11/09/2014 - Out of order The work is good and I'm happy.

Hey family and friends!!! 

Even though this week was a littler harder we still had some great success. We actually went on three exchanges this week which was a little hectic. Monday I went with Elder Tsai which was awesome. He really loves his companion and is very thankful he helps him become a better more motivated missionary. On Thursday I got really sick all of a sudden with a stomach virus so I figured going to the temple with our RC wasn't the best choice so Elder Gerrard came with me while my companion went with Elder Tsai. It turned out being a big blessing because Elder Tsai had never participated in baptisms for the dead before then. He really had a great experience. It was also awesome that I got to go with my old companion!!! He's the best! 

OnFriday we got to exchange with the assistants which was an awesome opportunity. Elder Huang is seriously one of the coolest elders I have met on my mission. You can tell he's more mature than most other elders and has a ton of faith. He asked me a really cool question, "How would you describe your mission if you could use one word?" I said in Chinese it would be 難 and in English it would be patience. The biggest thing I have had to change about myself is my temper and reactions to peoples decisions that I don't agree with. God has definitely sent me the companions I needed to change these negative characteristics though. While I'm not perfect I've gotten a lot better then I used to be. 

This week I read from Alma 30 to Alma 46. Talk about incredible. There is so much doctrine in these chapters that if we learn from and apply will literally change our lives. It was a joy to read Alma 40-42 again because these three chapters are what influenced my decision to serve a mission. God is a merciful God and wants us to forget our mistakes after we repent and then go and change others lives. Alma went from the vilest of sinners, to full time mission (for decades), judge, prophet, and then he was translated (maybe)! That shows us how much we can change in the short amount of time we have on this earth. 

I feel like I had my first experience of being led by the Holy Ghost while giving a blessing this week. A member was having some troubles and as we met with him he asked us for a blessing. He explained the situation and I then thought about some things I could say but what came out of my mouth was opposite of what I thought I would say. I learned the Lord has different plans for people sometimes. The coolest part too is that I felt the Chinese I used was nearly flawless. Very testimony building experience. 

My companion and I are getting along great. Obviously there are some differences. But that is where patience comes into play right? We don't have to react negatively to things that bother us. Our emotions are sometimes really hard to control but our outward reactions to those emotions are fully under our control. So cool. 

Our investigators are progressing slowly but surely. Had a few setbacks this week but we really hope we will be able to have a baptism at the end of this month! 

Love you all and have a wonderful week! Keep the faith and move forward. 

Elder Meeks

11/17/2014 - Heart of Gladness

Hello all you beautiful people,

It was a pretty great week filled with miracles,  humor, exchanges, new investigators and best of all progress! For isn't progress what all of us are striving for? 

We started off the week on Monday night with a good three hour block of finding. We really prayed for the Lord's guidance and he led us to not 1 but two really prepared and nice gentlemen who were interested in learning more. They have since met up with the missionaries in their respective areas. 

I went on exchanges with Elder Anderson in my area and we really ahd a great time. I don't think I've ever met an elder more self-confident than he is. He literally talked to everyone with no fear and we saw some great things happen. A family on the train actually set up with the missionaries in Zhongli right on the spot and were really excited to hear the gospel. He has a desire to finish out strong and help his Junior Comp develop a great love for the work. I was very impressed with Elder Anderson's drive for the work.

I was able to establish contact with a former investigator from a previous area and start meeting with him here! Very big blessing I definitely think he is the reason I was sent here. I hope I can help him realize the potential he has to be so much better and happier than he is right now. I truly believe that through the gospel we can overcome whatever trial come our way! 

After English class on Wednesday Elder Greenhalgh invited a woman named L----- to take a chapel tour that week. She was really excited and accept the invitation. We found out she was raised Baptist and that she is a devout Christian. Her friends had always told her not to come to our church but she had always been curious why the children in our church were so obedient and kind. She was also really interested in missionary work. The tour went really well and we're excited to meet with her again soon. 

