27 March 2017 - Close the blast doors! Blessings incoming!

Welcome welcome, all you Buddhists, here we teach 'bout Jesus Christ!
How He helps you, how He loves you, how through Him we have forgiveness!
Copyright Tayson Meanea, 2017

Monday, 20 March 2017
Today was truly a blessing for me. There are challenging circumstances and situations for every missionary, and in the midst of one of the greatest ones I've faced yet, I was able to turn in prayer to Heavenly Father for comfort, which came as I hoped it would. So many things my family and friends said to me helped me to come up above this challenging time I had. I know they all followed the Spirit, and I'm thankful for them being an answer to my prayers. We ate with Bishop and our investigator friend named Alan at a Vegetarian Buffet, which was forgivable only in that they had free all-you-can-eat frozen yogurt. It was actually really good! There were also a lot of Buddhist monks and nuns there, so that was cool. I want a robe like that. Then we went with Daniel to a board game shop in a nearby mall, where they just let you play for 3 hours any game they have. It was super fun! We played a game called Dominion and one called Puerto Rice (I like the island of San Juan, I know a boat you can get on!) Then we came back to our area to eat some pizza a member bought for us with our sisters and the Dakeng Elders. After that, it was all contacting. And though nothing about the area has changed, Heavenly Father has really helped to change my view and my attitude, something I'm immensely grateful for. 

Tuesday, 21 March 2017
THIS IS WHY WE ARE MISSIONARIES PEOPLE! BOOYAH. Sorry, I suppose I should let you know why you imagined me yelling just barely. We had a good day today, mostly out contacting, but we also ate Mexican food at a member's house, which was amazingly delicious, something I've dearly missed. And afterwards we went to the chapel that evening with our friend Ahui. We taught him the full first lesson tonight, and I could truly feel the Spirit testifying as we bore our testimonies to him of the restoration of the gospel and that he can know the truthfulness for himself. He seemed really sincere. Still doesn't know a lot about religious things, but he feels something, and I know it. I'm so grateful for that opportunity that was just given for Elder Jones and I to participate in his coming closer to Christ. 

Wednesday, 22 March 2017
It's never numbers that make the missionaries, but we still got 3 LESSONS and 1 NEW INVESTIGATOR TODAY!!! Wooo hooo!!! The first really cool one was Lin. He met us in family mart and talked for a few minutes, then he agreed to meet again today. He had some really great questions, and we taught most of the first 2 lessons based off of that. He's super curious, and if he'll let it, that curiosity could turn into a real desire to follow Christ. Then that night we met with a former investigator. He wanted "Mormon Information" so we brought him an Article of Faith card and talked for a few minutes, after which he agreed that he "might" come to church. You can't resist the pull forever. ;-) And then that night we stopped to make some calls, and I was holding the phone, scrolling through the list of our investigators. Anyone still remember Rollins? Our golden boy from a few months ago who completely disappeared? Well, I saw his name, and he hasn't answered in months, and I don't know why, but I just dialed. And three seconds later he picked up, and told me he was super glad that I called right then, and he wanted to meet on Saturday. He's still Golden too, and told me over the phone he's so ready to get baptized. Elder Jones was doing a victory dance in the middle of the store in the background, just so you know. That was a miracle if I ever saw one. 

Thursday, 23 March 2017
Most of today was Zone Conference! I always love how uplifting and exciting experiences they are! As for temporal things, we no longer use little cards we carry around called "Tracts," nor do we use contact cards, things we usually give people to write their name and number on so we can call them later. That was pretty big for our mission. Then we talked about the power of our calling, and we watched that Jeffrey R. Holland talk about the great commandment, and that truly gets me every time. I love that video so much, and it applies to everyone. Also, my good friend Elder Griffin is now serving on Magong, an island in my Zone! So they flew in for the conference and I got to see him! 

