The Best Two Years of My Life

May 19th

Dear Family and Friends,

It feels incredibly bitter-sweet to write this email. It's hard to put into words the things I feel right now. I love my mission, more than I ever thought possible. 

First off, I would like to thank all those who supported me for these two years. I know without this support, I would have struggled a lot more than I did. I can't tell you how many times I was struggling in my mission, and a friendly email or unexpected card lifted my spirits to keep me going. Most of all, I felt your prayers. Believe me, I felt your prayers. Thank you family for supporting me and loving me on this grand adventure. There was many times that your example kept me working hard and pushing through. 

Second off, I would like to thank all the wonderful saints in Hawaii. One thing I learned is that paradise is less of where you are, and more of WHO you surround yourself with. This place is amazing, simply because the people here are amazing. I'm afraid to go home, because my heart resides here. 

Now these past two years have been an incredible whirlwind. I wish everyone could experience what a mission is like, simply so they could see what life changing effect is has on you. I have experienced things I never thought I would ever experience. Never in my wildest dreams. It's been the best of times, and it's been the worst of times. Never have I felt so loved, and never have I felt so alone. A mission is a strange experience

It is a trial and a test. This poem that I did not write practically sums it up: 
A mission throws at you the worst
Yet, teaches you the best.
I've never been so happy,
I've never been so depressed.
I've never felt so forsaken,
I've never felt so blessed.
I've never been so confused,
Things have never been so clear.
I've never felt my Heavenly Father so distant,
He's never been so near.
I've never been so discouraged,
I've never been so full of hope.
I feel I could go on for forever,
I think I've come to the end of my rope.
I've never had it quite so easy,
I've never had it quite so tough.
Things have never been so smooth,
Things have never been so rough.
I've never traveled through more valleys,
I've never ascended more peaks.
I've never met so many nice people.
I've never met so many freaks!
I've never had so many ups,
I've never had so many downs.
I've never worn so many smiles,
I've never had so many frowns.
I've never been so lonely,
I've never had so many friends.
BOY, I hope this is over soon,
GOSH, I hope this never ends.

WELCOME TO MY BEST TWO YEARS.

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."

2 Timothy 4:7

I love you all, and we will see you soon!! 

Pau Hana. 

ALLLOOOHHAA!!!

Elder Gleave

May 11th

Dear family,

It was good to see you yesterday! I really loved seeing your beautiful faces and good to talk to TESS as a new member of the family!! 

This morning we woke up at 4:00am to go see the sunrise in Mauna Kea, then we drove to go do an Emu in Hawi, and just got back. Ergo, I'm exhausted. I think this week to save you all some time deciphering the gibberish my email would probably be, I will just send you all some pictures. 

Don't you think for a second though that me not sending a long email makes me seem like I don't like my mission. I just want to drop a quick note, that as I start my last week, I want everyone to know that there has been nothing so influencial in my life as a mission. This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, and I wouldnt give it up for the world. I love you all!

Elder Gleave

I made the head lei by the way!

May 4th

Hahaha I accidently sent that. I didnt mean for it to be THAT short. 

Well, today we did an Umu with our recent convert and all of the missionaries, so that took a while. And now we are going to go play some ping pong with some Tongans. 

This week was awesome. I am just trying to remain strong. I am excited what the Lord has in store for me the next few weeks. We finally got our investigator Kaneke to church, and it couldn't have gone better. We were laughing and joking around. I was so happy. When we were introducing visitors at church, he jumped off the chair and said, "I'm Kaneke, and I'm here to learn!" It was awesome. He is quickly becoming one of my best friends. He made church so much fun! 

We went over to our Samoan investigator's house and he taught us how to jam out on the keyboard. Man I am going to miss this place. 

Well, that's all for today. Love you all!

Elder Gleave

Week 97/98--T-Rex and Girl on the Beach

April 28, 2015

Hello Family! 

Your probably wondering about my title. That's good. I would be too.

On Wednesday, we were walking around, trying to see if people were home, and one of the members called us and told us in broken English that he has someone who wants to be baptized on Saturday and we need to come to the beach right now. A little suspicious, we went over to the beach he was at, and the member gets this blonde girl from off the beach. She comes over to us and says, "I'm not a Mormon, but I want to get baptized. Is that a problem?" Uhhh...no? But we quickly realized that she wanted to get baptized and stay in the Baptist Church, and was just looking for someone to baptize her. Well we told her that we should first probably teach her about our church. As we dove into the restoration, I quickly began to realize how religious she was. From first judgement, I thought there was no way that she took religion that seriously, and it was more of something she just wanted to do for fun. But she told us how she went to Egypt to know if the Bible was true, and how she wanted to give herself completely to God. The lesson actually turned out to be an incredibly spiritual lesson. We gave her a Book of Mormon, testified of its truthfulness, and committed her to read it. She told us later she was reading the Book, and although we didn't baptize her, or weren't able to meet with her again, I believe she will one day find out the truth. 

