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）