Missionary Poetry

Love it.  My boy is thinking deeply about things that matter most.



As I begin to understand what true conversion is,

The time I used to devote to myself I've realized is only His.

Tis Eventide, He abides with me, has a whole new meaning,

Oh the joy that fills my heart "How can I keep from singing".

Sweet melodious praises unto God for it is on Him that I rely,

As I try to understand my role, my soul and mind heave one great sigh. 

Adversarial forces tirelessly attempt to bend our will and break our hearts,

Inadequacy invades and continuously dissuades because we are not willing to do our parts.

We teach and preach of faith in Christ but refuse his help when under duress, 

Impressed upon to rest upon my rock in Him I have no stress.

He took the whip upon His back. His blood spilled o'er the ground,

A crown of thorns he bore with dignity He heaved the cross without a sound.

How significant is every soul, our Christ, He died for all mankind,

And to remind myself of the Savior's gift every week I partake and once again bind.

In covenant to remember Him for so often we choose to forget,

And during these times of a lapse in judgement our sins they cause us to regret.

But, I have faith in Christ. In Him I know I'm not alone,

I'm imperfect, as is everyone, But I know for me Christ did atone.

Everyday of my mission and my life my goal is to help others come,

To this knowledge of their relationship with God the Father and His son.

They love us! And when we have faith in Christ and and choose to sincerely pray,

We can feel this love, in our hearts, each and everyday. 

Andrew Meeks 

John 14:6

A little "windy" at church

Thank heaven the church is true... because the people sure are not.  There is a pretty "funny" story at the end....

Hey everybody!

The work goes on. The biggest thing I learned this week was that caring for people is the best thing we can do to help people continue to meet and want to learn more about the gospel. I went on exchanges this week and learned quite a bit from Elder Liu. He is really good at just talking to everybody. We had 3 miracles. I like to do this type of contacting called "Ripstick Contacting". I'll go up to someone that is riding a ripstick and ask them if I can try it. They always let me and after I'm done attempting to do it we start our contact. It's a great way to break the ice. We had 2 people decide to meet with us after we shared the first lesson with them through, "Ripstick Contacting". 

I've also learned this week that whenever I think an investigator isn't learning anything but still willing to meet with us they always have some sort of breakthrough or spiritual experience that renews my faith in them. So awesome. English class is an awesome fellowshipping tool. Our class is so great. After the class they all gathered downstairs and talked together for almost 20 minutes! I'm so excited to be able to start meeting with some of them. 

Wei dixiong is doing great. This week we shared with him the word of wisdom. We got most of the way through the lesson and he told us that he already is following the law because he had previously heard about it. This is such a miracle. He has been a hard core coffee drinker because he is a driver. 

We have three investigators who have become ready to receive baptism but there is one problem. There families disapprove.  They are all the age that they could legally choose. But because of them being the oldest children in their family they are required to carry on the buddhist traditions and so they will not receive before their families approve. They all really want to receive baptism but they are not willing to destroy their relationships with their family. A really hard situation. 

I really feel like my companion and I are doing well. We teach 50/50 and this has really helped me improve my chinese. I learn really well by just talking and hearing people respond. This week I feel like my listening skills really increased. My companion is really good at translating for me though when I do not understand investigator responses. I really do love being a missionary and serving others. Serving and loving others is the key to their hearts. The feelings that come when you can tell someone really trusts you and wants to hear what you have to say because you are a good example. Love it.

Now for some humor I guess. :) I went on exchanges this week with Elder Liu. We contacting into someone and he had time to meet then so we just went to the church and started giving him a tour. We were sitting on the couches talking for a few minutes then a member came over and grabbed something off the table next to where the investigator was sitting and LITERALLY fengpi(passed gas) right in our investigators face. I guess this member is a trouble maker because he totally grinned and then walked away. UGH! The poor kid was just so surprised so we got up quickly and walked away. Now that we be a great conversion story. The first time I was in the church some weird dude farted in my face. Terrible. 

