December 15, 2014
You know, I have to admit -- this week wasn't that exciting. It was transfer week, and Elder Pouwer and I also spent a lot of time preparing for our upcoming zone training. I'll share the few highlights, though.
As missionaries, we have "transfers" once every six weeks -- as in, the missionaries who are going to a new area all travel on transfer day (always a Wednesday) to a main station, and then they travel to their new areas. It's the responsibility of the zone leaders to make sure that this all goes the way that it is supposed to go. That leads me to the following story...
It's Wednesday morning, around 6:20. Elder Pouwer and I are both asleep (we don't have to get up for another ten minutes), and I'm dreaming about something. I don't remember exactly what, but I'm assuming it was a good dream. Anyway, all of a sudden, we are woken up by our phone ringing -- it's the elders to Den Helder. (That day, at 9:30, they'd both have to be in Leiden so that Elder Price could pick up his greenie on time.) Elder Pouwer picks up and puts the phone on speakerphone. It's Elder Price, my beloved MTC companion. "Hey guys, we need some help...we were on the train from Den Helder to Leiden, and we got kicked off in Alkmaar because Elder da Silva had a bike on the train." (No bikes are allowed on the trains between 6:30 AM and 9 AM).) I groan in my head...why were they on the train so early in the morning? I never actually figured that one out.
We told them that we'd figure something out, then give them a call back. So, we went back to sleep for a few minutes, then got up and decided to go pick them up from the train station. I threw on some sweats and a jacket, and we were off. We threw Elder da Silva's stuff in the car, then drove back to our apartment. I got ready really quickly and ate breakfast in the car on the way to the Alkmaar station. I then proceeded to ride the train with Elder Price all the way down to Leiden. Later, Elder Pouwer showed up with Elder da Silva. Elder Pouwer and I went on to spend a good portion of the day in Leiden Centraal, making sure transfers went according to plan. I'm not really sure why I shared all this, but hey -- just another crazy day in the life. While in Leiden Centraal, waiting for more missionaries to arrive, I may or may not have used the 2€ massage chair. And yes, it was worth it.
The other day, Carlos gave us a call and invited us to come teach some Muslim friends that he had made. (While on the phone with us, he played the Happy Birthday song on the trumpet. He wasn't lying -- he can play it on almost every instrument.) That night, we rolled up to the hotel he works at, and we met in an upstairs room. Let me tell you -- Carlos is a great (and hilarious) joint-teach. We brought an Arabic book of Mormon for the two Muslims, and he takes it and holds it up as high as he can while looking straight up and saying, in his Guatemalan accent, "this is the truth!!" Then he gave it to the Muslim guys, one of which spoke no English or Dutch (the other one translated for him) -- I'm pretty sure he was convinced that Carlos was insane. Nope, he's just Carlos. The Muslims made it pretty clear that they weren't going to budge on their views, and we were just having a nice chat. Carlos, however, doesn't give up that easily. Still looking for an in, he says, "they aren't as different as you think! Mormon and Muslim -- they both start with M! They're like two lost brothers! I can feel the unity." ...didn't work. Haha. It was a nice try, though.
This past weekend was stake conference for the Den Haag stake! On Saturday, it was held in the Haarlem church, and on Sunday, it was in a huge conference center in Noordwijkerhout. (No, I do not expect anyone to have heard of it. I hadn't even heard of it.) A member of the 70, Elder Dyches, was there, along with an area authority from England with a pretty posh accent. They gave some pretty good talks -- I enjoyed them. On Sunday, the entire stake presidency was released, and a new stake presidency was called. The old stake president, President Oddens, had served for almost ten years, and he had done a phenomenal job, so everyone was wondering who would replace him. It was amazing to see a man who had devoted so much time and energy to helping others, yet seemed to say that he got more out of the experience than anyone else. It's very admirable. The new stake president, President Scheltinga, will do a great job.
For me, though, one of the best parts of stake conference was getting to see a lot of members from Lelystad, since it's in the Den Haag stake. It had been about six months since I last saw the Lelystad members, and since about a quarter of my mission was spent there, it was really good to see some of them that I consider really good friends. It made me miss Lelystad a lot. It's funny -- on my mission, I've always dreamed of serving in the big cities -- Rotterdam, Amsterdam, or Den Haag, but I think the little city of Lelystad may have won my heart. Sorry, Rotterdam.
I'm really excited for Christmas next week -- it'll be a good one. The last Christmas of my mission! This Christmas season, we're inviting people to share this Christmas video, so I might as well share it with all of you. Remember the reason for the season - and it isn't oliebollen, as absurd as that might sound. #sharethegift
Well, I've gotta go finish preparing the upcoming zone training. Wish me luck. Expect a good email next week. In the meantime, don't freeze.
-Elder Bonney
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| We played some lasertag with the de Bruijns on Elder Cooper's last P-day. |
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| Haarlem district, looking good. From Den Helder to Leiden and everywhere in between (except Amsterdam). |
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