29 May 2017 - The Lottery Missionary

Nearer that font, we bring,
all that come meet.
Teaching them about the Christ,
to follow in his feet!
(Copyright Elder Meanea 2017)

Tuesday, 23 May 2017
I found the magnificent Elder Densley at the bus station in Taichung and we rode about an hour home to get to Puli. It is truly stunning. I could write a lot of things to describe the beauty of this place, but I fear it would come off sounding trite and cheesy. It truly just seems like paradise back here. After P-day ended, we ate with a member named Anne and helped move some furniture, after which we went contacting around and added some people to meet with next week!

Wednesday, 24 May 2017
Rainy, rainy day. And seeing as my rain stuff is still with my bike that is being shipped and I'm too lazy to buy any more rain gear, I soaked. I couldn't have been more wet if someone shoved me down a fire hose. And no, that's not an invitation to try. But it was also fun in that we met our recent convert Sister Chen, who is really fun and cool, and then we ate at Sister Huang (We call her Huang Laoshi which means "Teacher Huang" because... well I don't know) and she fed us some of the most delicious food I've had in Taiwan. Sweet and sour pork, beef and onions, fried wantons and the like. Oh boy, It was all amazingly delicious. And then tracting in the rain was great because we ran into Mrs. Xu, a lady who was really nice and offered to bring about 50 kids she takes care of at a social welfare place on a tour of the chapel, so... that's great!!!

Thursday, 25 May 2017
What a wonderful day! We did a lot of tracting today, and didn't see a lot of success until tonight, when we found Mr. Liu next to a pond fishing with his drunk friend and his 4-year-old kid. We said "hi" and found out he has been a Christian forever and lived next to our church when he was growing up. The kid started taking pictures with my camera after he saw me do it, and the drunk guy started playing baseball with Elder Densley. So that was fun and interesting, and he said we could come back later and talk to him! Then that night we met with Wang and his son. That was apparently the first time his son met with missionaries, and they were super cool! They both committed to coming to church on Sunday, so we'll hopefully see some spiritual progress.

Friday, 26 May 2017
Weekly planning, of course. After which we ate with our recent convert Sister Chen and her daughter who just got back from a mission in California, and actually trained a sister that was in my MTC district. Afterwards we met with Marty. He's been meeting with the elders here ever since February, and has learned all the lessons. He's still just sort of looking in mild interest for an answer, but we had a great lesson that we really felt the Spirit as we testified that this was a message he truly needed to know. It was fantastic. And then we went to the Yoga class our sisters hold to try and bring less active members and nonmembers in to see the church because we were in charge of the spiritual share afterwards. Suffice it to say that the elements will melt with a fervent heat and the Earth wrapped together as a scroll before I'm flexible. xD Anyways, we gave the spiritual share about the "Because of Him" video, which is arguably the best video the church has ever produced. It was great, and I just felt like I got so excited about the living Christ, and all that means to me. I love it so much, and I just want everyone to know!!!

Saturday, 27 May 2017
We went and worked in Huang Laoshi's garden this morning by burning some ants that were eating her trees. It was really cool and up in the mountains and it rained a little while we were there, which it has since I got here. The people say that it'll rain at least once a day the rest of the summer, so good thing my bike with my rain gear arrived today! Otherwise a pretty uneventful day in which we did some contacting, walking around and finding those interested to learn more! I also won the lottery today! Apparently Taiwan just has a free lottery and every time you get a receipt it has a number on it, and they give certain numbers certain amounts, and my receipt won 200 kuai! Woohoo! Mom and Dad, make sure to put in about 80 cents of Tithing in for me.

