October 27th, 2014
Well, believe it or not, I've been here in Alkmaar for just about six weeks now. It feels like I just got here... Fortunately, though, I won't be getting the boot yet. Elder Pouwer and I will be staying together here in Alkmaar for at least six more weeks.
Before I say anymore... I NEED TO CORRECT MY ADDRESS. Because the address the mission gave me for our apartment, the address everyone thinks is right, is wrong. You would think that my address is Kennemerstraatweg 91, in Heiloo. I discovered the other day, though, that number 91 is...the hearing aid center that we live above (on the upside, that means we know we don't have to worry about our downstairs neighbors complaining about us being too loud). So, all the mail that comes to us missionaries actually lands in their mailbox, then those kind ladies move it into our mailbox (which, turns out, the mailman has rarely touched). Our address is actually number 91a. I don't think I've missed any mail, but if you've sent something, and if you don't know if I've received it or not...you should probably ask.
In conclusion -- my address is:
Kennemerstraatweg 91a
1851 BB Heiloo
the Netherlands
Good to have that cleared up. And to know that our neighbors haven't been stealing our mail.
Let me start off by telling you guys about Victor. I talked a little about him in the last email, about how we thought he was less-active, but he turned out to not even be baptized. So, a long time ago, Victor was on a search for truth. He was raised in a Christian faith but had come to the conclusion that something was missing. He investigated a lot of churches to find the one that was true -- to no avail. One day, though, he met the elders. And his life changed. (This sounds so dramatic...as it should.) Everything started making sense to him. He read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it, and he received a spiritual witness of its truth. He knew that the Church was true. As he was preparing himself to be baptized, though, he somehow lost contact with the elders and with the church. Fast forward a few years, and he's moved to the Netherlands for help with his health. He'd been living in Alkmaar for about three months, and he had been praying that he'd be able to find the church again.
A few weeks ago, Elder Pouwer and Elder Price (on exchanges) knocked on his door. He came to church again this past Sunday, for the second time here in Alkmaar. He's already chosen the day he wants to be baptized on -- December 6, his birthday. This whole experience (and it's not over yet) has just been a testimony to me about how aware our Heavenly Father is of our individual circumstances. He answered Victor's prayer. It was no coincidence that we knocked on his door.
This past Tuesday, I was on exchanges in Zaandam with Elder Toole. We had a fun, very wet day. We got to help lay down tiles at home of the bishop of the Amsterdam ward. (I can't even count how many times I've laid tile on my mission...I'm starting to get really good at it.) It rained almost the whole time... I was very cold. Bishop de Jonge kept saying, every time I handed him a tile, in great English, "thank you plenty." I don't know if we really say that in America, but he bought us Chinese food after the service, so I'm not going to judge. After that experience, though, I decided that I really didn't want to lay anymore tile in the cold weather.
On Friday, it rained the whole day again, and I was on exchanges with Elder Price in Den Helder. We went to go do service for this one Colombian sister in the branch. And...we laid tile. I don't know what it is with people in this country and tile. Once again, it was a very cold and wet experience. She made us lasagna for lunch, though, so I guess I was okay with it.
So on Sunday, we had to go pick a member up from the train station in Alkmaar and bring them to church. We were parked out in front, waiting, when we hear whistling. My first thought? It's a cop, and we aren't supposed to park here. Then, we see that it's some guy sitting in front of the Burger King at the station. My second thought? Great, he's gay. (That one was never confirmed either way.) Elder Pouwer suggests that we go talk to him, but then we both notice the almost empty (but previously very full) wine bottle that he's holding. Ahh, now we understand why he's trying to call us over. He's drunk! We decide to ignore him. Then we look over, and he's walking towards our car... I look at Elder Pouwer. "Lock the car. Lock the car. LOCK THE CAR." He locks it, and rolls down my window a little bit. We ended up having a very strange conversation with a very drunk younger man. He spoke of many things, including "intergalactic stellars" and about how he's an archangel. How does he know that, you ask? In his words, "they've told me. Oh yes, they've told me. Many times," while pointing at the sky. He ended by leaving us these words of wisdom -- "you have to trust everyone. Then everyone will trust you." Deep. I still don't trust everyone. Especially drunk guys.
Today, we went to Amsterdam with the Leiden elders, Elder Reynold for a good chunk of P-day. It was pretty fun -- the museum we'd been planning to go to turned out to be closed on Mondays (just like a ton of other museums in this country...), so we just walked around and saw nice things. Today is a beautiful day, so that was fun. We ate lunch at this one burger joint, and we sat next to this one guy, Ben. He turned out to be Australian, from Sydney, in his mid-20s. We had a fun conversation with him. He told us about how Americans have a lot of weird stereotypes for Australians -- apparently, Australians never say anything about "throwing shrimps on the barbie." He said that they don't even really barbecue shrimp... Very enlightening. Part-way through (we were sitting outside), he lit up a joint (and this one had nothing to do with burgers), and the conversation got even more interesting...he asked us why we, in our church, believe that drugs aren't good, and we told him. He courteously disagreed...then went on to tell us about how he was on some hallucinogens the other day, and how he was, in his hallucination, riding on a meteor through outer-space, a meteor he could almost control. And that is just another reason why drugs are not good. Kids...don't do drugs.
Dang, I love people.
--Elder Bonney
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| Elder Pouwer, Elder Bishop, and me, from the week before this past one, at the mission home after mission leader council. |
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| A tram picture from this morning -- Elder Price, Elder Pouwer, Elder Reynolds, and myself, in Amsterdam. |
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