MY FIRST GRAFFITI!! (Season 9 Episode 3) - 7/29/19

Greetings and salutations!

Monday was such a fun preparation day! We had a good morning, did some shopping and whatnot and then we went out to IKEA! I had been looking forward to this for a solid week or so and it did not disappoint! There were about 9 elders and friends just walking around IKEA and hanging out and it was such a fun time. I definitely spent some money on food. Anything that reminds me of America is something I am down for. It was such a fun time I laughed so much and it was so happy! We had a chill night and just walked around town, talked to people, and did studies. At night I tried a simple fix on my bike (or so it seemed) and before you knew it it was 12:30 in the morning and your boy probably did more damage than good. Looks like I got a trip to the bike shop tomorrow. I wanna become my own bike mechanic, so I wanna learn all this and trial and error is a part of that process.

Tuesday was chill. We had the first District Council of the transfer and it was lit! We had a great talk about visions and goal setting and I'm so excited for this district to fly high and become better missionaries this transfer! We, of course, had a big rain coming home but thanks to my new cycling cap I bought recently the rain had nothing on me! I got some laughs from other missionaries but I stand by my cap and the powers it holds. As for my bike, after spending 200 kuai (6 bucks US) I replaced my shifting cable and we are back to normal! I ought to find a book or something about bikes and read that first. We had a nice McDonald's dinner with a friend of ours from another city and then did our studies at the end of the night. A super awesome highlight of the day was buying Dr. Pepper at a store! The nectar of the God's has been found. I'm not quite sure how giving up caffeine will go this transfer.

Wednesday was awesome!! Elder Yang and I enjoyed a day of finding. We were able to invite 20 people to develop faith in Christ! That is the President's goal for us, having 20 invites a day and I can proudly say now that I have done it, this is the first time I have ever hit 20!! It was awesome. Despite 20+ rejections I felt so happy! We did have English Class today as well and I was really proud of my spiritual share. We were talking about cooking and for the spiritual share I had all my students download Gospel Library and we read some scriptures together and talked about the recipe to finding out the Book of Mormon is true. I invited them all to start reading and since they all have it on their phones now they hopefully will!

Thursday was a special day. We started the only exchange we will go on this transfer! We grabbed lunch with the Zone Leaders and the Sisters in the area and then we switched and I left with Elder Fei'eiki to go to his area. We had a good day talking with people and studies. We also had a lesson where the investigator dropped us. The man reminded me of people in 鳳林. A great man but just confused and isn't able to recognize the truth. We also had a scripture reading class that the missionaries put on. We read and talked about some chapters in first Nephi and it was fun! It was a busy day and very warm also. The heat is getting pretty crazy. I'm baking like a toasted cheeser!!!!

Friday was a good day. We woke up and did our planning and personal study and then went and worked out. I had a great run on the track nearby. I did a 5k like normal and I was just trying to make it through since it was super hot and I forgot water (not my best move). I looked at my watch after the first mile and was blown away because I felt like I was taking it easy, and that first mile was 6:35. My second mile was 6:45 and the third and change was about 7 something. The last bit was hard because the heat started getting to me. I'm very proud though, my fitness has improved so much and I've been blessed immensely. As for missionary work today we switched back companions and then did studies, weekly planning, and then contacting and it took up the whole day. Days like these go by very quick. 

Saturday was a good day! Quite an interesting weather day too. We woke up to clear and sunny skies and by the time we left the apartment after lunch the clouds were looking very ominous. We still pressed forward and after about 10 minutes of riding, I pulled off and told Elder Yang I had a feeling to go back home. At about this time we started hearing some thunder and as we were biking back home it started raining very heavy and the lightning and thunder were right on us. The thunder was so loud I felt it shake my whole body. It was actually a little frightening but thankfully we got home quickly and were able to do our study inside and out of the elements. I'm grateful for the spirit and the direction it gives. I sometimes wonder what would happen if I hadn't heeded a specific prompting and now I know that I actually don't want to know what would happen. I'm just grateful for the guidance we receive on a daily basis to keep us out of bad situations.

