Everything Comes Full Circle

Zone Conference in Taoyuan! Elder Ransbottom with all of the Sisters. 

English Class in Banqiao

Jasmine Player, Elder Dallin Gorgonio, Jacob Henderson, Jessica Meeks (Pday on the train to the waterfall!)

Pday with us in the Elders in Wulai!

Jessica Meeks saying goodbye to Sister Natalie Lyman (her trainee)

Jessica Meeks and Lin Yu Jie

Jasmine Player, Regan Austad (MTC companion) Ashlee Johnson, and Jessica Meeks on exchanges. 

Jessica Meeks and Jasmine Player after exchanges. 

Jessica Meeks and Jasmine Player on a snack run.

Lights at the mall

Cinderella Carriage: Jasmine Player and Jessica Meeks

Shaved ice and bean pudding late night snack! 

Hey everyone! 

The highlight of this week was going on exchanges with my MTC companion Sister Austad. It was such a good time. It was both our last exchange on the mission and it made everything feel so complete. She is such an amazing example to me and I am grateful we got to be companions again for one day! 

A cool miracle this week happened when my companion and I decided we wanted to go get shaved ice before we went home! We had been craving it for a few days and finally decided to go do it! We got into the store and there were no other customers. We started talking to the store worker there and he was super cool! He laughed at us because we wanted a weird combination for our dessert and then he started asking us all kinds of questions. He was just amazed by the missionary life and it was an awesome chance for us to share our testimonies. He was very interested and wants us to teach his whole family! So cool! 

Other fun things of this week included...

1. Going to Wulai for Pday! It is a cool place in the mountains with lots of Taiwanese Aborigine stuff to look at. We convinced everyone who went with us to buy these cool elephant pants and it was awesome! 

2. We went to zone conference in Taoyuan! Good to see lots of good friends and say lots of goodbyes. So sad but I'm grateful for the chance to see them all again! 

I also wanted to share this scripture from 1 Nephi 1:20! 

And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had cast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also sought his life, that they might take it away. But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance. 

I love this scripture so much! Nephi and his family had so many trials.. but instead of him complaining, he had trust that the Lord would make him mighty because of his faith! I know this is true!! When we put our faith in the Lord, he will give us the power to overcome our trials. He loves us so much and just wants to help us be happy and full of joy! 

Love you all so much! Enjoy the pictures!! 

~Sister Meeks 

-Pday in the Mountains

-Zone Conference with a selfie with all the Sisters!(And Elder Ransbottom haha)

-Saying goodbye to really good friends 

-Exchanges in Danshui

-English class! 

-We got to be Cinderella for a minute! 

-My cute companion and I! 

-My favorite Taiwanese desert! 

Save the Penguins

Our Valenines Day treat from Jerry (investigator)

Cutting Jasmine Player's Hair

Night Market fun with the Wu Family

Valentine's Day English Class

Door Selfie on our way out!

Flowers for Enlgish Class moms (Jasmine Player and Jessica Meeks)

Jasmine Player, Jessica Meeks and Jenny (member from Banqiao)

Jasmine Player, Jessica Meeks, and random girl we met in the cafeteria

Grace (Hong En Ci) and Jessica Meeks reunited in Taibei! (She was a young women in the Hualian area) 

Grace (Hong En Ci) and Jessica Meeks reunited in Taibei! (She was a young women in the Hualian area) 

Grace (Hong En Ci) and Jessica Meeks reunited in Taibei! (She was a young women in the Hualian area) 

Hey All! 

To explain the subject line, we were eating with my cute recent covert Austin and his mom. Out of the blue he starts telling us that all the polar bears are dying (because he likes to update us on the news) and then he starts ranting about how everybody is talking about the polar bears and no one cares about the penguins! It was very cute and very impressive how much he knew! But we were all trying not to laugh because he was VERY concerned for the well being of these penguins. But way to go Austin...He's gonna save all the penguins someday! Haha 

But these week was super short because we had Pday on Wednesday! But the highlight these week was an awesome English class! We taught about Valentine's Day and we had like ten new students! It was very chaotic and very fun. We had the feeling to buy this huge bouquet of flowers earlier in the day and when we gave them to the kids and moms, they were so so happy ! It was incredible. We shared all the love on Valentine's day!! 

