dearest family:

greetings from antwerpen! i write to you from a classy indian internet cafe. this is a world away from the small office in the church. this is a very diverse city - more than amsterdam. i LOVE IT. actually - I ADORE IT. both. both of those things. there is a huge group of orthodox jews that live in the centrum...i absolutely love to see them. what a group of people. so interesting. so lovely. we've already had appointments with people from ghana, india, suriname, norway, congo, spain and more. its just my cup of tea. i am glad to be back in this hustle and bustle of nationalities. so cool. i feel like people are speaking another language to me - alas, we communicate somehow. its a miracle. most people think i come from the netherlands and i am totally fine with that. i doubt i will pick up the accent but i love to hear it. it sounds the tiniest bit like swiss german. at least in the fact that it sounds like a song. wooooo! crazy times. my mind is currently overloaded with new things. after seven months in seemingly calm city - my life has totally switched gears. we live above a pizzeria. its pretty swell. oh wait...what am i doing? no clue. there is no structure to this email. but that is actually a good representation of my week. i will just make a list of random things....

- it snowed. every single day this week. yeah. 

- transfers were CRAZY. miracles. we ran from train to train with tons of heavy luggage - four missionaries with bikes and bags, in and out - waiting and then booking it...crazy crazy. at around five in the evening we arrived in belgium. hallelujah! 

- i am finally serving in the same city with an elder from the mtc - e.burton, he is from canada. it is nice to see a familiar face! i sat next to him in the mtc for 2 months straight just trying to learn how to be missionaries and speak dutch...now we are actually missionaries and speaking dutch - who would've guessed. 

- we re-arranged the apartment. woohoo! not that you guys saw it before - but now it is chill and classy. i am glad. 

- we ate soup with a lovely Norwegian woman. turns out she is one of the most hilarious and inspiring woman in the world. her name is wenche. you say it like...wenka. she is GREAT. 

- i once again got a shout out from the pulpit because of my name. it happens everrryyyy time. people love it - they cant get enough

- i had to buy a new bag because my other bag broke...the man who sold it to me was also a fan of etymology and explained in detail the origin of the word OKAY. fascinating. good man. 

- i bought a new bag. it looks classy on the outside, then you open it up and it has shiny material with words in the disney font...just my style. class on the outside - thrift on the inside. glory be! 

alrighty. dearest ones, those are some of the haps. here are some spiritual haps that i have learned. life is great. wait a minute. i say that every week. i think its because its true. and i learn it OVER AND OVER AND OVER again. God loves us. someone smart who i dont know said this "success is moving from failure to failure with enthusiasm." amen. sometimes i like to stop, step back from what is going on and try and see how i am being blessed and how AWESOME everything is. one can ALWAYS find something. i testify that our loving Heavenly Father knows us and put us in the situation we are in so we can learn and become better. he is aware of it all. he is grace. He loves us and totally sees the bigger picture and desires us to learn and live the higher law. our Savior, Jesus Christ, is our BROTHER. he had to be our brother. we needed that kind of example. he wants us to be good to our siblings. He knows that our parents will be pleased if we are kind. we learn these things in our families. this is simple, yet extremely complex and deep doctrine. i adore families. i absolutely LOVE mine. thank you all so much for teaching me an loving me. i am so grateful. 

perhaps i will return to structure and interesting things next week. or perhaps not. 

we shall see. 

all my love, 

zuster katelyn marie stout. 

ps - they have those fabulous communist vending machine bathrooms in antwerpen too. and they are FREE. i am excited for you to experience them! woohoo!