Sunday was pretty chill. We had 2 investigators come to church and also had 2 lessons as well! Very grateful for those blessings and hopefully this week we can see more. Other than that, the day was pretty much filled with studies and getting other things done. It's crazy but I never thought a mission would have so many days where it's just studies and other things. I had always thought it was out street contacting and knocking all day every day but it's definitely different. I also painted parts of my bike yellow. With the Tour de France going on right now it's only fitting to do it yellow. I may never wear the yellow jersey but I can have a sweet yellow bike!

Elder Heber Chase Ciminski 

謝希伯長老

taking a trip down memory lane (Season 9 Episode 2) - 7/22/19

Greetings and salutations!

Monday was really fun. We had a good morning preparing for this week by getting a haircut, buying groceries and taking care of a return at Carrefour (way easier than returning something in America, Taiwan for the win). Our big plans for the day we had a zone activity playing kickball! It was super fun and we had the whole zone there except for one companionship. The game was loads of fun. I kicked a little league home run and our team did super great! Afterwards, we played frisbee for a little bit, but everyone was super tired at that point so we called it a day. It was a lot of fun being together as a zone and learning more about everyone. For our night plans, we had a member dinner and did English planning. So nothing super crazy but still a good time to get stuff done.

Tuesday was a good day. Had some lessons fall through but we were able to meet up with our Ward Mission Leader and scout out some potential English class locations. I am still hoping we can move it to the Chapel but since nothing is set in stone we want to cover all of our bases. We also did a lot of biking. Half exploring, half trying to find a place to do studies that weren't the usual places we always go to. It's fun biking in the city and I feel like a little cell in the organism of the city and it's a cool feeling. My street knowledge is getting better and I am to the point I can look at the map once and get there without looking again. God has blessed me with great directional sense and location memory. Maybe I could be a bike messenger someday.

Wednesday we saw the beginnings of a potential typhoon! I really hope we see one this week like the forecast is saying because I really wanna experience one! We will have to see. Our day was pretty fixed and we were able to have a lesson with an investigator who said they would be willing to come to church so that is good! English class was okay. We started late because we had to talk about moving places. I still have faith Heavenly Father will allow us to move to the Chapel. I trust that even though the distance is far we will see miracles as we go about the work. We will have to see what God's will is but I trust Him with all my heart.

Thursday was a day filled with God's hand. I started off in the morning my prayer asking Heavenly Father to allow me to be an instrument and a tool in his hands. As we left the apartment we biked to 土城 and I was able to have lunch with a friend from high school! At the time he had moved to our school from Taiwan and now he has come back to visit and we grabbed some curry. He asked me a lot of questions about missionary work and what I do. I was able to share with him a lot of what we do and I invited him to read the Book of Mormon! After lunch we continued our bike ride and I soon discovered my back tire was a little crooked and as a result, my brake pad was rubbing on my wheel and I spent a solid 10 minutes trying to figure it out. I eventually did thanks to some divinely given inspiration and we were once again on our way. We were running late at this point and I got a call from the sisters in my district and they had run into a flat tire problem. Since we hadn't gotten to the meeting yet and already running late I decided to go help them. We got there and as I got to work both my tire irons broke! I was so disappointed but the problem was still solved and I resolved to get better tools (I am now armed with metal tire irons and so that shouldn't be an issue again). We arrived at the meeting over an hour late and I have no regrets. I'm grateful Heavenly Father allowed me to be a help to my district members today and even though it wasn't to the full extent I had hoped I know the scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants is true, the Lord requires a heart and a willing mind. I was willing to help and the Lord looks kindly on that! I hope for more chances to serve like this in the future.

Friday was an awesome day! We were able to participate in a Mini MTC event for a whole bunch of youth to come learn about missionary work! We were able to participate by taking companionships of youth and going back to our areas and showing them missionary life on the streets! It was very fun taking my 3 young men around and doing stuff with them. One of the youth was from 淡水! He didn't remember me though, which isn't super surprising but I was also able to see youth from 鳳林!!! I was beyond thrilled to see them and it brought back so many awesome memories. I also saw some of my favorite 花蓮 members and I basically relived my whole mission today. I am so grateful for my mission and all the amazing people I have been able to meet in my journey so far. I am also grateful for Heavenly Father blessing me to hit every single mode of public transportation on time, it may seem like a small thing but it's those small things that mean the most.

