Hey There!

Dear Friends and Family, 

Another good week here on the Island! the weather is still very warm, and no Dad, we haven't had any rain in about a month. Literally. Still plenty humid and we've had more sunny days recently than when I first got here. So it sounds like conference was pretty awesome for everybody! Glad to hear it. And yes, my companionship got a text about 2 in the morning on Sunday about the change in age! That's crazy! And as a result it has made me think a lot about the girls my age who could go, but more specifically, Sterling. If he waits that's great. I think that 1 year at BYU made a big difference for me and helped me to grow up a bit. But then again, if it had been me in his shoes I would probably just go at 18. Did Sterling go to Homecoming either? Last I heard it was up in the air. Has it even happened yet?

That's sweet, Dad, that you're working with Porsche! The car looks awesome too! And yes, that weather sounds amazing, but for some reason I can't wrap my head around living in California. Who knows though, maybe.

So a quick update on my week. And unfortunately, my iPod, where I write down all the events that I want to share about in these emails is up in the Mission Office getting Mission approved--basically they take off YouTube and Safari. I regret to say that I still have not quite memorized the First Vision. I thought I would have more time this week to do that but got side-tracked with the million other things that I do for language study, namely reading Preach My Gospel in the Cantonese Romanization, studying flashcards, and working on my Sounds and Tones. Hopefully I can report that done by next week.

To answer Mom's questions, my comp's appendix did not explode and he is doing fine now. However, the last 3 days he's been sick with a fever and cough so we've had to take it kind of easy. Gave me a lot of free time to finish the Book of Mormon and then start and finish "Our Search For Happiness". Subsequently, I woke up this morning with chills, a fever, and a persistant cough...It wasn't enough to dissuade me from attending the temple though! I felt awful the whole time but it was also a good feeling because I got to feel the peace of the temple! It's such a beautiful place and one experience I always look forward to. Sister Bradford was also helping out in the temple when I went! I saw her from afar.

By the way, I was reading in this month's Liahona, and clarified that this same story is in the Ensign. It's called "Helping Youth Have Spiritual Experiences" and the last bold section talks about a woman in Hong Kong. Just wanted y'all to know that the Young Woman's President that they talk about is in my ward! Woot Woot. Anways, it's a good article if you have a few minutes to read it.

Sunday was really good this week! We had 3 investigators and church and afterwards we were able to meet with two of them, L and S. Had a great lesson about the Doctrine of Christ and then afterwards pretty much commited both of them to baptism. L would like to be baptized but unfortunately he leaves next week for Perth to begin his college studies so we're trying to put him in touch with missionaries there. S isn't living in our area, but is L's friend. Really wants to be baptized and we have that one scheduled for November 11th! Not sure if we will do it because we want to try to turn her over to the missionaries that live in her area as soon as L leaves... Still a miracle though! I don't mean to sound boastful, but L was the first person I ever approached in Hong Kong and actually listened. He looked rough from the outside, and my Cantonese was awful. I think I said, "I am a missionary. Do you have interest?" Something bad like that. But we've had a lot of success with him and his 3 friends that he has brought! Truly a miracle!

Sunday morning we go to church in Wanchai still and have Correlation at 8 AM. On our way there this last week our bus was having problems. It stalled 2 times on not so busy roads and then it stalled on the freeway... Kinda scary but the best part is that we pull off to the median and a rescue bus picks us up. The bus was absolutely packed and it looked like a little trail of ants migrating from one to the other! I'm sure it looked funny to anyone driving by.

You'll be happy to know that last week I actually managed to send off some of the letters I've been meaning to write! Sent off 9 of them. Each with a 3 dollar stamp...(that's only like 40 cents each!)

I remembered my camera today! Didn't remember my cord to hook it up to the computer though... It's a good thing I still have like 80 weeks or something to get them all sent off.

So whenever a new mission president comes in things change. Sometimes it takes mission presidents a while to completely figure everything out before they start making decisions. In the last week most of the new rules have come to fruition. I'm trying to be a good sport about it all, and remember that President Hawks is inspired. I'll follow his counsel whether or not I like it and try to like it though.