Friday, 24 March 2017
Blessings on blessings on blessings! We rolled out the door right after weekly planning today, and ran into a guy waiting outside our apartment. We started talking to him, and he seems like a super cool and open guy. He had no bias, and was just curious about things like "Why would Jesus let Judas be an apostle?" And "Why did the devil want to be the devil?" And we shared a bit about prophets with him, and how we can better understand these things through modern revelation. He gave us his card, and said we can definitely meet some other time. It was a real testament to me that we are led and guided every day that we're willing. Then we went to the chapel and Elder Jones did two baptismal interviews for the Zone Leader's investigators. A great couple who both study the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon while they're waiting for their turn to go in. Super, super Golden. They're getting baptized next week! Then we came back and contacted around, and I just felt really happy to be out sharing this Gospel and Christ's Light with everyone. Some may be able to ignore our words, but they cannot ignore the Spirit that comes with us when we are worthy. It was an amazing day!

Saturday, 25 March 2017
Rollins is back, baby! Woohoo! We met with him today and taught about the Plan of Salvation. He was super into it. He is going to get baptized, no doubt about it. But I don't know if I'll get to be here for it. He gets off of his extra school in May, so he can start coming to church then. And he wants to be baptized as soon as possible. I'm so happy for him. At least I'll get to go over most of the lessons with him if I end up leaving this transfer. We have him set up to meet again next Saturday. Then we went and had dinner with the Zone Leaders at E Zhong Jie. There were so many people there tonight! There was a dance competition going on there, which brought me back a lot of years to the hours I spent waiting to see my sisters perform at their dance competitions. Only for you two. ;-) Then tonight while we were contacting, we met a guy and started introducing the Book of Mormon to him. He pulled over and we found out he is a leader in another church. He said he totally wanted to meet with us later and share with each other. So that was really cool!

Sunday, 26 March 2017
I cannot say it enough. I did not appreciate church before I came on my mission. There is always so much peace and guidance that I find while I'm there. It was a great meeting. Johnny came again, and though we don't know how to continue helping him, we're meeting with him this Friday. After meetings we went to Daniel's house with the Assistants and had Hot Pot. Afterwards we went tracting for the 4th time on my mission, and a couple let us in!!! We taught them about the Book of Mormon. The wife was Baptist and the husband was Catholic. They were super happy to talk to us. I really felt the Spirit while we were teaching in their home and am super excited to go back soon!

And thus ends another week of the exciting tale of Elder Meanea's Taiwan Mission: Season 2 - Beitun! I can confidently testify that this Gospel is true. I can feel it in me any time I get to tell someone. I live it, I love it, and I love others seeing that too. I love you all, and am looking forward to yet another week in the service!

-Elder Meanea

20 March 2017 - Mission "Craze"

You can make the mission bright, please your stomach in it's might, if there's fried rice in your mouth!
(Copyright Tayson Meanea 2017)

Monday, 13 March 2017
I feel like those are going to get worse and worse every time. But do I care? Not one bit. :-) Today was certainly... interesting. After emailing and grocery shopping, we went down to the chapel to go eat with the Zone Leaders and play board games. Since one of our Zone Leaders got injured and can't bike, we went over to the E Zhong Jie to pick up some food for them. On our way out of the parking lot, a guy walked up to us saying things like "Hallelujah" and "Praise God!" to us in English. We got away and went to go get the food, because he was obviously crazy. And then we came back, and he was still there waiting for us. And man was this guy nuts. He only spoke in English, which was actually pretty alright, but he just kept saying crazy things and acting all weird. At one point he asked us to follow him to a classroom to look at the whiteboard, because someone wrote something about our church on it. We go in the room, and it's half of the Lord's prayer from the Bible, and at the bottom was written "Can you finish it?" We told him he wrote that, and he just kind of giggled, then got all serious and stretched out his hands and started speaking what I assume was the Lord's prayer in Greek. I could go on for volumes about all the weird things he was doing, but we finally got him to leave, because he needed to call the police to tell them a lady had assaulted him and kicked him out of a nearby department store because she thought he was crazy. I have no idea why that thought would come to mind. But then we played board games with a bunch of missionaries for a while, which was super fun. I'd never heard of any of the board games before, but they were all pretty cool! Then the night came, in which we found a guy named Dino sitting in the park near our house. We talked with him about religion and the world for the better part of an hour, and he just really had no feeling, just thought there really was no purpose in life, people are all just animals that die and cease existing, there's no bad or good, even to killing people, and I kind of wanted to beat his head in with my Book of Mormon to put that view to the test, but in the end, all we could do is share testimony, give him a chance to feel of the Spirit, and let him remember those moments, that someday he'll have his fair chance to accept the good news and joy that is the gospel. For it truly is all the hope we have in this world, and I see more and more every day how much everyone needs it.

