November 24 - I'VE MOVED

Happy thanksgiving ya'll!!!

 

I have moved to the wonderful area of Xin Ban. It's on the western part of the island. I serve in a super big city. There are so many people and it is really metropolitan. It looks a lot like the gateway in Salt Lake but a lot more people and a lot more stuff. My new companion is Elder Gerrard and he has been here a couple months longer than me. Elder Gerrard is a great missionary and I honestly believe I have learned more about missionary work in the past 3 days than in my whole mission. He works hard. We are working all the time and I really feel accomplished in what I am doing right now. I'm super tired at the end of everyday but I feel like I have accomplished some good work. Up to this point in my mission I can honestly say I haven't given it everything that I had. Elder Gerrard is teaching me how to do that. He is also not as familiar with the area but we hit the pavement everyday and have already seen many miracles. I've realized that I need to repent of some of my previous habits and really change. I have been trying to do so and I can already see the blessings flow. My Chinese is improving quicker than it ever has, my mind is clear, and I really feel like I am learning to follow the Spirit.

We are teaching a man named S--i D---. He is doing pretty well. His biggest problem is that he believes that every church can get to the same destination. He gave us the biyu that there are a bunch of busses that will get to Banqiao zhan and that when you get on the bus you're not going to ask the driver if he is drunk or if he has driven the route before. Elder Gerrard responded that if it were his salvation he most definitely would. We then reinvited him to ask God if he should be baptized and he agreed. He came to church the next day and had a great experience.

We had a really good lesson with an eternal investigator L-- D--. He has been investigating for a little over a year and a half and has just not been able to find the faith to fully commit. He has a baptismal date for December 25 but has not been to church in a while. We had a super spiritual lesson about how to develop faith in Jesus Christ and challenged him to start to follow the invites that we give him. He was really enthusiastic at the end of the lesson but then decided to not show up to church which was a little depressing. We hope he will find the faith needed to be baptized on Christmas!

At church yesterday we had a great Ward Council. I have heard that the Bishop has not been as warm to missionaries in the past recent months because he felt like previous missionaries had not worked very hard. Elder Gerrard and I just tried to make it really clear how willing we were to serve him and the ward. We discussed specific plans that we had for investigators and asked people for advice and willingness to Peike. People were very enthusiastic and the Bishop seemed to accept us. He then gave us some names of LA's he wanted us to focus on. The Ward has a goal of having a congregation of 100 by the end of next year and next week we are going to meet with the bishop about what us missionaries responsibility is going to be. I'm really excited to be in this new ward.

After church we had an incredibly spiritual lesson with a L--- D--. I am seeing the benefits of really preparing lessons before we have them. Elder Gerrard and I talk specifically about what we are going to teach people and every time it has gone really well. We started teaching about the 10 commandments and we had planned on going through most of them but we got to keeping the sabbath day holy and we both felt impressed to focus on this. Our Peike was absolutely incredible. Up to this point the investigator has not really understood the purpose for coming to church but by the end of the lesson his countenance had completely changed and he said that he was willing to sacrifice his study time for coming to church. He also said that he would have faith and expect God to compensate for the rest. What an awesome perspective!!! We should all expect blessings from God because he wants to give them to us.

I have decided that I am going to start expecting miracles. I believe that the Lord has a work for me to do and that I have not yet fully used the tools and the faith I have to really do what he wants me to do. I am going to start. I have already really tried to change my prayers to focus on this. I believe the Savior loves all his children and while I am here on my mission he wants me to find those "elect" people whom he has prepared and I intend to do so. I have a lot of ground to cover but I truly believe that I will be capable of accomplishing this goal. I want to "leave it all on the field." When I get off the plane in 16 months from now I want to say that from this time till then I gave it my all. I really do love this gospel and see the changes it has made in people already.

 

We most likely won't be eating turkey for thanksgiving so eat tons for me. I think that I am just going to by a whole duck (they have them hanging around on the street every where in Taiwan) and go to town on it. Duck is such an amazingly good food. The flavor is so good! I don't know why but I just really like it a lot.

