6/8/2014 - The best and worst

Hello family and friends,

So this week has been full of some of the best things and some of the worst things of my mission so far. 

We were about to go out for the day and we got a call from the sisters in our district. They told us that a man, about 10 minutes earlier, had jump off the 14th floor of the building right outside of there door. We quickly came over and we saw the body of the man who had jumped off the building. It was really really sad and the sisters were not very happy about it. Apparently this type of thing is pretty common in Korea. I just feel really bad for that man and i'm sure that his spirit is more at peace now. 

Alright just had to tell that one. There have actually been some really cool things that have happened this week. First, I've now been on a mission for 6 months now. I can't believe i'm one-forth done!! 

Also, we were going to go out and I was going to play some hymens on guitar and another elder was going to sing, but we ran across a group of kids my age with a guitar and I walked up and asked if I could play with them. We ended up playing for like an hour or so which was super fun. They all lived super far away so we couldn't meet with any of them again but they now know who the missionaries are. 

We went to a really funny wedding of an older guy in our ward. It was just at our church and it was with a non-member and it was like a 10 minute long ceremony with like 10 balloons and a really cheep cake. There was also a meal after and that was it. Not really the most beautiful wedding in the world but it was fun. 

I just ended my 3 transfer and i'm staying with my companion so it's officially that I will be his last companion. I'll make sure he works hard for sure.  

We picked up a new investigator that has been coming to our English class for a really long time. His name is Ty and he is about 60 years old. In English class we looked at The Proclamation to the Family so in our lesson that lead to a talk on the Law of Chastity. Thankfully everything we said he agreed with so that's a blessing. Anyway we are going to try and teach him more along the lines of The restoration and Plan of Salvation next to though. 

We are always doing our best do find new people to teach and bring people unto Christ. It's pretty hard though. People don't really just line of to receive baptisms in Korea. But it's not impossible and I know there are people out there for us to teach and baptize. 

Love you all and hope you all have a good week. 

Elder Daniel Meeks

From another Elders Blog about Daniel:

Monday we went to our first Preach My Gospel Teacher Improvement (PMGTI or "Pass off") Brunch at President's house, since I finally passed off my first pamphlet a few weeks ago. Elder Meeks and I did it at the same time, so both Elder Berry and Elder Meeks accompanied us to said divine banquet/brunch. It was DELICIOUS. Sister Morrise made us french toast with bacon, watermelon, strawberries, buttermilk syrup, hash browns, and some super good mango juice. Like, man was it divine! Anyway, we got to talk to President for a while which was cool, and we started to talk about how my dad works as a Production Designer in Hollywood. Turns out he ran into a Korean Film Archive Director on the subway the other day and decided to give me his card! Haha! He said he hopes I get to see his place, and check out some movies! Guess we'll see! :P Later, we found out that President Uchtdorf's favorite movie is School of Rock but.. don't tell him I told you that, haha. However, feel free to like him more than you previously have - that scores some big points! After brunch we hit Costco for my first time in the country, and bought some sweet goods.

Then, Thursday was Zone Training at Dapdong, which was really good. Elders Berry and Meeks taught me some sweet pen tricks from across the room (I sound like a pretty focused missionary, right? ..Haha they were harder then you'd think! 

6-1-2014 - I'm being cooked over here

I can not tell you how hot it is over here. Being a man who has literately spent his entire life is Utah you don't know what the whether is like all over the world. I could not believe my companion when he told me it was only about 70 degrees. It's only spring and i'm now being cooked alive because of the humidity. I don't know what i'm going to do when summer roles around. 

Speaking of being cooked we had Elder Cook come to our mission to speak (see what I did there haha). He wanted to shake hands with all the missionaries that were there which was about 400. It was such a great experience to be able to shake the hand of apostle of the Lord. When he spoke he spoke with power and authority but it was very gentle and quiet. He talked about love and faith. He said that if we have faith then we will find people to teach and that we will baptize people. But he didn't sugar coat it. He said that we probably  won't get the same about of baptisms as people in Brazil and places like that but with faith they will come and people will be brought closer to the Lord.



He also talked about love and He gave us four things that he absolutely have to love. We need to love the people, the Mission president, our companions, and the Lord. All of these things hit me really hard. If you don't have love for one of theses things than it's really hard to be an effective missionary. It really is all about love, with a bunch of faith in there.

This week the sisters' investigators was baptized. It was a really neat experience to see somebody have that experience and have the happiness that comes from that. I also got to play my guitar and have the sisters sing there too. So grateful that I am able to use that talent to bring happiness to others. Sister B---- was one of the sisters who sang which was cool. Kinda crazy that we are still so seeing each other on the opposite side of the world. Also one of our investigators came to the service at the last second and he got to see that. I really think that he felt something there and I hope he takes it to heart. 

Another funny thing that happened this week is that we got roped into going to a different church. So the sisters met a lady on the street that said they were teaching free Korean to foreigners. We thought that this would be a great way to learn a bit and to meet some new people. What they didn't tell us was that they were from a different church and the truth was was that there weren't any other foreigners at all and all. They taught us a bit and then they brought us food and tried really hard to make us happy. But about half way through we realized what was going on. Man churches in Korea are pretty crazy. All they are looking for is gain and money and to have more renown in the world. Signs of the times I guess. Anyway lets just say we will not be going back there.

