31 July 2017 Growing up Elder Hansen!

I love to see the people, and serve them give them peace,
let them feel the Holy Spirit, and biking will not cease!
(Elder Meanea Copyright 2017)

Monday, 24 July 2017
We had a great P-day today! Just got the necessaries done, mailed some stuff, and then played Yahtzee with the sisters and their short term missionary. We went out when the time came and rode into the most ginormous lightning storm I have ever been in. We were talking to a guy on the side of the road when a bolt struck probably about 300 yards away. We all jumped and looked at each other, then he rode of really fast. It was a good night of talking to people though!

Tuesday, 25 July 2017
A day full of awesome miracles. We taught a few lessons today and spent a good amount of time contacting. The coolest thing that happened was a family we went and taught. It is a mom and dad and their two little kids. And we taught them how prayer and the Book of Mormon can help their family. I love getting to tell people about how awesome the Gospel is and how it has personally blessed my family in all the things that we do. It was also a very wet night, and week since we had a few typhoons come our way.

Wednesday, 26 July 2017
'Twas not how we expected it to go. We got a call from a member who asked us to come help pick mangoes. We showed up and were slightly perplexed when she handed us each a poncho. She then had us climb up these ladders and pick the mangoes from her tree, and we quickly found out the ponchos were for the multitude of ants that showered off on us and bit our hands every time we touched a branch. We got some benadryl afterwards, so that was okay. And the mangoes were insanely delicious. We also finally met with the Huang family, the mom and her son who is a dancer. They are so cool! The kid goes to church all the time, and our branch president helped us share the first lesson with them. They said we can come back again next week and share!

Thursday, 27 July 2017
I taught District meeting again today, and the zone leaders came to pick us up for our exchange. We went to their area and made dumplings with one of their investigators. Afterwards we had about 40 minutes to contact. I was with Elder Neahaus and we got 5 people to set up to meet with us in 40 minutes. It was probably the 40 most productive minutes of my mission so far! It is so amazing to see what sacrifice and consecration can bring to a mission. It really brings much more power than I ever thought it would, which is something Elder Hansen and I are seeking to emulate as we build the kingdom here in Puli.

Friday, 28 July 2017
We finished our exchange and came back to Puli in time to do some weekly planning and then hit the streets! We had three interesting lessons. One was with a guy named David in a park who came up to use while we were eating and asked us what "Recuse" means. I don't think it's a word, but he said he heard it on BBC radio. We started talking about the world and its problems, and we had the amazing opportunity to share the plan of Salvation with him. I think it really touched his soul to hear about God's plan for us.

Saturday, 29 July 2017
Today was just mostly contacting. But it came with a cool miracle that we went back to the Zhang family (the ones at the beginning of the email) and the dad was happy to see us. He said we can come visit next week and that they might come to Church tomorrow!

Sunday, 30 July 2017
Well, because of a Typhoon that moved in last night, church all over the stake was cancelled. But when we woke up it was complete blue skies.... Oh well. It gave us time to go out and find some more cool investigators! We went back and helped peel the mangoes we picked, then went up the mountain to the parents of a member, because the Dad is getting surgery and wanted a blessing. I've given a lot of blessings with Elder Hansen, and it's always such a special feeling to bless someone that God wants to give comfort to. The last miracle of the week was that we went to an older couple's house who we met a few weeks ago but they stopped answering. It turns out their phone just had a problem, and we were able to share about the restoration of the Priesthood and Christs' Gospel. It was a really powerful lesson. Elder Hansen is already so amazing. He has this testimony that can really touch people's hearts and just works so hard, I know he is going to be an amazing missionary. I'm a proud trainer right here!

And that's the week. Full of miracles, full of the Savior. It amazes me every time I get to think that I'm here to serve my Savior and bring Heavenly Father's children unto them. I love you all friends and family!

