God Never Gave Up On Me

Sister Nielsen is the cutest ❤️

SISTER HURST 😄😄😄

Jerry took is to get shaved ice! 

Sister Lyman and after a super BOMB lesson! 

Meeting with Guo Dixiong! He is awesome! 

Pday Crew! 

First off, just wanted to give a shoutout to my little brother Jacob who will be officially know as Elder Meeks this week! So excited to have my little brother serving as a misisonary with me! Korea is lucky to have you! 😄Love ya bro! 

This week started off with an awesome Pday! We ate at Toastaria (best restaurant ever) and then went to the National Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. It was super pretty and so huge!! After that we went to the church and played piano, sang and talked! Super chill and really fun. 

That night we got to meet with one of the new families we found at English class! We met with a dad and his son and it went really well. We really wanted to build the trust of the son, so we started off by playing a game with him while his dad was finishing up the work in the restaurant. By the end, he totally came out of his shell and we had a very spiritual lesson with him and his dad! We are excited to teach them more. 

We also met this awesome lady named Grace this week! The Elders found her and later found out she lived in our area. She is such an amazing person. She has had an incredibly difficult life. I was listening to her life story, and my heart kept breaking over and over again. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Throughout the whole lesson, I just kept thinking, "how am I going to help her? I can't solve any of her problems." I said a silent prayer and just kept listening. As we kept talking, crying, and discussing together, I just felt God's overwhelming love for Grace. There was silence for a few moments, and then I had the feeling to ask her if she felt God's love right now. She paused, and said yes. The room was filled with the Spirit. It was amazing to see that despite all her challenges, she could still feel God's love for her. It was incredible! 

On Thursday morning we got a text from our Relief Society President asking if she could take us out to lunch! We were so excited. Sister Lyman has a lot of things she can't eat, but Dong JM had already thought of that and we went to a steak place where she could eat. It was so nice to talk with her, and also hear her story. She is such a strong women in this church but her journey was not easy. There were so many times in her life where wanted to give up, had big trials, and felt a lot of pain...But she told us "God never gave up on me." Such a powerful statement. Love her and so happy to continue to get closer to her. 

We also met with Remus this week! Last week he set a baptismal date, and he said he was going to pray about it every day and see what he felt. We went into the lesson with high hopes! But as we kept talking, we found out that he had no special feelings and it also seemed like he didn't really care a lot about receiving an answer. The lesson kinda fizzled out and we left feeling a little disappointed. 

I've been thinking a lot about this lesson for the past few days. I keep thinking "why didn't he get an answer? He read the Book of Mormon and prayed everyday! It should have worked." This has happened a lot on my misison...Where people are doing what we tell then to do, but nothing happens for a little bit of time. I have realized that everything happens in God's timing...And there is no way we can understand why things do or do not happen. In Ether 12 verse 6 it says, "for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." I've thought a lot about this phrase. If we got everything without effort, then we wouldn't learn anything ! There has to be a test of our faith in order to grow. Even though this is hard, I've seen so many people (including myself) be blessed because of enduring trial, then receiving the answer or help we needed. The key is having a "sincere heart and real intent." (Moroni 10:4) If we are not sincere and are not asking with the intention to answer, we cannot expect to receive an answer! But as long as we truly want an answer and will do our part to get it, God really will never give up on us! 

OKAY! Last story! Sorry this is so long! Seriously so many cool things happened this week. I want to give an update on the Xie Family! They are SO awesome. We had an awesome lesson with them on Saturday night where we talked about commandments. They were willing to give up everything. They have so so so much faith. They trust that God has a plan for them and they are going to do everything they need to to get baptized. We set their baptismal date for next next Saturday! They are so incredibly ready! We are excited for all the amazing things they are going to do as members of this church! 

Other highlights of this week!! 
1. Talking about shaved ice in Sunday school, then Jerry deciding to take us to get some ! So good! 
2. Getting a call from missionaries who served here a year ago saying someone contacted them and wants to start learning again! His name is Willy and he is so solid! 
3. Going to Costco to get food for Sister Lyman, and me being able to get some awesome food that reminds me of home! 
4. Meeting with two awesome sisters who we found out don't live in our area! Even though it's sad, we are excited for the Elders to teach them! 

This week was crazy and I wish I had more time to write about everything! Basically, I love being a misisonary here in Taiwan and I feel like things are going really well. We are meeting lots of cool new people and we are seeing them come closer to Christ. Such a huge blessing and I wouldn't give this experience up for anything. ❤️ I LOVE TAIWAN! 

