March 2, 2015
I feel like it wasn't that long ago that I met up
with Elder Pouwer in Leiden on a warm day in September, then drove on up
to Alkmaar together so we could whitewash the city. Since then, a lot
has happened. I've experienced the widest array of emotions here in
Alkmaar -- I've seen some great miracles, and I've had some good
struggles.
Well, it's been almost six months
since I showed up here with Elder Pouwer, and yesterday evening I was
called by President Robinson and told that I would be getting
transferred on Wednesday. It's been a good run, Alkmaar.
I'll
be transferred to the city of Tilburg, in the south of the Netherlands,
where I'll serve my last twelve weeks as a missionary. I'm pretty
excited to serve there -- I've worked there a few times on exchanges
when I was serving in Eindhoven. I'm going to try to make my last two
transfers my best two transfers.
All that
aside... this past week was a pretty good week. It started off with
Elder Neptune and I going to Amsterdam on P-day and looking for the best
pizza in Amsterdam, and how can a week started off like that go wrong? I
mean, we later went on to see a street performer in the Dam Square with
an awfully obscene mouth who didn't even do anything but swear at the
Italian kids who were heckling him, and then we saw a drunk guy pass out
in Amsterdam Centraal...but, at least we found good pizza. Another week
begins.
On Tuesday, we headed down to
Zoetermeer for a zone conference, and I really enjoyed it. There were
some great presentations, and after lunch, we watched some video clips
from recent publicity the church has been getting in Belgium, including
the video "Jan Says Yes to Elder Argueta." (For those who are
curious...just go and watch it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
And
yes, we still have no car and had to take public transportation back.
And yes, there were problems with the trains. And yes, we were an hour
and a half late to our dinner appointment. Needless to say, we were all
grateful for how understanding the members were that night (and that
they still let us come eat).
I got to go on
exchanges in the city of Haarlem on Thursday, and it rained all day. We
had no appointments until dinner, so we spent most of the day talking to
people in the rain... I sometimes wonder how many people we contact in
the rain are convinced that we're insane. Actually, sometimes I wonder
if I'm insane when I contact people all day in the rain, when my
pants...shoes...socks...
And Friday was a sunny day! I was working
with Elder Andrew in Zaandam, and we had a really good day. We taught a
lot of lessons and ended it with a sport activity in the Amsterdam
church. When we were teaching one of their investigators earlier, we
invited him to come, and he agreed to come. He's this big, muscular,
friendly Nigerian man, and he was really excited to play...ping pong. We
always play a lot of volleyball at the Amsterdam sport night, but he
just couldn't wait for ping pong. So, when we got to the church, he
played ping pong with one of the missionaries serving in Amsterdam, who
is one of the better ping pong players. And our Nigerian friend put his
game face on and destroyed this elder at ping pong. We're playing
volleyball, and we keep hearing laughter and a deep, African voice
coming from the ping pong table, repeatedly saying, "I'm kicking your
white butt!" It was great.
Before I
forget...this week could have been my last week alive. I was riding
Elder da Silva's bike when I was in Zaandam, and, for whatever reason,
his bike has no working brakes. I hop on and start riding when Elder
Andrew warns me. Right before we proceed to go down a big hill. I would
try to brake by dragging my feet on the ground. Later, I couldn't stop
and a car failed to yield to me, and I think I almost died. I eventually
figured out that if I put my shoe on top of the front tire, it would
act as a brake and slow the bike down. Smart, right? Until I started
smelling burning rubber, only to discover that that was melting the sole
of my shoe. Well...it was worth a shot.
Well,
next time I email, I'll be in Tilburg. My time in Alkmaar has been
really good for me, but it's time for me to go. I'll miss the members
here, and I'll always be grateful for my time here. There's not much
more I can say. Surprised?
Keep it real, boys and girls. Until next week!
-Elder Bonney
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| Miley and Tadek came to church again on Sunday, and I got to say goodbye! I'll miss those homies. |
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| At zone conference, with my two Eindhoven companions, Elder Alston and Elder Rudolph. They both go home this Wednesday. Time flies. |
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