-Elder Meanea

24 July 2017 - Another Week in Puli

Monday, 17 July 2017
Quite the P-Day! We emailed, got some groceries taken care of, and then went to go eat at Tang Mama's house! She fed us some tangy pork that we still have to pick out the name for, and then we had Pumpkin Cheesecake which was so, amazingly, good. Wow, it was so great. Then Elder Hansen made a cool looking scripture case and bought some rice hats that we wore around the apartment looking super shuai. (handsome) Then tonight we had a lot of finding time where we, you guessed it, found some cool people! We actually ran into a kid today in a 7-11 that recognized us from when we tracted his neighborhood a few days ago and said his mom wanted us to come back and visit them. So that was really cool!

Tuesday, 18 July 2017
What a full day! We went out tracting this morning and didn't really see anything, but we met a few cool people on the streets and talked to everyone we saw. I swear, Elder Hansen's breaker is going to think I'm the best missionary ever, but just don't tell him Elder Hansen came that way. Then tonight we ate at a members restaurant who has free ice cream. So you can imagine we go there quite often. After that we went to a lesson that we set up with the Old couple we met a few days ago. They didn't show, so we just went to their house instead. They were there and said they were definitely coming... tomorrow. So we had a communication breach there, but it's okay. Now we have an awesome member who speaks Taiwanese that can help us, because the wife barely speaks any Chinese. Party!

Wednesday, 19 July 2017
So we had a fantastic morning. Elehan came and we finally, FINALLY got to teach the plan of Salvation. He seemed to really like it, but he was super tired until the end because he just got off working the night shift. Then the moment came, and we offered a baptismal invite, and Elder Hansen asked him if he would be willing to get baptized on August 19, and he said YES!!! He's ON DATE BABY!!! I mean- *Very properly brushes self off and clears throat* We are all very excited for him. Then the rest of the day was spent running around to lessons and contacting, which was all very fun and entertaining. We finished off the night with an English spiritual share about serving others and watched Gordon B. Hinckley's message "Lessons I learned as a boy." It was so good! I know that there are lots of small ways we can serve those around us every day, and I know it will always be a bigger blessing to them than we could ever see ourselves.

Thursday, 20 July 2017
We practiced for singing in Zone Conference on Friday this morning, and that went well. After which we were contacting and this old guy just told us to follow him to his house. We did and taught a little lesson about the Book of Mormon, and he said we could come back again on Tuesday and tell him more. He also showed us his garden, which was pretty cool. Then this afternoon we were going to have a lesson with the cool Huang Family we found, but it was pushed an hour back, so we had to find a different member to go with us, and then it got cancelled all together, so we didn't get to teach tonight. But we did get to visit a member who just had surgery and give her a blessing, so that was pretty cool.

Friday, 21 July 2017
We had a great Zone Conference this day, which I translated three hours of for some Taiwanese Missionaries, so that was stressful but super fun! We talked a lot about the importance of obedience and how the more exact we are in obedience and the more patient, the greater blessings we'll see as we work. That was mostly it for today with all the traveling.

Saturday, 22 July 2017
We did some service for the sister's investigator pulling weeds this morning and then did some weekly planning, after which we hit the streets at night and found some really cool people to come to church tomorrow.

Sunday, 23 July 2017
We didn't have anyone come, until second hour when one of our investigators showed up with his daughter! SO that was really good. Then tonight we got to hit the streets hard, placed a few Book of Mormons and set up some return appointments. Things are really going to be rolling this week!

Ah, my dear family and friends, I'm so excited for the times ahead. There are good and bad, but it's all part of my mission. All part of this life on Earth. I only get one. Isn't that just the coolest. And I get to be here telling Heavenly Father's children all about it. I love this mission and the less-than-a-year I have to serve him. It's time to go all in, because we never get another shot!

I hope you all have a great week drawing closer to Christ my friends and family. I love you!

-Elder Meanea

17 July 2017 - SUMMIT But it ain't no downhill from here

Dearest Taiwan, God has sent you,
a few white Elders so happy and bright,
and delights to tell you Gospel,
So you'll strive, to get in the font!
(Copyright Elder Meanea 2017 I'm running out of ideas)

Monday, 10 July 2017
We had a super fun P-Day! Our sisters suggested going to Sun Moon Lake and an amusement park nearby, and I, ignoring the fact that Taiwan has no building codes, agreed to take Elder Hansen and myself along! It was pretty fun, actually, and the lake was beautiful! I got some pictures, but it really doesn't do it justice. The best part of the day was coming home and giving a tour of the chapel to this one guy we met last night in a neighborhood we were tracting, so that was a great end to the day!

