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

Week 88--I Fear No Man

Aloha Family!

I don't have much time.  I just wanted to drop a quick line and tell you all that I am still alive. 

This last week was really awesome. We stopped by our investigator from Honduras with one of our bishopric members who served his mission in Panama. It was really neat to hear the gospel taught in Spanish. I felt like I was watching Dad or Will or some of my friends teaching. I guess it was a pretty good thing that we brought the member over, because when we first got there and asked the Nahun what he remembered, he just smiled and said, "Something about Jesus." Sooo I'm not sure he understood too much, but after our member taught him, his face would light up and ask our member questions, and our member would say, "Exactimente." So, I am just assuming he understood. But the spirit was strong, and the less active brother sat in on the lesson, and he seemed like he remembered a lot. PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM. 

We also got a referral from one of the members to see a family that lives above them. So we stopped by two weeks ago and made an appointment to see them on Thursday, We went over, and it is this couple, girlfriend and boyfriend, who have a 1 year old son. We were able to bear testimonies about how families can be together forever, and how the gospel has changed our families' lives. It was nice to recount all the good memories of my family, and some of the not so good memories as I testified that the living God had truly changed the fabric of my family's lives. When we asked the girlfriend what she would do to help her son, "She replied anything. literally anything."' We went over this morning and taught them the restoration, and the couple seemed to grasp onto the whole concept. They were really pleased to hear that the authority to seal families for all time and eternity was back on the Earth. Pray for them too! 

On Saturday, one of the members told us he wanted to visit a family. And so we went with him to go visit a family from Chuuk. There was the Grandma, who was an active member, the daughter, and her four kids. I asked which Island they were from, and it was the same island that one of my former companion's family is from, so I asked if they knew any Kichiros, and the grandma was like, "OH YES! We are related! I just came from Salt Lake City and I was living with them!" So long story short, the Grandma and two of the girls came to Stake Conference on Sunday, and we went over and committed the Mom and her four kids to baptism yesterday and they all accepted! So yeah, pray for them too. 

To close, I read this killer talk about this mission in England who baptized 100 people on his mission simply because he wasn't afraid to talk to anyone. He would look himself in the mirror everyday and say, "I FEAR NO MAN." And then do it in a different pose time after time until he was ready to go and fearlessly proclaim the gospel. He said, "The field isn't brown, ready to plant. It isn't yellow, ready to water. It's WHITE ready to harvest. We. Are. Harvesters." So I have adopted that attitude into my work. Unfortunately, I lost my voice this week, so I am just a quiet harvester. Also, pray for my voice to come back. 

But I love you all! All is well! Happy Valentines' Day!

Love, 

Elder Gleave

Weeks 85--87

February 2, 2015

Hola, como estas!

Hello family!!! 

Things are going so well here in Kona. It's always weird switching areas because you have to re-learn all the people's names, learn the area, learn how to work here. It's all somewhat in shambles for the first few weeks, but it miraculously works out after that. I think this week was that transition week. Especially when my companion informed me that we were going on exchanges and that I was going to stay in the area. That was awkward. Reluctantly, I agreed to the idea. Let's just say we spent a lot of the day driving back and forth trying to find things that are on the map. But after that I feel a little bit better about the area. 