Sunday, 28 May 2017
We were waiting at a park for an investigator who we were going to take to church, when some random guy on a scooter (in Chinese) pulled up and said "You're Elder Meanea from Utah, right?" I said yes and asked who he was, and apparently he's met missionaries before and heard me introduce myself at English class this week, but I told him I was speaking in church so he should come, and he did. He said he's been baptized before, but Elder Densley and I are pretty sure it wasn't into this Church so we'll see where this goes. He seemed to enjoy it pretty well. Then we went tracting this afternoon and ran into Elder Densley's Buddhist master friend named Shifu. She was riding in one of those four-person bike/cart things and invited us to hop on. So we obviously did. She wears robes and everything and is shaved bald, which is pretty cool. And it's probably the funniest thing these people have ever seen us riding with her in this cart thing. Then we ate some Jello stuff with her while we talked about a Liahona copy they left with her earlier. She loves the Book of Mormon and all the pamphlets about the Church and tells all her friends how great the church is, so that was pretty fun. Then we went to a family's house and had dinner and Family Home evening with a lot of other people.

This week has been a good one of getting used to my new and beautiful home here in Puli, and I'm so excited to continue my journey in this area. I have a great companion, beautiful mountains surrounding me, plenty of trees, and a people ready to relieve Eternal Life. I couldn't ask for more.

-Elder Meanea

23 May 2017 - Lots of Lessons and Transfers

Elder Maneassdae is my life.  He is my inspiration.  There is no one on this planet that is comparable to him.  If he dies, he dies, too bad he is invincible.  He has my back in everything I do.  Go shakepspeere go!  The Lord commanded Nephi to go and get the plates.  I will Go, I will Do, the things the Lord Commands.#BOSS

(Opening Paragraph curtesy of Elder Van Der Merwe, 2017)

Monday, 15 May 2017

A day of salt, some from the ocean we visited, some from the tears that were shed as we enojoyed a little while skyping our families this Mothers day. It was fantastic. It was amazing to see their faces, and laugh, and see that they are the same crazy, wonderful, loving family I've always had. And then Sister Olmes took us and the sisters to the beach nearby! There are pictures included, and it wasn't exactly a beach, but it was still really cool! There was a board walk that went way far into the ocean. We went to eat some "bean curd." It is really good, it's a dessert with ice and redbeans and stuff, and it sounds a lot more appetizing in Chinese. "Doughhua." So that was really fun! Then a member fed us pizza for dinner, after which we hit the streets and got a few more people to set up with us for the coming week. It's going to be great!

Tuesday, 16 May 2017

Today was absolutely chock-full of lessons, which was fantastic. 5 of them in one day! We barely had time to get all the studies in we needed to. We also set another baptismal goal tonight, with a man named Alex. It's going to be a bit of a long and difficult path for these people, but I'm so grateful that I get to watch them start walking it. That's really all that happened today was lessons, so cool!

Wednesday, 17 May 2017

The day started out with meeting with Miro, one of our friends on the way to baptism. He is so cool, and wants to really learn if this message is true or not, and wants to understand how the Holy Ghost will talk to him. Our friend Eddy helped us teach the Restoration, and he seemed really accecpting of it! Then we asked Alan to be an extra person for our lesson with a Mrs. Wang. She brought her 4 year-old son and we taught them about how the Gospel blesses families. It was super fun! After that we ate with Alan and had a good lesson with him. Tonight we had about a half hour left and decided to bike to a park, and by the time we got there we basically had 3 minutes to contact somebody and turn around. So we prayed, and then Elder Van and I spied a kid sitting on a bridge across the park and went to talk to him. 2 minutes later we set up to meet again on Saturday to talk. So it was a pretty fantastic day!

Thursday, 18 May 2017

A district meeting day, after which we went and met with the son of one of the sister's investigators, because she wanted to see if we could help him. He is... well he is a troubled child. And he tends to fly into fiery tempers. But luckily he just stormed out on us instead of impaling us all together like a shiskabab. So that's a plus! Then we went and visited Sister Yang, one of the youth leaders who is super cool because it was her birthday, and we gave her a little statue of Helaman that Elder Van brought because, well, she leads the youth. That night we met with a kid named Jing Shao, whom we set a baptismal goal with as well, so it was a great way to end the night.

