Week 2 at the MTC -- "Don't Let the Pig Get You Down"

June 25, 2013

Hello again, everyone!

First off, I've come to the realization that last weeks email header was incorrect. In Dutch, missionary is spelled 'zendeling.' Not 'zundeling.' Though it sounds like 'zundeling' when you say it. Now that we've cleared that up...

 

I've almost completed two weeks here, so I'm officially an MTC veteran. I feel like we're veterans as soon as we've been here longer than any of the English speakers (who are only here for about 12 days). I'll share a few of my adventures of this past week with you all.

 

All us Dutch learners are called "Dutchies" here at the MTC. It's kind of an endearing term now, and all Dutchies love the other Dutchies (and the Suriname Dutchies are okay). My classroom is my district, so there are 10 of us Dutchies in there. We've all gotten pretty close -- we're probably the tightest district in our zone. Us Elders do almost everything together, and the Zusters join us when they can. One of the Elders in my district got a letter from his family with a cartoon pig on the front, with the caption "Don't Let the Pig Get You Down." So, that's kind of become our district's motto. If anyone has trouble with the language or with teaching, we just say, "Hey. Don't let the pig get you down."

 

FUNNY STORY OF THE WEEK: So, as you know, the companionships in my district were each teaching an investigator. One of the companionships, Elder Moomey and Elder Pouwer, was teaching their onderzoeker (investigator). They were talking about baptism. In Dutch, there are two words -- dopen, which means to baptize, and doden, which means to kill. Elder Moomey got the two mixed up, and instead of saying that Jesus would love it if she were baptized, he accidentally told the onderzoeker that "Jesus would be happy if you were killed." Needless to say, she was very confused.

 

Remember how I told you about Lieke, our onderzoeker (well, pretend-onderzoeker)? Well, last Thursday, my companion and I committed her to baptism. The next day, we found out that Lieke was actually Zuster Moses, our second Dutch teacher! Our class sees her for three hours a day, but now she's teaching us, instead of the other way around. She's a recent returned missionary from our mission (got back in December), and a great teacher. She teaches almost entirely in Dutch.

 

The language is still great. The other day, Zuster Moses (who hadn't been teaching us for the first 10 days because she was playing the investigator) asked me where I'd learned my Dutch before coming to the MTC. That's how well it's going! She was surprised to hear that I hadn't really studied Dutch before I got here. I've learned so much. You hear so many languages here at the MTC -- some of my district's elders have started saying random things to people as hello, and we get responses: for example, we say "treetrunk" with an accent and we get back an "hola," a "ciao," or one of the many other languages. It's pretty entertaining.

 

I've had some great spiritual experiences here -- I was asked to give my first blessing for the sick last week, and I was asked to give another one yesterday. And, last Tuesday, my district got to go to the temple together. We get to go again today. I'm excited! The Spirit here is still just as strong, helping out us missionaries every day. We all got to attend the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast this past Sunday -- hearing a prophet of God speak is always amazing. 11 of the 12 apostles were there, too. It was great.

 

Well, that's it for this week. I split my email time today into three chunks, and the last one is now almost over, so it's time to go. WRITE ME!! There's nothing quite like getting mail as a missionary. I never understood that until I got here. It's about our only connection to the outside world (the MTC has been compared to a spiritual prison -- as in a prison that is spiritual, not a prison for spirits. Just to clarify). You can also DearElder.com me -- it's free, my box/unit number is 331, and I leave July 22. I have responded to every letter I've gotten! I'm so grateful for the letters I've received, and I mean that in all sincerity.

 

Until next Tuesday!

 

Tot ziens,

Elder Bonney

Elder Moomey, me, and one of my college roommates and one of my best friends in college, Elder Bascom! He's going to Finland and living on the MTC's West Campus. He got here last week. Elder Moomey and I ran into him at the Marriott Center before the Worldwide Broadcast started.