But here is the real cool miracle of the week. So since I have been on my mission, I have talked to a lot of people from a lot of different countries. I have learned some words in at least 20 different languages, but I was never actually able to speak the language that learn in school: Spanish. Subsequently, I have always been trying to find someone to teach that speaks Spanish. Not that I could actually talk to him in Spanish, but mainly just that I could impress him with my 12 and a half word Spanish vocab. Plus I always wanted a taste of what Dad, Will, and Mateo went through on their missions. Two weeks ago, we were contacting some part-member families and couldn't find an address. We saw a guy standing outside of his house next to a truck, and so we went to ask if that was his address. He told him we had the wrong address, but I could tell that he had an hispanic accent. This intrigued me. So I asked him where he was from, and he told me "Honduras". This made me happy! We asked him if we could come back and teach him, and he told us, "Yeah of course!" Fast forward to last Friday, and we finally see his truck in front of his house. We decided to stop by and visit him. "Nahun...Aloha!" we say as we knock on the door. (Nahun is his name) And then a guy comes to the door and I was like, "Oh Nahun! How are you?" And my companion whispers to me, "That's not Nahun." And then I realize I am looking at literally an exact twin on Nahun. I was a little flustered and baffled at this point, and left some-what speechless. Then Nahun pops out from behind his doppelganger and says, "Hola, dis is me brother Carlos." Then the brother, in a little bit better English, looks at us and says, "Mormons?" I looked at him and said, "I think so." and he said, "I was baptized into your church in California. Good experience!" But then Carlos takes off to go work and it is just us and Nahun. We sit down and start teaching Nahun, and we begin teaching him the restoration. When we get to the part about Jesus establishing his church, we show him a picture of Jesus being baptized. He lights up and says, "Oh! I have never been baptized. I need to be baptized!" And then we continue teaching him the Restoration and things are going well. Then after we teaching about Joseph Smith, he looks at us and says, "I know you are here to bring the true gospel of Jesus Christ to me. Thank you." Needless to say it was AWESOME. 

Also we had another cool miracle. We were teaching a recent convert, and she had taken something that someone said the wrong way. And it happened to be a member of the ward, and so she began to feel as if she was a real burden to the ward. At the beginning of the lesson, she was depressed, reluctant to tell us much. But as we began to testify of the goodness of Christ, she began to light up. And then the spirit was like share this scripture. And I was like, "Are you sure? It's been a while since I have shared that." And it like, "Yeah. I know these type of things." And so I had her read D&C 121 and she began to read it. Then after just stopped. And began to cry. And said, "Three years ago I got a concussion and I haven't been able to understand the things I read. I always have to have other people read to me. This is the first time since my accident I have understood what I read. I feel so relieved." It was just truly a miracle. 

Overall, things in the big island are treating me well. I really do enjoy it here. I love you all! I pray for you all! 

Much love, 

Elder Gleave

January 27, 2015


KONA CRUISING!!!


Hey family! 

I hope everything is going well! Things are GREAT here in Kona. 

The first week I was here, things were FREEZING. Like, almost-see-your-breath-in-the-morning cold. Which I am sure to all of you mainlanders is probably not that cold, but when you don't have heaters and your house is not insulated AT ALL, the mornings were a struggle. But it's been warming up lately. The days are never really too chilly at all. Sometimes pretty cloudy because we live at the base of a mountain. 

We had a rather neat experience this week. We are a little low on non-members to teach, mainly because we were working hard with these two people and they just got baptized. So we are in the process of "re-starting" the area in a sense. So on Sunday, we got new Part-Member family lists since ours was a year old, and planning on spending the rest of the day updating those as a sort of "don't be too busy sawing to sharpen you saw" type deal. This was going on for a few minutes when I saw a name of someone who was on the new list and not on the old list. That's when a thought popped into my head of, "Oh she's moved into the area in the past 8 months. You should visit her." And I just brushed it off like it was no big deal. And then the thought popped into my head again, "You should really go visit her." And then I thought, "I will visit her this week." And then something said, "No you should really visit her now. Like right now." And so I shut our Area Book and told my comp we had to visit someone. We jumped into our car and cruised (haha that's funny because we drive a Chevy Cruze) on over to this house. When we got there, we saw no address on the house, and it looked like no one was home. My companion turned to me and said, "maybe no one is home..." So we drove passed the house, turned around and drove past the house again, and then one more time, and we decided we should just give it a shot. Well when we hopped out of the car, we turned around and someone had just pulled into the driveway. When we asked her if she was the name of the person on our list, she said yes, and then we just started talking to her for a little bit. Turns out she is pretty inactive, and we scheduled a time to meet her tomorrow. When talking to her, she something along the lines of, "Out of all days, you come today." Meaning that it was the perfect day for us to visit. It was just a cool testimony builder of the workings of the spirit. 

