Week 42: "I can't stop! I have no brakes!"

March 31, 2014

Dames en heren, jongens en meisjes, omas en opas...

I'm sure you've heard it around, and I'm here to tell you that, yes, the word on the street is true. The curses have been broken, and I will be staying in Lelystad for a third transfer, my second with Elder Goates. For the first time on my mission, I'll stay in a city for more than three months, and I'll be with a companion for more than six weeks.

You may applaud.

This past week was, as usual, a good one. Spring is here -- you can smell it in the air and feel it on your skin. It's pretty rejuvenating, and it makes you want to be outside and tell everyone how they, too, could be as happy as you are! Yeah! Funny thing, though. We've been wearing sweaters and/or jackets all winter long (layers, baby), and suddenly, we can go outside in just our white shirts. I hadn't realized just how much we hadn't been sticking out until we started sticking out again. I think a white shirt and a tie can look pretty classy, but some of these Dutch people stare at us like we have and extra limb. Fortunately, that doesn't stop us.

As a missionary, there are things that you need to worry about that don't pertain to the work itself -- not saying that the work isn't our focus, but there are things we need to do to make life more than just going through the motions. This includes keeping your meals exciting. I have a small personal dream of helping invent something that becomes a staple missionary meal, and I've recruited my companion to help me out with this. Our latest endeavor has been missionary pizza -- homemade pizza that can be made with few ingredients in a short amount of time. In our latest attempt, we ended up with what turned out to be a sort of melted cheese and tomato sauce on top of half-cooked french toast. It wasn't what I'd envisioned, but hey. It's a work in progress.

On Wednesday morning, we came back from the gym, only to see a missed call from the assistants to the mission president, two missed calls from the zone leaders, and a text from the district leader. Our worst nightmare -- something important happening when we were at the gym. Turns out, they wanted to let us know that Lelystad was receiving two new elders that very day! We were surprised, to say the least. It was a new missionary from Surinam and his trainer. We welcomed them to Lelystad on Wednesday afternoon. We aren't the only Lelystad elders anymore.

They always say that, if you are prepared, the Spirit will give you the exact words you need to say exactly when you need to say them. I saw this this past week. We showed up for an appointment with our Polish investigators, and it turned out that they'd faced some anti-Mormon material from their neighbor. We walk in, and they start letting it loose. I wanted to just yell out, "but we don't even BELIEVE that. AND you didn't read the pamphlet we gave you!" But, I kept my cool. Then, the responses started coming to us. We were able to address their concerns and get invited back for a return appointment. The Lord truly helps His missionaries.

The other day, we were riding through a part of the city, and a little girl was playing around, lying in the middle of the bike path. She got up, made a funny face at us, and then got out of the way. I made a funny face back. A little while later, we were on our way back, and she was still there with her friends. Playing around, she stood in the middle of the path and told us to stop. I yelled out, "I can't stop! I'm going too fast!" Elder Goates yelled out, jokingly, "we have no brakes!" Then she started chasing us. I said, "what are you doing? You must stop!" She responded, "I can't stop! I have no brakes!" You're a sassy one.

But, we can't stop either. Lelystad is heading in a good direction, fast.

Keep it real, and stay true. Until next time.

--Elder Bonney

PS -- From left to right, there's Elder Goates, myself, and Elder Hulet, another member of our district. Looking good at zone training.

Week 41: "Oh, you guys are from the Burger King."

March 24, 2014

So. It's Monday. Again.

I'll skip the usual rants about how fast time goes by and get to the point. Life is still good in Lelystad! Lelystad is still the usual, unexciting, but somehow enjoyable city it's been for the past 10 weeks. Nothing to complain about.

On Wednesday, I got to go on exchanges with one of the zone leaders, Elder King! He came to Lelystad to work with me. We had a really good day -- it was the first time everything actually went through on an exchange. I have this theory -- whenever I have exchanges, things are three times more likely to fall through than usual. But, somehow, everything went through this time.

Anyways, we were using some extra time to knock some doors in the area of an appointment we had. One guy opens the door angrily, starts talking quickly, and says, "I am getting seriously annoyed by how often you Jehovah's Witnesses knock on my door!" Oh. That's not us. This is awkward. We respond and tell him that -surprise!- we aren't from the JW church. He looks surprised, glances at Elder King's nametag, and then says, "oh, you guys are from the Burger King -- well, I'm not interested." Would you like a Whopper? Elder King responds -- "actually, no, we aren't from Burger King. But I like Burger King!" We should have offered to super-size a Book of Mormon for him, free of charge. Next time.

