8 April 2018 - Missionary General Conference

"We thank thee O God for a prophet, who can still ski the slopes 'o so fly!
who tells us to follow the savior! And laughs with a twinkle in his eye!"
(Copyright Elder Meanea, 2019)

Monday, 2 April 2018
Today was a pretty fun P-Day, I haven't been a disappointment to Elder Bode yet! We went and looked at some malls (there are at least 3 major ones in our area) and ended up at this store called "Decathalon." It's basically all the sporting goods you could ever want at missionary-affordable prices. So I am slowly replacing the running shorts I've been wearing for nearly 6 years now with new ones. You can't say I didn't make them last. And then the night was contacting around the city. All in all, a pretty good day. 

Tuesday, 3 April 2018
We had a really cool lesson with an old investigator, Sister Wu. She is a little older, and started coming because a recent convert friend of her said she was going to church and she wanted to come as well. She has been baptized 3 times already in different churches, so she's a little slow on commiting to do it again, but we had a great lesson to help her understand the importance of acting on the things that God tells her to do, and she agreed to bring a question she wanted answered to conference!

Wednesday, 4 April 2018
Miracles. Today we went to the funeral of a member who got in a car accident last week. He was more advanced in age, but it was still sad to see him pass away. The miracle though, came from the example of the family who lost him. After the funeral that day bishop called me over and said there was somebody he wanted me to meet. It was a more somber looking young adult who had been in the back for the whole funeral. He said he was interested in learning about the gospel, and that was all I needed to hear. We shared a little bit about how we can all pray, prayed with him, and set up to meet the next day so he could learn more about his relationship with God. Afterwards the Bishop explained that the young man was the person who hit the member accidentally. He's facing a man-slaughter charge, and if the family had decided to sue him, because of Taiwanese law he would automatically get 2 years in prison. But the family all forgave him, and nobody from the ward hated him. This was incredible for him to experience, and he literally looked at me and said "I want to know why you people are the way you are." God prepares a way.

Thursday, 5 April 2018
I held a district training meeting today, it was about "go about doing good," which is a section in Preach my Gospel I would invite EVERYONE to go and take a look at. It talks basically about living our religion and always watching out for those around us and ways we can help them. If you are learning about your new task in ministering to others from conference, I would suggest you go to page 168 of Preach my Gospel and study about ways the Lord would have you serve your brothers and sisters.

Friday, 6 April 2018
Weekly planning and interviews with President today. It was all pretty good! I really enjoyed my interview with president, he taught me a lot about how we and the Lord are the ones that know what we need to change to come closer to Him. It's really hard for others to see that. He encouraged me to find a time and a place to really ponder what things in my life are keeping me from being closer to the Savior, and in prayer try to understand how I can get past that. 

Saturday, 7 April 2018
CONFERENCE. I could just copy and paste everything I wrote down in my notes and it wouldn't be enough to communicate how amazing this time was. The Spirit was there during the solemn assembly, and it was pretty special that this is the first time I actually had a chance as an adult who really understand what is going on to sustain our new prophet for the first time. I wanted a witness of the Spirit that he is God's prophet, and I believe I felt the Spirit while sutaining him, but I also had the impression that if I really wanted to know for myself, I would have to study it out. And president has given us a challenge to begin reading all of President Nelson's talks for ourself. If you want to do so, here's a really useful link to all his conference talks.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/speakers?speaker=Russell-M.-Nelson&lang=eng&encoded=true

Sunday, 8 April 2018
The end of conference. I get so excited for it and it's over so fast! But I really believe I learned a lot about what the Lord would have me do to be more a missionary that can serve Him these last three months. I know that He inspires us and watches out for us always. I love you all so much friends and family. This is Christ's church, and the Book of Mormon is the tool God gave me to come and know Him for myself. I hope we will all treasure and use it as it was meant to be used.

