The Lone Man Standing

Dear Friends and Family,

Another good week here in the mission! The longer I am here the more convinced I become that this is exactly where I should be and what I should be doing; I wouldn't want to spend my time any other way. Congratulations to everyone celebrating birthdays or other significant milestones (like missionary work!). I think that's so awesome that Ashley P is coming here! There has been a lot of talk in the mission recently about missionaries because the first wave of 18 year old elders and 19 year old sisters come in in March (they are in the MTC right now). But biggest of all is about Sisters getting called to do Mandarin work! Forever and ever Sisters have only been Cantonese. But in March we have our first Mandarin Sister coming in and we're assuming that one of these Hong Kong native sisters will switch over from Cantonese to Mandarin. So I can pretty well predict who her trainer will be right now (There are only like 3 Hong Kong Sister Missionaries right now who could). OK...I just stopped typing to go tell the Mandarin Elders that are using the computers next to me--they're super stoked!

Hmmm...like this?

Its been another warm week here in Hong Kong with a lot of sunshine so I'm trying to make the best and tan my neck and face as I go finding on the streets:) I also got a nice spring Chinese haircut this morning. It's OK looking, but the Chinese style is to shave the sides pretty close, leave it kinda long on top and the bangs are at a 45 degree slant one way-- It pretty much makes it so that you have to do somewhat of a comb-over. But I'll eat or do anything to become just a little more Chinese:)

Elder W left on Thursday this week. It was weird to see him pack up all his things and junk everything else that he will never use again. It was also a good time for me to get anything he didn't want; I got a watch and some picture flashcards that I can use whenever I teach the Plan of Salvation or the 10 Commandments. The Mandarin Elders also packed up all their things since they will be moving to a different apartment. So for the second time in 7 weeks I watched as the 3 other people in my apartment left and I was the lone man standing. Happily, I learned that they will be reopening the second Elders companionship in this area, Chaiwan. I also get a new companion named Elder C. He's been out for almost 1 year and just got out of Macau where he had been serving since August.

Since Elder W was leaving the mission and my companion was not yet to the mission office when I dropped him off, I went with another Elder to the Ferry Pier to put him on a boat out to Macau. I was informed that I would have 1 or 2 hours to wait at the pier by myself before my new companion was to arrive, so I needed to be on my best behavior. After the allotted two hours were up I still hadn't seen my new companion so I was getting a little anxious. After 3 hours I got a call from him on a pay phone asking where I was. We tried to find the best place to meet but he kept having to call me since we weren't seeing each other.  After an hour of this we figured out that the Ferry where I had dropped this other elder off was not the same as the one he was at. He was on Hong Kong Island and I was in Kowloon. So we made a hasty plan to meet at a central meeting point on the Hong Kong side. I called the AP's and told them the situation. Since there was no other alternative and they had no means of contacting him, I got on trains and spent the next half hour getting to him. It was my first taste of what life after the mission will be like with no companion, and I must say, it was strange. I just felt weird by myself. It will probably feel more natural when I'm not a set-apart missionary though.

To my disappointment, during A's baptismal interview, it was decided that he needed to wait for his baptism and develop a stronger testimony of tithing. So yesterday we didn't have any baptisms, but still it was an awesome day since the ward was pumped up about having 3 new missionaries in their ward, as well as my companionship was excited because we worked really hard all week trying to contact our investigators and get them to church, and miraculously we confirmed that 4 would come. When church started 1 of them hadn't shown up (he never did). However, we had 4 additional people show up who had previously not answered calls or texts! It was wonderful to have 7 investigators there!

Also yesterday we had a special zone meeting to prepare for a Stake Missionary Conference that will happen next week. At this conference the Bishops and leaders of every ward in our Hong Kong Island stake will come to get training on missionary work and tools. The hope is that through this concentrated effort, our stake can achieve 100 baptisms this year. (last year they got 38). Nevertheless, this goal was set in faith and the missionaries and stake leaders are pumped!