Later that day, we showed up at an appointment with an investigator. Somehow, it ended up being with three teenage girls AND the investigator (one of their mothers). Elder King and I walk in, and there are the three young, giggling teenage girls. I look at Elder King (who is one of my mission leaders, mind you) with a look on my face like "I PROMISE, I DIDN'T KNOW THAT THIS WOULD BE THE SITUATION." Fortunately, our "students" actually listened and payed attention. The Spirit entered the room, and they started taking what we were teaching seriously. It's amazing what the Spirit can do.

Last Friday, we went to a baptismal service in Almere, another city in our district. There was one man, Farley, who got baptized. He just looked so happy the whole time -- and, I mean, if you're making a covenant with God that will bless your life, who wouldn't be happy? I remember standing in the room when Farley got baptized. He came up out of the water, then looked around like he didn't know how to express his emotions. Suddenly, he did a double-fist in the air. A look of victory, a look of "I made it." It was pretty much the best thing ever.

Yesterday, we visited a member family in Lelystad, some of my favorite members here. Elder Goates and I had come up with a little game for their young kids, which involved wearing a blindfold. Turns out, none of them had ever worn a blindfold before, and one of them started to cry because having a blindfold on is scary. You know that you're a failure at life when your activity makes a member's child cry... But, it really showed me the deeper meaning of the message (which was about how the Holy Ghost guides us) -- in life, we're blindfolded. It can be hard. It can be scary. It *might* just make you cry. But, with the help of the Holy Ghost, we can know that we aren't alone and that God is there. Life isn't easy; but, we aren't asked to do it alone. Unfortunately, the small, crying child didn't appreciate the symbolism like I did. Just another day in the life.

Until next week. Take it easy, and stay true.

--Elder Bonney

Week 40: "Yeah, it would be hard to read...no pictures."

March 17, 2014

Well, it's that time of the week again. Where does the time go? I literally just asked my companion what we even did last week. Not that we didn't do much, but I feel like the week ended before it even began. So goes life. I better not blink, because when I open my eyes, my mission might be over. Woah.

So, the fantastic weather from last week hasn't remained SO perfect, but it's still nice. Literally, right after I finished my email last week, it dropped like 6 degrees Celsius. I walked outside in basketball shorts and a t-shirt (we'd played frisbee earlier in the day), and I was the only one outside in shorts. In fact, I was the only one without a coat on. I looked like a goon. But hey -- it was good while it lasted. Now, we really do have early spring weather. I won't complain.

Last  Wednesday, we were teaching some of our investigators. They're a younger couple from Poland, and they are total homies. Anyway, the husband was telling us how the Book of Mormon is a little hard to read, unlike their son's children's Bible. Somehow I couldn't restrain myself and responded, "yeah, it would be hard to read. No pictures, you know?" Fortunately, we all enjoyed a good laugh about it, and no feelings were hurt. I still can't believe that that slipped out.

On Saturday, I was on exchanges in Hilversum with a greenie, Elder Clement. He's been here for about three weeks, a little more. We decided that we wanted to spice up our finding that day, so we decided to use a few creative questions amongst the many that had been suggested by the APs. We walk up to the first guy -- "hey, why do you think that the freedom of choice is important?" He responds... "I don't know. I'm kind of fried, not in a state to answer that, you know?" Then we realized that he was a little high. Well, on to the next...

"Hey, excuse me, quick question -- why is love so important?" The younger man and woman we asked responded with typical answers -- because it helps you feel wanted, it leads you to do good things for others, etc.. Eventually, we discovered that the young couple wasn't actually a couple. We spent a little bit of time convincing them that we weren't trying to be matchmakers, but that we were actually just volunteers from our church.

Walking up to the guy in line for the ATM... "Excuse me -- yeah, my companion and I are here in the centrum today asking questions, and we'd like to ask -- what would you do if you found yourself in a room without light?" "Well, I'd probably just go to sleep." Well played, my friend. That's probably the same exact way that I would respond.

"Hey man, can I ask you something? How do you know if someone loves you?" "Well, you can feel it. The way they act. They're happier around you. They're willing to help you out when you need it; they're always there." Sweet. Perfect let-in. We had a nice little conversation, but this cool cat didn't want to share his information. He asked for a pamphlet, then left, saying, in English, "just spread the love, sexy!" Will do.