Tuesday, 14 March 2017
Well, today was a huge mix of things. It seems just as I think I'm getting the hang of being a missionary and things are going well, Heavenly Father tries to help me grow again. Which I should humbly accept as wonderful opportunities, even if they seem like torture to me. This morning we ran into nothing but hard-headed, deaf-eared people. Figuratively. I didn't knock on their heads to find out. But they wouldn't listen to us, and they didn't give a place for the Spirit to testify of our words. I was frustrated. Can't they see that I wouldn't drag my butt to Taiwan and learn Chinese just for fun so I could argue with them? But at the end of the day, the Spirit brings comfort to me in knowing that, whatever their circumstances now, whatever their background, they will all have a fair chance to feel of the Spirit and accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We also met with souls of those whom I feel are really being prepared to hear the word. We met with our minister friend again and his wife, and our Bishop basically shared everything about temples and church organization, and they seemed greatly satisfied in their curiosity. I truly think once we extend the invitation to find out if these words are true, there are two souls who are trying their best to follow God, and who might be willing to learn and do His will. Then that night we me with Ahui. He is a really swell gentlemen who is just about to graduate college, and we had a really good 1st lesson with him last night, probably the best I've ever been in. He asked a bunch of great questions, and him an an RC we brought with us, Chris, really hit it off. I'm excited for him.

Wednesday, 15 March 2017
We went over to our friend, Eddy's house to have him teach us how to do an activity that we're going to use at district meeting tomorrow, and then we met with our friend Matthew (a recent convert). He's doing well. We talked a lot about why bad things happen in life, and how we can always be happy when we place our hope in Christ, and the opportunity His Atonement gives us. Then we explained to him why we don't live the Law of Moses anymore, which is hard enough to explain in English! Then we were basically all contacting today, riding the streets in search of those who are ready to learn about their Savior. And we also met some people at the park who were selling some Nuskin stuff and tried to get us to buy things. But they wouldn't take what we were giving away for free, so I wasn't willing to fork out any cash. That was basically it for today.

Thursday, 16 March 2017
A day where things really got moving! We started by eating with Daniel, who I found out is going to BYU in April, and is living at the same apartment complex as my sister did a little while ago. He was born in Singapore and went on a mission to Canada, so he has perfect English, and invites us to eat with him all the time. Super cool. (You reading this Allyse? :-) Anyways... *cough* After, we headed down for our District training meeting, which went super well. We started booking it back to our area for a lesson that the Missionary Sisters from Dakeng were coming to, because we were passing an investigator to them, but our member got sick at the last second, so we couldn't go in because the investigator is a lady. So we just showed them the house and wished them good luck as they went in. We then had a super cool lesson with a member named Eagle after dinner. And then Lin! Our new friend. We found him on the street on Tuesday, and he set up to meet tonight. It was super late, but he still came, and seemed genuinely interested in our message about Heavenly Father, and set up to meet with us again next week!!! Woot woot! Small miracles, every day.

Friday, 17 March 2017
What a weekly planning session today! 10 investigators! I know that blessings aren't always manifested in numbers, and far be it from me to say that this is simply by mine or Elder Jones' skill, but it is a joy to see opportunities to work with so many people in this area and help them come closer and closer to Christ. Besides that, it was all contacting today. I really like our district training topic from yesterday. It was "having faith to find," and we discussed the story of Peter walking on the water. It was interesting to note in the scripture that Peter began walking to the Lord, focused on him. And then "he saw the wind boisterous and began to fear." Which means he was looking at the wind and waves, and not at the Savior anymore, as soon as he lost his focus on Christ, the world with all it's scary realities and depressing circumstances began to pull him under. Now, let's not criticize Peter too harshly. He is one of only two people I know that has ever walked on water, and once he started sinking, he knew where to look, what power to rely on as his situation became desperate. I have no doubt Peter's eyes were fixed pleadingly on Christ as he called out, "Lord, save me!" And immediately Christ was there, lifting Peter to safety. There have been many times, not just on my mission, but throughout my life when my Faith faltered, when I feared, saw the wind boisterous and doubted whether or not I was good enough to make it through this. And each time, upon finding I wasn't, Christ has always been there for me as I cry out "Lord, Save me!" And I know He's there for all of you. When we look to the Savior, we cannot sink far without His Grace pulling us back to our feet.

