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
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