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