Heyo! - 11/28/16

Christmas Music.... I have heard enough to last me until 2050.

No White Christmas for me please. Snow is annoying as a missionary.

I will pass on the horse-drawn sleigh ride.

And our townhouse doesn't have a chimney, so good luck Santa.

But it is nice to see all of the decorations in the stores. Especially the evergreen garland with the white lights. I don't know why, but that is my favorite, perhaps because it's a classic.

So we got three new investigators this week! One of them we now have no way of getting a hold of, but we know where a friend lives so we will try again. But that friend thinks that we are cops and won't talk to us soooooo......

We found one investigator because of my companion's amazing bravery! We were trying to contact someone in a rough area of town at night and they were home but there was a gentleman smoking in a car out front. My companion went up and knocked on the window to talk to the guy in the car. Both the member and I held back because we were a bit scared, but the guy ended up being really nice and the member and I were humbled. We have a motto that is "talk to everyone!" that he definitely fulfilled that night! The other investigators that we have found since I have been here are the same. No real progression. One is still eager to be baptized on January 7th! He will be going out of town for the holiday so we are pressed to teach him all he needs to know! We have many media referrals right now so we are going to try and contact them and teach them as well!!!

We are going to try and do some more Less-Active work. We aren't doing very much and I would like to do some more. We taught a total of 12 lessons last week and only 4 were with Less-Actives. I like working with them because often times they still have a testimony and all we need to do is help them realize it and be there for them as they come back!

Thanksgiving was good. We ate with two people. I have discovered out here that I like Lima Beans a lot! But not Collards. I don't even have to eat them to know that. Bleh.

That is about all for this week. I love yall!!

Elder Ciminski

Lovely Rocky Mount NC - 11/21/16

There is a Target here and a mall. Ross and TJ Maxx too. So it can't be that bad! I am constantly deal shopping to see if I can pick up stuff that I will need for school when I get home. To ease the shock of the bill!

It got cold this week and my body did not like that. I got the Flu! It started creeping up on Wednesday and peaked late Thursday/Friday morning. So that was miserable, but it didn't affect the work. I woke up during the peak and was laying there thinking that I would have to call the mission nurse and stay in the next day and how I didn't get a flu shot like she very strongly recommended that we do. Haha. I have gotten over the flu, but now I lost my voice. Like big time. I am pretty sure I would have reminded some people of President Kimball this morning. It has come back a bit, but still very gravely and forget anything even remotely high-pitched! So that has been the big challenge this week.

We found two new investigators yesterday! So that is a good thing that happened! Both are genuinely interested! I hope it continues because this area has 110 other churches. Competition!

I do look forward to serving here and learning what the Lord wants me to learn!

Elder Ciminski

Me and the beloved Currituck trailer.

:) - 11/14/16

I got a transfer call! I am going to a small city named Rocky Mount. It is just under an hour from Raleigh and about two hours from here. It will be my first time leaving this stake! I am excited for the change! We will be reopening the area. It was closed for a transfer due to problems with housing. The Branch is sad to see me go! But yay for changes!

This week went by fast. We did some service for the afore mentioned member, we cleared 100 ft of ditch. My companion will be going back probably this weekend to work some more on the remaining 200 ft!

We are still hearing a lot about Hurricane Matthew. This week's story involves a member of the Branch who had to wake up in the middle of the night because water was coming in underneath their home (it is on stilts) and in a mad scramble, move their cars to higher ground, beach their boats (I assume there was no time to properly moor them) and get all their stuff from floating away! They ended up with their dock and boat house in their yard, 18 inches to two feet of water under their home, and are still working to repair other damages from the wind to their home! The area where I am going was hit harder than we were so I am sure that I will have more stories!

We got our first frost on Sunday morning, and man was it a good one! I pulled out the ice-scraper that I got last year (the best 5.99 I have ever spent) and used it! Winter is coming!

We had a cool experience this week. I was on exchange in Elizabeth City and we were going to knock a 3 floor apartment building. With the talk from last General Conference in mind entitled, "Fouth Floor last door!", we decided to start at the top and work our way to the bottom. You see, we thought that we would skip to the fourth floor, last door and skip all the heartache of the other floors and doors. And you know what? It worked! We found a less-active member in the very first door we knocked! So miracles do happen! And we still knocked the rest of the building in case you were wondering. :)

I hope you all have a good one! I love you!!!

Elder Ciminski

Week? - 11/7/16

You know, sometime people ask me if I can believe if I have been out a year, and I want to say "Yes! I would believe you if you told me 40!" and other times I honestly can't. Missions are funny like that.

This week was very busy. We had our meeting on Monday, then went to OBX for prepartion day, and I stayed there again for an exchange. Then we had Zone Meeting on Friday. So lots of meetings and funky schedules. This week looks like it will be similar because we have Interviews, Deep Clean (a 3 hour period where all we do is clean), and Transfer Calls on Saturday. If I get transferred next week, next week will be exciting too. I like it when it is super busy, it keeps my mind off whatever problem is plaguing me at the moment, and those are in no short supply!

We haven't been able to meet with our recent convert this week. FEMA came to look at her place and that threw a wrench in our plan to visit her. Eventually we will get in to see her! We have an appointment with her at a member's tonight (which I am super excited for!). But FEMA has been going around helping people out with their damage from Matthew. We talked to one lady who had 16 Cypress trees down! Another lady who doesn't come to church much has 8 assorted Oak, Cypress, and Pine trees down! It may have been a tornado because she is the only one on her street that had anything down. There is also a place where there is a 20 foot swath perhaps a mile long where every single tree is down. That was almost undoubtedly a Tornado, but there was no houses in that path, so that is a blessing. There is still a lot of cleanup being done.

