Week 22: "There's Mormons in the neighborhood."

November 11, 2013

I honestly feel a little apostate, emailing right now, because this week has flown by -- I can hardly believe it's Monday again.

So hello, everyone! This past week has probably been one of the best weeks of my entire mission. My companion and I have been working really hard, and we've been so busy these past seven days -- rushing from appointments from one end of Groningen to the other, talking to tons of people, meeting new investigators -- there's not enough time to think about...time. I am loving it, though.

This past week, Elder Besendorfer and I were out street contacting, when we hear (in a VERY American voice), "oh, there's Mormons in the neighborhood!" Obviously, I'm a little confused at first (happens to me occasionally). We responded, to the owner of this voice, "Hey! You know us?" "There's only one guys who'll walk around town with a suit and a name badge on." Turns out, this guy is from the DC area, and he moved to the Netherlands because his kids live here with his ex-wife, and he wanted to see them grow up. Tender. And, he owns a haircut studio. Basically, I know where I'm getting my hair cut next time I need it -- in this cool cat's shop.

We were knocking doors the other day (definitely NOT my preferred method of contacting, but when it's pouring rain, you do what you can), and one man opened his door, said, "hey, you guys are from Salt Lake," and beckoned us to come inside. We did. Turns out, this guy is an inactive member of the Groningen Ward. He was a little crazy. He spoke English to us -- when we asked him how he spoke such good English, he responded by telling us that he speaks English when talking to himself. Okay, buddy! He showed us his false teeth (which he refused to put in, so he was bijna impossible to understand when he spoke Dutch), talked about aliens, and was doing other strange things... We shared a quick, sincere message. I gave this trooper (who was a teeny bit drunk) a hug, then we got out of there.

Just yesterday, Elder Besendorfer and I were riding our bikes to an appointment. It started raining. Which, by the way, is not in the least unusual here in Groningen. We bike in the rain just about every day. So when it started to rain, I wasn't surprised or upset, just a little wet. So, we're riding along (get the mental picture ready). We were crossing a pretty quiet intersection. Suddenly, we hear this noise, like really hard rain hitting the ground, rapidly approaching us. Oh, great. Time to get soaked. I was more than a little surprised to discover that this sound wasn't rain, it was HAIL hitting the street, hail which then proceeded to hit me and Bessie. I'd say it was definitely bigger than a BB, but smaller than a peanut. It only hurt a little bit.

Tomorrow marks five months since I entered the MTC. Wow. Time is flying. I can honestly say that I am enjoying my mission right now. My companion and I are working hard. We're doing what we were called here to do. We have investigators progressing towards baptism. We ride bikes a lot. Missions aren't easy, but right now, I don't know what could be going better. I'm in a great city with a great companion, and we have a great sense of purpose. And, as of last night (when we visited one of our investigators who is overcoming problems and progressing towards baptism), I can honestly say that I felt the Spirit while sitting in a house that stood a few houses away from a red-light district and smelled strongly of marijuana. It's great. Dang, I love my job.

Until next week. It'll come sooner than you think.

Much love.

--Elder Bonney

The photo? I'm not sure. A golden find of Groningen.