I went on exchanges with Elder Richardson on Thursday and had a blast!! He is someone I would love to serve with. Very down to earth, logical and proactive (also a total genius). Alot of our views on missionary work and how to really help people grow were very similar and he shared with me a talk that I have been dissecting the past few days. It is in the Aug. 1979 Ensign by Bruce L. Hafen , On Dealing with Uncertainty. This talk basically focuses on ambiguity and how it is so prevalent in the scriptures, missionary work, and daily life, etc. This talk also outlines the three different types of personalities people (especially young people) have when they start something new. I think this talk could really solve some major companionship, marital, and personal problems that we face on a frequent basis. I'm super glad Elder Richardson shared this talk with me. 

Our biggest miracle this week came in the form of an member referral! Her name is S--- H------ and she is from Tokyo but has lived in China for the past 9 years. She had met with missionaries in Japan but her father wouldn't let her be baptized. She has a 2 year old son and really wants to raise him in a good environment. After she came to church on Sunday she set a baptismal date for December!!! We're super excited for her! 

We were able to visit 5 members this week and share some great messages with them. We have been encouraging every family to use technology to share the gospel when we visit them. My testimony of the priesthood was also strengthened by a member this week when he told me the blessing I gave him last week had a major impact on him and he received a big recognition at his work. He also felt better about his relationship with God. 

The Lord has blessed us so much this week. I know he wants us to find those prepared people out there and really influence some people's lives! My testimony is being strengthened daily and I'm so grateful for my blessings! 

Lovin laugh and takin it easy. :)

Have a great week!

Elder Meeks

11/4/2014 - Awesome week

我親愛的親戚朋友們，

Wow, this last week has been great! Mission Leadership council, zone meeting, two exchanges with awesome missionaries, personal in-depth reflection on what I can improve, trying to discover how to become an inspirational leader, setting baptismal dates with two amazing people, miracles galore! 

First off the mission leadership council was just an awesome experience. When you aren't a leader it is a little hard to understand why the goals for the mission are set the way they are but being in the meeting I can understand why it is the way it is now. I really think the vision and goals that were planned are inspired by God and that they are achievable through a combined effort of all of us missionaries.

 I really liked the focus on the Plan of Salvation as the "why" of missionary work at the beginning of the meeting. We all have a similar goal. To obtain peace in this life and eternal happiness in the life to come, some people just don't know they have that goal yet. It is our job to teach with spiritual power as Ammon did when he taught King Lamoni. I have been studying those missionary chapters a lot this week and realized I want to become like them. I want to be able to teach with the spiritual power! I also loved the focus on finding quality investigators not quantity. I also have been semi disturbed that it takes 30 investigators to have one be baptized. This obviously represents that there is more focus on quantity/numbers than on the actual person.

 I actually had an interesting idea that would kind of test how much "spiking" is actually going on throughout the mission. For maybe 2 weeks just tell people that other lessons on the street do not count. Simple as that. If I guess right you would see a drop in new investigators of at least 50% but I think the quality would increase. The focus would be instead on getting people to meet with you a second time instead of "spiking" them to new investigator status (in order to boost numbers). This is just a thought I had based off of the missionaries I've served with and the patterns I've observed over the past year and a half. 

I had the chance to exchange with Elder Monson in Luzhou. His companion and him are doing great! They are reaching nearly all of the key indicators and their relationship is great. I know they will be very sad when they are not serving together anymore. Elder Monson is excited to go home but who wouldn't be with less than a month left? They are baptizing a kid from China this week and I had the opportunity to interview him. Really prepared guy who really wants to develop a testimony. 

I also exchanged with Elder Tsai. He is also doing great. Him and Elder Gerrard are really great friends and are really working hard to accomplish the mission vision. I've served with Elder Gerrard before and I know that he is doing everything in his power to do things the right way and be obedient. He was probably the best example I have ever had in a companion.

I've been studying the notes I took in the Council a lot and have really tried to figure out how I can inspire my zone members to fulfill all the goals that we have put for. I have decided that frequent follow up is a critical way that we can know the status of their progressing investigators and can give advice in helping them progress. Also with frequent follow up they can feel that we actually love and care about them. I believe our zone is on track for every companionship having a baptism in November and 2 in December. 

