Sept. 14, 2011

Well how are things going for everyone? Everyone enjoying life? Sounds like things are pretty busy over there from what I'm hearing. I got the package, muchas gracias. There isn't a specific day I get my mail it just depends on when it comes and how long it takes the mission office to get it to me so it changes all the time.So good news...................................................My backpack was found! ha So what ended up happening was Elder Hansen who came out with me, his companion grabbed it thinking it was Elder Hansen's and then when they got to their apartment it got thrown on the couch and pretty much just sat there for 4 weeks. Everyone just figured it was someone Else's bag ha. But now I have doubles of everything pretty much its sweet haha. So I have my journal again so I don't have to rewrite stuff. I'm sorry to hear about Dillon's Cross Country. You got to work if you want results. Elder Croft is super big into cross country and he smokes me every time we go out for a run. I'm at the point where I don't even care anymore, Ive accepted it as a part of life ha.
One day it was super cold and now its been super hot ever since then. ha It rained almost every day last week though.
Well Ill tell you a little about my week now. Well this week has been a pretty tough week, we have had to drop a ton of investigators because they don't have the desire to change or do the things we ask them. And we haven't taught very many lessons either. Kind of a bummer but were working on finding more people! I focus has been on Jose Paz this last little while. We have extended an invitation to be baptized twice now but he still doesn't feel ready but were pretty confident he will get baptized soon. I guess I'm improving on Spanish a little bit. I can now talk on the phone with Spanish speaking people so that's improvement right? ha The only Spanish food I have been getting is from the Salvador family. But so far its been super good! I'm actually suppose to be having some Peruvian food next Tuesday. Elder Croft says its raw fish........hmmmm. Ill let you know how it goes ha. On Friday last week we spoke to about thirty people on the street and pretty much every single one of them rejected us in some rude way, its super sweet. Sometimes people just yell at us through the door without even opening it. This one guy was sitting on his porch and we had just gotten done knocking on his neighbors door who is one of our investigators and then we were going to talk to this guy and he just yells "Dint even bother wasting your time here" But even after that we still told him that we know our message is true that's why we would like to share it with him and he just stood up out of his chair and starting heading towards us like he was going to beat us up ha. He stopped about half way though and was like "You boys get out of here" pretty fun stuff! The next cool experience was pretty intense as well. So I think I told you about this a little while ago but after the hurricane we stopped by this one house who had a tree branch fall on their car and bust it up pretty bad. They weren't home but we cleared up their yard and everything for them and then left a note on the door. Well we never heard from them so we decided to stop by on Monday to see if everything worked out for them. They were home and the guy was super nice invited us right in and he knew exactly who we were. He introduced us to his kids and then we were just having small talk on the couch and he was way nice. He grew up in an LDS community and a lot of his friends were Mormon so he knew quite a bit about the church. He is a member of this super huge church/school called Covenant LIfe. And he was telling us how he really respected us and was jealous of our "zeal" is what he said. The next thing he said was "I wish that we (the people of his church) had the same zeal for the truth as you do for a lie." He just flat out told us how we were wrong and was trying to prove us wrong the whole time. He called us blasphemers and all this junk. It was super crazy! All we could do was bear pure testimony to him and just hope that one day he changes his mind or that the spirit will soften his heart. Some super crazy experiences though!

Well on a happier note! Last night was the night of music and inspiration. Its a concert that is put on by the missionaries. It was super good and the spirit was way strong. Elder Croft played the piano for it, he is way good. This kid is just loaded with talents. Today was Fall sports day which is a mission wide activity. We all get together and play a ton of games. One of the games is called hero ball, its a mix of dodgeball, soccer, ultimate frisbee, and capture the flag. It was super fun unfortunately we lost both of our games though ha. I was the goalie for my team and not to be prideful or anything but nobody scored on me all day, impressed much? I thought you would be ha Well everything has been going pretty good here, currently our apartment is all torn up and a mess because were trying to kill all the roaches and mice ( got to love it!) But hopefully we will take care of that soon. Ill try to get pictures to you all soon. Did you get my last ones I sent? I actually haven't been able to go to the city since my first time, its been a bummer but hopefully soon! We were going to go on a dome tour of the capital today but Fall sports day got moved to today instead. Oh well I guess!