-Elder Meanea

2 April 2018 - Missionary Easter

"Oh how lovely was the morning, Angels sitting on the stone!
And how wonderous was there answer, "he has risen to his throne!"
(Copyright Elder Meanea, 2018)

Monday, 26 March 2018
Quite the adventurous P-Day! The sisters showed us the way to a good beach in our area, and we brought a frisbee, so that was pretty much all we needed to stay entertained. Then I don't know how, but I got myself into a challenge of eating 50 Dumplings all by myself at a restaurant in our area. With a little faith and prayer, I got them down and kept them there. It was one of the harder things I've ever done in my life, but that's okay. After that we ran to an awesome lesson with Brother Chen, the guy with the samarai sword. We met up with him and didn't have a lot of time to talk, but he read 81 pages in the Book of Mormon and he said he likes it! That was a super cool miracle.

Tuesday, 27 March 2018
So, things happened today. We woke up and ran to the track to work out, and then Elder Bode started throwing up. So we took him back home, and the mission nurse gave him a mandate to rest for most of the day. He slept for a good long while, and I studied and cleaned the apartment. Have I mentioned I hate tile? Everywhere in Taiwan is tile floor, and it is ridiculously easy to see the dirt on it, so I sweep about every day. I love the oblivoius bliss of carpet, not knowing what kind of disgusting stuff is under your feet, but not caring because it's like walking on a blanket. He got better by late afternoon and trooped it out the rest of the day, which is good because we had a great lesson with Sister Yang, who we call Golden. She took us to dinner, and then we sat down and had the plan of salvation with her, during which we invited her to be baptized on April 28th! She accecpted!

Wednesday, 28 March 2018
After contacting most of today we went early to English class to meet with Jeff, the guy Elder Bode invited to church last week. He is still super cool, and says he wants to learn the story of our Church and Mormonism in English, so that's going to be interesting, and by the end of the lesson he was willing to pray, which he didn't want to do in the beginning!

Thursday, 29 March 2018
I spent a lot of time getting a District training ready for today. It was about finding through our own efforts, so I hid "investigators" all through the chapel that they all had to find, including asking me for referrals. It was pretty fun and they seemed to enjoy it. After that I had exchanges with Elder Miller. He is from my generation and it was a good time! He taught me a bit about planning and doing meaningful activites, which I realize pretty much apply to the rest of my life. I didn't know how to plan before I got on my mission, though my father is a master at it. 

Friday, 30 March 2018
We exchanged back and then did a little weekly planning to finish out the afternoon. That night we met with a guy that Elder Miller and I ran into on exchanges. His name is Jimmy and he lived in Canada for a long time, so his English is better than his Chinese. We sat down and Elder Bode was super excited to teach in English. Jimmy said he was willing to try it out!


Saturday, 31 March 2018
We started off the day by going to an old folks home and doing some service! After doing some warm-up exercises with them, we helped them make little paper fans. There were also some ward members there which was pretty cool. It was a fun activity and all the old people are really nice. We spent most of tonight Tracting talking about Easter and sending messages to our investigators with the church Easter Video.

Sunday, 1 April 2018
And it was a beauitful Easter Sabbath. It was also General conference for most of you! There was a lot of good testimonies about the Savior, and I just want to share mine. I have come to realize on my mission that my life and everything in the world is hopeless if not for Christ. Without Him, the first time we made a mistake we were done forever, nothing we could do to come back to God, and we would all part at death. But that is not God's plan for us. He loves us much more than that. He loves us so much that He sent His Son to suffer and die, that we can all have a chance to repent. There is no greater gift. I am so thankful for the gift of salvation, for the fact that because the tomb is empty, I will be able to live with all my family members again after death. And that is why I'm here! To tell the world the happiest thing that has ever happened for any of us. I hope you all feel that joy as well this Easter Sunday. I love you all, and hope we can all draw closer to Christ together.

-Elder Meanea

26 March 2018 - Taiwanese Zoo and a Stake 5K Run

"Today while the sun shines, biking all the way
we'll tell all the people to smile today!"
(Copyright Elder Meanea 2018)

Monday, 19 March 2018
We had a very... very interesting P-Day. Some Elders told us of a zoo that they knew and wanted to take us to. We biked about a half hour out there and found out it was a place called the "World Snake King" (Hopefully everybody thought back to the movie Courageous) And when we got there we saw alligators, horribly poisonous snakes, monkeys and tigers. And a really cute little pig. Then after the festivities we went to the Bishops house and had a really good meeting about what we could do to continue lifting the ward. I've never worked with a bishop that wanted so much to lift his ward members and wanted our help. I think this is the beginning of an amazing stay in Tainan. 

