(Copyright Elder Meanea, 2017)
Anyways... my week!
Monday, 6 February 2017
We went hiking to Fairy Lake with Elder Burge's friend, Scott. We also took the Dali Elders with us. It was so fun! It was just like hiking some of the canyons in Zion or in the hills above Cedar. It was super nostalgic. Then we went back and had dinner at a burger place near the chapel with a few other elders. I also got a discount because I was wearing shorts from our hike. I don't know why this place does that, but they do! So 5 kuai off! We went home and cleaned up, then went out and walked around for a bit. We met that one lady we gave a book of Mormon to in the park again! She had a friend with her who spoke great English, and just as they were trying to end the conversation and leave, Elder Burge snagged the new guys number so we could set up an appointment with him. It was really cool! The last activity of the night was making calls, which went better than it ever has on my mission. We were able to set up four different lessons! That's crazy for what I've experienced! It was truly a blessing I saw just today as the week was starting!
Monday, 6 February 2017
We went hiking to Fairy Lake with Elder Burge's friend, Scott. We also took the Dali Elders with us. It was so fun! It was just like hiking some of the canyons in Zion or in the hills above Cedar. It was super nostalgic. Then we went back and had dinner at a burger place near the chapel with a few other elders. I also got a discount because I was wearing shorts from our hike. I don't know why this place does that, but they do! So 5 kuai off! We went home and cleaned up, then went out and walked around for a bit. We met that one lady we gave a book of Mormon to in the park again! She had a friend with her who spoke great English, and just as they were trying to end the conversation and leave, Elder Burge snagged the new guys number so we could set up an appointment with him. It was really cool! The last activity of the night was making calls, which went better than it ever has on my mission. We were able to set up four different lessons! That's crazy for what I've experienced! It was truly a blessing I saw just today as the week was starting!
Tuesday, 7 February 2017
And the miracle continues in that both of our investigators actually showed up! Well, actually the goodness started earlier that morning when we went out to the park contacting. I admire Elder Burge's ability to make people feel at ease when we're talking to them, and we actually got three numbers! That's more than all last week combined! And then we went to our first lesson at the chapel. His name is John, and he was the one a couple weeks back we contacted on the street and said he actually had 1 minute to talk. He showed up and we talked about prayer and the Book of Mormon, and committed him to start reading and praying. It went pretty well! And then David showed up. David, David, David. He was a referral from Elder Van Slooten from my MTC district. David pulled up in his car and almost seemed to run up to the church door. He's 60 years old, but moves like a very healthy 40 year old. Okay, that's not the best comparison, but that's not the point! The point is he is freaking COOL! He's a bit of a talker, but he listened super intently when we talked about a Loving Heavenly Father and the Book of Mormon and very readily agreed to start praying and reading to find an answer. He was so happy to talk to us and listen to what we had to share. He is also just a super cool guy with pretty much perfect English. He stays in Taichung taking care of his mom who has dementia, and all the other kids are gone, and he's retired, so he just hikes all day and does fun stuff. So those were both awesome, and then we went out to contact the rest of the day. It was a little discouraging, despite the awesomeness we enjoyed all day, when nobody talked to us that night. We were getting ready to go home when Elder Burge remembered we needed to call our Golden investigator named Rollins. We sat at a 7-11 and called him, and he didn't answer. We sat there and moped for about 30 seconds, then he called back. I talked to him, and he was a little disappointed because he failed a test for school, but he said he was okay, and was sorry for missing our earlier texts. I asked him if he had been praying recently, and he said yeah, every time he was feeling frustrated or sad, and he asked what that thumping noise was when my jaw hit the table. I quickly pulled it back up and raised my eyebrows at Elder Burge in astonishment, then talked to Rollins about prayer for a bit, then asked if he was reading the Book of Mormon, and he said he's actually been reading it every night. He then asked what that noise was when Elder Burge's jaw hit the table as well. I told him it was nothing then talked to him about the Book of Mormon for a bit, after which he said, "Yeah, I just really wish I could be one of you guys." Luckily he stayed on the phone long enough for Elder Burge and I to come back around after passing out. So yeah, we set up to meet again on Saturday, and that'll be flipping fantastic, and it was a great end to a an amazing day in Beitun.
