Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dear Friends and Family,

I wasn't planning on writing this week (I just called my family on Tuesday), however, I find myself with a few minutes here while I wait for my companion to finish his weekly letter to the Mission President. So I'll try and give as long an update as I have time for.

First things first though, I want to thank the Palazzo's for their Christmas package that they sent me! Complete with candy, a nice new tie, and an update from their family! Glad to hear that Michael is doing well in his mission too!

This week has been a whirlwind and to start it off, on Monday we had our Mission-wide Christmas activity. It started at 10 and went until 5. Among the things that we did was the year-end missionary slideshow. Afterwards, 102 missionaries then devoured two BBQ'd pigs for lunch, we had a gift exchange, the mission choir performed, and a closing spiritual thought from President Hawks. It was all a grand time and was nice to see missionaries that I hadn't seen since the day I arrived with them, as well as missionaries that I had yet to meet. The gift exchange was good too. I supplied a McDonalds card that had a bunch of coupons/ special offers on it, as well as some candy. I came home at the end of the night with a 12 lbs bag of rice... Not exactly what I was hoping for for Christmas, but it was certainly a 'practical' gift as was requested prior to the gift exchange. The mission choir was a big hit and something that I spent a few hours each week practicing for in December and November. We had a lot of missionary support and sang arrangements of "Silent Night" "O Holy Night" "Born to Wear a Crown" and "The First Noel." During President Hawks thought at the end of the day he also informed us generally about the future of the mission. Some of the things that he told us included that in January our first 18 year-old Elder and 19 year-old Sister come into the mission, and in April we have 15 new missionaries coming (10 of them are Sisters, to add to the 30 we already have) and then in June we have 16 missionaries 'dying' or going home, but they are very readily replaced by 22 new missionaries! Super exciting news! Because of the large amounts coming in, as well as a large number leaving, Elder Hawks anticipates that every missionary will be training within the next 4 to 6 months!

On Christmas day I was able to call home! I "ate" Christmas Eve dinner with my family as we talked for an hour and a half about the mission, things back home, and Sterling's Frankenstein-like brace that his recently surgeried shoulder rests in. (Not sure if surgeried is a word, but hopefully you understand me!). After the call I went with my companion to HungShuiKiu which was a 2 hour train ride from Hong Kong Island up into the New Territories on the border of Mainland China. I could actually see the buildings in Shenzhen from the train. While there the mission choir sang at the open house for the recently built New Territories Stake Center. It was a lot of fun and fun for me to get out of my 'Island bubble' to see what the China countryside has to offer.

Then yesterday, the 26th, we had our ward Christmas party. It was pretty well attended by both members and investigators, but Causeway Bay's ward, who had an activity at the same time, was not as well attended so they joined us for a short film about Christ's birth, a game of charades, and then a nice dinner of turkey/stuffing and take-out pizza--can't ask for a better, more authentic Chinese Christmas dinner; food from Italy and America.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that on Monday, after our missionary activity, Elder W and I made our way back into our area where we met up with 15 or so members from the ward and took a 24-seat bus to various apartment buildings to sing carols to lonely/less-active members. It was so much fun!!!! Singing carols with 20 or so people in absolutely tiny apartments can be a little bit cozy--you certainly feel like you're a lot closer with everyone :) One of the members in the ward took a ton of pictures and videos so I hope I can get my hands on some of those and you can see for yourselves how small everything and everyone are here.

In terms of things that happened last week though, I think it was pretty typical missionary work--go figure. Lots of finding, teaching, and not quite baptizing, but that will come.

Speaking of baptism. Every time I read 3 Ne 11 I am impressed with how the sequence of events for the Savior's visit. He comes in great glory, as would be expected, allows everyone to touch him and worship him, and then immediately sets about calling his 12 apostles and bestowing authority and power to baptize. Mind you this all happens in front of everyone. It's a testimony to me everytime I read it of the importance of baptism. The Savior wants to bless us, but first we have to be willing to follow him and make covenants. We do these things through baptism. I"m grateful for the doctrine behind, and ordinance of baptism, and just hope and pray that I can help these, the people of Hong Kong, have desires to come into the fold. Pray for them, pray for me to be able to help them. I need it. And remember, I'm praying for y'all too! Everyone can use prayers.

Hope you all are safe and having a wonderful Christmas/New Year as we reflect on the birth of Christ, and then make resolves to become more like him in the New Year. 

Love,

Elder Siebach

Doom's Day!

Dear Friends and Family,

Hope that this letter finds you all happy and well in whatever part of the world you are in. Things are going well here in Hong Kong! All except for the temperature has been in the high 70's the last few days! Not weather for a suitcoat in my opinion.

What can I tell you guys about me... Well after 3 moves (18 weeks) with my trainer, I am finally moving on to a different companion! My new companion is Elder W and he has about 1 month until he finishes his mission. He also just came out of Mission Office where he had served as AP for the last 4 moves. Contrary to EVERYONE's thoughts in the mission, I have stayed in ChaiWan! Something I'm rather happy about :) When I came to Hong Kong I opened a new, and second Elders missionary companionship in the mission, and after my first move the Sister Missionaries were taken out of our area, and now most recently the other ChaiWan Elders Companionship was discontinued. Basically what that means is we had a TON of records to go through and people to try and contact. In the start of this week I made a list of every investigator we had as well as the other companionship and just bugged the other missionaries until they told me something about everyone of their investigators. It's daunting to go through the 6 3" binders that I have now inherited and see literally thousands of names for potential investigators, thousands of former investigators, and even more less-actives. We also have a binder of "Lost Sheep"; basically those that no one knows if they have died, moved, gone inactive or what. It was interesting for me to watch the 3 other ChaiWan Elders leave our apartment and then welcome my new companion and a newly formed Mandarin Companionship to the apartment. I've spent a lot of time guiding them around ShauKeiWan to the cheapest places and the places that no one knows about until they've been here 4 months like me. Speaking of which, since Elder W is almost done with his mission, I will undoubtably stay in ChaiWan after he leaves and get probably another senior companion. If it happens in such a way, I will stay in my baby area for 7 months of my mission! Won't be leaving until March at the earliest.

The last four days with Elder W have been really great though. We've spent time finding out on the street, we've taught numerous lessons, and just had a really good time! He works very hard so we're always on the move/planning for an upcoming lesson. Yesterday for instance we tenatively had 6 investigators planning on church, only 3 showed up, but the lessons just went Bam, Bam, Bam. One was about the Plan of Salvation with a new investigator, E, that was given to us this week, then next was a follow-up with C since she's been taught everything. Turns out she's doing splendidly! Her parents have signed a consent form for her baptism, she is just waiting until all her tests and dance competitions are over in mid-January to get baptized. She's really got great faith and a strong testimony! The third lesson we taught H, a 13 year-old former, but don't let his age send you for a loop, he's almost as tall as I am, and had great interest in Bible/scriptures so we were able to have a great lesson with him about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. These lessons went from 12 to 4 o'clockish and so we did a little personal study before we took the bus to SiuSaiWan to meet with YT, a 20-something-year-old less-active. <---Thats a lot of hyphens:) Finally at 8:45 we got back to the apartment and I made Elder Wong and me a breakfast/lunch/dinner of eggs, sausage and rice. He and I had shared one of my oranges for lunch earlier in the day.

Yesterday was also the Primary Program for our ward so that was awesome! The ward was also really full with families that had come into town to visit and such. Probably had 50 or more people there rather than the typical 30ish. The program was really good! It was funny to see that really all the leadership for the Primary was involved; one held the words for the children to sing, one played the piano and the other 4 emceed and sang with the 4 primary kids that are in the ward! :)

I forgot to mention that A also came to church this week! He hasn't in the past but after our ward FHE on Saturday night we invited him and he was there and had a good experience! He loves coming to the chapel and says it's beautiful and peaceful.

ANSWERING QUESTIONS:

-Actually dad, I have had the opportunity to practice/sing every P-Day for the last 4 weeks as we rehearse for our Mission Choir Christmas program! It's really fun and a good excuse for me to sing since I'm sure all my apartment mates are sick of hearing me.

