Feb 1, 2021

 Hey guys, 

Sorry it's been so long. The days just recently caught up to me. I've been in quarantine for 2 weeks, per President's orders, in preparation for transfers. Tomorrow is the day, I'll receive another companion. I'm staying in Modesto, which is great, because I have a friend being baptized on Saturday, and another we hope to baptize the following week. I got lots of stuff I want to do here before I leave, and I thank God he kept me around. I also baptized a friend in the Spanish ward, I had taught him a year ago. He's super cool, we usually go over to visit him every once in a while because we're homies. His name is Gabriel, I have the pics from the baptism below. Life is good. Elder Shapiro did our best to stay busy during our lock down, we managed to teach a lot of lessons over video call, and we found people by calling old friends and phone numbers. I'm excited to get back outside and visit in people's homes, I haven't biked for a while so I'm sure I've lost a bit of the endurance I was building up over the last couple transfers. We picked up some baseball equipment from members during the quarantine and we played a few mornings, it was awesome to go out and smash some pitches at a nearby park. One morning we did service for some members, because we were allowed to do outside service with masks on, we just helped a member clean out his gutter. It took probably ten minutes, and then they brought out a small table with sandwich stuff and I made this bomb hoagie, lots of meat and mustard and jalapeños and stuff. My former companion, Elder Wayment, is moving into my district this upcoming transfer, and that's got me excited. I'm sad to see some other Elders I like go, but now I have the house back to myself and my companion again. It's the small things! A couple Sundays ago I gave a talk in church. I felt good giving it, I talked about the Spirit, and the nature of disciples of Christ. I'm okay not being perfect, for now. Sometimes I feel like, at this point in my mission, maybe I should be more changed. Maybe I should have learned more. Maybe I should be in leadership, or had so many baptisms, but I've let go of that. This is a small chapter in my journey's volume. What's important to me is the impact I made in the communities I served in, and my ability to feel and follow the Spirit. During my talk, members we visit and teach took a picture of their young sons listening. It was cool. They don't pay that close attention when we go over, but they recognized us and for church. Not bad.  

Take care guys, 

Elder Gneiting