Hey Family!
What a week it's been.
Last time I emailed you was monday, and we went on a hike after the email! We drove along the coast until we stopped at a bend in the road, and the whole zone pilled out of 4 or 5 cars. There wasnt really a trail head, so I was all confused, but we ended up just jumping rocks down a river until we came to this amazing water fall into a pond. There was a rope swing from a tree into it, and I could tell that this tongan elder REALLY wanted to jump in! haha. Then we climbed down the river so more and we came across a bigger waterfall then an even BIGGER waterfall! It was like maybe 20 or 25 feet up. I have a video of that very same Elder wanting to jump in so bad. He would look over the edge and jump yell "oh come on!!!" then back away and just shake his head. Super pretty hike though.
So last week I was super amped about Jannon and his baptismal date. So we were suppose to visit him on tuesday. We had taught a former investigator, Kathleen, the week before but her dad was catholic and she seemed worried about him. But anyway we had planned to meet with them both on tuesday and so we biked all the way out to Kathleens house just to knock on the door and her brother to say "Oh shes sleeping." Gosh dang it. To make things worse we biked all the way back to Jannons house and his brother was like "Oh he's not here right now". So frustrating. Thats obviously what happens in missions its just hard to finally get someone interested just to have them bail out. IM MEAN WERE TALKING ABOUT YOUR SALVATION HERE PEOPLE. I just wished people realized how important our message is. But they have their free agency and satan works well against them.
Not a lot more has happened this week. Its incredibly frustrating because we are trying to visit former investigators, less active, and part member families, but its hard on bikes. This people are people who havent been contacted in 6 months maybe a year, so a lot people have moved, or just arent home. So we will bike up to someones house, which might take 15 minutes just for them not be there. Then we will bike to the next persons house maybe 5 minutes away for them to move. And then we will go visit a former investigator 10 minutes away and they arent interested anymore. So that 30 mins wasted on travel and no lessons taught! Not to mention its hard work! But not to worry. As long as we work and put in those extra miles, the Lord will bless us with miracles.
So just an update, we have been struggling all week, biking hard, praying harder, and finally we had a break though Saturday night. I told my companion that we need to go out before lunch, which we usually dont do, so we went to Jannons house. Unfortunately he was at his moms house, so we decided to visit a less active. We went to this guys house John, who was super super cool! He said he's from West Jordan and is moving there again soon, but has been in Maui for 7 years. We just shared a scripture with him about enduring to the end, and he told us, "I just feel good having you guys here with us." YESSSS. He's feeling the spirit! BOOYAH. Talk about blessings. Later that afternoon we went to a baptism that the zone leaders had. We had an appointment with a part member family later that day, and they texted us and canceled, so i was so frustrated. That makes all our appointments all week canceled. I was fuming. I was just done. I quit. And so after the baptism we went to the family of the kid who was getting baptized house for a party! so we ate choke food and talked and had fun and then the grandfather gave a speech and said basically this: "You see these Elders right here. They are the reason why I'm in the church. I served as ward mission leader for 21 years, and they are out here serving the lord. They changed my life and they changed my grandsons life too. Listen to what they have to say. They have a good message that can change your life." And then he had us sing "Called to serve" to the kid being baptized. I realized how important the work was and how great a service we were doing. When we got back to the pad around 5 o clock, I still had to dig down deep to find strength to go out and work. I just wanted to crash. We went to a part members house though, and we saw the dad outside and he didnt look too happy to see us. He said, "its not a good time right now" so we went our way. Oh great. So then we just decided to go see Kathleen. We went to her house and she was home! She was surprised to see us, and I dont know how too happy here parents were that we were there, but we just shared a quick message with her. We gave her a book of mormon and read 1 Nephi 3:7 with her and told her why keeping the commandments was important. She said she would read the book of mormon and pray about, and I could tell she was feeling the spirit. I just think its hard for her because she doesnt know english very well.
Most of the people we teach are from Micronesia or Polynesia, so they arent that good at english. If it they do speak english its really FOB or pidgoeny. Its pretty funny but way hard to understand. Anyway after our lesson with Kathleen I felt really really good! All that frustration was worth it! teaching lessons is the best.
On thursday we went up to Pulehu (Look it up), where the first missionaries in Maui built the first chapel. It was this small, old style church building, and thats where we had zone conference. It was so beautiful up there! makes me jealous because Im stuck in a poor city. But I love it where I am. But anyway, it was President and Sister Daltons farewell adress. It was their last zone conference, and they bore their testimony and answered any questions we had for them. The spirit was strong in the building, and tears were shed, and even though Ive known them for a week, I can see the progress they've built. They are amazing!
This goal of 200 baptisms in June might actually happen. We'll see though because the drop out rate is large. That would be incredible!
I havent gained much weight I dont think! The biking helps out a lot. Im always sweating, always having fun! I might have actually lost weight. There is cockroaches EVERYWHERE. Every night when I go into the bathroom theres 2 or 3 crawling around on my gel and razor. I hid my tooth brush so they dont climb on it. I stepped on one last night going into the garage last night and it freaked me out!! Theres always lizards crawling around our house but we leave them be because they just eat the bugs.
The best are dinners with the family. I love them! They are always so much fun and they laugh and feed us so much. Last night we went over to the Kamas for dinner for the second time. The Filipino wife is a fireball and the dad is from Hawaii so he's always like "You like some more food brudda?". They are so crazy, and they laugh at everything! Its a roit when I go over there. The members are so strong over here. They may not be the most educated because most are financially struggling, but they make up for it with love and care. They all have such a deep faith in the gospel, and put such strong trust in the Lord.
My companion is awesome. He's from Tennessee. He served in a Tongan Ward, and in those wards you have to be more relaxed and hang out with the members in order to gain their trust. Tongan wards consist of people all over the island, so you cant tract to find them so you work though member referrals. He's super smart in terms of gospel knowledge. He also has a strong testimony.
Ive been reading a lot about the Atonement lately. They gave us this atonement packet, and I decided im going to read it. Its all just talks about the Savior! Its so amazing. I never really had that strong of a testimony of the atonement, but after reading the booklet, I must have grown because every time I look at a picture of the savior I just get this overwhelming feeling of peace and love. I seriously love him. If youre ever struggling, read about the savior and you are in for a treat!
Well I gotta get going! I love you all and love hearing about home! So alls well in Hawaii Land! Much Love from Maui! Keep me updated yeah?
Love you!
Elder Gleave
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