Ever Working, Ever Learning...

Dear Friends and Family,

Things are going so well here in KwaiChung! I don't know what it is about this week, but I just find myself falling more and more in love with my area and with Hong Kong! If I could stay in KwaiChung for the rest of my mission I would be happy. What's interesting is that nothing super remarkable happened; I just kept working like any other week.

Kwai Chung: what's not to love?

Here are some highlights: during my language study this past week I decided to read some of the Less Active member records and try and 'decode' their Chinese addresses. I was scanning specifically for less actives that live in one particular estate; Lai Yiu Estate in Lai King. Later that afternoon I knew that we would be there visiting with our investigator Mr. W. I was surprised as I went through the lists of literally hundreds of names, I ran across the address of a lady who lived in the same building and room as our investigator. A little skeptical I headed out to the apartment for the meeting with Mr. W. The meeting went very well, we taught the Restoration completely and he is very interested in learning! In passing I asked about his wife who is usually out of the home when we go over to meet with him. Through my explortion I found that 20 years ago when he and his wife were investigating the church, she got baptized!!!! Unfortunately she also went less active very soon after. So with that new knowledge Elder B and I have been working hard to schedule a time when we can meet with him and her. If we can get him baptized and her active next year they could get sealed possibly! Anyway, that's our long term goal. The Relief Society president knows and she actually sat with them yesterday when they came for church. If all goes well he'll be baptized this August.

Another person that has been making some good progress is Mr. L. He's been investigating for a little over a month now and making slow but steady progress. Because of his work schedule he never knows if he will be able to make it to church or not. He's very willing to meet though and reads and prays. With both Mr. L and Mr. W I am blown away by just how willing to listen and learn they are--I guess it's their humility.

Among other things this week, it rained for portions of every day which was a lot of fun! Lots of times it just gets to a point where we stop caring about bringing an umbrella because you know you will be soaked anyway. Thank heavens for waterproofing on our shoes!

One evening we had a couple hours to go finding and though it was raining we did our best and actually stopped a really nice man. We talked with him for a little while outside his apartment building and then huddled under a tree during some rain, and then out of the blue he just invited us into his home. So we went in, he tried hard to give us some alcohol but we won the fight and earned a cup full of water instead! He was very nice, originally from mainland, works in construction, and for that reason doesn't have a lot of time (the day we went finding happened to be a public holiday so he was off). We left a pamphlet and I hope he gets a chance to read it. For the last 25 minutes of our finding that evening we tried to knock the door of a less-active but the guard told us he had moved out a few days prior. We used her office phone and by some miracle he picked up, he had indeed moved, but it was nearby and he invited us to go and visit him. We went immediately, found him and scheduled him for the next day since we had to leave for our missionary correlation meeting. His name is Brother C, he's gotta be about 70 or 80, and hasn't been to church in 10+ years. We went the following night, Saturday, to his room and had a good conversation about church and scriptures. He may be a little bit crazy, can't tell yet, but he scheduled for church the next day!

Yesterday, Sunday was another great day. Elder B and I made a lot of calls the night before and were able to confirm a handful of people to come to church with us the next day. We had 9 people tentatively scheduled. Sunday morning we made some more calls to confirm yet again, and confirmed most of them. At church yesterday we had 5 investigators; J, Mr. W, Mr. L, A-G, Mrs. J, and then Mr. W's less active wife, and Brother C was at church with us too. We got fellowshippers to sit by all our investigators and I sat with Brother C. Our party of investigators, fellowshippers and less actives took up about 3 rows and I sat somewhat 'perched' over them in the back row corner. I was just so happy to see them listening intently and reverently! haha :) It so happens that Mr. W's wife brought her mother too. We didn't have a chance to teach that family yesterday because they were feeling a little under-the-weather and so they left right after Sacrament meeting. After the 3 hour services were finished Elder B and I went on splits and I taught Mr. L the 10 commandments. He loved it! He also loved church! he felt like church was a great opportunity to feel closer to God and he now knows that it's a commandment. After that lesson we were able to teach A-G and we read in Ether 12 and talked about how we show our faith. He has so much faith! He shared with us that though his mother won't sign the form to allow him to be baptized, he is still preparing, comes to church weekly, reads and prays daily. He's such a great example to me! If I'd been like that when I was 16 I'd have been so much more prepared for missionary life!

On the week we managed to get 7 member-present lessons which I'm pretty pleased about, a number of other lessons, a few RC/LA lessons too. A-J is doing wonderfully! Reads and prays daily, loves her friends and family at church and loves to read scriptures with us and learn more of the gospel. :) L is same level with her. Doing so well.

Things are good in KwaiChung. I'm always working and always learning. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Love,

Elder Siebach