dearest family: miracles have not ceased. our lives our comprised of them! this week was SWELLLLL. truly. the sun was shining - the skies were blue - life is great.
monday - i think i already broke it down. we went to delft. we saw a lot of expensive blue dishes. also an old church. it was great.
tuesday - zr.hinchcliff was jarig! we had a great birthday celebration for her. i make pumpkin pancakes and speculaas syrup. we went to district meeting. we also wrote poems for everyone in the almere and amsterdam districts. golden. later - during our lunch hour we stopped into a small cheap shoe store because my shoes were full of holes. a lot of holes. just really falling apart. but i only had a few euros with me - i looked throught the store really quickly. nothing. THEN. i looked in a small corner, and hidden away was a pair of shoes. 10 euros. my size. EXACTLY the style i wanted. only pair. MIRACLE. golden. small but really to me it was huge because i really needed new shoes. awesome! later that evening we had dinner at the bishops house. we had a bbq on the roof! it was magical. i had the strange desire to sing "chim-chim-cheree" the entire evening.
wedesday - super wonderful lessons with madina! she is our investigator from somalia. she came here as a refugee. she has a small son of three years. they are adorable!!! we had a great lesson with her. she has such great faith. the sisters had only met her two weeks before transfers so her process has been short but she has changed so much! she has felt the love of God so strongly in her life. it is beautiful. i think of this quote frequently when teaching people. "for some, that miracle [the gospel] will mean a significant change of life and lifestyle, for others it will simply mean new purpose and understanding in lives taht are already rich with faith. but for all it will mean peace and joy and happiness beyond measure as the master touches hearts and souls with his love. " - m. russell ballard
i LOVE to see the change in peoples lives. riaz was baptized a few weeks ago but every week i see even more of a change and growth. they are so thirsty for truth and knowledge! its so beautiful.
thursday: was great. we had wonderful lessons. also, i LOVED personal study. so much to learn. i studied agency. i started the book of mormon again and i have really put a focus on keeping the commandments. it is said SO MANY TIMES in 1st nephi. all of the time. i have especially loved studying the difference between nephi and laman/lemuel. good gravy. fascinating. anyway - the biggest thing i noticed this time around is that laman and lemuel are such normal people. they were members of the church. they came to the promised land. that means - they had enough faith, even if it was borrowed faith...but enough to actually end up in the promised land. they didnt just end up there. its fascinating to me because you can see their pattern of negativity, laziness and disobedience. they had the same experiences that nephi went through. but nephi was obedient. he was positive. he trusted in the lord. he consistenly did what was write and built his OWN testimony. he was continually strengthened while his brothers were growing weaker and weaker in their faith until the point where they began to teach their children to hate - to fight - to not believe. their consistent disobedeience and the fact that they "knew not the dealings of the God who had created them" led to hundreds of years of war and bloodshed. i love this story because i have seen myself in both nephi and laman...but i know which one i would rather follow. i know that its the smallest things that make the difference. well. there is more to this i must study. that is all i will share for now because its becoming excessive! anwaysssss
friday - i found five euros on the ground. that was cool. in the middle of no where. we also had weekly planning. AND we raced our bikes through the rain in haarlem to make it to our appointment on time. classic. and the crowning moment of our day - madina had her baptisimal interview! it went so well! we were sooo thrilled. our only issue - madina lives an hour away on the bikes. its really complicated to get there with public transit. how would she get to her own baptism on time!?!? we called everyone. no one could give her a ride. so i thought...we should call mvr.Goudseblom. our investigator! she had already planned on not coming. but i knew she had a car...so i tried. i was praying so hard while the phone rang! turns out - she said YES! how sweeet! quite a miracle. not only would we have a ride - but she would also be coming to the service!
saturday - madina got BAPTIZEDDDDDD! what up! we were so very happy. what a miracle. she was so ready and she was so happy! it was such a beautiful day. i have attatched a photo. when she came out of the water she said "i'm new!!!! hello everybody!!!!" so cute. oh it was so lovely. her son was even well behaved. during the program and talks he walked around and offered everyone chips - even the man givng the talk. haha. i thought it was hilarious.
sunday: church was beautiful. madina was confirmed a member of the church! it was a beautiful blessing. so amazing! also - in gospel principles we talked about the atonement. it was so awesome to see madina and riaz being so involved and just soaking everything up. this is the best part of it all. seeing how they are growing and learning and loving the gospel on their own. i felt like a proud parent! also. sunday was...TRANSFER NIGHT. quite exciting. we had appointments all over the city. we were so busy we forgot to be worried! it was great. we had an awesome appointment with fabien about the plan of salvation. we realized that it was a little late...almost nine..so we had to go...and the members said..wow sorry its so late..its almost ten...and we said WHAT!?!?!? no way...not really?!? their clock was broken. we were late. on transfer night. ahhhh. so we booked it home. luckily we were close. i looked at the phone and we had three missed calls from president! luckily everything worked out and we found out the haps. zuster hinchcliff is going to ANTWERPEN!!!! crazy! i am so excited for her. i am staying here and zuster larsen is going to be my new companion! i am even more excited that i am staying! i love haarlem and wasnt ready to go yet! ANDDD even cooler - i TOTALLLY prayed to be companions with zuster larsen! since the day i met her i wished we could serve together! she is so sweet and awesome - i have so much to learn from her. totally stoked.
now. thank you for joining me for this edition of the haps.
until we meet again.
goodnight and goodluck.
also, i love you all so much!