As for T-Rex, he's just a guy we met the other night walking around an apartment complex. I just like his name. He was joking with us that he starred in Jurassic Park. 

Things are going well. It doesn't really feel like I'm finishing my mission anytime soon. I just gave my last training of my mission, which is really weird. But it honestly just feels like I will be doing the same thing next month and the month after and the month after...

Please continue praying for Miracle May! Not only for me but for your families as well! Let's ALL of us make May an amazing month! I love you all, and will talk to you next week!

Love, 

Elder Gleave

1) Burning an Elder's Dallas Cowboys shirt and giving him a BroncosHello Family! 

Your probably wondering about my title. That's good. I would be too.

On Wednesday we were walking around, trying to see if people were home, and one of the members called us and told us in broken English that he has someone who wants to be baptized on Saturday and we need to come to the beach right now. A little suspicious, we went over to the beach he was at, and the member gets this blonde girl from off the beach. She comes over to us and says, "I'm not a Mormon, but I want to get baptized. Is that a problem?" Uhhh...no? But we quickly realized that she wanted to get baptized and stay in the Baptist church, and was just looking for someone to baptize her. Well we told her that we should first probably teach her about our church. As we dove into the Restoration, I quickly began to realize how religious she was. From first judgement, I thought there was no way that she took religion that seriously, and it was more of something she just wanted to do for fun. But she told us how she went to Egypt to know if the Bible was true, and how she wanted to give herself completely to God. The lesson actually turned out to be an incredibly Spiritual lesson. We gave her a Book of Mormon, testified of its truthfulness, and committed her to read it. She told us later she was reading the Book, and although we didn't baptize her, or weren't able to meet with her again, I believe she will one day find out the truth. 

As for T-Rex, he's just a guy we met the other night walking around an apartment complex. I just like his name. He was joking with us that he stared in Jurassic Park. 

Things are going well. It doesnt really feel like I'm finishing my mission anytime soon. I just gave my last training of my mission, which is really weird. But it honestly just feels like I will be doing the same thing next month and the month after and the month after...

Please continue praying for Miracle May! Not only for me but for your families as well! Lets ALL of us make May an amazing month! I love you all, and will talk to you next week!

Love, 

Elder Gleave

1) Dinner Mountain

2) Burning an Elder's Dallas Cowboy shirt and giving him a Bronco's.

3) SelfIez with Sister Warner!!

April 20, 2015

Cat's Pajamas

Hey Family! 

I dont know why I put that as my title. I just really have run out of creative titles. So cat's pajamas was the lucky winner today. 

This week has been incredible. I say that about every week, but that's because every week is incredible. Noted, missionary work does have its ups and downs, and not all the time is this sunshine and rainbows, but for the most part, it is good! 

Here's a few highlights of the week. 

On Thursday, I had my last Zone Conference. That was pretty weird. At Zone Conference, they always have the missionaries who are new to the mission, and who are going home give their testimonies. My whole mission I have been watching these missionaries get up there, cry their eyes out about how much their mission has meant to them, and then give amazing testimonies. I always wondered what it was going to be like for me. I guess it was one of those situations where you never really know what you are going to do until it happens. Well on Thursday it was my time. Although I knew it was coming, it really just sneaks up on you. The weird thing is, it just felt like another testimony. Maybe it is because I haven't really thought about the fact that I'm going home, or just it hasn't really hit me yet, it felt like I would be going up there in a few more months doing the same thing. It's weird to think about the fact that two years ago, I was giving my greenie testimony. It honestly feels like yesterday. That being said, there was two other missionaries who were giving their "dying" testimonies, but they had to leave early. As tradition goes, the missionaries who are going home, the whole rooms sings "Aloha Oe" to them. Usually there is 3 or 4 missionaries standing up there, but since they all left early, IT WAS JUST ME. Bahhh soo awkward! The whole zone was just staring at me. This mission is so amazing.

On Monday, President told us that he is going to designate May as "Miracle May" and we are going to shoot for 100 BAPTISMS. Of course, since it was my last month, I was all for this. MIRACLE MAY BABY GO BIG OR GO HOME! So me and Elder Samoala evaluated our potentials and decided that we are going to go for 4 baptisms in the month of May. So we needed to act THIS WEEK. We set up for baptism, our home boy Kaneke. He's so much fun to teach, and we love his guts. When we went over last week, we started sharing the gospel with his Mom, who is a non-member as well. And she immediately LOVED it. Every word we said, she enjoyed so much. We went over on Saturday, and committed them to be baptized on the same day. ETERNAL FAMILIES Y'ALL.  Then we had to act fast on this Samoan family that we got a referral for. It was the brother of a recent convert, and she told us to go visit them. We got a hold of them on Friday, and we taught them about the restoration of the gospel. The spirit was so strong. In the beginning, the father wasn't that interested in what we had to say, but by the end, he loved what we were teaching. We weren't able to get a commitment out of them, but he did invite us to go his 2 year-old daughter's party the next day! So things are looking up. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not teaching these people to get numbers or to brag or show I'm a good missionary, in all sincerity, I love these people we are teaching with all my heart, and although they don't see it now, these things which we are sharing can literally change their lives forever. And that's why I get so excited and try to get these 4 baptisms. I trust in the Lord and his work though. 