1. Never split from companion without DL permission (ok, fine).

2. Cannot leave Zone on P-Day without AP permission (hard since zones are so freakin small here!)

3. No Christmas music this year. (Not a huge Christmas music fan anyway).

4. Very few movies are approved. Even some church movies are not. (ok)

5. Never have two elders teaching 2 women (even if one is a fellowshipper) As a result we teach without one. The goal would be 2 investigators, 2 missionaries and one fellowshipper. (Unlikely to happen, but will try).

6. Shorts are only to be used for 7:00-7:30 exercises in the morning. If we have sports nights, or want to go Sports Finding we must wear jeans. As a result, no shorts on P-Day. (That hurts...)

7. Missionaries should not gather on P-Day in groups of larger than 10 (So no more Zone Activities).

So these are now in affect. Suits were going to be worn 24/7 starting on Saturday October Conference to next April Conference, but graciously have been left off until November 1st since it's still so hot here.

We went finding a few times this week and one night I had a lot of success! (I say I because we usually find by ourselves within the same area) i stopped 3 people, had a lesson with one, and had really good conversations with the others and got their telephone numbers! Hopefully we will be able to meet with some of them soon!

As was stated in my parents emails, language success is not necessarily in perfection. And good thing too because I am so far from that! Every day is still hard but I think my talking sounds and tones are doing better. And most of all, I can communicate pretty well.

Since I don't have my notes right in front of me I can't give you guys an absolute reference but I was struck near the very end, when Moroni and his father both talk about how God is still a God of miracles. And they list off miracles and gifts of the spirit. What hit me this week was the gift of tongues. I look at my progress and try not to compare it with other missionaries, and just remember that it is through Jesus Christ and the Spirit that I am able to do any of my speaking. They are the ones that buoy me up and help me and others understand each other.

Well that's all for this week. I'm sure I've left things out, but I hope y'all have a safe week and if anyone else is sick like me that we will all recover soon.

Love,

Elder Siebach

Again at the Computer!

Dear Friends and Family,

It's me again! Can't believe its been another week already! Hope all of you had a good week.

First off I want to thank the Tietjen's for their very generous package stuffed with all sorts of goodies! It had brought joy to many missionaries! I actually got that package a week ago, but I got it about an hour after I finished writing my weekly letter.

Few questions: By the sound of Sterling's letter it sounds like Hutch left choir? Who is the new teacher and where did Hutch go? I am also curious, where in Hong Kong is Sister Sng from?

Hong Kong "yuht-beng"

This past week was full! We had a lot of different things going on. I'll start with Sunday. At church on Sunday we had 4 investigators at church. Not as many as we had hoped for, but really good considering that Sunday was a holiday called "Jung Chaau Jit" or in other words, Mid-Autumn Festival. I don't really understand the purpose of it, but it's fun! Everyone is off of work, and they eat sweets called 'Yuht-beng" or mooncakes. They are interesting because they range in size from about the size of an Oreo to about the size of an orange. Inside they can have ice cream, chocolate, red bean, or lotus paste. When you eat it it feels a bit like eating fudge. Lotus paste is the common one and inside of those they often have 2 whole egg yolks. Some of the Chinese, and most of the foreigners don't like them very much, but I think it's pretty good. When you're in the mood for eating chalky egg yolk that is. :) 

Anyway, that was Sunday. And unfortunately no baptism. If you recall, a few weeks ago I told you about a former investigator who wanted to get baptized. Well, he came to church, came to play basketball with us, and then dropped off the face of the earth. He was much too genuine for me to think that he all of a sudden lost interest, but I do think that his parents don't want him to meet with us or get baptized. A very legitimate and common concern among parents with teenage kids. All we can really do is hope that in a few years he will come find missionaries again. However, amidst all this, I still consider it a miracle. I really believe that through faith and then work we were able to contact this boy, A. God had prepared him and brought him to us. The only thing that God won't do is take away someone's agency, or even the agency of their parents. Fingers crossed for him in a few years.