We couldn't email yesterday because we were on Oahu for a conference. Usually, when you are on the plane, you try and talk to as many people as you can. So on the way back, I sat next to this lady hoping to talk to her, but after the look she gave me I ruled the option out. So I turned to the other side of me and there across the aisle, something told me to talk to him, but I thought, that's weird to talk to someone across the aisle. But I did anyway, and it turned out he lived in Haleiwa. So I talked to him all about surfing, but nothing too spiritual came up. My companion was sitting in the row in front of me and the whole time I was talking to this guy, the guy in front of him was just eyeing me and my comp. Finally at the end of the flight, he kind of blurted out, "I was baptized into your church." Almost like he was building up enough courage to say it. And then my comapnion talked to him, and he found it was the cousin of one of our members and his family isn't members. We got his info and plan on start teaching him. It was amazing to see the Lord place people into our path.

Well, that's all for this week! I love you all. I know that the is the true church with all my heart. Talk to you next week. 

Aloha, 

Elder Gleave

1) Service we did

2) Jesus on the dash in front of Pololu Valley

3) When two members took us out for lunch on the same day. This is my comp after.

4) Husking a coconut in the sunset. 

January 19, 2015

KONAAAAAA!!!!

Hello Family!

It's super weird not to be on Oahu. Things that you kind of take  advantage of don't really exist here. Things like garbage men, road maps, and sometimes addresses. There's probably some other stuff that I haven't discovered yet. Mainly, the best part about the Big Island is all the TURKEYS! There are turkeys just running around everywhere. They're super ugly and have greasy feathers like they're extras from the movie Grease. We plan on wrangling a few sometime this transfer. It's weird that different areas are 30 minutes away rather 5 minutes away. We live on the top of this hill at 3,000 ft altitude, but our area covers all the way down to the ocean at sea level. I've been pretty sick lately so when we cruise up and down the hills to visit people my head feels like it's about to explode. Kind of like the active volcano I live on. 

My companion is super awesome. I knew him a little bit before I came to this area so I was really excited. Sorry if this letter doesn't make sense. I am trying to focus writing while all the other missionaries are quoting The Office while waiting for the computers. It's super funny...but very distracting. Anyway, my comps name is Elder Merrill. He is from Alpine, UT and just a real good missionary. My MTC comp, Elder Langi was just in this area before I came here, so it's kinda awkward taking his place because the ward absolutely LOVED him, so they are like, "Wait a minute. You're not brown." But it's all good. This ward is really awesome and just a very loving ward.

So we did have a cool experience. The missionaries were teaching this lady named Tema before I came into the area, and she is just the best. She is from the Solomon Islands, and she married a white man who was in the Peace Corps. They moved to Wisconsin, and eventually to Hawaii. That is where her daughter met a member and was eventually baptized. A year later, her brother noticed the change in her and he was baptized. Then his sister was baptized. And so for 15 years, the children were waiting for the parents to convert. Tema, the Mom, secretly knew the church was true, but she was waiting for her husband to convert. But after 15 years, the missionaries knocked on her door, and she finally had to admit to herself it was time. So they challenged her to talk to her husband. And so she told him, "I would like your blessing on this, because I love you. But I am going to do this regardless because I know it's true." And THEN she called her children and told them she was getting baptized. So anyway, all her children flew in, and we had the baptism on Saturday. It was just very special to see the children who have been waiting for 15 LONG years for their Mom to be baptized, have the experience of witnessing someone special to enter into a new life. The husband even came to the baptism! It was a true miracle.  So just pray that the husband will one day convert! 

We also taught the nephew of Harold B. Lee. He's pretty less active and almost died in a motorcycle accident, but he's just now starting to find a testimony. 

Overall things are awesome. We do a lot of service here! We drove like an hour and a half to go do service and it was still in our zone. Part of the island looks so much like Colorado it makes me think of home, then I see the ocean and was like, "Oh yeah. We're in Hawaii."

