Week 70--Generally it was Conference

Phew! Family, how are you?

Sounds like as we head into the pumpkin and monster season, the wedding plans for big brother are beginning to come full circle. Sounds like a complete blast! I couldn't be more happy for Will and Tess. 

The best thing about the whole entire week seemed to be our prophets and apostles speaking to us in general conference. Before conference this week, I have a CD with like 50 different talks from various general authorities, and one of them happened to be from Elder Holland. This was back before he was an apostle, and I think before he was the BYU President, so I guess you could say back when we were first boarding the ark (haha Noah jokes). But he was explaining the beauty of General Conference, and the fact that we have the wonderful opportunity to hear from a living prophet. He shared an experience in Tonga, when 800 Tongan members packed onto a boat that really only held 200 people, and waited  24 hours for a boat in order to see a prophet talk in person. It made me think, do I really give such emphasis on paying attention to our living prophet? I probably wouldn't even be able to recall what he spoke about last conference. And I decided that I was taking for granted the fact the we have a living Moses. Or a living Noah. Or a living Abraham, Isaac, Elijah, or Elisha. I would like to imagine that if one of them came down and presented a message to me, I would be rather inclined to listen. I guess I was being too much like the people in times of Noah, who didn't give the prophetic message the respect it deserved. So I committed to really listen. To really absorb. To really understand what the spirit is telling me. And boy, let me tell you, it was incredible. It was definitely the strongest I've felt the spirit watching conference, and just added on to the incredible spiritual experiences I have been having as of late. Sometimes we have to ask ourselves, are we the children of Israel? Are we giving the prophet the respect he deserves? Are we putting ANYTHING over hearing a prophet? Because God wants to teach us, but he can't if we aren't listening. I really enjoyed almost all of them, but in particular I enjoyed Jorg Klieberg's, Elder Christopherson's, and Elder Uchtdorf's in the priesthood session. 

Last week, we had a dinner with a part-member family, but they canceled on us last minute, so we weren't able to have it. Well, we were cruising around KPT (a giant apartment complex) this week and I was a bit frustrated because we had tried to visit people all day and no one was home, and so we decided on whim to go visit that family. Well they, and another part-member family we are teaching was at their house and they looked relieved when we knocked on their door. They exclaimed, "COME IN! Come in! We've been expecting you!" It turns out they had tried calling us that day and I guess our phone wasn't working or something because we never got the message, and so they didn't know if we were coming or not. So they just decided to make dinner and assumed we would come. And lo and behold, there we come walking in. Haha talk about faith in the missionaries... They explained how terrible of a weekend they had, and how all these family problems occurred, and how they should have had us come on Friday and how much better it was that we were there then. It was really quite the miracle! So we blessed their home, they sent us home with a watermelon, and all was well. 

Today we decided that it would be a good idea to hike Koko Head! In case you don't remember, its the 1,000 stair hike. Well, while we were at the top, we figured out my camera could take beautiful jumping pictures, and so we spent a good hour taking those. Some will be included. Anyway, in case you we were wondering, the mission is quite a spiritual, physical, and emotional roller coaster. It's not always sunshine and puppies here in Hawaii, (it is rainbows) and even though I don't make it seem like it, I do have times when I struggle. In fact at some points, I have never felt more alone. But I can honestly say, with all of my heart, I have never felt so close to some many people, so many friends, and so close to the Lord. It's not always paradise in Hawaii, but I wouldn't want it any other way. 

I love you all! Got to go! I have a bowling alley that's calling my name. (throw back to my bowling league in college)

Your favorite Pineapple Missionary,

Elder "I used so much gel this morning I couId be a pineapple" Gleave

1) Lunch with Jacob the Bear Man

2) Blue Angels!!

3) Jumping picture

4) Temple lovvvee

5) Leaving my mark in hawaii

6) Yup

7) School of Rock Tribute

8) A hike that's literally in my back yard

Week 69--Planes, Temples and a Filipino Dude

Hey hey hey family! 

