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