When asked why cute little fluffy chicks were in a snakes cage, Elder Meanea said, "snakes get cold, obviously. They need cuddle buddies." ...We'll just go with that...

Tuesday, 20 March 2018
Most of today was Elder Bode's first zone conference on Island! It was really good, we talked about really going out and applying our faith and how we are not responsible for the outcome, but we are responsible for how much we put into it. I just can't comprehend the massive role that faith has to play in our whole lives. It is literally the power by which Heaven comes to our aid, so that seems like a kind of important thing to understand. It seems the more I learn about Faith, the more I learn I truly need to focus on strengthening what faith I have. 

Wednesday, 21 March 2018
We had a good day of proselyting which ended up in us teaching English class tonight. It is the first time I've actually been assigned to teach an English class since Training. How times have changed. It went pretty well, and we met Jeff, who is a cool guy who comes into play later in this weeks story. I realize more and more everyday just how good of a place Tainan is. I'm so excited I hopefully get to spend the rest of my mission here. It's just so awesome!

Thursday, 22 March 2018
We ended up not having three lessons that we had scheduled today, so that was pretty dissapointing, but we still had faith by the end of the day, and while we were sitting in a Family mart after getting stood up, we started talking to a man sitting next to us who had a samurai sword. Obviously we had to talk to him, and come to find out that he was a devout Christian but never went to a set church because they all do things differently than in the Bible. Well did we have a message for him. He agreed to meet Sunday night to learn more, but didn't want to leave a phone number, so I had little confidence in him coming. 

Friday, 23 March 2018
One of the people who stood us up yesterday was Sister Yang. We call her Golden because she is golden. She likes God and the Talmud and wants to learn more about our message on Families. So she called us up and apologized that she had to work the day before and couldn't come, and asked if we could meet right then! We ran on over to a park and sat down with her for about 40 minutes and explained the restoration. When we prayed, she said she felt like God heard her prayer. It was a great lesson and Elder Bode did great explaining the first vision. 

Saturday, 24 March 2018
Our morning was taken up by a stake activity, a 5K! I felt just at home. It was a good little run. And Jeff our friend from English class came to the run. I was talking to some members while Jeff was practicing his English with Elder Bode, and Elder Bode just invited him to go to church the next day on the spot. He said yes! So that was a cool little miracle from my awesome Trainee.

Sunday, 25 March 2018
And he came! Jeff came today and seemed to have a pretty good time at church. The meeting was good and presented a lot more opportunities to get to know members. And then tonight we went to the lesson with the Samarai sword guy. I didn't think he was coming, but who showed up? Him! We had a great lesson and he agreed to meet again Monday night.

So it's been a really good week, always full of miracles and awesome things. I look forward to another one learning better how to have faith and repent, because these are the things that everyday bring me closer to Christ.

Have an amazing week my friends and family. Find the miracles and the joy!

-Elder Meanea

19 March 2018 - New Area, New Companion

"Hello, hello, hello, hello, we welcome you this week hello!
Hello, hello, hello, hello, Taiwan has come your way!
To be a missionary in a very special place and work right now in a very special waaaaayyyyy!"
(Elder Meanea 2018)

Monday, 12 March 2018
I spent most of this week just hanging out with Elder Fanning and Elder Jones before I went to go pick up my trainee. Elder Jones came down from Taichung to replace me, so it was fun to work with him for a couple of days. We got some stuff done we needed to during the day and then went out at night to a lesson with Sister Xie at a members house. She ended up not showing up because of work, but we went and ate with the member anyways, it was pretty good. We shared about why the church isn't perfect, which is a pretty interesting topic. When I say that, I mean that sometimes things don't run as smoothly as some people would like, but I say the church is still perfect because it is established by God and it really does what He wants it to, it helps us grow and be more Christlike. It was a pretty interesting conversation to have. 