Saturday, 18 March 2017
We had two lessons today! Let's hear a "woot woot" from the audience, shall we?? No...? Okay, I'll do it myself later. Anyways. We met with Jenny, a girl who was meeting with missionaries about a year ago and was about to be baptized when she got super busy at work, and stopped meeting with them. Well, now she's back, and we had a great lesson about the plan of salvation. She's slowly getting a feel for why she started learning about the gospel in the first place. Then we spent a while and helped the ward clean the chapel, which was pretty fun. I've gotten to have more and more friends in the ward as the weeks go by. Then that night we sat down with Macy. She works at a real-estate store on a street we walk pretty often, and she was willing to meet with us. We had an awesome member help us with that lesson and she seemed very interested when she left. Also, I saw a crazy guy in front of a 7-11 while we were making calls. Like, super crazy. He was yelling at people and waving his arms. And he also went to other people's tables after they left and picked up the cigarrettes they already smoked, lit them up, and put them in. Yes, everyone is a child of God, but every family has those... interesting children.

Speaking of interesting children...Elder Meanea had a sandal funeral, that he videoed and sent to us...enjoy :-)

Sunday, 19 March 2017
Exhausting day... I am so tired right now. Church was good. Nobody showed up that we asked to, but I always like Sacrament. And we had great lessons as well. Then we biked halfway across the city for a Stake Training meeting for missionaries to work with members. Then we biked back home and that was pretty good. I received a lot of guidance from the Holy Ghost at our meetings. He truly is the comforter and testifier.

I love this work. I love my Savior. This Gospel has truly blessed my life more than I ever realized until I lived alongside so many who don't have it. And they need it. And that's why I'm here. I love you all, and pray you'll stay close to the Savior.

-Elder Meanea

13 March 2017 - Mission 1/3 FULL!!!!

Count your many lessons teach them one by one!
(Copyright Elder Meanea 2017, and no, I couldn't think of anything clever to finish with, so shove it.)

Hello Family! Hello Friends! Hello old acquaintances that were about to delete me from their Facebook accounts when they saw this post from my blog! Basically hello to everyone.

Monday, 6 March 2017

Contrary to the opening song, no, we didn't have any lessons today. But we did go to the beach with one of Elder Jones' old investigators from Kaoshiung! I don't even know how to spell that in English. It was super fun! We dug up crabs, got sand-blasted, and I got some beautiful photos! Then that night we went out contacting. Whereas most nights it's a bit difficult to re-focus after p-day, tonight felt, special for some reason. We met a few cool people, didn't really see much success, but it just felt, more right to be working that night. It occurs more and more to me (probably the Spirit pounding on my rock of a brain with his sledge hammer) that I am truly out here to find God's children. Which means brothers and sister I loved long before they came here. It has made the work that much more meaningful to me. It was a great night.

Tuesday, 7 March 2017
Mostly contacting today. After working in the morning, we got to visit that Sister Cai from last week. When we first got there, the atmosphere was not good at all, and we just sat and listened to her problems again for a while. I feel like she doesn't have anyone else to talk to. After she was done, we were able to bring the Spirit back and introduce the Book of Mormon to her, and tell her how the Book of Mormon is the word of Christ, and that the word of Christ will tell us all things that we need to do. I've honestly found that to be true in my own life every time I have opened that book with a sincere desire to find out what it is that God wants me to do. I feel so blessed to be able to share this knowledge with everyone who is willing to listen to it. To tell them, "Here is God's message to you, and here's how you prove it." Later that night we went to a park to contact, and the only one there was a guy running, so we started running with him and talking to him about religion. We ran with him for about 15 minutes, then he went home, but it was pretty fun!

