Slow week - 2/27/17

But man, did we do a lot! It just felt like forever.

We are no longer tracking lessons, but we did teach a lot this week! We got three new investigators! All of them are pretty solid! Two of them were taught before and were very open and honest on why they stopped meeting with the missionaries and what their concerns were. We are going to try and get them to resolve those concerns and help them get into the waters of Baptism! One is struggling with the need to be Baptized again, and the other simply needs to marry his sweetheart of 26 years that he has been living with for all that time! The best part about him, was that even though his wife (I will call her that) is not interested at all in our message, she was shouting from the next room while we were talking about it things like "Yeah! Tell them why you can't be baptized!". It was awesome! Our third investigator is in the military and was very interested in our message! His Army buddy in Utah referred him and while we were teaching him he was genuinely engaged and asking actual questions. Not the same, rote ones that we get from 90% of the people we teach. We are SO excited for all three!

The weather has been so warm that we had an impressive lightning storm on Saturday night! Also, all of the trees are blooming, which is very pretty but there is pollen everywhere! Coating the cars and everyone's (except mine) allergies are kicking in. So some people are getting the Flu and allergies at the same time! Not fun! There are still people getting sick left and right. They swabbed positive for over 200 cases of the Flu at the clinic where a member works. But at least there is color everywhere again!

Since Elder Arnold came over a year ago, every area has has been divided between the two companionships in the ward. The way it was in our ward is the Sisters get 80% of the active members and most of the newer (and therefore nicer and safer) neighborhoods. It has just been changed so that it is a bit more even. We are excited for the opportunity to have more in-home meals with members (right now most take us out to eat) and get to know more members.

That is about it for this week. I do have some pics though! Be looking for those!

I love you all!

Elder Ciminski

Beautiful blossoms on the trees.

Just don't park under them when the birds are out!

Roller Coaster Week - 2/20/17

I got the Flu...again. I was out for most of Tuesday. Last time I was sick for about 2.5 weeks because I didn't let myself rest. This time I decided that I wasn't going to do that and rested Tuesday starting at 3. I felt a lot better on Wednesday and other than a runny nose, have been fine the rest of the week. The weather has been quite warm this whole week. Felt pretty nice.

We had a lot of appointments fall through this week. Seems like most of the Ward is sick as well.

We got a new investigator! She is very nice and ate up what were were teaching her. She was a bible referral and apparently between us setting up the appointment and the actual appointment, she got a lot of anti-material. The whole time she was saying things like "That isn't what they told me", "They were wrong about that!", and the like. Even if she doesn't go very far, we were able to clear up a lot of misconceptions she had.

We also had our Zone Meeting in Goldsboro. On our way back, we almost got into a pretty bad car wreck. We were riding with our Ward Mission Leader and his wife, as well as the Sisters also serving in the ward. The van behind us rear ended the large truck in front of us so hard that it lifted the truck all the way off the ground. Then the car behind the one immediately behind us got involved as well. Thanks to our Ward Mission leader and his quick thinking and listening to the Spirit we were able to avoid it. We are very grateful for that!

The next morning the Sisters serving in our ward had a wonderful baptism! It was for a young married woman who was very prepared. Her husband is meeting with the missionaries and her close friend too! She is already being an awesome member missionary!

We also saw two deer get hit (more accurately, hit) two cars. In broad daylight. In the middle of town. One hit a trailer, and one hit a Camry, busting both driver side windows. We stopped to see if we could do anything, but everyone, other than some cuts from the glass, was fine. It seems like the deer are confused by this early warm weather because they are all committing suicide on the roads! I have seen 12+ dead deer in the past month, but these two are the only ones that I actually saw die. Bleh.

Other than that this week was great! I look forward to hearing from y'all next week!

Elder Ciminski

Dead deer everywhere.