Tuesday, 13 March 2018
Today was a day of me not knowing exactly what was going on, I am whitewashing an area, so I don't exactly know where the keys or the sim card is for the phone in that area, so I just hung out another day with the Zone leaders and sat there waiting for my trainee, but I was so happy to get to stay in my area a little while longer because I'm going to miss it so much, so it is pretty much a small miracle for me. 

Wednesday, 14 March 2018
Another curveball this week is that we found out today that some of the trainees weren't going to make it on island for another week and we weren't going to find out until tonight who actually needed to buy train tickets to get up to Taichung for the meeting tomorrow. We had a great last little lesson with Brother Ke the less active and he agreed to start reading the Book of Mormon stories with his 7-year-old son and to invite his wife to the self reliance class! After that, I got a text from president telling me that my trainee was actually there, and that I got to go get him tomorrow!

Thursday, 15 March 2018
An early train to Taichung. I got to sit next to my first trainee Elder Hansen, who is also training this transfer! He will be up in Shalu, north of Taichung a little bit. It was so fun to see him, and he's training really early! We got to the mission home and had a training with president about what he kind of expects from us as we help these new missionaries learn the ropes, and it really stuck out to me that all we need to do is to follow the Savior and they will follow us! And then I met Elder Bode, my new trainee! (Boe-D) He is super awesome and is from Chicago, where my older sister served her mission! We got some food and headed south on the train for Tainan. The first day was really interesting and unforgettable. We got to the apartment and got the number of the member who drove us, dropped our luggage in the room and went to go get our bikes, but we realized we didn't have any... and so we started walking for Costco, because we agreed to meet the sisters there who had our sim card (So we therefore had no way to get in touch with them) so after a 40 minute walk in which is started raining pretty heavily, we made it to Costco late, and they were already gone! So we said a prayer and walked around looking for some wifi to use, but settled on using a convenience store Payphone. We called the member which was the only number we had, and he gave us the sisters number, which was off because it was ours then, and the ward mission leaders number (which was old and didn't work anymore). So, we finally walked another 40 minutes in the pouring rain to our chapel, where we found both the ward mission leader and the sisters. Happy day one Elder Bode.

Friday, 16 March 2018
We had some weekly planning and then got on our way to our first district meeting here. I didn't know anyone besides Elder Thorup who used to serve in my last zone. It was pretty good, we talked about the power of Family history. Then we spent the night going around talking to people and finding prepared souls. It was a pretty good day. 

Saturday, 17 March 2018
We had some service today! We went to a park and helped rake up leaves, and the ladies in charge just loved it. It was pretty fun. Then we also found some people on the roads that Agreed to meet with us. There are also a lot of good investigators already in our area, so that's pretty encouraging. It's a little stressful to try and lead out in everything, but it is teaching me to be more reliant on the Spirit. So that's really cool. 

Sunday, 18 March 2018
Our first sabbath in the ward. Elder Bode gave an awesome testimony on the stand when we had a chance to introduce ourselves. Then we spend the afternoon going around to some more parks to find prepared people to come to church. A member from a different ward invited us over to dinner, which was Elder Bode's first experience eating pig ear! Those are some good pictures. We finished the night with some tracting, and a lady we ran into said we could come back Monday night to teach her more about what we have to share!

It's been a long week, with a lot of changes and a little stress, but I have felt cared for every step of the way. I hope you all feel the same my amazing friends and family. I love you all, and hope you have a great week!

-Elder Meanea

12 March 2018 - Special Meetings and Transfers

"We thank You Oh God for a Prophet! (and a presiding bishop, and a president of the 70, and 70 who is also our mission president, and other various general authorities etc. Etc.....)

Monday, 5 March 2018
The last P-Day for our zone all together. We set up a zone kickball activity at a nearby field that was super fun. Everyone had a good time and we went for ice cream afterwards. Then the entire night was taken up by meeting with a member referral who is actually American from Alabama. He is very Christian and has a lot of really good and really hard questions, and it has been an interesting experience teaching him. It's incredible to feel the Spirit fill the room when we bear testimony of the restored Truths of the gospel though. It literally feels different. It feels good. The fruits of the Spirit are there. I think this has been a real big testimony builder for me. 