-I don't know any details about when I will call you mom. On December 25th there is a new chapel opening/being dedicated in Hung Sui Kiu (on the border of mainland, and the furthest spot from ChaiWan in the entire mission.) The Mission Choir is performing at the services. It will take us about 2 hours by Subway to get there and we have a call-time of 1 PM for a 3 PM performance. So I would imagine that my call will be in the evening my time which is super early for y'all. I really have no idea how it will all work out. I'll talk to my companion and we'll see what kind of a plan we can concoct. Oh, HungSuiKiu is also Elder W's home ward so it will be interesting for him to see his ward family a month before he's supposed to come home.

Today on the Subway as we headed up to Kowloon Tong for Choir practice, at one of the stops a really creepy man got on--he was older, wrinkly, wore heavy eye-liner, and for the life of me I could not figure out if he was Chinese or what! He stood a few feet from me and I could tell that he was reading my tag (something that happens a lot) but this time it was weird because I felt no desire to try to talk to him and explain it to him. As soon as the wave of people with him got onto the train I also felt dark, the spirit had left. About a minute later he asked if I was from Salt Lake City. I said no and that I was from Texas. He went on to tell me about how he was an ex-member. I said I was sorry to hear that and his only reply was that he only believed in the Bible and didn't want to offend it with Mormonism. It was all super weird. His next question was if I celebrated Christmas, I said yes and he flat out said that that was heresy and a disgrace. By this time I wasn't saying anything. Then he asked if I went to church yesterday, I did say yes to that and he told me that I was wrong and had the wrong day. I was just plain uncomfortable now and was relieved when I realized we were pulling into our train station stop. Anyway, that's my uncomfortable story for the week.

Wait, forgot, yesterday a woman came into our church meetings all frazzled and insisting on being baptized right then so that she could be saved when Dooms Day came. That was interesting as Elder W had to explain to her that the world wasn't ending and she could relax. Crazy people everywhere.

On a happier note, I want to leave y'all with a scripture I read this morning. It's Mormon 9 in which Moroni is beating down anyone who doesn't believe, denies the gifts of God, or disbelieves the Book of Mormon because of the weaknesses of the writers. What stood out to me was verse 24. The preceding verses from 22 on are talking about missionary work and the Lord's command that the gospel should go to every creature. Verse 24 is talking about the signs and miracles that will come from the disciple/missionaries. The one that stood out to me was that, "they shall speak with new tongues..." Obviously this has very direct application to me and I don't think I give enough thanks, credit, awe, to the wonderful power of God who has made it possible for me to communicate with some fluency with his children in Hong Kong. I've seen many miracles thus far in my mission and I'm sure that many more will come if I continue faithful, am worthy, and working hard. God be with you all this Christmas season!

Love Elder Siebach

 

P.S. Mom, if you think one wrong note in a song is bad, imagine my horror when yesterday I blanked 2/3rds of the way through while reciting Joseph's Vision. And what makes it worse is that I can't read any characters so I can't just bounce right into reading it.

P.S.S. Good luck with surgery this week Sterling! You will be in my prayers.

The Gift of Love

Dear Friends and Family, 

Don't even have an hour to write but I will do my best to respond to questions and update you in the time that I have.

On the very first Sunday that I was in Hong Kong, Elder B told me that since we didn't have any investigators to sit with I should try to get to know the members and sit with them during Sacrament Meeting. In very broken Cantonese I asked a man if I could sit next to him, which he graciously allowed. I didn't see him again until a few months later when I went to visit him as a less-active. Then last week he was at church again! His name is Brother C and openly admits that he's kinda lazy about going to church and could do better (this is a big step for any Chinese man or woman to admit since they usually keep up a facade of busy-ness.) Well, when I saw him I immediately went over and talked to him and he asked if he could take us out to breakfast on Tuesday! So that was sweet! We went to the very typical and traditional Chinese dumpling restaurants and as usually happens for me, I ate a ton of stuff that I didn't know what exactly it was. I ate some boiled pork skin that I can't say was my favorite either. However, I will have you know that I eat the chicken legs like a native now! Just bite right in, swish around the mouth, pull, tug, suck, and with chopsticks remove the bone after consuming all the skin. They don't taste too bad either.

Pretty much everyone who lives in Hong Kong lives in an apartment building; but not all apartment buildings are the same size, height, fanciness obviously. It just so happens that from our apartment on floor 15 we can look across a major thoroughfare and be exactly even with the top of another, smaller apartment building. Starting on Monday this week we saw an increase in activity on the top of this building and were surprised by Tuesday to see the makings of a makeshift apartment, most likely illegal since they have a lot of those here too. On Wednesday we were surprised to see huge lights being put up, and by Wednesday evening we finally put it all together that they are shooting scenes for a movie across the way from us! We find ourselves gravitating to the lights and action much like fireflies to lights. Anyway, I don't really know what they're doing but there are always like 25 people packed on the top of it and they are working before we are up to after we go to sleep. This past Saturday for some reason they didn't work for the day. However they were prompt to get started again on Sunday morning because the next thing I know, its 5:35 AM Sunday morning and the wall of our bedroom is lit like noonday! Turns out mechanics were across the way working on the Spotlights for the props. We'll see how long they are there.

As of Friday afternoon I am in a tri-panionship now. Elder L from the other Chaiwan companionship got pulled a week before transfers so that he could be trained in the mission office. We're not supposed to know transfers until we're being told, but I happen to know that he is going AP. So good for him! We'll miss him, but my parting words to him were, "Make some GOOD rules for us." We'll see what happens:)

Taking a break---

ANSWERING A FEW QUESTIONS: Mom, I do have a sweater, bought it about a month ago, so thanks for your concern, I'll be fine whenever it gets cold enough for one :) Dad: I really hate to compare Cantonese since it seems to be about all my companion talks about, and I don't think its productive or needful, but my Cantonese is pretty good! I make calls regularly in Cantonese, that doesn't always mean that I understand them, but they pretty well understand me which is half good. I'm feeling more confident, but obviously I have a very long way to go. I spend a lot of time in Sacrament meeting listening for comprehension as well as trying to write down Pingyam for words that I don't know and want to look up later. I'm understanding a lot more though. Not flawless, but that's why I have the next 1.5 years. Family: Thanks for the Christmas gifts! I got the package last week and spent a few days debating whether to open it or not. I finally did this morning mostly out of fear that any perishables were probably attracting "gokzot" or cockroaches... We have a few of those in our apartment so I'm trying to be careful. Everything perishable was put in the refrigerator and will not be consumed until starting on December 13th :) Thanks for all of it! Very thoughtful, fun, funny, and sweet! I like the Texas things too! My gifts to y'all should go in the mail sometime in the next week or so judging that I probably won't have time today to get everything off. My investigators: doing ok. C is scared to give her parents the Baptismal Permission Sheet...her baptism was supposed to be yesterday but is now undetermined but we hope this month still. C and A's dates are for this next week but they won't make it. Neither one made it to church this week, gonna try to contact them this week. We didn't have a chance to meet with D yet. He's been busy and lost his phone and wallet Friday (we were supposed to meet on Saturday) and he called us Saturday morning from a landline to let us know. Speaking of phone calls. I will most likely call you on Christmas day, we can't use members computers, President Hawks is serious about the 30-40 minute rule too.

Now back to this week...

A couple weeks ago we started meeting with 3 girls that live in our area. Two are sisters, N and J, and the third is a friend, L. N and J are pretty awesome! Not super super interested, but very pleasant, fun, and willing to learn. On Thursday night I had scheduled an appointment, teaching a mom and her child English, but it fell through, so we called N and J and asked if they could meet. They also live in ShauKeiWan and told us we could meet them in the Subway Station exit and come to their apartment. On our way up to their apartment we met their dad who was a very friendly, happy man who unfortunately was headed out the door for his overnight shift as a security guard. Their little brother, Alex, was home though so that was good. The family is originally from Mainland, but their mother tongue isn't Mandarin but rather some other dialect. They have perfect Mandarin and Cantonese though. After only a few minutes in their home like 6 of their cousins came plowing through the door so we got to meet all of them too! It was a fun night because we were able to explain what we do as missionaries, as well as build our relationships with this family, and help them with English. From the moment we stepped into their house we knew they were poor. They had very few material possessions, and all 6 of them live in one back room (to put this in perspective they only have 2 rooms; a main room which is the entry/living room/dining room/ a tiny kitchen in one corner, and a sliding door hides the closet-sized bathroom. Half the overhead lights are burned out too. They don't have much, but both the family and extended family are happy. They love each other, they laugh, they play, and they tease. I just sat there in awe for the 2 hours we were there. I almost had tears come to my eyes because I felt so much love for them. I couldn't have hugged the two girls since they are 19 and 17, but if I could have I would. I truly believe that God had bestowed on me the wonderful gift of love. I saw these girls as my sisters and would do anything I could for them--much like I know Heavenly Father would and does for them. It was a profound experience for me because they also gave what little they had to us; they furnished cold sodas and some chinese candies. I hope to have many more experiences like these. I think God can give many gifts to people; for me language is super important, as is the gift of perseverance  gift of faith, gift of testimony, but the most important to me is love. "People don't care how much you know, even if it is the gospel, until they know how much you care."