Friday, 19 May 2017

Weekly Planning. Yup. Then we went and had lunch with a business man we met outside our usual eatery last week and got to know him. He was super cool, and set up to meet with us next week! Afterwards we contacted for a little while. It's cool to see how if we're faithful and focused, the little time we have can help us meet the right people to invite to Christ. That night we went to a hot pot where someone paid for me to eat, because I met him on the road and he just handed me his card. He wasn't there, but the staff was all really nice to us. So that was cool. Afterwards we visited Lin, our less active friend who promised us he would come to Church this Sunday! Woot woot!

Saturday, 20 May 2017

A lot of lessons again today. Which was great! Especially since we met with Jenny, another eternigator, and set a baptismal goal with her! Which brings our total of baptismal goals for the Beitun to 9. 9!! As I said to Elder Jones, I've never before been present when the Lord has done this many miracles. It was such an honor to serve here and see the Lord's powerful arm stretch out to his children. And it's one that I hope to continue to see in my new Area, called Puli. It's just an hour south of Taizhong. My new companion is going to be an Elder Demsely. If that's how you spell it, sorry if it's not. We all were pretty sad that both Elder Jones and I are leaving, leaving Elder Van Der Merwe here alone. So we all cried, ate ice cream, and then played pool downstairs.

Sunday, 21 May 2017

A day filled with Goodbyes. I'm blaming it on emotions that my Chinese stunk when I got behind the pulpit, The gift of tongues just didn't make it up to the stand today. xD Then the O Family had us over for Dinner, for which they prepared breakfast. It was so delicous. Then we went out just contacting our guts out. It was really cool. We asked someone where a road was at one point, and this guy heard and offered to guide us there on his scooter, which he did! Points for the lovely Taiwanese people.

Monday, 22 May 2017

The last day I got to serve in Beitun. It was all very bitter-sweet. We taught a few lessons, and contacted mostly for the rest of the day. I feel so blessed for the lessons that I've learned here. The ways I've grown, and the people I've come to love. I'm going to miss them all, truly, but I know the Lord is calling me to where I'm needed for now. By the time you're reading this, I'll probably be safe, right where the Lord needs me, in Puli. It's time for a new adventure. And it starts today!

-Elder Meanea

15 May 2017 - Think of a clever title for me...I'm going to the beach

Called to pedal, share the Book of Mormon,
Three tall white guys, we'll never leave this place!
(copyright Elder Meanea 2017)

Monday, 8 May 2017
I. Am. So. Full. Because we got fed twice today. The first was lunch at "de Meaty Spirit." A hot pot place where we literally ate piles and piles of duck, beef, pork, and pig stomach meat. It was so good, but we ate so much! I find that's a favorite past-time of missionaries in Taiwan. We just literally EAT. And then we went home and played pool together in our basement, of which I won one game, thank you very much! After which we went to another Buffet/Hot Pot with Alan, sponsered by the Bishop. After which, we waddled/pedaled to Yang's house. He is the one who has investigated with missionaries before, and we met tonight, really felt the Spirit, and set a baptismal goal with him. It was a great way to end the night!

Tuesday, 9 May 2017
Contacting today! Pretty much all contacting. Not much of interest to report. Except that we ate Cairns again today! That was pretty delicious. We also went and visited Lin, a less active member who has a family who isn't members. But he really wants to come back to church, which is great. We brought a member to come visit him, and they got along really well together. So it was a great day! 

Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Today was all contacting. And it was fantastic! Just as we started out, we really prayed to follow the Lord's will today as we went about in all our finding activities, which is something I've really been trying to develop. An attitude of humility that allows me to place the Lord's will before my own. And not four minutes out the door we were stopped at an intersection. I saw a man sitting down outside a 7-11 a little ways off, and going was a little out of my comfort zone and felt really awkward, but I felt a very subtle impression that I should talk to this man. So I went and did. And it turns out he is really interested in Christianity as is his wife, and we exchanged information and are planning on meeting with him to teach him about the restored Gospel. I don't know where he will end up, but I'm not sure how much longer he would have had to wait for a chance if I had passed up that opportunity. The rest of the day was really succesful, the most I've ever had in Beitun. And I'm pretty sure it's because of Faith. And then tonight we ate with Allan and he exhibited his puppets that he does, which was pretty cool. I stink at puppeteering though. So tonight was pretty fun!

