dearest family:

what a week. it has literally been CRAZY. why is every week crazy? i don't know. but i will try and explain. no...i can't explain it all. i just can't. but i will sum it up. life is great - people can change - if ye are prepared ye shall not fear.

monday - colombus day. hope you all enjoyed it as much as i did. we stayed home and wrote letters. we made hummus. we sang the star spangled banner. we had family home evening with an older sister in our ward.

tuesday - district meeting. good times. FINALLY GOT A HOLD OF MADINA. she is fine. oh - and a miracle? i will tell you one. someone in our ward called us over for an appointment whereinwhich they wanted to discuss the details of why black members of the church couldn't have the priesthood until 1978. i was just sick. because i could hear their anger. i felt like i was going to walk into a lions den or something. BLESSEDLY we had a dinner appointment with the most fabulous woman ever - zr. jansen (who is half surniaams/jewish). i told her of my worries and she helped me figure out what exactly to share with them and how to explain it clearly and concisely. i had studied it on my own because i had my own concerns - but my testimony and peace over the matter was not enough to fight the anger that was facing us. zr.jansen helped us and we were able to share our message of love and peace and invited them to really research and go to their Father in heaven for answers.  it went well and we were helped indeed.

wednesday - exchanges. early morning trip to dordrecht. i stayed in haarlem and zr.herring came on exchanges. turned out to be a riotous day. naturally. many crazy things happened...leading up to our bus home...driving onto a ferry. not a usual part of the trip. but somehow we still made it home on time. (turns out there was traffic. so they took an alternative route)

thursday - met back in dordrecht. used what i like to call a bathroom vending machine that looks/feels like its right out of george orwell's 1984. a huge metal door - insert 50 cents and it opens. you walk in and the toilet seat lowers. everything is wet. you quickly go to the bathroom on FREEZING COLD METAL - going as fast as possible because after a certain amount of time - the bathroom is automatically sprayed down. everything is automatic and cold and sad. ugh. luckily i made it out in time. it was easily one of the strangest experiences with bathrooms thus far in my life.

friday - weekly planning. oh - during lunch i was staring out my window - where many spiders have gathered for the winter. i'd already vacuumed them up once and couldnt bring myself to destroy their homes and food storage one more time. plus, they were outside. i had named one of them, francisco. he wasnt doing anything. just chilln. i wanted to see some action. so i reached my hand out with a pencil and LIGHTLY poked it. it freaked out and almost fell off. oh i fetl terrible! but it didnt - it survived. and after waiting two minutes or so...slowly slowly made its way back to safety ...but it didnt return to its home! it went and took over a smaller spiders home - they looked like they were about to fight but the smaller spider retreated into its web and so they sat. i felt awful. what had i done to their habitat? would they survive??!!?!? i also realized that i had wasted a good 15 minutes of my lunch just watching these spiders. fascinating. really quite. later that night i checked on them...everyone was back in their original spot and i was very glad.

oh! and friday - elise and mike got married! i had it written in my planner and i thought of them and how awesome they are. please give them the greetings from me!

saturday: correlation was a riot. our ward mission leader is french. he is hilarious. are those synonymous? probably. we are planning a great party for next month. i said that my dad has great ideas for team building games and such...he said.."give me his number, i will call him" i said no...i said i would warn him first, so that if a french accented man asks about party games - he wouldnt worry." so - dad...he might be calling you this week! :) haha. also- zr. larsen ate harring during lunch. blech. i was proud of her. i had already eaten it my first day in haarlem so i didnt need to. blessedly.

sunday: church was great. we taught the lesson again. about priesthood authority. i cut out a big picture of the queen and made a small mask so i could hold it up and give new laws and what not...explaining why REAL authority makes a difference! turns out...it was the queen of england. but i didnt even realize. haha...it REALLY helped me make the point though. good times.

okay family. those are the haps. also - what i learned this week. KINDNESS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. to me - it is very attainable charity. it is something we CAN do. absolutely. everyday. its not some far away goal that we will never achieve in this life. it is available to us NOW. kindness begins with me. classic. primary songs have it going on. simple and true. people need love - everyone needs to know their worth.

"for God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of POWER and of LOVE and of a SOUND MIND."
- 2timothy 1:7

that is absolutely true! that is what i learned a little bit more about this week. among other things. thank you for reading this email. i hope i expressed accurately the week of a sister missionary in haarlem. probably not. i love you all. life is great! thanks for being here! i am glad we get to live on this earth with so many great people. i love it. have a beautiful week! tot ziens!

- zuster katelyn marie stout