SHUT UP LEGS!! - 10/22/18

A big 你好 from the beautiful island of Taiwan! Hope you all had an awesome week.

Monday was preparation day of course! We did the usual grocery shopping and other necessities then I went out with Elder Pope and I bought some running shoes because the other ones I had were getting run down (pun intended) and the new ones I got are the Nike Tanjun model. So some awesome Taiwanese running shoes are in my future! Elder Pope and I also got matching belt bags. They are actually the most convenient thing ever. It holds our tracts and phones and wallets all together and it's super cool. And only 100 kuai! After the morning purchases, we met up with some other Elders that came up to 淡水 and spent some time with them. That turned into a huge group of missionaries squadding up and having some good times. In total 8 sisters and 4 elders were present but half the time the other elders got separated so it was just elder Pope and I with 8 sisters, kinda weird but I had a good time meeting other missionaries I'm sure I'll serve around someday! Taiwan has the best missionaries for sure :) Preparation day ended with some 10 out of 10 naps and then we had a lesson with our super solid friend. He's so receptive and he basically knew the restoration already from reading the Introduction to the Book of Mormon. He's awesome and I love teaching him! Today was a super great start to the new week ahead!

Tuesday started off with a cool language learning experience! I was studying my flashcards and the word Endowment came up. That word is translated as 恩道門 (pronounced endaomen). The first character means "gift", the second "truth", and the third "door" or "gate". I just thought that was really cool because the Endowment we receive in the Temple is the gate to the gift of truth! Not only does that word sound like the English word but it means the same too! The rest of the day was pretty ok, not much happened. Though I learned that an Elder in the mission is a master gardener! As I was planning my English class I was planning on using the Hugh B. Brown story about the currant bush and I was able to get some info from the master gardener himself so that was pretty cool. Tomorrow is Zone Conference so it should be a super good day!

Woah today was awesome! We had zone conference today at Jinhua and it was amazing. I got to see some good friends and get some great insights into my life as a missionary and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! It was super inspiring and revelatory. After Zone Conference we came back to 淡水 and got some dinner then it was time for English class! I had a super great English class today and my spiritual share felt super good to me today. We also did a roleplay about short powerful lessons at Zone Conference and all throughout I felt the spirit so strong today. Testimony is a powerful force we can all possess and use as a weapon for good! Overall today was amazing! Can't think of anything better to be doing in my life than this!

Thursday was sweet. We got lunch treated to us and it was at KFC so that was cool. We also had 2 lessons which went well also! Our first one was with a cool dude named Jimmy and we taught him the restoration in English and it was so powerful. I always feel the Spirit so strong teaching the Restoration and reciting the First Vision! He liked it and committed to read the Book of Mormon and try to come to church this weekend. Our second lesson was with Robert and he is prepping for his baptism on November 10 and I actually promised him that if he read the Book of Mormon every day he would pass a test he needs to keep his job. I have really felt so much love for these people we meet and it's truly amazing. We talked to a cool man named Sean today and he set up with us to meet again! Nothing feels better than hearing people interested in listening to more of the Gospel! This is truly the most amazing work to be a part of.

Friday was pretty sweet! It started off with an awesome morning run and workout! There is truly a difference between exercising and not. I feel so much better when I exercise! After that, we had our studies and weekly planning session. We also had 2 lessons. One of them was with our super solid friend Ian. He is so cool and we taught him the Plan of Salvation today and when we asked if he had any questions he just said no and whenever we brought up a doctrinal point he knew it already! He is so cool and he reads the Book of Mormon like a madman. That was the highlight of the day for me! Teaching people is so powerful! I also had a cool experience with an answer to prayer! We were running late for a lesson and we were at our chapel and the lesson was far away and it was peak rush hour traffic and we had 25 minutes to get there. And the quickest way is through a night market and as I was riding down the road leading up to it I said a prayer asking to be able to make it on time and as I turned onto this super busy road a truck also pulled on right in front of me and it literally parted the sea of people and we made it through that market so quick that we arrived at the lesson right on time! It was such a cool experience and a prayer of thanks was definitely offered!

Saturday was pretty cool! Had a lesson at 8 AM which gave us just enough time to go for a run and shower and then leave! The lesson went well though which is good. After our studies, we had a lesson with our friend who was supposed to get baptized today but wasn't quite ready. Today he told us he won't get baptized for the foreseeable future. That was tough to hear but we are still praying for him to figure out these things for himself. On a side note, at the Starbucks we had the lesson at, I saw a dude watching Limitless! Brought back memories - what a good show! The last big thing we did was a ward dinner party! It was for everyone that helped and participated in the parade a few weeks back. Super good food and good people so it was an awesome combination! I gave away two copies of the Book of Mormon today and that lifted my spirits even higher than they already were! The joy from sharing the gospel is almost unrivaled!

