Week 10: "This isn't funny. I left my bike right there."

Hello again! Another week is done already, seriously? By the end of this week I'll have been in Belgium for a month. Time flies when you're doing WORK!

Let me start with a short story that exemplifies the frequently shown attitude here. So on Tuesday, I was on exchanges in Sint-Niklaas, another city in our district (yes, with the same name as Santa). I was with Elder Pouwer, another greenie who was in my MTC district. That in itself was a cool experience -- doing real work with someone I was taught with back in the MTC. Anyway, we're out doing some street contacting. We contact this girl who's just sitting in the town centrum. We introduce ourselves, then this guy, holding a glass of beer, who is walking a few meters away with his buddy sees us. He yells, "Americans?" "Yeah!!" responds Elder Pouwer, enthusiastically. Oops. This guy yells some unrepeatable things about us and our country, the tries (unsuccessfully) to throw his beer on us. Since that doesn't work, he throws his beer glass itself directly at us. Fortunately, we dodge it, and he misses again. But, he did hit the window behind us, shattering it. He hurries away with his buddy. Then Elder Pouwer and I finish talking to this girl like nothing had happened. It was a weird experience. So, yes, people in Belgium aren't always the nicest.

On Wednesday, all the recently new missionaries went to Brussels for legality reasons, so I got to see my MTC buddies again! It was an awesome reunion. It's like they were all in a different country or something. Oh wait... They were. Shared some stories, caught up a little, then we were torn apart again. So is it.

Elder Eastmond and I are tearing it up here in Kortrijk. There are definitely people here who are ready for the gospel. Cool experience -- we were teaching this one lady (one of the many who are so ready for the gospel), and she said she'd had a question for years. After ten minutes with her, she said we'd answered it. She also told us of a dream she'd had two weeks before (I won't go into detail, it's a special thing), and she saw Elder Eastmond and me in a dream. I speak the truth. We challenged her to baptism and she accepted. The message we share is real.

So, there has been this summer festival going on in Kortrijk for the past three days. It's been pretty crazy. And I'm not sure what happened, but somehow, sometime yesterday my fiets (bike) was stolen. MIJN FIETS WERD GESTOLEN. I think Satan stole it.

Keep cool. Tot volgende week.

--Elder Bonney

PS -- I finally remembered to send some pics. First one is me with Elder Eastmond and a guy from Gementee Kortrijk, Aaron Leman, at his farewell. Now he's in the South Africa MTC. He's a stud.

The other picture is my district, all of west Flanders. It was P-day and we went to a sweet castle in Gent. Everyone else is wearing normal clothes because they planned to play frisbee afterwards. And forgot to tell us Kortrijk elders. Because they hate us. And I don't know what my companion is doing (he calls it his "thug face," I think he does it to make friends).