This week we have been teaching a lot about adversity especially to the members and its helped alot of them out in so many ways. Everyone goes through adversidad and some go through a little more than others. The scriptures promise us in D&C 54:2-4 that there are always blessing after trails IF we do our part. Our part is to remember the Lord during those trials, to put him first and not last, and to humble ourselves. Like the Lord promised Joseph Smith when he was in Carthage jail, If we endure our trials well we will be blessed beyond our imagination. I testify of this truth because I have felt it and seen it in my life. I hope everything is going well for you all and I cant wait to hear from you again. I love you all! Remember the Lord in all that you do and don't forget to smile :)

Elder Gleed

Sept 7, 2011

La familia Gleed,

HOLA! How is it going everyone? I appreciate all the packages and letters I have received. All of the Elders were super jealous of me because I got all of the packages in one day. It sounds like you all are doing very well. So Dillon is going to homecoming huh? Reminds me of when I went to homecoming for the first time my sophomore year when I was....15 *cough cough* Anyways! Im sure Mom remembers that pretty well! How is School going for everyone? Hopefully great! Lots of homework yet? Make sure you let me know whats going on in your lives! By the way im trying to write as many letters as I can on Pdays so be patient ha. There is hardly anytime to do anything on Pday so I try to write as fast as possible to everyone.

Well I will tell you about my week. On Thursday We had a big Spanish meeting/Workshop thing for all of the Spanish speaking elders and sisters in the mission. It was pretty good and I learned a lot about teaching specifically hispanic members and how to use my time more wisely when studying Spanish. Hopefully it pays off! We have been teaching a ton of lessons the last couple of weeks so we have been really busy! We pretty much just taught all day both members and investigators on Friday and Saturday. Up here we are able to use the Visitor Center at the temple which is super cool! We bring our investigators here and the Sisters teach them with the resources here at the VC. We also had a ward Mission Activity on Friday. The members were able to learn more about the Kindoms of Heaven through different rooms we had designed to represent each of the 3 kingdoms. It was really cool! Francisco(got baptized 2 sundays ago) has been doing great, he actually got confirmed this last Sunday and I am the one who confirmed him....IN SPANISH! ha can you believe it? It was super intense and a really neat experience! Francisco is a great kid and he really has that desire to change his life and follow JesuCristo. He has been looking up all the Missionaries on facebook trying to figure out our first names and I guess he found Elder Croft and I ha. On Sunday we also had a special Spanish Noche de Hogar (family Night) at the Matsumori's house. It was super good! We have a lessons games and delicious food made by Sister Matsumori. Delicious! We actually had one of our investigators, Jose Paz (he is a Dad with 4 kids, his wife and kids are baptized and go to church but he is not a member) to go. He went without his wife and with all of his kids so it means he really wanted to go! and He had a great time! Then everyone showed up for the Combined ward BBQ on Monday. It was raining all day but we still had a blast, everyone was soaked. We played tug of war and ate a ton of food (of course, its the spanish way) Hermano Paz and his family had a great time! Were going to be teaching him again soon and we are going to give him a baptisimal date. Cross your fingers he says yes! Also on Monday I went on with exchanges with one of the zone leaders, Elder Edwards. He is a really good kid from Draper he will be going home in December. It was a ton of fun, we went to a members house and ate delicious food and then just went and did missionary work. He is a really good kid and I learned a ton from him. yesterday (tuesday) was kind of tough actually. First of all it rained all day so we were soaked. And it was cold! Elder Croft let me wear one of his sweaters ha. And then Im pretty sure we talked to every chinese person in the state of Maryland yesterday. We knocked forever and the only people that answered were chinese. Ridiculous! We only taught one lesson and that was with Francisco. We are preparing him to receive the priesthood and he is super excited about it! Hopefully in a couple of weeks! As for today, its still raining and we havent really done a whole ton except shop. I bought a sweet calender with some cool pictures of the temple that I think I will just send home or keep for the pictures because its a 2011 calender. But hey it was only 2 bucks!

