Monday was preparation day! We went to 花蓮 and played some board games with other missionaries, not the most exciting thing ever but it was relaxing. Elder Crimm and I wore our student outfits today and got a lot of weird looks, even more than we usually do. It was fun though. haha. I'm always a fan of people looking us funny and chuckling. Basically, P-day wasn't too exciting and after we began working we made some cookies to bring with us on a member visit tomorrow. So basically our day was super slow and we didn't do too much. Tomorrow is a new year and the start of my blackout year. One full year as a missionary, how awesome is that! I can't wait for everything 2019 has to offer. Let the fun begin!
Tuesday was a surprising day! We had District Council in 花蓮 so we were getting ready to hit the train and then our District Leader texted us and wanted to do exchanges after District Council. So we had to pack an overnight bag to stay the night in 花蓮! District Council was super good and then afterward we had a secondary meeting about an activity all the missionaries are putting on to help the youth get pumped for serving missions. They want to make a video and because everyone knows I'm a YouTuber they kinda put me in charge of it. So I get to use my skills to make an awesome video about missionary work! I'm super excited. I am working with 2 other missionaries who have video experience, it's gonna be so cool. After all the meetings though we started our exchange. I am with a native Taiwanese elder named Elder 方 (fang). He is a fun Elder to work with this should be a good exchange! So despite having a surprise exchange and meetings galore today was so awesome!
Wednesday was pretty good. We finished up our exchange in 花蓮 and made it down to our area safely. It is getting more and more troublesome to travel up to the city. They recently changed some of the train times and whatnot so it means we only have a few windows of times we can travel. It's a little difficult but with better and more thorough planning it will all work out just the same as before! We filled up our night with finishing studies, eating and then riding around to try and visit some potentials. We tried to teach an English class but nobody showed up... maybe next week will be better. 鳳林 is awesome I am learning so much from this area!
Thursday we did a lot of biking. We didn't have much going on so we biked about 40 minutes to try to find some people and didn't find anyone, then biked back to eat some dinner then biked 20 minutes to a lesson and 20 minutes back. This area has so much biking! It's good for my health though, maybe I have a lung disease like Elder Uchtdorf did and this is helping that become better. I'm just kidding but this area is definitely a lot more labor intensive. There is seemingly no return for the labor. I know that I am planting seeds for people to hear the gospel. Abinadi only had one convert but look who that one convert turned into! That thought came across my mind today and I am holding to it. The people in this area will be baptized someday! Even if it's not by me.
Friday was pretty abnormal. The sun was out and shining and it even felt a little warm! I can't even remember the last time I saw the sun before today. It turned out to be such a pleasant day. The highlight of it was probably playing basketball again with one of our investigator's kids and growing that relationship with them. We also shared an awesome message with them including my favorite Mormon Message called, "The Hope of God's Light". It was super awesome and they enjoyed it too! Another awesome thing was that I won a 100M dash! One of the kids we were playing ball with challenged us and I accepted so we lined up and he started before "go" was even said but we took off. I was going as fast as I could but he had the lead for a lot of it. Then towards the end, I came storming back and came out the winning end of a close finish. It was just like all of the Usain Bolt races I watched! It felt good to run like that again, I really ought to get back into it especially with a track so convenient to our apartment. Anyway, that was my awesome Friday! Lots of sport and gospel sharing.
Saturday was a quick day! We did our usual studies and then we grabbed some grub and did our weekly planning session! We got to talk about our friends and how we will help them progress in the gospel, good stuff! Afterward, we got some dinner and then went to the chapel for the rest of our hour. I played some piano and enjoyed the spirit of the hymns and songs from the children's songbook. Even though my piano skills are very poor I am improving! Afterward, however, we had a lesson and then went to the train station to catch a train to 花蓮. Because our small group goes up to the ward in 花蓮 every fast Sunday, but train times are very hard to align, we have to go up the night before in order to make sure we can go to church! It's fun to travel and stuff so I enjoy it. All part of the experience!
Sunday was a great day! We started off the morning hanging out with the Elders we crashed with last night. The Taiwan Taipei Mission has some pretty dang good missionaries I'm surrounded by so many amazing people! We did have church today and it was the first two-hour block for the ward we attend on fast Sundays. Since our small group already does 2 hours it wasn't a big adjustment but it's great to see the implementation of this change! How amazing it is to have a living prophet to lead and guide us. After church our Bishop told us to come to his office he said he had something he needed us for. Turns out he needed to give us all macaroni and cheese! Not just any macaroni and cheese. IT WAS KRAFT MACARONI AND CHEESE, LIKE FROM AMERICA. All 6 of us started freaking out we didn't expect it at all but it was such a miracle. I'm so grateful for it. After we traveled home and ate dinner we had a quick lesson (went very not as expected... that's all I'll say about it). Overall such an awesome day I'm so grateful I have been a missionary for these last 7 months (today is another month mark!)
Sunday was a great day! We started off the morning hanging out with the Elders we crashed with last night. The Taiwan Taipei Mission has some pretty dang good missionaries I'm surrounded by so many amazing people! We did have church today and it was the first two-hour block for the ward we attend on fast Sundays. Since our small group already does 2 hours it wasn't a big adjustment but it's great to see the implementation of this change! How amazing it is to have a living prophet to lead and guide us. After church our Bishop told us to come to his office he said he had something he needed us for. Turns out he needed to give us all macaroni and cheese! Not just any macaroni and cheese. IT WAS KRAFT MACARONI AND CHEESE, LIKE FROM AMERICA. All 6 of us started freaking out we didn't expect it at all but it was such a miracle. I'm so grateful for it. After we traveled home and ate dinner we had a quick lesson (went very not as expected... that's all I'll say about it). Overall such an awesome day I'm so grateful I have been a missionary for these last 7 months (today is another month mark!)
I love you all so much! I'm praying for y'all constantly. 加油!
宋長老
Elder Ciminski