family. friends. countrymen. 

I LOVE THIS BEAUTIFUL LIFE. 

i am so happy. i will tell you why. life is good. the sky is blue. i have sufficient tissues in my pocket for my cold. its pday. there was a computer available at our favorite indian internet cafe. we are going to tour an old cathedral with the elders in half an hour. my dear lovely sweet companion/dear friend let me use the computer with the english keyboard because she is a SAINT. wow. i am so grateful. those are just a few of the reasons. i am pleased. 

monday: chilled. cleaned stuff. wrote poetry. THEN. we had a miracle. our dinner appointment fell through so we went to a street and started knocking. through this entire street....NOTHING. pshhh. walking back to the bus stop my companion asked how one stays positive through so much discouragement. i told her that everything we do makes a difference in these peoples lives and that perhaps one day they will remember that they had contact with missionaries once...amidst my rant...z.juchau  decides to try this house one more time. we knock. they answer. they LET US IN. THEY ARE GOLDEN. THEY ARE A FAMILY. got an appointment for saturday. we wept silently as we walked back to the bus. just kidding. we freaked out and danced and shouted for joy as we ran to the bus stop and caught the bus in time. 

h a l l e u j a h. 

tuesday: morning appointment fell through. went back to that same street and met two new investigators. a super cool russian lady named madina and a very interesting moroccan lady.  

the rest of the day was filled with appointments with our investigators who are wonderful....but not progressing very fast...they are lovely people and i have hope! 

wednesday: zone training!!!!! i am in the same zone with FIVE of my original mtc elders. how great is my joy. so cool. we had a great time. we learned many things. we then had a smattering of appointments slash wandering around talking to people. we spent our dinner time with our favorite norwegian gem, wenche. so great! 

thursday: such a great appointment with an inactive sister in our ward. she wants to go to the temple. she is fabulous. we showed her that great mormon message about our potential. (by e.uchtdorf) this day was also riotous. it involved walking twenty city blocks in the ice cold belgium weather and trying to shove banana bread through a mailbox of an investigator. all good things. turns out...banana bread doesn't fit in a european mailbox. 

friday: planning. awesome lesson with juliette. she is 79. her father is a gypsy. literally. how exciting. i probably already told you. okay, and you know what? i love the word gypsy. i don't find it offensive. i think its beautiful. i like it better than roma. when i say roma i think of a tomato. that is offensive. anyway - the appointment went well. she has great faith. 

saturday: dude. seriously. great day. we went to that brazillian families house...the one we met on monday. she made us a fancy lunch. we discussed the restoration. they are interested in speaking...but not looking to change religions....we bonded with the 14yr old daughter. amazing family. we shall see. second appointment....met with the russian madina....she comes from...i forgot the name of the area! right on the border of georgia...and by some mountains. you know what i mean? they offered us tea...we said no, they offered us  coffee, we said no...they offered us vodka...we began to laugh. QUALITY FAMILY. i love them. they believe in God...but they don't do anything about it. they are technically muslim. but they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. she said she would read the book of mormon when she has time...they want us to come back. super interesting. 

THEN. 

we had the. greatest. dinner. appointment. ever. wow. i laughed so hard. the whole time. our ward mission leader and his wife. wow. it is hard to describe. let me try. i can't. i literally don't have the mental capacity to describe the greatest. i will try to do it later. it was funny. they taught us many funny things about belgium. ah! i am running out of time. 

sunday: it was great. church was great. i translated vlaams into english. miracles!!!!! then...after a crazy afternoon, president and z. robinson pick us up and we went to a fireside in maastricht. we talked about missions. we were able to talk to the youth of this ward and tell them how much we love missions. so cool...probably one of the highlights of my mission. the rising generation is full of class. they are super amazing. i am so excited!!!!!! 

family. i love love love you. i love this gospel. i love missionary work. i love my companion. i love this land. i am grateful for this life. THANK YOU for everything.

lovessssssssss

- z. stout