 This picture is from last Tuesday on the way back from the Marriott Center for that day's devotional. I ran into Sister Bang, one of my best friends and fellow BYU 49th warder who is going to Taiwan, and we started talking...then Elder Richardson, also Taiwan-bound and a 49th warder, ran into us...then we ran into Elder Marler and Elder Lund, companions headed to Brazil. When we were about to take the picture, Sister McClune, another one of my good friends and a 49th warder, learning Spanish for Alabama, came running up. Basically, it was a great 49th ward reunion.

Week 1: Ik Ben Een Zundeling

June 18, 2013

Goede Daag Everyone!

My first week here at the MTC has been, by far, one of the most amazing weeks of my life. I arrived last Wednesday, and through a whirlwind of a day, settled into my room with the other Elders in my district. Throughout the week of classes, exercise, eating, studying, more classes, and more studying, there's far too much to send in the short amount of time I have to email, but I will do my best.

De Nederlands is heel goed! I've learned more Dutch than I thought I ever could in a week. Our district is already speaking TONS of Nederlands to one another. It truly is amazing what the Lord helps His missionaries to accomplish. Our teacher is Broeder Klippel, a fairly recent returned missionary from Nederland. We have instructional classtime about 6 hours a day (besides P-day, which is Tuesdays for Dutchies, and Sunday), in addition to hours of personal and companionship study. Then we have personal language study. In addition to all this gospel and language study, we have about an hour to exercise each day, and we have meals in the main building. They keep us very busy here at the MTC (which is how it should be!)

My companion is Elder Price -- a quirky, sometimes scatterbrained, but good-hearted recent high school graduate from somewhere near Cache Valley, Utah. He oftentimes gets on my nerves -we are two very different personality types- but his heart is in the right place and he's here for the right reasons. There's a reason we're companions, I'm sure of it. The Zusters in our district say that, in our companionship, "Elder Bonney is learning patience, and Elder Price is learning haste." Elder Price often struggles with Dutch, which has been coming surprisingly easily for me, and so I help him out a lot there. If you've seen the Best Two Years, think Elder Calhoun in the MTC (Elder Price can not get the gutteral G down, no matter how hard he tries). He often surprises me with what he knows, though, and is full of interesting gospel insights. Since we have to be together whenever we aren't in the residence halls, we've learned to live and get along with each other.

Elder Price and I have been teaching our first onderzoeker (investigator), Lieke, a heel mooi Nederlander (she isn't actually Dutch, she's pretending to be an investigator, but it is very real to us missionaries, so I'll talk about it like it is real). We had to teach her on Friday, about 48 hours after arriving at the MTC. And..we had to teach her en Nederlands. We spent hours preparing our lesson, but did not feel nearly prepared enough to teach a fluent-Dutch speaker. As we knocked on her door and began teaching her (she didn't believe there is a God, but she believed in doing good things), there were times where I did not know what to say. Somehow, we managed to share our lesson in Dutch, and even explain things we didn't know how to explain and answer questions we didn't know how to answer. Yet, somehow, we did it (in very choppy Dutch, but Dutch nonetheless, 2 days into the MTC). By the end of the lesson, I'd had one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. The Spirit was so strong, I teared up a little (in a manly way). Now, we've visited her three times total, she's agreed to read the Book of Mormon, and she believes that she has a Heavenly Father who truly cares about her. Seeing her transformation (even if she isn't a real investigator) has been amazing. I am so excited to go teach the people of Belgium and the Netherlands!

In the MTC, we are in districts -- with other missionaries learning our same language. We have class together, and the Elders in our district eat together, work out together, and do mostly everything together. In my district, there are 6 Elders - Elder Moomey (from my BYU ward, which is heel leuk (very nice)), Elder Pouwer, Elder Cook, Elder Bean, then Elder Price and myself. There are 4 Zusters -- Zuster Brophy, Zuster Thorley, Zuster Reeder, and Zuster Greenwell. We are all going to the Belgium/Netherlands mission, learning Dutch. On the floor our classroom is on, there are all the Dutch classrooms, then there are the Swedish learners...then there are the missionaries learning Icelandic, learning Hmong, learning Cambodian, and learning Cantonese. So, if we ever feel like Nederlands is too hard, we go out in the hall and see the other classes...then we don't feel so bad for ourselves. There are 4 classrooms here at the MTC learning Dutch! One classroom is for the missionaries of the West Indies mission, who are all going to Suriname speaking Dutch. The other 3 (including mine) are all going to
Nederlands en Belgie. There are 28 of us leaving for Nederlands on July 22 -- the biggest group they've ever had going to the mission at the same time! We have been told we're the biggest group at the MTC right now that is all going to the same mission. The Lord is truly hastening His work!

