Week 21: HEY THERE

What's up my homies!

How are things? I heard the mouse motel is starting to become more vacant. That's probably for the better. They are cute little guys but they bring some weird diseases. This week was a very good week! Easily one of the best weeks in the mission! I'm starting to love it here more and more, which makes me scared becuase I think I might have a few more weeks left here. That's the thing about a mission, right when you love a place you get shipped out. But I'm just making the most of it while I can.

We still did a lot of servce this week! I loved it. We made a garden in a back yard of one of the members. We planted pineapple and some other cool stuff. I'm rasing my own little plants in my apartment! So the big news of the week is that yesterday we went over to this family that we've been working really hard with. The parents have been inactive for a while, but they are one of the greatest families I know. Such great hearts! We've been working really really hard to get them back to church, and to get their three kids baptized. So yesterday, we asked them if they wanted to be baptized and they said yes! And the Dad is bringing them back to church!! I cant wait. I love that family so much.

We went to a pumpkin carving party on Friday! That was fun. I carved like a ghost thing and the member was making fun of it saying it looked bad, but then I put a candle in it and it was super radical so I guess I showed him.

We made cookies for a less active member because his wife just had a baby. That was really fun. Who knew missionary work was making cookies?

We're making a lot a lot of progress here. Actually, the Lord is doing a lot of work here.  I just feel blessed enough to be a part of it.  I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for this area. The members are really great, and they help out a lot! It's really fun to see how strong my testimony has grown since being here. Priorities have now been changed. It's like if the Lord is first, everything else will be taken care of.

Anyway, G2G. Love you all! Keep in contact

Elder Gleave

ps thanks for the package! I decorated our place. I will send one soon.

Photo credit--Elder Bennett >>>

<<<Selfie--ghettomish--Halloween costume?

Week 20: Service and Sports

Hey family,

What is up? Sounds like everything is going well at home! Things are going great here. There's a lot going on here in Waialua. Not much like teaching lessons wise, but we've been doing a lot of service. There's this stuff called California Grass, and it's this grass that grows 8+ feet and it has all these spikes all over them. There is a girl in our ward who was baptized a couple years ago and she's leaving on a mission soon, but her family aren't members, so we go over and do service for them every week! This week we pulled a bunch of grass in their HUGE backyard. She has a river behind her house with a mini dock and so we like to sit on the dock and imagine what the water feels like. 

On Wednesday, we had a member of the Seventy come and talk to us. So we spent most of the day in Honolulu, and he talked about conversion and what it takes. One thing that was cool was he talked about how "baptism by fire" is when the Holy Ghost testifies that you are forgiven of your sins. I never knew that. I couldn't really hear, so that was unfortunate,  but they flew in everyone from Maui so I got to see all my MAUI FRANS! 

Apparently this weekend there was a big swell, because the whole town was in a buzz about it. It was suppose to get around 15-20 feet high, but I think they only got around 10 feet. Today was kinda the aftermath of the big swell, but we went in the mountains and it overlooked the waves and they certainly looked BIG.

photo by bennett

It's fun here because a big problem here is that everything shuts down around 7 o clock, but were suppose to got out and work until 9.  It's hard sometimes to find work, but here we play basketball with some ward members on Wednesday night; Thursday night we play dodgeball with the youth and eat dinner and teach a lesson, and on Friday they started up volleyball with the Relief Society. They invited us to play, and let me tell you...PHEW, it's more competitive with the Sisters than dodge ball and baskteball combined! I was glad I came out alive!  On Sunday, the bishop held a folle party, or just a giant party. Some of the people here on the North Shore have A LOT of money, and bishop's family is one of them, so we went to his wife's parent's house and it was awesome. Just a lot of really awesome families came with some of my favorite youth and we just had a huge pot luck dinner. Their yard was like the size of a football field, and had big tennis court lights. So we could play in the yard after the sun went down. It was just an awesome way to relax on Sunday night! Honestly one of the best times I've had in a long long time.