Oh, and sorry, back to the topic of church, I saw the Bradford's come into church this past Sunday as I was waiting for an investigator to show up. Looked like they were doing very well, and hopefully soon we will be able to have dinner with them! They are legendary here for having missionaries over for dinner. :) This past Sacrament meeting they also invited me to get up and bear a 5 minute testimony. It went pretty well. I'm sure my grammar was poor, but I communicated the ideas that I wanted to, and I rehearsed the Joseph Smith experience and what it means to me and can mean to all of us. I almost have the whole thing committed to memory in Cantonese.

Dragon Boat Racing

Since Sunday was a holiday, so were Monday and Tuesday. I'm not exactly sure if they were a continuation of mid-Autumn festival or not--I've heard both ways. Because everyone is with their families for holidays, you can have super miracles and talk to families, or just get shut down all the time because people just want to be with their families. On Monday we experienced the second option. We went finding at a park for a few hours and didn't get to talk to anyone! Kind of disappointing, but it was still an awesome day because as we were walking we walked by the bay and stopped to watch, with thousands of others, dragon-boat racing! Super cool to watch. They have very long, very narrow boats and then probably 30 people rowing inside. There is one person sitting down in the front of the boat and he has a big drum that he beats and the rowers all keep time to. People came from all over to compete in the races. Saw a lot of teams from the Mainland especially. That evening we went to the church, had dinner, and then went to Victoria Park hoping to maybe talk to some families, but if not, to look at all the festivities that they had set up. They had a ton of lanterns, a puppet show, music, and other props. I took a lot of pictures that perhaps one of these weeks I will be able to send home... To cap off that night they have a enormous fireworks display out in the harbor. We didn't go to it but we could hear and feel it! It was so cool to hear it echo off all the buildings and  even the mountainside. it also really lit up the cloudy sky with every color of the rainbow!

Last Friday (yes, I know I'm jumping out of order) was my favorite day last week! And it was because we met with Ken to play tennis! I've been bugging him to play for a couple weeks now! He's been giving me updates on the US Open and other tennis tournaments. It was a lot of fun! My companion and I played with him for about an hour and a half, and then afterwards followed up on his reading is going and preparation for baptism. I realized that it had almost been 5 months since I had held a racquet in my hand! Felt good to run and hit again! We haven't met with him again this week, but hopefully very soon.

Also because Monday was a holiday, the two Elders companionships that serve in Chaiwan went and played soccer with some of the members from our Elders Quorum. A lot of fun and a good way to get some exercise! One of the days this week, I think it was Monday, we were finding one night and about to head home to our apartment. The last lady that we greeted turned to her friend and told her not to listen to us. My comp talked to her a little bit and then she just went off on us. According to her we're all going to hell, we trick people, and many other things. I didn't get involved and just stood there while they talked. She was in a screaming rampage by the end. Pretty bad stuff. One thing that doesn't help here in Hong Kong is that of course, much like the US they know us as Mormons. Or they pronounce it "Mo Mun" which with the tones they they use for it, means "Devil's Gate". So many many people think we are this Satanic cult.

My favorite day this week was Tuesday. As I mentioned Tuesday was also a holiday. These holidays are Statutory Holidays which means that all the Philipino and Indonesian domestic workers are off work too! They all gather together in Black Man's Park and Worldwide. Both are in an area of Hong Kong called Central. The place is crawling with people, so very often the Elders and Sisters that serve in International work (English missionary work) will call in reinforcements. Every missionary wants to go do this so we pretty much invited ourselves to help. We went and at first I was kind of nervous. It's a bunch of women just hanging out, and to me they seemed unapproachable. However, I persevered, and talked to a lot of women! Got a lot of phone numbers, shared a lot of messages/lessons, and at about noon I was talking with one woman named E. She has a couple kids back in the Philippines and her brother is a member! She didn't have anything going on so I was able to get a 'pull-back' or in other words, get her to come to the church! My companion for the day, Elder B (who happens to be Elder Rostrom's previous companion), and I went with her to the church. Took her on a tour, taught the first lesson, she even said the closing prayer, and then introduced her to some of the Filipino church members. She ended up staying with them after we left, ate with them, and hung out! We also gave her a Book of Mormon, and she wants to come to church next week! So good! The Filipinos are amazing! So genuine, many of them are Christian, very easy to talk to, and when they are baptized they are so committed and firm! Super generous too! They always always always want the Elders to stay around so that they can feed them. Just very loving nice people! It also helps that they all speak English so they're easier to teach, and for myself right now, it's easier to feel the Spirit testify to me when I'm not worried about how my grammar and tones are. Such a good day for me!