I hope everything is going well at home and that you guys are enjoying life! Last night we had dinner at the Bishops and we talked a little bit about adversity and how sometimes life is just tough and gets you down. Elder Croft and I found this awesome scripture in D&C 58: 2-4. It says something like after much tribulation comes the blessings which is true! The best thing you can do during tough times is get on your knees and pray for help. And then after get up on your feet and get to work! Keep working hard and making the most out of everday, read the scriptures, in them we find so much hope and guidance! I started reading the new testament the other day and I love it! I figured if I want to become like Jesus Christ, I need to do the things he did, and if I want to do that I need to know what He did! ha So I started reading and im loving every minute of it! When you guys get the time I would love to hear your testamonies! Just send me an email or letter if you can! You guys are amazing and I love you! I know your striving everyday to do whats right and as you continue to do your best you will only receive blessing from it! I cant wait to hear from you again! Have a great week and remember to smile! :)

Love Elder Gleed

P-day in down town DC

Elder Gleed & Elder Croft

First Baptism

Well hello!

Just to start off with your questions: I can go buy a pillow and a camera case but I will need money. Were pretty much flat broke out here. Ive eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches pretty much everyday this week ha but its all good.

So how is everyone doing? Schools started now right? Hows that going for everyone? That's cool that Braden got Mr. Amendola, he is one of my favorite teachers, he will like him! By the way my address book was in that backpack that was lost so I don't have any ones addresses anymore. ha So if you would like to get me some that would be awesome!

Well, Francisco was baptized! It was pretty awesome to see! And he has already come with us to some teaching appointments because he wants to be a missionary. We took some pictures so I will try to send them. Francisco asked me to give the talk about the Holy Ghost for his baptism. It was good I think for the most part. I did it all in Spanish without any notes! In front of a pretty good sized group. So hopefully you can say Spanish is getting a teeny bit better. That was the highlight of our week though! Other than that its just good ole missionary work. We have had some pretty sweet experiences as well with some pretty weird or discouraging ones. For example Elder Croft and I were called Satan 2 days ago. We decided to talk to this one lady that was sitting on her porch and at first it was looking like it was going to be a pretty good contact, well it went down hill super fast. She started talking about how great she was and it was almost like she wasn't even listening to us or anything we were saying. And then out of no where she started calling us Satan so we just decided to leave. Interesting people out here! Well the hurricane wasn't too bad. At least not around our apartment. There were some areas that were hit pretty bad. We were driving and we saw this car with a huge tree branch on top of it. The windshield was shattered and the car was pretty dented, it was sad. And then we have been helping this family who house got torn up pretty bad. Trees fell over and tore down the power lines and started a fire. So we have been cutting up the wood for them and sharing the gospel at the same time, multi-tasking, got to love it! We have a couple people in our teaching pool that we think we can get baptized if we work hard enough. There is this family, la familia Paz, and everyone is a member and goes to church, except for the dad. But were going to take them to the Visitor center and have a sweet lesson about the Plan of Salvation so hopefully he will see the importance of baptism and eternal families! I am definitely learning alot out here, especially during personal study. I wish we had a full day of personal study sometimes ha. I have read so many general conference talks its ridiculous but I love them! One of the coolest things Ive been learning about the gospel is how simple and straight forward it is. There are no areas in the gospel that don't make sense or that we can slack off on. Its perfect! One of the things Ive been working on having is charity. And i found this sweet quote during one of my study's. "How we relate and interact with each other is a measure of our willingness to follow Jesus Christ." It just shows how important Charity is and loving everyone no matter who they are because we are all Heavenly Fathers children. Even when people call you Satan you have to remember that Heavenly Father loves her so i should too. Look for the good in everyone because its there, some people its just harder to find it! Be the person your Heavenly Father needs you to be! That's what I'm trying to do and Elder Croft and I have definitely seen blessings from our obedience so far! I know you will find blessings even miracles from your obedience and diligence to live the gospel as well! Well hopefully next week I will have some more exciting and fun experience for you! Next P day we have "Fall sports day" its a mission activity and I hear its pretty fun! Well if there is anything I can do for you all let me know! Id love to help. Until next week Alma 34:41! Have hope! Its a commandment! Love you all! Hasta luego!

• HOLA‏

8/24/11

Well Hello!