But all is well. I love this church so much! I love all of you! Thank you for the support and prayers! 

Love,

Elder Gleave

Week 97/98--T-Rex and Girl on the Beach

April 28, 2015

Hello Family! 

Your probably wondering about my title. That's good. I would be too.

On Wednesday, we were walking around, trying to see if people were home, and one of the members called us and told us in broken English that he has someone who wants to be baptized on Saturday and we need to come to the beach right now. A little suspicious, we went over to the beach he was at, and the member gets this blonde girl from off the beach. She comes over to us and says, "I'm not a Mormon, but I want to get baptized. Is that a problem?" Uhhh...no? But we quickly realized that she wanted to get baptized and stay in the Baptist Church, and was just looking for someone to baptize her. Well we told her that we should first probably teach her about our church. As we dove into the restoration, I quickly began to realize how religious she was. From first judgement, I thought there was no way that she took religion that seriously, and it was more of something she just wanted to do for fun. But she told us how she went to Egypt to know if the Bible was true, and how she wanted to give herself completely to God. The lesson actually turned out to be an incredibly spiritual lesson. We gave her a Book of Mormon, testified of its truthfulness, and committed her to read it. She told us later she was reading the Book, and although we didn't baptize her, or weren't able to meet with her again, I believe she will one day find out the truth. 

As for T-Rex, he's just a guy we met the other night walking around an apartment complex. I just like his name. He was joking with us that he starred in Jurassic Park. 

Things are going well. It doesn't really feel like I'm finishing my mission anytime soon. I just gave my last training of my mission, which is really weird. But it honestly just feels like I will be doing the same thing next month and the month after and the month after...

Please continue praying for Miracle May! Not only for me but for your families as well! Let's ALL of us make May an amazing month! I love you all, and will talk to you next week!

Love, 

Elder Gleave

1) Burning an Elder's Dallas Cowboys shirt and giving him a BroncosHello Family! 

Your probably wondering about my title. That's good. I would be too.

On Wednesday we were walking around, trying to see if people were home, and one of the members called us and told us in broken English that he has someone who wants to be baptized on Saturday and we need to come to the beach right now. A little suspicious, we went over to the beach he was at, and the member gets this blonde girl from off the beach. She comes over to us and says, "I'm not a Mormon, but I want to get baptized. Is that a problem?" Uhhh...no? But we quickly realized that she wanted to get baptized and stay in the Baptist church, and was just looking for someone to baptize her. Well we told her that we should first probably teach her about our church. As we dove into the Restoration, I quickly began to realize how religious she was. From first judgement, I thought there was no way that she took religion that seriously, and it was more of something she just wanted to do for fun. But she told us how she went to Egypt to know if the Bible was true, and how she wanted to give herself completely to God. The lesson actually turned out to be an incredibly Spiritual lesson. We gave her a Book of Mormon, testified of its truthfulness, and committed her to read it. She told us later she was reading the Book, and although we didn't baptize her, or weren't able to meet with her again, I believe she will one day find out the truth. 

As for T-Rex, he's just a guy we met the other night walking around an apartment complex. I just like his name. He was joking with us that he stared in Jurassic Park. 

Things are going well. It doesnt really feel like I'm finishing my mission anytime soon. I just gave my last training of my mission, which is really weird. But it honestly just feels like I will be doing the same thing next month and the month after and the month after...

Please continue praying for Miracle May! Not only for me but for your families as well! Lets ALL of us make May an amazing month! I love you all, and will talk to you next week!

Love, 

Elder Gleave

1) Dinner Mountain

2) Burning an Elder's Dallas Cowboy shirt and giving him a Bronco's.

3) SelfIez with Sister Warner!!

April 20, 2015

Cat's Pajamas

Hey Family! 

I dont know why I put that as my title. I just really have run out of creative titles. So cat's pajamas was the lucky winner today. 

This week has been incredible. I say that about every week, but that's because every week is incredible. Noted, missionary work does have its ups and downs, and not all the time is this sunshine and rainbows, but for the most part, it is good! 

Here's a few highlights of the week. 