Speaking of baptisms we had a miracle happen this week. Up until this week we did not have anyone with a firm baptismal date. We have really been praying for guidance on how to improve this area of our work. We invited tons of people on the street and invited every single one of our investigators. Finally I had the opportunity to meet with two investigators we have. Their names are R--- and H---- and they lived in Irvine for a few years. The missionaries starting teaching them there and when they came back we got in contact with them. They have been very hesitant to set a baptismal date because of their lack of faith. But while we were meeting we discovered the reason they met with us is that our church is different in the fact that our leaders don't take a salary and that 19year old boys are willing to drop everything and pay to serve for two years. We really honed in on this fact and helped them understand that they could understand why we are doing it if they are willing to pray, read the scriptures and continue to attend church. At the end of the lesson I felt inspired to tell them that if they did these things they would be ready for a baptismal date of Dec. 6th and my companion and I were shocked when they agreed! God is blessing us for sure! Miracles are in abundance. 

I have a lot of personal goals and I have 5 months left to accomplish them. I am more motivated then I have been on my entire mission. I honestly believe that I am feeling the Spirit more often than I ever have in my entire life. It feels good. I just want to do what God wants me to do. I'm super thankful for everything God has done for me in my life. Especially for giving me a great family. 

The area I'm serving in is so busy! It is right in the heart of Taibei and is about 10 minutes from the temple/mission office. It is really cool serving here because I get to see a bunch of missionaries that I love all the time. There are lots of activies that we get to participate in and I get to see tons of members from my old areas because they come to the temple on Saturdays. Super awesome! 

Well ya'll peace and love and have a great week!!!

Elder Meeks

10/27/2014 - New Area New Assignment

Hey momma,

First of all happy freakin birthday from Taiwan!!! I got you some really awesome presents last week. :) I know you'll love them. I am going to try to get a package together for next pday and get that sent to ya'll. I got way to much presents to send so it'll be a fun surprise. :) Just remember that no matter how old you get you get to choose how young you are in your heart! You are still a lioness!!! Keep it up! We'll hit up some skydiving when I get home. 

Are you sitting down?  Guess what?  Shock of the week... I am the Zone Leader in my new area.   I was definitely not expecting to go zone leader at all!! But hey I guess it is where "I am supposed to be. We have some really great mssionaries in our zone and some who really need some help. I feel like I'll be able to help out here for sure. It's really cool because I'm serving where all the action is as well. I get to see everything go down! "I also work really close with Pres because I live like 10 minutes from his  house haha. Exciting stuff. My comp is a really hard worker as well. I'll be learning tons from him. My ward is really awesome. We ahve tons of people in our ward. They are all really excited about missionary work. We have 6 missionaries serving in our ward as well. It reminds me a little bit of being in a ward back home. My companion is a Ute fan which is awesome! Utah is 6-1 this season! I'm super excited about that. I hope they take it all they way! (I'll probably end up being a cougar but will be a ute in my heart forever) 

The first miracle we saw was as we were street contacting and it was pretty late in the evening. We stopped on the street and said a prayer asking God to direct us to a really prepared person. Elder Greenhalgh felt like we should turn down the street and the second person we talked to was a handsome guy sitting on a bench eating dinner. He looked at us and then said in English, "You guys are Mormon right?" He invited us to sit down and we had a wonderful first lesson with him. He lived in the States for a while and converted to Christianity. He has not been as devout lately and has been thinking quite a bit about church and the like. He really wants to meet with us again. We're doing a temple tour with him on Saturday and are going to invite him to be baptized and come to church with us. His name is Quinn! 

Keep on praying for me! I'm loving my new area and ready to take on all the challenges my new calling will bring. I hope that I can do it well. I will die in my current area so I'm going to get to know the members really well! I'm really excited about that. 

Have a great week,

LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! 

Elder Andrew Meeks

10/19/2014 - Last week in Maoli

President Day,

This week was great. I have truly loved serving in this wonderful place. Miaoli is definitely my second home. I have seen so many people become members of the church, return to activity and strengthen their faith in the gospel. It has been a privilege to be so involved with the work. Being in an area for 9 months helps you really understand how being in an area a long time can effect the work in the ward. I'm so close with the members and the members really trust me to get the job done. We have been bombarded by dinner invitations this week which has definitely been a plus. I am going to miss the people here so much. 

