goedemorgen mijn liefe familie! dankuwel voor uw veel lifede en mooi kerst bom! i am doing well and have no idea what i said last week - maar, alles goed! geen problem. ik houd van de MTC.

ik houd van mijn collega en district. ik heb en heel gezellig tijd - elkedag. echt!!!! dus - ik zal mijn emails doorgaan. oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER! HUZZAH! i thought of you often throughout the day! well... good gravy - i am learning much. my testimony is strengthened every day. this life is beautiful and we are BLESSED and PRIVILEGED to be here. last night there was a lovely devotional from an Elder Snow of the 70 - and in the end of his talk he quoted dear Sister Hinckley when she said to a group of missionaries "this is a great thing you are doing... but it is the least you can do" amen. absolutely. that truly hit me. this is the LEAST i can do. and its not even me, really! i would not be here without you all. i feel like i am totally getting the better end of the deal! so - to make up for this, i am going to truly try and "wear out my life" in this service. i am so grateful for the powerful witness of TRUTH that i have been blessed with. there are many things i don't understand and i have so many questions - but i have NO DOUBTTTTTTT about the truth of this gospel. i made friends with a sister going to germany and we had an interesting talk last night. she is a feminist and has a lot of frustrations with many aspects of the gospel but knows that this is the right place for her to be, and i just thought it was so interesting because i have many questions myself but i know that we can learn and grow and be HAPPY whilst we learn. if we do everything in love and rejoicing, we will also ENJOY our life. anywayssssss - ik schrift mijn idee op over wat ik zal vertelen. snap je? the kerstbom was a smash hit! thank you so much. the elders absolutely loved it and everyone helped put it up and one elder had a tie that played a carol so he played that whilst we trimmed the said tree. it was a true delight. i shall send the photos. :) we have it in our klaskamer and it is joyous. next. every zaterdag wij hebben SYL zaterdag. wij spreken geen engles, 100% het nederlands. het is heel moelijk, maar ik proberen. oh- did you all catch the christmas devotional? twas a lovely event. i feel at home when i hear the prophet and his apostles speak. i loved all of their talks and especially president monsons when he spoke over the christmas carol. oh how i shall miss attending that with all of you. what a sweet tradition. hands down mijn lieflings play. echtttt waar. hmm - oh, on zondag, wij hebben de gelegenheid naar de temple lopen. when we arrive at the temple, we usually take pictures - maar, since we always take the same pictures, i gathered some talented missionaries for an awkward photoshoot. oh have i met some talented elders. haha. a few have particular talent in this field of work. they will do great things. i shall send the photos post haste. haha. oh it was a good time. also - i've convinced the danes to release a danish hip hop album upon their return - danish is easily one of the coolest sounding languages ever. na het nederlands naturrlijk. i recieved the letter about the storm and the photos yesterday, dat is heel gek! (crazy) i am so glad you are all safe! totally dont know anything about that kind of stuff here. thank you for telling me! i was inspired to read of the clean up action and all the service! people are AMAZING! thank you all for being those people. hallelujah! i wish i could have been there to help. i am glad nikki is okay too. i miss her. will someone please take her on a walk for me? and send me a photo of her? that would be so lovely. :) well - did i mention in my last email how all of the elders have picked up on my vocabulary - even if its only to tease me, i know its sunk into them forever!!!!! we have all grown close and i love them dearly. we are a happy zendelingen familie. hoera! dus - ik heb geen tijd...ik moet klaar...well...ik houd van jullie, echt. ik ben heel dankbaar voor allemal en uw veel gebeden voor mij. forgive my broken dutch. oh- i just realized that i didnt translate any of it really for the people of the internets to read. sorry. :( its probably pretty obvious. i speak the dutch of a simple kids boek. you know what im sayinnnnnnn. ik ben heel blij! thank you again for all the many prayers and happiness you send my way. oh and THANK YOU SINTER KLAAS! we had a lovely celebration and i shared the treats with my district - they loved it and we were all very grateful. thank you thank you thank you! :) i pray for you all and think of you often. veel liefde!

without wax - zuster katelyn marie stouttttttt