I gotta roll. But, it's been a really good week. Not a special week, or so exciting. But, a good week of missionary work. Keep it real, and keep spreading the love. Until next week.

--Elder Bonney

Week 39: "Can I take a selfie with you?"

March 10. 2014

Hey, guys.

 

It wasn't a bad week. Not at all. Not too exciting, and I have a clock in the corner of the computer ticking my time down (I'm emailing at a library in Almere today), but I'll share what I can. Okay.

 

Another week come and gone. Wow. So, let's see... Well, it was just another week in the life of a Mormon missionary. Teaching lessons, knocking doors, talking to people, and eating food that will make you fatter, no matter how much you exercise. It's a good life. We talked to a guy on the street a few days ago (well, actually, he came up to us). He informed us that he didn't believe in God - but, he believed in aliens. I told him that you can believe in God and aliens. He got this *mind=blown* expression on his face, then left.

 

On Saturday, all the missionaries in the Den Haag zone headed down to Zoetermeer (the city that contains the Den Haag temple, which isn't actually in Den Haag). Zoetermeer recently got a new building -- it's an amazing building, by the way -- and they are soon having an open house. We were all there to go to respective shopping centers/city centrums and hand out fliers, inviting people to the open house. Elder Goates and I were assigned to a dinky little shopping center (in what I'd like to say was downtown Zoetermeer, but all I really saw of the area was the shopping area, so I couldn't say).

 

We had a blast handing out fliers. One lady and her husband excitedly take a flier, saying that they'd heard about this new Mormon church building and wanted to go see it. I gladly gave them a flier. A while later, they came out of the shopping center, and she came up to me again. She asked if there was any way that they could see the inside of the temple. I responded with a grin, "well, when you show up to the open house, there will be some people there with nametags just like mine. That would be a good question to ask them. They'd be happy to tell you!" She told me that she and her husband would be looking forward to it.

 

At some point of the flier-handing-out, a 20-ish dude comes up to me. He asks, "mag ik een selfie met je nemen?" ("may I take a selfie with you?") Go for it, man. He did. Not sure why -- either he'd always wanted a picture with a Mormon missionary, or he'd never seen such a good-looking one before. I haven't decided yet. I just hope he uses the picture for good, not evil.

 

Last night, we were knocking doors. One guy started yelling at us from the front balcony of his apartment complex. Turns out, he'd locked himself outside his apartment (and judging by the comments of one witty neighbor, we could say he locked himself outsideagain). He wanted us to climb onto his back balcony, enter his back door, find his key, and let him in through the front door. We politely declined. I'm not exactly sure what Jesus would do in such a situation, but the locksmith showed up right when we were leaving, so I think he'll be okay.

 

That's all for today. But hey -- stay classy. The big man Elder Goates and I are having a killer time in Lelystad. Also, we're getting some amazing weather. 20 degrees Celsius? I think so. Not sure what that is in Fahrenheit, but trust me -- it's nice. And hey, remember where you put your keys. Until next week!

 

--Elder Bonney

Week 38: "But what about clones? How do they find Jesus?"

March 3, 2014

Goedemiddag, allemaal!

...and just like that, it's March. The winter months have passed by, and I've survived. With all my whining and complaining about the weather, you would have thought it was the worst winter this country has seen in a long time. I have something to confess. I heard through the wire that this was the second mildest winter the Netherlands has seen since the 1700s. Go figure. As someone who does not enjoy the cold, I am a blessed individual.

Also, how about those Dutch skaters in the Olympics? I don't remember specifics, but members and investigators here have been telling me about how they dominated. How about that? (Even though they may be the only country that really cares that much about skating...don't tell them that I said that.) Really though, that's pretty cool. Let's go, Nederland!

Elder Goates and I have been keeping ourselves busy on this little piece of seabed they call Lelystad. We've both been learning our way around, and we've been making a lot of appointments. It was a slow week, but we already have our schedules for this week pretty packed. It'll be good. Sometimes you have to have the slow weeks to set yourself up for the fast weeks.