Yesterday was also good. We turned over an investigator to the Mandarin Elders, and then we had two investigators turned over to us. They are two older women, and are searching different religions. We sat down and talked with them for about an hour, shared portions of the first lesson, but really just answered their questions and testified. The Spirit was strong in that meeting and you could see that what we were saying was affecting them. Best of all they are coming to conference in two weeks! I don't know what I'm going to do for conference. It will all be in Cantonese so hopefully I will understand enough, and then afterwards I'll just have to read the conference talks.

As I was reading this week what stuck out to me was 3 Nephi 28:29 which talks about the "convincing power of God which is in them." This is in reference to the Apostles that Jesus called in the Americas. I've been wondering how I can get more of that power to teach. I haven't come to any conclusions yet, but I definitely think that it comes from a desire to keep to Gods standards exactly so that he can endow us with power. I'll save my other thought for next week because I am out of time. I love you all, hope that everyone is safe and sound.

Love,

Elder Siebach

Another Week Down!

Dear Friends and Family,

Another good week here on the island. I told you that we moved apartments last P-Day. That was quite the effort... For whatever reason it took a couple trips to get everything over, but we finally finished it late that night. The apartment is tiny, but very clean too--something that my old apartment definitely was not. I'm doing my best to keep it clean, but we'll see how it all turns out considering there are 4 of us in there. The bedroom is my favorite part of the whole place. Obviously because sleep is among my priorities, but also because they have 2 bunkbeds in there with no more than an inch in between them. It kind of feels like a jungle gym as you try to swing from bed to bed just to get to yours. If it weren't for the fact that one of the bunks is 6 inches lower than its neighbor bed it would look like a queen size bed for two. Its a good apartment though!

What's even better is that the location is in our area now, and that because we are out of the major downtown area food is a little cheaper and there is even a fresh food market a few blocks away.

So the new car is Deuce? That works. I've been surprised to find myself wandering in my thoughts this week and often thinking about and having flashbacks to driving in Flash. May she rest in peace.

I got the package! On Monday some missionaries were up in Kowloon and coming down to Wanchai so they graciously brought it to me. What a surprise when I saw how big it was! The brownies were delicious and there are many missionaries here that thank you for them! I finally managed to unpack all of it last night just to find out what was inside, now I just have to find a place to put it all. But thank you very much for all your thoughts and efforts to get everything to put in there!

To answer dad's question about weight, I wish I could give you exact measurements, but we don't have a scale or anything. It sufficeth me to say though that I am losing weight:) My waist line is decreasing, my dress shirts are fitting a little looser, as are my dress pants. Dare I say that my church suit is looking a little baggy maybe. When I left the MTC I probably hovered around 190-195 and I think I'm back down to about 175-180. I'm not complaining though. If anything I hope I can keep the downward trajectory, who knows, maybe I'll be able to fit in Grace's pants when I get back. Ha!

This week has been a good week for lessons. On Sunday we visited a recently returned Sister missionary's father. None of her family are members, but her dad has been to church a few times and thinks that religion is really important. He also agrees that this church has helped his daughter. The lesson was really good and we essentially talked about the first lesson and applied it to families. I felt prompted to talk a little about priesthood and the role of fathers in the home too. We hope to meet with him again very soon.

On Monday it was looking pretty overcast all day and the heavens finally opened at about 3. It was considered a 'yellow rain' which isn't hard enough to cancel missionary work, but heavy nonetheless. That evening it seemed like the  skies had cleared a bit so we walked from our apartment to a park the next town over and tried our luck at finding. It went well for the first hour or so and we managed to talk to a few people, and then as we were about to leave to grab something to eat we stopped a mom and started talking to her. The skies opened again while we were talking so we made our way over to a pavilion to wait it out. Talked with her and then another mother for about an hour about their families as well as us as missionaries. By this time it was almost 8 and they were getting antsy to get their kids home. The rain wasn't stopping though. Just getting harder. It moved from yellow rain to "red rain". Finally we made a mad dash for a restaurant where one of the mothers actually treated us to dinner! It was awesome! We rescheduled to teach her son English, in her home the next day! So that was a good day because we got two families!

