Count your many lessons teach them one by one!
(Copyright Elder Meanea 2017, and no, I couldn't think of anything clever to finish with, so shove it.)
Hello Family! Hello Friends! Hello old acquaintances that were about to delete me from their Facebook accounts when they saw this post from my blog! Basically hello to everyone.
Monday, 6 March 2017
Contrary to the opening song, no, we didn't have any lessons today. But we did go to the beach with one of Elder Jones' old investigators from Kaoshiung! I don't even know how to spell that in English. It was super fun! We dug up crabs, got sand-blasted, and I got some beautiful photos! Then that night we went out contacting. Whereas most nights it's a bit difficult to re-focus after p-day, tonight felt, special for some reason. We met a few cool people, didn't really see much success, but it just felt, more right to be working that night. It occurs more and more to me (probably the Spirit pounding on my rock of a brain with his sledge hammer) that I am truly out here to find God's children. Which means brothers and sister I loved long before they came here. It has made the work that much more meaningful to me. It was a great night.
Tuesday, 7 March 2017
Mostly contacting today. After working in the morning, we got to visit that Sister Cai from last week. When we first got there, the atmosphere was not good at all, and we just sat and listened to her problems again for a while. I feel like she doesn't have anyone else to talk to. After she was done, we were able to bring the Spirit back and introduce the Book of Mormon to her, and tell her how the Book of Mormon is the word of Christ, and that the word of Christ will tell us all things that we need to do. I've honestly found that to be true in my own life every time I have opened that book with a sincere desire to find out what it is that God wants me to do. I feel so blessed to be able to share this knowledge with everyone who is willing to listen to it. To tell them, "Here is God's message to you, and here's how you prove it." Later that night we went to a park to contact, and the only one there was a guy running, so we started running with him and talking to him about religion. We ran with him for about 15 minutes, then he went home, but it was pretty fun!
Wednesday, 8 March 2017
Mostly contacting today. It's always interesting to see the people you meet in the parks of Taiwan. Today's special was a man we met at a place we call the "Duck Park" because it has ducks from China, that are apparently pretty cool. They just make weird noises though. But tonight we met a guy playing a game on his phone sitting down next to the pond. We started talking to him and sat down. We were talking about his beliefs, and he told us he's a special person, and that he sees spirits and other people's spirits. You can just imagine the kind of face I was making while he wasn't looking at me. We told him that was very nice and asked if he believed in Jesus. He said no, then two minutes later in the conversation he told us that he's seen Jesus before. So we asked him why he didn't believe in Jesus. He said "It's hard to explain." So we just left. :-) Then we had an active member lesson with the Yen family at their house, and talked to the mom and son (who are both converts) about the importance of the Sacrament, and they had a lot of questions about family in Utah, so I got to tell them about my awesome one.
Thursday, 9 March 2017
Well, today was absolutely nuts. The day started out well enough by teaching a Lutheran minister about the restoration of the Gospel by Joseph Smith, which honestly went better than I thought it would. We met a member of his congregation on the street who was super nice and invited us over, and we went TO THEIR CHURCH and it was her and her minister, and I thought "Great. Which cupboard do they keep the feathers in?" But he didn't bible bash us at all, just listened while we shared, and in the end he said "I understand better now." And then asked to get involved in our family history program. So that was super cool. Then later that night we went visiting less active members with ward members. We all met at the Chapel, and our Bishop is so funny. He called the guy he assigned us to go meet with on his end was, "You're sleeping? Get up! We're coming to visit you! 10 Minutes!" We then biked to a 7-11 near his house and tried called him, and bishop called and told us he was in the 7, but nobody in there was looking at us. So the member with us called the guy's phone, and we saw a guy in there look at his phone, then look up at us. He had been trying to hide from us, but then he saw we knew him, and very curtly motioned us over. The whole lesson he was NOT happy at all to be there, but at the end, after we shared a little spiritual thought, he honestly seemed to warm up a bit after feeling that and knowing we were just there to see how he was doing. So, that was pretty funny.