Wednesday, 8 March 2017
Mostly contacting today. It's always interesting to see the people you meet in the parks of Taiwan. Today's special was a man we met at a place we call the "Duck Park" because it has ducks from China, that are apparently pretty cool. They just make weird noises though. But tonight we met a guy playing a game on his phone sitting down next to the pond. We started talking to him and sat down. We were talking about his beliefs, and he told us he's a special person, and that he sees spirits and other people's spirits. You can just imagine the kind of face I was making while he wasn't looking at me. We told him that was very nice and asked if he believed in Jesus. He said no, then two minutes later in the conversation he told us that he's seen Jesus before. So we asked him why he didn't believe in Jesus. He said "It's hard to explain." So we just left. :-) Then we had an active member lesson with the Yen family at their house, and talked to the mom and son (who are both converts) about the importance of the Sacrament, and they had a lot of questions about family in Utah, so I got to tell them about my awesome one.

Thursday, 9 March 2017
Well, today was absolutely nuts. The day started out well enough by teaching a Lutheran minister about the restoration of the Gospel by Joseph Smith, which honestly went better than I thought it would. We met a member of his congregation on the street who was super nice and invited us over, and we went TO THEIR CHURCH and it was her and her minister, and I thought "Great. Which cupboard do they keep the feathers in?" But he didn't bible bash us at all, just listened while we shared, and in the end he said "I understand better now." And then asked to get involved in our family history program. So that was super cool. Then later that night we went visiting less active members with ward members. We all met at the Chapel, and our Bishop is so funny. He called the guy he assigned us to go meet with on his end was, "You're sleeping? Get up! We're coming to visit you! 10 Minutes!" We then biked to a 7-11 near his house and tried called him, and bishop called and told us he was in the 7, but nobody in there was looking at us. So the member with us called the guy's phone, and we saw a guy in there look at his phone, then look up at us. He had been trying to hide from us, but then he saw we knew him, and very curtly motioned us over. The whole lesson he was NOT happy at all to be there, but at the end, after we shared a little spiritual thought, he honestly seemed to warm up a bit after feeling that and knowing we were just there to see how he was doing. So, that was pretty funny.

Friday, 10 March 2017
Weekly planning! Obviously. I should probably just stop recording that because anyone who has followed these emails thus far knows exactly what's coming up first every time Friday rolls around. Anyways... That's about it for Friday. We talked to some cool people, exchanged some information, and did that all day. It is cool to see that out of the thousands of people we run into each day, and the millions that are in this city, that God helps us find the ones who will talk to us, and have interest in learning more about the Gospel. It's a challenge every day to be in tune enough with the Spirit to know where Heavenly Father wants us. It's a really good thing we have two companions for that.

Saturday, 11 March 2017
We went to the chapel this morning for a lesson, but he rescheduled on us, so Elder Jones and I went to a place called E Zhong Jie. I don't know how to describe how to say that in English. It's a super cool little market street, and we got these omelet/breakfast burrito things that are so good! Then the guy who we were meeting with canceled, so we just did studies and messed around with some badminton equipment we found in the closet until our 2:00 lesson came. ;-) Her name is Jenny, and she's been investigating for 2 years now. Before she was just about to get baptized, then she just got way too busy with work. It turns out her work has lightened a bit, so we're meeting with her now! It was a good lesson, and there were some really spiritual moments. Hopefully she rekindles her desire to get baptized. After which we went and ate some Curry chicken, then it was back out on the streets for the rest of the night. We ran into a guy who used to meet with the Elders in Beitun, so today was basically "Revenge of the Formers." We set up to meet with him next week, then got two people we met this week to confirm for Church tomorrow!

Elder Meanea making noodles his sister sent him from
Rome, Italy, in Taiwan for his 1/3 mark!

Sunday, 12 March 2017
So... nobody came to church. Darn. It happens though. On the bright side, a sister came in after Church today and was looking for some Elders to go to the hospital and give her mom a blessing. That was us! So we went and gave her a priesthood blessing. It was really cool to go and see the faith that these two had to call on us to come give them a blessing by the Wpirit. The mom was really old, but her eyes were so alight with happiness that we were there. Also, two people today thought that I was from Japan and told me Arigatou ("thank you"). I don't look Japanese! The other was a person we ran into at the park tonight. We also met the Chen family tonight. They were super cool! The dad brought his two kids to the park to just sit around for a bit, and I talked to the dad while Elder Jones talked to the two kids. They were really nice and we all talked for about a half hour, so it was a great way to end the week!