On Thursday, I had my last Zone Conference. That was pretty weird. At Zone Conference, they always have the missionaries who are new to the mission, and who are going home give their testimonies. My whole mission I have been watching these missionaries get up there, cry their eyes out about how much their mission has meant to them, and then give amazing testimonies. I always wondered what it was going to be like for me. I guess it was one of those situations where you never really know what you are going to do until it happens. Well on Thursday it was my time. Although I knew it was coming, it really just sneaks up on you. The weird thing is, it just felt like another testimony. Maybe it is because I haven't really thought about the fact that I'm going home, or just it hasn't really hit me yet, it felt like I would be going up there in a few more months doing the same thing. It's weird to think about the fact that two years ago, I was giving my greenie testimony. It honestly feels like yesterday. That being said, there was two other missionaries who were giving their "dying" testimonies, but they had to leave early. As tradition goes, the missionaries who are going home, the whole rooms sings "Aloha Oe" to them. Usually there is 3 or 4 missionaries standing up there, but since they all left early, IT WAS JUST ME. Bahhh soo awkward! The whole zone was just staring at me. This mission is so amazing.

On Monday, President told us that he is going to designate May as "Miracle May" and we are going to shoot for 100 BAPTISMS. Of course, since it was my last month, I was all for this. MIRACLE MAY BABY GO BIG OR GO HOME! So me and Elder Samoala evaluated our potentials and decided that we are going to go for 4 baptisms in the month of May. So we needed to act THIS WEEK. We set up for baptism, our home boy Kaneke. He's so much fun to teach, and we love his guts. When we went over last week, we started sharing the gospel with his Mom, who is a non-member as well. And she immediately LOVED it. Every word we said, she enjoyed so much. We went over on Saturday, and committed them to be baptized on the same day. ETERNAL FAMILIES Y'ALL.  Then we had to act fast on this Samoan family that we got a referral for. It was the brother of a recent convert, and she told us to go visit them. We got a hold of them on Friday, and we taught them about the restoration of the gospel. The spirit was so strong. In the beginning, the father wasn't that interested in what we had to say, but by the end, he loved what we were teaching. We weren't able to get a commitment out of them, but he did invite us to go his 2 year-old daughter's party the next day! So things are looking up. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not teaching these people to get numbers or to brag or show I'm a good missionary, in all sincerity, I love these people we are teaching with all my heart, and although they don't see it now, these things which we are sharing can literally change their lives forever. And that's why I get so excited and try to get these 4 baptisms. I trust in the Lord and his work though. 

But all is well. I love this church so much! I love all of you! Thank you for the support and prayers! 

Love,

Elder Gleave

Weeks 95/96--Hammy

Happy Monday everyone!! 

Things are going GREAT over here. We had transfers this week, and my companions name is Elder Samoala. He's from Western Samoa, been out about 15 month, and couldnt be a more perfect last companion. 

Here's just a few updates on the adventures here in Hawaii. On Tuesday, I went on exchanges with the Elder Greene down in Ke'ei ward. That's the ward that covers the whole bottom half of the island. Anyway, we decided to start the morning doing a little tracting. So we headed down to this road called "Rock Bottom" (we literally hit rock bottom) and started knocking on these run down houses in the middle of nowhere. The first house we went to didn't really have a front door, so we yelled, "Aloha" and this guy popped out of the urinal next to the house. He looked at us, yelled, "Come back in an hour, I'm busy." okay...so on to the next house. We walk up and there is a lady outside and she says in perfect English, no accent, "Hello. I am from Mexico. I don't speak English." Whhhaaaaattt? Good thing Elder Greene knew a little bit of the Southern Dialect and surprised the lady by striking up a conversation. Short story shorter, she told us she was Catholic. On to the next house! We walk up and there a giant pig tied to a tree. A pig. Tied to a tree. We knock on the door and it's a blind girl! SHE TURNS OUT TO BE A LESS ACTIVE MEMBER. Her pig's name is Hamilton, but they call it Hammy. So we teach her and then head over back to the guy who told us to come back. He is now shirtless, sweating profusely, and working in the garden. He turns around and looks at us and yells, "BAD DAY. IM BUSY. LEAVE ONE OF YOUR BOOK THINGS." So we dropped off a pamphlet, asked if there was anything we could do, and he said no, so we left. As we were getting in the car, he yells for us to come back. So we do, and he says, "There is something you could do for me. I don't have a car. Will you take my credit card, go to the store, and buy a sandwich and a drink?" Whhhhaaattt? This is the first time I've ever been asked to do that. But I guess when you ask if there is anything we can do, you have to be expecting anything. We were already late to go clean the temple, so we ran to the gas station, and bought as much stuff as we could with our own card, and then drove it back to him. I can't believe he trusted us with his card...Anyway, lesson of the day. If you are ever bored, go to Rock Bottom Road. 