Also this past Sunday we had 6 investigators at church and all of them stayed for a Young Single Adults activity afterwards and then a CES fireside! Pretty exciting to have all of them there! What was even better was that President and Sister Hawks unexpectedly showed up just to be in our Sacrament services. Great Sunday! Wish me luck because this Sunday I have been asked to take 5 minutes and share my testimony and whatever other thoughts I have...kinda nervous.

The next day we had a lesson with K at lunch time, and talked about overcoming problems and addictions. Really good lesson, just trying to help him read the Book of Mormon as well. But he's an awesome guy and genuine too. That Tuesday evening we went to this lady's house to teach English. She ended up feeding us yet again for dinner, and this time we managed to teach her and her father the first lesson. Her father will come to church this week with us, but she is going to mainland with her son so she won't be in church until the week after. Doesn't look like she's married so there's no father in the picture :( The lesson went really well though and both she and her father are very interested.

That's it for scheduled lessons this week. We've gone finding a few other times and talked to people but all of them are just potential investigators right now. Oh, and last Saturday we went finding for a few hours near a subway station--lots of trees in the area and it had just stopped raining so we were getting rain drops falling on us pretty regularly. Didn't think much of the drops until an hour later when my companion turns to me and tells me that I have bird poop on my back! Pretty gross but not anything that a little bleach and wash can't take out.

As many of you know, Hong Kong is one of the, if not the only, place in the world where they have church every day of the week. It's specifically for the domestic workers, most of whom are from the Philippines or Indonesia. Their 'holiday' or day off each week is determined by their employers and isn't necessarily on Sunday so to accomodate them, church is each day. Because I'm also in the church a lot I have ample opportunity to talk to them. They are very nice and always want to give some of their food to us! Very nice of them, this week they gave us vegetables and tuna fish sandwiches. However, why I bring this up is because they can never pronounce Siebach correctly. Always messing it up, but this week I found out that in Tagalog, if you pronouce Siebach as it is supposed to be pronounced, it means "to cut wood with an axe" I thought that was pretty cool, and now by some miracle when I tell them that, they can all pronounce it perfectly!

Here in Hong Kong they are all about the ancient Chinese medicines and methods. Often you can find shops that sell something called "Yah Seh Meh" which means "24 Flavors". Its a blend of a bunch of roots and leaves that have been boiled together. Supposed to be really healthy. After the coaxing of my companion, some less actives we were about to teach, and a set of sister missionaries, I tried it. Pretty nasty tasting stuff. Really bitter and it burns the back of your throat for a long time after that. But I choked it down, much the the pleasure of everyone and the restaurant owners who were right there watching as well. It's worth doing once. Gotta be like a local right?

Hope everyone is safe and well! Have a great week.

Sincerely,

Elder Siebach

One Move Down!

Dear Friends and family,

It feels like just yesterday I was writing. The time flew! I can't believe I'm here in this computer lab yet again. Still the same computer lab so I can't send any pictures. Not that I've taken a ton recently either. I need to be better about taking pictures. I saw Elder Rostrom today in Kowloon Tong today so I did manage to get a picture with him on his camera and my I-touch. Glad to hear that things are going well for the most part back home. Hope Scout continues to do well, I can just see her now sitting there dying to go out and play with a tennis ball :) The plaque looks good!--for the most part...the star isn't even on Hong Kong haha. No worries, most people won't notice I'm sure. And Flash is worse for wear. It's funny because this week I actually saw a late 90's model Acura TL. It made me reflect on Flash back home and how much I look forward to driving her, when I drive again that is. A little sad to hear that she couldn't weather through this one...Oh well.

The protests over the island in the China Sea were here in Hong Kong as well. I don't know if people attacked the Japanese Embassy but there has been a lot of talk and protesting. The the US Ambassador in Libya also die this week? Someone told me that. We also got a text this week from our mission president to just generally be careful because we are white and possible Muslim violence to look out for??? All I know is that I hope my two Arab/Muslim security guards of my apartment are cool with us haha.