Sunday was a superb day! It started off with Elder Pope's other tire on his bike being flat so we didn't ride to church on our bikes but we took the bus. Super convenient since suit season just started so we have to wear suits to our meetings with the President and also to church. I have nothing against wearing a suit, it can just get uncomfortable sometimes. Nevertheless, we made it to church and after church, we went to the MRT station where the bikes of fallen missionaries are laid to rest (the bikes that missionaries leave when they go home). We snagged a front tire for Elder Pope and got home and switched it out and we were back in business. We had to ride to 八里 for a dinner and we were supposed to have a lesson but that didn't go entirely to plan either so we had to take the ferry to make it back to 淡水. We made it back safely with time to spare and it all ended up kosher! I have a motivation to learn the basics of bike repair so I can help people fix their bikes and not cause as big of an issue. So I guess I should probably learn how to do some stuff...any help would be much appreciated.

This week was amazing I love my mission so much and love the heart of Asia otherwise known as Taiwan! It is good for me to be here!

Love you all,
宋希伯

HE GAVE US DRUGS!!! - 10/15/18

Hello everyone! I hope your week was as amazing as mine!

Monday we were gonna wake up early and go watch the sunrise at the wharf but when we got up it was raining and so we ditched that idea and went back to sleep. When we got up for reals we did a little study and then went grocery shopping! We did our shopping earlier because we had to go do a district lunch and go hike another mountain! This one wasn't as crazy as the one last week but the view was awesome. It was of Taipei and the Taipei World Trade Center (or 101) was super front and center so that was super nice! That was the rest of our day basically then at 6:30 we got back to work and went out finding. We met some awesome people at the colleges in town and one kid that set up with us asked to take a selfie with us so that was fun. I then took one with him. Hopefully these set ups all go well!

Tuesday was pretty run of the mill. Did usual stuff but also had 2 bomb lessons with some super cool people! My Chinese is getting better every day so I'm able to understand and speak a little bit more every lesson! There's honestly not much to say about Tuesday except we got a package of new copies of the Book of Mormon and these are the new translation ones! They recently revamped the translation and we just got a fat box of them. I can't wait to be able to read it!

Wednesday was pretty dang good. We spent the whole day doing studies and English prep. Hopping around from 7s and McDonald's around town till we ended up at our 3rd 7 of the day to finish up language study and prepare for English class. After we finished that it was time for dinner and we rode over to eat with the District. It was Thai food and since I'm not a big fan of that, I picked up some other food and took it with me. While we were riding to dinner though we got stopped by this dude who was pretty wild. He made handmade pottery and sold it and it was actually pretty dope! But his street shop neighbor started talking to us and started noticing how I looked a little confused and then he just went off and started calling me out for not understanding and he said some pretty harsh things that I didn't get until Elder Pope told me. I don't really care. I still smiled and moved on. English class went well and we talked about sleep and then related it to getting a fresh start through the atonement of Jesus Christ and I really felt the spirit as I testified of Jesus. He is truly our Savior and through Him, we can become happier and better people!

Thursday was quite the busy day. We had 4 lessons scheduled but sadly only 2 happened. We also had District Council so between all of our visits and stuff we barely had time for our studies! The first lesson we had went well. The person we were teaching seemed not interested but he brought a friend with him today so we are still gonna try and set up another time with him. Perseverance is crucial! Our second lesson was with a super promising guy and today was our second meeting with him. He came asking us questions about Jesus Christ and his Second Coming. It was pretty wild but thankfully my personal study for the day was a lot about that so we were able to read some scriptures and help him learn more about Jesus Christ and we asked him if he would follow Christ's example and be baptized and he said yes! A lot of the people we have baptismal goals with I am a little worried about but I'm not worried about this friend and I'm gonna have faith in all of our other people with goals will happen as well! Elder Pope's bike broke today so we had to go to the local bike shop and get it fixed. While we were walking to it we saw the sister's bikes and I noticed one of the bikes didn't have grips on it (they were on exchanges so it was a lesser used bike used mostly for exchanges). While we were at the bike store I decided to buy some grips for that bike (I also bought a slick bicycling hat that Dad would be proud of ) but after we left with Elder Pope's revamped bike and us both thinking it would be cool to work in a bike shop. We couldn't find the sister's bikes again! Eventually, I got the grips to them and they were appreciative and it felt so good to do service for others! Today was an awesome day filled with the Spirit! We also had District Council and that was super awesome too. This area is the best ever! In the best mission in the world!