I've been thinking a lot about cooperation this week. Missionaries, here in Hong Kong at least, are BEGGING to have the members help with missionary work. Hours are painstakingly used to plan and help members understand their responsibility in missionary work. It's been the hardest thing of my mission so far besides baptisms. It's easier to find and teach people on the street than it is to meet with and talk with members. So I guess my encouragement this week is for you to think about what more you can do to help the missionaries in your ward. And it's not meals. We can eat without people giving us food (I'm proof). But think about making time to teach with missionaries. Understand their concerns, voice your concerns and help them stay motivated. It's so much easier for me to stay motivated if I feel like I have member support and enthusiam backing me up. Also think about friends that you could help the missionaries teach. These kinds of things create miracles in areas.

Anyway, I love you all. Hope you all are safe and are reading and praying!

Love,

Elder Siebach

P.S. Congrats to Sterling on getting into Texas A&M and on getting his Patriarchal Blessing! That's awesome!

P.S.S. One year older dad, make sure you're getting wiser and not wider too. :) Just kidding.

Snake Soup and a Change of Heart

Dear Friends and Family,

Hello, yet again from Hong Kong! This week has turned out to be a lot more successful then last week for which I am very happy! It also turned out to be a week of a lot of firsts and lasts for Elder W and I. As he wraps up his mission I've been thinking a lot about how fast things go by. This 6 week transfer with him literally flew by. Probably partly because I was with my trainer for so long (18 weeks), but it was a great transfer.

This week we did do some finding, but happily not as much as last week since we were able to schedule many more lessons for this past week.

Snake soup!

Being with a Hong Kong native for a companion has also opened my eyes to new foods and helped me learn what is edible and what looks edible but should stay away from-- A very important distinction to make:) One of the firsts for me this week was snake soup. In one of the many hole-in-the-wall restaurants that line the streets we walk is one that sells snake! I'd walked by it so many times but was unable to read the Chinese characters so I'd never popped in to eat. Snake soup isn't one of the cheapest things in the world but the Chinese believe that it has health benefits and will keep you warm for longer if you are cold. Feeling a little under-the-weather we decided to partake. It was tasty! I loved it! It's pretty much a thick egg-drop soup loaded with chunks of snake, chicken, and pork; also stringy black things that I think was some sort of vegetable--probably a good thing that I didn't ask.

Hong Kong Botanical and Zoological Gardens

Another first happened almost immediately after I finished emailing y'all last week. We decided to go to the famed Hong Kong Botanical and Zoological Gardens in nearby Admiralty so we hopped on the train to head over. I noticed a business man eyeing me as we were waiting for the train and then upon entering the packed train, he and I were pushed up right against each other. He proceeded to ask me, "How's business?" to which I responded, "Good. But I'm actually a missionary. Have you seen missionaries before?" He said, "Oh yeah, you guys are all over the place. I really have a problem with your crowd." He then proceeded to tell me he was a Jew (I think probably from New York by the sound of his accent), and had a big beef with the whole baptisms for the dead thing and how we had baptized some of his Holocaust victim ancestors. Mind you this whole time his voice is getting louder and he's getting much angrier and animated. I finally chimed in, "I'm sorry sir, I don't want to argue with you. " But that seemed to further provoke him. Soon the 100+ people in the train car were all staring and whispering. My companion had been squished against the far wall of the car so we were unable to help each other and then some guy started trying to pick a fight with him! Thankfully before it could get any worse we reached Admiralty and got off. That was pretty rough. I wish I either wouldn't have said anything period, or that I would have had enough courage to cut him off mid-rant. It's over now, but if you had asked me one year ago this same time I would never have guessed that I would one day find myself on a train in Hong Kong letting a man spit on and harrass me for a 1-stop train ride!

This week iPods were also taken out of the mission. Rumors are circulating but no one is sure if we will ever get them again in the mission or if they will just be given back to missionaries when they are about to go home. I'm kinda bummed since it was such a great resource for me to learn Chinese as well as it had a Cantonese Pingyam Book Of Mormon that I used when we read scriptures with investigators. Not to mention it was loaded with church hymns that I listened to. Oh well.

