Week 26: "And I wish you a fine evening up there."

December 9, 2013

Goede morgen, dames en heren, omas en opas, jongens en meisjas!

Yes, I stole that from a train conductor. Anyway, this past week has been good! It was a slow week, I can't lie. A lot of appointments fell through, and the weather was AWFUL. But hey, just another day in the life... It was a good week, though.

So yeah, the weather. It has been getting progressively worse. Last Thursday (which was the Dutch holiday of Sinterklaas!), we got texts from members telling us to watch out and that the weather was code red. Great. After an appointment fell through, we were walking to Groningen Centraal to catch a bus. It was raining, but we figured we could make it before it got too bad. Mistake. It started to hail. And, I'm not talking little, fun hail. This was painful hail. It was traumatizing. It stopped hailing soon after and just started raining, but the weather didn't get much better. It snowed the next day. Since then, we've had lots of cold rain and wind. To top it off, I lost my gloves sometime at the beginning of this transfer, so I don't have any right now. Saturday night was the worst... It was way cold and windy, and it wouldn't stop raining. I was soaked. My hands hate me.

Sinterklaas! I've already told a little bit about Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet... Sinterklaas is like Santa Claus, but he isn't. Apparently the Americans stole Sinterklaas and turned him into Santa Claus (who Dutch people call the "Kerstman" -- literally translates into "Christmas man"). Apparently Santa is Sinterklaas' brother. It's weird. Anyway, Sinterklaas brings gifts on the 5th of December. And, our ward mission leader and his wife invited us and the Groningen zusters over for Sinterklaas...he brought us gifts too! It was great. We had a super fun night with them. My best Sinterklaas yet.

Funny story. Elder Nelson and I have this one investigator from Cape Verde. Middle-aged, manly black dude. He's an honest seeker of truth if I've ever seen one -- he's read a lot in the Book of Mormon, and each appointment he has new and insightful questions. He notices things the average reader doesn't notice. He's not trying to prove it wrong -- he just wants to be sure that he doesn't take the wrong path. Good on him. He's great. We had a good lesson with him this past Friday, and he said the closing prayer, as usual. He said a good prayer, but then to close it off, he seemed a little lost for words, and then he said (in Dutch)... "And..and I wish you a fine evening up there. Amen."

I gave a talk yesterday -- my first sacrament meeting talk on my mission! I was supposed to give one in Kortrijk, but the first time I was supposed to give it, it was canceled due to a visit from a member of the stake presidency (who spoke instead). The second time I was supposed to give it...I got transferred. But, I did get to give one up in Groningen! It was on testimony. It really showed me how much help the Lord has given me with this language. I gave a fifteen minute talk, and the language wasn't even an issue. I was more worried about giving a good talk than anything else -- I didn't have to worry about it being in Dutch. Less than six months ago, I walked into the MTC, not speaking Dutch at all. Yesterday, I taught investigators' class and gave a talk, both in Dutch. The Lord won't require anything of us that He won't help us accomplish. It's amazing.

By the way, my six-month mark is this week. I'm about 1/4 the way through. Crazy, huh?

Keep it real.

--Elder Bonney

PS -- Elder Nelson and I, during a great ending to a rough day, with our gifts from Sinterklaas.

Week 25: "Oh, of course! You're American. You guys can't ride bikes!"

December 2, 2013

Hey, guys!

I can't believe that it's already December. I remember sitting in the MTC with my buddies, and we were all talking about how we would just need to make it to Christmas. It seemed so far away! Now, Christmas is in a little over three weeks. It's crazy how time has flown.

This past week has been good. It didn't exactly fly by, but it was a good week. Elder Nelson and I haven't had to go through any real adjustment period with each other -- we've been sharing an apartment for the past six weeks, so this new transfer wasn't a huge change. It is different, not having the other two elders here anymore. It's a little lonely. I miss Elder Besendorfer and Elder England -- it was good having some second-transfer missionary spunk in the apartment. But, Elder Nelson and I keep things lively. We will see success together.

