Week 45

Here it is,

If I could describe this week in one onomatapeia, it would be VROOOM.  You think you've heard the last of it until it comes screaming back less than 10 minutes later.  Cars are cool, right?  Even in middle-of-nowhere California, car ego competes and competes until there's no muffler.  I'll have to try it when I get home.  What happened this week?  We got our carpet cleaned, that was nice.  We met a new friend!  We taught her online, she has friends she met online that reffered her to the us missionaries, which is exciting.  Saturday morning we had a service project, we drove south to meet 6 other elders at a members home, we cleared granite rocks from his backyard, it was nice to labor again.  He also has a 17 acre orchard behind his house, so we checked that out.  He grows walnuts, I think.  Did you know, farmers graft walnut sprouts into peach tree trunks for some reason?  The walnuts come out with peach skin outside of their shell and that is wack.  Maybe it makes them bigger?  The roots grow faster?  I wasn't paying that close attention, but it was still a good walk.  I've been notified I'll be staying in Selma for the next 6 weeks.  You know, unless I get moved to compensate for the incoming reassignees at weekly intervals.  It's been fun in Selma, just wish I could see what it looks like!  Elder Grant and I went on a bike ride for fun.  To my surprise, no one tried to hit me!  Could it be the lack of missionary apparel?  Or were people feeling particularly good-natured on such a beautiful afternoon?  I've sided with the latter.  Thank you for taking time to read this email, in all sincerity, I tried my best to make it fun.  I do believe I've run out of words.  Happy Memorial day?  I'm celebrating by changing my contacts.

There it was,

Elder Gneiting

Elder Grant and I picked cherries, and other shenanigans. 

  

 

  

Week 44

Howdy y'all,

What to say concerning this most recent instance of hebdomad? I'll answer my own question. Very little. I would say "All is well in Zion" if that verse of scripture weren't associated with carnal security and other idolatry. Things have been alright. We've had so many referrals, I've reprised my surprise almost every day this week. Some may dwindle or trickle off, but the fact that so many people have been seeking us out is truly a miracle. As for updates, I cannot say anything markedly different. Service, studies, various episodes of contacting and teaching. A less active member we recently reached out to asked for a Book of Mormon, we brought it, and she gave me a king-sized KitKat. For those of you wondering, I've maintained composure. I've only broken off 1 bar this week. Fast forward now to Sunday night. We have an online video conference with President and Sister Lund, newly called and set apart as Young Men's General President and his wife. It was a very good time. They are fun people. President Lund talked about the gathering of Israel, he told some stories from serving in his previous callings. He talked about the faithfulness of various African saints who stayed true to the gospel, they found it through their own means because the church was not established in their area. Despite that setback, and the inability to get missionaries out there to baptize them, they continued to study the Book of Mormon and congregate on Sundays regularly. The faithfulness of these men and women led to the eventual establishment of formal branches in their communities. Faith is perseverance. Lots can go wrong, but let's just keep walking. I've been walking for what seems to be an eternity, and so have you. I'm walking in my chair, and in my apartment. You are walking in your homes, away from community and sociality. But just keep walking. There was a missionary devotional online given by the missionary department, this is a regular thing, and Elder Christofferson talked about change. He talked about pace. I liked that. He said not to burn out too quickly, we can improve at a steady and consistent rate, let's not beat ourselves up, or to be impatient with ourselves or our circumstances. It's the winding up scenes! That's okay. We can walk for now. My companion likes to walk fast and I think it's goofy. People have told me I walk fast, I definitely have a stride, but I worked on slowing down before I came out. It reminds me of burning out. I like to just walk. It's good for you. Get out and go for a walk, if it's not illegal. Sorry there's not any cool stories this week. 

So I know I asked y'all to tell me what's been keeping you sane during the quarantine, and I'm gonna briefly shout out those of you who responded.  

I'm sure you couldn't hear me shout.  

I'M GONNA BE HERE ALL NIGHT FOLKS. 

