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