This past week Elder W and I were reflecting on our ward and what we could do to help them better and how we could get them more involved in our missionary efforts. As we pondered this during our Weekly Planning we started thinking of less-active and semi-active young men that we could help get on missions (we don't have any active young men currently). We also relatively recently had 2 convert baptisms in our ward, neither one of them have callings yet. So with these people in mind we went to planning meeting yesterday and proposed that the ward call some ward missionaries (we also don't have any of those). Hopefully we'll see some of them called and see some changes for the better in our ward. Don't get me wrong, our ward is great, but the more I think about it, the more I feel like we need to help our ward before we can really bring new people into it. If we reverse things, we will have a higher likelihood of keeping members and recent converts alike active.

This week I've spent a lot of time reading in the Book of Mosiah. I found myself one day also reading in Jesus the Christ about the Jews and their treatment of the Savior while He was among them. It caused my heart to ache and put me in such a sad mood that I put it down mid-chapter and read the Book of Mormon instead. I was reading in Mosiah 4 and 5 and was amazed at the stark contrast of those an Zarahelma at that time to those of ancient Jersusalem. It was night and day and I was overjoyed as I read about how all the inhabitants in Zarahemla had this change of heart and decided to look steadfastly to the day that the Savior would come, even though they knew it wouldn't be while they were alive or on their continent. I think this is how life is sometimes. We have this wonderful gospel in front of us like the Jews but we don't spend our time in it. We lose sight and look beyond the mark. Sometimes we look back at Sodom and Gomorrah. I just encourage you guys to continue praying and reading. We all need it and it puts everything else in perspective. Don't just read for one minute. Get into it and find the joy the gospel brings. Stay strong. Look for opportunities to serve ;)

Love you all!

Love,

Elder Siebach

God is in the Details

Dear Friends and Family,

It was a pretty good week here in Chaiwan/Hong Kong. The sun has been out recently and temperatures are in the 70's and sometimes 80's so it doesn't really have that wintertime feel, but that's not a problem. :)

I'll start with updating y'all on today since its fresh in my mind. This morning Elder W and I got up early (6:15 instead of 7) and went with the elders that live in our apartment and played tennis with B, a 30-something year-old Filipino worker that I bumped into at church one day a few months back. I've since seen him a few more times and found out that he plays tennis a few times a week! I asked him if I could tag along and play so this morning those hopes finally came to fruition! The tennis was fun and we played for about 2 hours on public courts in Causeway Bay. I was never a really good tennis player, but my tennis game has deteriorated as my mission has gone along. It was both a humbling and fun experience to have a racquet in my hands again. Later we left for Wanchai to go to JoJo's Indian Cuisine (came highly recommended from my faaathaaa). We went with the Mandarin Elders that serve Hong Kong Island. They also brought a less-active with them. Super nice guy! The food and company were both awesome! We probably ate for 45 minutes and talked for and hour. Then we lugged ourselves over to this, the Hong Kong Convention Center to email. This afternoon I think we will also try to write a few letters and then if there is still time, go to Admiralty where they have some famous gardens/zoos to check out. It'll be a full, fun P-Day. :) Somewhere in there we also have to buy groceries before we head out and go 'new investigator finding' in ShauKeiWan.

This past week has been an interesting one. We have spent hours each night calling potential, former, and current investigators and scheduled almost no lessons for the entire week... This means that we did a lot of finding. I think we averaged between 5 and 6 hours of finding each day. This kind of finding is alright, and keeps you fit, but is not all that effective and can be kind of discouraging when you can't schedule any lessons. I had a lot of this discouragement this week. We also went finding in every town in our area this week which I did think was kind of fun since our area has some really busy/bustling parts, and then some places that require mini-buses to get to, where you can go and actually knock on doors!

One day in particular that stood out to me was when we went to TaiKoo (a super rich, very international part of our area). While we were there we kept running into Japanese families who I guess were there because of some little league soccer tournament (that was a quick reminder to me of how much Japanese I never knew). That same day we also stopped a man from mainland China. He was nice enough, and then he told us that he was a part of the Chinese Communist party and so that put a quick end to that gospel discussion. Finally, one of the only families that we were able to stop that entire day was an older couple who spoke only Mandarin and broken English. They ended up not being too interested, but I did learn that they had been to the US before; specifically Texas! When I enquired further, I found out that they have a daughter living in Coppell! Small world! A family from Beijing with a daughter that lives 10 minutes away from my family who are half a world away!