We went to jiu fen last week for P-Day. Such a cool place. It's right on the coast. Pretty area. The famous thing there is this big market up in the mountains. So many people there! I tried so many... Interesting things. :) Oh yea I tried chou doufu (stinky tofu) for the first time this week. I guess I'm super weird because I actually enjoyed it. I guess this supposedly makes me not American.

Aaron's coming home this week. Make sure you get up to see him and tell him how much I love his freakin face. 

Well I love ya'll. :) Know that I think and pray about you everyday. My Chinese is really improving and we are teaching like crazy. Remember to read, pray, and try to improve everyday. If we aren't improving we are tui bule(digressing). Pray for the 20th of July. We have three baptismal dates. 1 is looking for sure and the other two and ish. I know it can happen and that we can see miracles!

Love,

Elder Meeks

Loving People.. even guys with no shirts and large motorcycles

Dear President:

This week was great! We definitely made some progress with quite a few of our investigators. We met with the Ward Mission Leader and he gave us some names of people that we could visit. Mainly LA's which is definitely something we are trying to work on. We met with a couple this week and will just continue to love them. Mainly work is the issue but a I know one for sure has been offended before in the past. He used to be in the Bishiopric. Incredible man. 

This week we are planning for a meeting with the Bishop next Sunday. The mission conference definitely gave us some good ideas that we will be using to help us focus our efforts on how to most effectively use our time we have with the Bishop. He's a really great guy and I can't wait to use his knowledge to try and help others come back to Christ. 

We have an investigator L-- who is so solid. Whenever we talk to him he tells us that he is constantly developing his faith and that every time he prays he can feel something. He can't explain it but he just says it feels really good. He didn't have any concept of religion before he met us and now he is starting to develop a relationship with God. There is a problem though. Like quite a few of our investigators their parents highly disapprove of a relationship with the church. L-- would be baptized in a heart beat but he is not allowed to attend church. We will continue to meet with him and pray for his parents hearts to be softened. So much of missionary work is preparing is preparing people for an opportunity later on in life to receive the gospel. I love this aspect of the work!

W-- D-- made the most progress this week. The first half of the lesson we had with him was super distracted and not to the point. He kept going off on random tangents and I did not have any idea where the lesson was. I was starting to get really frustrated. When I started feeling those feelings I prayed and asked the Lord to really help me focus on him and I also asked what I could do to bring the lesson back. I decided to start bearing my testimony about how the gospel has blessed me in my life and how I knew that it could bless his life if he was willing to do a few things. My companion then challenged him to receive baptism and he said that he would. It was then that we got to his real concern. He told us that he had some things in his life he really wanted to improve and that if he could start to resolve those things he would be baptized. I'm so thankful for heavenly father and his guidance in these situations. Truly a miracle. 

So many new investigators this week. My testimony about tracting, contacting, and finding through members is constantly strengthened! We found 6 new people this week who are ready to hear the gospel. 

My companion and I get a long great. He is a great example to me in just loving the people. Everyone that we meet with actually wants to meet with us. Sometimes we have people call us! I think this is great. I'm really thankful for his example. 

Love the work, tired (which hopefully means I'm workin hard), biked up a mountain, ate a chickens head and foot, and got an A'ma to laugh. I'd say it was a great week. 

Thank you for your support!

Elder Meeks

Chicken Feet and other Gross things

What's up family and friends?

Who likes to sweat, eat chicken feet and heads/squids/random dongxi, bike up mountains and bring others to Christ? I do! haha

Seriously though the work goes on! There are so many people in Taiwan and only 3% are Christian. 55,000 members of the church. So not enough! The Lord is preparing this people. We just gotta go out and find them. I came to a realization of something today. It really doesn't matter how many people you baptize. I know that there are so many people that I teach that will receive baptism some day. Sometimes they are in a time in their life where their faith isn't quite strong enough or they have a problem with an addiction or whatever the reason is. There are so many that will receive it one day. We just have to keep loving them and working with them. Taiwan is a very traditional place and they really really really really care about their parents approval. Which is definitely a good thing. It's a little extreme. We have three investigators who will not be baptized because of their parents. Keep lovin em!