Friday, 10 March 2017
Weekly planning! Obviously. I should probably just stop recording that because anyone who has followed these emails thus far knows exactly what's coming up first every time Friday rolls around. Anyways... That's about it for Friday. We talked to some cool people, exchanged some information, and did that all day. It is cool to see that out of the thousands of people we run into each day, and the millions that are in this city, that God helps us find the ones who will talk to us, and have interest in learning more about the Gospel. It's a challenge every day to be in tune enough with the Spirit to know where Heavenly Father wants us. It's a really good thing we have two companions for that.
Saturday, 11 March 2017
We went to the chapel this morning for a lesson, but he rescheduled on us, so Elder Jones and I went to a place called E Zhong Jie. I don't know how to describe how to say that in English. It's a super cool little market street, and we got these omelet/breakfast burrito things that are so good! Then the guy who we were meeting with canceled, so we just did studies and messed around with some badminton equipment we found in the closet until our 2:00 lesson came. ;-) Her name is Jenny, and she's been investigating for 2 years now. Before she was just about to get baptized, then she just got way too busy with work. It turns out her work has lightened a bit, so we're meeting with her now! It was a good lesson, and there were some really spiritual moments. Hopefully she rekindles her desire to get baptized. After which we went and ate some Curry chicken, then it was back out on the streets for the rest of the night. We ran into a guy who used to meet with the Elders in Beitun, so today was basically "Revenge of the Formers." We set up to meet with him next week, then got two people we met this week to confirm for Church tomorrow!
Sunday, 12 March 2017
So... nobody came to church. Darn. It happens though. On the bright side, a sister came in after Church today and was looking for some Elders to go to the hospital and give her mom a blessing. That was us! So we went and gave her a priesthood blessing. It was really cool to go and see the faith that these two had to call on us to come give them a blessing by the Wpirit. The mom was really old, but her eyes were so alight with happiness that we were there. Also, two people today thought that I was from Japan and told me Arigatou ("thank you"). I don't look Japanese! The other was a person we ran into at the park tonight. We also met the Chen family tonight. They were super cool! The dad brought his two kids to the park to just sit around for a bit, and I talked to the dad while Elder Jones talked to the two kids. They were really nice and we all talked for about a half hour, so it was a great way to end the week!
Of course there are downs to every week, but that's because you can't have ups without downs. Any runner could tell you that. Otherwise everything would be all flat and boring. Through every trial I face, I am constantly reminded of my Savior's love for me, and His love for the people I serve, and the small and big miracles I see everyday increase my faith in my Father's plan. We all are where we are for a reason, I just hope that I do all I can with the time that God has granted me. I love you all, family and friends.
-Elder Meanea
Tuesday, 7 March 2017
Mostly contacting today. After working in the morning, we got to visit that Sister Cai from last week. When we first got there, the atmosphere was not good at all, and we just sat and listened to her problems again for a while. I feel like she doesn't have anyone else to talk to. After she was done, we were able to bring the Spirit back and introduce the Book of Mormon to her, and tell her how the Book of Mormon is the word of Christ, and that the word of Christ will tell us all things that we need to do. I've honestly found that to be true in my own life every time I have opened that book with a sincere desire to find out what it is that God wants me to do. I feel so blessed to be able to share this knowledge with everyone who is willing to listen to it. To tell them, "Here is God's message to you, and here's how you prove it." Later that night we went to a park to contact, and the only one there was a guy running, so we started running with him and talking to him about religion. We ran with him for about 15 minutes, then he went home, but it was pretty fun!
Wednesday, 8 March 2017
Mostly contacting today. It's always interesting to see the people you meet in the parks of Taiwan. Today's special was a man we met at a place we call the "Duck Park" because it has ducks from China, that are apparently pretty cool. They just make weird noises though. But tonight we met a guy playing a game on his phone sitting down next to the pond. We started talking to him and sat down. We were talking about his beliefs, and he told us he's a special person, and that he sees spirits and other people's spirits. You can just imagine the kind of face I was making while he wasn't looking at me. We told him that was very nice and asked if he believed in Jesus. He said no, then two minutes later in the conversation he told us that he's seen Jesus before. So we asked him why he didn't believe in Jesus. He said "It's hard to explain." So we just left. :-) Then we had an active member lesson with the Yen family at their house, and talked to the mom and son (who are both converts) about the importance of the Sacrament, and they had a lot of questions about family in Utah, so I got to tell them about my awesome one.