Something that we found out this week that is quite exciting is that we are going to be having Interviews and Zone Conferences every transfer! It used to be once a quarter. I am super happy about that!

We have been trying to find new investigators, and this week we got real close! We just couldn't commit him to a return appointment since where we taught him wasn't his house. He lives in a neighboring congregation so we won't be able to teach him if we are able to meet with him again. I am a little bit disappointed about it, but not really because we are still helping people come to Christ!

That is about it for the week. I will write y'all next week! I love you!

Elder Ciminski

This week - 11/1/16

This week was good! The main highlight was Elder Bennett coming to visit. He had no lesson plans and went off the Spirit the whole time and it was great! What was kinda funny about the whole thing is that he rambles and will sometimes go down a path with his stories and won't be able to find his way back (in true North Carolina fashion) so several times his wife had to come and reign him in! I decided to fast before the meeting so that I could have a greater spiritual sensitivity with me when we went and I am glad I did! He spoke on many subjects, not many of them related, but I took something away from every one! The main thing was to not be so hard on myself. As you all know, I can be pretty dang hard on myself and it was a good reminder for me to go easy!

We did have our Trunk or Treat and the 2nd Annual stump burning Friday night. It was great! The fire got probably 25 feet high at one point and was very hot! There was also ash everywhere! We had lots of chili as well and some birthday cake because it was Brother Etheridge's 50th birthday!

We are at the beach again today. Ever since my new companion came to Currituck we have been going down here a lot more.

We taught 10 lessons this week! All less-actives. One of them came to church, which was cool!

Transfers are coming up in two weeks and my trainer and first companion is going home! He was where I was when I came out! It is crazy how fast time flies! My last companion is training now and I got the chance yesterday to meet his Trainee (I don't like the term "Greenie". To me, it seems derogatory) and he seems pretty cool! A real nice guy! It was very good to see him and catch up a bit.

Anyway, I am going to get a YETI cup today. They are supposed to be super nice and very good at keeping stuff cold. I'm excited. I will send pictures of it next week.

That is all! I love you!!!! Have an amazing week!

Elder Ciminski

Fun Times - 10/24/16

It was a good week! We were able to meet with some people who we haven't been able to meet with in a long time, and get a dinner set up with one of them! We had a total of 8 lessons this week. We were supposed to have a lot more, but many cancelled or pooped out for other reasons (like a set up). The recent converts are still giving us referrals so we are staying busy! Still seeking service. The Stake has organized trips to go to the neighboring Goldsboro and Kinston Zones because of the flooding there from the Neuse River. Needless to say, we can't go to that, but there is still some stuff to do here! Mold is a serious problem now. Especially under peoples houses.

This week, there was 7 wrecked cars from 4 people in the branch. All separate crashes. One family had their son rear-end a car who had stopped for a school bus on a divided Highway (you don't do that if you are on the opposite side), then when picking up a part for said car (he is very handy) they got backed into by someone who wasn't paying attention. The dad rear-ended someone on his way to work when it was raining. Then another family lost their car in the OBX when the Hurricane came through. Their daughter went to work down there and got stuck so the floodwaters claimed their car. When shopping for another car someone hit them and totaled that car as well. Two other families got hit in various situations. One member's son was in an apartment complex that had over 4 feet of water in it, and needless to say his Altima didn't make it. But we are safe!

Anyway, that is pretty much all this week. Next week I will be emailing on Tuesday because Elder Bennett rescheduled for Monday. But look for the pictures!

Have a great week! I love you!

Elder Ciminski

Hello!!!! - 10/17/16

We had the baptism and I have never seen anyone so happy and with such a bright light in their eyes as her!!!! That made everything worth it!!  I am so happy for her and nothing can taint that for me!!! Heavenly Father and His Spirit trumps all!!

So here is the crazy...

We had the pianist hop on to an emergency flight to Utah for unknown reasons. The baptism talk never hopped on her flight to Norfolk (the nearest airport) so she was not going to make it. So we had to find replacements for both, which we did and it all worked out. The the water in the font was green. Apparently it is normal and no one said anything. So that worked out. Then Katy Perry was supposed to sing Amazing Grace with the daughter of her member boyfriend and the one performing the baptism.

Yes, you read that right.

Katy Perry.

Like THE Katy Perry. The one who is comparing people to plastic bags in Firework.

It was over FaceTime but Miss Perry didn't show her face, but Eddy's daughter did and it was a nice performance. Apparently Eddy's daughter is a backup singer and writes music for Miss Perry and they are pretty tight. I don't buy it all though. It seems like all talk and nothing to show for it. But that would have been cool if Miss Perry did sing there!

Sorry that this email is coming to y'all the next day. We were at the mercy of the library closing yesterday and turns out that the computers shut off early by themselves. Who knew? So everything beyond this point was typed on Tuesday.

We are still chugging along. We are in Moyock (pronounced Mow-yaw-ck) today at the library here and it is so much nicer! And the internet is faster too! So I will send all of the pictures today!

Now that she is baptized, we don't have anything going for us again. We have at least half a dozen solid potentials from people who have recently been baptized that we are hoping will turn into something!! I will be keeping my fingers crossed!

We are still seeing if anybody needs help cleaning up after Matthew. Down on the Outer Banks there was a lot of damage, and the missionaries there have been doing a ton of service. When we were down there yesterday for P-day I saw many piles of furniture and textiles from people's homes that got flooded. On an exchange we helped a lady move out of an apartment that had 7 inches of water in it! But most of the people in our area have already gotten it all cleaned up, or are going to have a professional do it. Things like replacing carpet or rebuilding homes is a bit above my skill level! But we are keeping an eye out!

Anyway, I will write y'all next week! I love you!!!

Elder Ciminski