Crazy Week - 2/13/17

We had a baptism! Hahaha, yeah, it was a surprise to us too! Brother Lovett (whose health is failing) was baptized Saturday night. Bishop had a prompting to have it done on Saturday, so he told us and we made it happen! Everything fell apart at least twice in the planning process, but it all worked out! We are going to continue to meet with him as often as possible to go over the recent convert lessons. If it wasn't meant to be, then it wouldn't have worked out!

Other than that very exciting event, it was a normal week. We taught 6 lessons, 5 of which were to Less-active members. We are still trying to get a fire underneath them. Ben Crusenberry got the Melchizedek priesthood yesterday! He has been waiting for a while to get it now and he is now an Elder!

Our weather has been so weird. It was above 80 yesterday and everyone is getting sick. Whatever is going around is taking people out left and right! Our pianist for Saturday was fine that night, but woke up on Sunday sick as a dog! Both my companion and I are sick as well. It is miserable!  But it has been so warm overall. We haven't had one day where it didn't warm up to at least 50 since that snow/ice storm last month. All the flowers are blooming and pollen is triggering peoples allergies! We have even had some thunderstorms!  Crazy!

Other than this, I don't remember what happened this week. Just the same ol' same ol'.

Elder Ciminski

When life gives you lemons.... - 2/6/17

We got a flat tire this week. We ran over a screw. Then, this morning when we went to get it fixed, we found out we had a second screw in another tire. They also forgot about our appointment, and it was time for an oil change. So our appointment turned into 2.5 hours. Luckily, the mall was across the street and we got to walk around it. At least we didn't get another flat from the second screw!

We were able to see 8 people this week. Most of them less-actives. Sadly, most of them are not progressing. It's frustrating, but we are going to keep trying. Maybe we need to mix up our methods a bit. If something isn't working, you probably shouldn't keep doing it. One person came to our scripture class on Thursday night, and seemed to enjoy it. While I thought that he was early to mid 20's, he is old enough to have a 16 year old son. So I botched that one! He is still wanting to be baptized. We are struggling to meet with him, but we reset his date far enough back so that we have some breathing room!

We had a Stake Conference yesterday. We traveled to Goldsboro to see it and it was enjoyable. There was some good talks on Miracles and Motherhood, among other subjects. The highlight was our good friend Ben Crusenberry was sustained to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood! We are so happy for him!

We had exchanges this week. I went up to Roanoke Rapids and had a good time. We weren't able to see anyone though.

So, the Sisters in our ward have a recent convert who is a State Trooper, who was trained in Currituck! She rented a room from a family I know there and was trained from another member there! Small world!

Until next week,

Elder Ciminski

Poetry - 1/30/17

So, our new Ward Mission leader has a poem he quotes that I love! It is by Edward Markham and goes like this:

They drew a circle that shut me out.
Heretic rebel, A thing to flout
But love and I had the wit to win,
We drew a circle that brought them in.

It is our motto of sorts for the work that we are doing here in Rocky Mount. We also got 4 new Ward Missionaries yesterday.  Enthusiasm is a great attribute in Missionary Work! Something I am trying to get more of!

We saw 9 people this week, which makes up for the few people we saw last week! We also got a new Investigator, who will actually be passing away soon. We are going to try and help the member wife during this undoubtedly difficult time. We also gave a blessing of comfort to a lady who will also probably will not last much longer. We have visited her several times over the several months I have been here. But thank goodness for the Plan of Salvation! It may not ease the pain of losing someone, but it gives us hope! And that can be invaluable!

We have to move the baptismal date back to March 4th. I feel that Satan might be working on him, which is a good thing in a way since that means he may be gaining a testimony! Satan wouldn't waste his time with someone who is unlikely to make changes in his/her life for the better!

We went fishing this morning. It was not quite what I expected. It was also quite cold. The wind was miserable. But now I can say that I have fished! An Elder ate one of the LIVE minnows we had for bait. BLEH!!!!! No one caught anything. Too cold, I suppose!

