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