Now that there is only one companionship of elders in Groningen, we've combined our investigators, and those appointments have kept us pretty busy. We're working with a few investigators who are preparing for baptism, working with miracles that happened in our respective companionships at the end of last transfer, and we're starting to see some of our own. Except the first day we had together was...an adventure.

Elder Nelson and I have decided to do this thing where, when we go out finding, we can't come back unless we have at least one potential. Elder Nelson suggested it, and I thought, no biggie. Elder Besendorfer and I always got potential investigators pretty easy. So, when we headed out in the morning, we went to go do some finding. We talked to people. And we talked to more people. And we talked to more people. We almost got some information..but we didn't. An hour went by. Two hours went by. The time we planned to take lunch went by, minute by minute. By this point, Elder Nelson (mind you, he's a big guy who likes his food) and I (a slightly smaller guy who likes his food too) are going crazy. We just want to go home and eat. So, we are talking to EVERYONE. Literally, everyone. It was crazy. We were desperate, but we realized that if we let our desperation show, no one would want to make an appointment. We finally got a number from this one younger woman. I ended up having the best contacting day of my mission. And, we rewarded ourselves by going out to Subway. Even though, they have a six euro thirty centimeter sub, instead of a five-dollar foot-long, it still tasted a little like BYU Subway. Nice.

Later that same day... I was hit by a car. Yes, a car t-boned me on my bike. I had to go to the hospital, and I broke my leg. Okay, stop gasping -- that was a lie. I didn't have a scratch on me, miraculously enough. My bike, on the other hand...well, the damage done to the back wheel rendered the bike unusable. Great. This Asian, middle-aged guy gets out of the car, and we start to have a rapid-fire argument in Dutch. Great. The driver (who turns out to be his also Asian, also middle-aged wife) pulls the car over and gets out, starts apologizing, then sees my name-tag and realizes that I'm not Dutch. She goes, "oh, of course! You're American. You guys can't ride bikes!" Implying, of course, that Americans don't know how to ride bikes. You all will be proud to know that I held back any racially insensitive comments about her ethnicity and her driving. It's not like there are jokes about Asian driving or anything. Even though we never agreed on whose fault it was, we apologized and went our separate ways. I locked my bike to a nearby pole. I ended up having to buy a new wheel (go figure) that costed just as much as my used bike had. Greeaaat. But, so is it. It's not like that was my sixth bike accident on my mission or anything...

Two of our investigators who have baptismal dates came to church this past Sunday! It was definitely a miracle. One of them (she's around 40 and from Curacao) hadn't ridden a bike in about 20 years...and she rode one to go to church! Oh my goodness. I just about died, it was so great. And, I got to witness the BEST fellowshipping ever at church that day. One family just took her under their wing and were SO helpful. It's always good to see people who are friendly too investigators at church. It makes me feel great.

I have to go. But, you all have a great week! Also, Tex asked us to dance again yesterday. Go figure.

Stay true!

--Elder Bonney

PS -- The Book of Mormon. Pure pleasure is inside. I may or may not be standing in front of an ad with George Clooney holding a coffee cup.

Week 24: "Dance."

November 25, 2013

Hey everyone! So, before you all get excited...this week's email is not going to be too long. I apologize in advance. (Before you get un-excited, we got transfer calls. Stay tuned.) My companion and I went down to Zwolle this morning and got back not too long ago, and there are other things we need to do. Writing you all is important. Buying food may be -dare I say it- more important. If only we had more dinner appointments...

This past week, Elder Besendorfer was gone a lot. On Tuesday, we had a zone training, and after that we had exchanges with the district leader. On Wednesday, we had exchanges with the zone leaders. On Thursday, I was graced by my companion's presence for a few short hours...then, he had to go to Den Haag with another elder from the other Groningen companionship before they both went down to Brussels the next morning for legality. They got back Friday night, and since then, we've been working together.

In summary,  I got to work with a lot of different missionaries this week. I learned different things from all of them. On Tuesday, I worked with a young elder, from Elder Besendorfer's group. Working with him was definitely interesting. It taught me things about Elder Besendorfer, if about anyone -- I am truly blessed to be able to work with such a spiritually in-tune man. This elder wasn't bad to work with, by any means, but I truly am straight-up BLESSED to work with my current companion.

