This week has been awesome, but before I start, I do read every email that comes to me, but I may not respond to everyone individually. Just wanted to get that out there. :)
We were able to teach our lesson and it went well. They all were there. Only one seemed to pay attention though. We could tell that he was feeling the spirit and that he may have believed what we were teaching (the Restoration). We invited them to be baptized!!! They all said no!!!! The reason was that they were all baptized by their grandma years ago in her church. BUT, they said that if they come to a sure knowledge that what we are teaching is true they will be baptized, so that is really awesome!
We are starting to go through the area book more thoroughly and as a result we have several appointments this week! The work is starting to pick up and it is cool to see the area progress! There is just us in our apartment and there is also a set of Sisters in the ward. The Ward Mission leader is 100% supportive of us and he helps us a lot and really lets us lead. We will be eating Thanksgiving at their house most likely. The ward is awesome and totally missionary minded. In the program is always several missionary things, including the ward goal. We are making a lot of visits to members to invite them to church. It is really fun and my door approaches are improving a lot too!!! Yay!!
On P-day last week we went and walked around Windsor Castle park and downtown Smithfield. There was no castle. We were disappointed. It is instead a plantation thing. Still cool and really pretty though. It has been raining off and on the whole time I have been here. I like it except when we decide to tract! It hasn't been that cold until yesterday. 70's and 80's the whole way. But now we are in the 50's so I am starting to get cold! And we are loosing our car for three days! Some previous missionaries "drove it in a field" - So now we have to get it repaired. We aren't going to use our bikes though because the roads are super narrow and there is literally no shoulder. We will have to get rides from members and spend a lot of time entering people into the GPS and tracting Eagle Harbor, where we live. We just keep telling ourselves it will build character. :)
Me and my companion are continuing to get along swell. We are also helping each other improve ourselves and to become more Christ like. We are both on a sarcasm and negative comments fast this week... 5 hours in and doing great so far! Mexican food just isn't the same here, BUT I DID FIND MRS RENFROS SO HALLELUJAH!!!! I am stuck with Tostitos to eat it with though... you can't get everything I guess. ;) I also did get Mary's letter and I loved it, made my day. We are only allowed to write letters on P-day so I will be sure to write one today.
In Elders yesterday we had a lesson about Emergency Preparedness and we had a spiritual "slap", if you will, to get our 72-hour kits in order, so we will be starting that this week. Apparently ice storms and the accompanying power loss are problems here so me might even end up using it!
I really do appreciate everything and for all of the prayers. I love reading your emails and everything that is happening at home.
With massive amounts of affection and love,
Elder Noah Ciminski
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| Downtown Smithfield |