Anyway, love you all so so so much! We are going on an adventure so I don't have tons of time today ! But love you all and hope you have an amazing week! 

Loves!

Sister Meeks 

Pictures! 

1-3. English Class ! Topic: Valentine's Day 

4.  Our investigator Jerry gave us these cute couple bears for Valentine's Day 

5. Meeting with a cute lady in our ward! 

6. I cut my companion's hair!! Haha 

7. Cute new friend, Victoria ! Already love her 

8-10. We did a mini photo shoot with one of my young women I worked with in Hualian. We are best friends and this is the last time I was going to see her so we did a photo shoot to remember everything! 

Chinese New Year

Dinner with the Chen Family. 

Starbucks run with Jasmine Player

Really nice dinner for Chinese New Year

BBQ with Sister Dong for Chinese New Year

Jasmine Player asleep while I do MyPlan

Our favorite dog on the way to district meeting

Dinner during Chinese New Year with the Chen Family

Dinner with some members! 

Jessica Meeks photo bombed by Jacob Henderson

Chinese New Year picture! 

Hot Pot with the Wu Family! 

District Dinner (Jasmine Player, Jessica Meeks, Alan Settles, Jacob Henderson and random member from another ward! 

Lights at the night market with Jasmine Player and Jessica Meeks

Night Market Fun! 

Night Market kabobs with Jasmine Player and Jessica Meeks

Jessica Meeks, Shelly, and Jasmine Player

Hey Everyone! 

This week was Chinese New Year!!! So so so fun! The members were so kind this week and we had a lunch AND dinner appointment everyday. Such a blessing! We had so much good food and have never been more full in our lives! But it was SO worth it! I love the culture here and I learn new things everyday. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE ! 

A cool experience I had this week started with us talking about how to have Christ centered lessons during district meeting. We talked about how sometimes we got caught up in little things and forget that the most important thing to focus on is Jesus Christ. We went through all the points in the lessons we taught and connected them to Jesus Christ. Literally every aspect of our lives is tied to him and it was amazing! 

THEN that night we went to teach our friend Eva. She has been having a hard time keeping commitments and we weren't sure if we wanted to keep teaching her. So we decided to do what we talked about and connect everything we were teaching her to the gospel! It worked!! The lesson was filled with the Spirit and she commited to come to church with us this week! Such a huge miracle. We shared Mosiah 2:22 which says...

~And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you~

She loved this scripture and we talked about why God commands us to do the little things. We talked about how it is because he wants us to become closer with him and become more like Jesus Christ. She loved it and felt the Spirit very strongly. 

I know when we put Jesus Christ as the center of our lives we will see more MIRACLES than we can ever imagine. He loves us so much. He wants what's best for us and we can have all the blessings in the world if we keep is commandments ❤️ 

Hope you all have an awesome week! 

Sister Meeks 

No time to explain the pictures because we are going to the temple today!!! Yay!!! Also, if I didn't respond to you today I will on Monday! I don't have much time! LOVE you all! 

The One Where We Prepared for Chinese New Year

Ericka Elliott and her Donuts

Jasmine Player and Jessica Meeks at Taibei 101

Bafang Dumplings (Jasmine Player and Jessica Meeks)

A year difference in District pictures !

Us killing the bug...and making a mess! 

Jessica Meeks, Yan Ru (member) and Jasmine Player

Walking the streets of Taibei! 

Jasmine Player, Jessica Meeks, and Kris (little six year old son of recent convert Patty)

Jessica Meeks, Patty, Kris, and Jasmine Player

Our Chinese New Year card (Jessica Meeks and Jasmine Player)

West Zone Best Zone! 