Whenever I'm on my bike riding I've found is some of my greatest moments of the day. I really just have a conversation with God. I just tell him how my day is and just truly ask him to help us find people to teach. I also pray all the time for our investigators. He definitely hasn't let us down yet. We found 6 new people ready to receive. That puts our investigator count at around 20 something. Needless to say we are busy teaching but no matter how busy we are we always find new people. So great! 

Well I've been sending you all a bunch of personal emails so I don't have a whole ton of time today but let me see if there is anything else I have to say... Oh yea it's so funny reading my journal entries. They are barely legible. I'm so tired by the end of the day that I am basically closing my eyes when I do it. So great. 

Had a nice little crash last week. I think it was the second day I had my bike and I broke two gears. Road tires are not good for rainy days. :P Which is like everyday here. haha It's all good though. We're teaching a lot of people who know english so it's been kind of nice being able to actually teach a significant amount of a lesson sometimes. My Chinese is getting better to where I can still contribute quite a bit. Fellowshipping through being a friend is the best way to do it. I think it's really awesome. We will once or twice a week go and play some basketball with investigators or just random people and we've got two new investigators from it already! Good stuff!

Well that's all I have for this week. You can refer to my other letters and such for more about my life. I want ya'll to know I think and pray for you all the time. Take those moments during the day to just ponder your relationship with God and what you can do to improve it. Ta yao gen women goutong. Women keyi touguo zhencheng de qidao yu Ta goutong. I say that so many times everyday. God wants to communicate with us. We can communicate with him through sincere prayer.

Love ya'll and till next time, keep it real.

Elder Meeks!

First pics from Taiwan

I'm Here and I'm Sweating...

The Eagle has landed... in Taiwan.  After a phone fiasco at the airport, he has arrived safe and sound. 

At a Dragon Boat Festival... cool beans.

Yoyoyo family,

How's good old dry heat, good weather utah? Lets just say that Taiwan is like walking around in a sauna. You sweat and sweat...and sweat... and then some more. You wake up in the morning and you're sweating and when you're finished showering you're sweating. :) 

Good stuff.   It's just about to be the really hot time of the year. Yay!!! 

So I typically write this letters off what I write in my journal but I've fallen asleep so fast that I haven't written that much this week. :P I'll try and remember some highlights. First of all I was pretty stressed out because I put my phone card in my carry on which ended up being checked. I was so disappointed because I really thought I might not be able to call and talk to ya'll. There are so many nice people who let my borrow their phones in order to talk to you. Definitely say a prayer of gratitude for them. 

Talking to you all was soooooooo awesome. You all are just amazing people. Daniel, I can't wait to hear where you get your mission call. I really think you could get called here! But, as a side note, to those of you who are preparing for missions who think that this life here will be easier than your life at home.......... I fart in your general direction. Seriously though this work is hard! You study from 8-12 and then work from 1-9:30! We have been teaching quite a few people. This week there was 22 lessons. The pres wants a minimum of 20 so we're doing good there. 

The days when we teach a lot are a lot easier. But finding is just as important because we have nobody to teach if we don't find. We have about 20 investigators. I believe 4 or 5 have baptismal dates. My first lesson we challenged someone to baptism and he accepted. It is very possible he could get there. His name is Brian and has really good English. I laughed so hard during our lesson with him. When we brought up baptism in Chinese he refers to it as "being washed" in English. I don't know why but I just could not stop laughing. I feel like we're pretty close am excited to continue meeting with him. 

       So my first night here we went out and contacted. It was pretty overwhelming. Me and an Elder Gibson went out together (he's training at 4 months) and we had a good time. You honestly just go up to people and just ask them how there day is and see if they are willing to talk for a little while. I've really enjoyed contacting. It definitely is my favorite way of finding so far because you can see immediate reactions in people. 