Saturday was an awesome day. Our investigator Kaneke, who has committed to be baptized, invited us over to go lift with him. When we got there, his Mom was interested in sitting in on a lesson. So in regular p-day clothes, we taught Kaneke, his wife, and his Mom the Plan of Salvation. Afterward, the Mom was like, "I have to go now, but I have a lot of questions." We go to dinner there tomorrow. Then we went to go do service at the car guy's house, and we were working on his 1968 Charger. Usually, he doesn't allow missionaries to really talk about the gospel, but we working and he asked if we had dinner. We didn't have dinner, and so we said no. We ate dinner with him that night, and so we asked if we could share a message, and he agreed! IT was the first time in a long time that a missionary has shared the gospel with him. 

Anyway, things are awesome. I love you all! I hope you all have a good week! 

Love,

Elder Gleave

Hey Family!

first and for most, HAPPY EASTER ya'll. I hope everyone had a good week this week. Especially general conference. Personally, I liked the one with Elder Holland, but that happens literally every single general conference. 

So this week is transfers, which means I am officially starting the last transfer of my mission. When I think about any sporting event, when there is two minutes left on the clock, and the game is on the line, that's when the player zeros in. When his focus is at his peak. When every move is crucial and every mistake can cost him the game. And that's where I am at. The final stretch. It was weird watching general conference because usually every talk is when I am focusing on the mission, but every talk I was thinking "That's what I need to be doing when I go home." AHHH I hate this. 

This week has been good. Short as always, but good. My companion is being transferred, so we have been spending some time saying goodbye to people. Nothing out of the unusual happened. We ate four Easter dinners yesterday, so that was fun! I honestly have no idea what to write about...just know that now is the time to end strong. 

But I love you all! 

… We cannot earn our way into heaven; the demands of justice stand as a barrier, which we are powerless to overcome on our own.

But all is not lost.

The grace of God is our great and everlasting hope. …

But the grace of God does not merely restore us to our previous innocent state. If salvation means only erasing our mistakes and sins, then salvation—as wonderful as it is—does not fulfill the Father’s aspirations for us. His aim is much higher: He wants His sons and daughters to become like Him. …

Another element of God’s grace is the opening of the windows of heaven, through which God pours out blessings of power and strength, enabling us to achieve things that otherwise would be far beyond our reach. It is by God’s amazing grace that His children can overcome the undercurrents and quicksands of the deceiver, rise above sin, and “are perfect[ed] in Christ” (Moroni 10:32).

Happy Easter! 

Elder Gleave

Weeks 93/94--A Mouse Tale

March 31, 2015

FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

What is up?  What is up? This week has FLOWN by, but that's not unusual. Welcome to life as a missionary. Sorry about the Tuesday email...we were in Oahu for a meeting yesterday. It was weird being back there. It was like visiting home after I had been away to college for a long a time. 

Anyway...like I said, this week was a crazy week. I will give you the highlights. On Wednesday, we went to go teach our Tongan recent convert. He lives out on this ranch, where all around him is open space and fields of grass. Anyway, he lives with his uncle, who is the owner of his own construction company, so their house is pretty nice. Well, we were waiting for the food to be made, and talking to his uncle, who is big Tongan man. We will call him Brother Smith (that's not really his name). Out of the corner of their eye, my companion and the uncle both saw the tail of a mouse dart across the counter. "Did you see that?" He asks. "Yeah. That was a mouse." exclaims my other half. A look of sheer terror eclipses Brother Smith's face. "Okay, okay okay. Let's do this logically...what do we do?" Brother Smith is asking this as he is trying to muster up enough courage to approach the basket in which the mouse is hiding under. "Brother Smith, are you scared of mice?" I ask him. "...Yes Elder. I hate mice." Hahaha if anyone knows anything about Tongans, they try to put on a face and make it seem like they aren't scared of anything. This was priceless. "Brother Smith. We can take care of it." So me, my companion, and our recent convert are huddled around this basket armed with spatulas and a fly swatter. We move the basket expecting a mouse to run out. Nothing. We start taking off the lunch boxes on top of the basket. Nothing. No mouse. Where did it go? Then simultaneously all three of us look down at the basket and this mouse LITERALLY COMES FLYING AT US. It was if it had little dragon wings or a jet pack carrying it straight for me! So within the next half second this is what happened: Both my companion and Teki, our recent convert, start yelling while simultaneously pushing on both sides of me. I feel mouse body, tongan body, and half-asian body all on me while all three start running in different directions. I turn and look, and my companion is on the other side of the kitchen, while Teki had dashed into the living room and jumped onto a recliner, and Bother Smith has his FEET IN THE AIR WHILE SUPPORTING HIMSELF ON THE TABLE AND COUNTER! Everyone's yelling bloody murder like a venomness snake had just been released and its favorite thing to eat is brown people's toes. And this is all within a half a second mind you...And I was baffled...It was a mouse that is smaller than a Hostess Cupcake. Me and my companion both understood we have to find this mouse, or else this little thing will terrorize this poor family all night long. My comp spots it underneath the overhang of the cabinets stunned out of its mind like a just got dunked on by Shaquile O'Neil. "Finish him" my companion tells me. So I wind up an give the little a smack with the spatula. I didn't have it in me to put the nail in the coffin. "It wasn't enough! Here you do it!" I exclaimed. My companion takes the spatula out of my hand, winds up, and delivers the decisive blow. It had the power of a thousand slaps from a woman who just found out that their husband had cheated on her. I was pleasantly surprise that the mouse wasn't sent into a black hole from the force of the blow. Well, needless the say, the little guy was sent packing into the next life with a one way ticket to slapsville. The relief on Brother Smith's face was something to behold. I tell you, I don't think I've ever seen such pure joy on anyone else's face before. Something simply beautiful to behold.

