October 23,2011 "I love it here in Gent"

Dear Family,

Oh boy. Lots to tell and I don't know where to start! First, That's awesome that you are going to Holland Michigan for fall break! We have been pronouncing "Gouda" wrong this entire time! It's G(gutteral spit sound) "Gowduh" Like the noise you say when someone pinches you. Who knew? Dutch food really isn't that different. A lot of potatoes, beef and vegetables. Stampot is pretty good, but I like the Netherlands for their Suriname food. Belgian food is different in the fact that it is very french influenced.  Belgium seems like a whole different world than Netherlands.  It's very European as the Netherlands was very Westernized. I was super excited to hear about the football game. What a great way to start off Sectionals! Nice work James on the kicking.  I'm so far behind on writing letters :(.  I'm glad to hear that people are standing up for the church. Dad, I'm really proud of you for being a worthy Priesthood holder. You are a great example to me. Sorry, I'm kind of just writing whatever comes to mind. There isn't really much of an order.  So our week was actually really good. God definitely smiled upon us. We worked so hard this week and it paid off. We spent most of the time finding people to teach and we found quite a few positive people. We set a baptismal date with Meneer Lefever 3 December (Belgian) and Eby 10 December (Nigeria) on their first appointments. We are excited to work with them as they make steps to come closer to Christ. I finally got to meet the branch this week! Last week was stake conference and I didn't meet too many members.  The branch had about 30 people there.  We had no pianist this week so I have to play next week... We''ll see how that goes, haha.  I love it here in Gent. It took a week to get used to but I am super excited to be here. The Belgian people are different from the Dutch. Belgian people are very closed and protective of sharing any information or beliefs. It takes some work and a lot of conversation to get them talking. It's alright though! The Lord is preparing people! Our apartment is awesome! The stairs are totally ghetto and it's an adventure climbing up and down them without slipping or having the wooden panels break through. The landlord has promised to fix them in the near future. My companion is truly a man of God. He is a hard worker and totally dedicated to the work. Elder Larson is his name.  The Belgians and Dutch celebrate holidays all the time. They love their holidays. I wonder if that's just a European thing in general. Anyway, I don't have too much time left. Love you all and have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Schulte