Saturday was pretty interesting. Had a pretty set in stone stay with doing studies and then making up our weekly planning from yesterday. That took us right up to our Ward Family Home Evening and then we just contacted people to end of the day. Pretty mellow but we did finally decide to move our English class to the Chapel. When we told the bishop he just said we could find a better place in 三峽 later and just switch back. I'm grateful we are provided with this chance to be at the Chapel and I am confident we will see many blessings come as a result of having class at a dedicated Chapel of the Lord.

Sunday was a super good Sabbath day. We went to the chapel early for a lesson before church and when we got there we heard from our investigator that he wasn't gonna be coming for church. Kind of a bummer but we were able to plan the rest of the day and also reset his time for later in the afternoon. Church was the usual stuff and afterwards, we had our weekly coordination meeting and also ate some lunch and then planned English class with a member. When we got home we were blessed immensely because about 10 minutes after we got home it started raining very hard, the hardest I have seen in Taiwan. We were able to be inside doing personal study as opposed to being outside biking in the rain! Our day was pretty busy after that with a lesson, studies, and mealtime and ending off the day with contacting. I am grateful for Heavenly Father's ever present influence in my daily life.

Elder Heber Chase Ciminski 

謝希伯長老

be cool, don't be a fool (Season 9 Episode 1) - 7/15/19

Greetings and Salutations!


Pretty fun preparation day Monday. We met up with some other elders and went to the zoo! It was way hot and we were sweating buckets but it was all worth it when I saw a panda. Yes my favorite animal ever, I saw it in the flesh... behind some glass too. It was awesome! We saw some other cool animals too and as we kept on walking through we found more and more missionaries! There were so many at the zoo we had no idea. It was loads of fun and made for a good day. We got back to work and had dinner with a less active and then contacted some English class referrals we received recently.


Tuesday was a tiring day! We had lots of biking. Reminded me of the good old 鳳林 days of course. We biked to District Council and had a great talk about desire and achieving what we want this new transfer starting this week. It was good and with the other companionship switching to sisters it was the last time all my cowboys will be on the ranch together. Sad to see them leave but such will happen with the passage of time. We enjoyed a nice lesson tonight with a man expressing great interest in the church and he set a baptismal goal for August. I am very confident he will hit his goal. That was the heaviest hitting part of the day, the rest of the day was just studies and meals. Elder Yang and I had great time bonding sharing MTC memories! We both agreed it would be fun to go back now.


Wednesday was a good day! The morning we spent inside because Elder Yang took his Book A test, and he passed!! I was able to give him all of my flashcards and it was quite a weight off for me. I'm so proud of my companion and the work he puts into his English. We also had a lesson at a place for mentally disabled people and the man we met with was actually pretty sound and he seems to have enough interest so we will come back and continue teaching him! I will be interested to see where that leads us. We also had English Class and it was good. Talked about history and then our spiritual share was about family history and I invited a member to come and share. He knocked it out of the park and I definitely felt the spirit testify of family history to me. It is such a great thing!


Thursday was a good day. We had 2 different member visits and we originally had an investigator set up but that didn't quite work out so we had to reschedule him. The two members were cool. One was a young man getting ready to go on a mission and we had lunch with him and invited him to start practicing sharing the gospel with his friends so it'll be cool to hear his experiences. The other member visit was interesting. She's less active, but has strong faith. She just doesn't feel like she can come to church. Meeting with her is interesting because she asks us these deeper level gospel questions and tries to get answers to those but yet she doesn't even address her simpler problem of not going to church! I think it's pretty interesting how she prioritizes it. We are working on getting her back to church. We also started a new transfer and even though things didn't change for Elder Yang and me, we got 2 new district members and they seem really fun and we will have a party this transfer for sure.


Friday was pretty great. Elder Yang and I had a nice day and we decided to walk around. It wasn't too hot and we got to talk a lot more than we do when we bike everywhere. We also had our weekly planning session and Elder Yang and I had a constructive discussion about our goals for this transfer and how we want to work this transfer to be more unified. I felt very lifted up walking away and my companion is seriously so awesome. We set some great goals and we are going to have a great transfer together. Sadly, we ended the day getting stood up by the same person that stood us up last week. Pretty big bummer but the world still spins and we are doing what we can. Can't ask for more.