Well fast forward to Friday. I think I mentioned that we have a new investigator who loves lifting weights. On Friday, he decided it was the day we lifted legs. Well, I haven't done legs in a long time...like ever. So it was a new sensation for me. To be extremely sore and incredibly tired and unable to walk all at the same time. After we got done with the workout, I was feeling pretty confident in myself for finishing, and then it dawned on me that we had to help someone move that day. "That's okay. There were be a lot of people there." I thought. Well, we show up, and there is a fortress of boxes in this guy's garage, and he looks at us and says, "All those need to be in the container. Today." So me and my companion, the only people there, helped move 150 boxes up an uphill drive for 4 hours for this guy! All the while our legs are dying because they are already dead. Then we move onto the big furniture...yaayy.... We finally finished 5 hours after we started, and the man looks at us and says, "Well, come back tomorrow. This baby grand piano isn't going to move itself." We go to dinner, and come home at like 8 oclock and just collapse. We were dead tired. The next day I couldn't even walk, and yet that night we showed up and with the help of four other missionaries we managed to move a 900 pound piano. I would say that angels helped us, but the piano was still extremely heavy. Good thing one of the missionaries was from Tonga. I think he lifted 500 pound of it. 

But yeah! Other than that I sat through two hour and half long testimony meetings, and I almost wanted to die. But the Lord has been good to me. LOVE YOU ALL!

Tootels! 

Elder Gleave

March 23, 2015

HEY FAMILY

Heres the deal. Sorry for not writing you last week. We had to go to Hilo to pick up the Ke'ei missionaries' truck. We ended up getting back later than we wanted, and had to rush to dinner and had no time to email. I wrote Mom and Dad a letter.  I guess they didnt get it...oh well. I will just do a recap of the weeks!

These past two weeks have been awesome. The Lord has been really good to us. Last Sunday, we were able to participate in confirming our three baptisms. That was an amazing experience. To know and understand that what their getting will change their lives forever made me extremely happy. It made me think about how much the spirit has played a role in my life. I am forever grateful for the spirit guiding me. This work is so rewarding. 

A few weeks ago, one of the members came up to us, and told us that her husband had been asking some questions about the church, and that she would call us in the future when her husband was ready to talk to us. One thing I know is that often time members don't understand when people are "ready" to hear the gospel, and so they are hesitant to call us. Most of the time the people are very ready to hear the gospel. So after a few weeks of not  getting a call, we decided to take matters into our own hands. We called her last and set up a lesson for last Saturday. Well 15 minutes before the lesson, the wife texted us and said that he wasn't ready to meet with us, but that she would still come. We were like, "Alright. It's a little weird to meet just with a member, but sure!" But secretly I was praying in my heart, just begging God to help us meet with this guy. 5 minutes later, she texts back and says, "Hey I convinced him to come!" YESSS. After about ten minutes of talking, the guy just looks at us and blurts out, "How do you pray?" We end up teaching him about how church is a hospital and not a place for perfect people. Then this week we met with him again, and taught him the restoration. It was awesome. He is a really good guy, really has a desire to learn. He didn't come to church this week though, and we asked the wife why, and she told us, "Because he didn't like his hair." LOL. oh well.

Covering two wards can be hectic. One day, we had about an hour and half before dinner, and we were wondering what to do, We turned on our phone, which had been dead, and we had a bunch of missed calls from a lady who was expecting us that night. But it was a half and hour drive to the lady's house and half and hour back, and so we would have to rush our lesson. We called dinner and asked if we could push back a half and hour, but he wasn't too happy that we were. So he told us we could push back  fifteen minutes. When we were at the families' house, we taught them and were about to leave, and it would be perfect timing, but then the dad asked us to stay and eat some dinner with us. We were just like, "Oooohhhh greeaatt..." And so we ate the food as fast as we could and got out of there. When we got in the car, we checked our messages and the member was like NO RUSH! We can push back a half and hour! Greeeaatt..

But anyway, all good things. All good thing. But I have to go! Love you guys!

Elder Gleave 

Week 92--Aloha!!

Aloha Family!

Pretty hectic week this week. We had a meeting in Oahu last Monday, then temple trip on Tuesday, then a big zone meeting up in Waimea on Friday, all the while trying to prep for our baptism on Sunday and learning how to balance covering two areas. 