Of course there are downs to every week, but that's because you can't have ups without downs. Any runner could tell you that. Otherwise everything would be all flat and boring. Through every trial I face, I am constantly reminded of my Savior's love for me, and His love for the people I serve, and the small and big miracles I see everyday increase my faith in my Father's plan. We all are where we are for a reason, I just hope that I do all I can with the time that God has granted me. I love you all, family and friends.

-Elder Meanea

6 March 2017 - Seize the Day

Oh how lovely was the Transfer, brightly beamed the missionaries testimonies! Cars were speeding, sweet papaya milk drinking, Chinese ringing through the town!
(Copyright Elder Meanea, 2017)

Howdy dowdy! You all get an extra special short email this week for my extra special Short week! ;-)

Tuesday, February 28, 2017
I got Elder Burge shipped off to Kaohsiung, then chilled with the Dakeng elders until a member, Eddy, could take me to the train station to find Elder Jones, my new companion. It was a holiday, so he got there an hour late, I thought I lost him! But we finally got him, then went and emailed, then spent a great first night on the town! Like, contacting, on the town, not partying... well, yeah. He's super cool! I actually worked near him when I was in training, and now it's back again! I can't wait to start this transfer with him. We actually got a lot of people to set up to meet with us this week as well!

Wednesday, March 1, 2017
A long... long day today. It started with an hour and a half lesson with a new investigator, who we found out lives in a different area, but we sat and listened as she laid out all the horrible things that have been happening with her husband lately, things that she wants to find a lawyer for. Luckily we had Eddy, a member there to help us, and in the end, we were able to leave her with a short Gospel message of Christ's Atonement, and a prayer. They're going to continue meeting with her since we're out of the area, but it's amazing to think how much the Gospel really does help with all kinds of problems, temporal and spiritual, and how Christ suffered for all of them, that He might support us in our time of need. Then we had a pass-off lesson, where the Zhongming elders handed over a Golden investigator who lives in our area, who already wants to be baptized really bad. His name is Gao. And he seems really cool. His best friend is a less active member, and he's really excited to learn about the Gospel. Then we ate with our old friend, Anthony tonight. He's been wanting to take us out to eat for a while, and this is the first time we've had time. He's been going to English class at our Chapel for 38 years!!! I don't know why he hasn't been baptized in the past. I'm sure missionaries have tried. But with any luck, and lots of blessings, it's time for the Spirit to touch his heart.

Thursday, March 2, 2017
We were mostly out contacting today until it was time to go to District training. We had a great meeting about the Doctrine of Christ, and then we stayed at the chapel to do studies so that we could be there to go and help the new missionaries contact! That was super fun! The first day the new missionaries get on island, they go out at night on the roads and just try out some contacting. I was with an Elder Barney, who has lived in Germany for the past few years of his life, and it was really fun to go out and give him a chance to bear testimony to these people. It went really well! We met some cool people and actually gave a Book of Mormon to someone! It was a cool experience, and I could really feel the Spirit working through them.

Friday, March 3, 2017
Super cool and hectic day! We did weekly planning, which actually lasted for a decent amount of time, and then we went down to the chapel to meet with a guy named Joe, a former investigator from our phone. He took us out for a meal, and we talked a lot about him and the plan of salvation, he doesn't live in our area now, so we won't get to teach him, but as we spoke and bore testimony, I really felt him searching for truth in our words, and it was super powerful to me. He actually listened as we bore testimony of God's plan for us, and I could see that he wasn't immediately throwing it out. And then, because I'm a dingus and didn't tell Elder Jones what formers in the phone not to call, we accidentally set up Johnny.
Yes. That Johnny.
It was so awkward. I had no idea what to say. He hasn't changed a bit, and still has the same problems, but seeing him just reminded me of how badly I want this Gospel to touch his life. He was happy to see us again, and agreed to come to church, start reading and praying again. Who knows, maybe it's just a different missionary's testimony he needs to hear.