Saturday is typically our only super busy day of lessons. And thankfully because it was so busy, it actually redeemed us a bit from a pretty poor week. We had 5 lessons and for one of them we actually had a member there! Hurray for member-present lessons! The member, R, is a 16 year old that I have become friends with over the last couple weeks. He came and fellowshipped for our lesson with a former investigator I actually found my second week in Hong Kong. He still doesn't have great interest but is willing to meet, especially if we also will help him with his English. After introductions we planned on watching a church movie, Finding Faith in Christ. The movie outlines the miracles that Christ did, and shows about Christ's life--it's perfect for people with little faith, no prior knowledge of Christ, or people who want to know more. The DVD just did not seem to want to work for us even though we had set it all up before the lesson and made sure it was working. We tried everything we could think of and then R decided to say a prayer. We all watched as he silently prayed after which we had the thought to press the fast-forward button instead of the play button. And it worked! Talk about a miracle! It was such a faith-building experience for me because it was a simple answer to a young man's prayer, and helped show all of us that were present that God really is in the details. He does care--even about a short 25 minute movie.

Yesterday at church it was a little rough. None of our investigators showed up. In fact the night before none of them had answered the phone or responded to texts. That's another thing that has been happening recently--our calls are getting screened by investigators :( Because C hasn't come for the last 2 weeks, nor has answered our phone calls, we can with relative certainty guarantee that she won't be baptized next week as was planned. We also dropped another investigator's baptismal goal this week because she hasn't met with us for 2 months or answered our calls for 2 weeks.

On the bright side though, A is still progressing! He is the only one progressing actually, and he is still getting ready for baptism on the 27th. This past week we were able to meet with him once and finished up all the lessons by teaching Tithing and Fast Offerings. He took it all very well and is committed to keeping these commitments! He was unable to get to church yesterday because he was previously scheduled to work this past Sunday.

To make this past Sunday better though, Causeway Bay Elders had a baptism for their investigator F! I've known F since my 2nd move (transfer) here in Hong Kong and he is super solid! Hasn't missed church once since September I think. He's 21 and wants to go on a mission too! We were all very happy to be a part of that baptismal service!

I have to go soon so I hope that you guys are all having good weeks! Continue to read and pray!

Love,

Elder Siebach

P.S. Hailey Morey is in this most recent Ensign in an article about relationships. The best part is that the picture shows her with some other guy!!!--Definitely not with Zack :) 

JoJo's Mess and Getting "Fong"ed!

Dear Friends and Family,

I was only here at the computers 5 days ago so I don't have a lot to write about. I'll try and fill you in on a few things though.

Starting with today since it's fresh in my mind. This morning we did a little cleaning in our apartment for which I am extremely grateful. I guess the other Elders got the hint after I swept the floor 3 times this morning since it was so dirty. Bought some groceries, then went to the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence. I have been to the museum before, but the other 3 Elders in the apartment hadn't, and I was fine to go again since I liked it so much the first time. The museum was just as good the second time around, and obvious highlights are guns, tanks, and life-size replicas (I guess some things don't change no matter how old you get). After the museum the 4 of us then took the bus to Wanchai (where the church is) and from there tried to scout out JoJo's Indian Cuisine restaurant--it came highly recommended from my dad as well as other missionaries. We got there at 2 and the buffet closed at 2:30. So instead of rushing to eat we decided that we will go next week. After a cheap lunch of noodles and dumplings I now am before the computer.  Probably won't do much else today than try to make a dent in my growing pile of letters to respond to. This evening we will be doing what we do best, street contacting! I'm actually kind of excited about it just because I feel like with Elder Wong, a Hong Kong native, I learn a lot more about how to contact and what language is normal without being too informal or formal. It's also so hot today! Full sun, dark suit and heavy backpack can be a little burdensome on a day like today.

