Greetings and Salutations!
Tuesday preparation day! Super awesome. Felt like a Monday because we still did the same things lol. Called some family and whatnot then had lunch all together and then hung out at the chapel! Elder Lee and I did some various basketball skills challenges today and bet a Mountain Dew for the winner and I ended up winning 2 bottles in the end! I felt like the twin from Dude Perfect that rarely wins battles. Because Elder Lee is really good at ball and I'm not the best Haha. Winning felt good though, especially when Mountain Dew is on the line! That was the day though nothing mega exciting. I love chill preparation days!
May Day May Day!! Crazy to think that the year is already 1/3 the way done, and only about 35,337,600 seconds left of my mission. Wednesday we had a few lessons and played Badminton at night! Our lessons went swimmingly and we helped 2 more of our friends set a baptismal goal with us! They appear to be earnest seekers of the truth and I think they will definitely come to a conclusion that our church is true. The next lesson was with someone we have been meeting with a while but she is still working to overcome some addictions. She seems pretty solid towards it so we will have to see how she progresses. The last lesson we had was with our friend who is being baptized next Saturday. We just read the scriptures with him and reminded him he can't smoke! But I know he will quit in time and it will be a joyous day next Saturday to see him accept baptism! Along with studies that made up our day!
Thursday was Exchange Day. I was with Elder Ray once again in the beautiful land of 花蓮. We had a super great day reading the scriptures with a recent convert and then biking to the university for a lesson and the rest of our day's plans. At the college we actually had a cool experience where we started talking with one man who has a very crazy life story and had lots to say but then the man we were originally gonna meet with showed up and so I taught the appointment the whole lesson while Elder ray is a few feet away sharing the gospel with the other guy! It was super crazy and a wild experience for sure. Sharing the gospel is a beautiful thing though, no matter how you do it. After that amazing experience we had a study and ate dinner and contacted some people then biked home for the end of the day. One funny thing that happened right as we were leaving for home. Some college girls were studying some English and whatnot and as I walked by I just looked at them, smiled, and said to them, "Your English is very good!" And they just started giggling as I walked away and started talking amongst each other. Hopefully, their confidence in their English was bolstered.
Another Friday another chill day in the books, Friday especially. We ended exchanges in the afternoon and Elder Lee and I got to come back to 鳳林 and we had some language study and dinner and weekly planning and stuff like that. So that took a lot of the day, hence the chill day since it's a lot of sitting around. But we were able to get out and go see our friend who is getting baptized next week. He passed his baptismal interview today!! He's all systems go for next Saturday!!! It's such a miracle and I couldn't be happier for him! Best start to the birthday weekend!
Saturday was the day! I grew one year old and wiser too! That is correct Saturday was my 19th birthday! And what a day it was. We had a normal morning and when we got out we just did some studies and whatnot and then Elder Lee and I played a small game of hide and seek in 鳳林. We accidentally got separated and then it just turned into me chasing him around town. Good fun and then we waited for an English class that never showed up so we just sat at the chapel for a bit. After the English class was supposed to end, some members came and picked us up and drove us to 花蓮! They are the stunt people family (my Taiwanese mom and dad haha), and their car is straight out of Fast and Furious. It had the sweetest sound and even had a roll cage in it, it was so epic! It even inspired me to learn how to drive a manual car again, but we will have to see when I get home. Anyways they drove us to the city and took us to dinner at a super cool place because it was my birthday. It was super tasty and afterward they drove us to the chapel for a ward activity. Basically today was a big party because the ward activity was a mothers day shindig. It was awesome at and the end of the night I got surprised along with Elder Ray with a birthday cake! The members here are so great to us. It was an amazing birthday!!
Happy Cinco de Mayo! Sunday we had a chill day in 花蓮 where we had studies and a meeting with our ward mission leader in the morning and then our church service, which our man who is being baptized next week showed up to! He is such an amazing man. As we were walking out after the meeting I was walking next to him and he was smiling so big and he just put his arm around me and we walked out together. My heart was so full of joy nothing could take away that moment from me. It was a beautiful day and after church we finished up studies and did some planning for stuff in the week and then we had an appointment with a less active from the ward who is fixing up some pants for me! That was the day though. Very slow but super rewarding. I also dunked my head in the river as a result of losing a game to Elder Lee. That was fun too.
Elder Heber Chase Ciminski
謝希伯長老