But I really do love it here! And I love all of you! 

Write you next week!

Love, 

Elder Gleave

Week 84--Big Island Bound

Hey Family!!!!

Happy Monday! 

So this week we had interviews with President Warner. I was so excited! Not really to have the interview but more because transfers were on Wednesday and I knew he was going to tell me where I was going to go. I knew it was time to get transfered because everytime I would go to church, the members would look at me and with a baffled look and say, "YOU'RE STILL HERE? You've been here forever. I mean I'm glad you're here...but you're still here?" And when that happens, it's generally a sign that you're about to be moved. So when I was sitting in my interview with President I was sweating bullets because I just really, really, REALLY wanted to go somewhere off Oahu. And so President was asking me about the zone and he says, "Let's see what Hon-West Zone looks like next transfer." And so he pulls up the transfer board on his IPad and the first thing I see is my name under the Kona Zone and I practically pooped my pants!! I'M GOING TO BIG ISLAND. Right from the beginning of my mission I always had a feeling I was going to serve in Kona, but as I was getting close rand closer to the end of my mission I forgot about it, but it's happening!! New adventures ahead.

But that being said, I figured I was leaving, and when you are being transferred, you can view it from one of two ways. You can view it as I'm not even going to be here in a week, so why worry about working? Or you can leave the area better than you found it. And I decided I was going to go out with a bang. What's really really awesome is that there was a lot of tender mercies from the Lord this week. Here are just a few:

The lady I emailed about last week, well we went to go visit her again. Her name is Patricia. We told her that we were going to be out by her at 7:00, and we were a little bit late. Well, we ended up being a half an hour late because we had to go to a stupid surprise meeting. But when we showed, there was a lot of people in her house to watch How To Train Your Dragon 2. But she invited us, and so we sat in the back of the small apartment, and she looks at us and says, "Today's my birthday! So my family came over and made some dinner. Would you like some?" And we were like, "Sure!" but secretly we were like ahhh man we just ate dinner...were so full...BUT IT WAS HER BIRTHDAY. WE HAD TO! So we ate some food and talked to her. Then we decided to read some of the Book of Mormon. And so we were reading about the Savior coming to the Americas, but the spirit wasn't really there because the movie was so loud. And so we read a chapter, and then two, and then I look over and EVERYONE is asleep who was watching the movie. So I ask her to turn it down, and she does. And then the Spirit came into the room. And she told us about how her Son is struggling with drugs, and he brings the darkness into the house. And how when we come, we bring the light. Then we ask her if she would be willing to go to church, and she said she has her own church. So we testified of Joseph Smith and the Restored gospel. We then asked her what she believed in what we were teaching. She said she wasn't sure. So we read Alma 32 about faith being like a seed. And then we testified that she could know the truth. And Then we asked her if she found out the truth, if she would be baptized. And she said yes. And so we left it at that.

Well to a different miracle...A man that I was teaching while I was in the Samoan ward, had committed to be baptized after 10 years of being married to a member. The member was very patient, and very loving, but he had committed to be baptized in the new year. So when we got transferred out, me and my companion didn't see him again. But we were walking around Kalihi and he drove up out of nowhere and said, "Are you coming to my baptism this week?" But it sounded a little different because he barely speaks English...And we were like sure!! So we showed on Saturday and the place is packed with members to support him. Also our mission president and his wife was there, who just decided to show up randomly. And the Samoan missionaries tell us we are giving the presentation while the people are getting changed. And I was just thinking, "Oh great. I stink at these. And the mission president is here." But it went pretty well. And the baptism was super awesome. And since Samoans LOVE food, we went to the cultural hall and they sat us down at a table and just bring out TONS of food for us. The mission president had obviously never been to a Samoan dinner before, because he was pretty nervous about most of the food. 

Well anyway, we left Patricia's house saying we wouldn't be late the next time, and since the Samoan's baptism stared half an hour late, we were half an hour late to Patricia's house. But she was there and she said she had to go soon, but we taught her half of the plan of Salvation and surprised us by blurting out, "I KNOW the Book of Mormon is true." But we asked her to come to church and she was like, uhhhhhhh. Maybe. 

