25 June 2018 - Final Zone Conference

"Ring out wild car horns, to the hot blazing sky's,
As those weird white guy just bike right by!"
(Copyright Elder Meanea 2018)

Monday, 18 June 2018
We had a good time eating at a buffet for the Dragon Boat festival! There werent any activities nearby, so we didn't see any dragon boat races, but it was still fun to go out with our convert friend Cheng and eat ourselves to death. After that we also had a hot pot dinner with Sister Yang, a member from our ward. It was a super spicy Mala hot pot, which left scars on my stomach but was really really good.

Tuesday, 19 June 2018
A rather uneventful Tuesday as far as Tuesdays go. We did some service sorting books in the morning, but it rained almost every day this week, which drives Taiwanese people off the streets entirely. So we spent some time scanning the streets for any signs of life while going around visiting some members.

Wednesday, 20 June 2018
Rain again spoiled some of our plans today. We were mostly contacting since our Investigators are busy with end of year tests at the college in our town. We did get to teach English class tonight though! We had three new people come, which was really cool. Afterwards for our spiritual share we watched a Mormon message and shared some Scriptures. Because of Him is probably the best one ever made.

Thursday, 21 June 2018
All of today was Zone conference. My last. We had some good training about how we can improve how we find people by really making it personal to us. They are our brothers and sisters after all. And then they invited the departing missionaries to give their final reflections. Which included me. And five other elders in my zone, so that was fun. Half my MTC group was there. And then we said our final goodbyes to President and Sister Teh. They will fly out this coming Friday or Saturday, and it'll be a while before I see them again.

Friday, 22 June 2018
We had a great weekly planning that I feel was really filled with Revelation. After that we met with a less active brother named Lin. He is pretty cool, and agreed to start a challenge we are doing with the members about reading the Book of Mormon every day for a week to see what happens and let them share their testimonies with Investigators. Tonight we also had to bike really far to find a member's house, and they weren't there, so that was funny. xD

Saturday, 23 June 2018
A pretty good day! We met with Brother Liu and Sister Xie, two really active members in our ward, and we invited them to start our Book of Mormon challenge as well. Then this afternoon we spent looking for a member, and we didn't actually find him in the end, because the addresses here and totally screwed up. Like 6 was right next to 19, and there was four of each. Then 45 was down the road some....

Sunday, 24 June 2018
We had a great Sabbath with three Investigators at church! One of our members even brought her boyfriend! It was so cool. After the meetings we Had a lesson with Brother Chu, and older man who is really sick but really wants to learn about the Gospel. It seems to give him a lot of hope. We set a goal for the 14th of July, right before I go home. So let's see if we can't see some miracles happen here.

And let's be honest, how could I not see miracles in this work? Even if the miracle is just me being a better person, being more repentant and more grateful for the work Jesus Christ has given me. Have a great week everyone! It's a gift!

-Elder Meanea

18 June 2018 - Rebuilding the Pool

"Hope of Douliu, we're alright!
Though we're wet, for the gospel we'll fight!"
(Copyright Elder Meanea 2018)

Monday, 11 June 2018
This was a rather slower week. Our investigators from before have been a little silent, so it's been a work of building back up our pool. Today was went to a Chidaobao (all-you-can-eat) with an RC named Brother Cheng. It was really good, and then we went and got Elder Francesconi a haircut. After that it was all contacting and stuff. At the last second we decided we wanted to go visit a less-active member and drop off a birthday card, so we biked about an hour out. It was pretty good! We only got a little lost coming back. 

Tuesday, 12 June 2018
We spent this morning doing service at a picture book library. We sorted and shelved the books, which was pretty good. My time in Taiwan has made me appreciate service a lot more now. Then tonight we had an activity with the youth about setting goals, and they had a Monopoly type game after, and we better hope it wasn't a precursor to my life because I was bankrupt much too quickly.

Wednesday, 13 June 2018
We were preparing a lot of stuff for creative contacting today. We have a Book of Mormon fortune teller that you can play with people to read a verse from the Book of Mormon with them. And then we made some cards for member's birthdays that would could drop off while contacting in an area. After that was our English class. It's still a little small, but we got three new referalls from the English website! It's something Taipei mission cooked up and it works really well for getting people to English class and also knowing if they are interested in the Gospel. 

Thursday, 14 June 2018
We had district meeting today with a new district leader, because our old one got called to train and emergency transferred out. It was a pretty Good DTM talking about goal setting, which is something I really appreciate since I want to be as effective as possible this month. And then a kid Elder Francesconi contacted in a park showed up for a church tour today! His name is Zeng, and when we invited him to read the Book of Mormon, he said "Five minutes a day? Like, I'll probably read more than that." And it made us really happy.