We found an incredible new investigator this week. His name is Allen and is a member referral. The member invited us to come to his house for dinner and his acquaintance just so happened to come as well. We had such a great dinner and really got to develop that trust that is so important in first contacts. Me and him are about the same age and we really hit it off. He had tons of questions about America and college. After dinner we were able to share with him about the Book of Mormon and baptism. He really felt the truth of the message and really wanted to meet with us again. We are excited to meet with him tomorrow and hopefully set a baptismal date with him. He truly was our miracle for the week. 

We are continuing to work closely with our less actives and recent converts. They still need a lot of help and I feel like we can do more to help them develop their faith. We are going to also focus on finding through the as well. They are really great people and I'm thankful I have been able to get to help each other grow. 

My companion has grown a lot of the past few months. He is becoming a great missionary and I'm so glad I've got to serve with him for two transfers. He will be an incredibly successful missionary and I will totally miss serving with him. 

Love ya'll!

Elder Meeks

10/14/2014 - Pics from a member

10/12/2014 - Conference is amazing

Hey family and friends! 

Wow... Conference literally changed my mind on how I want to do missionary work. I kept hearing over and over again about prayer, scriptures, service and trusting the words of the prophets. I am going to start applying much more energy in these 4 areas. I could go on forever about all of the inspiration that I felt during conference and all of the goals that accompanied that inspiration but I will just name a few. 

I have resolved to make a prayer board. This means that I am going to write down all of the things that I feel are necessary to pray for on a regular basis and review them before I pray (and have it next to me while I pray so I can remember what I need to pray for). There are so many times in the morning and at night where I am just so tired I can barely focus on what I am supposed to be praying for and consequently have mediocre prayers. Not any more. I believe that my prayers can improve drastically and through writing down the things I believe are necessary I believe I will be able to receive more personal inspiration according to how Elder Eyring taught us. 

My entire mission I have had problems with self doubt. Elder Jorg .... spoke on this subject. I will be applying the principles that he taught us to apply in order to erase all of those feelings of self doubt especially focusing on the step of repenting and asking for forgiveness quickly. I want to get to the state where I can constantly be receiving a remission of my sins and constantly be applying the atoning power of our Savior. 

Many apostles spoke about peace. I believe peace is the one thing that everyone in this life, no matter who you are, is looking for. It doesn't come easily and that is because God wants us to stretch ourselves. When we start feeling comfortable another trial is put in our path that may question our faith. But if we continually rely on ours and others testimonies (including those of the prophets) we can have a feeling of peace in our lives. As we strive to live the commandments and constantly serve others we can receive that remission of sins which brings that peace. I am still not quite there. I have many things I need to change in order to start feeling this way but I have the desire. I also have the desire to help others get there. 

I was struck by Elder Holland's talk on the poor. He said the Savior's first and foremost goal with his ministry was to administer to the poor and the poor in Spirit. If we are supposed to emulate the example of Christ then we have to be emulating the first and foremost goal of his ministry on earth. If we are not we are falling short. I'm super grateful for parents who taught me to always be looking out for others who are in need. Another insight I had was that unless we are actively seeking service opportunities they don't just fall into our lap. The Lord won't trust us with these responsibilities unless we are praying for them. I have resolved to be better in this area. According to some of the talks that a requirement of forgiveness is imparting of our substance to the poor. Pretty serious. 

The work in Miaoli is coming along slowly but surely. I have about 10 days left here in Miaoli most likely and I don't want to leave my trainee with an area with few investigators. This next week we are pounding the pavement and working with the members closely to find those people who are prepared to hear the restored gospel. My companion is an incredible mission. I could continue to serve with him. He has been such a great example to me and wants to keep learning. Has a desire to be the best he can. I think something that would help him out is a companion who has great Chinese. Maybe even a native. He has a desire to really improve and fast. He will be finishing up phase one this week and will quickly progress through phase two is the feeling that I get. I am so grateful I've been able to serve with Elder Okeson. 

(This is the bit that I wrote to my mission president)My whole mission I have desired to serve with a seasoned missionary who I knew that I could just get along with and do the work. I have had many companions who struggled through their missions in many different aspects of the work. It has been difficult but also incredibly rewarding because it has helped me change many things that were originally wrong with my personality including: patience, temperament, anger, love, etc. I am grateful for these experiences despite the challenges that came along with it. An example of a missionary that I would love to serve with is Elder M---, Elder C--- and Elder B---- or even my old companion Elder Z---. While they aren't perfect my relationships with them are solid and I know they just want to serve and bless the people of Taiwan's life. They are super loving guys who have totally made an impact on me. You once told me that 90% of revelation is information and I just wanted to let you know some of my feelings as I go into this last 4th of my mission which I  want and believe will be best! 