Well anyway, Sunday rolls around, and we went around trying to wake people up for church. But no one could come! So we were a little sad, but we were at church shaking people's hands as they came in and in walks Vicente! Our 70 year old Filipino investigator. Then in walks Patricia! Then in walks a family who we had been working with who hadnt been to church in 6 years! It was amazing!! 

Overall, it was just a great last week in the area. I couldn't ask for anything better. But next time I email you I will be in Kona!! 

I love you all and I know that God lives and is very very active in all of our lives. 

Love, 

Elder Gleave

Sunset every day in Kona

Vicente

Tony's baptism

Happy New Year! Weeks 81-83

January 5, 2015

EVERYONE. 

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT.

I TRY TO, BUT I CANT.

IT'S 2015!!!!!

What a great way to start the new year. I'm on my mission. My best buddy just got married to his dream girl, and I'm in Hawaii. All is good on my end of the boat.

First off, I am feeling a little bit under the weather, mostly just really tired, so if this letter doesn't make sense, please forgive me. 

But first off I would like to congratulate my brother Will on his marriage! You looked so happy in the pictures, and I know that this will the best decision you've ever made. Getting married in the temple is important. I want to be with you guys forever!!! I'm sad I missed it, but I'm happy that you're happy. Plus you both looked super good!!

Well New Year's was both fun and exhausting! On New Year's Eve we were allowed to watch Despicable Me 2, which is probably one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. But that's not saying much. I couldn't tell if it's because we haven't watched movies in forever, or if we we all were slap happy, but the whole zone was literally slap happy! Unfortunately, we had to leave back to our house by 9:30, so we didn't get to celebrate together. The rest of the night was kinda lame. My companion was pretty sick so he was virtually incapacitated in his bed,  so I just hung outside and watched soso fireworks and our drunk neighbors make fools of themselves. I did a silent HAPPY NEW YEAR in my brain when it hit midnight. 

New Year's Day, we started by going on a hike to a water fall. It was a good adventure, lots of mud, lots of water splashing, lots of fun. Then we ate lunch at a member's house, and headed back to the zone to literally spend the REST of the day playing soccer, capture the flag, and basketball. I could barely walk the next day I was so sore. 

But overall it was a great new years. And a great year. I remember last year being so excited that a WHOLE year was dedicated to missionary work. Like every single second. And it was a very sobering feeling knowing that that year was over. I look back and realize how amazing that year was. Easily the greatest, and hardest year of my life. I am thankful I had the opportunity to be on a mission, to be serving the Lord this year. 

I was on exchanges with the Elder who is pretty newish and he's had a hard time getting out and working hard,, and so it was my goal that we were going to work as hard as possible no matter what. Well we were at dinner, and I was just falling apart. I was so exhausted for some reason, and I could barely even think. I was trying to give the dinner message, a I'm not even sure if I were speaking English. Well, we ended around 8 and I was thinking about just calling it a night and switching back, which I had every justifiable reason to do so. But the spirit was like, "Just visit one last person." And I was like "Are you sure?" And he was like, "Yeah, I'm good with these types of things." So we went to go visit NJ, who is virtually ALWAYS home, and when we drove up, HE WASNT. I was thinking, "Great. Glad I came." And then the Elder I was with was like, "Oh! We gave a blessing to a non-member around here! Let's go check up on her!" And so we went in and taught a very spiritual Restoration lesson. She was so prepared to receive us, that she was reading a book that was describing practically the apostasy. It was nothing short of a miracle. 

Well, got to go! Love you all! Happy New Year!

Elder Gleave

December 30, 2014


Happy Hollidays family!

I hope everyone's Christmas was great. I know mine was spectacular! I think this might have been my favorite Christmas yet. I will give you an update. 

6:00am Head pops off the pillow and both me and my comp simultaneously yell "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!" Then we read a scripture and opened presents. 