Have an awesome week! 
Sister Meeks 
(毛姐妹） 

The Gospel Changes Lives

An accurate picture of how teaching children's English class goes 

Sister Hanna and I on exchanges! (This was taken on the hottest day of summer so far so we were melting a little bit! 

Cute young women at the Mini MTC activity

We ran into Xie Jiemei while we were doing language study! 

After we signed Xie Jiemei's Book of Mormon ❤️

Love these two so much ! 😚😚

Cute member (Doris) from the ward ! She's adorable! 

Dinner at hotpot with the Xie Family and Elders! 

大家早安! 

We had Pday in the middle of the week because of Temple Day! Yaaayyyyyy! It was the best. I got to go to lunch with some good mission friends then go though the temple. It was Sister Lyman's first time in the Taiwan Temple so it was even more special! The temple is always such a spiritual place and I always leave with such a happy heart! Love it so much! 

After Pday on Wednesday, we had exchanges! I had the chance to go with Sister Hanna again and we saw so many miracles! We really felt like the day was completely led by the Spirit and we were amazed the whole day! In misisonary work,a lot of things don't go as planned. People cancel lessons, it starts to rain and you get soaked, someone decides to stop meeting with you, etc. But the longer I have been on my mission, the more I've realized that God really does lead this work. Sometimes we don't know why things happen, but God does. We saw the hand of God in our work so many times on exchanges. Someone didn't confirm a lesson, but we went to the place anyway and found someone who was very prepared to hear the gospel! Later in the day, the original place we planned to go was too full so we went to another store...And found someone else who started talking to us first! This happened throughout the whole day. So many miracles. I really believe that if we have faith, we can see so many amazing things happen in the work. It shows that we are just tools in the Lord's hands and this is His most important work ! 

On Friday we had the chance to go to this awesome youth Stake activity! For three days the youth went to a "Mini MTC!" (Shoutout to my little brother Jacob who going into the MTC next week! YAY!) But we had the chance to help them with the language section! We taught them how to introduce themselves in English as well as how to pray. It was so fun to talk to lots of different youth and hear all their reasons for wanting to serve missions. It was such a testimony builder! They all have such strong faith and want to share what they believe. For some of them, they will have to sacrifice a lot to serve a mission, but they are still so happy to have the chance. Such amazing examples of a selflessness and strong faith! 

Saturday was crazy! There was a huge rainstorm and Sister Lyman and I got SOAKED ! We got to the place where we were going to have our lesson and we had to spend a few minutes getting the water out of our dresses, shoes, and hair! We for sure got a lot of funny looks! After the lesson, we did language study at the same place and there were for sure little mini puddles of water around our feet! Rainy days are always such an adventure.

But on Saturday night we had dinner and a lesson with the Xie family! They took us to a very expensive hot pot place and it was amazing. They even brought a friend with them! They aren't even members of the church yet and they are already doing misisonary work. So 厲害。 Eating dinner with them was such a good way to keep getting to know them and develop trust! My favorite part of the night was when she brought out her Book of Mormon and asked us and the Elders to sign it. She said, "you're the ones who gave me this book and it's changed my life. I always want to remember you." Literally got so choked up. There are so prepared and in a short 3 weeks the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ has changed their lives! It's an amazing miracle. 

Last story! On Sunday night, we had a lesson with our investigator Harry! He is so awesome. He has a really really hard life but he still has so much faith! He met with missionaries a long time ago but couldn't continue because he had to work to support his family! (He is only in his 20s!) But he gave us a call and we were so happy to have the chance to keep teaching him. We reviewed the Joseph Smith story and he said he 100% believes it's true! So awesome. He has already reread a ton of Book of Mormon in the last week! He is so ready for the blessings of the Gospel. He can't come to church right now because of work but he has already made a plan to ask his boss, who is also a Christian! So awesome! 

Well, that's about it for this week!Hope you have an awesome week. Love you all! 

Sister Meeks 
毛姐妹

Miracles in Banqiao ❤️❤️

Jerry!!  

On the way to the temple with Wang Jiemei 

Having dinner with an old investigator from my last area! 

Cute members pushing our cart after they took us to Costco! 

pday in Bali! 

Zhubei Renuinted! 

Hellloooo Friends and Family!! 

This week was a "power week!" Meaning that because we get to go to the temple this week, we didn't have Pday until Wednesday! Which means our weeks was a 9 day week instead of 7! But because of it, we saw a TON of miracles. 

We started off the week with an awesome Pday in Danshui! I got to see lots of my mission friends, eat good food, and ride a ferry across to a place called Bali! It was very fun and very exciting! 

