Can You Say Rain

Celebrating one year on the misison with some yummy steak! 

Breakfast with the district

Celebrating with Sister Love! She was in the MTC with me. 

Skyping Chen JM before the baptism! 

Chen JM at her baptism!! My trainer brought a picture of me because I couldn't attend in person! 

Yummy Taiwanese food :) 

Me and my comp! 

Hello everyone!!

I hit my one year mark this week!! Crazy that I have been wearing this same tag everyday for an entire year. I feel so blessed to be here in Taiwan serving the Lord. I have made so many lifelong friends and changed myself in ways that I never could have imagined before the mission. I am so grateful to be able to serve a misison! Six months to go!! 😊😊

A huge miracle that happened this week was that Chen Pei Ru got baptized this week! Sister Nielsen and I taught her all the way back when I was in training! She is incredible and I am so happy she made the choice to be baptized. It made me think a lot about my time in Zhubei. Such a happy time and I am so happy I could start my mission there. I really hope I can go back and visit all the amazing people there. #zhubeiforlife

These past few days went by quick but we still saw a lot of miracles! The biggest one happened on Wednesday night, which is when we teach English class. Xie Jiemei and I were a little bit dissapointed because we didn't have any students in our class :( but we decided to call a few people in the time we had and invite them to come next week. We were going to sit in our classroom because it had air conditioning, but I had a strong feeling we needed to go sit on the chairs by the front door. We decided to sit in the air conditioned room anyway, but I got the feeling again so we finally went outside. As we were sitting there sweating in the humidity, a lady cautiously approaches the door so I jump up to go talk to her. She said she has been wanting to come into the chapel for a long time but had been feeling nervous. But she knew we had English class so she waited until then because she knew there would be people inside.

We asked her if we could give her a chapel tour and she was very excited! She loved every part of it and commited to come to church next week and bring her two sons!! She then asked how our church was different so we asked if she had time to sit for a few minutes! She said yes and we shared with her about Joseph Smith and the Restoration! So cool!

BUT WAIT! It gets better. After we finished, she said she wanted to share something with us. She said as she was sitting in her car outside the church, she said a silent prayer and in her prayer told God that if someone came up to her and welcomed her into the chapel, she would take it as a answer that what she was doing was right. My companion and I were blown away. If we had had students come or I had continued to ignore the feeling to sit outside the classroom, we never would have met this incredible person.

This experience made me super emotional! As she was sharing, I felt the Holy Ghost so strongly! It helped build my testimony that God really does lead His church and His missionaries! Everyday, I become more amazed because I really know Heavenly Father loves us and will never abandon us. He knows exactly what each of us need and if we listen to him, he will guide us down the successful road. So grateful for this guidance in my life.

Thats about it for this week! Love you all and hope you have an amazing week 😊😊
Sister Meeks
毛姐妹 

TRANSFERRED TO HUALIAN!

I love Xie JM! 

Saying goodbye to Jerry! 

Skyping with Xie JM and Austin on the night of their baptism!! SO HAPPY FOR THEM! 

My cute new comp and I in the rain! 

Dinner as a district before transfers!

I got a chance to see one of my investigates from my first area!! She is getting baptized this week! 

Eating steak with some cute members from my companion's last area! 

Hey Everyone! 

This week was probably the craziest week of my entire mission! So bear with me, this email is going to be a little long 😊

This week started off with a super fun Pday where we went ice skating! I saw a lot of really good friends and we had a really good time! I had to say goodbye to a few good friends, which is always really sad. It's such a blessing that you can make really good friends on the mission, but its always sad to see them leave!

Then... TRANSFER CALLS CAME! Sister Lyman and I for sure thought we were staying together ... But we were surprised that I was getting transferred to Hualian!! I am going to be an STL (a sister training leader) and I'm super pumped to be able to go on exchanges with a bunch of cool sisters in this area! But, we were not expecting that at all! It's really far away (literally the opposite side of the island) so I had to say goodbye to even more people because it's very likely I will not see them again!

At English class that night, I had to say goodbye to my good friend Jerry. I've talked about him a lot in emails! He is incredible and someone who has helped me in many ways. We have grown and learned together and it was heartbreaking to have to tell him I was leaving. A few weeks ago, he helped me pick my Chinese name (which he worked very hard on) and then at English class, he gave me a very cool scarf with my name embroidered on it. Made me so emotional ! It was so thoughtful. Then he decided to come with me to English class (we teach kids class) instead of going to his normal class. He sat by me the whole time and it was just a really good way to say goodbye. As we were walking out, we started talking...Then he started tearing up. So naturally I started to as well. The mission is such an interesting experience. You come to a foreign land, not being able to speak the language very well, but somehow still develop incredibly strong relationships. The friendships I have developed on my mission will last forever and I'm so grateful for the chance to serve here.