Thursday, 11 May 2017
An uneventful morning since neither of our lessons were able to meet with us, but we got to eat a delicious lunch at Yi Zhong Jie. Those chicken steaks are still as greasy and delicious as ever. After district meeting, we finished our studies and then went and had dinner with the Yang family at a nice resturaunt in our area. They were so kind as to feed us some very delicious food, of which I didn't take a few pictures of. Their son is on a mission right now in Calgary Canada, so that's pretty cool! Afterwards we had to bike really fast to go visit a less-active member. He is the son of one of the ladies in the ward and she asked us to go visit him. He hasn't been to church since middle school, but she's still hoping he'll make it back in someday. He was a really cool guy and super nice. It was fun to chat and share a spiritual message with him, which he really seemed to appreciate. The last stop of the night was Brother Huang's house. He is a former investigator who let us come back and teach him. He's already Christian, so we have a good foundation of Christ to build on, so we're just trying to help him find a testimony that Joseph Smtih was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is scripture. We had a great member at our lesson, who is also the Dad of the less active kid we just visited, and he was so great! He shared a lot of testimony and helped us teach really well. It was great to feel the Spirit there, and I hope Brother Huang was touched.

Friday, 12 May 2017
A morning of contacting in which we sat down in a 7-11 with a guy from Thailand off the street and set a Baptismal goal! Woohoo! His name is Akee, and he was a really cool guy. He works as a tatoo artist and goes to conventions in China, so, well, we'll just see how it goes. The rest of the day was mostly just looking for those prepared people. Although the longer I'm out here, the more I find myself wanting to just be a better missionary for their sakes. I start realizing how important each person I contact is, which is hard since I talk to probably at least 60-70 people a day. But It's just so hard for me to see them say no when there is so much they don't understand about what I'm trying to share. I feel like no wit, wisdom, or tact is any substitute for the power of the Holy Spirit. Only He can tell them to give me more time, tell them there is something in this message that is important to them. It makes me want to never do anything that would drive him away. 

Saturday, 13 May 2017
We met with another nugget of precious Heavenly material this morning. His name is Miro, and we discussed the Book of Mormon and baptism with him, and he set a date with us for the 24th of June to be baptized. That was incredible, he is so humble and really has a desire to know if this is true. The rest of the day was all contacting, and it was very, very lucrative. The next week is already full of promising people we can meet with and share about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a really exciting time in this area, the most exciting I've had my whole mission! Our tri-panionship is fantastic, and I personally believe I'm currently working with the two best missionaries in the mission. It's really such a blessing to finish out this transfer like this. 

Sunday, 14 May 2017
It's the SABBATH COUNT DOWN!!! (Electronic music plays in the background) Our Friend Miro came to church today! We were so excited to have him there. After church a sister in our ward asked us to come visit her son who was in the hospital. He was the less active member we went and visited this week, and aparently he had fallen and bumped his head somehow, but it doesn't seem to be too serious. He was happy to see us, and then came to the sister's baptism tonight with his mom and brother! It was an amazing end to the week.

I'm so grateful to be here. Really, I can't express what this is becoming every day to me. And I know everything I do isn't by my own wit, skill, or strength. None of it. I expect to take part in many miracles, because that's what I'm here to do, but I do believe that God is helping me change the most, and that is a miracle to me. I know that Christ and the Atonement can do that to each one of us if we let it. Any old habit, any small weaknesses, anything we have left that isn't in Heavenly Father's plan. He can help us take it all away. 

I love you family. I love you my friends. Let us all press on! 

-Elder Meanea

8 May 2017 - Triforce

Let us oft speak Chinese to each other, "dan wa bei ogn Taigei!"
(I don't speak Taiwanese in Taiwanese)
(Copyright Elder Meanea 2017)

Monday, 1 May 2017
P-Day was brought to pass by the Chen family from Tainan. They so graciously stopped by to see Elder Jones, and then were happy to take us around touring, which is when we went to see Rainbow village, which produced some pretty sweet pics. After P-day, we had dinner at the Huang family house, who provided copious amounts of Cheesecake and the Spirit. That night we went to visit a less active member whom we gave a cake to for his birthday last week. It was a really great visit, and I really felt the want he had for the Spirit we brought. On the way there it just hit me that even though he's not "investigating the church" the Lord wanted me to put in all my thought and intent to helping him, because he is still His child and He still wants to help him. I feel blessed that it is through me and countless other missionaries that He chooses to do so.

