dearest family: this is my last letter from amsterdam. from now on i will be writing to you from....

HAARLEM!!!!!!!!!!!

hoera! i am being transferred to the blessed city of haarlem. yes. the very classic dutch city that most of the best two years was filmed in. glory be! i will be serving with dear sister hinchcliff! she is only one transfer under me so i knew her in the MTC. we are going to have a wonderful time indeed. i am so excited for this change. i adore amsterdam and the people especially - but its time for a change! i need to mix it up. plus - i get to come back to a'dam every tuesday for district meeting - so its like i am not really gone at all. haha. oh wow. how exciting indeed. 

last monday we went to the glorious city that is, almere-buiten. it was quite literally a trip down memory lane. we met the elders to almere and they took us around the centrum, we had lunch and then we met margaret at the station! she drove us to our old neighborhood in the bloemenbuurt and i got to see our old house and tried to find the czech family - but they didnt live there...instead i talked to an old grumpy dutch man. oh well. i will try the whole neighborhood next time! it was so lovely to be back there. everything was so small and cramped - i remembered it to be large and spacious. then we went over to the decker's house and spent the afternoon reminiscing. i had a great time with jacqui and margaret. they are wonderful! (i've included a photo or two of this excursion)

so - the other big news for the week?....

JENNY IS BAPTIZEDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!

woo hoo! there was quite a bit of drama surrounding this event - but so is it when it comes to the work of the Lord. good old opposition. conveniently i found a great quote about this by joseph smith. 

"the nearer a man approaches the Lord, the greater the power of the adversary will be manifest to thwart the accomplishment of God's purposes." 

amen. i've seen it time and time again. alas, good will always win. and we had a great victory this weekend! the story surrounding it is a little bit involved and i dont have much time on here - but needless to say - Heavenly Father fixed everything and arranged it beautifully. the baptism went super well. jenny asked elder deleeuw to baptizer her. so cute. it was a LOVELY day! everyone that jenny loved and wanted there - were in attendance. the next day she was confirmed by elder maughn during sacrament meeting and now is officially a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. hallelujah!!!!!! she was so ready. while she was on vacation last week in england, she went to church and visited the temple!!! how amazing is she. i can't wait for you all to meet her! 

things are going well with Geert too! he has a baptismal date for the 21st of july and is doing SO well. he is a great man and is currently trying to quit smoking. he is great! i will miss him - but perhaps can come back for his baptism now that i will be so close. hallelujah! 

pedrita and edvin are coming along too - they love the book of mormon and they met a sister in our ward who used to be rastafarian so its great to have that connection and see her process. Heavenly Father is so good! i am in awe most days just watching how he arranges everything so well! oh its perfect! golden golden golden. 

well - this week we also had mission conference. well technically - zone conference...with all four zones. haha. it was AWESOME. so great to see all my old mtc crew. how fast time flies! it was a beautiful day - quite bitter sweet because the brubakers are going home and we are getting a new mission president. they will be so missed but i am also excited to meet the robinsons. hey. wait. that is a movie. anyway - that is also their name. what are the odds. anywayssssssss. 

LIFE IS WONDERFUL. Heavenly Father is so involved with our lives! if only we calmed down a little more often to see His work! oh its beautiful. i am getting a littttttle bit better at it! this week i finished the book of mormon for our mission challenge. oh it was golden. i love how it changes...well...i love how I change everytime i read it...and now i will start again! the thing i noticed the most was this phrase...."EXCEPT THEY SHALL REPENT" that was said so so so many times. Heavenly Father is CONSTANTLY reaching out and offering another chance! we can always change and become better. repentance is turning back to Christ...i am so grateful for the many chances i have been given. i love how merciful our Heavenly Father is. 

i love you all. thank you for everything. have a great day. a super great day. LOVESSSS. 

- zuster katelyn marie stout