16 October 2017 - Zone Conference and Exchanges

"I looked out the window and what did I see?
Typhoon."
(Copyright Elder Meanea 2017)

Monday, 9 October 2017

A good P-Day in which most of the time was spent playing basketball with Elder Yang and the Elders from Xiaogang. That was pretty fun. It's interesting how God will put people in your path that you're supposed to meet. While we were at the court, a lawyer by the name of Mr. Cai came up and talked to me and we started discussing religion. It didn't really turn out to anything that I knew of, but at least he hopefully got to feel some of God's love that day. The rest of the night was on the street contacting!

Tuesday, 10 October 2017
I went on my first exchange today with Elder Miller from Cuihua! It was really fun. I traveled to his area, and we mostly had a day of contacting. We found a guy on the side of the road that we were just going to pass by, but had a feeling to stop and talk, and he ended up having a lot of interest. I hope they get to meet with him! It's amazing to realize that God's children are everywhere you look, especially as a missionary. 

Wednesday, 11 October 2017
We finished the exchange and I met back up with Elder Yang, and then that night we had a lesson with Brother Zhong, who is still working on some commandment problems. But the amazing thing to me is that we asked him how it was going, and he said he had been praying to try and figure out a way to keep the specific commandment he was having a problem with. It was so incredible to me. He wasn't whining saying the commandment was dumb, or trying to find an excuse why he shouldn't have to obey it, he was truly trying to figure out a way to do the Lord's will. That was an eye-opening moment for me, and I wondered how often I asked the Lord how I could keep His commandments better.

Thursday, 12 October 2017
Elder Yang and I held our first Zone conference today! It was a little bit stressful, but we had a good time, and we received a lot of great instruction and President seemed to like our training! Most importantly, it felt like the Spirit was there, which is the most important part of any meeting or teaching appointment. If there is no Spirit, the Lord is not there in our work, and I know that we need Him so badly. We gave a training on improving our teaching skills, which I thought was pretty important, because every opportunity we have to teach our brothers and sister the Gospel is very sacred, and basically pre-arranged in Heaven. 

Friday, 13 October 2017
We had a meeting with Elder Steven R. Snow of the Seventy, which was really cool! They talked a lot about history and other things, and it was really interesting to see that records are just as important today as they were in Book of Mormon times. Just as those records were preserved to strengthen our testimonies, so our records should serve to uplift the generations that come after us. We also had another exchange tonight. I worked with Elder Barney from Shizhong. It was cool because I took him contacting his first night on Island when he came, and now we're doing exchanges together! He is a great Elder and we had a lot of fun together. And worked, obviously.

Saturday, 14 October 2017
Today was mostly taken up by planning and the exchange, but the cool miracle I saw today was Elder Barney's companion, Elder George. It was amazing to see him so concerned about doing better as a missionary and trying to help his district do the same, since he is the district leader. It's just a miracle to see the Lord take us regular teenagers, and in the process of a few months, if we're willing, He'll make us a lot more like His Son than we thought we could.

Sunday, 15 October 2017
A miracle! Our baptismal candidate Sister Xu came to church today, but after sacrament her 7-year-old son wanted to leave and started crying and causing a problem. But she needed to stay at church! Elder Yang and I tried frantically to think of some way to calm him down, but then a sister that is pretty good with kids swooped in and convinced him to go play with all the other primary children in Primary. Afterwards he told us he really liked it, and Sister Xu stayed for the whole 3 hours! After meetings we met with Steven, a new investigator, who is super smart and had a really cool lesson about our Father in Heaven. He really got what the message was about, and I'm excited to see him progress in Knowledge of the Gospel. 

And that's another week. I can't believe it, but it has passed, and I'm excited to find the miracles every day that the Lord is preparing for us. My love and prayers are with you family and friends, have a good one!

-Elder Meanea

9 October 2017 - Many Conferences

"Gaoxiong has need of willing men, who sweat until we melt!
Come help the mission move along, and just hope you won't be smelled!"

Monday, 2 October 2017
A good P-Day with our zone in which we went bowling at an alley in our area. It was super fun! It was also good to see a lot of old friends from the mission. That night we met with Jimmy. I was cleaning all the old former investigators out of the phone and called him, and he was willing to set up and meet with us. He still remembered missionaries, which was super cool, and is still willing to learn about the gospel! So that was a fun little miracle!