So today, believe it or not, we actually moved! Our new apartment is a lot nicer than the one we have been in and very small. No room for some of the amenities that other apartments have. Like a couch or chairs. The A/C does work though so that is a bonus! It's also super convenient because it is in the middle of our area and a stone's throw from a bus stop and a subway station. We've moved a lot of our stuff over and just have to go back and get the last parts tonight. One thing that I admire about the people here is how much they can fit in so little. We have hardly any room but the Chinese people are master builders both in cities like Hong Kong and in their apartments. Sometimes their apartments feel like mini Hong Kongs with stacks shooting up here and there. My old apartment as well as my new apartment are roughly the size of my mom and dad's bedroom, not including the bathroom. It has a very 'homey' feel since it's all so small.

At church this week we had a few investigators show up--a few had work unfortunately, and one was sick. So not great numbers but for the ones that did make it to church, it was awesome. The other Chaiwan elders also had a baptism so it was a great experience to show our investigators what a baptismal service was like. Also got two less active members at church so hopefully we will be able to meet with them tomorrow.

Did a little bit of street contacting and have a lot of potentials so hopefully we can schedule a few lessons and perhaps get some of them to church. I think maybe the Jehovah's Witnesses saw some of our success because today they were in one of our most successful finding areas with their billboards and magazines. To avoid conflict we didn't try to contact there.

This week the new wave of missionaries also came in! Nice to see them again, and one of them, Elder Arrington, is moving into the apartment that I just moved out of. He will be serving in the area right next to me called Causeway Bay. Another new Elder, Elder Morton, is up in the New Territories somewhere, and Sister Cutler is in Kwun Tong. Just in case you guys back home are interested.

I was reading a lot this week in the last chapters of Alma and pondering on the Sons of Helaman and their righteous leaders like Moroni, Teancum, Antipus, and Helaman. These are truly men of God. They look to God in all things. And they definitely had good examples in their lives. The sons of Helaman specifically mention their mothers, and I definitely think that my mother is a great example in my life. I wouldn't for one second discount my father or leaders at church, teachers, and friends, though. I don't think the Sons of Helaman discount these either. We all have people in our lives that are great examples that we can follow. In my current circumstances I can rely on past experiences I've had with my family and leaders, but currently I can look for examples to emulate from members in my ward here, my mission president, Zone leaders, District leader, and especially my companion. There is good that we can learn from everyone we associate with.

I really also respect Pahoran in these chapters because he is chastened by Moroni, but he doesn't fault him, but praises him for his firmness. Just a great way to respond, and I way I need to work on. My dad can attest that I don't take criticism, even if it's constructive, very well. If you notice in the Moroni's letter, he says, "my beloved brethren, for ye ought to be beloved" and then Pahoran in his response ends his letter by calling Moroni his beloved brother. I believe Pahoran was doing all he could with the things that he had, and should not have been faulted, but even still, he found it in him to love Moroni still and to show an 'increase in love' as D&C 121 talks about. Worth thinking about in our daily exchanges with others.

This week in district meeting I gave a sharing (basically a 15 minute mini-lesson on a topic assigned by the District leader.) I was assigned to talk on revelation through the Book of Mormon as well as how the Book of Mormon can help our investigators. The lesson went well, but what I learned for myself was that I don't use the Book of Mormon nearly as much as I should. It's our most powerful resource as PMG says, and it can teach better than I will ever be able to. There is a reason that it is scripture and not my words. I think I don't use it nearly as much as I want to because often it's hard to use it in the middle of a street contact, but also because often I've been asked by people why we also teach from that and not the Bible more and so because I don't use the Bible much, I try to make it 'fair' and not use either. A mistake on my part that I am going to work on in the week ahead, but truly I need to be bolder and say that the reason I teach from it is because all Christian churches teach from the Bible, and the Book of Mormon is a new, second witness of truths. Anyway, my message, is use the Book of Mormon! Read it daily, ponder on it, share it, love it, cherish it etc...

Not a ton else has happened this week. I wish I had more new news to give y'all. Anyway, I also bought paper and letters so I will try and find a few moments to write in between moving and everything else I do. Have a good week.

Love,

Elder Siebach