In terms of missionary work, I was pretty down because on Sunday we didn't have any investigaors come to church. Actually, we don't really have very many so it wasn't a huge surprise, but during third hour of church, one of the members was like "did you see Brother so and so was at church" And I was like WHAT?! So there's this family we have been really trying to work with, and the parents are inactive, and the kids are unbaptized. They are such an amazing family, but the Dad had a lot of doubts. But he came to church! Such a surprise! And then we went over and spent 4 hours at their house on Sunday! It was awesome. Anyway, besides that, nothing too crazy happening here. We caught two baby mice here too. So sad, but had to be done! Im sorry I can't spend too long, gotta get my haircut. But I love you all! I will have more time next week!

Much Love

Elder Gleave 

Week 19 -- Happy Zaiden Day! ...first baptism!

Hello,

So it was a good week!  A lot happened this week and last week felt like FOREVER AGO. So we had transfers (all of us stayed in Waialua) and then we met up as a zone a couple times. So it was weird to see all the people I was just getting to know leave the zone. But it's cool because like three other people from my MTC group came into the zone which is fun! Especially because ELDER SELLERS WAS HERE. He's a big, tall, army guy that reminds me of a giant teddy bear. 

I've been fretting a lot about the baptism all week. Since he's like our only really solid investigator, he's kinda where our attention has been. Plus he's our first baptism. So we wanted to make it really special. He's name is Zaiden Magnani. He's so mature. He was way more mature than I was when I was baptized! It's really awesome because he wasn't like the best kid growing up.  His mom said he was a "little terror" hahaha. But now he's the nicest kid! They call him their little miracle. Everytime I see him, I can just picture him preaching the gospel as a missionary. We had everything set for the baptism, and it started at 2, so the grandma around 1:30 was like, "I'm going to go pick up the family" and left. and then it was 2 o clock and people started showing up. Then some missionaries from the zone started showing, then the bishop. And I was like "alright lets get this party started!" But there was one problem. We had the person baptizing, but no one to be baptized! WHERE WAS ZAIDEN?! I got a little nervous, becuase his mom isn't active in the church and I thought for a second she decided last minute to pull out. But then we saw them pulling into the parking lot at like 2:15! And then my mission president showed up! We had interviews that day, so I guess he decided to come! 

At my first baptism, I had the AP's, President and Sister Warner, and like half the zone hahaha. It was awesome. It was such a serene baptism. The spirit was so strong. I was on the verge of breaking into tears the whole time! The grandpa, the guy who was doing the baptism, gave such a spiritual talk! And then the grandma and the grandpa did a rendition of "I'm trying to be like Jesus" becuase the grandpa is a professional guitar player. I was seriously so close to crying!  Zaiden was so happy. I love him. I couldn't ask for a better first baptism. The next day at the confirmation, the Mom was crying and saying she felt the spirit again! It was a true miracle. It's true, Zaiden is a miracle. 

Besides that, the week was pretty normal. We gave a blessing to a member, so that was a neat experence. And we made pizza with a Filipino Catholic guy. That was fun! I love it here so much. There's no where I would rather be then here in Hawaii serving the Lord. My heart is so full of joy. Well anyway, I love you all! Thank you for everything! I keep you in my prayers! 

Much love,

Elder Gleave

--Classic Bennett picture--

Week 18: Three transfers down....14 to go!

So here's the good news-- I'm staying in Waialua!

Here's the bad news...I love it here. JUST KIDDING THAT'S GOOD NEWS!! It's weird I am three transfers down! Its a bitter-sweet feeling because I just think,  "Oh crap that went by way too fast! "I want this to slow down!",  but then I'm like, "Holy cow I still have 20 MONTHS till I get to see family again!" So it's weird.

