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.