On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to spend the day with Elder Eastmond -- the elder who trained me during my first transfer down in Kortrijk. He's also one of my zone leaders right now. Working with him really showed me how much I've grown since my first transfer. A lot has happened since then. I've had to have a lot of faith. I've had to work very hard. And, working with Elder Eastmond showed me just how much that helped me grow. We taught two lessons together that day -- one in Dutch, one in English. They were powerful. I've changed the way I teach. I've gotten more confident, and we just worked really well together. It was amazing to see.

On Friday, I was with Elder Nelson. Elder Nelson is the senior companion of the other Groningen elders -- the ones we live with. That was a fun day, and also it gave a little insight. A little insight, because... he and I are now companions. The other pair of Groningen elders has been struggling a lot, and they are now being closed -- they're getting closed, our trainees are leaving Groningen, and we're getting paired together. It's definitely interesting. I have mixed feelings. But, our exchange on Friday was prophecy. Go figure. I'll miss Elder Besendorfer a lot. This has been a blessed transfer. But, I'll take whatever the Lord gives me and run with it.

I gotta run. But, I'll grace you all with an email next week.

Wait.

So, Elder Besendorfer and I were with the sister missionaries, and we were visiting this super old guy. Tex. We visit him once a week. He's great. He's totally an American cowboy. Seriously -- he grew up in one of the Mormon colonies in Mexico. Super old, and I *think* he has short-term memory loss, but he's hilarious. This week, he was telling us all about how ladies love him, but he doesn't know why. He's 96. Anyways, when we were leaving, the sisters asked if there was anything we could do for him. He responded to them immediately: "Dance." Oh, he's quick with his words. I was impressed.

Keep dancing. Until next week.

--Elder Bonney

PS -- Taken at zone training this past Tuesday. Elder Muse (Elder Besendorfer's trainer and one of our zone leaders), the Groningen Zusters (Sisters Larson and Heilner), me, and Elder Besendorfer.

Week 23: "She just threw gingerbread at us. Wow."

November 18, 2013

Hey guys!

This week went by pretty quickly too... Wow. Some days feel like they will never end, but somehow I'm surprised at how quickly the week went by. It's funny how time works.

So last week (not this past week, but the one before) was a REALLY good week. Elder Besendorfer and I taught a lot, and we got a lot of work done. This week...not so good. At least, that's what numbers would tell you. But numbers don't mean a thing, right? It was a good week. Though, there isn't that much to write about. I'll do my best to appease you all.

My companion and I have this one investigator, and he has had a baptismal date for a while. (It's relatively far out, though -- I think he wants to make us work for it.) We'd made an appointment for Monday, but...he called and canceled. Helaas pindakaas. We optimistically rescheduled for the next day. Again...canceled. Again, rescheduled for the next day. Third time is a charm, right? No. Called. We rescheduled for the next day (you can tell we really care about this guy -- if a girl back home stood me up three times, I definitely wouldn't try for a fourth time...). We came by Thursday morning. Turns out, our investigator had been looking for a job (this we knew -- getting a job would really help his life out, help him start following the commandments and alles). He had found a job, and he had been in the training process! Also, he had had to go to the hospital because he was pretty sick, and then he sprained his wrist, so when we finally met with him, his arm was in a cast... In conclusion, he hadn't just been whimsically canceling his appointments. We sat down with him, talked with him, and he still really wants to be baptized. We laid out everything he would have to change to be baptized (including the often overlooked but undeniably crucial *church attendance*). He said he was willing to do it. I have to say, I doubted a little. He hadn't been to church in months (he's been investigating for a while). We show up to church...he isn't there. Go figure. We finish the first hour and pop out into the hallway -- who do we see, but our investigator, walking in the door. That was fantastic. To top it off, we had two other investigators in church on Sunday. It was great. In conclusion -- don't give up SO easily. Who knows, your investigator may have gotten sick, sprained his arm, and then been in a work-training program.