I don't have much time today because we had to go to Hilo yesterday and help one of the other Elders drop off their truck (long story), which was broken, so we had to spend the whole day over there. 

But one amazing thing happened this week. We had our baptism! It was really such a spiritual experience. It was three kids: Lea, Lani, and Aki Irons. They are 12, 10, and 8 years old. Their Mom isn't a member, but their grandma is, and she takes them to church every week. Well, anyway, we spent the whole week getting them ready for their baptism, and right before church on Sunday, the Grandma calls us and says, "We need you to save 15 seats at sacrament meeting." We were a little blown away, because the family of 5 that usually comes now exploded to 15. We were also a little confused because we weren't entirely sure how to save seats in sacrament meeting. But, sacrament meetings starts, and no family. Crap. They are getting baptized today, and we have no family. Open hymn, over. No family. Announcements; no family. Sacrament hymn; NO FAMILY. Where are they?! Right as the sacrament hymn is about to end, in  walks 15 happy people. So we ushered them into their seats as fast as possible. The amazing thing was most of them were not members of the church! Fast forward to 4 o'clock. We told the family to be there a half and hour early to fit them into baptismal suits and take pictures, but our ward mission leader was running on Hawaiian time and didn't show up till 4:30 when the baptisms suppose to start! So we are running around trying to get everything figured out, while the WHOLE family, so all 15 people are just wandering around wondering why we even asked them to come early. So we had to think of ways to make it seem like we needed them there that early, like showing each kid individually what the baptism was going to be like. Eventually, the ward mission leader shows up, and the ward members file in. So we rush the kids to the bathroom to change, and it was perfect because there was 3 kids baptismal suits, and 3 kids being baptized. Not perfect. One of the girls didn't fit in her baptismal suit. It was so bad...we gave her AN ADULT BAPTISMAL SUIT! Hahaha she was so happy in it. We had to do some serious rolling of the legs to make sure it fit. She kept saying she felt like a gangster in it...The great thing was that me and my companion both got to baptize one of them, and the member who referred us to them got to baptize the other. All in all, it all worked out, and it was an amazing baptism. It was rather neat because the bishop teaches some of the older kids in high school, and the 1st councilor teaches and is the vice principle of the kids being baptized. The sister who gave the baptismal talk is the teacher of the son in school and in primary, and the ward mission leader teaches all three of the kids in school. Plus one of the sister missionaries in the zone was related to them, and so she came down and supported the family. Funny how God works. 

Well other than the baptism, I trimmed a hedge for the first time, we helped a guy restore a 1964 Mustang, and we survived an EARTHQUAKE! We were sitting talking one evening, when SUDDENLY THE HOUSE BEGAN SHAKING. It was over as quick as it started, and other than my juice being nicely shaken, there was not much after effect. It still rattled me a little bit, That's what happens when you live on an active volcano. 

I love my mission so very much! I really can't put it into words how much I love it. I love the people, I love the good times and the bad, and I love my Savior with all my heart. Missionary work is REAL. It changes lives not only momentarily, but forever. I wish I could have a way to see what people's lives would be like if they made decisions different, almost like "It's a Wonderful Life" because I would be interested to see how different something like embracing Christ into your life would change your life. I bet it is crazy. 

But I love you all! Talk to you next week! 

Elder Gleave

Week 91--GOOD STUFF

March 3, 2015

My family and friends. I have something to report. Something very important to tell all of you. Brace yourself, because this is a big one.

I love all of you. That's it.

Well, anyway, now to the good stuff. Things have been GREAT over here. We were assigned to cover two wards. Now we cover Kealakekua and Kona 2nd ward, which means our area is HUGE. We have an area in between our area, which means it takes about an hour to get to one side of our areas to the other. So this whole travel thing is hard to get use to. 

Today we went to the TEMPLE. It was very spiritual. It always is nice to go to the temple and escape from the world. Plus, it gives me an eternal outlook on life, which helps me get through the day-to-day things. 

We have a baptism this Sunday for three grandchildren of a Chuukese family. The mom isn't a member, and she didn't want her oldest child to be baptized, because she was baptized in the Catholic Church. Because we knew about the Priesthood, we wanted the oldest girl to be baptized and be a member with the rest of her brothers and sisters, but the mom didn't understand that. So we fasted with the Grandma for the mom's heart to be softened, and we went over last night with our Bishop, and he asked, "So who exactly is getting baptized?" Right away the oldest daughters hand shot straight up into the air, and we looked at the mom like, "Annndddd....?" And she nodded at us. YESS!!  One step in the right direction. 