Tuesday, 2 May 2017
Plans were wrecked, but it was really cool this morning to meet a guy on the street whom we ran into thrice previously, and this time he actually set up to meet with us and learn a little bit about why we keep bothering him. ;-) We don't go away. You just hate us or like us. Then because of a scheduling mishap, we were left with some time to try calling some former investigators, one of which set up to meet with us and a few others seemed willing to do so soon! To end the night we dropped off some birthday cards to members while contacting around and went to give some cake to a less active in our ward, who actually ended up being in China, but his parents invited us to come in and sit for a few minutes. They aren't members, but they were still really nice to us and we had a fun time with them.

Wednesday, 3 May 2017
Not much happened today, except a man rode up on his scooter and told us he wanted to come to church! We met with him tonight, and he seemed really interested in coming to church next week. That was the first time I've been self-contacted by someone. But when we met that night we found out he lives in the Zone Leader's area. xD Freak. Anyways. We also found out today that we are going to be hosting another missionary for an undetermined amount of time! I have no idea what's going on, so I'll get back to you on that. But I was also really impressed this morning in studies about how amazing the Atonement is. I love the talk "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. It talks about how Christ paid the whole price for our entrance to salvation, and in turn He just asks us to do a few things, and keep a few small commandments. It really hit me that anything we alone could do as people could never qualify us for the amazing gift that is exaltation. Christ earned it for us all, something we could never do, so we owe it to Him to do all He asks, just a small price, to have this amazing gift.

Thursday, 4 May 2017
So, Elder (Pardon the spelling) Van Der Mwer has very graciously joined our companionship here in Beitun! We got the apartment ready last night, and we went to the mission home this morning to pick him up! He is a great Elder who used to serve in Taipei, had to have some surgeries, and then was called on Monday morning asking if he could come back to Taichung. Crazy! He is a super great Elder, and today was a blast just working our guts out on the street, contacting a lot of cool people, and actually taught a few lessons, which all went swimmingly. I was having some trouble and doubts the first part of the day, but half-way through DTM a thought came to my mind that before, these kind of thoughts never went away, no matter how long I waited it out, until I called on my Heavenly Father for help. And at that time I did. And afterwards what seemed like it was going to be an extremely long and tough day turned into one of the hardest working and most productive days of my mission. And the happiest. Because I allowed the Lord to give me the help He promised.

Friday, 5 May 2017
A great, really busy day! We met with a former investigator today by just randomly stopping by his house and seeing if he was there and he let us in. He seemed a bit nervous and such, but it was amazing to see how comfortable talking and asking questions he became as we invited the Spirit to be with us. Multiple times today I felt the Spirit with me, and it was amazing to see how incredibly essential it is in every part of our lives. We are promised that kind of guidance in the most important part of our lives, and I think it is one of the most amazing gifts we could ever receive. It makes me all the more enthusiastic to do all I can to always qualify for it. Never drive it away or disregard it.

Saturday, 6 May 2017
A day of the utmost effort and some great blessings today. It started with Brother Lai. He's a cool guy we met outside a McDonalds two days ago, whom we met again today, and agreed to a June baptismal goal! Which is awesome! And then we kept working and kept working, and we got to randomly sit down with some guy tonight who wanted to talk to us missionaries, and we taught him about the Book of Mormon. His name was Xue, and he agreed to meet again tomorrow. I could really feel the Spirit working in that lesson with us. To finish out the night, we went and visited a former investigator's house, and he came down and talked to to us for a while, even though he had guests, and he was super cool! He had really great English and invited us to come back later to talk about God. And the entire time we've been meeting great people all over the place. It's been amazing to see the blossoming of Beitun in just the past few days as we've all put our shoulders on that wheel together.