Friday, 15 June 2018
Weekly planning ended with a trip to a burger shop here in Douliu. It was pretty good, and we ate with our RC friend Cheng. After that we had to bike out of town to visit an investigator named Zhang. He was super cool and we invited him to be baptized after teaching about How the gospel has been restored through Joseph Smith. He said he would ponder about it! After visiting with him, we biked down to Douliu and headed home. 

Saturday, 16 June 2018
This morning we visited a less-active family who have a kid that is about to turn 8, and the parents want him to be baptized. So they invited us to come over and start teaching him the lessons. He and his little brother are super funny, and it's an amazing chance to see all four of them get active again eventually. This night was an absolute downpour and we were out in it for about 2 hours dropping off cards because there was no one on the streets. It was a pretty fun time and it took 'till Monday for my shoes to be fully dry.

Sunday, 17 June 2018
A good Sabbath. We headed down to Jiayi for stake conference. We all went down with the ward in a tour bus, but we refrained from using the Karoeke machine, though I was highly tempted to re-create the scene from the movie "College Road-Trip." After coming home we did some more contacting and had correlation with Pinocchio, our ward mission leader. And that's a week folks!

I am very grateful for many things. It is incredible to look back even through the past two years of my service and realize despite how well or poor I think I've done, there have been so many blessings that I have seen. It helps me know that God really loves each of us. I hope you all feel that too.

-Elder Meanea

11 June 2018 - Last Area, Last Ward, Last District...

"Mine eyes have seen Taiwan bow down before our Savior, Lord, they are seeking out the gospel which has been, for us, restored!"
(Copyright Elder Meanea 2018)

Monday, 4 June 2018
Crazy move day Monday. I had to get out pretty early to catch my train to Yunlin County. It was only an hour and half ride. I said goodbye to Elder Bode and grabbed my two bags and hopped on the train! After a short ride, I arrived in Douliu, my "grave" as some might say since this is my last transfer. Haha, hopefully the members here don't just ignore me for six weeks because it's hard to get to know a new missionary. Elder Francesconi is my new companion. He is the same generation as Elder Bode, so I am "breaking" him as they say. After helping two other Elders get moved from here, we just got some grocery shopping done, then ate dinner with a member named Stone. He is pretty cool. Douliu is a lot like Puli, in that it is smaller and can get pretty slow during the day, but I am really excited to work out my last transfer here. 

Tuesday/Wednesday, 5-6 June 2018
This week has honestly been a bit of a blur. We spent these two days running around trying to get in contact with investigators and introducing me to members. It has been pretty busy, but good. We had English class Wednesday night, and there were 5 people there. Probably the least my whole mission, but that is okay, we will get more people to come and get in touch with the gospel! It has been overcast but not raining too much here. It's a lot quieter than I'm used to.

Thursday, 7 June 2018
We went and had lunch with our new district before District meetings started. I haven't met the other two Elders here before, so it's all fresh to me. It's very hard to not keep thinking of things as my "last." Like my last district, last Area, last chapel, it's very surreal to me, but I will probably not mention it again for 5 weeks. Contacting was good tonight! We ran into three cool people who were all willing to exchange contact info with us. The finding seems to be pretty good out here. We have a college in our area for the first time for me. Puli had one but it was closed most the time I was there. 

Friday, 8 June 2018
Weekly planning and then a really good lesson with a member's friend, Sister Huang. She is Christian and likes to talk, but was willing to come for a lesson! We taught her about the Restoration of the gospel, and the beginning was hard because she wanted to talk the entire time, but when we got to the first vision, she started to be really quiet and listen intently. It was a very intense moment, and you could really feel the Spirit testifying of the truth of the Restoration. I love teaching it so much. She agreed to begin reading the Book of Mormon to find out for herself, so we are really excited for her!

Saturday, 9 June 2018
A busy, busy day. We went in the morning to do service for a member and helped him pull weeds at this ranch he has up in the mountains, so that was fun. Then he fed us lunch and ice cream. Great morning. After that we went and met with the Bishop and one of his counselors at their respective houses. The ward seems really great here, and our Bishop is really funny, Bishop Liu. We talked a little bit about some activities that we want to do to help the ward to more missionary work. 

Sunday, 10 June 2018
My first Sunday in Douliu! It was a good Sacrament meeting, and two Filipino sisters showed up, so the bishopric had us translate the meeting for them. It was tiring, but I was happy to provide a service for them. Some lessons, contacting, and member visits filled the rest of the night.