Friday was an unexciting day. We did have a lesson though which was a pass off from the Sisters and the dude tried to give us bing lang. Bing lang is basically the Taiwanese equivalent of chewing tobacco and it makes your teeth red and gnarly and gross. This guy tried to give us some and when we said no, he kept on trying to force us to do this stuff but we kept on saying no. He got a little offended but this old guy walked up to him and told him to respect our wishes and we were so grateful for him. Turns out he is from New York and now I know that New Yorkers got your back! Wild lesson, but he said he would come to General Conference so that's good! The rest of the day we didn't get to do a lot since we had to do weekly planning. Elder Pope and I also talked a lot today about life stuff and we were able to bond and grow closer through that! Elder Pope is truly an awesome guy and I love him a bunch! We also had this old missionary that went home about 9 weeks go pop by our apartment and visit us. I didn't know him but he reminded me a lot of Chicken Joe from Surfs Up. A super chill dude but cool. I can't wait to watch Conference tomorrow!

Saturday was awesome!  We got to watch conference and it was amazing! I love the focus now on family-centered gospel learning! The messages were super awesome and I know that President Nelson is truly the Prophet and the mantle he holds gives him the authority to lead this whole church and I sustain him as he does that! After Conference, we did studies the rest of the day and had dinner with an awesome member who is a super cool guy! He served his mission in New York and was actually across the river on 9/11 and he saw everything go down and witnessed that event first hand. He has a picture of him and some other missionaries with the towers burning behind them. It was super wild and I almost didn't believe him when he first told us, but it's true and we got to know him real well tonight. Even though we didn't get to do a lot today it was still an amazing day!

Sunday was a good day! Not much happened but we finished up watching conference! It was cool to see Elder Carpenter speak since he is from our ward in Colorado! He's the one who invited me to write in my journal every day on my mission and so far I haven't missed a day. Super cool stuff and I loved hearing President Nelson speak. He's so powerful and I loved hearing his message about using the correct name of the Church! I definitely could be better about that. After Conference, it was just studies and eating so nothing else exciting!

I love you all a bunch and am constantly praying for you all!

我愛你們!
宋長老

I STREET RACED IN TAIWAN AND WON!! - 10/8/18

你們好!

Monday was a physically demanding Preparation Day! We woke up early and did a hike in the Yang Ming Shan National Park. The hike was 2.5 kilometers up and it was tough! They had stairs but that was still pretty physically demanding and the last kilometer was almost vertical. No joke it was so steep! We reached the top and it was so worth it. The view was absolutely breathtaking. After the hike we grabbed some grub and walked around town! Then the Assistants and Office Elders came up to Danshui and we spent some time with them. We went to this fish place where the fish eat your feet and stuff. Super strange but relaxing and super fun! Once all that was over we did our grocery shopping and then I got a haircut! When I reunited with my generation of missionaries they all said I looked "rugged" with how long my hair had gotten. They were right, my hair was super long so I got it all buzzed off! Man I like it. Super low maintenance! Once P-day ended we had an awesome FHE with a recent convert and then did a little finding before ending another awesome day in 淡水!

Tuesday was a spiritually filling day! We had a Zone Council meeting in Beitou and it was super inspiring and I definitely learned a bunch! After the spiritual feast, we had a dessert with District Council! I learned a lot and definitely have renewed motivation to be the best missionary I can be! After District Council, we started our Zone Leader exchange and I went with Elder Swensen and we had an awesome night. We stopped and talked to a bunch of people and I learned a lot about talking with everyone and how important that is. We had to do some studies and stuff but we were able to meet some cool people and we gave 2 people English names because they asked us to! So now there is a Trevor and a Garret in Taiwan! It was super cool. It was a super awesome day! I love it.

Wednesday was the best day ever! We finished up our exchange and I taught a lesson with Elder Swensen and our friend accepted a baptismal goal! I am super happy for him and I hope he can keep to his goal of November 10! Before our exchange ended we did some studies and then met at the Chapel to switch back. Right after we switched back we were supposed to have a lesson at the church and that didn't happen because the guy never showed up! Maybe he'll come around and send us a line to meet up! We had to do some English class prep and then we did a District dinner and it was so fun! We shared a lot of laughs and had a good time. Afterward, we went and taught English class and my class was awesome! I love teaching class it brings me so much happiness and joy! It was an awesome way to end the best day ever!

Thursday was pretty chill. It was raining pretty much all day and so that made it super fun to bike around. We had two lessons today and both of those went super well. One of them especially I feel like he will progress a lot! Then the other lesson we invited him to set a baptismal goal and he accepted it! It is for December 1. I'm praying every day for the people that have a baptismal date that they can keep it! We also found some cool people today and had some interesting conversations with them. All in all, a super good day to be a missionary in Taiwan!

