November 3rd, 2014
When I was back home, before I got my mission call, I wasn't too picky about where I wanted to go. I did have one main preference, though: I didn't want to go anywhere that gets too cold in the winter. Then, I was called to serve in the Belgium/Netherlands mission, on the edge of the North Sea. Not the coldest mission in the world, but if you think that it stays warm during the winter, you've got another thing coming. Anyway, I imagine Heavenly Father kind of saying, "Look, I know you didn't want to go somewhere cold, but this is the mission you need. But, I've still got your back, little man. I'm going to make this summer last a long time."
And it is. Last week was a great week as far as weather goes -- on Saturday, the first of November, the Netherlands had (according to a member here) the warmest recorded November day ever. It peaked somewhere around 65°F. We've had sunny and warm days. However, that's coming to an end...it's cold and rainy outside right now. Well, it has to get cold sometime.
This past week wasn't too exciting, I'll be honest. We didn't go on any exchanges last week -- we never go on exchanges during the week of transfers. Also, on Wednesday of this past week, my twelfth transfer began... At the end of this transfer (six-week period), the sisters who were in the MTC with my group last summer will be going home -- their eighteen months will be up. That's pretty nuts. I feel like they're kind of getting cheated -- they have to leave, but we get to stay for six more months. I'm glad that I still have some time, because I'm not ready to go just yet...
In other news, Elder Pouwer and I are going to be moving! Right now, we live in an apartment in Heiloo, a suburb just south of Alkmaar itself. A member, Br. van der Put, from Haarlem (who is in charge of the apartments in the mission) came to check the state of our apartment. It's a pretty old apartment, and it isn't in good condition, but Elder Pouwer and I did our best to make it clean and make it look presentable for this inspection. After the inspection, Br. van der Put says, "well, you guys did your best...but this apartment isn't fit for living in, and you guys need to leave it as soon as possible. It's not just bad here. It's unhealthy!" He was pretty funny about it all, but I was pretty distraught that I'll have to pack up all my stuff and move... We should be getting an apartment in Alkmaar in the near future. We'll see what happens.
We are still working with Victor. He's making great progress and is really excited for his baptism. I've never been so sure that someone will make their baptismal date before. He's still got about five weeks until his baptism, so we've got more than enough time to get everything organized and let everyone know. This should be a relatively stress-free baptism. But, we'll see -- sometimes, the last thing you expect happens. Either way, we're moving forward. Victor is fun to teach. He already believes it all (I mean, he's read the Book of Mormon multiple times and loves it), so most of our teaching is us sharing small doctrinal points, then him going off for a while or bearing his testimony about that principle or something (boy, can he talk). He's also got some pretty cool/funny/awe-inspiring stories from his time living in Aruba and Venezuela. He's really just a great guy who hates Miami. Why does he hate Miami? Yeah, I never understood that one, either.
On Wednesday, Elder Pouwer and I had to go to Leiden Centraal to help out with transfers. It wasn't very exciting. At all. But, I did get to see Christiaan, a young member from Lelystad that I worked a lot with. He came down to hang out with the missionaries. We talked about Lelystad and how different people were doing -- it made me miss that little city. I mean, I spent almost six months of my life in that city... I can't believe that it's already been almost five months since I left it.
I can't forget to tell you guys -- there are elders in Hoorn now, a city close to Alkmaar, and they go to the Alkmaar branch! It's super cool that they're there. You guys probably don't understand just how cool this is for us Alkmaar missionaries... And, get this. So, the missionaries in Hoorn are Elder Cooper and Elder Hunter. Elder Cooper served in Alkmaar up until about six months ago, and the members love him. And Elder Hunter is his greenie. Elder Hunter is a pretty cool cat -- he's from Scotland (like seriously, who is from Scotland? I don't know if I've ever even met someone from Scotland before). And, when the MTC choir sang during the priesthood session of General Conference, ELDER HUNTER WAS THE ONE SINGING THE SOLO. How cool is that? He's super funny about it all -- he said to some members, in his Scottish accent with greenie Dutch, "Ik moet zingen na President Monson. Wie...Does that?!" ("I had to sing after President Monson. Who DOES that?") Apparently he was pretty nervous. But, his voice is winning the hearts of the members here. Elder Cooper, Elder Hunter, Elder Pouwer, and I had to sing "Christus is Mijn Heer" (in English, the hymn is "I Believe in Christ") in church yesterday, and the branch loved it. We weren't half bad, especially with our boy Elder Hunter. His voice is killer.
And Friday was Halloween. For those who don't know...Halloween isn't that big in Europe. So, we didn't do much. But, Priscilla (the one who just got baptized) invited Elder Pouwer and I to come to her Halloween-themed birthday party (her birthday is on Halloween). It was...interesting. But that's a story for another day.
Because I'm tired of typing.
Keep it real, homies.
-Elder Bonney
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| At a district meeting on Tuesday, my boys Elder Besendorfer and Elder Toole surprised everyone by leaving part-way through and coming back in animal suits. You had to be there to understand. Like Elder Toole says, you gotta be worried about the 'bear necessities.' |
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