On Monday it was P-day of course. We went and did some shopping. We started at Ross and I found some Stance socks for cheap which was nice and after Ross we went to Dollar World and I found some shoes for $6 and they look pretty cool. I'm quickly following in the traditions of the mission. After those two places, we went to Walmart to round out the trip and I got some cereal and milk (I have it so much nowadays). Other than that we went to the institute building and played some games with the other missionaries. Not much else happened Monday but it was a good day!
Tuesday didn't go to plan at all though. We had weekly planning and studies in the morning so that took a lot of our day. We also had a member take us out to lunch which was awesome! Once we finished planning and stuff we went to the Taiwanese bakery in town! I was able to talk to the guy in Mandarin and he understood me! It was so cool! And I got some AMAZING stuff from the bakery so I told him we would be back soon because it was so great! After the bakery, we were gonna go to Eudora and do a lot of contacting but as we pulled out of the bakery our car battery died! So that ate up all of our contacting time trying to find someone with jumpers to help us out. Not what we wanted to do, but it was out of our hands. We did get to go to institute and had another awesome lesson from Brother Mitchell! Institute is the best way to end the day!
Wednesday we had zone conference in Topeka. It was good! Lots of missionaries gathered together and it was very inspiring. I don't really have a lot to say regarding it but I had been saying a silent prayer for a long time to see one of my favorite movie clips (the death crawl scene from "Facing the Giants") and President McCuistion showed it and I was so happy! I love that scene it always reminds me that we can do more than we think we can and especially on the mission it's a great thing to remember. The other great part was I was asked to say the closing prayer for zone conference and I said it in Mandarin. It was quite the experience being able to speak my language and it made me tear up a little! Any time I speak Mandarin a lot of makes me emotional. Definitely kinda weird since I'm not the emotional type but Mandarin has taken me over!
Thursday we had zone leader exchanges which was fun. We started them in the morning after gym so we did our studies and planning and stuff at the apartment and we went to lunch together then got to work! We knocked doors for a few hours trying to find people. It was really fun because it was raining for some of it so we got to walk in the rain and get work done. It made it even more fun for sure. The rain stopped and it kinda heated back up a little, but cooled down again and ultimately was a great day. One thing I learned from my exchange was how to kinda go more with the flow and just accept that not everything is in my control. Learning how to go with what people say and make that relate to the gospel. I feel like the mission has mellowed me out a lot and I'm more go with the flow but today helped me learn how that can apply it to teaching people too. Not having a set lesson in mind no matter what but going in and listening to what the person says and what the spirit says. Using the Spirit and not just what I think. We all know we aren't as knowledgeable as God! Missions are awesome for learning new things about yourself and about how to be a better person and I love that!
Friday was a day of an awesome tender mercy from the Lord. We did do work and stuff but it was the same old type of things so today is just a miracle story! We were out knocking doors today and we knocked into an Asian man and he wasn't interested in our message so we left. Why I mention he was Asian is because I didn't speak Mandarin to him even though he spoke it to other people in his house and I heard it. I didn't say anything and I totally missed a chance to maybe soften his heart by hearing it in his own language. Needless to say, I was disappointed. As we were walking to the next house I said a prayer to myself and asked Heavenly Father for a second chance and to help me run into someone who spoke Mandarin and that I could speak some with them. We kept on knocking and no luck, both in finding people and also finding my Mandarin opportunity! (Elder Zolik didn't know about this so he couldn't help me!) We went throughout the day and still no luck. Eventually, we were playing volleyball, the last event of the day where we play volleyball and invite less actives or members or investigators. Basically, anyone who wants to come. During the game, a man comes over and asked to play with us. Of course, we let him and he was actually super good and it was really fun! After the game, we talked to him a little and I asked if he spoke Mandarin (he also looked Asian and had an accent from China). All of the other missionaries were shocked and worried I asked him and maybe offended him, but he said he did and that he's actually from China! So I spoke Mandarin with him and it was amazing. Afterwards, all the other missionaries were shocked about what had happened and so I told them about the prayer and they were all amazed. I know God answers prayers but also that he gives second chances! I blew my first chance at speaking Mandarin to someone today but I got a second chance and didn't miss it! My testimony of those two things grew so much today :)
Saturday was a good day. We had missionary correlation and that was good. We did have a goal to find three new people and get a return appointment. So we went knocking some streets and sure enough, the Lord blessed us with one solid return appointment and two other people who said we could come back later next week and try to follow up. The Lord is so amazing he provides a way for us to accomplish what we want to do! After that, we went to our dinner appointment. It was a wedding reception that we got invited to so needless to say we felt very uncomfortable there but the food was good and I think Sister Gordon-Ross sent home a photo of the missionaries there! Hopefully, you got that! The last thing I did was pass off lesson one in Chinese and Elder Fielding is a homie now and we had an awesome chat about Mandarin and missionary work and it was chill. All the missionaries out here are so chill and homies with everyone. It's so sweet. Elder Fielding said my Chinese was amazing he just had one question about something I had said but it turns out the MTC changed how you say the order of some words and so I was able to teach him something. It all worked out great!
Sunday was a good day. Church was good and we had another teaching appointment right after church. We brought the institute teacher with us so he could help us answer questions and the lesson went super well! So next Sunday when we do our next appointment we will hopefully move forward! The other great part of today was we had dinner with an awesome elderly couple in the ward and they told us some awesome stories. They were so nice. That basically wrapped up the day. It was great!!
That about wraps it up for the week. I also got my English name tags this week so it is a little weird being a normal missionary, but it's only temporary! I love Kansas though and it is the best place to be right now!
Love you all!
Elder Heber Ciminski