Friday honestly felt a little bit unproductive. We had to do weekly planning and on top of that, we had our usual studies so we didn't get to work until 6 o'clock. Then we rode over to Bali which took about 1 hour. So for those of you doing the math, at around 7 o'clock we started contacting people on the phone to see if we could visit them. No luck. As we were biking around there was this kid (about 14 or 15 years old) that started following us on his bike! I raced him down the street a few times and we had a good time! While biking on the road with him I talked to him about his family and stuff and then told him about the Book of Mormon and gave him our little handout about it and told him it could bless him and his family and he seemed to like that. So maybe he'll be able to read it and see those blessings! That was one of my favorite moments so far in Taiwan! Racing a kid down the street and telling him about Jesus Christ and His gospel! It was amazing. Other than that nothing much happened today but I did walk down a super narrow alley with rats running around in it so that was an interesting experience!

Saturday was quite an exciting day. We were in a parade! We had about 20 missionaries from a few different zones all come together and be in a parade celebrating the new LRT transportation opening up later this year. It was super cool to be with our ward members and other missionaries representing! President Peterson even came down and joined us in walking through the parade! When he saw my new haircut he said "Woahhhhhhh!" and just rubbed my head. It was pretty funny but he said it looked good and so I guess I have his stamp of approval lol! The parade was super fun and a great missionary opportunity! That was basically all of our time today though we did a little street finding which is pretty normal. The best thing from today was that while we were going down the street in the parade I saw a guy wearing an In-N-Out hat! No joke it was so awesome! I jumped off my bike and ran over and talked to him! He asked if I liked it and of course, I said "Yes! I used to work there!" Then he asked me if I missed it and I said I did a lot. It was so cool to see some INO gear in Taiwan!

Sunday was so sweet! It was fast Sunday today so I was able to fast and even though I may have been physically in want of nourishment, Heavenly Father made up for it in spiritual nourishment! The whole day was filled with cool experiences. I was asked by a member of the Bishopric to share my testimony today and that went well! I shared a scripture and shared some simple thoughts about it. Good stuff! After church, we had a baptismal service for an 8-year-old member of the ward. The members here are super organized and it was an awesome service. Elder Pope and I got to witness the baptism. Later in the night, we had a recent convert fireside and it was super good. I didn't understand too much of it but there was a bunch of musical numbers and I felt the spirit so strongly during the music numbers. One of them was my favorite song, Savior Redeemer of My Soul! President Peterson's dad sang an awesome musical number too. It was just so great! Oh, and I guess Church is 2 hours now. Crazy! We haven't watched Conference and won't until next week, but I am excited!

Anyways this week was amazing and I hope y'all had an awesome week too! Wonderful things are happening in Taiwan and I love it here!

宋希伯

BIKING THROUGH TAIWAN *ALMOST GONE WRONG* - 10/1/18

Hello from the beautiful island of Taiwan! This week was super awesome!

P-day was so much fun. Not gonna lie it was way better than my Kansas ones. We started off with touring an old museum sort of thing with a recent convert and it was super fun to learn more about Taiwan and its history. We also had lunch with that same member and that was super delicious. Taiwan food is different from American food for sure but it is super good! After lunch, we went with the other missionaries (we were with the elders that live with us and then the sisters in our area as well) to the fisherman's wharf area and hopped on a ferry to Bali. Bali is a touristy place and has lots of things to take in. It was super fun though we had a good time walking around and seeing everything! After we caught the ferry back, the Elders split up from the Sisters and we did our grocery shopping for the week. Taiwanese grocery shopping is definitely interesting but I got what I needed and it's all good! That was basically all we did outside on P-day we came back to the flat and I took a nap and then when I woke up it was time to go to work! We went to the college in town and we actually found a cool guy named Ian (that's his English name) and we were able to share the gospel with him! We also had a teaching appointment at the chapel with Robert (his English name) and he set a baptismal goal for November 10! I was able to teach some of the Restoration using the Chinese I have and I got the message across so that was uplifting for me! That wrapped up the day basically, it rained a lot today too and biking in it was fun. It was quite refreshing!

Tuesday was a fun day. We started the morning with studies and then we got a text from a member saying he needed our help opening up the chapel. So we biked over to the chapel and helped him out but there were people at the chapel the whole time so he didn't end up needing our help. We were able to do some companionship study and grab some lunch at Bafang (it's basically like the McDonald's of Taiwan. They have dumplings and potstickers and other super good stuff). Then we had district meeting! My first one! That was super cool.  We have the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders in our district and then my companion is the District Leader so I am pretty low on the totem pole in the District. But it's cool.  I can learn a lot from everyone. After District Meeting, we took off and did some language study at a 7-Eleven near the college. Then we bumped over to the college and had some curry for dinner. Then we walked around the college and ended the day with an appointment! One thing I've learned from missionary work here and something Elder Hogge says is that missionaries here are the worst loiterers. We hang out at 7-Elevens and other convenience stores and never buy anything. But it's a good place to study and the only downside is that we hear the same 5 TV commercials the whole time. There are worse things that could happen. In other new,s there is a typhoon coming in scheduled for Friday and so we are getting rained on here and there in preparation for that. It'll be a good time!