Tuesday, 11 July 2017
We got stood up a lot today, but it was good, because we got to still work really hard and taught a lesson tonight and give a few priesthood blessings! We went to a member's house to return some bowls, and she just happened to have a new member of our ward over who just moved in, and they both needed blessings, so we got to help with that! Then the sisters had an investigator coming but they didn't have a member available to help, so they asked us to teach a lesson to Alex, a cool kid they met in a family mart last night who we taught a little bit about prayer and Book of Mormon. Cool stuff!

Wednesday, 12 July 2017
We spent the morning working in Huang Laoshi's garden and burning Elder Hansen to the shade of a nearly-ripe tomato in the Taiwanese sun. After we got cleaned up we headed out for a night of contacting fun! We ran into a less active family just because we recognized the sticker on their door. Then we met a lot of cool families tonight, but something always seemed to get in the way of us sharing our message with them. It's Satan I tell you! Well it's not going to work! It makes me want to share it all the more! Then we went and closed English class with a spiritual share, after which I probably broke my hand by falling off of my bike while not using said hands. But it was a great day, all in all.

Thursday, 13 July 2017
Another DTM by me! I think it went pretty okay, but I suppose you'd have to talk to the other district members to get an un-biased opinion. After which we had studies, dinner, and a lesson with Tang. He is the older brother of a member in our ward, and he's been investigating for a few months now, and he doesn't remember much of what he's been taught, so we are kind of starting over. But he's willing, so that's super cool! And then we went looking for a place to tract that Elder Densely told me about, but it turned out being a Monastary and a bunch of vacation homes at the top of a mountain. So... it was a good night!

Friday, 14 July 2017
Hahaha, sometimes you just have one of those days where you get to the end and think, "What actually just happened?" We started the day by doing W****y planning (fill in the blanks!) and then went out on the streets. We ran into a lot of really cool people today, and honestly it was one of the most productive days of my mission. We also met a psycho who learned English from watching HBO and wanted to know where we lived and how many girlfriends we had. It concerns me about what kind of content is on HBO by the vocabulary he had, but we biked away before I could ask. Then tonight we were almost late for our lesson with Wang because we got let into three houses in a row! That's doesn't happen! And we set up to go to one next week and one tomorrow night! So that was pretty great. Then we had a lesson with Wang, who is not progressing, but our members are so great and keep encouraging us to meet with him and they do a lot to help him come closer to Christ. And then I sat and thought about how many cool miracles we saw today! One was a guy named Sue, who we just pulled off to talk to and he asked if we were students. When we said we were missionaries, he took out the earplugs he had in and started talking to us. He told us on Sunday he was going to go join a church in Taichung with his friend, but he wanted to go on a chapel tour on Monday with us, so that was weird, but he was really willing to listen to our message, which was cool!

Saturday, 15 July 2017
A fantastic day to find those prepared souls! We met a lot of cool people, exchanged some numbers, and set up with a few people to meet again next week! It was a really good day, and I'm really tired from biking so fast. I love how fearless Elder Hansen is. He isn't timid about bearing his testimony to anyone, which is something I'm really trying to emulate. It's so cool to see miracles just work around us according to his faith. We taught a really great lesson tonight. At first we didn't think it was going to be much, but it was to a dad that we found last night tracting, and he said he's Taoist and is pretty traditional, but he was willing to let us come back, and listened very intently while we told him about our loving Heavenly Father, and how He wants to help our family. He was listening VERY intently, and it seemed like he was tearing up. We asked him to pray at the end of the lesson, and he did! In the midst of his prayer I really felt the power of the Holy Ghost there with us, and I could tell he felt it too. His name is Zheng. And he might come to Church tomorrow, which would be fantastic! And then we biked really fast to get to a lesson that stood us up, but we were still on a high, so it didn't matter! (A spiritual high, just for clarification)

Sunday, 16 July 2017
A great day. No investigators at church, but still great meetings, some good studies, another delicious dinner with Sister Fan and Brother Su, and then we went out tracting tonight. We met some really cool people, but the best moment was when we had 15 minutes left and we had to pick a door. I had just told Elder Hansen "Let's go for the Gold!" when a door with Gold on it fell into view. Without a second thought we knocked and they let us in. "They" were an old couple, Mr. Zhang and Mrs. Pan. They were really nice to us and agreed to come to the Chapel on Tuesday to learn more about this message, so it was a great end to this week!