How is everyone going back at home? I think school started this week so I'm sure its been a super busy week for you all. So today has been a crazy day and I am actually sitting in a library next to some guy who is looking up treatment for some super gross rash or something on Wikipedia. We went down to the city today and its pretty cool! Its weird seeing all that stuff on movies all the time and then actually being there! Alot of people from our mission played football in front of the Washington Monument today for Pday. Elder Croft and I took some pictures in front of the Capitol building as well that I don't have time to send today so sorry! Next week por seguro! (for sure) So I have some bad news.....So my backpack has gone missing! After we stayed the night at the mission home we put all of our overnight bags in the back of the van and then we went to the stake center and somehow during that process my bag was misplaced. Its a bummer because it had my deodorant, toothpaste, some clothes, garments, English scriptures, English preach my gospel, my journal and my camera in it. And then my back pack is gone so I have to carry everything around in my arms. The AP's are trying really hard to find but have had no success. So cross your fingers they find it! President Matsumori might buy me some new stuff I guess but I feel bad making him do that. So you might not be getting as many pictures as you hoped for because I am camera-less! Sorry! Alright so about my week now: Well I am in the Olney part of Maryland which is the most northern area in our mission. There is a good mix of Spanish and white people and black people. Unfortunately a lot of my lessons have been in English so its difficult to practice Spanish when everyone speaks English. My companion and I live with 2 other English Elders. Elder Stallings (from Idaho) and Elder Vanaa (from Tahiti) they are pretty cool. We live in a pretty nice apartment but its kind of a dump because some of the Elders are messy. Oh and we have Roaches, sweet eh? But overall pretty nice. Lots of pictures of Jesus that's for sure and we jam out to church music all the time! ha So my first missionary appointment was with La familia Salvador. They are from El Salvador and only speak Spanish. They are an awesome family and what we call Golden Investigators. There is the Mom and Dad and then they have 2 little girls. They were married in May and then soon after baptized and now they are working towards the temple and they love the gospel! She has her baptismal certificate framed and hanging on a wall, that's how awesome she is. The food wasn't too bad they call it Papoosa's which is just life a stuffed tortilla with whatever you want on top of it. That's about all the weird Spanish food I have had unfortunately! Maybe next week will change. But here is my miracle story of the week which Elder Croft and I are very proud. So we got a referral from the Missionaries down in Mexico to go visit this guy named Francisco on Thursday at 4. So we went and visited him and it turns out that its this 18 year old kid that met the missionaries down in the Mexico and talked to them like once. When we get there he says to us "so the missionaries gave me this book and I read it and I got an answer that its true" "I really want to go to your church but I cant find it, I really want to go to the temple too" Well Francisco is getting baptized on this Sunday how crazy is that? And he wants to serve a mission and has already began to save up money. This kid is awesome! That is my miracle story of the week. I hope you enjoyed it! About the Earthquake it was pretty intense! I was just standing in our apartment and then all of sudden the whole building started to move, probably not very safe since it wasn't that bad here but yeah I heard it did some damage to the temple so hopefully they get that fixed up soon. But it was my first legit earthquake and some one said we have a hurricane coming our way. Bring it on! ha I don't know why stuff like that gets me excited. Reminds me of back when Dad and I were in San Francisco during that big earthquake in Japan. Now about that Spanish....I don't know what to say. ha Its going alright I understand the lessons and what everyone is saying and I put in input and help teach the lessons. The hard part is when they are talking directly to you. Man do they talk fast! And some of them have super thick accents and they use words I have never heard before but I think I'm going to be alright, hopefully I get some more Spanish lessons in. Ive been to some Spanish family nights and those are crazy. Way fun but crazy. Man the city is awesome but its just difficult with everything because of money, I swear we have zero money as missionaries ha. But its all good no worries. I don't really have anything spiritual for you at the moment because I left my notebook home but I've been learning a lot about the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it actually is a Covenant. Testament as in the Old testament and new testament means covenant in Greek. So it just makes it so much more important for us to continue to read it. Our ward up here (our Spanish ward, they only speak Spanish, that was interesting for sure) is challenging all the ward members including the missionaries to finish the book of Mormon by the end of the year. So I'm going to finish the book of Mormon in Spanish. Wish me Luck. I hope you guys are all doing great and continuing to choose the right you guys will have to write me and email me telling me about everything. Its definitely different here how you don't get letters in stuff in the mail. Its been more than a week since I got mail! Dang ha Oh well I love you guys! And I pray for you everyday! Choose the Right, Stay safe, stay positive and Smile! Ill talk to you in a week! Hasta Luego! Les amo!