I wish I had more time to write, I had scriptures I also wanted to share, but there is always next week. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Siebach

December already!

Dear Friends and Family,

Another good and eventful week here on Hong Kong Island. First I have to tell you about the Ward Thanksgiving activity. It actually happened last week but I didn't have time to talk about it. For the activity we went to the chapel and watched "Mountain of the Lord". The movie is rather cheesy, and old, but still pretty good. The first time I saw it I was in the MTC and just laughed at the some of the scenes. It's very good though and talks about the building of the Salt Lake Temple and early pioneer stuff. The principle character is Wilford Woodruff and a non-member report. Check it out if you have an hour of time and want something mildly entertaining. After the movie everyone (the 30 members/8 investigators that came) went into the Cultural Hall/gym and ate a bunch of food. It was really great though because for whatever reason, at church these bonds of comraderie don't always seem to transfer between the members and in this situation everyone was very friendly and mostly talkative to my investigators. One investigator was just kinda tailing me around so I introduced him to every member that I came in contact with and it wasn't until the 10th person or so that the member actually took the initiative to continue even some sort of dialogue between themselves and my investigator. Needless to say, I won't really miss that if/when I leave... Most people stayed around even afterwards to talk and play. I played badminton with a couple of people and that was fun.

On Tuesday this week we visited B, a white man who married a Chinese member. It's kind of confusing which set of missionaries teach him since techniquely he should be taught by the international Elders, but they're busy with Filipino work and it's a pain to come to Chaiwan so we have taken to teaching him as well as helping him with his Chinese. His situation is a little interesting because he used to work for an airline hauling baggage and that's how he got to Hong Kong, but he's been unemployed for years now and can't get a visa unless his family makes enough money. So right now his wife is working around the clock as a nurse in the early morning and other stuff in the evening trying to get the money for a work visa so that he can go get a job. We've been praying for this family for awhile because a few months ago he was told that he would most likely have to go back to the US (something he really doesn't want to do). It's been stressing him out and so he's smoking and drinking and going to churches that he says "approve and still welcome members if they drink and smoke". However this week we gave him some Cantonese materials and were able to talk to him and encourage him to go to the international ward. Also gave him 1 Nephi 32 to read. Hopefully all will be ok there.

On Thursday this week we went on a Zone Find and immediately afterwards had 24s. During the find we went to West Point and I was able to stop a number of very nice people but two in particular that I want to mention; Ms. W and Bill. Both have perfect English and preferred to speak in that (guess my Cantonese isn't nearly as good as I hoped, though they did say that they understood everything I said perfectly). Both were very supportive of missionaries and what we do. It was just refreshing to me to have 2 people that were willing to be contacted again, as well as not screaming that we're a cult. Bill has even toured some of the other chapels, he just had somehow lost contact with the missionaries and acted like he wanted to start back up again! Hopefully the West Point Elders can make some progress with them.

As I mentioned, immediately afterwards we had 24s. I stayed in my area and Elder S from the Aberdeen companionship came with me. Interesting fellow and his parents are snake-breeders by trade. That night we taught C at the church and with him we read the introduction to the Book of Mormon. The following day we did our studies in the morning and then ate what little food I had left since it was the end of the month and the only money either of us had was needed for travel. We split the last orange I had and then had rice with Soy Sauce. So much for the Food Pyramid ;) That afternoon we were unable to schedule anyone for meetings and so we went finding. It was probably the best finding I've ever had, and part of it is because we moved around to different areas more frequently than Elder B and I typically do. By moving around word doesn't get out nearly as fast that we are around. In 2 hours I had 9 names and numbers to call! Many of them seem like they have good potential too. None of them were willing to stay around long enough for a lesson since it was raining lightly. The skies opened fully at 3:30 or so and so we packed and switched back companions at the chapel at about 4:30.

That evening Elder B and I were taking the bus back to our area to eat with a less-active. I was sitting in my seat and a man comes down  and sits in the seat across the aisle from me. I didn't pay much attention to it and then in a very energetic fashion he said, 'Hi! How are you?' I was a little taken back since he initiated the conversation and in English, but turns out his name is Daniel, knows about missionaries and I was able to have a really good conversation with him! He even missed his bus stop to continue talking! That's unheard of in Hong Kong! I told him I would call him that night to schedule for tomorrow. When I called he told me he had forgotten about a wedding he had the following day and that Sunday he wouldn't be able to go to church either. So we're scheduled for this upcoming week!

Though Hong Kongers don't seem to get to into festivities, its fun to walk along the streets downtown at night because many of the skyscrapers in the past couple weeks have installed Christmas lights and lit-up Christmas pictures for the season--you can even see it on the buildings across the Bay on the Mainland/Kowloon side of things.

On Saturday we taught Alan the 3rd lesson and then went with him to our Ward Family Home Evening activity. During the activity we couldn't tell where music was coming from, turns out in the vacant lot behind the church there was some rock concert going on! Kinda cool to watch for a minute from our vantage point on the 5th floor.

Later, during English class, one of Causeway Bay investigators told me that he could make me a modeling star (photography is his profession). I tried to explain that I had a 2 year contract to fill first and he asked if I could change the contract to later. It was hard to suppress my laughing the whole time.

Sunday morning Elder B woke up early (5 AM) and by 6:15 after I had taken my shower was moaning about side pain. Called President Hawks and by 7:00 we were in a taxi on our way to the hospital. The pain was too severe for him to fill out his paperwork so I did it for him while he laid in urgent care. He was on pain-killers and admitted into the hospital by the time I left him at 8:45 with Elder C from the other Chaiwan companionship (we went on exchanges since I had investigators at church and his companion would take care of theirs). At 5 Elder C was brought back and I was put in a tri-panionship for the evening since Elder B was staying overnight. This afternoon I was reinstated in my companionship and apparently Elder B has had a super painful kidney stone. Things are back to normal now and he's doing a lot better.

Anyway, I'm almost out of time and it's between a spiritual thought or pictures. It's been a while since I've sent pictures so I'm choosing the latter. Hope everyone has a good week! Read the scriptures! It's all I tell my investigators and everyone needs to do it!

Love,

Elder Siebach

Thanksgiving!!

Dear Friends and Family,

It has been a week! Lots to fill you in on. First weather: rained 5 of the last 7 days with temperatures between 70 and 80 degrees. Not your typical "Thanksgiving" weather, but then again Hong Kong isn't exactly a typical place to celebrate and American holiday.

Two weeks ago we had a Multi-Zone Conference where Sister Hawks, our Mission President's wife, or our Mission Mother invited whoever wanted to to be a part of a mission choir that will perform for Christmas. I gladly volunteered not realizing that it was held for 1 hour in the mission home during prime Preparation Day activities. Not to mention that the few male missionaries that volunteered for this all think that they are Tenors. Blech. I'm the only Bass but I hope to be able to convince some others to join me. That should be fun though and I look forward to singing in English again. Cantonese hymns on Sunday just don't cut it for me.