Sunday, 7 May 2017
You can guess what the first line for today is: It was a great day! Church, and then Elder Jones did a baptismal interview for a lady the sisters are Baptizing next week! So exciting. She has come a long way, and it's amazing to see the change that the Gospel has had on her life. And then we had a former investigator meet us at Church and attend Sacrament meeting! I was a little nervous when one of our Recent Converts who is a little... well, he got up and sang some song at the pulpit and then bore a two sentence testimony then ran off the stage. But all in all, it was a great meeting, and the former said we can call him and set up another time to meet! It's been amazing to see the miracles we've encountered this week, the last of which is that Rolling finally got in contact with us again! And might still be on track for a baptism before the end of the transfer! It was a great way to end the week.

Sorry, I don't have anything as dramatic as last week to end my email with, but I'm excited to start the Book of Mormon Challenge with you all this Saturday! Woohoo!! I love this Gospel, working for the Lord is the best, and I wish you all a wonderful week in the Lord's care.

-Elder Meanea

1 May 2017 - Elder Meanea's Only Challenge

Count your many emails read them one by one, 

thank God for your family, friends, and all loved ones! 

 (Copyright Elder Meanea 2017)

Monday, 24 April 2017 

 Not much to say for this P-Day, except that neither Elder Jones or I are very good at Ping-Pong. Good thing that's not a requirement for exaltation, or we'd be in trouble. There isn't much set up this week, so it's time to grow those Faith plants and find some souls that are ready to come and meet their Savior. There's nothing better that could happen in their lives, and I feel excited to be a part of it.

Tuesday, 25 April 2017 

 Good news folks! I'm going to hell!!! *Puts on welding mask and a pair of oven mits* Or at least that's what I was told today. This is a great story. So we were contacting around a park and just getting ready to leave when I walked over to a guy getting on his bike and said hi. He asked if we were Mormon Missionaries and we said yes, then he asked if we spoke English, and we said yes. At first I was super excited because it sounded like he wanted to talk to us about our religion! And well, he did, just not in a positive way. He just basically ranted about how we all deny Christ's word, we're all fake, and all mainstream churches are corrupt out the wazoo, then talked about how the Book of Mormon was blasphemy and such and was like "What about this and this and you're all deceived!" It was interesting, because we did answer a few questions he posed, the main message I kept getting was "Stick with the Spirit and your testimony." Apparently he does a lot of religious studies and some other Church kicked him out a while back, and so he was super fiery, and we patiently waited it out and told him we didn't want to argue, and then just bore testimony of Moroni's promise in Moroni 10:3-5, and oh my goodness, like my heart felt absolutely on fire, like I could barely control it, and it almost felt like we were rebuking him with the Spirit, and basically told him to go and ask of God, and Elder Jones afterwards told me he felt the same. Our testimony delivered, he just stood there with his arms folded and said, "Let me think a sec." Eventually he said "You're on the path to hell, and you're leading all these people astray." We smiled and told him to have a nice day and then he biked off. Honestly I lost all respect for him at that last comment, not because he told me I was using Apple Maps in my eternal journey, but more because he said we were leading the people astray. What a character. It was an amazing experience, and I believe it was a gift to help us strengthen our testimonies. Wow it was amazing. Also, I spent too long talking about that, but I have to mention that our friend Lu said his first prayer with us today!!! Yay!!!

Wednesday, 26 April 2017 

 Today we started our exchanges with the Zone Leaders. It was super fun. I went with Elder Wilkinson, again. 3 months later. xD It was super great, and we had a great time just going out and working really hard to share this Gospel with people who would listen. It was amazing to see how many people wish their lives could be better, and they honestly have no idea that this Gospel is literally the answer to all their questions. We met a man at the park who's life was basically miserable and he wanted to give up smoking, and once he finally was willing to listen, we told him that this message is truly what he's looking for, even if he doesn't know it.