This week I also experienced my first typhoon!! It wasn't super severe, but our mission President wanted us to go inside anyway to stay safe. It wasn't super bad but we saw some cool things happen from it anyway! Some members brought us some food just in case it got worse so we got to develop a stronger relationship with them. We also did a TON of phone calls and we found a lot of people interested in the gospel! It just goes to show that a typhoon doesn't stop the work of the Lord! 

Another miracle was going to temple with my RC Wang Jiemei! 😊😊 She hasn't been able to go because the baptismal font is only open on Friday and Saturdays and she has work...But they started a new thing where new members can come every Thursday night! She was so excited to go and had an amazing experience. It's been really special to see her grow and change because of the Restored Gospel. LOVE her! 

Ookkkkaaaayyyy now let me tell you about the Xie Family! They are such a huge miracle! We have been meeting with them for like two weeks and they have progressed so fast! I walk away with their lessons feeling so so inspired! We taught about the Book of Mormon being the word of God on Friday and before we could even finish our invite to pray if the Book is true,12 year old Austin shouted at us "I believe! I believe the Book is true and Joseph Smith's story!" I just sat there shocked. He told us that he could just feel it was true but promised to pray and read about it still. The Xie family is very prepared for the Gospel to be a part of their lives. During that lesson they committed to read and pray every day as a family and come to church every week. They asked us if they could start meeting twice a week so now between lessons, church, and English class we see them 4 times a week. Xie mama asked us if she could start fasting for her son. She also asked if she could give us referrals and come to the ward activities during the week. She also told us she read online that Mormons can't have coffee. We were nervous about her response because she said she loves coffee. She then said, "I've already started to give up coffe because I know I will have to eventually when I join the Church." wow. Can you get more golden than that? I felt the spirit so incredibly strong. I adore both of them so much. We met with them again on Tuesday and they committed (without us even asking) to pay tithing. I was just blown away. God has been preparing them for a long time and we are so happy we could bring the gospel to them. 

Other highlights of the week:
1. We went to Costco to get Sister Lyman some food she could eat (she is allergic to a lot of stuff) and we are starting to develop a relationship with our Relief Society President's husband who isn't a member! Praying for a miracle there. 
2. We got a random call late one night from someone who met with missionaries a long time ago...He told us he is ready now and wants to be baptized! Huge miracle! 
3. We got tons of referals this week!! People just keep calling us with people to teach. For the first time on my mission, there is too much to do! Such a good problem to have. 
4. We biked a LOT yesterday and Sister Lyman and I were exhausted...But even after that, we saw two huge miracle and we came home with loads of energy. It just shows that God will give us strength to overcome anything on the mission! 

Well, lots more stuff happened this week but I don't have tons of time! I will continue to update you on our amazing people as they keep progressing! I love being a misisonary and I'm so happy I have this chance to share the Restored Gospel with the people of Taiwan ! 

Love you all ❤️ 
Sister Meeks 

More Pics

 I found my store 😁

PDAY last week 

PDAY last week 

Taking my companions bike back to our area 

Eating dinner with a cute family in our ward 

We forgot our cards at a members house so they sent this adorable photo to remind us to pic them up 

Fire and Stone

Celebrating the World Cup in Taiwan! 

Sister Lyman

We survived English class... Barely 

Celebrating the 4th of July! Shoutout to mom for the glowsticks 

We went to Costco this week!!! Felt like ones back in America 

My two favorite people in this entire world !! (Sister Nielsen and Hurst)

Taipei 101

Hello Everyone! 

This week was crazy! It all started out with a super fun Pday where we got to celebrate Sister Elliott's birthday by eating at Chille's! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER ELLIOTT! We then did a little shopping and I got to hang out with a lot of mission friends. I have been so blessed to make a lot of lifelong friends on the mission and it always makes me very happy to spend time with all of them!! ❤️❤️

But this week was full of adventures! On Tuesday, we had our first district meeting as a new district! There are just four of us so it makes district meeting very interesting! 😁 We talked a lot about finding prepared people. Sometimes it's very hard to tell if someone has interest in the gospel, or if they just have interest in being friends with two Americans! But we talked about how following the Spirit is the way to know who to meet with and what we need to share with them. After that, we had the chance to meet our new mission President and his wife. They are incredible! They are so excited to be in Taiwan and so excited to get the work of the Lord moving faster! I am very excited to continue to get to know them and learn from all of their experience! 

On Wednesday night, Sister Lyman and I switched to teaching the kids English class! 哇塞 Was that an adventure or what?!? We posted on Facebook about the class earlier in the week so TONS of new students came. We were trying to find a way to keep million little kids entertained and at the same time teach them English. It was an adventure but we ended up talking to a lot of families about learning about the gospel! 