Your wannabe cowboy,

Elder Gneiting

Week 43

Brothers and Sisters, it's been a wild ride. I thought I'd start this email off excitedly, so prepare yourselves. I'm gonna be honest, nothing has really changed since last email. But, I'd like to say my attitude has. Life will continue to throw us curve balls. We're getting new missionaries, weekly, for the indefinite future, and I was thinking about how much of a turn that would be for them. We've talked a lot about humility with our mission President over our conference calls, and I also had an interview with him this week. Humility, the gateway attribute, is defined by gratitude and perseverance. One who is humble, is resilient. One who is humble, is strong. One who is humble, is Christian. This week I made a goal to humble myself and bar down on the work. Sometimes it's hard to push through the 3.5 hours of calling and texting and using Facebook every night, but we've seen fruit. We contacted plenty of friends this week, and though it's hard, I'm grateful that I can see the work moving forward before my eyes. We've had lots of time to do family history, which is still kinda cool. I've been practicing my Spanish, and it's growing very slowly. We got to do a bunch of service this week, we cleared some land and buried squirrel holes. Last Monday I won the final round of ping-pong and became this week's reigning champ, we'll see if that lasts haha. We also had exchanges this week, I went with the greenie Elder Wilson first, that was cool, practiced my Spanish once again, and then a couple days later with Elder Wallis. That was fun, he and I get along, we had some good study sessions and talked about making goals and being good missionaries. We spent Saturday morning at a nearby river, we had personal study along the bank, it was nice to be in the sun and to contemplate the world without the confines of our apartment walls. A cop showed up too, but he must've saw me reading the Word and decided he didn't wanna get confounded or struck blind or something, cuz he left shortly after. The days are getting hot and it's hard to believe summer is approaching, I think of where I was 1 year ago, I know for a fact, that I didn't anticipate being where I am now. But that's okay. I'm converted to the doctrine of growth. I know things are going to go wrong. I know we are allowed to make choices. I am grateful that the Lord trusts me enough to put me through hard things. I'm grateful He sees me as someone capable of overcoming those trials. There are many of you who have overcome much more than I have. The Lord trusts you. Heavenly Father loves you. I wish I could go on, but I'm sick of soap-boxing. There's this place called Super Burger and they make this chocolate oreo shake, and it's insane. I've had 4 since I've been here. 

DISCLAIMER !!: DRINKING THAT MANY SHAKES IS NOT GOOD FOR YOU, MY EXAMPLE IN NO WAY CONDONES SUCH BEHAVIOR

Happy Mothers day, by the way, to all the mothers and those who are grateful for their mothers. I love my Mama. I am most grateful for her. My mission plaque back home quotes Alma 56, which has been a motivating chapter for me as I was preparing for, and now continue in, the mission field. Please read that chapter. I am grateful for my Mama's example and her ability to kick my butt when I need it, and also to comfort and console me in ways no one else could. I love you Mom.  

Eat your vitamins, get your rest, cuz when this quarantine ends, you will either attack the day, or it will attack you. Take control of your situation while the reigns are still in your hands.

Elder Gneiting

Week 42

Loved ones,

As I have been stretched and pulled this week, I decided to remember the things I am grateful for.  I've concluded to write down the things I am grateful for daily.  It's kept my journal writing pretty consistent, it's been nice.  This week was met with successes.  Elder Grant and I found and taught a handful of former friends of the church.  We had a few opportunities to reach out to our members and request their help with our Facebook page.  They have been willing to put their shoulder to the wheel and we've greatly appreciated it.  We had opportunities for service, we watched a couple devotionals, we had exchanges, we've moved apartments, it's been an eventful week.  One man we were trying to get in contact with, on having missed our call, replied to our joy with an assertive text to reach out again the next day.  He closed the text by calling himself James Bond (Last-name withheld).  We hope to start teaching James Bond soon, when we called him again he assured us he was basically already a member but was feeling ready to "make it official".  Exciting news for sure!  Every Friday we have a virtual game with other missionaries where we are asked to spit out relevant scripture references we have memorized for various principles of the gospel.  Despite my inability to memorize scriptures only a couple months ago, I've found my skills to have increased dramatically.  This is a miracle, and I have no clue as to how it was made possible aside from divine intervention.  Hope it stays with me when we start teaching more friends!  It has surprised me how much I enjoy Selma.  It is, as I've mentioned, kinda out there.  We're back in the "old" apartment, it's kinda grungy, but luckily we cleaned it last week.  My favorite part about it is when I lay down to sleep, somebody sits in the parking lot, blasting music from their truck bed while revving their engine.  Culture.  There's lots of orchards alongside back roads with no speed limits.  We can usually get to where we need to go, very fast.  We cover a large area for English work.  But, we generally zoom back and forth to our old apartment and roomies when we need stuff.  We haven't really seen how big the area gets.  Sunday night, we had a mission wide conference with Elder and Sister Whiting, general authority seventy.  He talked a lot about humility.  A lot about repentance.  And a lot about being deliberate.  Now doesn't have to be a time of "pause".  He mentioned that the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve are all very optimistic people.  In his experience, they're never met by discouragement.  Now, I know many of us aren't as super human.  However, our ability to adapt is remarkable.  Look at how far we've come despite the uncertainty!  I remember thinking this was gonna be hard (it's not really that bad).  And the best part? Eventually it will be over.  Who do you want to be coming out of this?  I've asked myself that question 100 times every day for the last week.  The answer isn't always easy to find.  I promise as you pray and ask God, as you consult with your family and those that can hold you accountable, you can identify your true desires.  If they be righteous, you will have a support group to help you become better.  More Christlike.  What a time to practice His attributes!  I'm so far from perfect.  I struggle to define my desires.  I still struggle to be humble and to love those around me.  Be better than me.  Come out of this a more resilient person.  Pray for me, I need it.  I'm praying for you.  There's currently a Sikh(?) man chanting outside, it's about 10 PM as I'm writing this.  California is wack.  I love it.

