New pictures! New video clips!

 The zone leaders and district leaders ferry between the islands of Maui, Lanai, and Molikai.

Jordan with Elder Menlove in Lanai in January

A view from the Lodge in Lani

(You may have to pause the music to hear the talking in the videos!  Sorry about that!)  

A couple of videos from their trip to Lanai.  One they were bicycling through Lanai, then the whale watch on the way back!  Fun to hear his voice!  

Monday April 16, 2012

Well it's the final transfer call week and Elder Carrel and I are
staying together. No suprise though, we knew that was going to happen.
Most of the Maui zone is staying the same, we have a few elders
leaving but not too many. That's good, we have an awesome zone and
everyone loves each other, so it will be a good transfer!

This week has been a little slow, not too much happened. We are just
working one finding new investigators to work with. We have been
struggling in that department, but we saw some miracles this week with
some people so we will see how that all pans out. The ward that we are
in is super chill! Everyone loves the missionaries and they are all
very loving. We have had some great ward council meetings these past
couple weeks all on missionary work and how to push the missionary
work forward, so we are going to start seeing the fruits of that. It's
good to be in a ward where everyone is so loving, caring, and
charitable. I love the mission, its the best.

Just a thought this week as we have been thinking about missionary
work and pushing the work forward. "To get what we've never had, we
must do what we've never done." I thoroughly enjoy that quote, and I
think it applies to all of us in whatever aspect of life it is.
Whether it is school, work, the Gospel, it won't just automatically
come. We have to change, we have to progress, we have to do what we
have never done. I know that is the truth in life, and as we do that,
we will see things change and we will become the person that we want
to become. I love you all, have a great week! 

Elder G.

April 9, 2012

to me, Ryan

Yo whats up! Good week, saw a great miracle as Robert N***** entered
into the waters of baptism! His baptism was unreal. The Stake
President was there and baptized and confirmed him. A lot of support
was there as this was a huge step for him and his family. It was very
cool and special to be a part of with this wonderful man. It was just
a matter of time with him. Good stuff, we are kind of dry right now
after baptizing all of our investigators. It was good for this ward,
they haven't seen a lot of baptisms lately so seeing a lot of converts
join the church has brought a lot of fire, so we'll see what happens.
We have one 15 year old girl we are still trying to work with. The
mission is the best though! All the hard things you run into in the
mission are wiped away when you have a baptism. It is the coolest
thing in the world to watch someone make this big step in their life.
This is the most important decision they will ever make, and it's cool
to know you are just a little part of that for them. It's unreal to
see the change that comes in each of the converts, their countenance
changes that much to testify to you that the things they have just
done are exactly what Father wants for each of us. I love being a
missionary and disciple of Jesus Christ, I couldn't ask for anything
better.

We had some good training this week on how to resolve peoples concerns
and better teach them and not so much the lesson. Figuring out what is
holding them back from entering the waters of baptism and getting rid
of all those concerns. We had this training 18 months ago, but boy was
it nice to get a refresher course on it. So on Monday, President,
Sister Dalton, and the Assistants' came over and gave us a 6 hour
training with a lot of practice on going to Heaven to help an
investigator out, in the way Heavenly Father wants it done. It's pretty
cool and the Lord never lets you down. We have been able to apply that
a couple times this week, especially in another area on exchange as we
resolved a woman's concern and now she is getting baptized on the 27th
of this month! I have learned that everything on the mission is a
preparation for life, no matter what it is we learn. From working with
people, to working with leaders, to being organized, to using time
wisely, dealing with rejection and trials, it's all contained in 2
years out on the mission. I know it's Heavenly Father preparing me for
what life is going to be like and I am ever so grateful for it.

On Tuesday we took the ferry over to Molokai for exchanges. That is
the benefit of serving in Maui, our zone covers 3 islands so
occasionally we get to go to other islands. The ferry ride was legit
because we saw a lot of whales. About 200 feet from a Shamu jumped
like 5 times completely out of the water. Unbelievable! Molokai is
awesome. There is about 7000 people there and 1000 are members. Very
laid back place, everything shuts down at 7, no street lights, it's
definately not South Jordan! But because of that, people are very open
and very close to the Spirit, so they see a lot of success. That's one
cool island!

All is well out here, I am doing great. I love my companion, he is
from Philly (too bad I know, but what can ya do?hahaha!) nah he is money. We
are very similar so we have a good time and work well together. Maui
is rockin. The mission is on fire, next week is transfers and I can't
believe it. We will be staying together so I am not too worried about
that.

 I love you all! God speed.  Elder G.

Letter from March 26, 2012

Boy whats going on. I didn't think we would be writing today because
today is some Hawaiian holiday, but we have the family history center
so we got to write.

So this week was kind of a down week for us, not a lot happened and
everything was pretty slow. We had interviews with President and
Sister Dalton and that was really good. It's always good to see them I
love them so much. Definitely two of my favorite people that I have
ever met, they are amazing. We had some good talks.

This Sunday we put on an awesome Musical Fireside. We taught the Restoration of the
Gospel through music. It was unreal and there was choke people there.
President and Sister Dalton flew over from Oahu to speak, it was
solid. We had a whole choir of non members singing so that was really
special for them and now they want 20 Hawaiian copies of the Book of Mormon! The
work here in Maui is progressing, we are going to end up with 14
baptisms for the month of March, and we are stacking up for April to
hit our high water mark of 18. Maui has never seen that many baptisms
in 1 month so that's our goal. I know we can do it, our zone is money
so it'll be legit. We already have 15 scheduled so we are well on our
way. As for our investigators, we are at a stand still with Robert and
Amanda, so pray for them!

That's all I got for now, I can't believe it's 22 months today,
unreal. I love you and thanks so much for all that you have done this
week in helping me out with school and what not, it's very comforting
knowing someone at home is there to love and support and help.

LOVE YOU! Elder G