Oh yeah I guess I should tell you about my trainer and where my area is. I'm about 30 minutes south of Taibei in a place called Ankang. Ankang means peace and health. :) Nice name eh? Our area is just one big long street with lots of hills and mountains. I get my bike today most likely so we won't have to just walk around anymore. I guess the joke about ankang is that we could all grow beards during the week and shave them before Sunday because nobody ever comes out and checks on us. haha 

My trainer's name is elder nelson. He's a really cool guy. I really like the way he does missionary work. He really focuses on building relationships with people at first so that they learn to trust us and just realize we're real people. We played catch with a dad and son. Otis, the dad, is ready to hear the gospel. The problem is is that when we meet with him his son does not want to sit there and listen to us. He's 10 and likes to do stuff. They can only meet on Saturdays because he's in school the rest of the week. Next time we're going to bring some games to play and teach while we're playing. :) See how that goes. 

My first night contacting with Elder Nelson was cool. I honestly don't remember any of it because I was so tired. I fell asleep on my desk right when we came back. Actually, I've fallen asleep every night right when we've come back. My trainer has a picture of me upside down on my bed with the pen still in my hand and my journal just sitting there. Classic. Hopefully the jet lag will get better. :P I'm looking at the journal entry from that night and can't even understand anything I wrote hahahaha. 

          So my main goal during this first transfer is to pass off phase 1. That entails all of the vocab and lesson material from the first three lessons, commandments, and laws/ordinances from PMG. I think I can do it. I already have a lot of the vocab down because of the MTC. Good stuff good stuff. 

          Being a missionary is pretty awesome. You get to meet and talk to so many people that just have no idea about the gospel or even who Jesus Christ is. Most people we meet are buddhist or at least say that they are. It's pretty cool explaining about Jesus Christ to people who haven't really heard about him. Something big I've realized is that a lot of missionary work is just planting the seed. Last week my companion had someone baptized who was a previous investigator. That's the way it goes a lot of the time. You find people who have had some previous exposure and you're the missionary that can help them see it. I hope I can be that way for some other people. 

           The Mandarin is going pretty good. I've already learned a lot. I'm always surprised by how much I can understand about what is being said it's just hard responding haha. I'll get their eventually. There are some incredible missionaries here and I can't wait to continue on in the work. 

As we say here in Taiwan Jiayou! 

           

 Love ya'll, keep smiling. Send me tons of letters and such. ;) I want to hear about your adventures and what ya'll are up to. 

Love,

Elder Meeks

One Day More...

Never a bad letter if it has a Les Mis reference.  Please pray for the people of Taiwan after the large earthquake there recently.

24 hours! Woohoo! I am so excited to leave. I can't even believe it has been 9 weeks since I left. The biggest thing I've learned about myself is that I have a lot to work on concerning patience and humility. Not that that will surprise any of you. :) I just get super frustrated with people sometimes. But this last week I prayed constantly that I would be blessed with the ability to see the good in people instead of the negative and God seriously has blessed me. I have weak moments for sure but I don't voice them anymore. I prayed for the ability to whenever I had a negative thought to recognize it and think something positive about the person(s) instead. It really does work but it takes constant practice and a lot of effort. :P

To all of those who are planning on serving a mission. Start praying for your companions, teachers, and investigators now!!! The Lord is preparing those people to change your lives and softening their hearts to learn from and change your life. Just remember, you will most likely at some point be that person that someone can't stand so just be patient with others. We're all just a bunch of 18 to 26 year olds who are trying their best. 

Also, if you are planning on serving soon, start going to bed at 10:30 and getting up at 6:30. The Elders and Sisters that did that before their missions really do have a leg up. I have really struggled with falling asleep during the day while in the MTC. It is a constant battle with the backs of my eye lids. Please start reading preach my gospel. 

If you want to know the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints it is in Preach My Gospel (xuanjiang wo de fuyin). I promise you that as you read it you will begin to start to comprehend the gravity of our Savior's sacrifice for us and what you can do to help further His kingdom.