Thursday, 9 March 2017
Well, today was absolutely nuts. The day started out well enough by teaching a Lutheran minister about the restoration of the Gospel by Joseph Smith, which honestly went better than I thought it would. We met a member of his congregation on the street who was super nice and invited us over, and we went TO THEIR CHURCH and it was her and her minister, and I thought "Great. Which cupboard do they keep the feathers in?" But he didn't bible bash us at all, just listened while we shared, and in the end he said "I understand better now." And then asked to get involved in our family history program. So that was super cool. Then later that night we went visiting less active members with ward members. We all met at the Chapel, and our Bishop is so funny. He called the guy he assigned us to go meet with on his end was, "You're sleeping? Get up! We're coming to visit you! 10 Minutes!" We then biked to a 7-11 near his house and tried called him, and bishop called and told us he was in the 7, but nobody in there was looking at us. So the member with us called the guy's phone, and we saw a guy in there look at his phone, then look up at us. He had been trying to hide from us, but then he saw we knew him, and very curtly motioned us over. The whole lesson he was NOT happy at all to be there, but at the end, after we shared a little spiritual thought, he honestly seemed to warm up a bit after feeling that and knowing we were just there to see how he was doing. So, that was pretty funny.
Friday, 10 March 2017
Weekly planning! Obviously. I should probably just stop recording that because anyone who has followed these emails thus far knows exactly what's coming up first every time Friday rolls around. Anyways... That's about it for Friday. We talked to some cool people, exchanged some information, and did that all day. It is cool to see that out of the thousands of people we run into each day, and the millions that are in this city, that God helps us find the ones who will talk to us, and have interest in learning more about the Gospel. It's a challenge every day to be in tune enough with the Spirit to know where Heavenly Father wants us. It's a really good thing we have two companions for that.
Saturday, 11 March 2017
We went to the chapel this morning for a lesson, but he rescheduled on us, so Elder Jones and I went to a place called E Zhong Jie. I don't know how to describe how to say that in English. It's a super cool little market street, and we got these omelet/breakfast burrito things that are so good! Then the guy who we were meeting with canceled, so we just did studies and messed around with some badminton equipment we found in the closet until our 2:00 lesson came. ;-) Her name is Jenny, and she's been investigating for 2 years now. Before she was just about to get baptized, then she just got way too busy with work. It turns out her work has lightened a bit, so we're meeting with her now! It was a good lesson, and there were some really spiritual moments. Hopefully she rekindles her desire to get baptized. After which we went and ate some Curry chicken, then it was back out on the streets for the rest of the night. We ran into a guy who used to meet with the Elders in Beitun, so today was basically "Revenge of the Formers." We set up to meet with him next week, then got two people we met this week to confirm for Church tomorrow!
 |
| Elder Meanea making noodles his sister sent him from Rome, Italy, in Taiwan for his 1/3 mark! |
So... nobody came to church. Darn. It happens though. On the bright side, a sister came in after Church today and was looking for some Elders to go to the hospital and give her mom a blessing. That was us! So we went and gave her a priesthood blessing. It was really cool to go and see the faith that these two had to call on us to come give them a blessing by the Wpirit. The mom was really old, but her eyes were so alight with happiness that we were there. Also, two people today thought that I was from Japan and told me Arigatou ("thank you"). I don't look Japanese! The other was a person we ran into at the park tonight. We also met the Chen family tonight. They were super cool! The dad brought his two kids to the park to just sit around for a bit, and I talked to the dad while Elder Jones talked to the two kids. They were really nice and we all talked for about a half hour, so it was a great way to end the week!
Of course there are downs to every week, but that's because you can't have ups without downs. Any runner could tell you that. Otherwise everything would be all flat and boring. Through every trial I face, I am constantly reminded of my Savior's love for me, and His love for the people I serve, and the small and big miracles I see everyday increase my faith in my Father's plan. We all are where we are for a reason, I just hope that I do all I can with the time that God has granted me. I love you all, family and friends.
-Elder Meanea
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