dearest family of mine:

how grateful i am that we may, twice a year, listen to the words of our prophet. what comfort and surety fills my heart to see smiles on their faces. i am so grateful that i could watch conference this week. and in english! how important it is for me to hear those words in my own tongue. i am grateful that the church goes to such lengths to communicate with us in the manner of the Lord who "giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding" (2nephi31:3) that is so important to me.

this week was spent adventuring over all of our area. to the outer dorpjes (little towns) on bike and bus. it was a delight indeed. we brought invitations to general conference to those we met. we also invited those who would come to write down a question and listen for their answer. i also did the same. and let me declare, it works. i received answers to each question. brilliantly. there was also another miracle associated with this. there is a young man in our ward from canada. he came here for soccer. i had talked to him about missionary work a few times and we invited him to a zone p-day (in hopes that perhaps the elders would encourage him to serve) with little success...on the train home when a mission came up, i asked him if he had prayed about it - at least to have peace about it. he said yes but he hadn't really received an answer. i said, bring it to conference! write it down and listen for your answer at conference. a week passed and on sunday morning, he immediately found me at the church and said "sister stout, im going to serve!" oh what joy filled my soul! woo hoo!!!!!!!!!! the Lord speaks to those who are listening. He does indeed give light unto the understanding. this brother will bless the lives of so many he meets, but only because he decided for himself to serve.

Heavenly Father is so good. so very good. He has thought of EVERY POSSIBLE WAY to bless and lead us without inhibiting our agency. its amazing. He does not want any soul to miss out on all that He hath. Every time the Lord puts us in the path of certain people - the right bus, the right bike lane, the right place, time...there are no coincidences. we are His hands. we have the ability to be a tool in the Lords hands and become equally blessed by it! I love it. it is so exciting and beautiful!!!

on another note, thursday was national animal day. dierendag! it was celebrated in style as a large group of dogs started jumping on us while we were running at 6:30 am. i exclaimed, happy dierendag! i named the spider on my window, francisco. oh oh oh and the best one - at about 3 am we were awoken by a strange creature on our balcony. turns out a family of pigeons were making themselves at home in our window. what a riot that was. the day was ended with none other than a completely vegan meal by a sister in our wards house. i felt like it was very appropriate. :)

on monday, we stopped into a paint store to get some new paints for zr.larsen, and i saw next door was a cool store called "a taste of home". i bought a small jar of vegemite. and as i was leaving i saw the timtams and said...oh! we should do timtam slams, and the lady at the store just gave me a package of them, no charge! woo hoo! so later that week i showed zr. larsen the proper way to do a timtam slam. it was epic to say the least. she didnt like the vegemite so much, but i did, it was truly a taste of home :)

well my dearest family, happy colombus day! is that how you spell his name? i don't know. but i sure am grateful that he did what he did. well played. i have the desire to listen to stan freburg now - the world is flat! no, its a round round world!  good times. haha.

in 25 days. i will have been on my mission one year. just saying.
alright. don't think about it too much.
there is a lot to be done now.
this world is beautiful. life is beautiful.
i am grateful for the plan of happiness created by our merciful Father in Heaven.
we are a blessed blessed people. let us rejoice!

love you all - zuster katelyn marie stout