Sorry this email is coming on tuesday. Today was our quarterly TEMPLE TRIP. It was so amazing. There is something about being in the House of the Lord that is quite refreshing. Serving in Kalihi you see a lot of things that can be spiritually degrading, and going to the temple was a beautiful refresher spiritually. I was over come with the spirit that my heart was absolutely full of joy. It was cool, because I opened up the scriptures to Alma 27 and in verse 17 and 18 it talks about how Ammon had so much joy, and I thought, THAT WAS ME! So overall, it was a beautiful day in Laie. Plus, after we had the opportunity to watch "Meet the Mormons" It hasnt come out yet. It was similar to how it was when me and Dad went to the Yao Ming movie. It was a very great movie. 

This week the Blue Angels of the Navy were preforming in one of the military bases down here. No I am telling this to all of you, just because I know how much Dad would have loved it. We were teaching a lesson on Sunday, and from the building we could see them diving and turning and flipping over the base! They would could and bank over our heads really close and then fly back. It was so awesome. Incredibly distracting trying to teach a lesson though, because they would fly by and the whole would rattle with noise of it all. It is amazing how precise they must be, and one little mistake can cause failure. Similar to us, except we are lucky that we have Christ to help us if we do make a mistake.

The really amazing story comes from that lesson that we taught on that building. A few weeks back we met this old Filipino man named Vicente. Usually when we come across a Filipino they have a "I am born Catholic, I am going to die Catholic" mentality. I talked about him a little bit before, but we have been going over there to visit him, and we can literally see him change before our eyes. Now the amazing thing is that he had a stroke in April, and so he has been great impaired when it comes to walking. He says he hasnt broken a sweat since he had the stroke (well from physical labor). Anyway, this Sunday, he walked about half a mile to get to church. Even through the rain. It is amazing to see the devotion of such a humble man in order to find the truth.

Since our area covers two major hospitals, whenever there is a momo that is sick there, we get the call. In the past two weeks we have been to the hospital 8 times. It is rather eventful, but really amazing. Yesterday we gave a blessing to a 34 guy from Samoa. He only came back to church 3 years ago, and is in the Bishopric, is a seminary teacher, and was working on becoming a temple worker until he got sick. After the blessing he bore a powerful witness of how the Church has blessed him and his family. The emotion and devotion of this man to Christ was virutally unmatched by almost all people I've met. He told us about how he has fallen, and how he got back up, or rather how Christ lifted him up. It is experiences  like these that make me so happy that I am on a mission. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. 

I will send pictures next week. 

I left my camera in the car...sorrryy..

Love Always, 

Elder GLeave

Week 68--Dream Team

Heloha Family!

That's aloha and hello combined in case you didn't pick up on that.

I sincerely wish everything awesome that happened each day, I could take off a memory card and just replay it for you. Maybe that will be a cool feature we have in the next life, but until then I will do my best to share with you a little taste of my week was like here. Unfortunately, when I sit down to write, its like my whole mind goes absolutely blank. So I will talk to you about something that completely stuck out to me.

On Thursday, we got a call to go give a blessing at the hospital down the street. It's not the first time that I have been there, and every time it is rather neat being in a hospital because it gives me a little taste of what Annie's going through. But that's not the interesting part. So we get the call to go down there and we end up in a man,s room named Don. Don is sitting upright on his bed, with various tubes sticking out of his back and some attached to his face. So it was. We sat down and he shared some of his life with us. Don grew up in the Church, he even served his mission in Japan. But due to some life experiences (which he did not go into detail about), he now believed solely in God and Jesus Christ, but has no particular belief in a religion. He is only 63, and due to his Mormon Upbringing, he has never smoked a cigarette in his life, yet he has stage 4 lung cancer that is terminal. I could tell the painful irony of the whole situation. I firmly believe that God shapes our lives little by little, but every once in a while he will do something or put you in some situation that will cause you to re-look and examine your life. And anytime that you come face to face with someone who is about to come face to face with their maker, it really makes you think. I remember that morning I was worrying about little things that were happening in my life, but as I talked to this man, those things suddenly didn't matter quite as much. They certainly didn't matter to this man. 