Wednesday was probably the best day in Taiwan yet! We started off the day with some awesome studies. One of the biggest things I learned from Kansas is that studies are so great and I really fell in love with the scriptures there! So now studies are one of my most favorite times of the week.  After studies we had a lesson near the college and the lesson went well. After the lesson, we had lunch with some other Elders and then I got my English Class prepared and ready to teach later in the day. Since we didn't do the rest of our studies before our lesson we did the rest of our studies at a Starbucks near our flat and it was super zen. It is so quiet and peaceful and studying there is awesome. The rest of the day flew by because we had dinner at a members house and then had our English classes. On the way to our dinner, it started pouring rain and we got drenched on our bikes and it was honestly super fun. We showed up absolutely drenched but it was alright. Then my English Class went well also! I had some help teaching today but I think that next week I'll be on my own. It is fun everyone is so nice and teaching them English makes me so happy. So today was an awesome day and Taiwan is great!

Thursday was AMAZING. We had such a good day. After our usual studies we had lunch provided for us by a new member. It was some more curry and after we ate we taught her a new member lesson which went well. My Chinese is slowly improving and I'm able to contribute more and more to lessons. After our lunch, we finished our studies and then we tried to talk with people near the college. We had a cool experience where we made a mutually binding promise with Heavenly Father to have gospel conversations and we were blessed with 3 solid gospel discussions and that definitely bolstered my faith. Like Elder Pope says, "We shouldn't have faith-building experiences but experiences built on faith". So I had that experience because of my faith that it could happen! We grabbed some dinner and then biked to the chapel for a new member lesson and a lesson with a new person being taught. Both went well! Our lesson with the person being taught went so well. It was his first meeting with us and we taught him about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We also told him about the Book of Mormon and he loved it. I was able to contribute a lot more because he spoke English also. I felt the spirit so much and it made my whole day great! Biking home it rained a bunch and it was a perfect cherry on top.

Friday was a good day. Lots of studies and planning today. Today was our weekly planning session and it went super awesome! This week's session was technically my second one in Danshui but this week I was actually awake and not nodding off (I did the first one my first full day on the island. Dang jetlag). It was super effective and Elder Pope and I really feel good about this next week! I love having planning like that. It's how I know we had the spirit and it was revelatory! Now we just need to go execute our plans. Other than our planning we did some street contacting and talked to some awesome people! Today was also supposedly typhoon day but I guess it juked out Taiwan and is gonna hit Japan. Oh well, it still rained here!

Saturday was an epic day. We started it off by going to a funeral. I never thought I would go to a funeral on my mission, but today I did. It was for the mom of a member in the ward. The deceased wasn't a member of the church but hopefully, in the Spirit World she will accept it! After the funeral, we went to a 7-Eleven and did some study and also had a lesson at the same 7. That lesson went super awesome! Then we went to a Starbucks for a back to back lesson which also went well. And then we went to a different Starbucks for our third lesson of the day! All of our lessons today went superb. We grabbed some dinner and then went to the chapel for our 4th lesson, and that's when our luck ran out. The dude never showed up! Luckily our 5th lesson showed up and that wrapped up the day! We were super busy and that's how I like it! I also like the slight fall breeze I feel when biking at night :)

Sunday was pretty chill! We went to church in the morning and that was really cool. It was the Primary Program and the theme was 我是神的孩子 or I Am A Child Of God. So far my only two Sundays here in Taiwan have been around that theme. It's a super great message to remember. We are all children of God and have a divine identity to him. How awesome is that! After church, we had Correlation Meeting and then had a little lunch provided by some members at the church then we went to another members house that had invited us over for lunch. It was all super tasty and one thing about eating food in Taiwan is that whenever someone treats you to food, they always make sure you eat until you're full. I get full easy here so it isn't too hard for them. When we got back to the apartment we did some studies then had a lesson with one of our friends who has a baptism goal. We talked about that a little bit today and went over the interview questions. Then out of nowhere, he asked me if I would baptize him! Wow! I was caught off guard a little but agreed to do it! So if he holds his date then I'll be baptizing him. This friend is super cool (he says I look like Matt Damon 😁😁). After the awesome lesson we didn't have much time to do anything after finishing some studies and dinner but we were able to go finding at the college campus and that wrapped up an awesome last day of the week!

This week was amazing and I love Taiwan! The people are the kindest you'll ever meet and it's just so amazing! It's hard to put into words! I love you all so much and stay tuned for next week's installment of "'Elder Ciminski Official"!