9:00am--Went for the first round of food at the Castle's house. We ate some really good waffles, then they let us skype with the family! It was so good to see all of you by the way. It feels weird that there is only one more skyping sesh left. We walked back downstairs after skyping, and the whole family was like, "you guys are still here?" Guess we're pretty sneaky.

12:00pm--Went to the Wachter's house for lunch. Ate a bunch of pupus. (pronounced poo-poos) (it's Hawaiian for appetizers)  Then we watched him play with his remake vintage Atari game. It had like 90 something of the old games like centipede and Pong. 

3:00pm--We dropped some cup cakes off to a few of our investigators and wished them Merry Christmas.

4:00pm--Dropped by the Sudas, who is pretty much like our family out here, and they fed us some food. Then we watched as they opened up presents! So fun!!

5:00pm--Went to the Hernandez house for some more food! They were having a little party and so we had a good opportunity to talk to this guy from Haiti. It was a neat conversation. 

7:00pm--We finished the night by watching Frozen! It was such a good movie!!

All in all, it was a really amazing Christmas. Unlike last year, we practically spent the whole day visiting members, and it really made things great. To see so many people that we've grown to love and all of them really felt like family. It made being away from home feel like I was a little more at home. 

We were really happy we were able to drop off those cupcakes. One of the people we dropped them off too is this kid named NJ. He doesn't have too many friends, and his Mom doesn't make too much money, so he didn't get too much for Christmas. He's grown to be like our little brother, and so we visited him the next day, he was really excited to see us. I know it was only cupcakes, but in a way, I was glad that we were able to show him that somebody was thinking of him on Christmas Day. Especially since his Mom's boyfriend, who had been like a father figure to him for the past three years, just bailed on Christmas Eve and didn't come back. It really felt like a true Christmas. 

This morning, two of the Suda girls left to go on their missions. When I got here, they were still considering the possibility of serving a mission. They were working on their papers, but they hadn't put them in yet. Well a few weeks ago, they surprised us by saying they had put them in! And guess where one of them is going! Baltimore, Maryland. So Anna, best be on the look out for a Sister Suda. But they left today, and so we went over there last night and played a few games, took some pictures, and then wished them good luck. It literally felt like my sisters were leaving. But it's so cool, because the whole family are converts, and now the girls are going out into the world to change lives, just like theirs was changed. They bore their testimonies in sacrament meeting about how much they grew and changed into better people because of the gospel. 

The gospel is so good. It's so true. When we act upon the principles found in the gospel, things will always go right. We will never be led astray! 

I love you so much! And before I finish, Will and Tess, I hope you have a beautiful wedding. I hope it's everything you wanted. I love both of you, and know that you guys are making the right choice to marry in the temple for all eternity. I will keep you in my prayers.

Happy New Year's to you all! 

Elder Gleave

December 23, 2014

MERRY CHRISTMASSSS....
IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE,  IT'S HERE!

Well almost. Happy Christmas Eve Eve everybody! 

I hope that your Christmas season is everything everyone imagined it to be. 

Not too much exciting happened this week, we didn't have a car all week because it was in the shop, so we were walking everywhere. Luckily, we live pretty far outside of area and what's even better is that on Thursday night none of the missionaries could give us a ride home so we were trucking on foot. We had gotten about an hour into our two hour trek home, and about the time, we swore we'd never take for granted our car, acted out what the pioneers in the spirit world were probably saying about us complaining about walking, and right when our hopes of ever making it home were dashed, some members drove by and picked us up. They looked a little baffled when we told them where we had just came from and said, "You realize that you have an ENTIRE ward who would give you a ride, right?" And then we felt a little silly. 

 So I have to keep this short, but I will talk to you all in a few days anyway, I just want to show you this beautiful picture. 

We had dinner with this Recent Convert and we were teaching about Lehi's dream, and I was getting into the lesson when I look over and this was happening. MY COMPANION IS PLAYING WITH BARBIES. haha it was awesome. 

Anyway, I love you all! Merry Christmas!

Elder Gleave