For a couple months now I have written home and mentioned A and C. Well this past week we turned them over to the missionaries that serve their areas, and really hoping that all goes well and that they will continue to progress towards baptism. We also turned over a lady named Mrs. H, whom Elder Wong and I had contacted on Monday (my second time contacting her). She is/was super prepared and we were able to meet with her 3 more times--one was even while she was on-duty as the security guard for a local park--that was an interesting experience. You can tell she's like a 50-something-year-old woman and that she just works for fun. She wasn't concerned at all what people thought or even if her boss got mad. We also sadly had to turn her over to the Kwun Tong missionaries since she lives there. But I am sure she will progress! She's good!

On Saturday we had 5 lessons scheduled and ended up getting stranded by 3 of those investigators. I'm not even sure if stranded makes sense to y'all. Basically they were a no-show. Here in the mission we just call it 'getting fong'd'. Since we had a lot of time open up because of that, we did some good finding and taught some wonderful lessons! It's just a shame that they all are from other areas! So this week we will probably turning them over to the proper missionaries.

Yesterday was Sunday, and it was a wonderful Fast and Testimony meeting. Another real highlight was that there was a baptism for our ward! The Causeway Bay Sisters, who at one point also covered Chaiwan, had a 19 year old girl, Yannix, get baptized! Elder W performed the ordinance and it all went smoothly. She also bore a sweet, sincere testimony at the close of the services. It was a great morale boost to missionaries and members alike to have a baptism and a new member in our small ward. :) A was the only investigator who came to church unfortunately, but we had an absolute miracle in that one of the investigators, D, who the night before told us he could not come to church, called and told us he would be there at 12 which was just in time for the baptism! We were able to have a great lesson with him afterwards and talk about baptism.

Congratulations to Sterling on choosing to get your patriarchal blessing! When will that happen?

I'm also sorry to hear about all the tragedies going on in the High School... Those are tough things to deal with/think about.  I'll also keep those people whom mom mentioned in my prayers.

Hope you are all staying safe and warm! I have plenty of both here in Hong Kong. Read the scriptures, pray, and as Elder Cook so elequently talked about this past conference, do you remember the feelings at your baptism? Can you feel so now? We need to remember what great gifts the Lord has given us, then he will be willing to give more.

Love,

Elder Siebach

P.S. When we went finding on Saturday I saw a guy wearing a big jacket with TEXAS A&M printed on the back of it. I tried to go up and talk to him about it, but he walked too fast and clearly was not wanting to be approached by missionaries no matter what it was about.

P.P.S. I was buying groceries and one of the workers, probably 40's, told me I was a handsome boy and asked for my number. I don't think she realized that I understood Chinese. That was a little creepy though...

P.P.S.S. We were riding the Subway this week and a lady fainted in one of the train cars. We got stranded for a few minutes in one of the stops and it reminded me of a time when Dad, Sterling and I were on the Blue Line in Tokyo trying to get from Yoyogi Uehara to Shinjuku and there was some sort of train accident on the train before us.

Magic Happens!

Dear Friends and Family,

Hope everyone had a good celebration of the New Years! I had a jam packed day of street contacting on New Years eve, and then got a hearty hot-pot dinner at a local restaurant. May or may not have busted-the-bank a bit, but that's fine! It was tasty and fun.

This week has been good! Today was especially good because my district decided to fore-go our Monday P-Day in favor of a Wednesday Temple Trip. Nothing beats the temple! I loved it! So peaceful, relaxing, beautiful etc... I guess Elder W and I were in a temple-going mood today because soon after our district lunch at the missionary/student bugeted City University Cafeteria, we headed back to ShauKeiWan and did a little exploring of the mountainside Chinese temples. I took a ton of pictures, but as seems to be my luck, I'm always writing from a computer that is not photo-uploading capable. So y'all will have to wait. (side thought, yes mom, you may use a blog instead of Facebook. I really don't mind. I'm just grateful you post them ;))

On Sunday we had 3 investigators come to church; Ch, Co, and A. We taught A the previous night so we didn't teach him another lesson. But we did talk to Co about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon. She has desires to get baptized, but she's not making the time to read the scriptures. :( This seems to be a very common theme among our investigators, which tells me that I need to find a better way to teach about the importance of reading). As of Sunday she was still scheduled and working towards being baptized January 20th. We also need to help her with modesty... It's not as easy to talk about when it's Elder missionaries talking to a mildly sensitive 17-year-old girl. Any advice in either of these aspects?