宋希伯

I FOUND CHIN! - 9/24/18

Well maybe not the best skater in the world but I found the best mission in the world! This week was travel week!!

Monday was my last preparation day in the United States! How crazy is that?? We didn't do anything except play games.  It wasn't too different from the rest but after preparation day ended at 6 I packed up a lot of my things and got that stuff sorted out. So a pretty unexciting day, but I'm one step closer to Taiwan!

Tuesday was quite the roller coaster of emotions honestly. One thing I've developed on my mission already is that I am more emotional. It's pretty interesting! The day started off with waking up late at the zone leaders (we stayed the night with them and another set of elders and we played games and stuff pretty late). After that we got ready for the day and then did some service for a guy in one of the wards who is moving to Salem, North Carolina. A lot of people think missionaries are moving crews and that can get tiresome but doing service is good! I wasn't feeling too well and actually got told to sit down and do nothing because I didn't look good at all apparently but I just wanted to help. I did as I was told, reluctantly, and the job ended up getting done. I packed the rest of my things today and got all ready to go, and said goodbye to everyone. In leading up to actually leaving I was quite nervous and anxious. I was able to receive a blessing and it was a great experience. It was quite amazing and I shed some tears. Then we started the drive to Wichita and made it where I stayed with the Assistants and all the new greenies (super interesting). All in all a roller coaster of a day but tomorrow is the big day!!! WOO-HOO!!

Wednesday was wild too! I woke up at 4:05 with the assistants and they took me to the airport and got me on my way! It was a smooth time getting through security and all that jazz and my flights were all pretty good too. The flight from Wichita to Chicago was easy and the one from Chicago to San Francisco went by super quick. I had an aisle seat on both of those flights and that was a blessing too. Once I landed in San Francisco I had to walk all the way to the other side of the airport to the International gate but when I made it there was only one other missionary there. Soon after everyone else started flowing in and it was the happiest reunion ever. We were all so stoked to see each other and had an awesome time catching up with each other! We all made it onto the flight safely and we were on our way! The flight was really quick, at least that's what it felt like to me. I tried to sleep but didn't get that much sadly but it all worked out. I didn't sit by other missionaries so I still felt kinda alone. We landed in Taipei a little early and so we had to wait for President Peterson since he thought our flight was later. We got picked up and got driven all the way to the mission office which is literally across the street from the Taipei temple! We walked around the streets a little bit and it was super fun. Then we slept and I crashed so fast. (Everything from landing on is technically my Thursday entry so I'm gonna move on to Friday).

Friday was some orientations and then we met our trainers! President had a letter for each missionary and it was kinda like a mission call and so that was fun to read out loud. So my trainer is Elder Pope and we are currently in the Danshui area! We traveled to the area by the MRT and it's a fun city! The apartment is awesome and we live with 2 other missionaries so there's 4 total. We went to work and I love this city so much! We were out until the end of our day and then I came home and fell asleep so fast I was so tired. An awesome day!

Saturday was so fun. We did some study and then went back to the mission office to get my bike and also pick up my phone. I ended up getting the S9 because the shop they get phones from didn't carry the S8 anymore and I went ahead and upgraded. My phone is a Lilac Purple so it is a super fun color to have. When we got back we finished up some study then went out to work and I got to bike through Taiwan traffic! It was super wild and such a fun time. The whole day we just rode around and walked trying to talk to people. The language barrier is rough but I'm trying to listen and understand everything so it's coming along slowly but surely. Tomorrow we have Stake Conference so we have to go back to the mission office for the 3rd day in a row. So happy to be in Taiwan!

Sunday was a fun day. We had stake conference right next to the temple and that was cool. I barely understood anything but what I did understand was that we are all God's children and he loves us so much! I know that to be true and there is so much power in knowing that truth! After we got back from Stake Conference we did some studies and then had missionary correlation meeting. Biking around all day was rough. I need to strengthen my muscles but it helps that I do it every day! Maybe I'll actually be able to ride with dad when I get home! I am still adjusting to the life here and not knowing a lot of Chinese but I love Taiwan! The people have all been so nice and it's great.

This week was quite the week but now I am on the island and here to stay! I love you all so much and hope ya'll have an awesome week!

宋長老

I'M OFF TO SEARCH FOR ANIMAL CHIN! - 9/17/18

A great week again in the KWM!

P-day was super relaxed. We did a little bit of shopping and then hung out at the institute building pretty much the whole day. After preparation day ended we did some service for a lady who might get evicted from her house. So we helped her clean and hopefully, things go well for her and her situation! That was basically all of my day, not to much to write about from it.