Elder G------ ( a different elder in our house) is always keeping us entertained. He likes talking non-stop and he doesn't really care is people understand him. He is a huge martial arts fan and he will show off anywhere and any time. Haha is companion is Korean and so there is just a little bit of a cultural difference with that companionship.

My companion Elder B----- and I are doing good work. We met a member of a different church who had some really good questions about our church. The problem was was that they were really hard questions that would have been hard to talk about in English let alone Korean. I wasn't much of a help in that conversation and my companion did really really good.

Having faith is sometimes hard. But it really pays off when we do. We don't find new people every day and we don't have baptisms every week but if we have faith those things will come and it will be more enjoyable as you do it.

Love you all and thank you all so much for your prays and support.

Elder Daniel Meeks

5-25-2014 Holy Pictures, Batman!

Reunited with his MTC Roomie Elder DeMille

5-25-2014 - Working Hard and Hating Tomato Juice

Hi,

First of all I have discovered this week that I have a dislike for tomato juice. A nice old lady called us into her restaurant the other day and she gave us tomato juice. Lets just say that my companion and I had a really hard time getting that down. 

This week we have tired really hard to focus on strengthening the members of our ward. It is not easy to be a member of the church in Korea and there is lots of temptation to do all sorts of bad things here. Our ward mission leader asked us to help with members and help them with growing their testimonies of the Restoration and of the Book of Mormon. We have been doing about 20 minute lessons with a lot of them and it's really great because we can help them grow and it's a good opportunity for me to teach. 

We don't have a lot of investigators and the ones we do have are hard to meet and teach. We are spending a lot of time with just trying to find people. I definitely understand the concept of companionship unity. My companion is willing to go out and work, but he doesn't really like to talk to people and it's really hard to do it alone and when you are both not trying your hardest. 

I have been thinking a lot of about the gift of tongues lately. For the most part people believe that The gift of tongues is that God will give you the ability to speak the language. But I don't think that is true. I think it's more that God will put the words that you need to say in your mouth if you are trusting in him. I thought for the first little while that I would just be able to speak one day. But that's not really how it goes. 

My companion is the perfect example of being able to speak the language well but that with the power of God behind his words. He is a good missionary, but he has measured that success of his mission based on how well he can speak so that is all he has focus on his entire mission. He is the best speaker in the mission but it's because that is what his mission has mostly been. So I think we need to find a balance between hard study and working for the Lord. Gift of tongues doesn't only apply to people learning the language but to everyone. 

I am so tired every night which is a good sign I think. It's so nice to spread the gospel to people's lives and give them something bright and new. 

Love you all and hope you all have an amazing week 

Elder Meeks 

5-12-2104 - Serving the People

Hello Family and Friends, 

So this week has been a good week. We don't have that many investigators right now which isn't the best but we are working on it. We meet with this one lady in a underground shopping center who is the owner of this beauty shop and she really likes us, but it's hard for us to share a message and teach her there. But it's really good because we have started making friends with a bunch of people in other shops down there and we talk to them about missionary work and staring to see some interest with them. 

We get to go farming at the wards farm every Saturday mourning and it's really fun. Nice to actually do some real service for people. 

The sisters missionaries in my ward are having a baptism and they asked me to play guitar there so I'm going to be doing that pretty soon which will be fun. 

Korean is coming more and more now. I can actually start to somewhat understand the words that are coming out of people's mouths. 

So right now I am working on writing a talk for sacrament meeting about the restoration. It's so amazing to go in to that topic. Man everything that is in our gospel is based off the fact that our church was restored. Just look at things like the Book of Mormon and how important that is to everybody. I like the scripture that says that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. One small simple question from a small simple boy and we get everything we have in our lives. It's the best feeling ever. 

Nothing too amazing happened this week just a great week serving the Lord.

Love you all, have a great week, 

Elder Meeks 

5-4-2014 - Changes are good

Hello family and friends, 

Ok so with this new transfer there have been some really really big changes. I guess we can start with the really good ones. So i'm living with a Korean elder now who is the greatest guy in the whole world and he cooks for us almost every single meal. The food is Korean and it's sooooo good. No more french toast and eggs haha. 

The ward i'm in is really small so it's going to be really easy to get know all the names of the people in the ward. My new companion is the best English Korean speaker of the whole mission. It super super nice and he loves teaching me and helping me with questions that I have. There is nothing he can't answer and people say he sounds like a Korean. I feel like I'm going to get really good at Korean this transfer. The only problem with him being really good at Korean means that he has only a little time left on his mission. I will be his last companion. So it means that he is super trunky. He is a good missionary but he kinda doesn't like to work as hard as I would like to. His name is Elder B---- and he is a really funny guy and super nice and smart. It's going to be a really good time here, I just hope that we can work hard. 

We don't have very many investigators here and so we just walk around a lot and talk to people. As a missionary without a bike I think I'm have probably walked further that I ever have in my entire life. We walk Sooooo far every day. But it's all good and I like talking to people. 

I used to be kinda shy before my mission about talking to random people and I had a slight fear of rejection. Now that is all gone. I have tried to talk to a lot of people here and some talk to you and a lot of them reject and keep on going. Just the way missionary work is I guess. But it's really rewarding when they seem like they have interest and want to meet again. Makes it all worth it. 

My house here is a lot bigger which is super nice. 

I am always trying to be diligent in everything that I do as a missionary. I Love the scriptures. So much in there that brings us closer to our Heavenly Father. 

The mission goes on thank you all for everything. 

Elder Daniel Meeks