 

Excited to hear how Daniel's farewell went. :) I'm sure that he did a pretty good job. Wish him luck for me!

 

Love ya'll

Elder Meeks

Nov 17 - Flying Fox in the Freezer

Hey ya'll,

It was a pretty good week. The biggest thing we were disappointed about this week was that a couple of our progressing investigators were not able to meet and we don't really know what to do to help them meet with us on a regular basis. We will continue to pray for them and encourage them to. A few of them have some really good potential if they will commit to keeping invites and meeting with us. Our next step is getting them to attend church every week. 

The ward has been a lot more willing to help us out recently. Our goal is to really start to use those who are willing to help us. We need to become better schedulers. A lot of our investigators are the kind of people that like to schedule the day of our the day before and it is hard for members to help us Peike when they only have a couple of days notice. I've made it a personal goal to get better at helping people to find the time that they have. For some reason people in Taiwan believe that they have no time ever. A lot of them are incredibly busy but they all have twenty minutes every now and again to meet. The trick is just helping them realize where it is. 

I am really grateful for the members of this ward. I feel that because so many people are converts they all have these powerhouse testimonies about how the gospel seriously changed their lives and it is just really awesome. 

We are hoping to find some really good new investigators this week. We have a few potentials that we are going to try and get a hold of and will hit the streets to find some new people to teach. I love starting the lessons with people. It is cool to see people absorb the information and you can see their countenance change as they come to believe the things you teach. I love it. 

We had a member ask us to come over to eat last night and it was really good food. But anyway I don't know how this came up but he told us that he had this animal in his freezer that had been in their for a year or so and they hadn't eaten it yet. The translation to English was "flying fox" it was so confusing. Anyway he was like do you want to see it and we said of course. He pulled it out and it was a flying squirrell. I'll send a picture next weeki. It was the weirdest thing ever. So funny! I guess they taste really good... I'll take his word for it.

Not much to report this week. Love ya'll and have fun!

Elder Meeks

Photos from a Missionary Mom

Andrew's first companion's mom sent me some fun photos.  Sure warms the mama's heart.

November 10 - Going bald but loving life.

Hi everybody!

We saw some awesome miracles this week! The main one being a man that we had a lesson with last night. He was a phone referral from over in Luzhou. He talked to some missionaries in the MRT and they sent his number to us. His name is L--- X--- and has had a very hard life. His dad before he was ten and his mom died when he was twelve right in front of him. He was then raised by his grandma and basically told us that he was tired of being unhappy. I could tell he had such a good heart and was really seeking for the truth. While we were talking to him I remembered a talk that Elder Holland gave about how people that don't know Jesus Christ will sometimes have good feelings when we talk about him and so I asked him if he knew who Jesus Christ was. 

He said he didn't. We then testified that Jesus Christ knew exactly what he was going through and that through getting to know him he would be able to resolve some of the unhappiness and bitterness he had gained over the years. We testified that God was his Father in Heaven and that he loved him with a love greater than anyone. I have never seen the Spirit work as it did. The man burst into tears and asked us what feeling he was feeling. I asked him what it felt like and he said, "So comfortable. I'm content and peaceful." Man what a great opportunity to teach about the Spirit and 

Elder Norris then introduced the tools that could help him to have that feeling with him all of the time. At the end of the lesson he prayed for the first time in his life and said a very heartfelt prayer. We asked him what he was doing after the lesson and he said he was going to read the book of mormon! What a prepared guy! I already feel like I knew this guy for months! 