This week was also full of so many blessings! We had a lot of errands to run (getting Sister Lyman's bike, fixing my phone, etc.) so we didn't have as much time as we wanted to find new people to teach. But so many people gave us referals! We got some from other missionaries, members, and found lots from English class! We seriously were so so so blessed! 

Biggest miracle of the week was meeting the Xie Family! They came to English class and set up to meet with the Elders because they originally thought they lived in there area. The first lesson went SO SO well! The Elders set a baptismal date with them and they were on their way! But by the end of the lesson, they found out they actually live in our area! We were a little worried because they already met some people in the other ward, but we met with them to try and help them understand why we have ward boundaries. They were a little hesitant to switch but they came to church anyway and LOVED IT! They are so excited to learn more and couldn't be more happy to be meeting with missionaries. We have very very high hopes for them. Love them already! 

Ok, now to explain the subject line of the email! We were eating lunch after church at the chapel when we met an investigator from a different ward. We started off a conversation and we became fast friends. She thought it was so funny how different me and my companion are. Sister Lyman is a very loud, outgoing, lively person who laughs and is super energetic around everyone! She this new friend (her name is Sloan) described her as fire because she is crazy and out of control! 🤣 Then she looked at me and told me I was the stone of the relationship! (Never thought I would hear that!) She said I have a very solid testimony and communicate in a very clear and kind way. It was an interesting way to describe our companionship but we thought it was super funny!

It's been fun to meet with lots of new people this week. It's interesting to see all of their different reactions when we tell them about our misisonary life. Most of them are shocked and don't believe us when we tell them what we do everyday. I've been thinking about the misisonary life more, and I've realized it does sound kind of crazy! We leave our families, learn a foreign language, save our personal money, give up technology and most of our hobbies, bike around in the rain while wearing a dress, and get rejected by people all day long. I totally understand why people think we are crazy! But I love talking about the misisonary life with people because the ONLY reason anyone would ever live this crazy life, is because we know what we are sharing is true. Being a missionary is a sacrifice but a huge blessing. We have all of these crazy days, but we are sharing about why we are the people we are today. People see the Light of Christ in us, and I'm more than willing to give my time so others can be filled with that light. ❤️

Love you all! Have an amazing week!
Sister Meeks

One Week... Four Companions

  1. I LOVE SISTER HURST

3. First lesson with me and my new companion! 

Visiting this cute Sister in the ward! 

Have I ever said that I love Sister Hurst?? ❤️❤️

2. Sister Zaitz and Keeney! Had such a fun time with them! 

Laser tag for Pday a few weeks ago! 

New comp Sister Lyman

Hello Friends and Family !! 

This week to was a crazy one! It started off with us getting our transfer calls ! We found out that Sister Hurst was leaving, and I was staying in Xinpu with a new sister. It was incredibly sad to see Sister Hurst leave. We had a really fun time together and saw lots of success!! She is the best! She is now companions with my trainer and they are already having an amazing time. So happy for them 😄😄

Then! My companion hadn't gotten to Taiwan (she is new to the island!) by the time Sister Hurst had to leave so I got to spend two days with the sisters in Tucheng, Sister Zaitz and Sister Keeney! It was such a party ! I got to teach English class with the adorable Sister Zaitz and learned a lot from Sister Keeney. I was also sad to leave them as well but even more excited to meet my new companion! 

On Thursday morning I traveled to the mission office and got to eat an awesome breakfast with all the trainers and trainees. We got to eat some amazing Cinnamon rolls and meet lots of new people. We had some trainings and then we got assigned to a companion! My companions name is Sister Lyman! She is from Lehi so we are basically neighbors back home! She is majoring in Fine Arts so she likes to sing and dance! She has studied Chinese for a long time so her Chinese is great! We are excited to work hard in this area 😄😄

But Sunday was great!! I was sitting in Sunday school with the biggest smile on my face becuase on my right was our investigator Jerry and my RC Zhan Dixiong, then on my left was my RC Wang Jiemei. It was such an awesome feeling to be surrounded so many people I love! 

On Sunday night, we went to the monthly RC fireside! There were some beautiful musical numbers and awesome testimonies. It was so fun to see a lot of my missionary friends and also eat some Costco cookies! 

Well, I love being a missionary and I'm so grateful to be here in Taiwan!! I'm so blessed that I have the chance to serve in this amazing country and learn so many amazing things! It's a good time to be a missionary!

Anyway, love you all! Have an amazing week!
Sister Meeks