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| The District |
Don't ever ask that, because God will answer!
I have never been so stressed in my life to be honest. Since Hurricane season has arrived and Harvey hit, it seems like everything has exploded. Gas went up to $2.64 a gallon as of yesterday when we filled up, which isn't that bad but the last time we filled up it was $2.13. Also, we went to WalMart yesterday and was doing some food shopping and noticed how packed it was. We went to the back and serpentined our way forward like we usually do and I noticed that the store was trashed, even for a WalMart! Especially the basic things like water, bread, sugar, pasta and milk. There was dry pasta all over the floor, and the checkout lines were so long! Then we noticed that most people had a flat of water or 4 gallons of spring water in their carts. When we finally made it to the cashier I asked her if people are stocking up and she was like "Oh yeah!" Then she went on to tell me that last week was crazy too because due to a tornado not too far up the road they had to evacuate the store and all the employees took shelter in the back while they waited for the storm to pass. She was really nice though!
Yesterday was Chaotic too. We had a Zone preparation day so we went down to Goldsboro to play sports. As usual, I watched because I can't handle all of the competitiveness. Instead, I was busy collecting a ton of info from the District like the miles driven by the District for meeting each month (1,173), baptismal dates, baptisms that have happened in the past year, and safe houses for hurricane season. I was able to round up all that info and send it in (all on the heels for being responsible for the safety of my District and knowing that they are safe after a violent storm complete with flooding and tornados passed through the area last Friday night), and the Zone Leaders were grateful because I am able to make their job so much easier by doing that. So that made it all worth it. But while were were down there we were supposed to find baptismal jumpsuits, but with everything else going on we forgot!!! So we are figuring out how to get that all taken care of, but it will all work out!
Then we came back and rushed to get ready because I had a baptismal interview to conduct. So we hopped in the car to make the 45 minute drive to Wilson.... and the car won't start. It just clicks. We pop the hood and look around and nothing is wrong. I am kinda freaking out because it has been a long stressful day, and then Elder Ahrens suggests to give it some gas when I try and start it. The car groans and doesn't start. By this time we are going to be late, so I try one more time before we give up and call to cancel and it starts!!!!! We hop in the car and take off, only to realize we forgot something. So we head back to grab it and hit the road again! We get only 10 miles down the road before we get a call from the teaching missionaries canceling the interview. At this point, I am ready to head to bed, but we went to Walmart (see last paragraph) because the place we were going to go (Aldi) is next to the place where we were conducting the interview. But there we ran into one of my favorite members who asks for a blessing because she got in a car wreck earlier in the week and has back problems from that. We were able to do that and help her with some things since she is also the caregiver for her parents and is a single mom to a struggling child who we are working with. So I guess it all worked out. The only problem is that my stress level was in the red!!! :D
The family we have been teaching had their baptismal interview and passed!!! They are still set to be baptized on Saturday and for a second I thought that we would have to move it again because of Irma. She won't arrive (if she does at all) until late next week, so that isn't an issue. It is finally all coming together!!!! It has been a long time coming and we are glad to see it happening! We also had someone else move back from Pittsburgh and so we will be teaching her again. All very exciting!
That is about all for this week. Be looking for pictures! I love you!
Elder Ciminski
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| Tree hit by lightning. |
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| Picturesque North Carolina |