Saturday, March 4, 2017
MARCH FORTH! As my mom used to say to us. She'd always make little sayings and basically turn this into a mini-holiday for "marching forth" into the world. Because it's March 4th. Well, I missed that, but Elder Jones and I marched forth into contacting all day! One thing I really admire about Elder Jones is his unfailing faith and optimism. I believe there are certain things we learn from each companion, and that's definitely one of the things that I hope to learn from him. No matter how often or harshly the rejection comes, he keeps smiling, and moves on to the next person as fast as possible, while singing Les Miserable songs with me. It helps contacting be a little, well, less miserable.

(Ba-dum, crash!)

Anyways. We had to go get my bike fixed today. The bike tire was pretty wobbly, which is a problem when one wants to ride a bike with two wheels attached, as it felt like it was going to fall off. It was perfect thought, because it was almost time to go home, but we stopped by a nearby park and met Mrs. Jiang. She was a really nice old lady that asked if she could come to church next Sunday! So that was a great miracle and an awesome end to the day!

Sunday, March 5, 2017
Was a great day! We got to take the Sacrament, and that's always one of the greatest blessings of the week. We got Elder Jones all introduced to the people in the ward, and had two investigators at church! And then we went to a member's house to eat some hot pot, which is always delicious. After which, we were out contacting all night! I saw a really cool miracle as well. We were going down the street we live on, and we stopped and talked to this guy on the side of the road, he was getting ready to leave while I was introducing myself, and I found out he was Christian. We started sharing the Book of Mormon with him, and he actually stopped and listened. He agreed to meet with us tomorrow to learn more, and talked to us for the better part of 10 minutes! It made me really happy to feel like a tool in the Lord's hand by finding those people who are prepared to hear this message.

As always, my family and friends, I wish you a happy, and Christ-Centered week. He truly is the reason for all our hope, and the reason we have everything that we do. I'm so grateful for this extremely short time that I get to serve him in this way. Every day is precious and every new week is a blessing. I hope you all see the blessings that come because of Christ this week.

-Elder Meanea

28 February 2017 - On The Run

Come all ye investigators of Beitun, and let us teach about the Lord! Let the truth of Christ's full Gospel do good stuff to your life!

(Copyright Elder Tayson Meanea, 2017)

Monday, 20 February 2017
We had a super fun trip up to a place called Sun-Moon lake today! The weather was a bit rainy, so it was beautiful, and we actually had about 6 sets of missionaries there in all, and a few members, so it was a real party! We toured a cool temple, walked some giant steps, and took a little boat ride across the lake, and then to a smaller island on the lake, and saw some Native Taiwanese musicians dressed up. They really look a lot like American Indians in their tribal gear! I'm pretty sure they hunted monkey and not buffalo, though. Then we came home, changed our clothes, and returned to the streets to spread the good word of the Lord!

Tuesday, 21 February 2017
Today was a bit more of a difficult day for me, for some reason, but when we came back to do the rest of our studies in the afternoon, I had the opportunity to kneel down and ask my Father in Heaven for help in supporting me in the difficulties I was having. And I know that it doesn't always work like this, but I feel as if the load I was carrying that day was being lifted by someone else. It was truly a testimony to me that my Father is always watching over me, and even though the rest of the day was as difficult as the morning, it didn't weigh on me like it did before. There was a lot of rejection, and not much seeable success, but I just felt loved today. I can't explain it more than that. 

Wednesday, 22 February 2017
Rain. Today was destroyed by rain. Have I mentioned that Taiwanese people have a weird fear of rain? If it's raining, people usually won't show up for lessons or activities. So we went inside for our afternoon studies during the worst part of it, then went back out after it was mostly cleared up, and there was no one around. They were all hiding insides, danggit! Anyways, we were making some calls tonight to old contact cards we had, and we were just getting done, when we wanted to call this one last card, a lady that had never answered. I called, and she surprisingly picked up! She was super nice, but told us she actually lived in Beiqu, and said she was willing to meet, so we got to give a referral to the zone leaders tonight! That was pretty fun! 