I am so pumped about the next 6 months. I've never been so in fire for missionary work and just want to love the heck out of the people around me. I love being on a mission. I love this work. I love Miaoli. I have learned so much so far on my mission that really has prepared me for the outside world when I get home.

Have a great week and love ya'll! 

Elder Meeks

10/5/2014 - Today is a great day

10/5/2014 - Remembering my buddy

Hey family,

Wow, it goes without saying that I was totally devastated that Keeno had to be put down this week. I was really hoping that I would be able to see him again. But that was a selfish wish and I am grateful that you all had the presence of mind to recognize that it was his time. I sure hope he wasn't suffering. I know that he was probably really comforted by you all in his final days here with us. JAco thanks for being such a champ. I'm sure Keeno felt your help and comfort when he was in the Dr.'s office. 

It's crazy to think that Keeno was alive for over half of my life so far. I seriously remember the first day that we went and got him. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I knew that when we went to get him that he was the one and that he would bring out family so much happiness.

 I remember him peeing on me the first night I slept out on the deck with him in that red sleeping bag. 

I remember him totally destroying the hoses and the deck.

 I remember him digging holes all over the yard.

I remember him knocking Jacob over when he was learning to walk. 

 I remember the paths that he ran into the ground from chasing the trucks from one end of the house to the other while barking his face off.

 I remember him jumping and grabbing ducks out of the air. 

I remember him loving to go for a swim in the pond by our house and never wanting to get out. 

I remember him running away a ton of times and nearly dying of fright that he wouldn't come back. 

I remember him wagging his freakin tail everytime somebody would walk down the stairs. 

I remember him sneaking and sleeping on the couches at night and then slowly getting off when he saw us. :) 

I remember him always being willing to just sit there and let us pet him on the head and comfort us when we were sad. 

I remember dad trying the shock collar on himself.... lol 

I remember spending hours just chillin with him and petting him. 

I remember him bring me more happiness than anything besides my family. 

I could go on and on forever. He literally was one of my best friends. He totally changed my life and the lives of everyone in our family. I was just thinking about how merciful God really is. The whole reason that dog was born was to bring happiness to our family. Isn't that just special? God really loved our family to send such a wonderful animal to us. We have made a lot of mistakes as a fmaily but that dog was definitely not one of them. I am so happy that he was able to be with us for so long. I am sure I will have a couple of private moments to myself when I cry it all it. But I guarantee that he is chasing cars in puppy heaven. Dang that dog is incredible. I can't even describe all of my feelings about him. \

Stay strong. Me and dano will be fine. Sad but okay. :) We both know Keeno is in a better place and totally did his job for our family. :) 

Love ya!

9/28/2014 -

9/21/2014 - Service with a Smile

Hey ya'll,

Well this week even though our numbers don't necessarily reflect it I felt like we had a really successful and meaningful week. Our biggest miracle this week is that we had a former investigator who is really wanting to progress towards baptism. He came to church on Sunday and we will continue to help him prepare for a baptism on the 4th of October. This week he will be having a baptismal interview and we are hoping he can get baptized in the next two or three weeks. He is a really good guy who's gospel understanding is not quite there yet. We will be meeting with him a couple of times in the next couple of weeks and helping him to continue to prepare for this blessing! He is a really good guy who feels the spirit and really wants to learn. Hopefully he can continue to progress! 

We had the amazing opportunity to do some service this week. The 羅家庭 in our ward has been needing some major painting help in the last while and we finally were able to set a time aside to help them accomplish this big project. They have a really hard family situation and they really needed our help. We were able to spend some significant time with them this week accomplishing this project that they would not have been able to accomplish on their own. As a missionary sometimes the biggest feelings of accomplishment come when you are serving other people. Whether they be members, RCLA's, non-members or whatever. I really just love seeing a project completing and having a family who is just super grateful for the help that you gave them. I definitely live for these opportunities as a missionary and my companion and I will continue to find these amazing opportunities. 

