Hello my beloved family and friends! It has been an utterly amazing week for me here in Taiwan, miracles abounding, and the Spirit guiding all of God's children in ways I'll never understand, but I'll forever be grateful for.
Monday, 7 November 2016
We finished emailing, and then went to try and find this mysterious place called "Monkey Mountain." When I asked Elder Gasser what it was, he promptly replied by telling me it was a mountain with monkeys on it. Fair enough answer. We hiked around looking, but we only found a temple where a bunch of people got martyred a hundred years ago, which was cool, but then we biked up another mountain, and, well, found the monkeys!!! I'll let the pictures and videos do the talking there. Needless to say, it was very, very cool.
I was studying the war chapters this morning and came up with a question I was finding a hard time answering. I studied about the stripling warriors and Helaman. And I began to wonder what it was about them that made them so different. The scriptures say because of their faith they were spared, but I wondered about the people who were burned in Ammonihah. Didn't they have faith? What about Ammon's converts, all 1005 that were slain because they wouldn't kill against their covenant with God. Didn't they have faith? I was honestly troubled I couldn't come up with a good answer for a long while. And then I decided to pray about it, to ask God to help me understand. From there I began to see some very important things. The first being the fact that as much as we humans fear death, there is truly nothing frightening about it. My Savior Jesus Christ has already overcome death. It can have no lasting effect. Ask anyone what the worst thing that can happen is, and they'll probably say death. But honestly, if we have faith in our Savior, there is nothing that we have to fear. We will all live again, the relationships we had here restored, and He has promised that all that was wrong will be made right in Him. In the scriptures, it says the converts of Ammoniah were received up to God in glory. The same with Ammon's converts. And the stripling warriors themselves often fainted because of the loss of blood. That doesn't sound easy or nice to me. I hope the point I'm trying to get across is coming. It really is that we have a Father in Heaven. I know this. I also know He loves us more than anyone else ever could, and that the goal of His plan for everyone is to be happy forever. Some (me included) may question why things happen, or are allowed to transpire, and in this, sometimes we won't ever know. The one thing we can always know is that His "Hand is stretched out still." And He does everything within His power to bring happiness to us. There is going to be sorrow, but that's so we can have happiness. There will be pain, but that's so we can have joy, there will be setbacks, but that's so we can appreciate success. It's a very applicable thing in the mission field, and in life in it's entirety.
And we're back! Sorry, just wanted to share that thought, mostly because it exemplifies that I have a lot of flaws, but God is willing to help us understand things if we pray to Him. And that was my answer. That day we also had a baptismal interview with Ivy! She's a nurse, so can't come to church often, but she should be able to get baptized soon! We also met with a referral named Rose, and we met with her and invited her to continue learning, and she said yes! Bless the heart of our member we had present. We asked very specifically. "What are your feelings on the Book of Mormon," and he explained about pre-earth life, Resurrection, spirit children, judgement, and the three kingdoms of glory. After that we really emphasized the "How to Begin Teaching" point about our message takes time to understand. xD
Wednesday, 9 November 2016
We had interviews, but ended up there a little late. 1) I still don't have any idea what I'm doing, and 2) Elder Gasser misread a text or something. So with our combined powers of mishap, we ended up on the wrong side of the city in the wrong chapel. But we decided it was God's guidance, since we helped some sister missionaries find the right chapel and fixed their bike box when we got there, so cheers! We met with Adam and taught about the plan of salvation, and he's still reading and praying, which is great! And then we had our first English class not teaching advanced. We were just the doormen, and taught a small spiritual share about miracles to end the day.
Thursday, 10 November 2016
Elder Gasser gave a really great District training about commitments, and the Spirit was really strong there, telling us what we needed to do to better help our investigators grow. We visited the Yang family that night and had some mulberry milk and Taiwanese pizza! It was pretty great. Then we visited Cai and his family.
Friday, 11 November 2016
We went out to a trainer follow-up meeting today. It was great to see president Teh twice in a week and hear his counsel. I can't believe I've only got three weeks left in training. Then we had weekly planning, and had a good contacting night. One cool thing in the scripture was I was reading the Lord's command to Ammon and his bretheren, and in English it says to "Preach the Word" but the Chinese translation is more like "Prove my word." As in prove the things I said I do, such as bless those who are obedient to my commandments. It's amazing to think that any time that we're obedient to one of the Lord's commandments, we are immediately blessed.
Saturday, 12 November 2016
BAPTISM!
Sam was baptized by me this morning, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was a great service. We had to do it twice, because he let his leg come up the first time, but it was really cool. I memorized the prayer the night before in Chinese. And I didn't mess up! And it was just amazing to realize that this is the start of his journey, you know? I really see what the Atonement has done in his life. He seems happier, it gave him strength to quit: smoking, coffee, and tea, all within the space of about three months, and now he's clean, and he's started his path back to his Father in Heaven. It was truly a blessing to me that I was able to be there and see that. We then went contacting that night, and Elder Gasser and I took turns explaining our favorite books to eachother. I almost lost my voice because I tried to explain "Way of Kings." xD
Sunday, 13 November 2016
So.... no confirmation today. Sam got sick this morning. We biked to his house when he didn't show up and didn't answer his phone and got no answer there. Later he texted and let us know he was sick... so next week! We also had a 70 visit our ward, which we walked in late to because we biked to his house, so that was good. xD His chinese name is Dai. I don't know English. But he was actually in the audience that one time one of the prophets was giving an address and that guy with the bomb came in and told the prophet to read off a revelation he received, so that was exciting.
And that was my week! It's been long, but amazing, and I look forward to another one just as filled with the Spirit.
I love you all,
Elder Meanea
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