The Gospel is the most important thing we can know and live! I knew what the Gospel was before my mission, but now I feel like I'm really "Coming unto [God]" and He is showing me my weakness. It can be frustrating at times to know how imperfect of a missionary I am, but I know that if I "humble myself before [Him] and have faith in [Him]" He will really make me strong. I love you family and friends. Have a great week!

- Elder Meanea

4 June 2018 - It's the Final Transfer!

"I'll go where you want me to go dear Lord,
From Tainan to Douliu!"

Monday, 28 May 2018
We had a pretty good last Pday as a district. We got some shopping done, shared a Costco pizza and then decided to bike out into the boonies to look at some wildlife. We may have been accosted by dogs, but it wasn't anything a few rocks couldn't take care of. After that was took a final stop at the beach to say goodbye to the ocean, then went and got some Taiwanese ice to finish off the day. We went up to the mall to contact, and talked to some cool people. No one set up tonight, but we got to raise a warning voice, for which I am grateful.

Tuesday, 29 May 2018
We met Flora for the last time today before she leaves for America for a month. We taught about prayer and how God really listens to us. It was a great lesson, and afterward she gave me a tie! It was so nice of her. I really hope Elder Bode keeps getting to work with her. We also taught Jeff the last half of the Plan of Salvation today and he said he believed it. I'm so excited for him! He has a date for the 23rd of June to be baptized.

Wednesday, 30 May 2018
Not much to mention from today. We went out, worked hard and sweated a lot. Bikes are our main mode of transportation, so that's always fun to try and handle. But we drink lots of water and try to stay hydrated. I taught English class for the last time in Tainan, and I said goodbye to all my English friends.

Thursday, 31 May 2018
I also taught my last DTM today. We talked about testifying often, and I thought it was really cool to think more about how God needs our specific testimonies where we are, He can handpick who is where, when, and wherever you are in a mission, it's because God wanted you there. We also taught an English class at the city hall building today. They invite us over every couple weeks for it. So that's cool. Last was correlation with Peter our ward mission leader. He's so great! Probably the best leader I've had on island.

Friday, 1 June 2018
Weekly planning brought a lot of good thoughts about things we can do now to help our Investigators progress, it was weird because at the time we didn't know who was going to be moving where, so we were both really sad about leaving our Investigators! After that brought a bit of contacting and a surprise lesson with Jeff. He set up with us and we taught him about the temple. He said he wanted to go there some day and I wanted to start singing.

Saturday, 2 June 2018
A good day of working on the streets. We contacted people by the train station in our area. There is always a good group of people waiting for the train to bring their friends, and we got to talk to a lot of people up there, including a very drunk man who said his job was drinking and a another who believes in the lion king "circle of life" more than religion. Interesting. Tonight we taught Jeff about tithing, and he said he would pray about it! And it was a week full of lasts, not because training is over, but because my destiny takes me to Douliu to live out my last 6 weeks. Let's get ready for some miracles, folks.

Sunday, 3 June 2018
Said goodbye to all my ward friends today. It's incredible how fast time has gone by. I have 6 weeks to make this next area the best area I've ever served in, so I'll be doing my best to turn their whole world on its head in Douliu. I'm excited, sad to leave Elder Bode my grown up boy, and all my ward friends and awesome Investigators, but I know God's hand is in this! He is guiding me to miracles and joy in the work. And here we go.

Geronimo!

-Elder Meanea

28 May 2018 - The Two Wu's

"In our lovely 台南市 where you'll never say "brrr",
Because we're all burning in the sun!"
(Copyright Elder Meanea 2018)

Monday, 21 May 2018
It was a good P-Day last week getting some groceries and stuff done. After that we had a member in the fourth ward invite us over for dinner, which was really delicious. I love seeing the strength of all these members in Taiwan and knowing that God truly cares for His children all around the world.

Tuesday, 22 May 2018
Today was Elder Bode's final Phase 1 pass-off! It's a program that helps us learn the language for teaching the missionary lessons, and we had a goal to get it done before training, and it happened! He was so happy. And we also had our final interviews with President Teh. It's so crazy that he'll be gone so soon. It was good, we talked about how to make the time we have left really count here in the mission field. Then I took Elder Cushing out on exchanges. He is the trainee of Elder Densely my old Comp from Puli, so it was fun to talk about shared memories.