Tuesday, 3 October 2017
All day was spent in Mission Leadership Conference, which was full of secret information I cannot disclose on a public email server, so updates will come on that. But we did get to take the High Speed rail back to Gaoxiong in time for a lesson with Brother Wei, who set a baptismal date! He has been a Christian of another church for 20 years, but doesn't feel like it means anything to him, and now he's willing to work towards baptism at the end of the month! It's so exciting!

Wednesday, 4 October 2017
Brother Zhong. He is our investigator and is super cool!We had a really good lesson with him tonight. He has some changes to make in his life, but it's amazing to see what big changes he is willing to make now that he has tasted of the goodness of the Gospel! It's really a sight to see, watching the Gospel change someone. And I could feel how proud God was to see him making those changes. Repentance is never bad, it's a miracle.

Thursday, 5 October 2017
Today was all meetings. We went to another district in our zone for District meeting to fellowship with the missionaries there. It was pretty fun to see how well their district fits together. And I also ran into Sister Sprouse, who is in training right now, and is the sister of Julia Sprouse who was in my drama class at Cedar High. The miracle of a small Mormon world! That night we went back to the same area to have a meeting with the Stake president to coordinate some missionary work for the stake. That was pretty fun. He's actually a white guy, from where, I don't know. But he speaks perfect Chinese, so that was fun.

Friday, 6 October 2017
Weekly planning was followed by a lesson with our investigator Sister Zheng. She also really wants to turn her life around, and it was amazing to discuss the changes the Gospel has already made in her life, and help her to accept a baptismal date! It's in January, but it's still a date! So that was also pretty exciting. Whenever we aren't teaching or in meetings, we are out on the street contacting people and setting them up to meet with us. The people are like candy here, there are so many! I actually get to choose whereas in Puli it was just you talk to whoever you see. So I'm having a great time.

Saturday, 7 October 2017
All day was conference! We had the morning and afternoon sessions, followed by the priesthood sessions, which took all day. But it was so, so needed. I love the Spirit that the conference brings. Just as I wrote down questions I wanted answers to in my notebook, the talks started immediately addressing my questions. So that was amazing. Then that night we met with a man who says that he's been to the Budhhist Hell before and met their king. But he was interested in learning about Jesus, and was willing to pray, so I'm excited to meet with him again next week!

Sunday, 8 October 2017
Another conference day. It was so amazing. I love the fact that they emphasized so much about the kind of people we need to be, and not just the things we need to do. So often I try to fix my own weaknesses just by changing what I do, but we all need a mighty change of heart. And the most worthwhile changes can only come from the Atonement of Christ. I'm so happy to be here serving, and I love you all so much. Let Christ Change your life, I know He's changing mine.

-Elder Meanea

2 October 2017 - Southern Living

Monday, 25 September 2017
A good P-Day! I took the whole day getting to Gaoxiong and moving in, and then that night we had a really cool lesson with an investigator here named Brother Zhong. He is a little introverted guy, but it was super cool to share the Plan of Salvation with him, and it made him think of how loving God is. I love sharing this with people who don't understand the hope our lives can have.

Tuesday, 26 September 2017
My first full day here in Qianzhen! We did a little bit of contacting until tonight when we sat down with our Ward Mission Leader and our investigator Brother Wei. He is also really cool. He was Christian, but wants to learn more about our Church. He left the lesson asking us why we were all so "enthusiastic about the Gospel" which was an easy question to answer. The Gospel pretty much helps me find all the happiness that matters in life. He really wants to feel like God loves him, and I can't wait for him to find what he's looking for.

Wednesday, 27 September 2017
We traveled to Shizhong for our first baptismal interview! It was for the Elders, and it's a really faithful guy who has been investigating forever. He is still working on overcoming the word of Wisdom, but he had a super spiritual experience in the interview when Elder Yang promised him some specific blessings about joining the church. I love how amazing it is to work with the Spirit and know what people need to hear!

Thursday, 28 September 2017
Tonight at dinner we met with another awesome investigator named Zhou. He is a high school student trying to work up the courage to let his family know he's been meeting with us missionaries. So we decided that this Sunday we would fast with him so he has a chance to tell his parents about the Gospel that is CHANGING HIS LIFE. I love this area. It has a great mix of city that I love and other types of places like parks and big streets to contact on, and all the investigators we have really just want to make a change in their lives. It is so fun to see the Spirit work within them. I love sharing this gospel so much!

Friday, 29 September 2017
We had weekly planning and then went to an American diner to celebrate me turning 20 years old! It had super huge burgers, and if it's your birthday you can pick a prize, and I picked the prize that made the meal free. Haha! Great birthday! ;-) And then we went to a lesson that night at our Bishop's house with Mrs. Xu. She is a great mom who really wants the Gospel to help her family become happier. Lucky enough, we can help with that. It's so crazy to see how many prepared people there are everywhere you go!