Besides the fact that I did the splits on a skate board like 2 hours ago, I'm super good! It was kinda a weird week. Conference was a nice break from the weekly missionary grind.  It's so good to hear the counsel of the prophets! After meeting with Elder Holland and the feeling of the spiritual power and faith he possesses in person, listening to conference made everything so much more real! President Uchtdorf's talks (Saturday morning and during priesthood) were probably my favorites. He is so blunt, but he uplifts so well! I love him! It seemed like during the whole conference all that was talked about was the Atonement and repentance! Seems like the signs of times are here or at least really, really close. The Atonement is such an amazing thing! Always a special thing. Of course, I loved all the talks on missionary work! BE MISSIONARIES YA'LL. Sunday we watched at our bishop's house then clowned around on his farm for a few hours afterward! It was awesome. We chased ducks, and shot bb guns, and rode on golf carts. Bishop's wife went to BYU with Megan Bertha's mom! That was cool.

So just a pretty calm week in general. We have a baptism this week! His name is Zaiden. He's a 9 year old BALLER. He's really awesome. I bet he serves a mission. And even though he's 9, he's making a huge impact on the people around him. His mom is not into the gospel anymore, but she's really excited about the baptism! He's a really smart kid too. Completely understands all the lessons were teaching him, which is huge because I barely understood them until I came on my mission.

If you are interested in seeing some of my ward/the area I serve, look up "The Call--Nati Taluenga" That's a video filmed about our relief society president's son, who left on his mission right before I came out. All the places in the video are places I see everyday! Just a little taste of where I live. So beautiful. On Friday, we did service with a girl who got baptized a couple years ago, and her family is non members! She's a real inspiration, because she is going on a mission even though she comes from a family with non members. We cut down some rotten banana trees that smelled really bad.  I love the people here! I LOVE WAIALUA. So many amazing families. So many wonderful people, it's really hard to think about being anywhere else. I know I wouldn't trade anything that's happening for the world.

Anyway, I hope all is well at home! LOVE YOU ALL! MISS YOU!

Elder Gleave

Week 17: FAMIILY

Family!! 

Hey family! I don't have much time to write, but I just wanted to give you a short shout out. It's crazy to hear about the job thing because I was praying the other day and a thought came to my mind and it was something like, "please help my dad get a job" and I was like that's really weird because Dad has a job. But I know that you wrote me and talked about the job you were interviewing for it makes sense why that came into my mind. That's the spirit talking right there! 

I'm so happy to hear about the Broncos!!! I always try to get the score right away and I get very excited when I hear that they win! Payton is nuts. I'm wearing my Bronco's shirt right now; it's the best thing ever. LETS GO DONKS! 

So this week has been AWESOME. We are going to baptize this 9 year-old kid here in the next couple weeks. His name is Zaiden, and he's a super smart kid. His mom is pretty inactive, but we had the primary program this week (which was way funny!) and when Zaiden went up and said his part, his mom cried!! It's really fun teaching him.  His grandparents always give us food whenever we go over there and they are really nice. They own their own Taro farm. I'm so excited to see him be a part of this church! He's such a great kid.

So we've been doing that and just kinda doing the usual missionary grind. Tract alot, which is not awesome, but the blessings that come from it are awesome. At dinner we ate something called Balot. Look it up if you're interested  It's a Filipino food that's really really gross looking. It's basically, where they let the chicken grown in egg for a little bit and you crack it open and there's a little chicken fetus that you eat! So the APs came to dinner with us, and there were 6 of us at dinner. So we cracked it open, and all of us looked at each other and we were all really nervous...but we just did it. We looked at each other and we were like1...2...3...EAT. It wasn't too bad tasting, just the idea of what we were eating was really scary. 

We went to the Browns, probably my favorite family for dinner on Friday, and then he helped  Elder Horsley and me teach the Plan of Salvation on Saturday, then I saw him on church on Sunday, and then he went hiking with us today for P-day, and then we have dinner with them tomorrow!!! 5 days in a row! They always provide a spiritual uplift, and without them I don't know where I would be. They have really made a big impact on my mission so far. You can write them back by the way, they will love it! 

So I have to get going, sorry this was so short we have to teach a lesson soon. I love you all! I pray for you every night! Tell Annie she should get married in Hawaii! Thanks for the Bday package I really loved it! 

Alright familly! Love you all!

Elder Gleave