As I believe I have mentioned before, church is held everyday of the week so that Filipino workers, whose holidays often do not fall on Sunday, can come to church. This is a great blessing I think because these workers, all of them middle-aged women are just the nicest people and have adopted the missionaries. If ever we come into the chapel, on any day of the week they just brighten up and want to give us food! Because of meetings that I have before and after church on Sundays, lessons to teach investigators, and various studies, I usually spend most of my Sunday in the church. For the last 3 weeks I think we've crashed like 3 birthday parties and had free dinners! When the Filipinos get together there are always a lot of them, a lot of food, and a lot of music and dancing. This last week we got roped into dancing with them. It was all line dancing so you don't have to worry, I didn't hold anybody's hands :) It was so fun though! I'm a big hit too since I'm just this stocky American whose last name means "Chop wood" in Tagalog. Many of them made up songs that somehow threw in a chorus of "Siebach Siebach". It's awesome! :) I hope I can serve with them one day! They're just so loving, faithful and pure! One of my favorites is 4'3" Daria! I'll try to get a picture with her next week but she's this crazy 33 year old Filipino Fireball! During one of the birthdays we crashed we became party singers and sang many hymns and Christmas songs together ;) Great memories!

One of the Filipino Sisters also came up to me and said that they had previously worked in Macau and there were some Siebachs living over there. Does anyone know about long-lost Siebach relatives in Macau? I want to serve over there sometime too to see if I can meet them.

As with most any big city, or even small city for that matter, Hong Kong has graffitti. Some of the graffittied symbols come up more often then others. For instance someone writes "Kidult" everywhere! One that is harder to spot and that I have decided to make a concerted effort to find is "Utah Ether". I have no idea why someone would want to graffitti about Utah, but so far I've found 4 in various parts of Hong Kong island. In my mind I picture apostate missionaries going out and getting bored of tracting and street finding so they graffitti about their home state and their favorite book in the Book of Mormon :)

This past Tuesday after District meeting the two ChaiWan companionships went on exchanges for a day. Elder L, a Hong Kong native and my district leader, came to my companionship and he and I spent the afternoon trying to contact people in the rain (extremely unsuccessful everytime I've tried it) and then ate and taught a lesson to a less-active. The next day we got up early, did some exercises and then went knocking on doors in an older part of ShauKeiWan trying to find less-actives. The first and only guy we found home slammed the door on us, and then for the next 2 hours we tried to find 6 others. In one of the apartment buildings it was very creepy for me because most the apartments were unoccupied, many had been broken into previously, mail was in doors from many years prior, and there were no overhead lights. Both ends of the hall just had a rail and natural light that lighted these buildings. And it just so happened that it was an overcast, rainy Wednesday. Many of the residents were very old. It was extremely uncomfortable for me and just gave me a bad feeling. I can't properly convey everything over an email. That was my first experience knocking on doors, as well as my first experience less-active finding. Not really something I'm itching to do again. There is another story about a possessed, creepy grandma that I could tell, but you can just read my journal after the mission. I want to move to happier things!

Happier, like Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving was awesome! President Hawks graciously gave us half a day to celebrate Thanksgiving so my whole zone got together in the TKO chapel (on the Kowloon side of the mission) and had a feast! A few weeks ago we figured out that each companionship would prepare one dish, or that multiple companionships could contribute 50 dollars per person to buy the turkey. Elder B and I, knowing our lack of cooking ability, volunteered money (and then I pitched in the instant potatoes, gravy, and jello that my mother sent me. Thanks mom!) It was so much fun for the 22 of us that gathered and we had an amazing traditional thanksgiving meal with turkey, potatoes, gravy, rolls, stuffing, and then for a little Chinese flare we had Chinese steamed vegetables. To top it all off, 4 different types of jello for dessert! It was a party! And at the end we all said things that we were grateful for. :)

The following day (Thursday November 23) was my 6 month mark! Pretty typical day for the most part. Did some finding in the rain, able to talk to a few people, handed out a Book of Mormon, and then for dinner we didn't feel like cooking so we went to the corner shop where we bought peanut butter waffles with sweetened condensed milk! Super good and super cheap! I can buy 3 waffles for 10 dollars! Everywhere else in Hong Kong its usually 1 waffle for 13 or 14 dollars! We've spent a lot of time marveling over the cheapness of it and have come to accept it as all just some fantasy dream. At the end of the night I popped some popcorn and shared it with the other missionaries in the apartment.

The weird food of this week was Squid Jerky. It felt like Fruit leather and tasted about as nasty. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless you're going to be in a room by yourself so that no one can smell your breath. It's a strong smell! Filipinos are offering me balut next week so I may be reporting on that soon.

For Christmas I have done an inventory and need a new Cologne and a new, small pocketknife--I've somehow misplaced mine. Other then that you can be creative :) Just keep in mind that I will probably move to a new area a week or so after Christmas so I won't really want to carry a bunch of food.

My time is up! I love you all! Take care! Enjoy the season!

Love,

Elder Siebach

 

Wow--6 Months!

Dear friends and family,

Ok, ok. I actually have 4 days until I hit my 6 months. Nevertheless, its coming up! Congrats to all the people who got mission calls recently! Everyone is going to some sweet missions, unfortunately not the best one (Hong Kong of course). I also want to thank everyone for their letters! I got 7 letters this week! I will do my best to respond soon, but please be patient with me. I don't have a lot of time to email today, so I won't be sending any photos this week. sorry. I do have some though.

Things on this end of the world are going pretty well for the most part. I mentioned a few weeks ago that we had baptismal goal of three for this month. As of yesterday we now don't have a goal because upon talking with our investigators (S, A, and C) we have determined to postpone until December so that they can really feel comfortable and solid. The word of wisdom is the real hang-up for people here. Tea is very traditional, and as such, is taken at every meal. Not to mention that many people smoke (some starting as young as 12 or 13). So, I'm sad I have to mention that, but we hope for a baptism on December 2 for Co. (an 18 year old former investigator), and A and C both on December 16. S is a ways out (in February at her insistance) because she is worried about how fast she will be able to quit smoking and drinking tea. All four of these investigators are going in faith, especially the two women, so we are pleased with this and hope it continues.

On Tuesday of this week Elder B and I went finding on the street outside our apartment for an hour in the afternoon and actually had really good success! 3 people stopped in that time and listened to a quick message. One of the men I stopped is 23 year old A. He was just coming back from a job interview and just looked really happy when I approached him. We talked for a good while and I invited him to come play Badminton on Wednesday night with us. He came, and afterwards we shared a very fast Restoration lesson with him and gave him a Book of Mormon. We also rescheduled to meet with him on Saturday. Saturday came, we watched 15 minute Restoration movie, and had a great discussion about the feelings of the spirit. He also accepted a baptismal date! Pretty excited about what has happened in just a few days with this man. Unfortunately he didn't make it to church, thats alright though for right now and we will continue to meet with him.

S, a 28 year old half-Thai woman that was an investigator referral from a few months ago met with us this week! She has been hard to get scheduled because of various family and school conflicts but she is really golden! This past week we taught her the Plan of Salvation and the Word of Wisdom. She missed church because of sickness (she is really sick all the time, don't know why, but you can just tell physically from her appearance, it's not just an excuse). She'll definitely be baptized soon though.

A and C, are doing everything that they should be doing--giving up things for the word of wisdom, reading, praying, coming to church. I met with them yesterday and just had a really good heart-to-heart and asked them how they felt about their baptism if it was to happen next week as was originally planned. They think the church is good, they like the members, doctrine, and missionaries, but they don't think they've gotten answers to their prayers. I don't know what else to tell them than to just continue. It's hard though because they're both so good but they've been 'trying' for a few months now. I'm worried they will just give up on getting an answer to the Book of Mormon.

I don't know much about Co because when Elder B and I split for lessons and have a member fellow-shipper, he always teaches her. But she seems to be doing really well. And she was a former so she knows all the material.

I've told you about Mrs. J and Y. Two sweet ladies who often give us food, and interested in religions. We went to Pizza Hut with them this Wednesday night and had a great discussion about forgiveness, and baptism. Figured out that Mrs. J's concern is that she is afraid of commitment. In that moment I had one of the most powerful spiritual promptings I've had one my mission and I felt that I needed to share something I had heard earlier this week about the Standard Works as well as address commitment. The spirit was very strong and I knew she knew that I really cared about her, and that her Heavenly Father cares even more. I want to share what I learned with y'all since it's like revelation to me. The D&C teaches how to set up Zion in the Latter-days, The Bible and Pearl of Great Price show Jesus' dealings and life and ministry, and the Book of Mormon brings us unto Him. I love it. So simple and gives a whole new meaning to the 4 standard works.