We sat down and talked a lot about God, and why he does these things to us. How he really does love us. The true meaning of what Christ did for us. All these things we discussed. It was interesting to get a view of a man who was on his death bed. He seemed exceedingly genuine and sincere. He kept commenting on how he believed in God and Christ, but besides that "I really just don't know. I can't be sure." It must have been quite nerve racking to be in his spot. To not really have the full understanding, or belief of where he is going. But his mother had told him to get a blessing, and after persistent pleas from his mother, he decided that it couldn't hurt to get one. When I give my blessings, I try to allow the spirit to direct, but one thing I try and avoid is starting, "Heavenly Father loves you and knows you." to stay away from being rote, but I surprised myself when I heard those words coming out of my mouth. I didn't stop it though, and I figured that the Spirit is pretty good with these things. After the blessing, Don said that was the part that really hit home for him. That's what his family always says, and he felt that God was personally talking to him at that point. He was nervous about a CT scan he was going in for, because every time he was on his back he went into a full-
fledged panic attack due to the fluid in his lungs, and so after he felt comforted that the CT scan would go well. We called him later and found out everything had, not surprised. But those are the types of events that make me so grateful to be here on my mission. Those are the things that leave a lasting imprint on your spirit for the good. I love it here. 

Also, here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

1) PUPPIES

2) Where one of our philipino investigator lives

I LOVE YOU ALL

Elder Gleave

Week 67--Finally Legal

FAMILY AND FRIENDS. 

I am currently writing this in love and appreciation for all da B-DAY shout outs I got. It was an absolutely stellar b-day. 

Here's how it started: the night before, I was really luke warm about the fact that my birthday was the next day. Partially because it is really weird having a day where it essentially like, "Oh hey let's celebrate the fact that I exist" when your whole entire life at the moment revolves around helping others. So that night we had dinner with a wonderful family, and the wife was like, "I am glad you could come, it's my husbands birthday." I was like OH GREAT. Mine's tomorrow! She had made cafe rio burritos and ice cream cake. THE BEST KIND OF CAKE. My compaion was very annoyed because the husband and I talked all night about how great people are that are born in September, especially around the 12-13 days. Plus they had left over lego's from when they went to the lego store and challenged each other to lego building contest, so they gave us them. That night, my companion and I had a lego building contest. I think I won.

The next morning I woke up and the first thing I did was open my Birthday Packages! (thanks fam). I loved the boomerang and am like half way done with the puppy puzzle. It's a big puzzle. That day three things happened that were particularly awesome. #1 We had back-to -back lessons with someone named "Cat" and "Kitty". Unrelated. Unfortunately Cat wasn't there.  I guess you could say someone let the Cat outta the bag. Ha. I'm sorry that was dumb. #2 The next awesome thing is we had a lesson on the top of seriously the most ghetto-looking building I've ever seen, and we were teaching this old Philipino man. Usually Philipinos are Catholic, and when they are, they are "born catholic, die catholic." But the first thing he asked us was about the different doctrines the Book Of Mormon presents and the Catholics teach. So we shared a little about that, then presented a powerful witness of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The man stopped, thought for a moment, and said, "Whenever someone comes by and talks to me like this (referring to religious people) I always wonder about how they tell us these things, yet there is so much pain and sorrow in the world." I could almost hug him when he said that! So we showed him 2 Nephi 2 where it talks about opposition in all things, then followed by having him read the fact that if there were no sorrow, there would be no pain, and finished with him reading about free agency. He seriously pondered the things contained in that section, and promptly declared, "Maybe this book will put to rest doubts I have had my whole life. This book contains wisdom unlike any other." It was a mighty spiritual moment. #3 We didnt have dinner that night, but when we brought a youth out to work with us, he was like, "Do you dinner tonight?" "No" "Hold on" Then he called his Mom and told him to feed us. Luckily, it was my favorite family in the ward, the Sudas! They are really, really awesome, and I couldn't have asked for a better family to eat with. They sang happy birthday to me, then covered my face with frosting. I loved it. 