Saturday, 30 September 2017
One of our Recent Converts invited us over for free soup today! Things just get better and better every day. Other than that today was all contacting. A pretty long one, but we were able to run into some cool new people.

Sunday. 1 October 2017
My new ward is great! There are a lot of great members I'm super excited to meet. Moving to a new area is super hard. You miss the companions and the people, but it's amazing how much God has in store for the next step of my journey. I trust God, that He has a great plan here for His Children, including me. I'm excited to see how it turns out. It was also super cool today because at the end of the night we hadn't found anything, but then we prayed, and the last 10 minutes found 2 super cool people. I love you all so much my family! My Friends! My fellows and compatriots! Have an amazing week!

-Elder Meanea

25 September 2017 - In the ZONE

Monday, 18 September 2017
We finally got to go play board games as a district! After which one of our members named "Monkey Zhou" fed us some dinner. He really loves to interact with us missionaries. He is a convert of just about one year, and when they went to the temple this week he just couldn't stop laughing after he came out because he was "filled with the Spirit and really happy!"

Tuesday, 19 September 2017
We went up to Taizhong for interviews today, which was a really fun time! We didn't have to go to Yuanlin because President Teh figured out that we went through Taizhong anyways to get there. So that was good. It was a great start to the ending of training to get to talk to President Teh about how it went. Other than that, lots of lessons tonight.

Wednesday, 20 September 2017
We met with our friend Mrs. Xu, who READ THE BOOK OF MORMON. She even marked up the intro with notes to ask us about things. It was super cool to discuss it with her since she really seemed to have interest! And then tonight we met with a guy named Zhen, who wasn't very interested at first, but then Elder Hansen started explaining to him about the Savior and what He does for us, and he got riveted on the conversation. He even said "That's amazing!" So I'm super excited to work with him some more to help his faith grow!

Thursday, 21 September 2017
Yesterday a man contacted us on the street. His name was Yang, and he was in a wheel chair waiting outside a medical clinic. Elder Hansen talked to him first, and then he agreed to meet us the next day. He showed up, and we shared the Restoration with him, and he was super interested in coming to church and checking it out! Another little miracle!

Friday, 22 September 2017
We met with a man named Wang tonight who we've tried to set up with a few times with no luck. But we sat down and explained the Plan of Salvation with him, and he was really interested in knowing if this plan was true, because he is Christian and had never heard anything like that before. He was really interested and it was cool to see him commit to learning more about it!

Saturday, 23 September 2017
Today as we were preparing lessons we were praying about giving one of our investigators named Zheng a baptismal goal. Elder Hansen and I prayed together, and we both got a very strong answer that October 28 would be a great day for him to be baptized. It was incredible. Then he didn't show up. I was confused for a while, but later that night he called us and set up to meet late that night, which we did, and then extended the invite. He said he still doesn't know, but he is willing to read the Book of Mormon to get an answer. I won't see him though, because I also got a text tonight that I will be going to Gaoxiong as a zone leader! So I am a little cramped on time today.

Sunday, 24 September 2017
A great day, my last sacrament as a missionary in Puli. But it was amazing to feel the peace that came with knowing that this is God's call for me. I came to love this people so much, and now I must leave. It was most moving to see how sad some of them were to see me go as well. The miracle for today was probably that I didn't cry in public.

This work is true, and I can't wait to start this new phase of my service! I love you all so much, and know that our Savior lives!

-Elder Meanea

18 September 2017 - Miracles upon Miracles

Monday, 11 September 2017
A good P-day we finally went out of our area to do something. The Zone Leaders invited us and a few other missionaries to a buffet in their area since Elder Hansen had to do a language pass-off with them. So that was fun! And then that night we had a great lesson with a lady in a waffle stand who we've been trying to set up for two weeks now, and we finally got to share the Restoration, and she committed to read the Book of Mormon!

Tuesday, 12 September 2017
At the very end of a long day of contacting, we still hadn't found our new investigator for the day, so we hit the houses hard tracting the last 30 minutes of the night, and knocked into our new friend named Lian. He is super cool, a nice man who doesn't know why God would be important to him, but was willing to let us share a little bit about his Loving Heavenly Father. It is my favorite thing to share about God to those who don't know they can have a personal relationship with Him, and it makes me feel so happy to know that we can be tools in helping them to come to know Him.