For those of you who don't know, This past week marked my 1st year as a missionary. The time has gone by so fast, and there have been so many challenges and miracles that have marked the path. And there is still a long one yet to travel. I feel like they give us two years on a mission with a badge so that, by the time we're released, we don't need the badge. Because his name is written on our hearts. For me personally, I feel like this has been my call. From fisherman to follower of Christ. I've always believed, but I've never had to give so much of myself to who I believed in. I truly know that as we lose our lives for Christ, our whole life, not just 18 months or 2 years or what have you, we are truly going to find Life Eternal.

So here's to another year. Not the last. Just another in the journey we're all on to follow our Savior.

-Elder Meanea

10 July 2017 - Bringeth it On

Monday, 3 July 2017
A fairly hectic, but fun and interesting day. I helped Elder Densley get to the train station in Taichung, and then split off with my zone leaders to have P-Day and most of this week down in Caotun. We emailed, got some bikes fixed, and moved stuff from their old apartment to their new apartment before heading out to contact for the night! It was super fun, both my zone leaders are super hard workers. And it makes me feel like God is giving me just a little extra pump up, some last leadership training before he makes me step up to being in front myself.

Tuesday, 4 July 2017
Another day with the zone leaders. They have a pretty fun area, in which we spent the whole day just having lessons and traveling around to other lessons, because they are just really good at finding. Not much else happened today except a few lessons with a lot of cool investigators. Sorry, there really isn't much else for me to write. I'll see you all tomorrow.

Wednesday, 5 July 2017
A fun last day with the zone leaders! We contacted a lot and it was cool to see how much faith and diligence brings in at the end of the day. It was one of the most productive missionary days I've been a part of. We met some cool people, ate some great ice cream, and also taught English class together! I haven't taught English since training, so that was an experience. I'm really excited to take all the things I learned here and put it back in Puli. I know it's all in the Lord's Hands, and I'm more excited now than ever to see the miracles abound as I take my trainee on a journey with me as we both learn how to be better disciples of Christ. Of course I'll be losing my mind in about 5 minutes again stressing about training, but at least I know it's God's plan. It always is, I just have to follow it.

Thursday, 6 July 2017
I got my new best friend Elder Hansen today! He is so freaking cool, his faith and enthusiasm are unbeatable, and I'm just so excited that we get to work together in Puli for the first part of his mission! I met him at the new missionary meeting in Taichung, and then we took the bus back to Puli. We got home just in time to do some weekly planning (haha, got you. It wasn't on Friday this time. ;-) and then go to a members house for dinner and to eat cake for another member in our ward who was having a birthday! Then contacting that night we met two really cool people. One is named Ye, and the other was Han. They both set up to meet with us in the next two days, which I'm really excited for. Then that night we were going down a road and I saw a house a little ways off a side road, so I turned. As soon as my wheel touched the pavement a chorus of barks filled the air, and I saw some dogs running a little ways off. Half jokingly I turned around and told Elder Hansen to bike for his life, and then I looked back two seconds later to find that we actually needed to bike for our lives! They were suddenly right on our heels and chased us way down the street! To make matters worse, Elder Hansen was still waiting for his new bike, so he just had to peddle like crazy on this dinky little spare bike we had. We laughed so hard that night. I'm the best trainer.