I wear a nametag all the time now that says that I'm Elder Bonney, a zundeling van "De Kerk Van Jezus Christus Van De Heiligen Der Laatste Dagen." And yes, I can pronounce that correctly in Dutch (the gutteral G's are no sweat). Anyways, it's a constant reminder of why I came here and what my purpose is.

If you would like to write me, please do it using DearElder.com or snail mail! I get hardly any mail, and since I pick up the mail twice a day for all those in my district, it's the saddest part of my day (but overall my days are fantastic).

My address is:
Elder John Bonney

JUL22 BEL-NETH

2013 N 900 East Unit 331

Provo, UT 84602

I would love to get a letter from any of you! I will write back to any letters I get. I have very little time to email, and only on P-Day, but I can write anytime!

Tot ziens!

Elder Bonney

Me with Elder Moomey and Elder Blackhurst, two of my friends from 49th ward who are both in my zone. We see each other all the time (Elder Moomey and I spend about 23 hours a day within 10 feet of each other). 

The Elders in my district, whom I live and breathe with. From left to right -- Elder Cook, Elder Bean, Elder Price, Elder Bonney, Elder Pouwer, and Elder Moomey

Preface: This is Why I'm Serving

June 12, 2013

Everyone,

If you're receiving this email, either you are going to be receiving my weekly emails, or I will be keeping in contact with you individually. If you ever want to be taken off this list, let me know via email.

Furthermore, if you are going on a mission soon and your email address changes, let me know! I also expect to hear about any engagements or mission calls.

---------------------------------------------

I've been asked many times why I decided to serve a mission. Why would I, in the middle of college and with much to leave behind, take two years off my personal life, sacrificing time and limiting communication with my friends and family, to be a missionary?

I would be lying if I said I'd never asked myself that question.

When President Monson announced the missionary age change last October, everything began to happen quickly. Arranging dental and medical exams, interviews, filling out my application -- in the midst of everything, I never really took the time to sincerely ask myself why I was going.

Young men in the LDS Church are expected to serve missions. It was expected of me, so originally, that was why I made the decision to serve.

That isn't a bad reason, but after I received my mission call and as doubts and fears began to enter my mind, it wasn't enough. I would pray and ask, why am I supposed to serve? Why does the Lord need me to learn Dutch and teach in Europe?

Over the past few months, I received many answers.

I re-read the whole Book of Mormon in the month of May. As I re-learned the simple truths, and as I felt the immense happiness they bring to me, I remembered -- this is why I'm serving.

I got to go through the Washington, DC temple with my parents this past month. As I sat and realized that families really are forever, I realized there is nothing I'd rather do than share that and the other simple truths with others -- this is why I'm serving.

I got to see my younger cousin get baptized less than a week ago. As I saw her begin this new phase of her life, washed of any wrong-doing, I remembered -- this is why I'm serving.

As I remembered how Christ suffered for our sins because He loves us so much, and that the least I could do to repay Him is by giving two of my years to further the Atonement, I knew without a doubt -- this is why I'm serving.

As I was set apart as a Mormon missionary yesterday, I remembered all the events in my life, everything that had happened to prepare me for this, I knew -- this is why I'm serving.

In half an hour, I will enter the MTC, knowing why I'm serving. I wanted you all to know, too, why I would sacrifice what seems to be so much for two years. To share the restored gospel I know to be true, as our Heavenly Father would have me do. That is why I am serving.

--Elder Bonney