Week 33

Dear Team Gneiting,

The week went as the week goes. Monday night we had dinner late. I've mentioned before the grill we have in our backyard, I use it to cook daily if I can, and my grillin' skills have increased significantly. We prepped chicken breast to eat throughout the week, and ate some that night as well. Tuesday was our final district council of the transfer, crazy another one is gone, we talked about the covenant path and how to get our members more involved. We taught our friend Nick, we talked about the temple, covenants, and our member friend invited him to visit the Oakland temple with him that Saturday, and he accepted! Wednesday morning we went to the family history center again to do some research, but some friends of other missionaries showed up and we helped them upload some photos and find records of their ancestors. We visited with a member in our ward who converted over a decade ago. She had stepped away from religion after some conflict she had, and spent time researching other churches in an attempt to find one that rang true. A few weeks into her search, after taking an interest in the book of Mormon, 3 missionaries showed up at her door, and she was baptized soon after. It was quite the story! Later that day we met with a recent convert, a young man named Brayden, got to know him better and we taught him a little about the Book of Mormon to review. He hasn't been to church in a while so we coordinated with some members of the young men's to help get him out. The next day we had an exchange with the zone leaders, I was put back into Spanish work. I love going out with the Spanish elders, knocking doors and being bold, the best part is it can't go wrong for me, most of the people we meet can't understand me, but I'm positive enough they'll hear out my companion. It was good to go around and teach and find, and the next day we studied and prepared to swap back. Last minute, we got a call to unload some lady's moving truck and we spent a couple hours doing that with the other Elders in our zone. It was tough fitting it into her storage unit but service is always worth it. When I got back into my area, Elder Greene and I went out knocking, and we ran into this guy who, after a brief introduction, asked us to sit down and we taught him about the Restoration. We gave him a book of Mormon and he agreed to read it and have us come back to teach more. Honestly, I don't know how much of it he understood, but teaching makes me stoked. We taught our friend Tristan and he accepted a date to be baptized! Its also the date his mother was baptized almost 17 years ago! And they were at church! So that was sick. I'm excited for him, and our bishop has been helping to bring them back. I really enjoy teaching him, we had a big white board this week and drew the gospel of Jesus Christ on it. He took a picture, and we invited him to pray about what he learned for deeper understanding and a witness of its truth. On our way to our next appointment, some dude on a hood bike was yellin across the street at us, and I tried to talk but there was traffic and it was dark so we couldn't stick around. Anyway we're bombin down this street and this same guy comes screamin across lanes of traffic, he's an African American gentleman in his 50s, and he's like "Yo I was trynna holler at y'all but y'all were moving too fast, I'm old but I still ride out here. Anyway here's some KFC from my mom and here's a bag of my clothes, tell her I'll be home tonight". So that was lit, the Lord works in mysterious ways. We visited a younger couple in the ward, and talked to them about their missions and the Restoration, it was cool. Saturday was good, we got ready for some appointments which sadly, fell through. We cut down some trees with a member in our ward with hand saws, that was dope, then we had an early dinner at Perko's again with our favorite Elders, my latest companion who's now in the Modesto YSA, and helped them prepare for a baptism. At which, we gave an interlude and encouraged all the attendees to read the book of Mormon. We taught our friend Robert again, read from the book of Mormon, and set a time to do a church tour with him. He works most Sundays so its hard to get him to church, but we're working with him. We're waiting for the Lord's timing. Sunday was great. We had 5 investigators at church, and one of them stood up to bear his testimony. A pleasant surprise! We spoke with him afterward as well, and set times to meet with friends during the week. It was a busy day, but we managed to arrange some time to get out and knock doors before we had dinner and got to our last appointments. It's been a great week. God is willing to help us when we give all we've got. I haven't done that. I might be giving a lot, but I haven't really learned what it means to put it all on the table. Sometimes it's hard. However, I know God will bless us with the strength to resist temptation and the Spirit will guide us to what we need to sacrifice to receive the full blessings he has in store for us. "Partial obedience brings partial blessings". Let us remember the promises we've made, that covenants are two ways. Anyway, life is so good, just because I choose to believe that it is. Choose to have a good week y'all.

Love,

Elder Gneiting