This week, we finished our lesson around 6:30 and our dinner was at 7, so we had no idea what we were going to do for the last half hour. We were just going to get into the car, and drive around, but I prayed. "Heavenly Father. Please help us find someone to talk to." And RIGHT THEN this guy walks by with a walking stick and he wants to talk to us. The guy's name is Gary and he goes on to tell us about getting into a head-on car accident, and should have died, but woke up with the man who hit him praying for the Lord to spare his life. Then he passed out again and woke up four neck surgeries later he wakes up in the hospital. He told us then that he was going through a divorce and needed to sell his car, and so he was broke, driving to sell his beater car, and stops to fill up with gas. A homeless guys asks for some change, so he gave him the last of his change. Then he thought, "Crap. That's the last of my change. I was going to use that to buy gas." Then he told us that he prayed. And when he opened his eyes, a guy walked up, someone who he had never met, give him a check for 20 dollars MADE OUT IN HIS NAME. He never met the guy before and never saw him again. An angel gave him 20 dollars! Then he just went on to tell us all about how God has given him everything in his life. It was amazing.

Well, I love you all. 

Talk to you next week!

Love 

Elder Gleave 

Week 89 and 90. ALOHA FAMILY!!

February 24, 2015

This week has been kind of a blur. 

Last week we worked really hard and so it seemed as if I was running on fumes while still trying to work equally as hard. What a wild ride it was.  It was a lot of fun!

We did some service with these goofy French dudes on Friday. They would just crack some jokes in a French accent and it always made me want to laugh! We had to clear some junk that had built up around the house and so this 73 year-old French dude would just pick it up and act like he was curling it. I think it was one of those, you had to be there things. But I loved it!

We also did service on this ancient lava rock trail where we had to stomp out roots that covered the trail. I decided it was a good idea to wear my slippers, and so when I would try and stomp on them, my feet would slip and get torn up on the lava rocks. It was funny because I was wearing church socks and these Jesus looking slippers trying to stop on roots. We were able to talk to a lot of people though. Just doing service is great!

We went to dinner with this part-member family this week and I had a great conversation with the mom. Her son was baptized around 10 years ago, and she has been coming to Church ever since then. So going to dinner, I had a goal of asking her why she was never baptized. So after dinner, we were talking, and I just straight out asked her. She began to explain her reasons, and I had the opportunity to testify to her about how the gospel needed to be restored in America, and how everything worked out to where the gospel COULD be restored on the Earth. It was fun to be able to have an in depth conversation about the gospel.

I seriously am struggling to think right now, I am sorry.  Just know that I really happy and things are going well! I love you all! 

Elder Gleave

February 17, 2015

FAMILY

ALLLLLOOOHHAAA!

What's good? Happy V-Day ya'll. I hope everyone had a good week. Especially a good V-Day. Last week was really insanely busy, and so I'm shot today! I am so tired. Part of the week included having to give a talk in Sacrament meeting. So I will include a portion of that in my email. 

I am a firm believer that God places trials, obstacle in our life to see if we are willing to

 sacrifice and work through them. I had an experience with that this week. Last Saturday I

 woke up feeling a little sick. Stuffy nose, foggy thoughts, sore throat. THE ONE AND ONLY 

COMMON COLD. Feeling a little justified to take the day off, I thought to myself, “I’m sick. 

Better go tell Elder Merrill we’re not working today.” But then the spirit was whispered to me, 

“There’s people you need to see today. I will strengthen you.” I thought, “Yeah, but you don’t 

understand. I’m sick.” And then the spirit said, “You can stop thinking about yourself, get off 

your bed, and help people have happiness for the rest of eternity, or you can stay under the 

covers. Your choice.” So a little reluctantly, I crawled out of bed, thinking I was magically 

going to get better. But it didn’t. Things only got worse. By Monday night, I lost my voice. I am 

not sure if anyones been a missionary without a voice. It’s not very fun. Having a voice is 

kind of important. I mean ALL we do it talk. Again, feeling justified, I felt like I could just hang 

out until my voice came back. But the Lord had different plans for me. He told me to go and 

work. So from Monday to Thursday, I didn’t have my voice. But I can honestly tell you that it 

was the most successful four days of missionary work I’ve experienced since I’ve been on 

my mission. Families were more willing to open up, the spirit was stronger, and miracles 

were happening each and everyday.

I learned two important lessons as I sacrificed this week. #1 The Lord will strengthen us when we sacrifice, to where the pain of the thing we were giving up (in my case, my comfort) doesn’t have quite the sting we expect it to. #2 God will reward us ten fold for the sacrifice in which we give up. I was able to bring happiness and understanding to these families that will impact them for time and eternity. As well, I was able to learn lessons I other wise wouldn’t. 

So this week was in fact the best week of missionary work I've ever had. It was amazing. It was pretty amusing trying teach the gospel without a voice. It almost made me sound more dramatic, which made people more interested in what I had to say. I wish I could think of something more to say, but I am honestly exhausted haha so I will just send some pictures. Love you all! 

Elder Gleave