We got a new schedule this week.  The main differences are that there is 10x more flexibility and we plan in the morning now. We are doing a trial run this week, today is the first day of the new schedule. I will tell y'all my thoughts on it next week!

Transfer calls come this Saturday! I have absolutely no idea what will be happening. So stay tuned!

I love y'all! Have a great week!

Elder Ciminski

Week ? - 1/23/17 -

Howdy! We got two new investigators this week! They were a media referral and are very nice. They appear to be active in another church, but when we asked to come back after sharing a message from Isaiah when we delivered the Bible they agreed to let us come back! I was honestly shocked that it all went as smooth as it did when we left. We also met with our brother with a baptismal date. He is still very eager and excited for his baptism. Unfortunately, we are going to have to move it back since he didn't come to church yesterday. We like to have people come at least 3 times before they are baptized, and since he missed yesterday it wouldn't be possible. We are not letting this get us discouraged!

Other that these lessons, we had a slow week. We had a lot of appointments fall through and it threw us way off. But, a positive thing about that is since we didn't meet with a lot of people last week, we will be able to meet with them all this week!

We went on an exchange this weekend. I stayed here with another Elder who has been out for 7 months now. He is really funny, and I like him a lot. But, as with all exchanges where I drive, something bad has to happen. And it did.

I hit a dog.

Not hard though. We were pulling up to our Ward Mission Leaders home (which is secluded so we were on a dirt driveway) and their neighbor's dog charges us, as usual. They have an electric fence and normally that stops the dog, so I didn't pay him any mind. Now keep in mind, it is night, the road is under a canopy of trees, and it was misty-rainy. The other Elder yelled something about the dog, who ran through the electric fence (which is a wire buried underground and when the dog passes over it, the collar shocks him, hard) and in front of the car. I wasn't going fast, but still hit the brakes hard and heard him bounce off the front of the car. That didn't stop him though and he still kept barking and trying to get in through the window I had down. It was awful. The Sisters in the Ward hit a deer two weeks ago while with a member and the other Elders hit a deer last night, I am counting our blessings.

Oh, and our ward mission leader said that the dog does that all the time to them and that he just pushes it into the trees. So I don't feel too bad.

Other than that wonderful excitement, this week was pretty dull. Until next time!

Elder Ciminski

The longest week ever! - 1/16/17

I took a selfie with a dog...you would not believe how ward it was.

The combination of not having church last week and the three different climates of this past week have made this week feel like an eternity! We went from the 20's and icy to 70's and humid to 40's and chilly. I don't know what to think or wear!

We had two major meetings this week. We had a Zone Conference on Wednesday that was pretty good. We got a new strategy to help members do missionary work involving Facebook. No we are not getting iPads. But in it, we have the member pull up their Facebook friends list and share something about the Gospel with them right there via Facebook. We also had interviews. All three companionship's in our District were told we were having them in Roanoke Rapids (45 minutes from us). We had our Ward Mission Leader drive us up there with his wife and the Sisters. There was only one problem, President Weed understood that we were having them in Rocky Mount! He ended up driving up to Roanoke Rapids and we had them there. Despite the miscommunication, we had great interviews. President Weed is definitely called of God!

We taught seven lessons this week. One of them was to a media referral who wanted to be baptized! He actually read the Book of Mormon when we asked him to and is excited! We set him with a date for February 11th, it is pretty close but if he is serious about it, he will make it! We taught several other people as well. The lessons went pretty well.  I feel that my teaching skills have improved since I arrived here. Other than that, nothing remarkable has happened.

We were allowed to drive again on Tuesday, so were weren't affected this week from the weather. The salt on everything is ridiculous, our car is covered with the stuff and we can't wash it! It is too cold now to do it! This snow was very early and was colder than normal. It makes me wonder what this winter is going to be like!

I did get the shoes, thank you very much!

Other than that, just be looking forward to the pictures! Have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Elder Ciminski