We had one day this past week in which we had three appointments with new people. We were pretty stoked. We walked into the first one and proceeded to sit and listen to a very nice Hindu man talk for approximately 45 minutes. We tried to share our message, but he ended up telling us that we need to watch out -- if we're going to be sharing our religion with other people, we need to know more about Hinduism. Fortunately, I knew a fair amount already, which impressed him -- thank you, BYU's History of Creativity 101. I never knew you'd help me on my mission. After that, we headed to our next appointment, where we talked with a nice Dutch man for about 45 minutes, who turned out to be a former investigator. He may or may not have been implying that we were Pharisees. Gee, thanks. But hey -- after two appointments like that, the last one has got to be good, right? Well... Some of the questions asked included, "but what about clones? How do they find Jesus?" and "well, what do you guys believe will happen if the world explodes?" I'll leave it at that. Oh, the people I've met.

We tried to make pannenkoeken (Dutch pancakes) some time last week. We failed....miserably. I don't know if my insides will ever be the same after eating it. Lesson learned: learn how to make pannenkoeken from someone who knows how to make it, instead of learning from each other when neither one knows how to make it.

Also, we saw a wild three-legged cat this week. For real.

Until next week. And hey - happy March, everybody. Stay warm.

--Elder Bonney

Week 37: "Oh, I'm just a HUGE Elvis Presley fan."

February 24, 2014

A new transfer has begun! It seems like the past one just started, and it is already over. This one will go by even faster.

On Wednesday morning, bright and early, Elder Robbins and I got on a train to Leiden. Once we arrived, we met up with a group of missionaries, and Elder Robbins left for Genk, in the depths of the mission. I waited in Leiden for a good part of the day until I received my new companion, Elder Goates, from Brugge. And thus it begins.

I knew Elder Goates when he was a greenie, a long time ago when I was serving in Kortrijk with Elder Toole. He somehow managed to stay in Brugge for six months, and Lelystad is his second city. We get along really well though, and I'm excited for the work that we'll be doing together.

Now that Elder Robbins is gone, I'm being forced to learn my way around Lelystad. I realize more and more how much of a maze the entire city is. It's a good experience, though. Getting lost for an hour is always something I love doing. Builds character. Elder Goates probably knows his way around the city almost as well as I do.

We had a mini-missionary from Thursday to Sunday -- a member of Lelystad branch who is preparing for a mission. It was pretty cool. It was like having a third missionary (almost). Besides the fact that he ate almost all of our food... Just kidding. It was actually really fun -- it reminded me of how I was before my mission and really helped me see how much I've grown. And, also, how much I'm still the same (in a good way).

My comp and I were riding to a look-up last night, and we saw a house with a huge American flag flying in front of it. "Why does that person have an American flag?" "I don't know...let's go find out." So, we knocked the door, and this Dutch guy came and answered it. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon and who we were. No interest. Okay, well, on another note, why do you have an American flag? "Oh, that? Well, to be honest, I'm actually just a HUGE Elvis Presley fan." So you flew an American flag in front of your house. Logical.

We have an investigator who doesn't want to meet with us anymore; she says it's okay if we just see each other at church on Sunday. Because, she's decided to come to church every Sunday. Well, whatever floats your boat.

Also, we taught a guy who only cared about whether we believed in aliens or not. The important things some people focus on.

That's all for today. Sorry that it isn't much -- I really did spend a lot of the past week trying to find my soul after losing it in the maze of Lelystad. Not too exciting. Just another week in the life of a Mormon missionary. Until next week -- blijf netjes.

--Elder Bonney

Elder Robbins and me, on our last morning together.

Elder Goates and me together in Belgium, back in September.

Week 36: "I think she understood about... 1% of what we just said."

February 17, 2014

Well, just like that, my fifth transfer (and first in Lelystad) is over. These past six weeks have blown away like dust in the wind. Seriously.

And... I will be staying here in the blessed city of Lelystad! Where it rains way too much. And, as usual, I will be getting a new companion. I have never had a companion for more than six weeks, and it'll stay that way at least for now. It may be the case that I'm such a hard companion that God is too kind to make anyone stay with me for more than six weeks. I'm joking (I hope). Elder Robbins will be going down to Belgium to become a district leader, and I will be getting Elder Goates. I'm looking forward to it. I had the opportunity of going on exchanges with Elder Goates when he was a greenie, and he's a good guy.

So, this past week! Good week. As usual, my companion and I worked hard, and the time flew by. On Wednesday, we had a zone conference, given by the APs and President and Sister Robinson. Some good advice was delivered. One of my favorite parts of zone conferences is hearing the "dying missionaries" (missionaries who are finishing their missions) bear their testimonies. It's always nice to hear what lessons people have learned on their missions, and to hear how they've changed. It makes me wonder what wisdom I'll have to share by the time I get to the end of this adventure.