Saturday was a pretty good day. We had a good morning doing some studies and whatnot and then we got stood up by a member which was pretty surprising since we also got stood up by our investigator it made for a great day of fulfilling prophecy. We tried to find some formers and turns out the address didn't exist. We are slowly cleaning up the Area Book and getting it all nice and clean for future missionaries. I had an interesting thought though. In language study, I started translating a talk for Elder Yang and during this process (still in progress) I thought about Joseph Smith and the translation of the Book of Mormon. Considering my Chinese knowledge is fairly decent and I'm still taking such a long time to do it. I absolutely know Joseph Smith had the power of God with him to translate the Book of Mormon! Considering he wasn't learned in any ancient languages and his English skills were poor as well only the hand of God could have done that! It's truly miraculous!


Sunday was insane. We had a normal morning biking to church, but right when we got the church my back tire exploded and I got a double rip in both the outer tire and inner tube. During church we had an investigator come and that was great! And after church, we got to meet the new sisters in our district and they are super cool. Lots of good ideas coming from them and they proposed an idea for English Class that is causing quite the stir. It got me way overwhelmed but I'm not even English Unit Leader so I just delegated the responsibility of it to her and that helped me feel a lot more relaxed. We had a lesson and the rest of the time was spent fixing my bike. I went out and bought a new tire and inner tube and then we took a bus to the chapel and I made dad proud by completely swapping the tire out and fixing my bike without help from a bike store. Then I rode home on what felt like a new bike and that was basically the end of the day. Crazy day and lots of emotions all around but we are back stable again and things are good!


Elder Heber Chase Ciminski
謝希伯長老

I FEEL THE NEED, THE NEED FOR SPEED! (Season 8 Episode 6) - 7/8/19

Greetings and salutations!

Monday was a really fun preparation day! The big part of it was going back to 淡水 (my first area)!! It was an interesting feeling being back. It was awesome to be there. We had a few other elders with us and we all went and got food together and then walked around a bit since the museum we wanted to go to was closed. Today was flooded with memories and biking the streets and walking around where I served was surreal. I miss 淡水 but I'm so glad about where I have been. Everything happens for a reason. That was the biggest part of the day and playing tour guide for the other elders was fun (since I was the only one familiar with the area). The heat is rising and so is the excitement of being a missionary, I love it all!

Tuesday was wet once again. We also had another District Council and that went well. Being a District Leader is fun and leading District Council is pretty nice. We talked about church. After District Council, it was raining super heavy, but this week I brought my coat so it wasn't that bad. The lighting was bigger than before and the thunder was a lot louder. Nonetheless, we still finished up studies and had dinner and contacted people and ended off the day with getting stood up for a lesson. The day flew by because of all the rain and dealing with that. I also started cooking food inside and I am pleased with the results, so I will probably keep that going. It's a lot more healthy and cheaper too so it's the perfect thing!

Wednesday was a busy day. We had interviews with the Mission President and that took up a good chunk of time since it takes 80 minutes to get to the office and then we spent an hour at the office. The actual interview went very well, President Peterson gave me some good counsel and some things I can apply to this companionship and my mission to make it better. I love President Peterson, he is always so full of love and he really cares about us and gives us the best wisdom. I'm grateful to be able to learn from him. We did our studies when we got home and then had English Class. I had better control of my class and talked with that one student beforehand and set expectations and he did better. The greatest part was having an investigator come up to us after and tell us he quit drinking things that are against the Word of Wisdom by himself! What a big miracle.

Thursday was a super cool day. We celebrated the Fourth of July! Not in a very exciting way but we did sing as a zone the Star-Spangled Banner (at least the Americans in the zone did). Other than that it was a pretty normal day. Once again we biked the 11 klicks to 土城 to meet up with the zone leaders and start an exchange! I was able to bring my good friend Elder Bateman back to my area. He and I served around each other when I was in training so it was fun to get back with him and we talked a lot throughout the day. All about missionary work and about life and everything in between. It was a really good time and we had an awesome day. We also visited a member and had a cool visit with them.

Friday was a pretty structured day. In the morning I took Elder Bateman to the track and we timed a mile and I got to see how much progress I have made recently. And boy was I surprised when I looked at my watch and it said 5:59. I already hit my goal! So now I'm thinking of a new goal I could shoot for and start working for it. It was a great mile. The rest of the day consisted of studies, weekly planning, and contacting so nothing of great import to write of. My health is improving and I can tell because I can comfortably button my shirt all the way up once again and everything's a little looser. Cooking my own food has been way fun and I have much better control of what goes in me. I'm losing my mission weight and getting quicker. While that's not the most important part of my mission it's still nice to have something to distract from missionary work sometimes.

