BB Curve :: Integrating Gmail Email With Phone?

I have an older model Curve 8330. Ever since I have had this device my gmail account has been linked to the phone (i.e. when I receive a new email in my gmail inbox it shows up as a new message on my phone's screen). For the past 6-months I have had my Sprint service on standby mode because I have been away (standby mode means you pay $8.99/month to keep the account and phone # active but the service is turned off). When I turned my normal service back on my gmail account was no longer linked to my phone. At this point the only way I can access my gmail account from my phone is via the gmail icon on the home screen. What I am trying to do is get my gmail account linked back to my phone so I receive incoming emails on my phone just like I would an incoming text message. I also want to be able to compose and send a new emails from my home screen. Right now the only way to do this is via the gmail icon which is not what I want. At the present time if I try to compose an email from the message screen on my phone I receive the following message "No message services configured. You will only be able to Save Draft." I have tried taking the battery out of the phone and turning it back on and that does nothing. I have also created a BlackBerry email address thinking I could setup my gmail account to forward to the BlackBerry address but that is no working either because new emails to the BlackBerry address are not showing up as new messages on the phone either. I had this setup the way I wanted for years and it worked fine but ever since I turned the service back on from standby I cannot get it to work.