Thursday, 23 February 2017
So... a cool insight from personal study. I was reading in the Book of Jacob today, and everyone always has questions about the Church history and plural marriage and things, and before, I just always accepted on faith that God commanded us to do it for a while and then for His purposes told us to discontinue, but today I read in Jacob a scripture that addressed directly this thing and why God commands His people to practice it sometimes. The point being, is that I've never even seen the scripture before, and I feel like for some reason, it just popped out and made sense to me after I'd exercised my faith in just trusting God's judgement. That's the second time that's happened in he past few weeks. Sorry, I just share interesting things from personal study because we contacted all today, and nothing interesting happened, sorry. xD 

Friday, 24 February 2017
A lesson today! Woo hoo!! He was an hour late, and he doesn't actually live in our area, so we had to give him away... but we still actually talked with someone who wanted to hear about the Gospel! Worth it! Then we had a cool lesson with our recent convert, Matthew. We talked about God's love for us, and how it doesn't matter what trials we face, we can always take comfort in the fact that He loves us, and has a plan for us. One of my favorite scriptures has always been in the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 11:17. That night we also attended a double baptism! Our zone leaders baptized a lady and the sisters in our ward had a 10 year old girl that they've been teaching ever since I got here that got baptized, so it was a great night!

Saturday, 25 February 2017
A rather uneventful day. We contacted all day until we had another lesson with our RC, Matthew. We had a good lesson with him, and recommitted him to reading the Book of Mormon every day, and just as the lesson finished up, there was a weird guy standing next to our table, trying to act like he wasn't staring at us. Matthew invited him to sit down, so the guy did. His name was Huang, and Matthew told him we missionaries had been helping him with English and teaching about the Book of Mormon, at which point the guy began going off about how all religions are the same, and he just believes in science, and kept giving all these examples of why religion is useless. Elder Burge and I talked about it after, and we're pretty sure he didn't know Matthew was a member at first, and was trying to convince him that religion was bad, and he wouldn't let us get a word in, and just talked straight to Matthew. So, he's a dirt bag, but I was super proud of Matthew, anytime Matthew got to say anything, he always talked about how we have a Heavenly Father we can pray to, and how The Book of Mormon gives us the answer to life's questions, and a lot of other great, super faithful responses. Once the Huang guy figured out Matthew was a member, he lost interest super quick, and eventually left and ignored our offers to sit with him and teach him, but we did get his number. So that was cool in that we saw our RC's strength in the Gospel. Then we went and ate with the Zone leaders, came back and contacted! We also found out that night that I am staying here in Beitun and my new companion shall be Elder Jones! Not the one from my MTC district, but a different one! I guess I'll know by the time I send this how it is! And Elder Burge's dream has come true in that he is headed to Kaosiung! He's been up north in Taichung for his whole mission, and he's super excited to get there!

Sunday, 26 February 2017
A great Sabbath today. I love the promise and hope of every week we get to go and partake of the sacrament. It is such a simple, yet priceless gift. A refreshing chance to once again start anew in our journey toward heaven. It actually brought a lot of peace to my mind. I can testify that any time that we go to Church with a willing and open heart and mind, there is no way there won't be something that will help us on our journey. Then we went to an RM's house to eat Hot Pot after church. He's the Daniel kid I might have mentioned earlier. He's part Taiwanese and served his mission in Canada, so has perfect English. It was super fun. Then we contacted the rest of the night! I also got to talk to Elder Jones, I'm super excited to be his companion, he sounds super cool. 

Monday... Again, 27 February 2017
So, it kind of felt like one of those days when it's summer, but you have to go to school for some reason. Because it wasn't P-Day. xD The day got wrecked as well, because we had a 2-hour hot pot with the Bishop's family, and Matthew our RC and Jianhong, an eternigator! So... it was sort of a lesson... the hot pot was delicious... like joy in the Celestial kingdom will be... Then that night we ate with our district before a few people leave, but we were only there a few minutes, because Elder Burge's member friend, Scott, also asked us to eat, so we went to a Japanese noodle place with him and his girlfriend, who is a Taipei investigator, so we gave a tour of the Chapel afterwards, and that was pretty much our night. We were just scrambling to get everything ready for Elder Burge to move and to receive the new leader of the Wuchuan district, Elder Jones the fearless. 

And that's my week! Hopefully by the time you all read this, everything will have worked out and I'll be safe here in Beitun emailing next to Elder Jones. I love you all, and am so excited to go forth this week in the strength of the Lord!

-Elder Meanea