Here are some thoughts and quotes I had and heard this week:

1. Don't be discouraged the Lord is patient with us. -Elder Zwick
2. Character is the ability to carry out an action after the emotion of making the decision to carry out the action has passed. -My Branch Pres. President Baker
3. We can't depend on others testimonies. My investigators have to be converted through the Spirit and the Atonement in order to endure to the end.
4. There will be times when my priesthood leaders will bother me. Whatever. Learn to obey
5. There is ALWAYS someone else who has it harder.
6. It is hard to keep our thoughts constantly focused on the Savior. It actually takes a concerted effort through diligent study, prayer, obeying the commandments and a desire to improve.
7. When we actually want to start learning about our Savior and really start trying to learn about Him He will begin to help us understand.
8. "From the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed my only thought is, What can I do today to further the Kingdom of God?" -Elder Holland
9. I will never not talk to someone that I have an opportunity to.
10. I will never go out late in the morning or come home early.
11. The Lord gives me spiritual promptings all day long but because I am not paying good enough attention I don't believe I receive all of them. I need more quiet moments and meditation.
12. When we have negative feelings towards others the Spirit cannot prompt us.
13. How to begin teaching in the teaching skills section of PMG is literally my favorite teaching tool. Oh my goodness it's incredible.

Now an attempt for some humor. There is this really cool sister two generations under us who I've talked to a few times. Really enthusiastic and just fun to be around. So two days ago we were talking and she's going to Hong Kong therefore I am allowed to email her. So I asked her for her email and Elder B---- had been eavesdropping on our conversation (as he does with any conversation that he can). 

All of a sudden he ran into our classroom and grabbed his planner and ran back out. As she was telling me her email Elder (1) commenced writing it down as well. She looked at me and winked. It was pretty obvious what he was up to. I had a good laugh about it. Later on that night my companion asked everybody what their favorite thing that happened during the day was and Elder (1) said, "Getting Sister P-----'s email." :) What a sweet guy. My companion and I looked at each other and just couldn't help but bust out laughing. Ugh, I am so terrible.

So Sister C---- in our district is probably the sweetest most patient girl I've ever known. Anyway, we were at lunch and I was just thinking about what it would be like to tease her. Because she is so sweet, people typically don't tease her. In the past she hasn't really understood it because she is trusting of others around her. We were talking about how we needed to take a picture with our whole generation. When, where, how, etc. 

Sister C---- said, "We should just do it tomorrow. It'd be better." 

Then I said, "Why? Do you not like the outfit you are wearing?" 

She was kinda walking away from me but she stopped in her tracks and turned around and said, "Are you kidding me? Do you honestly think that I care about that? Do you really think I am that shallow?" 

Sister W---  and I just burst out laughing. She stood there kinda confused and I was like, "Sister Crofts I am totally joking with you. I just wanted to see what you would say." 

She just kinda smiled and actually got a kick out of it. Sister W--- said, "Well ya'll, you've finally seen Sister C---- spunky side."

 Later on in the day we were all talking and Sister C---- said, "Why doesn't anybody every joke around with me?" 

We said, "Because you are to nice Sister C-----." 

She then said, "I'm not nice. (kinda pouting) why does everybody say that?" Anyway we kept teasing with her and our district got a good laugh out of it.

Oh the life of a missionary. Gotta love it. I'm glad that I will have the opportunity to interact with a lot of the people who I am currently in the MTC with in Taiwan. I really do love being a missionary and this experience is going to change my life forever.

Love,

Elder Meeks

P.S. Send me Grandma Meeks, Grandma Bunnell's and Uncle Brent's phone numbers. I would like to try and get a hold of Jacob and I want to try and call my grandma's tomorrow. buh bye (The Chinese say this)

Fun photos

He's calling these his anti-gravity pics. Whatever...

With all the zone

Teacher

Sister Barden... his future wife :)

Elder Phelps 

Sister Hibbart - best speaker in the zone

Sister Crofts

His amazing instructors

Sister Wray - He said this kind of described their relationship