Wednesday, 23 May 2018
We got up this morning and did some contacting. I stayed over in the other area, and then we met up for some service at the library that afternoon. That was super fun, but did cure me of my childhood dream of being a librarian. You almost have to hate books to work there, because you can't get distracted by them. Tonight was pretty cool. We went to the house of the drunk man we met last week, and he said he didn't have time right then, but that he wanted to come and see the church on Sunday. Small miracles! Then we taught some english class, which was really good.

Thursday, 24 May 2018
We taught an investigator named John this morning, he is an interesting guy. He is 19 and has already opened his own restaurant. He wants to learn more about God but also has very strong opinions on a lot of things. It's interesting teaching him, because I realize that the doctrines God has given us are not up for debate. These are restored truths He has given to guide our lives, they don't change, and we just decide if we are going to follow them or not. Tonight we went to Ward Council. It was nice to get our investigators and their situations in front of everybody. I think a lot of people want to help, they just don't usually know where to start. I'm grateful God has given us a way to work these things out for ourselves and have opportunities to serve each other.

Friday, 25 May 2018
This morning and afternoon were mostly studies and weekly planning. It's always a small miracle to notice those little ideas that come into your mind as you pray and ponder about what you can do to help your investigators. It really is a testimony to me that God plans for His children a lot more than we ourselves do.

Saturday, 26 May 2018
Cool surprise today. We just got home to do studies, and the sisters called us saying they had a "Mr. Wu" at the chapel who wanted to meet with missionaries, so we were out the door like a flash. We got to just across from the chapel, and a man rode by on a Moped staring at us. We waved and he turned around and came back. We said hi, thinking this must be the sister's guy. Sure enough we asked what his name was and he said "Mr. Wu" so we took him into the church, only to find the sisters and another man in there. We asked that guy who his name was and he said "Mr. Wu." So we all just kind of looked at eachother and we said "Alright, Wu Brothers, let's go sit in this classroom and talk about Jesus." So we had a lesson about the Restoration with both of them, and they didn't who each other was.

Sunday, 27 May 2018
It was a good sabbath! At first we were planning on about 7 people coming, and 5 of them fell through, but a member brought a friend and two of our investigators showed up, so that was super good! It was a very blessed Sabbath. That night we met with our investigator, Glenn. He said he really liked learning about Joseph Smith and how it could bless his life, it was super cool to get to teach him!

And like that, another week has gone by. This could be mine or Elder Bode's last week here in Tainan. Either way, I'll be very grateful for the time that I've been given here. It is a wonderful place full of wonderful people. I love you all.

-Elder Meanea

21 May 2018 - Cool Miracles

"Welcome welcome, P-Day morning, blessed with emails from my fam! (and friends)"

Monday, 14 May 2018
We had a good P-Day going out to the beach and playing ultimate frisbee with the district. It was hot, but it was so fun! After showing off the sand, we went out to work, which was good. Then Elder Bode and I had a super cool miracle happen. We went to the park that night to look one of our Filipino Investigators named Kristine. We got to the park where she is sometimes, but her phone has been broken so we couldn't get in touch with her. Elder Bode suggested we say a prayer and he prayed to find her there. And guess what? We found her!

Tuesday, 15 May 2018
Our cool miracle today also had to do with Kristine. We set up to meet with her again in the park. She has quite a lot of knowledge about Jesus Christ, but this was our first time officially meeting with her. Right before she came our friend Charly showed up. He really likes us missionaries but is also very Budhhist. When Kristine came she started telling him how it pains her to see all the Taiwanese people worship "Pagan Gods," and I thought we were about to get into a religious fire-fight, but Charly was cool and just said that everybody has different viewpoints and that we believe a lot of the same stuff. Then we took over really fast and taught about how God restored His gospel in the last days and gave us proof of it through the Book of Mormon. Charly even bore his testimony that the Book of Mormon was good to Kristine because of previous experiences he's had with other Elders. That was super cool!

Wednesday, 16 May 2018
We did a hand-off lesson with the sisters today. They have a real cool investigator, Sister Huan who they had to hand off to us because she lives in our area, and she is already starting to ask about Baptism! She is so prepared. Then tonight we taught english on exchanges, I went with Elder Perkins from the other area and we stayed in 3rd ward. We taught the kids how to be interviewd for a job, so that was cool. English is always super fun. Then we watched "Finding Faith in Christ" for the spiritual share, which I always love doing, because they don't actually know much about who Jesus Christ is! Most people in America grow up hearing about him at least, but here it's very much less so. 