The Lord really does watch out for us. I believe Heavenly Father really enjoys showering us with tender mercies. I think he loves seeing us happy! So be happy. Life's too short not to be. 

I love you all! Thank you for all your support. 

Love, 

Elder Gleave

1) Sudas are great!

2) Couldn't be happier about the sunscreen

Week 66--The Book of Mormon

Hey family!

How are things? I guess I am gonna be an adult soon. That's kind of a scary thought. I remember meeting people who were 21 and thinking, "THOSE PEOPLE ARE OLD." Now I'M OLD. Goodness. I don't act like a 21 year old that's for sure. 

One thing I've really noticed is how much we really DON'T know. I use to think that a 21 year olds were so smart and knew so much, but I look at it and realize that I still have so much to learn! Even teenagers think they know so much about life, but really they are only scratching the surface. That's why it burdens me to see so many of today's youth making decisions that will affect them the rest of their lives. I recently had the opportunity to teach a 17 year-old boy who's been arrested 4 or 5 times on various different charges, and it's hard for me to see these so called "men" making decisions that will surely affect them the rest of their lives. I looked at this boy and just wanted to shake him and yell at him saying, "Don't you know what your'e doing to yourself? You're doing to your kids? You aren't just doing things that affect you now, they may affect you for the rest of life, even for eternity!" But he would probably look at me like I just got off a one-way ticket from crazyville. One of the hard things, about being a missionary is seeing these people make poor choices in their lives when you know deep down inside how much happier they could be. Then when you feel that, you start to develop this Christ-like love for them. Then it makes it even HARDER when they still make those choices. But the beautiful thing about the Gospel, especially the Atonement of Jesus Christ, is that there is happiness ingrained in all of us. Everyone is destined to be happy, because that of why we are here. And everyone is destined to be great. One of the blessings of being a child of God is the ability to change someone's life. Jesus Christ is all about change. Changing from someone you use to be, to someone God wants you to be. And the best way I know how to do that, is by reading the Book of Mormon. 

Like I said before, people don't know as much as we think we do. We are teaching this man who is named Kyle, and he's had a hard time accepting the Book of Mormon because growing up he had it hammered in his mind that, "the Mormons wrote their own book" and that the "Bible is the only thing that will ever be written." Now I don't believe these people were viciously trying to bring the Church down, but we had to explain to Kyle that more often than not, people struggle to believe in something that's new or foreign to them. That they automatically assume that what they have is enough, and there will never be anything more. But the amazing fact of the matter is that God DOES speak to us today, and he DOES love us the same as the time of the people in the Bible. He WILL give us all these things that are designed to help us, and the forefront of these things are the Book of Mormon and the Bible. Entailed in these sacred texts is the power to change lives. To unlock the potential we each have eternally written in our DNA. I am forever grateful for the impact these two things have have on my life, and it burdens my soul to see the increasing doubt this world has towards things pertaining to God. I reflect on the fact that I had literally no idea about any of this less than three years ago. But we can always get better. We can always start somewhere. We can always start now. God is good. 

I guess it's just been on my mind lately about how amazing God is and how many people don't even have an idea of that, but I thank Heavenly Father for the opportunity to be out here on my mission to share the incredible power that God brings. I got a lot of birthday emails this week (which I am so thankful for!!) and all of them asked how my mission was going, so if this email doesn't clear things up, I hope this does. My mission means everything to me. It's taught me to step back, to realize that I DON'T know everything, and to get ready to let God teach me. I love you all! I pray for you! 

Love,

Elder "Still a kid at heart" Gleave

Week 65--Short one today

Hey family! 

Today has got to be a shorter email. We have an appointment soon because we had to email today since the library was closed yesterday for Labor Day. 