This past Saturday, our branch had a Valentine's Day activity! It was a dinner, and tons of non-members were invited. The members really stepped up and invited a lot of friends. Elder Robbins and I had twelve investigators RSVP and say that they were coming. Awesome! The dinner started, and none of our investigators were there. We waited...and waited...nothing. Great. The activity was amazing, and it was really fun, but we were really disappointed that none of our investigators showed. We started talking to one visiting member about it (cool guy, around 30). He asked us to imagine how Heavenly Father feels about all of us who have made covenants with Him. He has laid out the terms, and we accepted them. And we fall short CONSTANTLY. Yet, He's always willing to give us a second chance. That is amazing. After that, Elder Robbins and I stopped our self-pity and started enjoying the dinner.

During the dinner, there was a "how well do you know your spouse" sort of activity, where an announcer would ask questions, and the seated couples would have to write the answers down with the goal of having the same answer. One time, Elder and Sister Evenhuis, the missionary senior couple, were up front, and the question was, "what is the wife's favorite attribute of the husband?" Sister Evenhuis held up her answer -- "his spirituality." Adorable. Elder Evenhuis revealed his answer -- "great lips." I could feel the spirituality, I really could.

On Monday last week, we walked into an appointment, and our investigator told us that she wasn't interested anymore, but she'd still have the appointment. We taught with the Spirit, and the appointment ended with her deciding to keep investigating and committing to come to church. We saw her at church yesterday. Miracles.

Last night, we taught a woman from Sierra Leone. She claimed to speak English, but I beg to differ... She nodded a lot and didn't say much, but swore she understood everything. We walked out of that appointment, and our joint-teach says, "well, I think she understood about...1% of what we just taught." Glorious. Fortunately, you don't have to understand English or Dutch to feel the Spirit.

This morning, we got to go to Amsterdam! We visited the Anne Frank House and got a free boat tour from a member. It was pretty awesome. AMSTERDAM!

It's about that time. But hey -- keep it real until next week. I hope you had a great Valentine's Day, everyone! Keep on keeping on.

--Elder Bonney

PS -- I finally attached pictures!

Me and Elder Robbins, looking netjes at the zone conference.

The Lelystad missionaries, elders and sisters, after a long evening of helping out at the Valentine's activity. Enjoy.

Week 35: "Sorry boys, no time -- speed skating is on! It's just too exciting!"

February 10, 2014

The 2014 Olympics have begun, and the Dutch people have been busy rooting on their speed-skaters. We went to go look up an investigator the other day, and he answered the door in his bathrobe, informed us that the 5000 meter speed-skating finals were on, and it was absolutely too exciting. He did want us to come back another time, though (when speed-skating isn't on). And just so everybody knows -- in the men's 5000 meter skating race, the Netherlands took the bronze, silver, and -yes- the gold. They love their speed-skating.

If you're wondering, yes, this past week flew by also. We wake up every morning and have no idea how we're going to get everything done. And, usually, we don't get everything done that we need to -- it's been pretty crazy. There's still stuff that needs to be done today, too, so this won't be too long.

We've still had time to do some finding this past week, and we've seen some miracles. It's amazing how you can first start talking to somebody, and they'll be completely confrontational and stand-offish, but slowly you start to see the Spirit soften their heart, and they end up talking to you for five, ten, twenty minutes, and you make an appointment or they agree to come to church. It really is amazing.

With some people, though, it isn't so. On Thursday, I was on exchanges in Hilversum, another city in my district, working with an Elder Lindstrom. We stopped so that we could regain our bearings and figure out where we were. Suddenly, a guy screeched to a halt right next to us, and informed us that, if we wanted to live, we would get off his street and never show up again. Because if we stayed, he would kill us. So, there's that. We decided it was best to leave that happy man and his street.

There's this one kind of candy here, called drop. It's like salty black licorice. And it is...disgusting. But, Dutch people love it. They always try to offer it to me. "Don't you want genuine Dutch candy?" Not if it tastes like death and the wrath of Poseidon mixed together, no
.