You know what's cool? The temple. Our mission president has said that being baptized is like walking into Disneyland -- it's cool and everything, you're in Disneyland! But why did you come to Disneyland? To just stand around? I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule (who are probably rolling their eyes right now -- yes, I'm sure you have a justifiably traumatizing experience with rollercoasters in your past), but (generalization warning) most people go to Disneyland to get on the rides! And THAT is what the temple is. Baptism is just the first step. The temple is the real goal.

Of course, I have a story daarmee. So, Bessie and I are sitting in our apartment, in our weekly planning session. We decided we need to visit more less-active members. But who... This one member, who I had met once before, popped into my mind. He's about 30, lives with his girlfriend and his daughter. Doesn't come to church that much (I've seen him there once). Anyways, we call him up. We want to come over sometime. Sure thing, when? Whenever is best for you. Tomorrow? Tomorrow it is. So, we went over the next day. We started off by asking him if he wanted to go to the temple someday. And when. He said yes. And relatively soon. I asked him if he had any problems with any of the commandments (gotta get this guy temple worthy!) and...*drum roll please* he and his girlfriend had decided to separate, because she wasn't happy in the relationship! Now, I know I sound like Johnny raincloud over here, but bear with me -- I'm not excited about his probably broken heart, or the fact that he'll only get to see his daughter a couple times a week, or...wow, I'm starting to think this isn't a great thing anymore... But, he will be living all the commandments now! Well on the way to being temple worthy. And, he brought his mom AND his aunt to church the other Sunday. In regards to his girlfriend, I feel justified in saying that he's losing something good for something better. I mean, you can't get much better than the temple.

Also, Saturday was Sinterklaas, an annual holiday here in the Netherlands. Basically, he comes up from Spain once a year on the Saturday after Sint Maartin (another holiday, that happened on Monday). Sinterklaas, that is. He's like Santa Claus, but he isn't (Santa is the Kerstman here -- who they say is the brother of Sinterklaas). Anyway, when Sinterklaas sailed up from Spain to the Netherlands this year, he sailed into Groningen. While my comp and I were trying to contact people by the centrum. Needless to say, no one wanted to listen to us. But, it was cool to see Sinterklaas sail in...it was a huge celebration, and it was broadcast all over the Netherlands. Also, there were little "Zwarte Piet" people everywhere -- Zwarte Piet is a comrade of Sinterklaas, and he takes the bad kids with him back to Spain, where they work in the coal mines, and the coal dust makes their faces black. People really like to dress up like them. They also throw these little gingerbread things (about the size of coins) at people. I never thought I'd get gingerbread thrown at me while riding my bike. Go figure.

Until next week. In the meanwhile, don't let Zwarte Piet bring you back to Spain.

--Elder Bonney

Week 22: "There's Mormons in the neighborhood."

November 11, 2013

I honestly feel a little apostate, emailing right now, because this week has flown by -- I can hardly believe it's Monday again.

So hello, everyone! This past week has probably been one of the best weeks of my entire mission. My companion and I have been working really hard, and we've been so busy these past seven days -- rushing from appointments from one end of Groningen to the other, talking to tons of people, meeting new investigators -- there's not enough time to think about...time. I am loving it, though.

This past week, Elder Besendorfer and I were out street contacting, when we hear (in a VERY American voice), "oh, there's Mormons in the neighborhood!" Obviously, I'm a little confused at first (happens to me occasionally). We responded, to the owner of this voice, "Hey! You know us?" "There's only one guys who'll walk around town with a suit and a name badge on." Turns out, this guy is from the DC area, and he moved to the Netherlands because his kids live here with his ex-wife, and he wanted to see them grow up. Tender. And, he owns a haircut studio. Basically, I know where I'm getting my hair cut next time I need it -- in this cool cat's shop.