Tuesday started off doing some service for the same lady from Monday. After service, we did our studies and had a revelatory weekly planning session! Elder Zolik and I had some awesome inspired ideas on how we can hasten the work in the Wakarusa Valley Ward! I am so stoked to get to work and see the fruits of it! We also helped our ward mission leader family move some stuff around his house because he just moved in about a month ago and so we moved some desks and it was hard work but he took us to Freddy's after so that was tasty! Then we went to institute and that was awesome!  That ended a wonderful Tuesday!

Wednesday was exhausting! We had zone council meeting in the morning and since we didn't have a car we got a ride to and from that but other than that we walked everywhere! I think we walked over 5 miles today, my feet were definitely hurting after that. We were able to try and visit people as well as find new people. This week we want to try and knock 500-1000 doors and so far we got 110 and we've found 5 potential people to teach! Since we walked a bunch that took up a lot of the day walking around so we didn't get to do too much besides walk and knock doors! It was a great day and I felt very productive and like I was fulfilling my full effort to the Lord.

Thursday was INCREDIBLE! It started off by knocking more doors and trying to talk to everyone! Even though a lot of people didn't want to talk to us we are trying to share the gospel! After some tracting, we were fortunate enough to go and visit the person being taught by the sister missionaries and give her a blessing to help her overcome personal struggles and feel comfort in her life. I gave the blessing and after I completed it she said it felt electric and super awesome. I'm not saying that to brag but to share how powerful the priesthood is! One should never shy away from using the priesthood or requesting a blessing by way of the priesthood. It can help so much and my testimony grows of that so often! The other amazing thing that happened today is an Elder and I went to knock some apartments rumored to have a lot of Chinese speaking people. As we went out knocking we didn't talk to hardly anyone! I street contacted an old Chinese lady who didn't even understand English at all. As I talked with her in mandarin she said: "I'm very tired I will go sleep". I was laughing at that for a minute but also amazed I had a conversation with a Chinese person and felt good about it! She actually understood me! Aside from that lady, we didn't talk to a lot of people. As we were walking in between buildings, I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to provide me one person I could teach and if that person spoke Mandarin that would be great but even if they spoke English I just wanted to teach someone! And of course, the next door I knocked, a KU student opened the door and as we asked her name she said it was YiZi. That is a Chinese name and so I asked if she spoke Chinese. She said she did but English as well. So I talked with her for a minute about missionaries and what we do. We asked if she wanted to read the Book of Mormon and I offered her a Chinese Book of Mormon and she took that one! We also got her email so we can hopefully coordinate a time to visit with her again. HEAVENLY FATHER ANSWERS PRAYERS. No matter how imperfect we may be. No matter what we have done. He answers them. He cares about each and every one of us and I challenge you all to never forget that.

Friday was amazing! It started off with the 6-week accounting call with President McCuistion and when it was my turn to account, I said all of my stuff and then when I was done President said he had one more thing to tell me. He then told me I HAVE MY VISA!!!!! and that I would leave Monday unless I hear otherwise. I ended up getting my flight plans later and it turns out I leave Wednesday at the crack of dawn! I am so excited to leave and go to Taiwan! Not that I don't like Kansas but I know that Taiwan is where I am meant to be! And after 7 months of waiting, I am so stoked to finally go to the holy island! That was the best part of my day today so that is all I am going to write about but I am so excited!!

Saturday was quite the day. Mentally prepping to leave still and starting to get all of my stuff together. Still super excited! We went to Texas Roadhouse because one of the elders got a gift card from his mom and so he took us out and it was a great meal with some great people! One of the workers there complimented my tie.  That was a little funny but cool! Lately, all of the missionaries have been passing around a bug and I am one of the last ones to catch the sickness. Towards the end of the day, I had to stay at the apartment and rest up a little bit so Elder Zolik and I could go back out at night and invite people to come to church. In the end, all of the people we were going to invite got invited and I didn't feel too bad so it all ended well! We also had a bomb missionary correlation early in the morning too. I am glad I will be leaving this ward very missionary minded!

Sunday was an awesome day. It started off with church and we had 5 people at Sacrament, which was a transfer high for us! Along with finding 12 new people this week, it was a great week for Wakarusa Valley missionaries! After church, we had a lesson with a family we are teaching (who made it to church!) and that went well.  We invited them to watch General Conference and hopefully they decide to watch it! I am still kinda sick and so I laid down to rest my head and before I knew it I slept for almost an hour and a half. I feel bad for being sick but I am trying to chug water and get over it quick so I can be the most effective servant I can! This week I am sure it will get better. We also had an amazing dinner with some members and they are such an amazing family I am gonna miss them a lot!! If I ever come back to Kansas I will definitely visit them! The sabbath is the best day of the week!!

That's all I got to write about this week but I am doing amazing and super excited!!!!

I love you all and hope you all are doing great!

Elder Ciminski Official

PS. With Taiwan being so far ahead in time just keep that in mind when writing me next week! You'll be getting mine next Sunday night probably. Just an FYI.