We had such a miracle yesterday after church. The ward mission leader set up a meeting with the Bishop and all of the ward missionaries to discuss a ward mission plan for next year. That meeting was definitely led by the Spirit. We talked about all of the problems we had been experiencing in Ankang over the past year the main one being finding. Ankang is a harder area to find because nearly every community has a guanli. Therefore it is harder to have effective tracting time. The streets are also a little difficult because there are only two places that have people. So we discussed how the ward can start helping the missionaries find and set up some great finding activities involving the ward for December and January. It will be a big responsibility for both the missionaries and the members and we are really excited to see our plans come into affect. The ward has recently started a schedule where the members have been invited to sign up for one night a month in which they can invite their friends and the missionaries over to eat. We hope this will be an effective finding tool as well. 

This week was a little harder. I just felt like I was not an effective missionary. I was sick and just not feeling really good about myself or the work that we were doing. But we did see some miracles that definitely put the work back into perspective for me. My companion and I's personalities are very different but I hope I learning something from him and that we can work to become more effective teachers. 

 Our investigator A---- and W--- D----- are the two who have baptismal dates and I believe that both of them are going to be able to make their dates. We're praying for them and teaching them every week. We are hoping we will be able to meet with them twice a week. They are both really busy. The biggest problem will helping both of them start coming to church because they are both so busy. We have faith that we will be able to help them do this. We are really going to make sure we start having Peike's for the lessons that we have with them. 

Overall the work of Ankang is on the verge of exploding. With the help of our ward mission leader and the help of our Bishop we are really starting to get the members fired up about sharing the gospel and working with us to help strengthen their ward. I'm excited to see what happens in Ankang in the next year. Miracles are happening and the Lord is using us the way He wants to. I learn more and more that my role in the conversion of others is minuscule. It all depends on the persons faith and their willingness to repent and change. The Lord then uses His power of conversion which is the Spirit. 

Well ya'll so goes another week in Ankang. I will probably be here another transfer so till after Christmas. That will make it 5 transfers in my 1st area... Whew... As we say in Chinese 加油 (add oil) 

Love ya'll,

Elder Meeks

Oct 27 - Pray Always

Sup ya'll,

This was a good week. I really enjoyed the specialized training that was given on Thursday. My favorite thing that I learned there was the doing temple work for our dead is no different then doing missionary work. Those of our ancestors who have died have been being taught they gospel or they haven't yet and we are kind of like the referral system or the missionary that baptizes the golden investigator. Either way it is pretty cool to think about. I am going to start teaching the members about this principle and I think it will be really effective in helping us obtain more referrals from the members. 

This week I have tried to focus on gratitude. I have realized the Jesus Christ is the best example of gratitude. When he visited the Nephites he prayed so many times in gratitude to his Heavenly Father. Just think if we prayed like that on a daily basis. I have recently tried to have a prayer in my heart more often. My favorite time for this is riding bikes between appointments or on our way to finding activities. I have had said some of the most heartfelt prayers of my life while riding my bicycle in the busy streets of Taiwan. I have also had incredible spiritual promptings while doing so. We really can pray anytime and anywhere. 

Elder Norris and I have recently been discussing how to help our area really start to take off. We have also decided that we have too many investigators that for one reason or another are just not progressing. They have been invited to baptism and because of reservations or lack of faith are not willing at this time to make the commitment. We have decided that our first step in helping the area improve is to find a new investigator pool. This is going to be our focus in the coming weeks. We know that it will be hard not meeting with some of our normal investigators as often but it is important that we help find some others who are willing to progress at this time. 

Our closest investigator to baptism is Z----- D------. He has been in Africa for the past few weeks so we haven't been able to meet very often but he just got back. His reservation is that he doesn't believe that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet of the church. Our focus in the next few visits with him is to relate modern day revelation to ancient prophets and also help him develop a testimony of Joseph Smith. Z----- D---- believes the BOM is true but has not yet made the connection between that and Joseph Smith's calling as a prophet of God. We are excited to help him along this process! 

We received a referral from a member for a family that lives next door from him. This will be the first family that I have taught since coming here to Ankang and I am incredibly stoked about it. We invited this recent convert to write his testimony in the front of a Book of Mormon and then pray and ponder about who he could give it to and this is who he said was ready. They are willing to meet and he will help us Peike!!! Woohoo! 