Wednesday, 13 September 2017
A day full of awesome lessons. One of which is Mrs. Xu, a lady who runs a sushi stand near the high school in Puli. She is really willing to listen, and we got to sit down and share about the Book of Mormon for a few minutes. She was really happy to let us come and teach her. So she was our miracle for the day!

Thursday, 14 September 2017
Well, one of our investigators showed up for his lesson.... slightly inebriated. So he wasn't in the exact right mind to accept the baptismal invite we had planned for him, but he still dearly wants to understand the truth that is in the Gospel. And he didn't crash his bike leaving, so that was a miracle!

Friday, 15 September 2017
We had a very interesting lesson sitting down with a lady in a park this week. Elder Hansen found her last week and set her up, and then when we sat down with her today, we found out she is Christian, but hasn't felt close to God ever since her brother and father died at an early age. We prayed with her and she said that was the first time in a long time she's said a prayer. She wants to come back to church, but it's just hard for her, so we shared about the Savior and how he understood everything that we've gone through. There is so much truth in this Gospel that people don't know, and I just want to share it with them! Then that night we were spending a few final minutes tracting and ran into this really quiet man named Tang. He let us into his house for a few minutes and we talked about God, because everyone needs to realize He loves them! He said he had a desire to get to know God, but didn't know how. So he agreed to let us help him.

Saturday, 16 September 2017
We found Liu and his buddy today. They are some high school kids who have gone to a few Christian churches and have a testimony that Jesus exists, and they really liked talking to us about Him. It's cool to see the testimony they already have and help them add to it. They agreed to meet again later so we could share more about how the Book of Mormon can help them get closer to God.

Sunday, 17 September 2017
A great sabbath, and the greatest part was that Elder Hansen and I got to give a few blessings today to some members in need. Elder Hansen told me today that he has never loved a calling more than this one, and it's amazing to think all Heavenly Father needs us to do. I'm humbled every day thinking of how sacred this responsibility is. I love being a missionary and serving God's Children! I love you all so much family and friends. I hope you have a great week!

-Elder Meanea

11 September 2017 -The People Be Coming!

*Insert Patriotic American song all of which I've forgotten because I eat with Chopsticks*

Monday, 4 September 2017
A fun P-Day in which I can't exactly remember what we did, but that's okay. Most of our lessons fell through that night, but we found a house where a bunch of people from Vietnam lived. Neither of us could communicate very well, but we showed them pictures of Jesus in the Book of Mormon and bore our testimonies, and so they agreed to take it and read it! We had a copy in Vietnamese that we gave to them, so that was a cool little miracle!

Tuesday, 5 September 2017
Most miracles this week center around people, which is great. We met with our friend Xu at the basketball courts here in town, and he said that he has always wanted to meet with missionaries, but has just been too busy to ever sit down with them. Now he has his own job and own time and is willing to listen. So he is super cool! He works at the hospital and wants to find out what our church is all about. I'm super excited to teach him. 

Wednesday, 6 September 2017
We met a lady in the market last week who said we can come and visit, Mrs. Wang. We went over and found out that she was the sister's investigator from about 2 months ago. They said at the time she didn't really have interest in learning about the message, but when we went she asked us to teach her how to pray, and has always wanted to learn from missionaries because before an Elder told her that "She just needs to smile!" And it helped her come out of depression of a few years. So there's another prepared soul that God wants us to bring to the fold.

Thursday, 7 September 2017
On Elder Hansen's first week here, we met a man named Chen in a little neighborhood that we got to sit down with twice before he went out of town until this week. We went to see him tonight, and he welcomed us back into his home. He was still very interested in learning about the Book of Mormon because the rest of his family is Christian, and said he was willing to start reading and studying to learn if it was true. I say it was a miracle because we thought we lost him, but God brought him back to us!

Friday, 8 September 2017
We found a cool place to tract where all the houses are orange and some are abandoned, and it's really quiet, so we call it the "Orange Ghost" neighborhood. We tracted there for a bit, but tonight one of our members asked us to come and help teach the Plan of Salvation for the night seminary class at our chapel. It was so cool to discuss it and watch Elder Hansen bear testimony of how the Plan of Salvation has touched his life, and get to discuss a little bit with the awesome youth in our ward what it means to them.

Saturday, 9 September 2017
Elder Hansen is on point. Tonight we were contacting in the street, and he stopped a lady who looked like she was homeless, and they started talking about church, and it turns out she has been to our church before and really wants to read the Book of Mormon, but every time she gets one it gets ruined. So we sat down with her and shared with her and found out she is just traveling Taiwan by herself right now because she lost her job. We really felt the Spirit as we shared about how God really loves us, and wants us to be happy in this life and forever. We won't be able to meet again because she's still just traveling, but we got her a Book of Mormon and sent her on her way. I think we did something that God really needed us to that night. 