Saturday was my birthday! And, birthdays are actually a big deal in the Netherlands. We were meeting with some Lelystad homies/investigators (because my birthday actually was still a work day, go figure), and when one of them found out that it was my birthday, he got up, left, and came back with doners, which are super delicious Turkish sandwiches. It was awesome.

Well, I got to bounce. There's still a lot to be done today. But keep it real, and enjoy the Olympics. I'll be back next week. Tot zo!

--Elder Bonney

Week 34: "Ha. That's a funny name."

February 3, 2014

Hey everyone!

This past week has zooomed by. Like, I feel like I say that every week, but seriously -- I feel like every week goes by even faster than the last. Elder Robbins and I have been so busy. We've end up rushing from appointment to appointment, and we're too busy to realize how fast time passes.

We've seriously been busier this past week than I have ever been during my whole mission. Elder Robbins and I have just fallen into a work groove, and we do serious work. The Lord has blessed us for our efforts -- last week, we taught more lessons than I've ever taught in one week before. We actually increased the most I'd ever done (which was the week before last with Elder Robbins...) by over 50%. It was crazy.

There was one day last week, Thursday I think, and it was going to be a really cold day. I knew it. Cold days are the worst for me. I prayed that I'd be able to make it through the cold that day. We had two appointments planned, but one called to reschedule soon after the day began. Wonderful. I just knew I was going to die in the cold. We got to work and started looking up people we needed to make appointments with, and, one by one, everyone started letting us in to teach them on the spot. We ended up teaching five lessons that day. Lesson learned -- the Lord answers our prayers. We just need to have a little faith that He will.

On Tuesday, I got to go to Den Haag (the Hague) on exchanges with the zone leaders. That was pretty fun. I really big cities. Groningen wasn't huge, but it was big, and I hope to have the opportunity to serve in another big city someday. Elder King, the elder I was on exchanges with, and I had a really good conversation. Somehow we ended up talking about the eternities... A general authority, Elder M. Russell Ballard, said that if you take a rope and stretch it infinitely in both directions, then tie a thread around the rope, the width of that thread in comparison to the rope's length is this life in compared to our eternal life. Hard to wrap your head around. Anyways, I said something along the lines of, "I just imagine eons in the future, looking back and hardly remembering this life." Elder King said that he doesn't see it that way -- our life on earth will always be something we remember, an experience we cherish. It isn't always an easy experience. But, we are so fortunate to live on this earth and have this experience. Through the hard times and the good, I'm grateful for it.

So, remember how I mentioned the bike paths last week? I forgot to mention a common sight...the fietspad auto. A car that is about as long as a bicycle, and just wide enough to seat two people snugly. These little cars are allowed on the bike paths. There's that for a little more biking excitement.

The weather has actually been really nice lately. It's great. It had been really cold (as I'm sure you all could tell by my complaining...), and I'd been getting better and better at bundling up and layering. Sometimes, I was actually one happy little guy, with two pairs of socks, thermals, a nice sweater, a fantastic scarf... Each day, I'd find some new little trick to keep warmer. Then, one day, it wasn't so cold. And I almost DIED. It was still cold outside, just not as cold as usual, but my layers were too much for the relatively high temperatures. That wasn't too much fun. But hey -- I got warm weather.

One day last week, Elder Robbins and I were looking up a potential investigator. He lived in an apartment complex, and we had to bell up. No answer. I looked at the list of names, and saw one name with literally fifteen letters in it. It looked pretty exotic. I pointed at it and said to Elder Robbins, "ha. That's a funny name." Elder Robbins: "Yep. Looks like a Somalian name. I bet he's Somalian." Then he rang the mystery name's bell. They buzzed us in. We ended up teaching the man and his wife two lessons last week. This is how the Lelystad elders find their investigators.

And he was Egyptian, not Somalian.

Stay cool. And I promise -- I'll take some pictures soon. I haven't taken a single one yet this transfer.

Peace and blessings.

--Elder Bonney

Week 33: "So...the rain just soaked through all four layers. I think I'm wet."

January 27, 2014

Last week marks six months of being in Europe. Wow.

This past week has flown by. This Wednesday marks the halfway mark of the transfer. I don't know where time is going... It just slips through my fingers. Elder Robbins and I are so busy that the days seem like they're over before they've even begun.

