My Amazing Family and Friends!
What a beautiful and uplifting week it has been. Every day I realize how blessed I am to be serving the Lord in this amazing country, on this tiny little island of Taiwan. There are 24 million people here, and only about 55,000 members. That's a lot of blessings in store for a lot of people, and I feel so blessed that the Lord has allowed me to be here at this time, serving in the way He wants me to.
Anyways, on to stuff! Or rather Dongxi in Chinese.
Monday, 3 October 2016
We had a great time at this place called the Lotus ponds for P-day. We actually met a sister who got off her Taichung mission last year and was back with her husband and her and Elder Gasser got to talk a little bit about an area they both loved, so that was really cool! The pond was just surrounded by random statues and towers, but it was a beautiful day and really fun to walk around. I actually got to talking to people on the street today! They had little interest in the message, but they understood what I was saying!
Tuesday, 4 October 2016
We visited with Lin DX this morning. He's a progressing investigator, and he's struggling to accept the Word of Wisdom. We had a great lesson, really Spirit-filled about Christ and the Atonement. It was a really powerful experience. I ate at my first Chinese buffet as well! It was called "Kid's Are Us." You just put your clips on the pictures of stuff you want to try and they keep bringing food and food. I love shrimp now, by the way, had some dumplings, some Taiwanese BBQ, the dreaded 1000-year old egg, fish ball, raw salmon and rice, And then I had a great pass-off lesson for lesson 2! At the end of the night, we went and visited a less active, Zhong DX, and hopefully he came to conference on Sunday! It was cool to see that he just needs a little push to come back into the joy of the Gospel.
Note: This is how Elder Meanea described the 1000-year old egg to us: "Legend has it that it's an egg that you have a horse....defecate on and then bury it for a few weeks in the ground....but that's probably not what it is? It almost took down Elder Gasser though." Thankfully we found out that isn't quite what it is, but look here to see what Elder Meanea actually did eat, it isn't much better! Wow, he truly is being blessed by the Lord in so many ways!
Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Zone conference! What an amazing day! We got there early so that we could practice some music for it. President Teh asked me to give my testimony right at the very beginning, but in English. We discussed a lot about the Atonement, and the whole time I just kept having the feeling of "This is the truth. God loves us so He sent His Son." There is no doubt in my mind the the Atonement is real, God is our Father, and this is His way for us to be like Him. He wants us to use the Atonement, and to fix all our mistakes before Him. And then they had a cake and sang happy birthday to all the September and October birthdays, it was a good cake! Really fruity and stuff, but that was alright with me.
Thursday, 6 October 2016
A slower day. We had studies, then Elder Gasser got called out to do another baptismal interview. I love seeing these people coming in, ready to make the commitments necessary to follow their Savior in all things. We biked around dropping off some thank you cards to all the people that had fed us, so that was fun.
Friday, 7 October 2016
We had studies and weekly planning today. It's so refreshing to step back and take a look at what you can do in the upcoming week to accomplish more of the things that the Savior wants you to. We visited our recent convert Cai again. His family is doing well, and his wife is really close to accepting being taught by the missionaries. I hope this happens. One thing that I realized this week is that the first place I felt I could bear my testimony, the first place I felt the Spirit was with my family. They fostered every spiritual aspect of my life, and always invited the Spirit into our home. I was reading in the bible dictionary, and a passage really caught my mind in the temple entry. It says that the only place that compares to the temple in sacredness is the home. I hope that we can help Cai's wife accept this gospel, and that they can start to feel that holiness and blessing of having the home be a sacred place. I know mine has been for me.
Saturday, 8 October 2016
Wow. Just wow. This General Conference totally blew me away. I literally ran my pen out of ink, but that's alright. There were so many precious truths taught, and so many things that helped me see more clearly my role in bringing Christ's Gospel to the people here. So many things about the Atonement. We actually got a challenge from our Mission president this week to take a Book of Mormon and go through, marking every verse that has reference to the Atonement. I'd invite you all to do that as well. There has never been a greater expression of pure love on this Earth than the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And I get to see that first hand in the lives of people I'm teaching.
Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Zone conference! What an amazing day! We got there early so that we could practice some music for it. President Teh asked me to give my testimony right at the very beginning, but in English. We discussed a lot about the Atonement, and the whole time I just kept having the feeling of "This is the truth. God loves us so He sent His Son." There is no doubt in my mind the the Atonement is real, God is our Father, and this is His way for us to be like Him. He wants us to use the Atonement, and to fix all our mistakes before Him. And then they had a cake and sang happy birthday to all the September and October birthdays, it was a good cake! Really fruity and stuff, but that was alright with me.
Thursday, 6 October 2016
A slower day. We had studies, then Elder Gasser got called out to do another baptismal interview. I love seeing these people coming in, ready to make the commitments necessary to follow their Savior in all things. We biked around dropping off some thank you cards to all the people that had fed us, so that was fun.
