dearest family: this week has been a riot. an absolute riot.

 

firstly, riaz is totally baptizedddddd! i am so proud of him! he totally quit smoking and cleaned up his life. he is now fully a member of the church! he is so funny. we tried to arrange his white clothes for the baptism but he said he didnt need any - because he had his own. he was baptized in white jeans and a white dress shirt. haha. it was great! so funny. when he came out of the water he said "i want to stay in here!" and then "this is just the beginning." oh it was a lovely baptism. and quite a miracle! about 10 minutes before it was supposed to start...there werent a lot of people there...and we went into another room with the bishop and riaz and the missionaries to quickly go over the program and when we came back out there were so many people! ward members and investigators - oh it was so great! so many people were there to support him. and...his ENTIRE family came! his dad is muslim and his mom is catholic but they still came to support him. they were so proud. even his sisters came too. it was so beautiful. i was so proud.

 

oh yeah - happy independence day errrybody! we totally celebrated it here in haarlem...dont worry. zr.hinchcliff and i made a super american breakfast, we sang the national anthem, said the pledge of allegience and even had blt's and rootbeer for lunch. so american! it was so funny. and the best part of that day...we got special permission from our mission president to go to the TEMPLE with our ward!!!!!!!!! it was so cooooool! as missionaries we usually only get to go twice a year...so this was such a blessing. it was amazing. it was great. i love going to the temple and having everything be in dutch. its quite a great experience for me.

 

also: we went to the corrie ten boom huis again. this time we took the tour in dutch. it was better! the tour guide this time was so so sweet. and very spiritual. we had a wonderful experience. before we left i asked her if we could say a prayer with her - and she offered it. it was one of the most amazing prayers ever. i was so touched. how cool. we will be going again! i can't get enough!

 

on thursday we biked to halfweg. its a small town half way to amsterdam. it was beautiful. and before we did that...we had a great zone conference with our new mission president and his wife! it was wonderful! they are really lovely people. i am so excited to work with them!

 

on friday after corrie ten boom we were biking to an appointment and a bike cut in front of me too quickly and i almost crashed and fell into the road - but somehow i kept my balance (angels) and didnt crash into the busy street! i have a huge bruise on my calf but that is must better than the alternative! i am so blessed!

 

we are teaching the most amazing somalian woman named medina. she came to the baptism of riaz and loved it. she will be getting baptized in a few weeks! :) the ward has totally embraced her. they help her with her son and give her rides to church every sunday. its amazing. i am so grateful for that! i want to be one of those members when i return.

 

one night - zuster hinchcliff and i were doing 2-2-5 on a street (when someone isnt home we knock the doors two on each side and five across the street) and the last door - there was an older man who didnt want anything to do with us...but before he closed the door, zr hinchcliff says "i must say, you have beautiful legs! "he smiled and said thank you then blew her a kiss. hahaha. it was so funny. i loved it.

 

on sunday i got a surprise visit from pim and carlo! it was AWESOME! oh it was the coolest thing.

 

BLASTTTTT. my time is up. i dont know how that happened!??!?!?!

 

i must quickly say. i love you all. the biggest thing i learned this week is that we CAN change our nature. we can become better. miracles never cease. and the Lord loves each of us. absoluut! :)

 

lovessssssss!  tot volgende week! liefs.

 

- zuster katelyn marie stout