Saturday was pretty good. We biked a solid amount to try and visit a former only to find the address didn't exist. It was still fun though and the bike ride was super pretty, any stretch that reminds me of 鳳林 is a great ride. Biking there was the best. I'm still working on my patience and I had a couple little tests throughout the day. Previously during the week, a member gave us the choice if we wanted to switch the location of our English class and we ended deciding no. Tonight our Ward Mission Leader said we should switch it for a few reasons. None of the reasons having occurred yet. I don't like people giving me a choice and having already made the decision or not giving me enough information at the start. Then a member forgot our appointment which was supposed to take place at their home with a less active so we had to compromise. I'm just learning mortal people aren't perfect, including me, and I need to learn to work with and trust them. Despite anything that happens.

Sunday was a good Sabbath. We had a good Fast and Testimony Meeting and Sunday School was way good too. We went to the singles class and the lesson was super good. After church, we had a couple of sit-downs with people in the ward and talked and shared a quick message with them. Since today was Fast Sunday, we didn't bike to church, but luckily, the Bishop was leaving the same time we were so we got a ride home with him. When we got home it was studies and dinner before we headed to the new member fireside. It was a really good meeting and I got to say some goodbyes to missionaries leaving this week. One of them being Elder Crimm. Pretty crazy seeing him go and a whole lot of other missionaries that had an influence on my mission. It's a part of life so it's my turn to step up and start being that influence for others.

Elder Heber Chase Ciminski
謝希伯長老

not so super weekly (Season 8 Episode 5) - 7/1/19

Greetings and salutations!

Wednesday was incredible. It was a day I have been waiting for since last year. I finally got to go to the temple. Everything we did today paled in comparison to the temple. Entering and worshipping in the House of the Lord was such a privilege. I felt the Spirit so strong and it was just so amazing. The temple is a beautiful place. President Peterson officiated our session and that was a special thing too. It was just such a special day. To feel close to my Heavenly Father and receive answers from Him. People may say I'm naive (like my English class student told me tonight) for actually believing I know these things. But I do, I know the temple is a House of the Lord. I know God loves us, and he still speaks to us. Nobody can take that knowledge from me.

Thursday was an alright day. Weather was weird once again but that was nothing new. Just some sunshine then rain then clouds the rest of the day. We also had a few member visits as well and one of those was a member taking us out to dinner! That was a good part of the day and I really enjoyed it. Aside from that we just tried to contact people and that is why the day was just alright. 

Another day another 元. Friday was a good day. Did the usual and also did weekly planning. Not a lot of action time but we were able to make some great plans moving forward into next week. We also had a member visit, we try and have one everyday which has been a great way to get to know members and make Sunday's even smoother. Nothing much to write about though. My running is getting better. I'm working up and getting quicker and quicker. It feels good to get back in that habit and start getting healthy again.

Saturday was the big day! The 三峽 blitz. It was a crazy day, we had to leave pretty early to get to the chapel and hold correlation meeting and finishing getting all the finer details together for the day. Then all the missionaries came! We got our assignments and then we hit the pavement! Each missionary that came was paired with a member and we went on a split for that time. So we had 10 different sets of people out contacting people and we spent almost 5 hours doing that. It was a lot of walking and the sun was beating down but I still had a good time. At the conclusion of it all everyone met up and we had dinner together and were able to gather 12 referrals in total! Such an awesome day for this area and we will definitely see some growth soon!!

Sunday was a good day. We had some good church meetings and even had one investigator show up! My first one in my whole time here so far. I was very happy. I was also completely blown away when a member from 淡水 showed up! Somebody that Elder Pope helped baptize and I helped teach her the new convert lessons! It was way good to see a familiar face. After church we hung out with some members and I ate a thousand year old egg. Pretty decent but the texture was kinda whack. We had a chill night contacting the referrals we received from yesterday and trying to get some stuff set up for this week. The sun is still shining, this missionary is still working hard, and the earth is still spinning.

Elder Heber Chase Ciminski 

謝希伯長老