Week 87: "What I did? I am really that ugly?"

February 9, 2015

 

Sometimes, there are really cold days. I don't mean kind of cold days, but really cold days. Days with lots of ice, days when the cold air eats right through your clothing and pierces your heart. Yes, that dramatic. I have a mental list of the top ten coldest days of my mission...and four days of last week made it onto that list. I started to wonder why, centuries back, people thought it was nice to live here. So nice, in fact, that they drained out the sea to make even more land.

I still haven't figured it out. But, the cold is leaving, and spring is on its way -- it started warming up yesterday. Some of the ponds are still frozen over, but it's getting better. If you guys are lucky, it'll keep on getting warmer -- then you won't have to listen to my never-ending rants about ice. We also may get the car back this week. We'll see.

And yes, yesterday was my birthday! It was a lot of fun. We showed up at church, and when Miley and Tadek -- our Romanian and Polish homies -- arrived, Miley came up to me with a big grin on her face and says, "happy birthday!!" Then, she yanks my head down to her level (she's a shorter woman) and, before I know what's happening, does the traditional European touch-cheeks-while-making-kissing-sound (yeah, I don't understand it). She then tells me, in her Romanian-English, "we have your tart in car!!" Get this -- they had made me a big, chocolate cake and a bunch of little cake things. They gave us a ride back home after church to help us get the cake home (that wasn't going to work on bikes). You know, you get to meet some wonderful people while serving a mission. Miley and Tadek have definitely earned a special place in my heart.

For dinner, we ate with the de Buijns, a great family here (I'm sure I've mentioned them before). We had a fun time together -- they're great. They'd made me a cake, too -banana cheesecake- and it was delicious. Let's just say that Elder Neptune and I have been eating a lot of cake recently... As far as eating healthy, though, I think it's time for me to start not procrastinating the day of my repentance. Elder Neptune and I did yoga last night, however, so I think that's a good step in the right direction (I'm becoming a big yoga fan, but...we won't talk about that).

Birthday aside, we had a pretty busy week this past week. On Tuesday, I worked in Alkmaar with one of the assistants to the president. I had an appointment with the dentist that day to get some things checked out. It ended up only taking twenty minutes, but I think I almost let loose my bowels when I saw the price. Lesson learned: never go to the dentist.

I got to go back and work in Haarlem again on Wednesday with Elder Silva, from Portugal. That was another one of the freezing days. I don't know if my feet have ever been so cold... It got to the point where I started stomping my feet on the ground to try to re-gain feeling in them after an hour of being numb. We worked hard that day and found some people who said the elders could come back. Elder Silva was a fun guy to work with -- we rung one doorbell, and a lady came down, opened the door, and, for whatever reason (it was almost like she was expecting no one to be at the door), jumped back in surprise when she saw us. As we were walking away, Elder Silva just turns to me and asks, in his Portuguese-accented English, "What I did? I am really that ugly?" I just busted up laughing. All things considered, it was a good day. Cold. But good.

On Thursday, I got to work with my good old MTC companion, Elder Price, again. We worked in Alkmaar. We were visiting a less-active member, and she asked us to help her carry a bed from her shed to upstairs -- one of those electric, almost hospital-like beds. We moved the bed to carry it out of the shed, and we discovered...a Dutch mannequin. I just about fell over in surprise. Mostly because the mannequin wasn't dressed, and Dutch mannequins are WAY too realistic. Enough said.

We've been seeing a lot of miracles in Alkmaar recently. We have investigators who are doing really well, and we're finding new people. We're working hard and hoping to see some more good things happen. It's been just about five months since I came here with Elder Pouwer, and I probably only have about three weeks left -- I'm hoping to make them a good three weeks.

Also, when Elder Pouwer was here, he made apple juice and put it in a bottle. When he left, we didn't drink it. Well...it started to ferment, creating alcohol, and this week, it exploded in the fridge. That was a fun mess to clean up. Another lesson learned: fruit juice left unattended will become alcoholic. I mean, I already knew that, but now I speak from experience.

Watch out for Dutch mannequins.

-Elder Bonney

 

Here I am, with the goodies Miley baked for me. I'm a blessed man.