- zuster katelyn marie stout
ps: during this crazy week i have truly missed you all. my heart actually aches for you all. but really i think its good to miss one's family so much. it makes me want to work even harder so that others feel this same love and joy. thank you for being such a family. i love you all and pray for you each individually everyday. and to my friends who are reading: i love and miss you too! thank you for your support and prayers. loves!
monday - i think i already broke it down. we went to delft. we saw a lot of expensive blue dishes. also an old church. it was great.
tuesday - zr.hinchcliff was jarig! we had a great birthday celebration for her. i make pumpkin pancakes and speculaas syrup. we went to district meeting. we also wrote poems for everyone in the almere and amsterdam districts. golden. later - during our lunch hour we stopped into a small cheap shoe store because my shoes were full of holes. a lot of holes. just really falling apart. but i only had a few euros with me - i looked throught the store really quickly. nothing. THEN. i looked in a small corner, and hidden away was a pair of shoes. 10 euros. my size. EXACTLY the style i wanted. only pair. MIRACLE. golden. small but really to me it was huge because i really needed new shoes. awesome! later that evening we had dinner at the bishops house. we had a bbq on the roof! it was magical. i had the strange desire to sing "chim-chim-cheree" the entire evening.
wedesday - super wonderful lessons with madina! she is our investigator from somalia. she came here as a refugee. she has a small son of three years. they are adorable!!! we had a great lesson with her. she has such great faith. the sisters had only met her two weeks before transfers so her process has been short but she has changed so much! she has felt the love of God so strongly in her life. it is beautiful. i think of this quote frequently when teaching people. "for some, that miracle [the gospel] will mean a significant change of life and lifestyle, for others it will simply mean new purpose and understanding in lives taht are already rich with faith. but for all it will mean peace and joy and happiness beyond measure as the master touches hearts and souls with his love. " - m. russell ballard
i LOVE to see the change in peoples lives. riaz was baptized a few weeks ago but every week i see even more of a change and growth. they are so thirsty for truth and knowledge! its so beautiful.
thursday: was great. we had wonderful lessons. also, i LOVED personal study. so much to learn. i studied agency. i started the book of mormon again and i have really put a focus on keeping the commandments. it is said SO MANY TIMES in 1st nephi. all of the time. i have especially loved studying the difference between nephi and laman/lemuel. good gravy. fascinating. anyway - the biggest thing i noticed this time around is that laman and lemuel are such normal people. they were members of the church. they came to the promised land. that means - they had enough faith, even if it was borrowed faith...but enough to actually end up in the promised land. they didnt just end up there. its fascinating to me because you can see their pattern of negativity, laziness and disobedience. they had the same experiences that nephi went through. but nephi was obedient. he was positive. he trusted in the lord. he consistenly did what was write and built his OWN testimony. he was continually strengthened while his brothers were growing weaker and weaker in their faith until the point where they began to teach their children to hate - to fight - to not believe. their consistent disobedeience and the fact that they "knew not the dealings of the God who had created them" led to hundreds of years of war and bloodshed. i love this story because i have seen myself in both nephi and laman...but i know which one i would rather follow. i know that its the smallest things that make the difference. well. there is more to this i must study. that is all i will share for now because its becoming excessive! anwaysssss
friday - i found five euros on the ground. that was cool. in the middle of no where. we also had weekly planning. AND we raced our bikes through the rain in haarlem to make it to our appointment on time. classic. and the crowning moment of our day - madina had her baptisimal interview! it went so well! we were sooo thrilled. our only issue - madina lives an hour away on the bikes. its really complicated to get there with public transit. how would she get to her own baptism on time!?!? we called everyone. no one could give her a ride. so i thought...we should call mvr.Goudseblom. our investigator! she had already planned on not coming. but i knew she had a car...so i tried. i was praying so hard while the phone rang! turns out - she said YES! how sweeet! quite a miracle. not only would we have a ride - but she would also be coming to the service!
saturday - madina got BAPTIZEDDDDDD! what up! we were so very happy. what a miracle. she was so ready and she was so happy! it was such a beautiful day. i have attatched a photo. when she came out of the water she said "i'm new!!!! hello everybody!!!!" so cute. oh it was so lovely. her son was even well behaved. during the program and talks he walked around and offered everyone chips - even the man givng the talk. haha. i thought it was hilarious.
sunday: church was beautiful. madina was confirmed a member of the church! it was a beautiful blessing. so amazing! also - in gospel principles we talked about the atonement. it was so awesome to see madina and riaz being so involved and just soaking everything up. this is the best part of it all. seeing how they are growing and learning and loving the gospel on their own. i felt like a proud parent! also. sunday was...TRANSFER NIGHT. quite exciting. we had appointments all over the city. we were so busy we forgot to be worried! it was great. we had an awesome appointment with fabien about the plan of salvation. we realized that it was a little late...almost nine..so we had to go...and the members said..wow sorry its so late..its almost ten...and we said WHAT!?!?!? no way...not really?!? their clock was broken. we were late. on transfer night. ahhhh. so we booked it home. luckily we were close. i looked at the phone and we had three missed calls from president! luckily everything worked out and we found out the haps. zuster hinchcliff is going to ANTWERPEN!!!! crazy! i am so excited for her. i am staying here and zuster larsen is going to be my new companion! i am even more excited that i am staying! i love haarlem and wasnt ready to go yet! ANDDD even cooler - i TOTALLLY prayed to be companions with zuster larsen! since the day i met her i wished we could serve together! she is so sweet and awesome - i have so much to learn from her. totally stoked.
now. thank you for joining me for this edition of the haps.
until we meet again.
goodnight and goodluck.
also, i love you all so much!
- zuster katelyn marie stout
ps: during this crazy week i have truly missed you all. my heart actually aches for you all. but really i think its good to miss one's family so much. it makes me want to work even harder so that others feel this same love and joy. thank you for being such a family. i love you all and pray for you each individually everyday. and to my friends who are reading: i love and miss you too! thank you for your support and prayers. loves!
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