dear ones:

goede morgen! this has been a swell week. just as insane as normal - and even more lovely. let's get started with some basic hilarity that i have encountered thus far on my mission:

i am frugal - i try my best to save money where possible. so, when it comes to buying products like shampoo and body wash, shaving cream blah blah...i will not spend copious amounts of money. just won't do it. so, i always go for the cheapest (meaning generic!) option. after a while, i started to realize that they all kind of smelled like mens fragrance...a lot...coming to find out that EVERY SINGLE GENERIC PRODUCT IS MADE FOR MEN. haha. i laughed so much. they don't even bother making them for women. i personally thought this was hilarious. but i shall continue on in this manner. 45 cents is better than three euros!

among other things, general conference is coming up!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!! so excited in fact, that i made a countdown chain complete with a scripture per day about prophets for Riaz (recent convert). also, i saw a double rainbow. all the way across the sky. pictures included. it was lovely. i cut my companions hair. its adorable. i was impressed. i think it looked good because i prayed for help before i started. haha. seriously. and, at church i witnessed a table of older people comparing hearing aids. i felt so left out. i've never experienced something quite so interesting in my life. oh - and one of the funniest haps of this week: we were sitting on the bus on the way home from a great appointment with fabien by a members home. she had been given an american flag scarf. zuster larsen and I began to sing (quietly) the star spangled banner. apparently we were quiet enough because the bus driver gets on the loud speaker and began to whistle our national anthem through the bus. HILARIOUS. you just don't hear that every day. classssssic.

alrighty. so - for our weeks adventure. it all began wednesday evening when our mobile froze. i restarted it - not knowing what would ensue because of it! when i turned it back on - it said....enter pin:.... i entered what i thought was the pin - then again - then, SEEING THAT IT SAID "final attempt" i tried one more time. what in the world?!?! i don't know what compelled me to do that , haha - rookie mistake, i announced to zr.larsen that we currently have no phone available to us and that we would need to walk to a members house the next morning to use their phone. it threw off our entire days plans. next morning we walked to zuster jansen's house and they welcomed us in with joy - said we could use their phone and that they would make us some lunch. what?! i thought i would at least be teased for locking us out of our phone - not even! i called the office where the fantastic office elder tried to help me but we couldn't find the correct codes - the senior couple elder in charge wouldn't be in the office until 4 - good - made an appointment to call them back at four. we left, not having any phone, only faith. we walked to the bus stop, ten minute wait. we decided to walk to the other one, as we neared the stop, the bus came. classic. it was early and didn't see us. i thought - good gravy, just one more thing! we waited - got on the next bus, and when we got off at the station, we realized that we had been on the same bus with our friend, Hanneke who we are teaching. (she actually has a baptismal date now!!!!!) i was SO glad we were on that bus because we were able to talk with her - it was a miracle. throughout the day this happened. crazy things that ended up being fabulous. everyone we talked to either knew about the church, wanted to talk or were already baptized when they were 8, and we invited them back to church - it was crazy! it is amazing how one small thing that can seem like a mistake - can actually be used for our good - as we decide to trust in God and recognize the blessings He sends! awesome!

this week was filled with miracles. amazingly fabulous miracles. our friend, Mvr. Goudseblom - had to cancel our appointment because she was in the hospital - i was so worried - we prayed and called her friday evening to see if she would be home so we could swing by. we stopped by on saturday morning with a bouquet of lovely flowers and a box of homemade cookies. she invited us in and i asked if we could sing and pray with her. we sang a few hymns to her - and she had tears in her eyes. something i have never seen. i have been teaching her for three months - and it was the sweetest thing. she was truly touched by our love and at that moment i realized - how rare real love/charity can be these days. It is the greatest need of all people. we talked with her and prayed again - mentioned that there was an activity later that day if she wanted to come...she said no but a few hours later - she showed up anyway! and the next day - as we sat with melancholy on our faces at the fact that none of our investigators were at church - no one to teach our lesson to - mvr. Goudseblom showed up! unbelievable. she has been coming to only sacrament meeting since january. we had a wonderful lesson with her - it was really just lovely. another miracle. i could really go on forever - but my time is up.

i testify to you all that read this - miracles never cease. i see them every single day. sometimes i am still a little surprised too! I know that Heavenly Father delights in blessing us - and if we have faith, truly wonderful and great things can happen. (like fabien FINALLY reading the book of mormon in russian - amazing!!!!) I am so grateful to be on this fabulous earth, experiencing such wonderful things. thank you all for your love and prayers and support that help move this work along - i am SO GRATEFUL.

i love you all!

- zuster katelyn marie stout