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

8/31/2014 Awesome week here

Hey ya'll,

We had a great week! But every week that I have had since I started training has been awesome. We've recently had some great things happening. The past two weeks we have consistently had 7 less actives at church which, I have noticed, the members are really impressed and excited about. A whole family is starting to become active which has really brought some unity in the ward. 

We had an old investigator randomly call us and set his own baptismal date for the 20th of this month! He is super excited and totally willing to make the sacrifices to do it. He wants to get his life in order and have the blessings of the gospel in his life. His name is 李世淼 and he is a really cool guy. His family situation is really hard but he saw something on the internet about our church and went to the closest church to his house and really felt the Spirit. He really is a miracle guy. Super nice as well. We can't wait to help him continue to prepare to receive baptism!

My companion and I are really getting along well. We are constantly trying to find new awesome people to meet with. My companion seems to always to be trying to learn more and new awesome vocabulary. He is super dedicated to passing off phase 1 before he finishes training. He can definitely do it. One goal that we made is that when we are outside of the house I am just going to speak Chinese the whole time and when we are at home we will speak English. I think this will help him start being able to understand a lot more conversational Chinese and help him feel more comfortable teaching. I'm really impressed with my trainee and his desire to continue to help others and really improve his Chinese at the same time. I know this next week I am really going to focus on helping him learn how to teach lessons solidly. We have some new converts that could use a review so we will be visiting a few of them and sharing the new lessons with them. It will be a great opportunity to help my companion improve his teaching skills while developing the faith of our recent converts. 

I'm really grateful to be serving in 苗栗. Even though our investigators are few right now we are working hard to find more prepared and awesome people to meet with. I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with the 頭份elders this week. They had a big struggle with health this week but have seen some tender mercies. Elder Shelton and I found two wonderful prepared people and they have already started meeting with both of them. They will also be having a baptismal interview this week and the sisters will be having someone get baptized this week! We should have 2 being baptized this month! We are really seeing the success of hard work and the Lord is really on our side. I love the gospel and being a missionary! 

My Chinese has just been getting better and better. I have learned about 400 new characters this week and my goal is the same for this next week. I really believe that I can have 5000 characters down by the end of my mission. Which has been my goal since the beginning. I really feel the pressure of getting that goal because I only have a half a year left but I really feel like I can get it. :) 

The work goes on and I am learning more and more everyday. 苗栗 is being blessed by the Lord and I'm more enthusiastic about helping others than at any other time in my mission. 

Peace and love,

Elder Meeks

 Here is a joke I made up this week. 

A man sees a line of people next to the ocean. He sees one person in the front of the line walk into the water about waste deep and then walks out. He sees the next person do the same followed by the next. His curiosity is peeked and asks a man standing there, "What are you all doing?" The man responds, "Wading in line."

P.S.S. I was distinguished by my companions mom as the "balding elder" yea.... Haha good stuff.