I had a dream last night about myself contacting on the street (I dream in Chinese now, it's super legit). I was using the Book of Mormon in every contact and sharing scripture with nearly every person that I met. My dream also kept flashing back to personal study and I was sharing the things that I studied in personal study with people. I don't think this is coincidence. I believe I really need to start doing this. In my dream it was incredibly successful and even if people weren't interested they seemed appreciative of it so I'm really excited to start putting this into play. I'm excited to see the success that comes from it. 

Charity is the essence of missionary work. We have to have charity towards every person we talk to and meet. It is so important. I have made a goal to pray for charity in every prayer that I say. 

Cool thing that happened this week. My companion and I were both invited officially to be in the traveling Christmas choir. We start practices today and will be traveling all throughout the month of Nov. and Dec. It will be super cool because I get to see every area in Taiwan! I'm really excited to use all that music that you sent me mom! Thanks! 

I've realized that my letters are super long usually... I can write shorter letters if I am being long winded hahaha. 

I've lost weight recently. Mainly do to eating a lot less food. It's amazing if you just stop eating so much you lose weight. Pretty awesome if you ask me. :) Why can't everyone do this? haha

Anyway I know that missionary opportunities are just waiting for ya'll. Just open your mouth and ask. You won't offend people. It's an exciting time in the this dispensation. The Lord is preparing so many people. 

Love ya'll and as my dad says keep smiling,

Elder Meeks

Oct 22 - Life it legit even when it is hard

What's up family and friends?!

We had some great success this past week. The biggest miracle was when we met with the s---j-----. The have been inactive for about 2 years now because of some drama that happened with their son and his marriage. I was on exchanges with Elder Hopper and we were discussing what we could do to help them start their process of coming back into the church. We both had the feeling we should ask them to help us missionaries Peike. When we had the lesson with them and asked them to help us do that they actually had a relieved/excited look on their faces. I believe that the big reason they are not coming to church is because of embarrassment and so I believe this is going to help them out a lot. They both have big testimonies and we really need them in the ward so we are going to be focusing on them in the coming weeks. The thing I love the most about this family is the light that comes into our eyes when we come over. This is probably my favorite thing about the mission to be honest. 

I believe we gave out 6 copies of the Book of Mormon this week. We had many opportunities to share the gospel with people and I've noticed a big difference in contacting when you actually share meaningful scriptures with people that you just meet. It's pretty cool to see people really take in what you say and have interest in what you are saying. I believe using the Book of Mormon in contacting is super effective and will continue to perfect this skill. 

We found a new investigator this week which has not happened in quite a while. He is super golden! He's a 21 yr. old college student who I felt like related really well with us. He was so ready to learn and my favorite thing he said regarding prayer was, "I'm not used to it but I like it." It blows my mind when people are willing to pray when you meet with them for the first time. It takes a huge act of faith in my opinion and it is always exciting to see people open up that channel with God. He set up with us again for the same time next week and we are super excited to keep on meeting with him. 

We are struggling in our area with finding people to help us Peike and also helping people set baptismal dates. We've invited all of our current investigators (excluding our new one) and it seems like we are kind of stuck in a rut. The area is picking up a little bit and I feel like we will soon see some great miracles. We're working hard but we can work harder. We've recently set some goals to improve our companionship studies and our study times in general because both of us are a little weak in this area. I'm ready and willing to change. 

Stake Conference this week was pretty awesome. I learned so much from the broadcast about missionaries and members working together. It truly was an incredibly inspiring broadcast. I am always amazed at the power and authority the apostles use to address us. They speak by the Spirit and command attention. My favorite talk was given by Elder Holland. He said some things that really changed my perspective on what I'm doing and how I can do it better. "Everyone on this earth EARNED their right to be here." "Everyone, at one time, had a testimony of Jesus Christ." "If we bear testimony more effectively we will help people re-discover their testimonies." Some great council. I have been trying to remember this while contacting and while sharing with investigators. In the Book of Mormon recently I have been studying about repentance and have come to realize how much my calling relies on helping people go through this repentance process. It is so important. I have set some goals to become a better teacher of repentance the main one being to truly repent everyday. 