Tuesday, 6 March 2018
Today was an all-day trip to Taichung and back for MLC. We had some really good talks about where the mission is going and some goals that we have. Counseling together is a really interesting experience. I always appreciate the insights and revelation I come away with after these meetings. 

Wednesday, 7 March 2018
We had a really good lesson with our new friend Peiru. We met her last week at the mall, I think I mentioned her, but she really wants to have more happiness in her life. We had a lesson at the chapel and taught her about how the Gospel has been restored and how we can all read the Book of Mormon to find out the truth of our message. We get to do so much to invite people to Christ, it's amazing! 

Thursday, 8 March 2018
A lot of stuff happens in a day, but I usually just like talking about the miracles or lessons, like today we had Sister Chen (Amanda) at Sister Yang's house again. She is really learning and growing a lot lately. We've been trying to help her start reading the Book of Mormon and because she finally agreed to start she is feeling a lot more and thinking a lot more clearly about God's plan for her, she's really starting to understand which is a miracle! We have been meeting with her for about 5 months now, but she can still surely make it. 

Friday, 9 March 2018
Tonight was really good! We planned a couple days ago to have a pizza dinner with a few of our wards singles and our investigator Peiru. Johnny, Brother Zhong (the RC) and another sister came to Peiru's house and we all had a good time eating pizza and sharing a little bit about the Spirit and how it works with us. It turned out super well after all the planning we did, and I also biked 3 Costco pizzas halfway across the city for it, which was fun. 

Saturday, 10 March 2018
This was a very special day. The entire mission met together and heard from our mission president, a member of the Presidency of the 70 (Elder Christiansen), the Presiding Bishop (Bishop Cause) and a member of the Quorum of the 12 (Elder Stevenson). The Spirit in the meeting was incredible. The things they taught and shared with us were things I think most of us didn't know we needed to learn. And it's always all about helping us and others come closer to Christ. That is the point of this whole work. Always it is about Christ and coming closer to Him. 

Sunday, 11 March 2018
We were blessed again today by Bishop Cause coming to our stake and holding a special meeting with us. It was such a good one. This weekend has been very full of revelation and the Spirit. We also received Transfer calls this morning. I will be leaving Qianzhen for the beautiful land of Tainan. And I will be training. So we'll both be new to the area. It's going to be pretty exciting. I'm a little nervous, and sad to leave Qianzhen, they even had a little dinner with the whole ward at which they asked us (me and a sister who is going home from here) to bear our testimonies. I am going to miss these people so much. But I know God is already preparing a new family for me in Tainan. So here is to the start of another adventure. One which only Faith in Jesus Christ can carry me through. And it's the same with all of us on our adventures. All we need is faith in Jesus Christ and we can carry through. I love you all, my family and friends. 

Have an amazing week coming closer to Christ.

-Elder Meanea

PS - For anyone who has been following Elder Meanea his entire mission, the transfer call above might sound kind of familiar. One year ago Elder Meanea emailed us the following: 

So, oddly enough, president called me tonight. The new missionaries are inbound in just a week, and one of them needs to become a mini Elder Meanea. In Tainan. So... whitewash training anyone? xD I'm so super nervous, but also super excited to start this new part of my mission journey. I also hope that everyone will be really forgiving of me, because I'm not always the best person. Like the fact that I totally am joking right now and since it just said Saturday at the top you wouldn't know today was April Fool's day. Love you. ;-) 

Funnily enough, this time is not a joke! Kind of crazy he exactly predicted this a year ago and even funnier is that fact that the Lord obviously has a sense of humor :-) 

5 March 2018 - Miracle at the Mall

"Reverence is more than just quietly sitting
It's biking at top speed all day.
Sharing this gospel message with all men,
Testifying at the top of your lungs!"
(Copyright Elder Meanea 2018)

Monday, 26 February 2018
Quite an interesting P-Day, we mostly just got some groceries done and did the stuff that we needed to get ready for the rest of the week. Besides that, we had a fun family home evening with a family of converts in our ward. Most of them have been baptized in the last 3 years. A family of a mom, a son, and four daughters are all converts, and it was fun to have Family Home Evening with them. We also went and ate some Sweet Potato ice cream from a convenience store, which was another plus for the day.