We were knocking doors the other day (definitely NOT my preferred method of contacting, but when it's pouring rain, you do what you can), and one man opened his door, said, "hey, you guys are from Salt Lake," and beckoned us to come inside. We did. Turns out, this guy is an inactive member of the Groningen Ward. He was a little crazy. He spoke English to us -- when we asked him how he spoke such good English, he responded by telling us that he speaks English when talking to himself. Okay, buddy! He showed us his false teeth (which he refused to put in, so he was bijna impossible to understand when he spoke Dutch), talked about aliens, and was doing other strange things... We shared a quick, sincere message. I gave this trooper (who was a teeny bit drunk) a hug, then we got out of there.

Just yesterday, Elder Besendorfer and I were riding our bikes to an appointment. It started raining. Which, by the way, is not in the least unusual here in Groningen. We bike in the rain just about every day. So when it started to rain, I wasn't surprised or upset, just a little wet. So, we're riding along (get the mental picture ready). We were crossing a pretty quiet intersection. Suddenly, we hear this noise, like really hard rain hitting the ground, rapidly approaching us. Oh, great. Time to get soaked. I was more than a little surprised to discover that this sound wasn't rain, it was HAIL hitting the street, hail which then proceeded to hit me and Bessie. I'd say it was definitely bigger than a BB, but smaller than a peanut. It only hurt a little bit.

Tomorrow marks five months since I entered the MTC. Wow. Time is flying. I can honestly say that I am enjoying my mission right now. My companion and I are working hard. We're doing what we were called here to do. We have investigators progressing towards baptism. We ride bikes a lot. Missions aren't easy, but right now, I don't know what could be going better. I'm in a great city with a great companion, and we have a great sense of purpose. And, as of last night (when we visited one of our investigators who is overcoming problems and progressing towards baptism), I can honestly say that I felt the Spirit while sitting in a house that stood a few houses away from a red-light district and smelled strongly of marijuana. It's great. Dang, I love my job.

Until next week. It'll come sooner than you think.

Much love.

--Elder Bonney

The photo? I'm not sure. A golden find of Groningen.

Week 21: "Dude. You just kicked a hedgehog into a river."

Hey guys!

So I'll start off by saying that this week's quote will NOT be explained. All that needs to be known is 1) I was on exchanges with another elder, and we were in Leeuwarden 2) There are hedgehogs in the Netherlands 3) One was kicked off of a bridge.

That said, hedgehogs are undeniably cute, funny-looking little animals. Seriously. It sounds un-manly to say, but it's true.

This past week flew by. Last Tuesday, we got to go on splits with the zone leaders, Elder Muse and Elder Eastmond. It's funny -- they were companions in Groningen before Elder Eastmond headed down to Kortrijk to train me. Now, my mission 'dad' is my zone leader, and I'm serving in his favorite city. Go figure. Elder Muse and I went out and got a lot of work done that day. It was fun.

On Wednesday, we had exchanges with the elders to Heerenveen, another city in our district. The elders to Heerenveen work in Heerenveen itself and the surrounding cities -- primarily Leeuwarden. I worked with an elder from the group below mine (the same group as my companion). I have to say, the people in Friesland (the province that includes Heerenveen and Leeuwarden) have been some of the meanest I've encountered on my mission so far. We ran into this one guy, who was telling us that we can't share what we do because we can't *know* that it's true, we only think we do. Saying we were not intelligent and all that and other not nice stuff. We testified powerfully and from the heart, but we did so kindly. He was kind of stunned. Then he changed the direction of the conversation and said that people like us are "bad for the Netherlands" because the people don't want us. People aren't the nicest, and many don't want us. But we're out here to talk to the many to find the one.

Halloween! I can't believe it's Halloween. I remember last year's Halloween night so well -- hanging around BYU campus with two of my best friends. Oh, this year's Halloween night was so different -- being a missionary in the Netherlands, participating in a ward young adult activity that we were asked to go to. It was fun, but so different. We carved pumpkins and had some fun activities, led by the senior missionaries (who I ADORE). I dressed up as one of those Mormon missionaries. It was hilarious.

There actually isn't too much more to write this week! Elder Besendorfer and I have been working really hard to teach some new people. We've set a big goal for lessons to investigators next week -- it's something over ten. I usually don't find it appropriate to share or focus on numerical goals or achievements -- numbers don't matter, and every mission is different, but Bessie and I are working really hard to find "the one" who will listen sincerely. Anything over ten lessons in a week is serious success for us missionaries. But, I'm working harder than I ever have. We'll see success.