Sunday, 10 September 2017
Darn investigators didn't show up at church, but tonight we had a lesson with Mr. Tong. He is the most Golden person I have ever met. He has had a hard life with divorce, and doesn't feel anything from practicing his current religion, and a friend told him he needs to check out Christianity, so he has been looking for 4 years to find a church that really will meet his needs. He came to the right place and we shared the Restoration with him, and he was really excited and set up to meet again the next day! So it was a great end to the week. 

I know God truly watches over all of us. And everything we need to be happy in life is already here for us. The Atonement of Christ isn't just a crutch for bad times, it is the power that should carry us through every day of our lives. And I'm coming to learn that in a very personal way. I love you all and hope you can always feel God's love for you. I know it's real. And I love you all as well!

-Elder Meanea

4 September 2017 - A LOVEly Week

"I feel the Savior's Love, for all the ones around me, His spirit lifts my soul, to serve all those I see!"
(Copyright Elder Meanea 2017)

Monday, 28 August 2017
The board game shop was closed, but you can always count on the Puli Elders to think up a backup-plan. We played tellestrations for P-Day, and I have to say that it is one of the most laughable things I've ever done. That night we had a few lessons set up, but they all fell through, so we were on the streets and as usual, and as always there were people waiting for us to meet them! It just takes a little faith.

Tuesday, 29 August 2017
Oaker Song. Sounds like a TV show character, but he is actually an investigator that we finally got to meet with today! He is super cool, and we shared about the Restoration. He literally began the lesson by saying, "I love Jesus, but I don't know what church is His and which I should go to." Elder Hansen and I looked at each other and thought, "Well, do we have a story for you!" He took it pretty well, and from when we had met him he already read the introduction to the Book of Mormon and the Testimony of the Witnesses. It is so cool to see how prepared people are waiting for us wherever we go to find them.

Wednesday, 30 August 2017
We slogged all through the day with only 3 people adding to meet, but our goal was 4. A little resigned at 8:55, Elder Hansen and I headed back to the apartment, only to get a call from a contact that he wanted to meet right then! We went and met (which was the 4th add we needed) and he was a super cool Christian that was really interested in learning about the Book of Mormon. Thumbs up for last second miracles!

Thursday, 31 August 2017
We went on exchanges today and I went over to Caotun while Elder Hansen stayed in Puli to work. Mine went pretty well, but Elder Hansen ran the area perfectly while I was gone! Not to say that was a miracle, I had complete faith in him, but it was cool to see him do it by himself. They also met with one of our investigators named Lian who said he knew the Book of Mormon was true! I'm so excited for him! He is moving right now, so he's not in Puli right now, but he is so amazing and I can't wait to teach him when he gets back!

Friday, 1 September 2017
A contact we met named Mrs. Liu was super cool tonight! We sat down in a 7-11 to teach her, and got as far as the 4th paragraph in the introduction before she interrupted and said she didn't believe in resurrection and didn't want it because she didn't want her enemies to live again. I tried reasoning with her and telling her about some bible scriptures that talked about Resurrection, but she wasn't having it. Elder Hansen was being a little more in tune and just insisted we keep reading from the Book of Mormon together, which brought the Spirit back in and helped her to calm down, and she agreed to pray about it when she went home that night. I'm so grateful for Elder Hansen and his discernment!

Saturday, 2 September 2017
The hard work today paid off in 7 people setting up to meet with us today! Woohoo! We also spent a good amount of the day ensuring that a lot of investigators would come to church tomorrow, because if we are going to baptize them this transfer, they have to start coming tomorrow. So we set 3 people up to come and had a great night of contacting!

Sunday, 3 September 2017
So, nobody came to church, which makes our goal a little bit harder to reach of baptizing 3 people this transfer. But right after church one of our contacts named Kobe called us and said he wanted to meet. We ran over there and sat down with him. He was really cool and wanted to understand our religion because he has a friend from our ward that goes to school with him. It was super cool! And then tonight we were tracting for the last hours of the week still 2 investigators away from getting our goal of 7, when we knocked on the door of a nice older couple who had met missionaries before and let us in to share. They said we could come back and check on them tonight and talk a little bit more about the Plan of Salvation, another last minute miracle!

The work is great, I love it. Truly I wouldn't rather be anywhere else. The Savior loves us all, and I know that He wants us to love like He did in all things. I love you all so much family!

-Elder Meanea