Wednesday morning we had our quarterly Multi-Zone Training Meeting/Conference. Really good and there was a lot of learning and teaching about being sanctified. We also did a lot of practicing at delivering street messages too, which I thought was very helpful because I always need to improve in that.

This week Elder B has been sick for most of it and as such, resting/sleeping. We weren't nearly as productive as I would have liked, but I understand. As well as it gave me ample time to study language and scriptures. I spent about an hour in the Book of Mormon, an hour in PMG, and an hour in Jesus the Christ when I read.

This week I also went to a Japanese food store called 759 and guess what I found!?!?! CALPIS! I know that only my family knows about this drink, but it's a yogurt/water drink that is SO good! I missed it and was sad when I didn't find it in most stores. Really good after 7 years of not drinking it.

Hope everyone is having a good week! Love you all!

Sincerely,

Elder Siebach

P.S. I got the package mom! Thank you!

Here at the Computer again!

Dear Friends and Family,

How are you? Still in awe and fear about the recent election? It was kind of a hot item here. We found out almost immediately after it was announced, but no one has really mentioned anything about it. One man whom we have befriended who works next to our apartment asked us jokingly why we were in Hong Kong and not back home in America helping Mitt. I may have been the only one in the mission who wanted to send in an absentee ballot and who was unable to get one, so oh well. This week, besides unusually hot days, has been pretty good. I've made it a goal of mine in the past couple weeks to try some strange food and I finally had an opportunity this week! On Tuesday after District meeting, my district of five went on brisk walk to a noodle shop. I got my customary rice noodles, chicken, and lettuce soup, except this time I also ordered a side of what is called "Century Egg" or "Thousand-Year Egg". This is an unfertilized chicken egg that the Chinese people bury in the ground and then dig up a couple months later--it might be buried in animal manure or that is just a wives tale. Anyway, when you dig it up and remove the shell the egg inside has hardened similarly to a hard-boiled egg, except that what should be white is now a partially opaque brown jello substance, and the yolk of the egg is gray. Pretty unappetizing to look at, but I got it served cold and garnished with hot pepper sauce. The taste was not too unlike a hard-boiled egg but it was just stronger and I was grateful for the sauce that made part of the noxious taste go away... I didn't love it. But I also don't like hard boiled eggs so go figure. Definitely worth a try if you find yourself in Mainland or Hong Kong. Its a delicacy here. Now I have to find some other weird food to try this next week. Maybe I'll try the thinly sliced deer antler.

Century Egg. Ummm, no.

My companion Elder B has recently started reading the New Era and Ensign from apps that we have on our I-touches. The beauty of the app is that you can go all the way back to the 1970's and read those talks. Pretty interesting. I too have joined him in these new found readings and this week read articles about Aliens, Hippies, the Drug Culture, and other such things. It's highly entertaining and many of them read more like stories than actual doctrinal discussions. Also each month in the 1971 Ensigns there is an article about a different world religion so those are neat to read.

This past Friday night the Sister Cook and Sister Reeves of the Young Women's Presidency and General Relief Society Presidency came through Hong Kong and delivered messages of strength to the local members. It was neat to hear some of their stories as well as they explained the new manuals and style of teaching that the church will adopt starting in January, as was discussed in General Conference. For these meetings they always have to have interpreters to translate the words and so it's a really good way for me to pick up on new words when I understand the context that they are used in. I still can't say that my Cantonese is flawless as was pointed out to me this past Sunday when in our Gospel Principles class the teacher asked me numerous questions to which I had to have someone help translate them fully. It's kind of embarassing especially since my companion seems pretty much like a native and everyone else is a native. Time and Patience is what I always tell myself. I'm definitely putting in the work, no doubts in my mind about that, but gee whiz, it's not fast enough for me. I offer a lot of silent prayers for patience and love so that I can take their, and my own criticism.

I got a letter in the mail this week. Turns out it was a letter that I had sent 2 months ago and has since been sent back because I guess the address was wrong... It was to Abby Meldau, sorry, I'll try again this week.

This past Friday we spent the first 4 hours of the day at a special Zone Training Meeting. We spent a lot of time talking about how to reach our goal of 50 baptisms and how to do less-active work better. If a missionary wanted to, they could spend every day of their mission working with just less-actives. It's really sad to me. Our Chaiwan ward, which is more of a branch with 40 people or so, has a binder with about 500+ names of inactives. Hong Kong has among the worst retention rate. Mostly due to everyone's busy schedule, religion takes a real back-burner, and then the new convert's families and friends are never in support of Christianity, especially Mormonism. At the conference we were taught something interesting though which is that calling a less active should be our last means of contact since it's almost guaranteed that they will hang up. We are encouraged to now make visits to their apartments and try to contact that way. If that doesn't work, send a letter, then call. For the last twelve weeks Elder B and I have been focusing on getting an investigator pool and progressing investigators. Now that we have these we are also throwing less-active work into the mix. On Saturday it was a cool 88...not really all that cool, especially since we were in suits and the sun was beating down. We spent most of the day inside writing letters that we will send out this week to the less-actives we will contact. So this week will be my first experience knocking on people's doors. Wish me luck.

I think I have told you that each Wednesday we meet with two ladies who are investigating churches. They have been just about every religion in the book, and Mormonism is their new interest. Turns out that one of the ladies was unable to come this week so we taught just the other one with Sister N from our ward as the fellowshipper. The lesson was 2 hours, and we just focused on this lady, developing her faith, and answering her questions. The lesson went so well and the spirit was the strongest I've felt it in any lesson. I just felt so much love for this lady. Not creepy love:), but I truly saw her as my sister and was able to bear testimony to her of our purpose and how what we teach and invite her to do have lasting impact and happiness. She is also so sweet to us. She often treats us to dinner during these lessons, and somehow during one of the lessons she found out our blood types and so this week she brought Gluten-free food for Elder Bingham, and spared no money buying me this special rice milk which should help me as an O-Negative blood carrier. :)  She was never married and we feel like she has somewhat adopted us as her children. Very sweet lady, needs the gospel.

I mentioned the scripture Mosiah 8:18 last week which talks about priesthood. I've really come to appreciate this scripture and what it says. If you read the preceding verses we learn that it is talking about seers. I like to change this to priesthood holders. I'm not a seer, but I am a priesthood holder, and as I have mentioned before, my study this time as I read the book of Mormon is faith and power. I love how it says through FAITH, we WORK MIGHTY miracles. And that all this is for the BENEFIT of our fellowman. Missionary work is a priesthood calling, though women are always welcome. And we spend two years giving of ourselves freely for others. The priesthood we hold if we are righteous of it, gives us power and authority and we can benefit our fellowmen--for me that is the people of Hong Kong. I love the implications of this verse. The selfless nature, the need for faith and works both, and then the miracles come. I know this verse is true and am grateful for it. It motivates me to be better and work harder and be more prayerful.

I hope you all are having a great week wherever you are in the world. Continue to pray and read the word!

Love,

Elder Siebach

It's November!

Dear Friends and Family,

Great week here on the island! My companion and I finished up a 'move' last week, or roughly another 6 weeks together. Most trainers stay with their baby missionary (me) for 12 weeks, but Elder B and I are together at least for another 6 weeks making it 18 in total. I'm the only one out of my group of missionaries that is staying with my trainer so I jokingly say that I haven't learned everything that I'm supposed to yet. :) It's a blessing to stay with him because we work well together and getting a new companion in an area is a bit of hassel for the first week or so since they don't know the investigators, area, or members. I'm betting that at the end of these 6 weeks Elder B will leave, I will get a "step-trainer" or second companion, and I will probably leave after 6 weeks with him. So I'll be here through Christmas and New Years hopefully. I don't mind though because I love living and working here and don't really want to pack all my stuff anytime soon.

To answer Grace's Questions quickly:

1. I got my patriarchal blessing the week after I turned 15.

2. In terms of prep, I didn't do too much. I think I fasted the day I got my blessing, and the week leading up to it I talked with mom and dad a lot about it.

