April 25, 2015
...surprise! I'm back already, even though it isn't Monday. Like I said last time, next Monday
is Koningsdag (King's Day), so President Robinson switched P-day to
today. Koningsdag is always insanely busy, and most everything will be
closed for what is, in essence, a national yard-sale day. We'll be going
to Breda as a district to hand out church materials at a booth. More on
that next time.
I didn't have time to write
much about it last week, but stake conference for the Antwerpen stake
was great last weekend. On Saturday, Elder Byers and I caught a train
heading to Antwerpen, where the first session of stake conference. Once
in Antwerpen-Centraal, we had about a half-hour before our metro left,
so we headed into the city for a few minutes, grabbed some Belgian
frites (honestly, french fries should be called Belgian fries, because
Belgium does them best), and looked around. We later caught our metro
and headed to the Antwerpen chapel. Stake conference was actually a
really cool experience -- Kortrijk, Eindhoven, and Tilburg are all in
the Antwerpen stake, so I was able to see members from those three
periods of my mission (the beginning, the middle, and the end). It was
extra special to be able to talk to members from Kortrijk and think back
to my days there and to realize how much I've grown since then.
After
that session, we got on a train to Leuven with the Leuven elders, and
we spent the night there. And who else would be serving in Leuven but my
old friend and third companion, Elder Besendorfer? We went on splits
with the Leuven elders on Sunday, and it was great to be able to talk
and catch up. We reminisced on our Groningen days and reflected on how
much we'd changed since then. It was also great to get to work in
Belgium again! I haven't worked in Belgium since October 2013, when I
spent my last weeks in Kortrijk. Belgium is... Belgium :) It's great.
(Though it does have a unique smell to it, which missionaries dub the
"Belgian funk." We won't talk about that.) Leuven was beautiful -- it
was an area of Belgium I'd never been to before. Unfortunately... I
forgot my camera. So goes life. After working in Leuven, we got a ride
to the second session of stake conference, held in Brussels. The
conference itself was great and uplifting. We then headed back up to
Tilburg and got there late that evening.
I'm
not going to lie, things were pretty discouraging earlier this week with
the work here. We've been working really hard, but no one seems to be
open, and those who are open are never home for their appointments. I've
spoken with more aggressive atheists this transfer than I have in a
long time (Elder Byers and I handled them pretty well, but it still
isn't positive as far as the work goes). And, on Thursday
night, we had to bike way far out to a referral that wasn't even home,
and no one on her street was interested in Jesus. (That two and a half
hours of biking there and back with a twenty minute break in the middle
was rough... My bike seat isn't the kindest, and it even put a hole in
my pants. My rear end was pretty sore afterwards. I won't grace you with
more details.)
What I'm trying to say is,
there were a few nights when I wanted to tear my hair out and ask God,
"why don't you use me to help someone? I'm the most skilled I've been my
whole mission, and I'm willing to work. Why can't we just be blessed
with solid people to teach?" I was pretty frustrated. Yesterday morning,
I was studying in the Book of Mormon, in Alma 8, and I read about Alma
and part of his ministry. He was working in the city of Melek, where
things were going well -- he was seeing a lot of success. Then, he
headed to a city called Ammonihah. There, the people weren't so
receptive... It even said that Satan had gotten ahold of the hearts of
the people of Ammonihah. (While I was reading this, I jokingly thought,
"hey, like Satan seems to have ahold of the hearts of the people we've
been speaking to recently!") In short, they rejected his words, spit on
him (I wonder if it was Redbull?), and cast him out of the city.
So,
Alma's not super impressed with those people, and he decides that he's
just going to go to another city. He's on his way when an angel appears
to him and tells him that he's doing a good job and that he needs to go
back. I can imagine what Alma could have been thinking... "A good job?
That must be why, uh, no one is listening to me. And you want me to go
BACK?" But, regardless of what he was thinking, he went back. He gets to
the city, and he's hungry, so he walks up to a man and says, "will ye
give to an humble servant of God something to eat?" (The last time he
told something to people in that city, he wasn't treated nicely, so I
imagine him having a tired look on his face that says, "please don't
spit on me...") This man responds, saying, "I am a Nephite, and I know
that thou art a holy prophet of God, for thou art the man whom an angel
said in a vision: Thou shalt receive. Therefore, go with me into my
house and I will impart unto thee of my food; and I know that thou wilt
be a blessing unto me and my house."
Wow.
Basically, Alma comes back to the city that rejected him, and what may
have very well been the first person he spoke with after being back
tells him that he's been told about him in a vision. That man was
Amulek, and he fed Alma and helped him recuperate. He later became one
of Alma's best missionary companions. Now, I'd read that story before,
but this time it really hit me. What if Alma had given up and not gone
back? Or gotten lazy? For some reason, God wanted him back in that city
he'd been struggling with. Then, after it had been so hard, he was hit
with a really amazing miracle. It was a cool learning moment for me --
re-learning that life has trials, but if we endure them well, we'll be
blessed. I shared what I'd learned with my companion, and we had a good
talk about it.
Later that day, Elder Byers and I
showed up to a first appointment with a younger Dutch guy. We were
knocking doors a couple days before and had set an appointment with him.
And what do you know, he's actually home! We went and talked while
sitting in his backyard. He asked if we could talk in English -- he
wanted to practice his English while hearing what we have to share.
Textbook lesson about the restoration -- this guy was pretty cool,
seemed sometimes skeptical, but he had good questions. After the lesson,
we asked him to pray. In his prayer, he says the words, "I'd like to
thank You for answering my prayer." I open my eyes while still bowing my
head. What did he say? After we said amen, he looks at us and says,
"Actually, I have a confession to make." He goes on to tell us that the
same day we showed up on his door, he had suddenly had a desire to learn
more about God. He'd even texted a Jehovah's Witness he'd met earlier
to see if they could meet sometime -- he was trying to contact people he
knew would talk to him about God. A couple hours later, we showed up on
his door and, according to him, answered his prayer. I think he's
right. It was a miracle. He is excited to learn more and we have another
appointment for early next week.
As we were
biking away, Elder Byers was pretty excited -- he'd said that was the
coolest thing that had happened on his mission. It was awesome.
Suddenly, a thought came to my mind. I turn to my companion -- "hey,
Elder Byers. I think we just met Amulek." Never give up. You never know
who God needs you to keep going for, just like Alma going back and
meeting Amulek. Trust in Heavenly Father and things will always work
out.
Until the fourth of May. Don't miss me too much next week.
-Elder Bonney
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