My spiritual progression is continuing in a more rapid pace than ever before in my life. I feel like I am learning more and more about the Savior's influence in my life and how I can change in order to put my life more in harmony with His teachings. I want to be like Him. I frequently get down on myself for my shortcomings and imperfections but this week I had a moment of realization. I have changed so much. The person I was 2 years ago was a very different person. A person that a lot of my old friends might not have even recognized. I was not living my life the way I knew I should. But even though I still have temptations and give in to them I have made a near 180 degree flip. I have motivation to do good, to serve, to succeed, to care, and to love everyone. I really do just want to take the knowledge that I have learned as a missionary and run with it. I love this gospel like crazy. 

We ate some great food this week. The best being pizza hut. Holy smokes it has been forever since I have been able to eat that stuff! It was so refreshing and made me miss America. I can't wait to order a big Papa John's with garlic dipping better when I get home. MMHM! We also just ate a hot pot buffet. So great. I went to town on the haggen daas ice cream. That stuff is amazing. 

My companion is awesome. We are having so much fun and can't believe we only have a month left together! I can't believe I only have about 6 months left of my mission. It is flying by and before I know it I will be home. I am definitely going to do my best and give it my all. 

Thanks for everything and have a chill week, 

Love,

Elder Meeks

P.S. Shout out to Dr. Dad and turning 50 years old! Holy smokes that is so cool. :) haha Love your face off. Check out the vid I recorded for you on Dropbox. 

9/14/2014 Confidence Boost

親愛的親戚和朋友大家好!

It was a good week this week. Despite the fact that we have only 1 progressing investigator at the moment I still feel like we are being blessed by the Lord. It is sometimes hard to stay incredibly motivated when you don't have a lot of investigators but it always provides other opportunities to help others. 

One of the coolest things happened to me this week. There is a family called the 羅家庭. They are seriously the cutest little family. They are such great examples to me. Sister 羅 parents have both passed away and when that happened she took in her handicapped brother. Brother 羅 father was in a major car accident and has partial brain damage and his mother passed away. They take care of his father and they also have a 2 year old child. Whenever I see them they have the brightest smiles and are the kindest people. Lately they have been inviting us over to eat with them a lot. I've been really surprised because I didn't know them incredibly well before. I asked them why they started to invite us over more often. 羅姐妹told me that while we were at a ward gathering at the 胡家庭 house she noticed that I was the only person out of the whole group that went and talked to the old grandma who was sitting by herself. She told me that she used to think that all missionaries were the same and that they came and went but that she was incredibly impressed that I sat and talked to the Grandma for about 30 minutes in broken 臺語(taiwanese, it's different than Chinese) It was a really cool compliment and I told her it was all because my parents taught me to respect my elders and to make sure I payed attention to people who were on their own. 

Also mom you were saying how I need to use my musical talents more often so we have started visiting the ward families and playing music for and singing with them. Two awesome miracles happened with that this week. We went to have correlation meeting with our Ward mission leader. One of 邱弟兄 friends came over to visit while we were there. We had the opportunity to teach him a lesson and then I asked to play their piano because it looked really nice. I played a couple of songs and then played and sang "Let it Go" with his daughters. They loved it. The friend was super impressed that I would take the time to sing with his kids. In the end he asked if he could meet with us again. Yesterday at church 邱弟兄imformed me that multiple neighbors came over to their house later after we left and asked who it was playing the piano and that when I came back to invite them over to listen. So that was super cool. One other music miracle was while we were visiting the 羅家庭 for dinner and they invited two of their friends to eat 烤肉with us. I mentioned that I played the piano and the 17 year old girl was also a pianist. She invited us over to her house after dinner and we sat and jammed for a while. Her mom cut fruit for us and inviting us over again as well. Music is a way to get into people's doors! I am definitely going to start using it a bunch more. I've been suprised lately as well. My piano hasn't regressed too much. God is definitely blessing me a lot because I rarely get opportunities to play. We plan to continue on in using music to find, teach, baptize, and make people's lives happier! 

曹弟兄 is doing much better this week. I think he is making improvement. He has started trying to change his sleeping habits and is getting back into good habits again. He just needs to completely quit smoking and he'll be so much better off. I really love that man and I know that God wants Him to return to Him. I will never give up on him and I really hope that the ward will continue to help. 