3. One reason I didn't prep too much was because I knew from about the age of 12 that I really wanted it and knew the importance of it. GAMS had been in my mind from an early age and I wanted to know what mine would say and my expectations/potential.

4. I love that I got it that early since it was when I needed to. It shaped my life from that day on. Not a day passes that I don't consider a line from it. Especially as a missionary! I remember that during my blessing, the patriarch, Patriarch Cosper didn't mention anything about my mission. When he gave me the printed off version a few weeks later he said that after I left he got further revelation for me and my mission (the first time that had ever happened to him in the 1734 blessings). Kinda cool :)

5. I would pray about whether to get it now. I would also really reflect on your thoughts about it. Why do you want it? What do you think it will do? How can you remain worthy for it? Those sorts of things.

Sorry Sterling, in the mess of my desk I don't have your letter. Send me an email with your questions please.

dim sum yum:)

This past week with moves was fun. Nothing special on Halloween happened here. No trick-or-treaters, no real festivities of any kind which I was kind of sad about, but when everyone lives in high rises it would be kinda hard to do. On Halloween we met with two of our investigators, the 50 year old ladies. We went out for Dimsum so that was good! Got a nice picture of me tugging on some chicken feet that I'll upload some time. Good food!

This week I also got a haircut from a sweet old lady at her barbershop. She's from Mainland, but her Cantonese is pretty good and we got to talk a little about missionary work. When she found out we were volunteers with no income she cut off ten dollars from the price of the haircut so we got it for 30 instead of 40! Which is still cheap since most 'cheap' places cut your hair for 50. The only problem with the haircut is she kinda did her own thing. She parted it nicely but left the bangs really long so I am now forced to part my hair so that the bangs don't run into my eyes haha :) Ok, maybe my bangs aren't that long, but they kind of are.

On November 1st all Elders had to start wearing suits since it's now wintertime. As my dad well knows, I don't really like wearing suits, and if I have to, I prefer a sports coat. Compound it with the fact that every day so far it's been sunny and 80 degrees... Doesn't really feel like wintertime, or look like it for that matter, but everyone warns me that it will eventually cool off.

Last month President Hawks asked every missionary if they thought that 50 baptisms were possible in a month. Most agreed that it was, I know I did. And so now for this month our goal is 50. There are 50 companionships in the whole mission and my zone, the Hong Kong Island Zone, is the largest with 12 of them. It is our responsibility this month to have 12 baptisms. The problem also is that we now need to have known investigators for 6 weeks before they can be baptized. So any companionship without investigators already at the start of the month has no hope for baptisms. It just so happens that that's the case with like 9 of the companionships in our zone. So that puts the pressure on the other 3 companionships. My companionship currently has 8 investigators with baptismal dates all for the end of December. With prayer and great faith Elder B and I have been working very hard with our progressing ones and have moved 4 of their dates to the last week in November. Praying for a miracle and that they will all be ready, coming to church, and reading. Fingers crossed.

On Friday night we met with C and A and played a Chinese card game for 30 minutes before we taught them the Plan of Salvation. They had so many good questions that the lesson lasted for an hour and a half and we didn't leave for home until 10:15 or so, making it 10:40 when we got home. Oops. The following day the two Chaiwan companionships went on exchanges. I went with Elder L, a native of Hong Kong, and we taught a 14 year old boy, and then had a visit with a Less active and a less active family. Really good lesson and we talked about being examples. After these lessons we went to the chapel, helped out with the English class, and afterwards were able to meet with A and teach the first lesson again in its entirety, specifically focusing on priesthood authority. Another really good lesson, took an hour and a half, finished at 10:00 and if we hadn't taken the wrong bus we would have made it home only 45 minutes late instead of an hour haha. Two nights in a row that I've been late! I think it's better to be preaching the word of God than to be absolutely on time though.

On Sunday, by a strange turn of events, almost all of our investigators couldn't come to church--a scary thing when you want all of them to get baptized this month. 2 showed up for sacrament meeting though since that is the last hour of the block, and A showed up right after church ended. After church I took C, and with A-D who is a recent convert taught him the first lesson. It went perfectly! A-D bore fervent testimony, and A (the investigator who showed up right after church ended) came in, and helped teach as well since he had heard the same lesson just the night before! I was very grateful for their help since they expound in Cantonese much better than I can.

Speaking of expounding in Cantonese, our ward correlator, aware that the ward baptismal goal for this year is 12 and that Chaiwan has only had one, asked all the missionaries to bear a one minute testimony during Sacrament. I went up second, and with a combination of the first missionary taking 4 minutes just by himself, and the correlator motioning from the back of the chapel, I pretty much was a blubbering mess up there. My voice was a whisper, my knees wobbled, and I didn't get off hardly anything in the minute I was there. It was pretty discouraging for me especially since I knew that if I'd had even one minute more of time I probably would have been able to collect myself and get off my thoughts. Better luck next time I guess haha

Yesterday afternoon the Causeway Bay elders had a baptism which I was very grateful for since it gave C and A an opportunity to see what a baptism is like in real life.

One scripture that has been on my mind a lot this past week is Mosiah 8:18. About the priesthood and how it's to benefit others! Look it up, ponder it!

Gotta go, hope you have a good week!

Love,

Elder Siebach

P.S. Dad, I'll get back to you on the things I've learned in the first 6 months of my mission

Hello?

Dear Friends and Family,

Missionary apartment in  Shau Kei Wan

I sent off a few pictures finally. Sorry it took so long to find a computer that was compatible to hook up my camera too. I was unable to send all of them because afterwards the computer kind of freaked out and now I can't attach anymore photos. The ones I did attach are from a month or so ago when I went to Cheung Chau (an island that I went to on a P-Day) and then a few from random places, and then finally I think some of the last photos were of Dragon Boat racing that I saw in mid-September. I tried to hook up a video that I took of my apartment to show you, but it exceeded the size of attachments. Guess you'll have to wait for two years. Oh, and one of the photos, a building that is brown and white, with a highway running in front of it, that's my apartment in Shau Kei Wan. We're on the 15th floor.

It was a pretty good week this week. We did a lot of finding. I told you guys about "Motorboat Dave" last week, and he gave us a call on Wednesday and invited us to come play boats. We went for an hour or so, got to know him a lot better--he's not nearly as crazy as we make him sound, but I just think he's retired, bored, and likes practicing his English. We raced around a model tanker that day. Afterwards we went with him and got a bite to eat at a corner shop. Roasted pork and chicken on rice with vegetable broth on the side. Costs 26 dollars, which is about 3 US dollars. Standard meal that I eat 2 or 3 times a week.

Since we don't have a lot of money to spend each day--I've figured that I can budget a little under 50 HK dollars a day, including travel--we try to cook at least one meal a day. Often I make rice, scramble some eggs with onions, cabbage/lettuce, and little bits of sausage and then throw on some soy sauce. Pretty filling, relatively cheap, and tastes good. However, I also like to drink what little milk I can afford since its so expensive, and because it goes bad after like 3 days... So one evening we got home from 3 hours of finding and were going to make dinner. I settled on cereal with a few orange slices. Turns out the oranges I bought had gone partially moldy so I cut out the bad parts and ate the rest. Still didn't taste very good but oh well, I still had some cereal. When I went to pour the milk it smelled fine and looked alright. As I ate my cereal I was surprised at how not-soupy it was. I thought it was just because I had put in a lot of cereal and didn't have very much milk. I ate it anyway. Then, knowing that the milk had expired the day before, I resolved to drink it since tomorrow it would probably go bad for sure. As I drank it didn't really feel like real milk. Almost slimy-ish. Come to find out, my milk had curdled/was curdling... Probably the worst meal I've made/had in Hong Kong. I've now decided to buy SoyMilk which is cheaper. I can get 3 litres of Soy milk (since that's the package size) for the same price of one quart of actual milk (about 21 dollars).

Later in the week we were invited to a members house for a meal!! Whoohoo! That's only the 3rd time it's happened to me. She was really nice, her name is Sister N, is originally from Thailand but married a Chinese man. He is not a member, wasn't home when we were there either. We also ate with her inactive 24 year old son, and his girlfriend. I had the spiritual thought at the end of the night and shared on Trials and the importance of prayer. Unfortunately that was about all I contributed the entire night since I really didn't understand too much of the table talk conversation. Frustrating for sure.

