit strange to them but they tried anyway and it really turned out well. so cool. good times had by all. well - sjonge jonge! let me just get down to the nitty gritty. i feel like a child. i have no idea what i am doing really. i am just going a long every day trying to figure it all out and do my best. trying to improve and become better and most of all, trying to not be AFRAID to talk to people. to realize that i have a beautiful message of happiness and i want them to hear it. but at the same time - realizing that as often as i am asking for help or miracles, i am receiving ten times that. every day. i see miracles EVERY SINGLE DAY. amazing. they may not be family feature film worthy - but they are miracles to me and i am so grateful. tylers swell idea of keeping a small journal of inspiring thoughts or cool happenings is a good idea. i shall start doing that. Heavenly Father is AMAZING but we have to open our eyes and open our mouths. HE will give us success. i have a favorite scripture that i keep in the back of my journal to read every so often..."now, when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the lord comforted us and said: go amongst thy brethren and bear with patience thine afflictions and i will give unto you success." - alma 26:27. CLASSSSSIC. absolutely. abbbsoooluteeelyyyyy. we just need to be WILLING and under the influence of the spirit! altijd! yes yes yes. that is my goal. its okay that sometimes we have no idea what is going on, we just keep going on! doing our best! that is what matters. that is how we make it happen.

okay - so, a bit of a funny story before i leave - yesterday during ZHV aka relief society - we were talking about children. and families. so NATURALLLLLYYYY they turn on saturdays warrior! hollllllller. so happy. oh man. i laughed. quietly inside. SATURDAYS WARRIOR. i wish they had a double caps lock! good gravy! it was so funny. and the best part was, she couldnt figure out how to fast forward this classic VHS so we ended up watching the entire opening sequence. oh wow. it was straight up hilarious. what are the odds? needless to say - it was the greatest sunday i have had here so far. good times ahead, im sure.

well - i must groove. LOVE YOU ALLLLL. thank you so much for your prayers and support. i am truly grateful.

loves - katelyn marie stout