I really have made a decision to just do my best. I want to make the last 1/4 of my mission the most meaningful. I can really feel that God has given me the ability to help a lot of people out and I know that I can do it. I have set some personal goals that are going to help me achieve this goal and through doing these small things I think that the work will start to improve and we will begin to see more of God's help in the work. Keeping my thoughts clean, positive, and missionary work oriented has been hard recently so I want to start from here and really change. Got half a year left might as well perfect myself as much as I can right? 

Sent a couple of pictures. I hope you enjoy them! 

Love ya'll and have a great week. 我愛你們大家

毛長老

Elder Meeks

9/7/2014 Crazy Week

How's it going there in Mexican Spoon, U.S.A.? 

Wow! 5 weeks of training have really flown by. Definitely the fastest 5 weeks of my mission. I can only see it getting faster from here. Latelym we have had quite a few investigators stop meeting with us. It is always sad to see people go. We basically only have 1 investigator at the moment. It is definitely a bit of a challenge but it has given us an opportunity to really focus RCLA'S and finding in the next week. 

C-- D--

has really hit a slump. I have put so much time into that man. I've cried over him even. I feel like he is the "one soul" I was sent here to Taiwan to help. He has had and continues to be given so many opportunities. Last night I really was just fed up with his excuses. I have been really patient up to this point but I just had to tel tell it to him straight. He has to decide whether or not he is going to give up his past including:friends, family, environment, job, etc. if he is going to be happy. I feel like I kind of got through to him but we will see. I am fasting and praying for him like crazy and I hope it will help him overcome his struggles. I know I should be more patient and I know he can change I just need to have more faith and continue to love him. 

I also feel like I haven't lived up to my calling as a trainer. My trainee is such a cool guy who has a lot of motivation and sometimes I just don't do as well as I should. I really have a desire to change and become a better example. I've also been thinking that because I have been so frustrated that Cao dx won't change but I myself and having problems changing that it is kind of hypocritical so I want to be better about that. 

Lately I have been pondering a lot about the rich, young man who had lived a righteous life in the Bible. He kept the commandments and wanted to know what more he needed to do to become a true disciple of Christ. Christ told him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor. The young man was unable to forsake this "sin, weakness, hobby, etc". We, like the young man all have that "sin, weakness, hobby, etc." that we have a hard time forsaking. In the case of the young man some of us say, "If Christ asked me to sell all I have and give it to the poor I would most definitely do it!" But what I or we or you or us fail to remember is that this is a parable and therefore was meant to be applied to our own lives. What Christ is basically saying is give up your LIFE! and follow me. Give away all your sin, your desires for worldly things, time spent not focused on serving others, or any other non-holy practice. Don't be so quick to judge the young rich man. He was asked to do something few people in the history of the world have been able to accomplish! 

I know how that young man feels. I have also been asked to forsake bad habits, bad friends, and cleanse my inner vessel while completely devoting my life to God. Have I come even close? I couldn't be further away. But what I have learned is that because of My Savior, Jesus Christ, I have hope. Hope of a better life, hope of a future free from the burden of guilt and sin. Hope of a future and forever family that will love me no matter the stupid mistakes that I make. Hope that all the things I have been teaching for the past year and a half are true and have power to bring peace/happiness to the human soul. Hope that my friends and family that are living with trials, troubles, and challenges will be saved by our loving Heavenly Father and will once again return to His welcoming arms. Hope that despite my trials,, weaknesses, and unworthiness, I may still be an instrument n the hands of God in bringing 1 or many souls back to Him so that they may enjoy eternal peace and happiness.

For isn't PEACE and HAPPINESS what ever person who is living, has lived and will live is searching and hoping for? Honestly speaking, I have not found it fully in my life yet. But because of Jesus Christ, My Savior and Redeemer, I hope I can. :)

Love you all and have a wonderful week! 

Love,

Elder Meeks

P.S. Picture a beautiful windy day. There were two older gentlemen sitting on a porch, drinking some beers, and having a good ole time. Every few minutes one of the gentlemen stands up and shoots his gun into the air and sits back down and resumes like nothing has happened. After a few times of this happening his friend just has to ask him what he is doing. His friend responds, "Shooting the breeze!" BWAHAHAHAHA  

Yes..I made that up