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