March 23, 2015
I’m happy to say that I’m feeling a lot better today than I did
last Monday. The cold fought hard, but –just so everyone knows – I won.
It was a pretty good week here in Tilburg. Elder Matos and I have been hitting the streets and working hard, and it’s starting to pay off – we found a number of new investigators last week and were able to teach some good lessons. We knew that this week would be pretty good when, on Tuesday afternoon (it was beautiful weather, by the way) while we were walking around the centrum and talking to people, a bearded man walked out of an ice cream shop and said, in very American English, ice-cream cone in hand, “hey, elders! Do you guys speak English?” And that’s how we met Brian, a member from Anaheim, California. He was in Tilburg for the week for some project. In contrast with the…well, not so polite rejections we’d been getting, it was really nice. It was like God was telling us, “cheer up, guys. There ARE people out there who will be happy to see you.”
And there were, that’s for sure. Later that day, we taught a restoration lesson to a student here in his mid-20s. Great guy with a lot of good questions. Students love experiments, so we shared Alma 32 with him and invited him to find out for himself if the answers we were giving were true or not. We’ll see how it goes.
On Thursday morning, we were approached by a man who, as he tells us, used to be a member but wrote himself out while he was in prison in Den Bosch. I asked him why he left the church, and he told me he couldn't answer that until he got the microchip out of his brain that the people in the prison (supposedly) implanted in him. As missionaries, we somehow always find the weirdies...
It was a pretty good week here in Tilburg. Elder Matos and I have been hitting the streets and working hard, and it’s starting to pay off – we found a number of new investigators last week and were able to teach some good lessons. We knew that this week would be pretty good when, on Tuesday afternoon (it was beautiful weather, by the way) while we were walking around the centrum and talking to people, a bearded man walked out of an ice cream shop and said, in very American English, ice-cream cone in hand, “hey, elders! Do you guys speak English?” And that’s how we met Brian, a member from Anaheim, California. He was in Tilburg for the week for some project. In contrast with the…well, not so polite rejections we’d been getting, it was really nice. It was like God was telling us, “cheer up, guys. There ARE people out there who will be happy to see you.”
And there were, that’s for sure. Later that day, we taught a restoration lesson to a student here in his mid-20s. Great guy with a lot of good questions. Students love experiments, so we shared Alma 32 with him and invited him to find out for himself if the answers we were giving were true or not. We’ll see how it goes.
On Thursday morning, we were approached by a man who, as he tells us, used to be a member but wrote himself out while he was in prison in Den Bosch. I asked him why he left the church, and he told me he couldn't answer that until he got the microchip out of his brain that the people in the prison (supposedly) implanted in him. As missionaries, we somehow always find the weirdies...
Later that day,
though, we were meeting with this less-active member from America who
lives in our branch boundaries. We’re starting to work with her and her
sons. She’s super cool, and we’re excited to work with them more.
Anyway, while we were in her home, her neighbor, Robert, dropped by, and
she invited him in to meet us. He had a lot of questions, and before we
knew it, we’d taught him a short lesson and given him a Book of Mormon.
It was great. It was hilarious, though – at some point, we were talking
to the less-active member, and then Robert just looks up, with a blank
look on his face, and mutters, in English, “my food…the stove…my house.
If my house burns down…” We were like…what are you talking about? He
stood up and informed us that, when he’d dropped by, he’d left food
cooking on the stove. Food which was…still cooking. Oops. He sprinted
out the door and down the street to his home. His house was fine; the
food, however, was inedible. Count your blessings, right?
The next evening, Elder Matos and I had an appointment with a lady from Congo who spoke mostly French and very little Dutch. I was convinced that I had forgotten most of the French I’d learned (from living in Africa and studying in high school and college), but Elder Matos, being from Montreal, speaks good French, so we showed up for the appointment. In the appointment, though, my French started to come back, and we taught that lady together in French. Elder Matos looked at me at one point with a look on his face, “are you serious right now?” I can’t lie, Elder Matos definitely took the leading role and spoke more than I did, for sure, but I definitely had heavenly help in that lesson. It was a cool lesson. Unfortunately, she refuses to read in any book of scripture that isn’t the Bible and wouldn’t accept the Book of Mormon, but…we taught her! That’s something, right?
The next evening, Elder Matos and I had an appointment with a lady from Congo who spoke mostly French and very little Dutch. I was convinced that I had forgotten most of the French I’d learned (from living in Africa and studying in high school and college), but Elder Matos, being from Montreal, speaks good French, so we showed up for the appointment. In the appointment, though, my French started to come back, and we taught that lady together in French. Elder Matos looked at me at one point with a look on his face, “are you serious right now?” I can’t lie, Elder Matos definitely took the leading role and spoke more than I did, for sure, but I definitely had heavenly help in that lesson. It was a cool lesson. Unfortunately, she refuses to read in any book of scripture that isn’t the Bible and wouldn’t accept the Book of Mormon, but…we taught her! That’s something, right?
Thursday
and Friday were the NLdoet days -- NLdoet is a big thing encouraging
volunteer work and service. Our district was planning on helping out
with a service project -- making blankets for poor kids. Elder Matos and
I got to Breda late, though, because a train hit a person (ouch).
Apparently, though, the other missionaries in the district showed up at
the service place, and the people in charge asked them if they'd brought
their own crotcheting needles. Well, surprise surprise, none of us knew
how to crotchet. After Elder Matos and I arrived in Breda, we all went
to another service project -- doing yard work in front of an old folks'
home, and not crotcheting. The elderly women inside the home were
watching us elders rip out old bushes. I think they enjoyed it. And we
did our good deed for NLdoet.
Well, I gotta run. Stay good, and...if you're cooking something up on the stove, keep an eye on it, alright?
-Elder Bonney
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