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