Monday was a well-earned, relaxing preparation day. Aside from shopping I bought new running shoes and we relaxed at home. So there isn't that much to write about. As for the night's work we planned English Group and then did some daily contacting. Elder Ellis and I got to talking about amusement parks and that took up more time than we realized. Since Elder Ellis is from Southern California he knows all about theme parks and we were talking about Disneyland and our favorite rides and memories and stuff. So that was fun and brought back so many awesome family memories.
Tuesday was a pretty chill day. We had some rain in the morning so that made street contacting numbers low but we were able to call lots of people and I learned that some less-active members can be very savage. No worries, life moves on. We also had District Council and it was the last one before the transfer so that was a bummer because we are saying goodbye to one of the sisters. Other than that, we had the other Elders at our apartment for dinner and that was fun because Elder Bell and I had some great talks about running and talking about what we wanna do in the future. It will be so fun to be with him at BYU in the future and keep up our friendship. The rain subsided towards the middle of the day so that made the weather very nice.
Wednesday was a good day. We had a pretty busy day and the reason being that a member took the whole District out to a barbecue place! It was very tasty and it was actually the same place that we went to on Elder Seamons' birthday so it was cool to eat there again. After lunch, we just did studies and had dinner before English group. This morning I also took my new running shoes out for a spin and they are super great, they feel awesome and will definitely take me places. So it was a good day all in all and tomorrow marks the start of my second to last transfer. What a surreal feeling. However cool that is I also got hit with the realization that our teaching pool is down to two people. This means that we really gotta step up the finding grind, which is hard but also the time where miracles happen.
Thursday was a good day. We had a normal day, but because of the weather, street contacting was pretty hard. We had two lessons set up that both didn't end up happening and they got bumped to tomorrow. One was scheduled with our friend who is getting baptized on Saturday, but he still needs to meet with us one more time so if he doesn't come tomorrow then we will have to reschedule the baptism. I was pretty stressed after he rescheduled because it is so last minute but as I was pondering and half-mentally praying for comfort I just had a thought that no matter what happens, nothing is because of what we did. We are doing our best and the rest is out of our control. Aside from that nothing crazy happened. Just another day of work and the start of a new transfer. My second to last!
Friday was pretty awesome. We had a good morning and I did my third run of the week and that was pretty sweet. Still feeling good! As for the missionary work, we had two amazing lessons as well as starting an exchange with the Traveling Assistants. Our two lessons were so awesome though. One was with our progressing friend and it was so powerful. He told us a little more about his past and I am completely amazed at the faith he has and the desire he has to turn his life around. He is totally gonna get baptized but until sacrament meetings can happen again I'm not sure how he can progress. No matter, I know God cares for us and we have a prophet who is guiding us. Things will work out how they need to. Our other lesson was with our friend who is getting baptized tomorrow! He's so awesome and we had a great review with him and he is totally ready to go. It was kinda a bummer because now we have to organize everything kinda last second. Once again I have faith it will all work out. I trust Heavenly Father's hand to be in this event.
Saturday was amazing. We had a great morning on exchanges and talked to some awesome people and then we had a lesson as well which ended up in us getting a new friend! He's a way awesome 17-year old and he seems way sincere about this stuff so it'll be fun to continue working with him. We did some studies and had dinner before the fun night ensued which included a baptism! Heavenly Father is so great and He helped this process go so smoothly. The baptismal service for our friend was amazing and even though it was a smaller service, I am so glad it could happen. If it hadn't had happened then we would have had to wait who knows how long until things regarding the virus get better. God's hand is in everything. No doubt about it. The Spirit was present and now our friend is a member of the church. Such a beautiful day.
Sunday was pretty weird. It did not feel like a Sunday at all. I guess that's what happens when you don't have any church meetings or anything like that. It just felt like a normal day. We still did the normal things including our weekly planning to make up for not doing it Friday. It is pretty interesting with these new guidelines and whatnot because it makes our work very hard. Because so much of our work revolves around having people attend church, so with no church it halts our progression a bit. Now we will just have to get creative and make it work with the new changes. It will be interesting to see how the next little bit goes and if anything else will happen. Only God knows so I am just waiting for His will to be made manifest and I will follow accordingly.
Elder Heber Chase Ciminski
謝希伯長老