Friday, 7 July 2017
Another awesome day with not a few miracles! We had district meeting, the first one taught by myself, which was good. I mean, it at least wasn't a disaster, so that means it was a success, right? After which we went to meet Ye, and he wasn't home, But his brother was, and he said he would be back soon. Then he pulled up and we taught him about prayer and the Book of Mormon right on his doorstep. He seemed to love it, but he has to go do military service until September, so at least he can take it with him even though we won't be able to meet with him. Then the last miracles of the night are Mr. Liu and Mrs. Guo. We knocked on their door and they were the first ones to answer while we were tracting last night, and they let us right in. They were super interested in prophets, and after talking for a while, said we can come back next week and teach again! What a great day!

Saturday, 8 July 2017
Another absolutely fantastic day! We started out by tracting before it was time to go to our lesson with Elehan, who we met on Thursday. We shared the whole first lesson, and Elder Hansen was fantastic! The Spirit was really strong, and he set up to meet with us and a member next week and to read the Book of Mormon and pray every day! It was so great. Then we met with Wang again, which was super exasperating, because he still has all these weird thought processes and won't listen to us. But then that night we got let in tracting again! An older man named Chen with his grandkids let us in to share about the Restoration and he said we could come back tomorrow night! It's a wonderful day ladies and gentleman! We just had a great time talking to a lot of really cool people. We've been super blessed these past few days.

Sunday, 9 July 2017
What. A. Day. We had church meetings today, got everyone introduced to Elder Hansen which was really fun, because half of the people here speak at least enough English to say, "Welcome to Taiwan!" I love our ward. And we had a man show up who we thought was our investigator. I only met him once 6 weeks ago, and I asked if his last name was "Li" and he mis-heard and thought I said "Lin" and said yes. So I went through all the meetings thinking he was our investigator, but then he wasn't. Whoops. Oh well! And then a couple from our ward fed us pizza and we had a great lesson with Brother Chen, a man we met tracting last night. He was super into what we shared again, and agreed to read the Book of Mormon and start praying about it. It was a really great lesson.

Elder Hansen has had quite the first week of training. He's been teaching way better than I could have my first few weeks in the field, and he is just such a loving and diligent missionary. I don't know why I'm training him, he's training me. I am so blessed to be serving right now and inviting these people to come unto Christ. I love it all so much. And that's it for this week folks! I love you all as well!

-Elder Meanea

3 July 2017 - The World Turns Upside Down!

I know the people here,
and love them too.
The spirit whispers "Go teach them!"
and then I go and do,
And then I go and do!
(Copyright Elder Meanea 2017, also starting to consider if I want all these copyrights attached to my name)

Monday, 26 June 2017
It was kind of a sad P-Day to be honest. Much too much pain. Elder Densley and Sister Jones did what's called the "Duoduo challenge." You drink 20 tiny bottles of this yogurt stuff. It was Elder Densley's idea yesterday, and told us he threw up 8 times last time he tried, and so obviously that seemed like a great activity to half our district. I just videoed the whole thing. They made it and were in great pain the rest of the day. So it was really depressing to watch them... but then we made it to mission time! We had a lesson with Wang again. He's still crazy, and it's still super hard to keep him on track. But there was a moment in there where I got to bare testimony of the Plan of Salvation, and he just listened really intently, and I could feel the Spirit testify in the room, which I'm really grateful for. It was so great. 

Tuesday, 27 June 2017
Today was a super busy, super cool miracle day. It started as we were tracting and ran into a cool kid who was home and let us in to teach for a bit. He was super ripped as well, but he didn't beat us up. And then on the roads I've been trying to work on being more bold with approaching people, and on our way to visit a former investigator we saw a guy on the side of the road who I almost passed, but then then pulled off and talked to. He was super surprised because he is from China and also a Christian. He was super happy to meet fellow brothers! We shared with him the Book of Mormon, and he was super interested, but had to start going back to China that day. His name was Chris Li. I fully expect he is going to find the church and I'll meet Stake President Li when I go on a senior mission to China. And then we met with the Buddhist master Shifu who fed us food and she asked us about missions before we went with a few ward members to visit a part member family in the mountains. So today was super great!