Tuesday, 27 February 2018
We got to go meet with Sister Xu, our convert, for the first time in a while. The Bishop's wife also went with us to visit her and her husband. She is doing good, but right now she has a work that keeps her from coming to church on Sundays, dangit. But she is very welcoming to us coming over and sharing the scriptures with us. I was so happy to finally see her! She has been quite busy lately, and each time we tried to set up with her it always seemed to fall through. We also got to meet briefly with a woman we talked to on the road last Sunday. She was looking for a church that was closer to her house, and she happens to live not very far from our chapel. She is really interested in getting her daughter to church. Sometimes people just pop out of nowhere!

Wednesday, 28 February 2018
We met with a skeptical man today named Chen. We taught him all about his Heavenly Father, and we could all feel the Spirit in the room. He had some questions and doubts, but we tried to testify really sincerely that through learning the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he can come to know for himself that Heavenly Father exists. In the end, he admitted that he felt something, and said he'd be willing to try. To at least try. Which honestly is all that Heavenly Father asks of us. He just asks us to try as hard as we can to come closer to Him.

Thursday, 1 March 2018
Today was a very spiritual District Training meeting. We started talking about how to work with Members, but the conversation drifted more towards the question of "How do we feel successful as missionaries?" A few members of our district admitted that they found it hard to feel good about their missionary work since we are all literally falling incredibly short of the Glory of God each day. As a missionary, this seems more obvious as we try to be as Christ-like as possible, and realize how much we really aren't. That can lead to feelings of discouragement, which is a very powerful de-motivator, and something I have had to learn how to deal with. It all really comes to believing that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. We will all make mistakes, sometimes large ones, but the entire purpose of life is to repent. To learn to love repentance and He who makes it possible. 3 Nephi 27:13-22 are the Savior's own words about His Gospel and how we should approach our daily repentance. Please go read it and really think about what this means to you, every day. I know that as I come to more fully know the Savior, the more I reach out for the repentance every day to draw me closer to Him.

Friday, 2 March 2018
We had a bit of weekly planning this morning and then went to the mall to meet with Sister Wang, a former investigator that I personally have run into at least 4 times just at different places on the street. We got to sit down and talk about her life for a little bit, and she told us how she is not really satisfied with her place in life right now, and we got to testify about how the Gospel might not change our circumstances, but it will always change who we are and make us happier. It was a really good meeting. We also contacted a man going into the mall who had a nice beard. He said that he could meet us the next day to learn a bit about our message, which lead to another cool miracle!

Saturday, 3 March 2018
Because today we went to the mall and he wasn't there. He didn't show, so we started walking back towards our bikes. We passed a woman sitting on a bench and complimented her bag, which was pretty cool. As we started talking, we found out that she met missionaries before, a year ago, when Elder Fanning's trainer served in this area, and she knew him pretty well. She took us into the mall and bought us some drinks while we talked, and agreed to learn more about the Gospel. And we wouldn't have even been at the mall if that man hadn't agreed to meet us and stood us up! You never know the "small and simple things" that God does to bless His children.

Sunday, 4 March 2018
We had stake conference today at which President Teh spoke about missionary work. We were pretty happy about that. We then contacted a bunch of people just on the way home that were willing to meet with us. It's incredible to see the people that are all around us that God is preparing. We also got a call this week from a member out of the blue who has a friend who wants to meet with the missionaries! That is honestly one of the best kind of phone calls to get! We are going to meet with her friend tonight, so you can all know how that goes next week!

I know that Faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior is really the only thing that can carry us through every trial in life. It is the only thing that will help us overcome our own sins, mistakes, weaknesses, insecurities, wounds, sorrows, and every other ill. I believe that Jesus Christ died for us, and that if we are willing to reach out, we will find Him there.

-Elder Meanea