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
This is where the title of my email comes from. Because we were sentenced to Hobbit duty for the rest of the week today. I was riding down the road, and switched gears, but my bike didn't like that and ate my back gear-shift. And then my back tire wouldn't move at all, so we carried my bike to a shop, where we were politely informed that the part needed would take a few days to order and ship... so we're walking! We spent the rest of the day walking around Beitun talking to people. I believe there's a purpose to everything, so while this isn't exactly the most convenient situation, I'm sure it'll work to the fulfilling of God's plan somehow. We then walked about 40 minutes to the church that night for a lesson, who didn't show up, and then walked home and went to bed. Woot woot. ;-)
Thursday, 9 February 2017
We started our morning by walking to the chapel to do a language pass-off for some sisters there, and then we waited around to do our interviews with President. By the look on his face, he knows how well our area is going, and it was really nice to be spiritually uplifted by him. He gave a great analogy about how the master measures his fisherman by if their boats are in the water, and how diligently they cast their nets. I love the President Holland talk when he says, "Isn't it obvious now, if I want fish, I can get fish. What I need is disciples who love me." If that's what I am at the end of the day, there is nothing more I could have done as a missionary, and it provides me with a lot of comfort. Also, blessings! My bike actually got finished being repaired today! So our Hobbit week was cut short, but I'm not complaining.
Friday, 10 February 2017
Today was a great day! We had a zone training meeting discussing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love how every time we talk about it, I realize how important and central it is to everything we do. And then I went on exchanges with Elder Wilkinson! It was super fun. He is a great missionary and really cool guy. We came back to Beitun for the exchange, and we went contacting in the park, met a few really cool people, and one lady actually invited us back to her house to teach her and her husband for a few minutes. That's never happened before! It was a really cool experience to just be running all over the place preaching the Gospel.
Saturday, 11 February 2017
I got up early with Elder Wilkinson to bike to a nearby stadium, where a few elders and sisters were playing ultimate. It was so fun! It's been a long time since I've run that fast. After we got ready for the day, we went out proselyting. It's really cool to see the Christlike love Elder Wilkinson has for the people. I could feel it in every contact. We were also going to meet with our cool kid Rollins today, but his school schedule changed and he wasn't able to make it. Darn it. Hopefully he'll show up to church. After exchanges ended, we got treated by Elder Burge's friend, Scott, to Coldstone ice cream. IT WAS SO GOOD. I felt I earned it from the frisbee diving I did this morning. We also had to go in a bit early tonight and make some calls because their was a Daoist parade going around, and if you've ever heard anything about Daoist parades, you know exactly why we got out of there.
Sunday, 12 February 2017
Soooo.... a bit weird today. We had church meetings, and no investigators were able to make it, but we had a real nice sacrament meeting about trusting God in trials. I always love the feeling I get in the church building and when we get to partake of the sacrament. Then we went home and had studies until it was time to go back to the chapel for a lesson we set up. We called a former investigator in the phone, set up to meet with him, and found out at the meeting that he was actually baptized last year in a different ward, so, we're good missionaries? While we were meeting with him, a lady with a backpack and plastic bag came knocking on the door. She was out of breath and looked pretty shaken. She asked if we spoke Chinese, and I said yes (I love getting to say that) and then the member that was helping us in our lesson walked out. She said, "Oh good!" And she said she needed to sit and talk with us immediately, so we poked our head back into the room with our Recent Convert and told him we'd be a minute. She sat us down and started telling us a story, mostly through our native friend and talked really fast about how something happened and she had started doing witchcraft for some reason, and then her house started having demons in it threatening to harm her and make her sick, and stuff was falling down all the time in her house, and she got so scared that she sold her house that day, and pulled out the bill of sell to prove it to us, and she just filled a backpack and sack and walked out. She wanted to know if she could stay at the church, which she couldn't, but we got Bishop to start checking with members or something to see if she could stay somewhere. I don't know what happened to her because we had to leave, but I actually believe her story. Sadly enough, the devil has power inasmuch as the children of men give it unto him. There is weird stuff out here, but that doesn't mean I or you all need to be scared of it. God has given us all the blessing of His church, of prayer, of scripture, and through all of these things, Satan is nothing to us. Nothing he sends can shake us if we build on Christ. And I'm glad that I can tell the people here about it, no matter how long it takes for them to realize that there can be more light in their lives than they ever imagined.
Sorry to end on a bit of a sober note, but that is a pretty cool story to look back on. ;-) Elder Burge actually has stories about casting out devils, or at least watching it, but we can talk about that another time. I just want to say that I love this work, and things are crazy sometimes, but there is no place I'd rather be. I love you all, and I hope this week has brought you all closer to the Lord. There is so much He has given us. And I look forward to keeping on sharing here in Taiwan.
-Elder Meanea
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