Thursday, 17 May 2018
Today was the rest of the day on exchanges. We ended up contacting on the roads the whole morning because our lesson cancled on us, but it was still good! I taught District Training Meeting today about listening. It was a super good DTM. Originally I had a different topic, but I felt like we needed to switch part-way through, and it turned out being more of what everyone wanted help with. So that was a cool miracle. 

Friday, 18 May 2018
We went to tour a place we are going to give service at later. It's a combination reclycle center/oldfolks home/ and Budhhist temple? It was very interesting, but it was cool to see how much good people are capable of doing. A lot of people really want to make the world better! Then tonight was a cool miracle, we ran into Kristine again, and she said she is loving the Book of Mormon!

Saturday, 19 May 2018
Cool tracting miracle tonight. So knocking doors can get a little brutal it feels like sometimes, just because a lot of doors in a row can say they don't have interest. But Elder Bode prayed when we started that we would find one new investigator. After about 10 doors we rang a doorbell of a fairly nice looking house, and we told the person we were missionaries who had a message we wanted to share, and could we have ten minutes of his time? He said "sure." Elder Bode and I were a little surprised, but we went in and met Ryan. He is a surgeon who has kids studying medical school in three different countries, and his wife passed away 2 years ago. He was very open to talking about religion because his cousin is also "Mormon" or a member of our church. He was welcoming and set up to let us meet him again. Miracles. 

Sunday, 20 May 2018
A good Sabbath. We had three of our investigators attend! Jeff, Flora, and Brother Zhu, the cousin of a member. That was miracle enough for me. And then wouldn't you know? A guy we met two weeks ago set up to see us tonight, and he was super cool! His name was Glenn, and he talked about how he was willing to learn more about God because he wants to find REAL happiness in life. He was so cool!

And a great week! Elder Bode and I have at least 2 more weeks here in Tainan 3rd ward, then his training will be over and our lives will be very much up in the air. I love it here, and I love being a missionary, and I love you all as well!

-Elder Meanea

14 May 2018 - It's a Book of Power

"Scatter 真理 all along the way!
Riding bikes 'round every single day!"
(Copyright Elder Meanea 2018 Yes I'm running out of ideas)

Monday, 7 May 2018
We had a good P-Day! We went to the Chimei museum and had a look around at the cool old instruments and weapons, and stayed away from the questionable art. But it was super cool! Then we came home and Elder Bode cut another Elder's hair that is in our district. After that it was contacting for the night. It was super good!

Tuesday, 8 May 2018
We spent most of today getting Elder Bode's Phase one passed off. He is getting it done super fast. We also biked over to East District this morning and went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I was with Elder Smith, and we put in a super good night of working with some of their Investigators, but as we were biking to the chapel, Elder Smith got into a mild bike wreck which included him hitting a moped driver and both of them ending up on the ground. He was fine, just a little winded, but God really takes care of us.

Wednesday, 9 May 2018
Last half of our exchanges today, we did some contacting at a college and met some cool kids that were open to the Gospel. It's amazing to see that God has a plan for all His children and there isn't one of them who He doesn't have a plan to give them the Gospel. And I get to be a part of that! And then we went and taught a less active member about God and tried to help him understand God's relationship with us.

Thursday, 10 May 2018
Today was a good district training meeting. We talked about commitments a lot. And we talked about how God has given us a plan to succeed in our mission vision goals and plans. It was a pretty spiritual DTM. It made me realize that God is always reaching out to us, but we have to put in our effort to take His hand. We have to reach out, call out, and He will always be there for us. We also have run into a few Filipino Investigators at the park, they are super cool and spiritual, and few have expressed great interest in learning about the Book of Mormon. IT IS A BOOK OF POWER SERIOUSLY. I do know it is true. It taught me about Jesus Christ.

Friday, 11 May 2018
We gave a tour to a Mr. Lin today. He is a really humble, open man. He talked about how he felt so at peace in the chapel and we taught him a little bit about how he can pray. It was super fun! Then we ate at an Investigator's restaurant, which was some pretty nice food.

Saturday, 12 May 2018
We taught Jeff today about the word of wisdom today! He was a little hesitant but agreed to try. It just impresses me how much we need to realize God's love for us and the purpose of His Commandments. He loves us and wants us to be blessed and happy!

Sunday, 13 May 2018
A good fast Sunday. We visited a woman from the ward in the hospital, but she was asleep. So we left a little message with her and then went to a meal that a fourth ward member invited us to. It was incredibly delicious. And it's been a really great week. It's so good to be here, and we are all so blessed. No matter what are lives are like, we can find something that nobody but God could have given us. It's incredible.

I love you all

- Elder Meanea