The work goes on here in Ankang. I love the people and will continue to work as long as I am here. I understand that my work now will influence many lives in the future and hopefully in the present. I truly believe in my Savior Jesus Christ. He atoned for my sins and the sins of all. I love teaching about Him and his infinite mercy. People need hope in this troubling time of life and this gospel can bring them the hope that nothing else in this world can. I'm so grateful for my opportunity to be here.

Love ya all and remember to pray specifically for someone you know to have an opportunity to be introduced to the gospel.

Elder Meeks

October 13th - Cool Missionary or Great Missionary?

你们好！你们怎么样？想港是很好！我很爱你们！

This week was great. The question that I asked myself this week is an interesting one. The question was, "Do I want to be known as a cool missionary or as a missionary who worked hard and served the best he could?" I believe that for the most part people think that I am "cool" or "fun". But I have realized lately that this isn't why I came on a mission. I came to be a servant of the Lord and do his work and therefore I need to be better than what I have been aspiring to previously. I do have a goal to never have a companion/anyone I know dislike me while I am on my mission. I believe that is a worthy goal. But I also have realized recently that I need to try harder to do the work. I'm not lazy but I don't put all my effort in. I guess the test of my character will be if I actually do it now that I recognize it. 

I learned some great things during zone meeting this week. The Jinxin sisters did a great job on presenting about studies. An area that I struggle in. I learned some things that I definitely want to apply in my studies. The main thing being that I need to pray about and really ponder what I want to study for the day and then pursue that direction. Most of the time it feels like my studies are very "sui bian" which sometimes has proved very beneficial. But I also understand that having a direction will help me focus quicker which will help me a lot. 

Went on exchanges with Elder Chen in xindian this week. We had a wonderful lesson with a college student named J-----. He has so much potential and will be challenged to baptism next week! 

I've been in a bit of a funk lately when it concerns this amazing area of Ankang. We have just not found anyone really good for quite a long time. Since the first few weeks I arrived here to be precise. All of our other investigators are super willing to meet with us but not willing to make any commitments. I don't really know what to do about it. Contacting is nearly impossible because there are just not that many people on the streets. Our ward is very small and the members all seem so busy and inconvenienced if we ask them to help. On the bright side of things I do see the success of this area happening. I just really want to know what I can do to help it happen. I'm excited for this next transfer and the challenge it will bring us. 

Elder Hales said something during conference that had a big impact on me. He said, "What is said is not necessarily as important as what I hear and feel." I know this needs to be true with missionary work. Because our Chinese is super kelian and we're not amazing teachers we need to rely on the Spirit to communicate to investigators hearts what our message is. Easier said than done in my experience out here. Learning how to use the Spirit has definitely been a challenge for me but hopefully I am still learning how...

We invited W-- D------ last night to be baptized and he respectfully declined our invitation. He informed us that he loves reading the Book of Mormon and finds things in it everyday that he can do to better his life but cannot believe in a God. He has seen for years the hypocrisy of his religious family members and friends and this has led him to a belief that religion is not where he wants to focus his life. He is a great man though. He has strengthened my testimony through his study of the Book of Mormon and will continue to bless my life as we continue to meet with him. 

Conference was an amazing experience. Before my mission I never realized how incredibly important conference actually is. :P I took notes incessantly and felt like I received a lot of answers to questions I had been pondering. I invite you to listen to the counsel of Elder Nielson and specifically pray for 1 person to come unto Christ. A person you could pray for is a Brother Z-----. He is a father who is currently in the process of meeting with us missionaries. He's close to baptism but has not quite developed a testimony of the prophets. :) 

Love you all and I'm super jealous you are on a cruise without me. ;)

Elder Meeks