Later dudes,

Elder Gneiting

Only picture:

My Patriotic self doing service for a senior citizen

Week 41

Another week in Sunny Selma. 

April,  27, 2020

The weather has been nice, most mornings my companion and I get up to the sunrise and open the doors to feel the morning breeze.  We go to the church to practice piano every once in a while too.  We had a service project this week, we chopped wood for that same member mentioned last week, it was good to go out for a couple hours and get some lumberjackin' in.  I need to cut wood more often because I was sore in places I didn't realize could be sore. We had an online district council, it's been convenient to attend from the comfort of my arm chair. Our Mission President has designated the hours of 5-8:30 as "prime finding and teaching time" and so we spent every evening this week calling or messaging people in an attempt to make contact and spread the gospel. It's different, we're adjusting. It's long hours, and I'm starting to miss knocking doors, but everything has it's season. My companion Elder Grant made a video for our Facebook page, Come Unto Christ in Selma, (feel free to look it up and like the page!), he bore his testimony and made an allegory, it was pretty cool. We also cleaned an apartment this week, our President is anticipating the reassigned missionaries to be arriving in the next couple weeks. I guess we'll see. This week I've been thinking about gratitude. I really gotta stay grateful to stay humble and to stay happy, gratitude is a simple first step in weaving our spiritual tapestry and stepping into lifelong discipleship. I don't have a lot to say. I probably won't for a couple weeks, but I hope you're all staying strong. Stay well!

Elder Gneiting

Week 40

Whatup my people,

It's been an interesting week for sure.  Adjusting once again to the circumstances, as you may remember I'm currently serving in Selma, California!  (The Raisin Capital of America!)  So far I've passed by the Sun-Maid warehouse 3 times.  You know, I'm not really a big raisin fan, but, maybe I'll come around?  My new companion is Elder Grant.  He's from Wyoming.  He's a good guy.  We currently share an apartment in a small town called Reedley with a couple of Spanish Elders, we basically cover the same area but we do the work for English speakers.  It's been a cool couple of days, I got to Fresno Tuesday afternoon with my grown up greenie, we picked up a couple burgers from our fellow missionaries, and we waited at the temple to get transferred.  It was a sad farewell, but I'll see him around.  I got my new companion and we took of southward!  Elder Grant must've been busy all morning, because he drove back in a panic, his phone almost dead (which had the directions and internet), swerving on the road, and on our way to give a blessing to some remote members about 30 minutes out of the way.  Quite the ride!  After the blessing I guided him to a main road and from there he knew the way home.  We had various teaching opportunities this week, we've been staying pretty busy, and as part of a new project our mission is using to increase our online proselyting efforts, we've made Facebook pages for our areas to share posts about Jesus Christ and to be a source of inspiration for those in our area.  Last night we took Elder Grant to a small river and the surrounding beach to take a video of him sharing his testimony.  It was nice to be outside.  We do a good job of filling in the day with meaningful study and proselyting, and we go out for a walk or to play basketball periodically in the day to get some sun.  The weather here's nice, it's been in the 70s most of this week.  I like standing on our back porch in the morning to breathe and think.  One day this week, we got to do service for an older member, which was cool.  We mowed his lawn, it's been a while, I've missed it.  We helped with various tilling and planting in his garden as well.  It's nice to get out.  I've been reading the Infinite Atonement, maybe I've mentioned that, it's been a good read.  I think it's nice to acknowledge points of the Atonement to better appreciate Jesus Christ's sacrifice.  I would say each chapter has something new for me to learn, but, what I think is most important is that we've been given so much.  Gratitude is one of the most important attributes to have, and realizing that this earth, this life, is all a free gift, prepared so we could have joy and experience the incarnate.  God watches and loves us, and waking up and seeing the sun beam against the housing, smelling the morning rain, and looking on the mountains in their dominion and majesty.  All was organized in such beauty to inspire awe and admiration.  I enjoy where I am, at this time.  I enjoy the earth.  Find something beautiful to appreciate this week, I love you all. 

"Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart"

Elder Gneiting