Since I've started my mission I've kind of sworn off soda. I didn't have any of it in the MTC, but often members give us soda or meals here so that's the only exception. However, I made another exception this week when I passed a convenience store and was thirsty. I stepped in and went to the water, but my attention was drawn to a clear plastic soda can with "LYCHEE" written across it. I bought it. Pretty tasty too. It's been years since I had lychee!

One night while we were finding along a harbour promenade we came across a few wierd things. First, we saw a man walking his turtle. The turtle was the size of a mid-sized dog, and this man, if the turtle went a direction he didn't want it to go, would pick it up under its shell, hold it to his chest and coddle it like a baby. Pretty interesting. Then our attention was grabbed later when we saw a group of people standing near a stairway that led down to the water. We looked over the side of the protective wall and saw 3 boxes full of fish. We thought maybe it was the catch of the day for this group. Turns out they threw these fish, squid, crabs and whatever else into the sea while they started chanting and dancing. We asked a man what it was all about, and in a very bothered way he inticated that it was a Buddhist life-expectancy ritual. I think that's stranger then anything we Mormons do.

One of our best investigators, a guy I contacted the first week I arrived in Hong Kong leaves this week... He comes to church, learns a ton, very interested, and would be baptized if it weren't that he is going to Australia tomorrow for school. Too bad but we have his e-mail and will try to keep in contact and support him. The ward choir also performed yesterday. Very nice/interesting performance. 20 people (half the ward) got up and sang. And I'm sorry but singing in Cantonese doesn't sound all that great since it's such a choppy language. :) Still felt the spirit of the message though.

Got to go!

Love all you guys, have a good week!

Sincerely,

Elder Siebach

P.S. I've now been in Hong Kong for as long as I was in the MTC!

"Lay Ho!"

Hello friends and family,

Seems like I was just here a few days ago, oh yeah, I was. Kind of weird to have P-Day on Monday but I think I like the change. Even though it's only been 4 days or so, a lot has happened. A lot is always happening on a mission I guess. On Friday the "Price Duo" put on a free piano/clarinet concert at the church for all to attend. Missionaries from all over the mission came to listen to and be uplifted by good music with their investigators. That was a great experience, and in case some of you don't know who they are, since I didn't, they are a mother son duo, members of the church, who perform music, and just happened to be in Hong Kong last weekend for a Chinese music festival of sorts and made time to come be with the Hong Kong missionaries and members. I really enjoyed listening to the music! Earlier that day Elder B and I did some street contacting in Chaiwan; as we were walking through a park we stopped to watch some people racing little toy motor boats in a pond. It was interesting to watch and as we were leaving a man came up to us very anxious to show us his motor boat and let us try it. So, hoping to maybe get a potential investigator, we went and watched for a few minutes. He was a really nice guy, let us take the controls and maneuver the boat, but not really inclined to talk about religion. When we got home that night we told the other Chaiwan elders about the experience and they told us that "Motorboat Dave" is actually a former investigator. Had a nice laugh out of that. He invited us next Saturday to go watch/play again. I don't know if we will or not, but funny nonetheless.

Over the last week we have had two 1st lessons with new investigators. Going into both lessons Elder Bingham has asked me if I had the Joseph Smith Experience memorized yet, to which I shamefully said not yet. However, on Saturday I was determined during my language study to memorize it, or not eat lunch. So, putting mind over matter for the time being I crammed, studied, spoke, and did just about everything I could possibly think of to memorize it--I even tried singing it once while using proper tones. But finally I got it! As of Saturday at 12:30 or so my time I got the blasted experience memorized. So now I have the written form memorized. I say written form because that is exactly what it is. If they are following along in the scriptures I am saying it right. However, if they have no reference to read from, the written form does not make sense. Which means that now my goal is to learn the Spoken form. One thing that I have learned about Cantonese is that a lot of the spoken don't have characters, and a lot of the written is written in Mandarin grammar, and even some of the characters are spoken differently than they are read. This incredible combination with 7 tones is what makes Cantonese so hard. But I am up to the challenge, and so my new goal is to learn the informal spoken form so that during fast street lessons I can whip it out.

As could probably be expected, most missionaries in the Hong Kong mission are not from Hong Kong. The other easy claim is that most of them are from Utah. Another correct statement. But I bet you didn't know, that of the 100 missionaries here in Hong Kong, 6 of them attended Springville High School in Utah, 2 recently returned missionaries also went to Springville High School, and 1 recently called missionary is from Springville. Sufficeth to say, if you want to come to this mission, live in Springville. Or the other alternative is take Cantonese for 1 year at BYU or some other school. There are several missionaries who have also done that.

Yesterday was Sunday. A day of rest for most people, but a day of stress for missionaries who want to do their best to get investigators to church and build relationships with wardmembers. We had 7 investigators at church yesterday which was awesome! 3 of them were attending church for the first time. We managed to teach everyone and extended baptismal dates to 5 of them. That's pretty big success for us considering that so far we've only ever had 4 baptismal dates, and unfortunately for some reason or another, have fallen through or been postponed indefinitely. One of the investigators that came for his first time was actually an investigator referral who spoke of a security guard whom she knew that wanted to purchase a Book of Mormon. We were able to locate him the next day, and when we walked into the building where he worked, we actually thought he was mad at us. He was saying, "ELDERS, ELDERS, what are you doing here?" Trying to explain that we were looking for someone with the surname Gwan, he smiled widely and asked if God had sent us to him as an answer to his prayers. That was pretty awesome! He came to church, really seemed to enjoy it, has a baptismal date, and so does his friend whom he brought to church also! Unfortunately she doesn't live in our area though so we may have to have a turn-over lesson soon.

Spencer with Linda and Chuck Williams

Each week before church we have Correlation meeting at 8 o'clock. In this meeting we talk about our investigators and how we can best help them. Yesterday it just so happened that our missionary correlator was running late. So we were all just sitting around waiting, when a man pops in his head, looks around and says, Elder Siebach? I was taken off guard since I had never seen this man before. Then I remembered my mom's letter from last week telling me of members from my Southlake ward who were coming through Hong Kong this weekend! I had never met them before since they had both been baptized while I had been away. Turns out it was the Williams from the Southlake ward! I excused myself from the room and went down to the lobby and met Sister Williams. They were awesome! Just so happy, and they quickly told me parts of the conversion story. They also had a package from my mom to give me full of cereal, some candy and medicine! It was enormous and probably will last me, my companion, and our apartment mates until January! So thank you very much! Very thoughtful and nice!

With the package was a letter with notes taken from General Conference and announcements of friends of mine that are engaged, and others that are putting in their papers. So congratulations to Jacie Worthen and Haley Stoker on your engagements! I'm way happy for y'all! I love to hear what's going on in other peoples lives. Secondly, congrats to Jenna Goode, Sariah Morey, and Abby Meldau for getting started on those mission papers! I'm stoked for y'all. And remember my advice, if you want to get to this mission, rent an apartment in Springville, and take Cantonese this semester at BYU :)

As I mentioned a few times ago, I finished the Book of Mormon and have now again restarted. I got myself a paperback copy, with two different highlighters; red signifies Power or Authority, and blue signifies Faith or Works. I almost finished 2 Nephi today, but I have been impressed with how often I have to mark blue and red together because Nephi and Isaiah specifically mention how we get power from righteous works. Or how when people demonstrate faith, God will endow them with power. It's been an interesting study for me so far, but what I've really learned is that my works as a missionary need to be full of faith in Christ. Faith that he can soften hearts, that he can help my language abilities, faith that he can help me know what to say. Faith that he really watches out for me and wants me to succeed. When we first go to him having faith, he gives us power, and authority so that we can bring about success. I know that in whatever we are doing, doesn't have to be missionary work, if we first believe that through Him it is possible, he will help us, guide us, answer us, so that we can be successful in our righteous pursuits. I'm excited to keep reading and see what other things I find.

I wish y'all the best. With health, safety, and anything else you stand in need of. I appreciate your prayers in my behalf, I have needed and continue to need them.

