Week 72--Blessed be the Isles of the Sea

"But great are the promises of the Lord unto them who are upon the isles of the sea"

2 Nephi 10:21

OH HOW TRUE THIS SCRIPTURE IS. Blessed are the isles of the sea. This week was quite the eventful week. As part of the new transfer, me and my companion inherited a new ward and a new companion. One of the missionaries from the Samoan ward, Moanalua 2nd, had to go home from a few days to attend a funeral, and since there was an odd number of Elders in the mission, he just decided the he was going to stick the missionary and his ward with us. So on Wednesday, we officially took over the Samoan ward. Now we asked the missionaries if everything was taken care of until Elder Talatau (our new companion) got back Friday. They assured us everything was. So we were thinking "great, we don't have to worry about that ward until Friday and they we will work with Elder Talatau and everything will just be amazing." Well that night we get a call from one of the missionaries who use to serve in that ward saying, "Hey, the members called me and said that one of the people I was teaching there is getting baptized this weekend, what the heck? Why didn't you tell me?" and I was like, "I guess probably because we had no idea." And so what had happened was the missionaries serving in the ward before had asked Lipine (the person being baptized) how her smoking was going, and she would say, "Oh it's hard." and that's it. So they just assumed she was still smoking. But in fact she meant, "I have not been smoking for a while and it's hard making sure I don't smoke." But that was apparently lost in the communication. So the members were mad that we didn't believe her,  and were going to baptize her this weekend. So I literally know 0 people in the Samoan ward, and we have to set up a baptism. So we decided to visit the investigator, and it turns out to be the 2nd councilor's daughter-in-law, and so he made the program and then we interviewed her and in a miracle we got everything ready to go. We  were so excited! Then they called the next day and said we had to reschedule for next week hahaha and that's how the Samoan ward goes!  It all works out though. I love this ward. I never have heard such beautiful 10-part harmonies in sacrament meeting. It's like a choir of angels. Also, I've never been in such a well organized game of casual volleyball. Everybody was incredible, and yet no one was that competitive. Oh how glorious are the people of Samoa. The only downside is I have no idea what people say in church. That's okay.

Well it looks like we survived another hurricane! Hurricane Ana decided she was going to test her luck with the mean islands of Hawaii, but at the last minute backed down. We may be small, but like I said, BLESSED BE THE ISLES OF THE SEA. No one was really gearing up for this one, not quite like the last one. People were doing the equivalent to a dooms day prep for the last hurricane scare, and I guess since nothing really happened they didn't take this one quite as serious. I was just interested to see if the last one was the boy who cried wolf, and this was the wolf. I always thought that if God was going to do a Sodom and Gomorrah type deal to Hawaii, the area I was serving in would be the first to go. But we were spared until another day. It was just super duper rainy all of yesterday. I was tempted to go surfing down the street but I decided I would save that for after the mission. 

We also opened up a booth at the Swap Meet at Aloha Stadium! It didn't go quite as well as we hoped. WE just attracted a bunch of members. We weren't in an ideal spot, and because of Hurricane Ana, not many people showed up, but we are determined to do it again. We can make a difference. 

Sorry this email is not very consistent or that spiritual. I'm pretty distracted today. Plus I'm getting to the point (actually I've been at the point for about a year now) where it feels like I am just reporting on my everyday life, and less of me reporting on my mission. So sometimes it's hard to remember. But things are going great! My favorite part of the mission is being put into tough situations that you have no idea what to do, then praying to God and telling him you have no idea what to do and you need help, then going to work and watch miracles happen. It works everytime. Anyway, I'm glad I didn't die.
Hawaii+Gleave-3 

Hurricanes+Mother Nature-0  

Isles of the Sea win every time.

Fa'a Soifua

Elder Gleave

The one on the right is my new comp.