8 January 2017 - Fearless Leader Burge and Me

"Another year and we're still here, like we've always been, like we always been, just like we've always been!" Well, what a great first-ish week of the 2017 year! I know I've said this before, but I find it a bit scary that this is the only full calendar year I get with my badge. It make me want to make the most of every day. And, well, here are my days!

Monday, 2 January 2017

We finished emailing and then headed for the chapel to meet with some other Elders and go to Costco. I've heard it's a pretty swazzy place, but I had yet to go myself. We took a bus there with a member named John Legend. Seriously. And then we had Costco pizza. REAL PIZZA! They don't know how to make pizza here except in Costco. It was so good, but it destroyed my stomach for he rest of the day. xD I guess I'm going native! We watched a bit of the first presidency devotional from Christmas with the other Elders, then got back to our area just in in time for me to get my second Taiwanese haircut! At a Carrefour. Which is basically an Taiwanese Walmart. It was only 100 kuai! (About $3 USD) And it wasn't half bad! A cool thing that happened that day was that night we were in a park, and we passed this old man on a bench. We walked on, then Elder Burge stopped and said, "We should have talked to that guy." After fighting the awkwardness of going back to someone we had just passed up, we went and talked to him. It turns out he had attended the church 30 years ago and met with Elders, but nothing had come of it then. We were able to get him to agree to meet with us another time. I'm really grateful for a companion who recognizes and obeys spiritual promptings. 

Elders P-Day Shopping at Costco

Before

After

Tuesday, 3 January 2017
We had a great lesson with our friend Johnny today. We taught him the Plan of Salvation, and it seemed to go fairly well. I got up after the lesson, but Elder Burge stayed seating and we started talking to him just a bit. We found out that he doesn't exactly have a lot of friends around, and he seemed a bit lonely. Elder Burge offered to let him do something fun with us on our next P-Day, and he seemed really happy about that. I was really grateful for Elder Burge's example of acting in love and following the Spirit. He surprises me with something new every day. Other than that, we were just on the streets, contacting. On that note, I'll explain something I like to call, "The Taiwanese Death Wave." Sometimes I'll be biking along on the side of the street, and the people on the sidewalk will be waving. I wave back, thinking they're just being friendly to the neighborhood white guys, when suddenly I turn around, and low and behold, I see a HUGE METAL BEAST OF A BUS ROARING DOWN UPON ME AT 30MPH! So it turns out in Taiwan that if the bus driver doesn't see someone at the bus stop, it'll just go by, so people wave as it approaches. Now when I see people waving 50 yards ahead, I don't even look back, I just pedal for my life. 

Wednesday, 4 January 2017
We had a few lessons today! The first one Elder Burge came through again. We got a referral from the Zone Leaders that they had already set up for an appointment. We were told it was a family mart at a certain address, so we went to check it out before hand, and the address was an apartment building. I was going to just give up right there, because he obviously stood us up, but Elder Burge had us bike around a bit, then found the closest family mart to the address, and guess who was there? Our guy! Who was actually really cool. And then we had a lesson with our investigator, Jenny. Her dad is passing away in a hospital in Taipei, so she's not around much, but we shared the Plan of Salvation with her, She cried three different times, and told us that she won't get baptized until she understands more, but she wants it to be true. It was amazing to look her in the eyes and tell her I know that I will never lose any of my family, that I can be forgiven of my mistakes, and that God has a plan for us, really testify that's why we're here. 

A Taro Cake from the Ward Mission Leader

Thursday, 5 January 2017
Personal study was really interesting today. I was reading about Nephi and co. going back to find some wives, and Laman and Lemuel tying him up and trying to kill him, and two things really stood out to me. 1. How Christlike is Nephi? His brothers literally tried to kill him, and he "frankly forgave them," on the spot. I don't know if I could ever forgive someone who tried to kill me, let alone my own family. And 2. I've always found it interesting that Nephi prayed for strength to burst the bands, but they just fell off instead. I've always felt that was significant for some reason. Today, I feel it applies to our prayers, and seeing the answers to them. They don't always come how we want, or can see. For instance, last week I felt like I should specifically pull off and pray to find one more person to talk to on the way to eat lunch, and I had a really good feeling when I prayed. But we didn't find anyone. I don't know why we didn't, but I trust that somehow, in some way I don't understand, it was for the good of God's plan, and I don't doubt it. We also had zone training meeting today, talking about the doctrine of Christ, and how it's the basis of why we're here. After, we had a lesson with our quiet friend Johnny, and we found out he's been to Norway and Iceland, and has friends there, and doesn't believe in God, but if there is one, he's an alien. That was a... frustrating lesson to say the least. But all we can do is keep loving him and keep praying for him. 

Friday, 6 January 2017
A long, long day of contacting. It was really cool, I sat down to complain to my journal tonight about how hard today was, how nobody would talk to us, but then the spirit gave me a gentle reminder. Earlier in the week I had decided to study faith. I felt it was a principle I was lacking somewhat in. And suddenly, it gets hard to have faith. And then I remembered I didn't pray much at all to Heavenly Father today for help. No wonder it was so exhausting! I was doing it myself! Today I'm simply grateful for a Father in Heaven that will patiently teach me again and again how to be happy, and how to be a disciple of Christ. 

Saturday, 7 January 2017
No lessons today means.... contacting!!! All day... we made it, to say the least. It was really cool today, we were praying before we went tracting, and I just got a really nice feeling, and got the thought that even though people don't usually like us tracting into them, just to have faith and ring the doorbell. We rung the first one, told them we were missionaries, and they actually came to the door! We were able to explain a little about the Book of Mormon, and I felt it was a tiny miracle for the day.

Sunday, 8 January 2017
I always love the things that can come when the Spirit is around during study. I don't know what I was reading, but I just had a few really helpful thoughts hit me. It was about faith, since that's what I'm studying right now. It occurred to me there is no one great and final way in life to show Heavenly Father you have faith. It's the small, daily effort of trying, that shows the greatest faith. It's the same in many aspects. There is no one great thing you can do to solidify a relationship, whether it be with your family or with God. It's the small, constant daily effort. Other than that, it was a good Sabbath. The bishop invited us over to his house, and we had a really fun dinner with his family. They are all so hilarious and fun. It felt like just a nice, loving family. And then we got a new investigator! A student from our English class named Zack wanted to meet with missionaries, and we finally got a chance tonight! He seemed really willing, and we set a new time to meet with him. So it was a good end to a week here in Beitun. 

I love you friends and family. I've never realized how much so many different people have taught me and helped me come to this moment. And I'm so grateful I can share this message of peace to these people. I have no doubt that this is God's plan, and He loves us. Have a safe, adventurous, and Christ-Centered week.

-Elder Meanea