Love,

Elder Siebach

Anyway, thats about it for the last 4 days. Elder B wasn't feeling great this morning so we didn't go anywhere until about noon. Not sure what we will do for the rest of the day either.

Another Week Down!

Dear Family and Friends, 

It is crazy how fast time flies! I can't believe I'm here at the computer yet again! I love that I can read the letters sent and update y'all on me, but sadly it means that one more week of my precious 100 or so has been completed.

I am alive and doing very well here in Hong Kong. I absolutely love this city! And I have a lot to squeeze in and talk about this week. First to answer a few questions posed to me: Mom, the church address is 118 Gloucester, Wanchai, Hong Kong. And the Victoria 1st is the branch the Williams' will probably attend. It meets at 9 on the first floor. I also meet at 9, but on the 5th floor so I might run into the them if I am lucky. Unfortunately I never met them. I was only present for Sister Williams confirmation. Elder Davis is still in Southlake? That's a long time! At least 5 transfers. Good for him though.

Spencer with Elder and Sister Lewis

As dad mentioned in his email. I met a couple here that worked as Temple Workers when G+G Siebach were Temple President and matron. Their name is Lewis and unfortunately I was so rushed to watch conference and then teach a lesson to some investigators that I never got to sit down with them and chat. Did get a picture though.

Conference was an incredible experience! I loved the talks and all that was said! My favorite was President Nelsons on "Ask the missionary, they can help" So many times I feel like I am spooning information to people. I would love for someone to come up to me and ask me any of those questions. It would make finding common ground and interest much easier. I also just felt so much love for every one who spoke. I couldn't help but smile as I sat listening and taking notes. True to what Dad, Sterling, and I used to do during Priesthood sessions, I had a bag of Haribo Gummi Bears and would suck and hold one in my mouth for as long as I could :). I was able to watch both morning sessions and both evening sessions in English so that was a huge benefit to me and my understanding. I saw priesthood in Cantonese, and though I can understand basic concepts that were talked about, I couldn't get the real "meat" or insights of the talks so I immediately afterwards read all the talks. Super good! My favorite moment in Conference was during the second Saturday session and they announce that Elder Gerritt Gong of the Seventy will be giving the Opening prayer. The humor in this is that seated two rows behind me in the chapel I was watching from was President Gong. I just looked back and he knowingly laughed.

Last week I mentioned a few changes to the mission. Two others that I forgot to mention: One is that P-Day is now moved to Monday starting next week. So I will be writing again from here in 4 days ( Monday Oct 22) so heads up and make sure you update me :) The other change is that we will now have temple day every quarter instead of every 6 weeks. This isn't huge by any means, just kind of sad since I really look forward to being able to go to the temple, especially since it is so accessible.

This past Monday was Zone Meeting and immediately following it we had Zone 24's. I was paired up with Elder B from Ogden, Utah. He serves in TseunKwanO (TKO) and is actually Elder A's trainer. He was always a little intimidating to me, but this 24 really helped me get to know him. With him that first night we did a little bit of finding. Turns out in our finding we probably walked in on a drug deal between two guys but that's ok. haha The best part was at the end of the night we were taking a little 16 seater mini-bus through the mountains to his apartment. The bus was rocky and creaky and the fast tight turns were enough to make anyone grip their seat in horror. The driver also had the radio on however, and in the middle of our drive Enya's "Only Time" came on. For those that don't know, I really like Enya. Especially that song. I was trying to think of the last time I heard it and made me stop and just think, that I probably never would have guessed that I would have that combination of experiences. I relished those 3 minutes of music, driving, and mountain scenery.

The next morning we got up, did our studies, and then went to the chapel where we were supposed to have a turn-over lesson. Didn't happen since the investigator never showed up. We went and got lunch at a gaaisih (street market) and brought it back the the church. I gotta be careful because I've only eaten at a gaaisih twice but I've gotten sick almost immediately both times. Afterwards the Zone reconviened in TKO and we had a zone find. I was partnered with Elder L, a half-Chinese elder from Toronto, Canada. Really nice guy and a missionary I really respect for his patience and kindness. During the find we taught a really good lesson and contacted a bunch of people.

As I mentioned last week, I woke up sick last P-Day. After I wrote it just got worse and worse. Finally Elder B and I went home, I took 4 Ibuprofen and slept from 7:30 on. The next day and subsequently the last week I have been fighting fever, cough, body ache and headache/possible migraine. Elder B has been there right beside me with the same symptoms. Word has also been going around about a new strain of bird flu and so we think we may have gotten that. All I know is that for a few days it was the worst pain I'd ever been in. We did hardly anything, and when we did to things, we just got so worn down so quickly. It's a miracle we had the energy to go watch conference even. Anyway, I got a priesthood blessing that first day and am making a speedier recovery. Yesterday we went to the doctor and he recommended that we eat better diets so that we can overcome even quicker. I also bought some sort of Chinese cough syrup. Been feeling a lot better today than any other day which is good.

For P-Day today we took morning naps, and then showered, dressed, and met up with the Sister missionaries and went to Stanley, a place neither Elder B nor I have ever been. I snapped a few photos and hope to be able to send them home very soon. We also just tooled around the city and the markets. I got myself a few new ties since I'm getting a little sick of the same 9 all the time. Fun trip though, and after a few hours we came and are now writing obviously. Not sure what we'll do the rest of the day. Probably head home and buy a few groceries for next week.

A few weeks ago President Hawks encouraged each missionary to read Alma 17-29 which is about the sons of Mosiah. As I was reading this week I had a few thoughts that I wanted to share. First, I wonder if Lamoni's father's name was Anti. Just judging by the fact that he renames the Lamanite converts, but they were still under his jurisdiction. Not to mention he bestows the kingdom on his son Anti-Nephi-Lehi. Second is that I always feel compelled to answer Sterling's question about the why the Lamanites wouldn't take up arms against their brethren. In Alma 24 we read about this and my thought this time was about their Charity. They have pure love for these their brethren and they can't lift the sword to hurt them. That was further answered to me in Alma 26:32. 

In Alma 24:27 we learn about the deaths of the 1005 righteous Lamanites. What occured to me and struck me this time is that those 1005 are pretty much guaranteed Salvation. And while they died they did missionary work for the 1000+ converted Lamanites who were so struck by their wickedness that they too threw down their weapons of war. Through this experience 2000+ Lamanites were converted to the Lord, not just the original 1005. Definitely the workings of God, and as we know, we do not always understand his ways, for his ways are higher than our ways.

Lastly, last week when I finished the Book of Mormon I was thinking about the account of the Brother of Jared, how he saw the finger of the Lord and it was flesh and bone. How does that happen when Christ had not yet been born to recieve a body? And secondly, I know for myself I wonder what kind of physical progression I will have when I die. But it's never really occured to me what we look like before. What did we look like before? I always thought my Spirit would look like a baby since I hadn't grown yet, but I doubt that God spoke to babies during the great council in heaven or that a bunch of babies battled together during the war in heaven! I still don't know what we looked like, but that was were my mind was last week.

This past week, with sickness I think that we haven't been as productive as in weeks past. However, yesterday was a really good day since we had a lesson with 2 investigators. I think I have talked about them before. They are in their 50's or 60's and searching different religions. We talked about conference and answered their questions and then talked a lot about the doctrine of Christ and were able to extend baptismal dates to them. Both for December 23rd. A little ways off, but seemed right for them. When they came to conference one of them brought their little sister and she asked for a priesthood blessing from us. A somewhat rare event, but we were happy to give her one and invited on of the priesthood holders from our ward to participate. I think in total we had like 13 investigators at church this past weekend since there were so many opportunities for them to come. K hasn't answered his phone for the last 2 weeks so we haven't been able to contact him or get him to any of the sessions which is a real bummer. Not sure if we will even have a baptism for him. All we can do is exercise faith and hope he answers soon.

One last thing. P-Day is always interesting because on Thursday mornings other churches must know that we won't be out prosyelyting like usual because every Thursday without a doubt we have like 6 Jehovah's Witnesses missionaries outside our apartment with their board displays and magazines to give out. A singularly awkward event as we weave our way through them to the bus or train stations!

Hope all are well!

Love,

Elder Siebach