Thursday, 27 April 2017 

 To finish off! It was a great last half of an exchange. Elder Wilkinson and I had some great discussions during our studies. From which comes my new favorite quote. I sometimes wonder how to be the best missionary. And this isn't scripture or anything, it's just something catchy we came up with. "You know you're doing your best when you are trying to be better." ;-) We basically got rained out, so we walked around under some umbrellas and talked to a few people who were out. One of them was super cool and was really interested to know more about the Book of Mormon, and another was a "hair designer" who's greatest hope in life was that there would be a little more recognition for his profession. Odd, but he was willing to learn more. The rest of the night was contacting in the rain. I love rain, my family knows this. I have to exercise the greatest amount of self-control to not stand in the street and catch rain on my tongue. It was a great night.

Friday, 28 April 2017 

 I'm probably just going to let you all assume from now on that we had a weekly planning session each Friday (See Chapter 8 in "Preach My Gospel" ;-) And so I shall skip to the more interesting parts of the day, where we went to get ice cream! One of the members of our ward frequents an ice cream shop in our area and told us the people that live there would be good candidates for missionary work. So obviously we had to go buy some ice cream to talk to them. That we did and we actually got to give the lady running the shop a Book of Mormon. And then we went to visit a less active member and give him a little cake thing we bought from a family mart (which is slightly classier than it sounds, and we took the tags off) because it was his birthday. And that was about it!

Saturday, 29 April 2017 

 We found some service today. A "village elder" (basically a person in charge of community service in the area) let us go and help clean up at a park in North District. It was pretty fun, and she really appreciated our help. We barely had time to fit studies in after that before we visited Brother Lu, who prayed again! But he can't come to church tomorrow. After a good dinner with Alan and a lesson on faith and God's plan, we were out finding, then went home.

Sunday, 30 April 2017 

 Today was great as Church always is. But I want to turn to a more pressing subject. This is where the title of my email came from. From all the things I've experienced so far on my mission, I've learned that a testimony isn't just something you have, it's something you grow. It's a composite of those things which you believe and which through the power of the Holy Ghost you have given witness of. The reason I came to Taiwan is because I believe a young boy went into the woods with the pure intent to seek God's direction, and he found it. Because of that, we have the Book of Mormon. There have been so many people telling me lately and so many other influences trying to convince me that there are many reasons why it wouldn't be true. But, those are all the words of men. I want the opinion of God on this. And as you all know, the Book of Mormon gives us a very specific promise found in Moroni 10:3-5. (Pg. 529) And this has been promised that all those who take this challenge, study the word, and be willing to act on the answer we receive, asking with faith in Christ, God will give us the answer that it is true. That is a promise to everyone. Not just members, not just investigators, all His children can know if they will. And as Thomas S. Monson, a man I sustain as a prophet in our day, has told us not one month ago that it is going to be essential to have a testimony of the Book of Mormon and it's witness of Jesus Christ in the coming days. Already the opposition seems to be gathering strength. And so I am going to take this challenge. And I invite you all to take it with me. Because I believe doing so can only bring peace and safety into our lives. So, starting May 13th, we have 60 days to read the Book of Mormon, ending on July 13th. (8 pgs. a day IE not a lot) And then I'm going to ask God, as He pleads with us to. And I challenge you all to ask as well. Even if you've done it before. This testimony weakens if you leave it alone. I believe this Book has changed my life, and it can change the lives of all these people that I'm truly starting to love in this land. And I'm going to follow through and ask. If you're reading this, I most likely thought of you specifically as I wrote this, and because I love you all, I would be overjoyed if you're willing to participate. If you are, I'd like you to take this: 願意 and paste it in an email to me. ("Willing" in Chinese) But if you don't want to, you don't have to. I hope you all truly know that I love you. As I imagine all the people that could read this, there isn't one I could think of that doesn't have a special place in my heart. And that's why I have to share this, I have to invite. Because this work and these truths mean more to me than all the world.

I wish you all a happy week, and I hope you'll ponder on taking this Challenge. I was considering making a catchy hashtag, but I figured that was a little too cliche. Anyways.... love you all!

-Elder Meanea