Friday, 7 October 2016
We had studies and weekly planning today. It's so refreshing to step back and take a look at what you can do in the upcoming week to accomplish more of the things that the Savior wants you to. We visited our recent convert Cai again. His family is doing well, and his wife is really close to accepting being taught by the missionaries. I hope this happens. One thing that I realized this week is that the first place I felt I could bear my testimony, the first place I felt the Spirit was with my family. They fostered every spiritual aspect of my life, and always invited the Spirit into our home. I was reading in the bible dictionary, and a passage really caught my mind in the temple entry. It says that the only place that compares to the temple in sacredness is the home. I hope that we can help Cai's wife accept this gospel, and that they can start to feel that holiness and blessing of having the home be a sacred place. I know mine has been for me.
Saturday, 8 October 2016
Wow. Just wow. This General Conference totally blew me away. I literally ran my pen out of ink, but that's alright. There were so many precious truths taught, and so many things that helped me see more clearly my role in bringing Christ's Gospel to the people here. So many things about the Atonement. We actually got a challenge from our Mission president this week to take a Book of Mormon and go through, marking every verse that has reference to the Atonement. I'd invite you all to do that as well. There has never been a greater expression of pure love on this Earth than the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And I get to see that first hand in the lives of people I'm teaching.
Note: Because of the time difference all of the members and missionaries in Taiwan spent this last weekend watching General Conference that had happened the week before.
Sunday, 9 October 2016
I want to relate a story that I read this week. I was reading in Isaiah and a few verses discussed in depth that all the lofty and high things of man would be brought down before the Lord (Isaiah 26:5). It reminded me of the story of Babel. The people who wanted to rely on their own strength, their own genius to bring them back to heaven. They had no trust in God, and finally, their tower, wisdom, language, and efforts of generations were brought low to the Earth. Contrast that with the story of Enoch and his city. He was a man of slow speech, and a slow tongue. Yet he trusted the Lord, taught His doctrine, and simply tried his best to keep the commandments, and the rest of the people in his city did so as well. You know the end of their story. Through trusting God, through never doubting that He loved them, and through following His commandments, they were taken up into heaven (Moses 7). That's all God asks us to do. Trust that we love Him. Trust that He has a plan for us. I pray that we can always remember this, especially as we reflect on the messages we've received this conference.
I love you so much my family! I hope that these messages inspire and uplift you, and if there's anything I'm missing that you want to know about, just let me know. I'm so grateful the Lord gives me this time to share my testimony with you!
- Elder Tayson Meanea
Sunday, 9 October 2016
I want to relate a story that I read this week. I was reading in Isaiah and a few verses discussed in depth that all the lofty and high things of man would be brought down before the Lord (Isaiah 26:5). It reminded me of the story of Babel. The people who wanted to rely on their own strength, their own genius to bring them back to heaven. They had no trust in God, and finally, their tower, wisdom, language, and efforts of generations were brought low to the Earth. Contrast that with the story of Enoch and his city. He was a man of slow speech, and a slow tongue. Yet he trusted the Lord, taught His doctrine, and simply tried his best to keep the commandments, and the rest of the people in his city did so as well. You know the end of their story. Through trusting God, through never doubting that He loved them, and through following His commandments, they were taken up into heaven (Moses 7). That's all God asks us to do. Trust that we love Him. Trust that He has a plan for us. I pray that we can always remember this, especially as we reflect on the messages we've received this conference.
I love you so much my family! I hope that these messages inspire and uplift you, and if there's anything I'm missing that you want to know about, just let me know. I'm so grateful the Lord gives me this time to share my testimony with you!
- Elder Tayson Meanea
Here are some questions we asked Elder Meanea during his email time and his responses.
It is about a 3 minute bike ride.
Did President Teh ask you to share your testimony in English because he is still trying to learn Mandrian?
Hahaha! No, the whole meeting is in Mandarin.
Give us an idea of how many miles you bike in a day on average?
I have no idea.
Do you and Elder Gasser do your food together, or individually?
Usually get food together.
Did you try to listen to any of conference in Mandrian, or just all English?
All English for us.
Did the ward watch all sessions of conference yesterday (Sunday) together? or just a couple of sessions?
All the Saturday ones on Saturday and all the Sunday ones on Sunday.
What about President Teh has impressed you or touched you?
He is a very Christlike man, and he seeks to strengthen us all in his example. This Gospel is all about Christ, and he knows it.
What would you say is Elder Gassers best quality?
Elder Gasser is very spiritual, very intelligent, and he can listen well to people.
What was your favorite General Conference talk?
Sister McConkie - The Soul's Sincere Desire and Elder Bednar - "If Ye Had Known Me". I loved the focus everyone put on the Atonement. The Priesthood Session was also so great.
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