Temple night! Jasmine Player, Sister Dong (member) Sister Wang (RC), Xie Jun Jun (RC), Jessica Meeks, Austin (RC).

Pictures! 

-Our donut trip on Pday 

-Year of the Pig

-walking down the streets of Taiwan 

-Kris wanted to give this piece of fruit to my parents! He was sad to find out they lived all the way in America! 

-Patty and Kris showing us the way after dinner 

-Chaos/shoe mess after killing a cockroach haha 

-HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR 

-Temple Night 

-The chairs represent the number of transfers you have been on your mission! The first one is when I was in Banqiao the first time and the second one was taken this week! 

-had lunch with cute new lady we met this week! 

-Zone Council! #westzonebestzone

-Sister Player's first time at my favorite restaurant! 

Hello Everyone! 

新年快樂!! HAPPY NEW YEAR! This week was full of fun Chinese New Year preparations and fun things! It goes on this entire next week and we are excited to be a part of all the fun celebrations! This year is The Year of the Pig so we see lots of fun stuff all around the streets! We are loving it so far! 

This week started with a fun trip to Taibei 101.(the tallest building in Taiwan) We did some fun shopping and made a special visit to Kristy Kreme! That was super fun! Sister Elliott (my last companion) and I love going there to look at all the fun shops everywhere! Very fun day! 

Then on Tuesday, I got to reunite and have dinner with two of my favorite people from this area!! Patty and Kris! They are so so fun to be around! Kris is 6 years old and full of lots of energy while is mom just looks on and shakes her head. She got baptized about a year ago and is preparing to go to the temple. I felt the spirit so strong and I testified of the blessing of the temple and how much it was going to help her and her son. I love them so much and am excited to go to the temple with her! 

Wednesday we had English class! I got to see some old students and they were super confused as to why I was back in Banqiao! 🤣 But it was a fun reunion and we got to teach all our cute kids about the food pyramid! Sister Player did great and we ended with a spiritual share about families and how we can pray over our food! They loved it and we are excited to hear the stories as they try it with their families over Chinese New Year. 

On Thursday we had an awesome Zone Council! Let's go West Zone! Sister Player and I had the opportunity to train everyone on daily planning and we also talked about how we can better build up the church here in Taiwan. We have some really amazing missionaries in our Zone and it was cool to hear everyone's ideas! I have seen so many miracles as we work with the people in our ward and I have made so many close friends! I'm excited to have this new push for member work lead to to a lot of miracles! 

We also got to go to the temple that night with 3 of my RCs from this area! I was feeling so emotional as I got to see them all to work for their ancestors. Each of them have grown and learned so much since the first time I met them. It really is amazing what the Gospel of Jesus Christ can do to change someone's life! 

Friday was crazy! We were running around all day long!  But I got to meet with a former friend Jerry and it made me super super happy. I started teaching him last year when I was first in this area and he has changed so much. I rememeber helping him read the first few chapters of the Book of Mormon, and now he is just a few chapters away from finishing! So proud of him. We also got to eat lunch with this member we met last week! She is moving to our area from the East Coast and she is adorable. We are super similar and she loves go laugh and joke around with us. Such a fun time!

Saturday was also really busy! We got to eat lunch with some of Sister Player's Mom's friends who were visiting Taiwan! Such fun connections! Then later that night, we got to eat dinner with 謝姐妹 and Austin! (My RCs) Since we went to the temple with them this week, we talked about temples and all the blessing that come along with it! We also talked about misisonary work and one of the things she asked was "Is missionary life ever hard or do you ever get sad?" 

I thought about this question for a second and I said "Yes it does." But I kept explaining my thoughts. Missionary work is hard! But it's also incredible. It was hard for me to understand at first. How could this new experience, fill of trials and struggles, also be such a happy part of my life? I truly know that I am happy because I'm sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with other people. Seeing the people I teach change because of their knowledge of the Gospel is completely incredible and nothing matches that feeling!! The Gospel of Jesus Christ changes everyone and makes them happier! I know it has changed me. 

Love you all! 

Sis. Meeks