HEBER CIMINSKI OFFICIAL IS BACK!!! - 9/10/18

Hello everyone! Without further ado let's get this week started!

Monday was a productive day! We started off the day with a study at the institute building with Bro. Mitchel and it was awesome. Very informative as always! After the study 5 of us went to WalMart and Ross to see what we could find. Then we went bowling! I started off my game really bad but in the end I had 5 or 6 strikes in one game! I've never done that before! Blessings of being a missionary i guess. After bowling we went to the institute building and played some games. I changed my paddle grip in ping pong recently and I've noticed a huge difference in my game. It's getting better! Mom you better watch out - our table top ping pong will be way more intense now . After P-day officially ended we went back to the apartment for dinner and we ended up staying the whole rest of the day because elder Zolik wasn't feeling well. I cleaned the whole apartment and it felt amazing, took the whole night, but very satisfying! It definitely makes up for all the times I didn't clean up my room back home. Or so I hope .

Tuesday was a little all over the place. We had to act as Uber for some elders who didn't have the car but needed it. So that took a lot of time. After we drove around we finished up our studies and did our weekly planning and got all that stuff done. It was also team member day at Chick-Fil-A so we got free food! Super good! Then we went to the library because I had some online courses I had to do for my missionary portal stuff. That took forever so when we finally got out of there it was time to go on a member team up to drop by our people being taught and try to get their daughter to mutual. The visit went well and we are still praying they come to church! Since it was Tuesday, we finished up the day at institute!

Wednesday was so nice. It rained a lot of the day and I love the rain. It's so soothing to study and listen to the steady rainfall. Ahh so relaxing. We also had a district council meeting. I gave a little training on How To Begin Teaching which went well. After the council meeting the whole zone went to panda express. Super delicious. After some errands, we went to family history and tried to contact a few people. No luck but still trying!! Then we ended the day in the best way possible. ASIAN CUPPING. The Zone Leaders have a set of the cups and so Elder Zolik and I both got cupped. It was so dang relaxing and I felt like a new man after it!! The marks are pretty gnarly too. So worth it though I wanna get my own set now  Too bad I still gotta fly to Taiwan and make flying weight! Definitely a sacrifice I'm willing to make. The cupping was amazing! Would recommend it to anyone!

Thursday was meh, to be honest. The best part of the day was doing service at a soup kitchen thing and helped served food to homeless people. It was totally fun and a good time and it felt awesome to do service! Other than that it was a slow day. When I have tough days I look inward and see what I can be doing better to maybe help turn it around. So in doing that I identified some things I could maybe improve on. Hopefully that, and a new day will help me get back in my groove!

Friday was a super great day! Partially what made it awesome was the fact that it rained. All. Day. It was awesome! Elder Zolik gave me his old sweater and so I put that on and the work went on! Also, we got some big news today. The whole mission is approved to use Instagram! It's such a weird time to be a missionary. Who knew we would be using these tools to share the gospel! It's wild! The last awesome thing was that we put someone on a date for baptism. The date is November 30, 2019! He has a complex situation but now he has a goal to work for! And that's awesome too! So this week was great!

Saturday was perfect. The weather was amazing. Low 70s and the sun peeking out of the clouds. Amazing. We didn't get to spend to much time outside though. Elder Zolik wasn't feeling too great so we took a little longer to get out of the flat. Once we got out we made a few stops then we had to take care of a few other things. I was able to pass off my lesson 2 in Mandarin! I have to pass off the third lesson this Thursday so that'll be a struggle to study. But I'll do it! The last big thing today was giving some priesthood blessings. A lot of the missionaries in the zone have been feeling ill and it's pretty gnarly how sick everyone gets. So last night our districts sisters called us up and asked us to give one of them a blessing. We immediately got dressed and went to help them! Then Elder Zolik requested one since he was sick too. It is always a humbling experience to administer a blessing. We were able to do that and help our fellow missionaries!

Sunday was a chill day. We went to Ward Council in the morning and then church service after. It went well and after church we had a lesson with the one family we are teaching. They weren't able to make it to church but we are hopeful for next week. Elder Zolik was still getting over his cold so we stayed in the apartment and I did a lot of studying. We went on exchanges and did some service for a lady that was referred to us and then we ended the day by watching the face to face with Elder Cook! It was so good and the Saints book it talks about is so awesome too.  I read the whole thing this week and it's such a testimony builder. Go check it out if you haven't already!

That's about it for this week. The Kansas Wichita Mission is awesome and I might get to stay for two transfers! My friend that left a district before me just got his visa and he's in his second transfer in his reassignment. So who knows what'll happen! God does and I trust in his plan.

Love you all!!

Elder Heber Ciminski