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