Last Wednesday, everyone in Den Haag Zone met up in Leiden for a zone conference. Besides the undeniable fact that it was sweet to be able to see a bunch of my buddies, the zone conference itself was inspired. We have some great zone leaders, and they delivered some good stuff. The Den Haag stake president also spoke to us. The Den Haag stake is implementing some serious online methods of getting referrals, and --if implemented correctly-- the cities in Ring Den Haag are going to be lit up soon. It'll be awesome.

Let me tell you all about fietspads (bike paths) here in the Netherlands. They are nuts. These little paved red paths all over the place, and they're like little bike highways. On fietspads, people are allowed to ride 1) bicycles, 2) bromers (they're like mini-motorcycles), 3) mopeds, and 4) scooters. And by scooters, I mean the scooters old people use to get around. They're no joke here. They have some serious speed. Old people are getting all around the city in style and with speed. You need to ride cautiously on a fietspad, or else you could get in a collision. I have to say, if my bike got in a fight with one of those scooters, the scooter would win.

On Thursday evening, Elder Robbins and I had too many appointments (in the Netherlands -- who'd have thought?) to do alone, so we went on splits with members. I went with a 70-ish year-old stud of a member, who happens to ride a... wait for it... scooter. The scooter he has is called an Elite XS or something like that. Like I said, no joke! We ended up getting lost on the way to the apartment (Lelystad is an easy city to get lost in -- the whole thing is like a maze, especially the fietspads). I'd stop to look at a map, then I'd turn around, and I'd see my temporary-companion zooming off. It took some serious thigh-power to catch up with him. He was great, though. We had a nice conversation. And we eventually found the house of the appointment on time -- despite the fact that we didn't know the address (that's a story for another time, though -- it was a miracle). It was an adventure, to say the least.

One of our investigators here in Lelystad is awesome. She's on the path to baptism. We're trying to help her quit smoking -- it's pretty much the only thing keeping her from getting baptized. It's amazing, seeing her progress though. I have no doubt that she'll conquer her smoking addiction.

We had one investigator in church yesterday! We'd had a lesson with him two weeks ago and invited him to come to church. Hadn't had a lesson since -- he'd been too busy. But, he showed up to church today! Elder Robbins and I were surprised. To top it off, this guy is schizophrenic, so that's...interesting.

If you're wondering how the weather has been...cold and wet. Cold and wet. Yesterday, from 4 PM to 9 PM, Elder Robbins and I had four appointments scheduled. One by one, they all fell through... Just another day in the life. We ended up biking around and knocking doors in the awful weather -- the skies decided to pour down on us. And, I was wearing four layers of clothing, which also got soaked. Wonderful. I think I'm still a little soggy from last night. But hey -- it'll be a night not to be soon forgotten.

Time to go. Until February! Tot ziens, and keep it real.

--Elder Bonney

Week 32: "Elder, I don't think we have any more food."

January 20, 2014

Hey, guys. So... I don't have very much email time today -- we spent the whole morning doing the bi-annual missionary apartment "deep clean," and p-day time is slowly ticking down. And, I'll be honest -- I want to have time to go out and take advantage of these European blow-out winter sales. You know me.

Yes, we ran out of food this week! Sort of. Somehow, we didn't shop smartly enough, and our food supply hit almost rock bottom. We got creative and survived, but that moment of realization that we had almost nothing left was pretty sad. It was a learning experience, to be sure.

This past week has gone by pretty quickly. Elder Robbins and I are always on the move -- always out going somewhere, talking to someone, doing something. I've never been so busy in my entire mission. We've decided that this transfer is the transfer to go all out, to just work ourselves as hard as we can. We've talked to so many people and taught so many lessons in the past week. I'm pretty exhausted, I'll be honest. And, I don't think Lelystad knows what just hit it, either.

Last Friday, my companion and I had the opportunity of working with a member of the Lelystad branch who is preparing to go on a mission. He worked most the day Friday with us. It made me look back on when I was getting ready to go -- last week, a year ago, I received my mission call: "You are assigned to labor in the Belgium/Netherlands mission." Now, missionary work feels second nature. It's who I am right now. And that piece of paper foreshadowed the two years that will - and are - changing my life forever. What an opportunity. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I'd love to share a funny story or two, a cool experience, or a spiritual insight, but it's time for me to wrap this up. However, my whole mission -- from my three months down south in Kortrijk to three I spent up north in Groningen to the time I've been spending here in Lelystad -- has been an enriching, fulfilling, incomparable adventure. And, next week, I'll be back with more. Because my two-year long journey is far from over.

--Elder Bonney