On Sunday we also met with Ch; something we hadn't done in a couple weeks since he missed church because he slept in and another time because he was sick. We will be turning him over to the missionaries that serve his area (Kwun Tong) since he seems to be doing well and won't fall off after the turn-over. Hopefully that turns into a baptism for them soon.

Alan is doing pretty well. He's heard every lesson thus far except Tithing and Fasting. He's accepted the commitments, but now we have to work on his testimony. He wasn't feeling good (and neither were we) about him being baptized on the 6th of January as was originally planned, so now it's January 27th. We also need to help him with his prayers. He says them, but he doesn't say much of anything in them and they only last about 5 seconds. I haven't corrected him on it because it just seems wrong to criticize someone's prayer or ask them to change. We also need to help him read the Book of Mormon. He reads the Bible more than anything else.

As I mentioned earlier, New Years Eve we did a lot of finding. In fact we did about 8 hours of it. We set high goals for that day and went to one of the harder places in our area to find. Amazingly, and I really believe it was a miracle because we were exercising our faith and being diligent, we reached our goals and had some absolutely fantastic lessons regardless of the bitter cold and wind. In one of the three lessons that really stood out to me we re-contacted a lady whom I had contacted previously. She graciously waited while Elder W and I made a quick trip to the bathroom (where we were going in the first place when we bumped into her) and then we talked about prayer. She prayed and really felt something! Rescheduled her for the same time the next day! Another that stood out was 14 year old T. Boy, I tell you what, when you have the Joseph Smith story, who was 14 when his grand first vision happened, my companion who met missionaries and was baptized without family support at 14, and a willing-to-listen 14 year old boy get together; magic happens. It doesn't matter how cold and windy it may be--the Spirit bore a powerful witness to all of us there.

The third talk/lesson that stood out to me was an older man. He didn't really have that much interest and we found him as we walked along a harbor promenade. He did stop however, and Elder W and I testified to him of God's plan for us, and really bore our own testimonies and told him why we served these missions. He was touched by all of it and all of us left grateful to have had such a choice encounter. It didn't matter that we didn't get his number. He has ours, and hopefully will one day remember those Mormon boys who stopped him and tried to love him for those 15 minutes.

After our hearty and warm hot-pot, Elder Wong and I went to the apartment, grabbed our area book and set out to knock on some less-actives' doors. Let me back up and explain what that entails first though: You have to get beeped into an apartment building by the guard, show your Hong Kong Identity Card, explain why you are there, and promise your life away that you won't knock on any other people's doors or try to contact them. It's a total pain. And that's why we only ever do less-active finding in apartments--the guards will let you visit an old church friend, but not try and make new church friends. We probably went to 4 or 5 different apartments and tried to visit people. No one let us in, but we did manage to talk to one man for a few minutes through his iron gate. What was interesting was that I had never been to these apartments before, but the guards had specifically seen me before. That's no small thing especially considering our area has .5 million people living in it.

To round off the night Elder W and I stopped by a convenience store and bought Tim Tams (I don't think they have them in the US, but remember them from New Zealand?). As missionary tradition goes, you freeze these chocolate bars, then make a big bowl of hot chocolate, bite a portion off from both ends of the candy bar and suck the molten hot chocolate through the frozen bar. Its pretty good! Super fun to do and about the only way missionaries know how to celebrate. Oh, you have to have a group do it, and it's a community hot chocolate bowl. Just make sure you aren't the "Saw Zai" (dumb boy) who drops your candy bar in.

Well, looks like I'm out of time for this week; and right when I was about to share another good story and a scripture. That will have to wait until next week. Stay safe, stay active (physically and at church) and READ! God wants to bless you with these hidden treasures of knowledge that can be found in the scriptures, specifically in the Book Of Mormon.

Love,

Elder Siebach

P.S. Sorry I've been really bad about writing people letters recently. Bear with me. It's one of my resolves/goals for the New Year.