Hang in there, everyone. Stay great.

--Elder Bonney

This is from the Halloween activity. Elder Nelson (one of the other Groningen elders) and I were with two JoVos. We all made a rather gruesome Jack-o-Lantern, under their direction. Kijk eens aan.

Week 20: "Here, take this euro. TAKE IT."

October 28, 2013 

Hey, everybody!

This past week just flew by. Right after P-day ended a week ago, my companion and I boarded a train to Den Haag, where we spent the night with the Den Haag elders. The next day was temple conference -- all us missionaries (half at a time, because the Den Haag temple is pretty small) got to go to the temple, followed by a conference led by the APs and the mission president. Getting to go to the temple was a fantastic experience. Everything done inside was all in Dutch -- which I hadn't anticipated. Plus, it's the temple, which is always a wonderful place to be. One elder put it very well, when we were standing outside the temple afterwards. He said, "so many of the people here don't know how fortunate they are to have this little building in their country." So true.

This week was relatively slow when it comes to giving lessons and teaching new investigators. However, Elder Besendorfer and I worked our tails off, so I feel good about it. We found some new people to teach, and I'm getting to know my way around this big city. It really is a cool place. Still very rainy and very windy -- this morning, when riding our bikes to the church building to email, we got soaked in the rain. And we haven't even eaten BREAKFAST yet. The wind is still a demon. But, what can you do? Besides get very wet and have a windburned face.

Oh, serious note. Yesterday afternoon, I unfortunately caught a glimpse of one of Groningen's two red-light districts. It's sad, really. Something I always heard about, never really thought about. But they are there, and it's so sad and so..just..evil, you know? Prostitution should never be acceptable. Ever.

So story time, to brighten the mood! Yesterday evening, around 6 PM (oh, yesterday was daylight savings here in Europe, so it was even darker than usual), Elder Besendorfer (I'm going to start calling him Bessie for short; Besendorfer takes too long to type) and I were contacting people on the street by the centrum. First of all, Sunday evening is apparently date night, and that makes it hard. I mean, who wants to talk to two young guys on date night? (I'm slowly starting to forget what the word 'date' means, being a missionary for so long...) Anyways, we're out contacting, with not too much success. We're talking to this man, when this drunk black guy (I have no clue what his name is, but I've decided to call him Paul) comes up to us. He starts going OFF in Dutch. Here's a rough translation of our conversation:

---

Paul: "Hey, can you guys give me some money? I got nothing!"

Elder Bonney (that's me): "Sorry, we don't have anything to give you."

Paul: "Why not? Aren't you guys children of God?!"

Me: "Yeah, and you are also a child of God!"

Paul: "Really? Am I really a child of God?"

Me: "Oh, you are definitely a child of God."

Paul: *Aggressively* "So tell me -- is God white?"

Me: "I've..."

...Paul doesn't let me finish, starts going off on why I should give him money...

Paul: "You know, I'm more religious than you!"

Me: "What do you mean?"

Paul: "Because I'll give you my money. Here, take this euro. TAKE IT. It's all the money I have."

Me: "Hey, I don't want your money."

Paul: "Okay. You know, you guys are okay. I like you guys."

Then Paul got on one knee and bowed to us. We walked away awkwardly. Then he got up and started singing. Interesting guy.

---

We also walked up to two guys who said they didn't want to hear our "message about gay people." We told them our message was for everyone. They still declined. We left with a cheerful, "well, enjoy your evening!" then went to go teach one of our gay investigators. Yes, we have two of them, and no, they aren't associated with each other. And yes, they both believe with their whole hearts that the Book of Mormon is true and are willing (and have begun) to change their lifestyles. And yes, our message is for everyone.

Until next week. Loves!

--Elder Bonney

Me with one of my MTC buddies serving in Den Haag, Elder Cook.

 Me with Elder Blackhurst, who I've known for over a year now. There with me every step of the way.