Wednesday, 28 June 2017
Go. Find. Teach. I did the going and finding bit today, not much teaching, but that's okay! It was a classic, hard-working day, which I really enjoyed. I've done a lot more tracting here than in any of my other areas. There are just a lot of people and actual homes you can find. I felt like nobody actually lived in my precious areas. But here "All the light touches is our kingdom." "But what's that big building place over there Elder Densley?" "That is a Buddhist monastery, you must never go there." *Makes plans to go visit monks the next day* Anyways. Not much to report for today except that the Church is really true and beans taste great on ice cream.

Thursday, 29 June 2017
Just a very busy and full day. We had district meeting, which is always good, and then took possibly our last picture together as a district. Most likely Sister Jones and Elder Densley are leaving, and it's very possible for me to go senior companion here! So scary!! But anyways, we were going to go outside after, but a mini-burst moved in, blew our bikes nearly out the parking lot, and forced us back inside for companion study. After study we went tracting and found a Buddhist monk that told us life is fake and nothing is real. We said that was cool and asked if he needed help with his fake lawn, he said we could come back later, so we'll see how that goes. And lastly we visited the house of a family whose dad is less active, just looking for service opportunities, and they seemed to really appreciate us coming by. 

Friday, 30 June 2017
You guessed it, I'm not even going to say it (weekly planning). After which was some contacting time, followed by dinner with Carole the recent convert at her friends house. They made us some really good curry rice and invited both us and the sisters over. Afterwards all we had time for was to run over to Wang's house and have a quick sit down with him and see how he's doing on commitments. His son keeps blocking us on his phone for some reason, so we just stopped by to talk to him, and we sat down for about a half hour. He said he has Christian friends who say we're a cult, and us saying we're the restored Gospel and he doesn't know who to listen to. So he accepted an invitation to pray about it tonight, and we'll be praying as well. And that's about it for today. 

Saturday, 1 July 2017
Oh boy. I've really done it now. It's all over folks. We're fried, totally fried. But before I go into that, today was great! We went up to Mr. Xiao's house and caught him just before he left. He remembers everything we've taught him and still likes and remembers us! I'm always afraid with his mind issues he has whether or not he's getting what we're saying. But he said we could come back on Monday to teach the Plan of Salvation to him finally! He actually told us last time that when he had his car accident he died for a little while and went to "heaven" and saw his mom there, who passed away a long time ago. He says that she told him he couldn't stay, that he had things to do and he had to go back to living. So we'll be quite thrilled to let him know exactly why his mom told him to come back. And then we got fed twice today! One was noodles and intestines and the other was a good-old hot pot, so that was really fun. All the members here are great. And we also had a youth basketball activity that got a little rained out, but the young men still wanted to play, so we did for about a half hour, getting totally soaked in the process. It was super fun! And well, to finish off the night, my life-disrupting text came. From the President formally known as Teh. He said I WILL BE TRAINING A NEW MISSIONARY HELP ME WHAT IS MY LIFE WHY WOULD THEY LET ME DO THIS WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS ALSO- (splutters into silence as I realize that no amount of CAPS LOCK typing is going to help the situation at all.) Yes, I have no idea what I'm doing. IF the parents of my future trainee ever end up reading this don't tell him I was freaked out. Just say I was super cool about it and he should have total confidence in my amazing-ness as a missionary. (Just joking, all we need is the Spirit and we'll be fine. Good thing it's not up to me or this island would burn) So, I'm going to go to bed pondering my life choices now. I'll talk to you all tomorrow. 

Sunday, 2 July 2017
It's tomorrow. Still freaking out. Oh well. I'm just going to try and follow the Spirit and not burn our area to the ground. Cheers. :-) Sunday was really fast. We basically went to meetings, said goodbye to a lot of people, including Shifu who cried when Elder Densley left, and then we had a great last supper at Tang Mama's. I can't really walk. I'm waddling. So fat.

So, all in all, it's been a great week! I am actually so super excited to meet my new trainee! It's a day I thought should never come, but it has. I constantly reflect on 2 Nephi 32:3, and how the Words of Christ will always provide us with the Spirit we need to do those acts that God has planned for us. That has become my life work on my mission. 1. Be God's reliable tool, and 2. Love with all I've got. I know if I do that, my mission will be all every needs it to be. I love you family and friends!

-Elder Meanea