Well, here is a story for you. This week we were teaching a man and it has been going really well. His name is Kyle. We've been teaching him for awhile, and on this particular night his grandson was at his house. While we were teaching, the grandson comes out and pulls up a chair and then sits down and tell us he is going to listen in. Well, he listened for about two minutes, which I imagine is the equivalent to a few hours in eight year-old time, and, as any kid would do, decides it is his turn to talk. He goes on telling his grandpa, Kyle, about how his teacher is teaching him to walk on water, how his week was going, and just saying all sorts of ridiculousness. Then he starts telling his grandpa about how he got stung by a bee, and he asked, "Why do bees have stingers?" And me being a missionary thought that was a great time to teach him about God, so I said, "Because God made them that way." He scrunched his face, thought for a moment, then promptly declared, "God sucks." Hahaha it was so funny. Anyway, we explained how the bee could have been nervous and thought he was trying to hurt it and he stung you, but regardless the young boy taught me a very valuable lesson. Often times we will see or experience things that may lead us to question why such things are happening, I.E. a bee stinging you. And it's easy to simply blame God for what's happened. But in all actuality, things that happen to us, happen for a reason. Whether it is a natural cause and effect situation (because God is a God of order), whether it is the result of some other person's misdeeds, or whether it is by no ones fault at all, these things are here to teach us things. "It must needs be that there is opposition in all things" This is how we learn. It might teach us to not mess with bees, or it might teach us to have compassion on those who are going through similar situations, but I am ever more convinced that trials are there to better us, no matter what the trials are. 

I love you all, and hope you had a good Labor Day! 

Much love, 

Elder Gleave

Week 64--Kings, raw fish and a miracle

HEY FAMILY

Sometime I wish I could carry around a small camera and record everything I do so that I could go back and make a highlight film of all my favorite experiences. I would say that there was a few this week. ONE in particular that comes to the forefront of my dusty ole skull up there. 

It all started on Wednesday. We had planned to go to an appointment, but when that fell through, we made a quick stop by visit to a family that had just moved here from the island of Pohnpei (Pon-Pay). They are only here for a short time, while their toddler son gets an operation on his foot. When we went to teach them, their landlord, a 30 year-old woman sat in on the lesson. We asked her if she knew about the Church, and she said, "Yes. I was taught by missionaries in Pohnpei, and I went to Church with them once. I loved it! I was planning on coming to your Church this Sunday," so we were pretty excited about that, because that doesn't happen everyday. And so we taught her about the plan of salvation, she told us she wanted to be baptized, and then we set up a return appointment on Saturday. So that's where it gets weird. So on Saturday we went back, fully expecting to teach this family, when there are more Pohnpei people in this house! And so we sit down to teach the family and the young lady, and a man walks in and tell us we have to be quiet because there is a "higher up" that is staying there. Well, we come to find out that the second in line to be king of Pohnpei is staying there to get treatment at the local hospital. This added a little bit more tension in the room, because the last thing we wanted to do was offend a future king. But we finished the lesson and right as we were done, a rather confident-looking man walked in and said, "Come. Have some lunch with me." Then the same guy who told us that there was a higher up staying there came in and said, "You have been royally invited to lunch. You cannot refuse." So we sat down at the table and had lunch with the future king. It was interesting to talk to him. He was a warm-spirited guy, but you could tell he had an air of pride about him. I guess that happens when you are about to inherit a rather large island. He was a pastor of his own church of about 500, so that in itself added a bit of tension, but he was very respectful of the Mormon faith and told us about how beautiful the LDS chapels in Pohnpei were. It was rather intimidating, because any wrong move by one of us could reflect the LDS church, so if we ended up offending him in anyway, that could mean the end of missionary work in Pohnpei, an island of 34,000 people. A big custom in island culture is to not refuse any food given to you. So when I saw a large bowl of freshly sliced raw fish I thanked Heavenly Father I had learned to love that stuff on my mission and it was not a problem. (if you think that's gross, I would encourage you to look up Dinuguan. I had it that night for dinner). Overall, it was a very great lunch. We ended by providing a Book of Mormon to him. The last thing he said to us was, "If I end up reading this and getting converted, the whole island would go into a riot." Whether he gets converted or not, it speaks wonders to us members that stand as a witness of Christ "at all time, in all places." 

Well, that's the story of the week. I love you all! 

ELDER GLEAVE

1) I think I left something behind

2) nightly planning session