Week 59

 

Another week already? The transfer is coming to a close. Elder Shuldberg is going to Selma haha but to speak Spanish, so I'm happy for him. I'll have a new comp on Tuesday. We did a lot of good stuff this week. Lots of visits, new members met, new friends to teach, and we had church on Sunday! It was outdoor, behind the church in the recreation field. We got to meet a few more members and set some appointments for this upcoming week. Some highlights this week include helping a family move, they bought us some Habit burger and that was dope. We visited a guy who was baptized as a child but went through a rough time in his life and now helps people in similar situations, he was cool to talk to and we hope to start visiting him regularly. We met another member and she took us to her neighbor's place so we could teach her the gospel, sadly she wasn't home, so we'll try again this next week! I had another exchange to hangout with the district leader, we talked and watched a devotional and it was fun. That night we had another milkshake party with our fellow Elders. We also made a video with some members from the ward, we call it "Touring Around Turlock" and we showcase members in our city to show visitors to the page possible familiar faces. Yesterday we visited a nice family with the bishop, it's a convert couple and they are preparing their daughter for baptism, so we will teach them the lessons and grow their faith as a family, we're excited to get to know them better and grow in the Spirit! I'd love to hear from you all, how life may be going right now. What you're learning from the scriptures, what's got you excited for conference. Take care out there. 

Elder Gneiting 

Week 58

 

My fellow Americans, 

Last Monday was sweet, we had a zone activity at a members home. They had a big property with a small pond and a ping pong table and can jam and a sand volleyball pit, so we did a lot of fun games and they made us a bunch of spaghetti and smores around a campfire. It was a good time, pics down below. Elder Shuldberg and I have been working on a self-reliance video, we hope to have it posted this week, we recorded some shots at our local Walmart and in our apartment kitchen, it was a lot of fun. We drove to Ceres again a couple times this week with the zone leaders, once for a service project, it was cool to see some friends and familiar faces once again. One night this week we went out to ice cream with a friend from Modesto, who I reached out to when I got back to the north end of the valley. It was cool to talk again and catch up. Thursday evening, a member invited us to mow his recovering neighbor's lawn, and it was fun! Good to get in the grass again. We talked to the neighbor and he said he wanted to meet with us again to learn more about what we believe. Cool! We met a new friend at a park and taught her two teenage sons, we hope to start teaching them regularly, so it'll be great to have a new regular. Saturday was a technology training, sisters from Fresno came up and the zone met together again, we discussed goals and practiced our online communication, it was fun to meet together in person again. That night members had us over for hotdogs and smores again, a treat I didn't mind having twice this week, haha. My old companion from my Modesto days sent me a text with a screenshot of a conversation he had a with a friend that totally ghosted us. Neither of us had heard from this guy in months, but apparently he was hospitalized for ever but he's out now and wants to meet missionaries again. Nice! A couple wards in our stake had church on Sunday, which means our ward will attend next week! I can't wait to meet the members! And to break bread in the company of fellow saints again! We talked to the youth in a BYC this morning and helped them set goals to invite friends to youth nights and family home evenings with the missionaries, they were awesome! We'll be seeing some of those goals met this week. We hope to meet more people in this community. Life is good, transfer gonna end next week, wonder how that'll go.  

Love, 

Elder Gneiting 

Week 57

Dear reader,

I'm currently alive in Turlock, California.  There's lots of smoke but it's okay, because we're still mostly inside!  We did have a handful of appointments this week, and we met a bunch of new members.  I finally met the bishop yesterday, we had dinner with their family.  Come to find out, his brother taught my seminary class when I was a freshman!  What a cool connection that was!  I hope my old teacher gives me a good recommendation for his brothers ward.  Last Monday I went to a couple stores and thrift shops to find some cheap ties, along with my comp and the zone leaders.  We saw some cool old stuff, old Pepsi merch, guitars, cool shoes, and I found a few ties.  It was a good time.  We biked to district council this week, we got to meet in person at the church, but it was so smokey we couldn't see more than a few feet in front of us.  That evening we visited some members, we talked about sharing the gospel, and they gave us a bunch of Costco muffins.  Wednesday we helped a member of the Spanish ward move with some other Elders, it took us a couple hours, and then the member gave them some money to get dinner so we stopped by The Habit and it was awesome.  We had exchanges the next day, I went with Elder McArthur from Saint George, we made some calls, talked about music, and when we were walking around the complex some guy walked up and gave us his name and number and said he wants to meet some families from our church for his kids to hangout with.  Nice! We got a couple other referrals this week, a couple people asking for book of Mormons, and a member up in San Jose called us and asked that we visit a friend of his, they both work for a trucking company and spend a lot of time talking, and the member had given him a book of Mormon before.  We hope to start teaching him soon!  Saturday morning we joined almost our whole district in cleaning up this spot in town called "First Street" and it's super ghetto.  It's by a railroad track, and if you look farther down there's a tent city of a bunch of homeless people.  Lots of sketchy stuff over there, but it was cool to meet other people from the community and to do some service.  Sunday went as usual, we had a couple visits and dinner, as I mentioned earlier.  Bishops family gave us pork chops n stuff and a Klondike bar for the road, it was nice of them.  We're hoping to have outdoor church soon, but it's just rumors for now.  Life is groovy in California, man.  Hope you're doing well.

Elder Gneiting

 

Week 56

 

Welcome to September,

Had a good couple of weeks. Last Monday we took a trip to Yosemite, it was a lot of fun. We hiked to a couple cool views, one of which let us see the other peaks from the top of the canyon, because we didn't have time to go through everything in one day. It was a fun drive, a good hike, met some cool people while we were up there. Had zone conference and interviews with the president, it was alright. Good to hear some updates and get a grip on what the mission is doing. We had a technology training and we're feelin better about using facebook, I made a post in a local group that had over a hundred comments in under 2 days, that was crazy. We talked to a few people but we didn't start teaching any of them. We've been having lots of member lessons again, we've met plenty of ward members, we've been fed a few times, we visited a family that had a pet pig, it was huge, and they let it hangout inside. At one point they were trying to corral it and it freaked out and starting screaming and then their kids started screaming and the neighbors were probably losing it but it was fun, they gave us ice cream after the visit. We came back later in the week to do service for them, we helped lay some brick and stuff for a walkway and helped him fix up this pumpkin patch he's trying to use as a way to get his neighbors to come over. Great idea! We went on exchanges with the zone leaders this last week, I went to the YSA ward with a good friend from my last zone, Elder Wallis, we got to talk and visit some members from the Ceres ward, they fed us and I caught up with them and got to hear about the ward and some of the people I had taught there. They let me play their guitar for a little bit as well, it was good to feel it again. The zone leaders went to Fresno earlier in the week, we gave them some money and they brought us back some Krispy Kreme Donuts that we don't have within a 1 hour driving radius, made for a good breakfast a few days in a row. Had a busy sunday, visited members, had meetings, made a calendar for visits with the ward, feels good. I've been practicing my Spanish with my comp as well, we speak in Spanish for an hour a day, and my goal is to teach the first lesson by the end of the transfer (or this week if that gift of tongues will finally kick in.)

Feel free to write, hope life is well, stay cool out there, wherever you are.

Elder Gneiting