Also after class, I had to say goodbye to Xie Jiemei and Austin. Luckily Xie Jiemei held it together but as I was talking to Austin, he started to cry too. I met them about a month ago and THEY GOT BAPTIZED THIS WEEK! I wasn't able to attend because I had already moved but I got to Skype and talk with them about it that night. (I'm so grateful for technology!!) They are very very special and are going to do some amazing things in the church. They are already planning a trip for next summer when I'm home from my mission to come visit me, literally the cutest thing ever.

The next morning, we picked up the new missionary coming in, and I said goodbye to Sister Lyman. This transfer really was a shock so we both hadn't prepared. But I'm excited for her to have this new experience in the good old land of Banqiao! All day Saturday, I was with Sister Eyring! She went home this week but she needed a companion after transfers. I helped her take care of a few things and also got to talk to a bunch of other good friends going home. It was a super chill day and actually perfect because the next day I woke up bright and early (around 4:30) and headed off to Hualian!

Sister Chen and I took a taxi to the train station and were trying to find where to get on the train. Because we got a little lost, I didn't have time to buy breakfast. (My train was a little earlier than Chen JM's) so we hugged goodbye and she went back upstairs to wait. It turns out my train ended up being a little late and I look over to see Chen JM running down the stairs, with breakfast in her hand!! She told me "you can't just not eat breakfast!" She is the sweetest thing ever. We hugged goodbye again and I rode on the train for three hours until I finally got to Hualian!!

When I got there, I met my new companion! Sister Xie!! She is from Taiwan and is super solid. She was baptized about three years ago and has a super super strong desire to share the gospel. She is also super kind and thoughtful. I had a super bad cough this week and she was super patient and kind the entire time. She also makes me super yummy food and is going to teach me how to cook some yummy Taiwanese meals 😄 I'm excited for this transfer together! I'm going to help her with English and she is going to help me with Chinese, we have already seen improvement!

Hualian is incredible!! So different than my last areas. Banqiao was one of the busiest areas in the misison, and Hualian is for sure a LOT less busy. I no longer have the constant fear of getting hit by a big bus! 🤣🤣 It really is a totally new experience and I'm getting to keep getting to know all the people here.

But on Saturday we had an awesome ward activity!! We called it the "Summer Palooza" but it was basically a water balloon activity! My companion and I filled up over 1000 water balloons and we for sure used all of them. All three wards in this area came and it was a lot of fun. It was a great way to meet a lot of new people in a fun way!

Ok, almost done! Lastly I want to share a super huge miracle! As Xie JM and I were riding to the church and started taking to this lady on her way to work. She was really nice and we literally had a two minutes conversation and she was willing to meet with us. A few days later, she came to the appointment...And brought her daughter with her! We had a bomb lesson with them and they are very excited to come to church with us this Sunday. We have a really good feeling about them and are excited to continue getting to know them 😄😄

That's about it for this week! Love you all! 

Sister Meeks

Miracles upon Miracles

Patty and Kris! They are members in our ward who are moving this week. I love them so much and are very sad to see them leave. 

Kris gave me this the last time he saw me before he moved. He is 6 years old and already wants to be a misisonary ❤️❤️ 

Outside the temple with Grace! 

Sister Lyman and I in a sketchy ally! 

Lazer tag crew from last week 

 Me having too much fun on a wooden horse at the ward activity 🤣🤣

Our Bishopric 🤣🤣 

Ward Activity this week!

We went to this special musical fireside and this was one of the performers. Look up "Three Reds" on YouTube! They are awesome ! 

Hello Everyone! 

This week was FANTASTIC! It started off with a super fun lazer tag Pday! I love lazer tag so much and it was fun to do it with a bunch of my missionaries friends. We are all SO hot but it was worth it. Right as it ended, we went and bought a cold bottle of water in an attempt to cool down...It didn't work but it was worth it 😊 

That night we met with our investigator Grace! She is incredible! She knows the Bible better than anyone I know. We gave her a chapel tour later in the week and she was literally explaining all the pictures and the doctrine behind them to us! We went to the third floor of the chapel and looked at the temple from the window. It was silent for a little bit and then I asked what she was thinking. She simply said, "I feel at peace." My heart melted a little bit from happiness when she said that. Can't wait to see her progress ❤️

Also, the Xie Family is doing amazing! We saw them 5 days this week and they always just make my heart so happy. They are getting baptized this week and I couldn't be more excited! They are going to do some amazing things in the church! 

Anyway, love you all! Not much time to write today but hope you all have an amazing week! 

Sister Meeks 

Pictures! 

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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