Week 68: "In the name of Carlos, amen."

September 29th, 2014

Another day another dollar. Despite our serious lack of funds, Elder Pouwer and I made it through this past week without starving. We got creative, but with our last cent, we had just enough for some staple groceries. Blessings. (imagine me on my knees, looking and pointing to heaven)

...unfortunately, October doesn't begin for another two days, so we'll have to find some way to make it through this week. Without money. We'll be okay, though. I hope.

This past week was a good one -- a lot of things happened, and we were all over the place. Racked up a lot of mileage on our car, that's for sure. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we spent a lot of time preparing for the training we had to give on Thursday -- Elder Pouwer and I had to make a few trips to Haarlem (to meet with the sister training leader, Zuster Otteson) and Amsterdam (for the church computers). Basically, we spent a lot of time getting ready, but it was worth it.

The zone training was on Thursday -- there are about twenty-five missionaries in Amsterdam zone -- and it went pretty well. We had a lot of fun, that's for sure. We talked about "bringing the funk back to London (or your own city)" through having more effective studies. Okay, it sounds cheesy, I know...but it was hilarious. We also bought everyone cheap flashlights and gave them batteries for them throughout the training -- Elder Pouwer handed out the power. Ha. Ha. Basically, the training went really well -- we taught the missionaries good, applicable skills, but it was also fun. And the Spirit was really strong. Couldn't ask for more. Zuster Otteson, Elder Pouwer, and I were satisfied.

So, the zone we have includes all the missionaries in North Holland, and let me just say...the entire area is BEAUTIFUL. From here up north in Alkmaar to Haarlem to the big city itself, Amsterdam, and all the cities in between... It's a great area. If you've ever heard of Dutch tulips, that's North Holland (actually, mostly in Alkmaar's area is where you'd find the tulips). Unfortunately, most of them aren't in bloom right now, because it's fall...duh... But, some are. We ate dinner with this one family the other week, and they actually own a tulip field. There was a team of guys in the back yard working to make some project from the flowers that had just bloomed. It was pretty awesome. They were making scenes from the Lion King out of flowers, and we got to go watch a little of what they were doing. Pretty cool.

There was one day last week, though, that I thought I was going to die... For real. I'm usually pretty down-to-earth, but this experience was...different. Elder Pouwer and I drove to this city, Bergen aan Zee, which is in a beautiful area. You can see the beach from the hill we were on. The guy we were teaching, Carlos, worked at a hotel on the top of the hill, so we met him up there. He was a nice guy from Guatemala -- spoke English with us. He was a little quirky, but I didn't think much of it. I mean, a lot of the people I've met on my mission are quirky.

There's a little forest around this hotel, and Carlos told us that he usually meets with the elders on the very top of the hill, in a little clearing -- you have to hike through the forest to get there. Okay, a little weird, but my mission has been full of weird experiences. As we're walking through the forest, I started day-dreaming a little... "I've seen enough Criminal Minds episodes to know that, if Carlos wanted to murder us, this would be the place to do it. Haha. If he pulled out a gun right now, what would I do? Well, if he shot Elder Pouwer first, I'd probably..." Just entertaining myself, right? Meanwhile, we're talking to Carlos, and he's leading the way. Suddenly, he drops to the back, and Elder Pouwer is in front. I thought to myself, laughing inside, "uh oh, he's gonna make his move! We're goners!" Just messing with myself. He asks, "so, what happened to the elders before you guys? I really liked those two. Why did they have to leave?" I turn around to answer his question, and... I see him holding a huge knife that he definitely wasn't holding before. My heart dropped. I stumble closer to Elder Pouwer, while trying to answer his question in a diplomatic way without letting him on to the fact that I'd seen him with the knife. "We have..have..have a mission pres..president and he's in charge of..of..of when people leave or st..st..stay." You gotta understand, I could hardly speak or breathe. I was about to have a heart attack. I have never been so scared in my whole life. I looked back again, and saw Carlos...calmly cutting the branches that were growing over the path. Of course. He's the groundskeeper for the hotel. We went on to have a great lesson with Carlos (even though I couldn't say anything for the first ten minutes -- I was still recovering). He's actually a really great guy. We asked him to say the closing prayer, and he said a great prayer, and ended, "in the name of Carlos, amen." Well, there are some things we still need to teach, but okay. He's a great guy.

On Thursday night, after zone training, a member here took us out to eat at this nice Asian all-you-can-eat place. (And we ate enough to last us for a few days -- we didn't have much money for food, remember?) It was really nice. I haven't been to a place like that since before my mission. And we got to watch the Asian dudes cook our dinner. Worth mentioning.

I got to spend a day working in the big city, Amsterdam, on exchanges! We exchanged with the Amsterdam elders, and I was working with a cool kid from Suriname, Elder Tjong-Ayong. We had a good day -- we talked to everyone. It was crazy. In Amsterdam, there are just so many people! We ran into a good amount of Spanish speakers, a Russian speaker, an Italian, and two Americans... I hadn't heard a Tennessee accent in the longest time. I've never lived in Tennessee, though, so that's not unreasonable. We also had a crazy experience...which is for another time. I'd rather not speak of it. (Mysterious, right? Welcome to Amsterdam.) At the end of the day, though, Elder Tjong-Ayong and I were riding around on bikes, and we got lost... Not a good thing to do in Amsterdam after dark. We passed some guys from Suriname, and they said something in their Suriname language to each other. I didn't understand any of it, of course. After we'd passed them, Elder Tjong-Ayong told me, "we probably shouldn't be in this area." Turns out, those Suriname dudes had exchanged a few words (which they thought we wouldn't understand, but, surprise surprise, Elder Tjong-Ayong is from Suriname), where they talked briefly about mugging us, then decided against it.

Just another day in the life. I gotta roll... I've written too much already. But hey -- have a great week. Stay safe. And, if I may offer some words of advice... If you're in a forest with a stranger, be careful, but not paranoid. I speak from experience.

--Elder Bonney

I realized that a bunch of my past companions were in the zone, so I had to snap a pic. L2R: Elder Toole (from Kortrijk), Elder Besendorfer (from Groningen), yours truly, Elder Robbins (Lelystad), Elder Price (MTC), and Elder Pouwer. We've come so far. . .

The dream team after we completed the zone training, posing with our flashlights. We brought the funk back. Elder Pouwer doesn't always make that face. Just a lot.