"These Are Good People"

Dear Friends and Family,

Things here in KwaiChung are going really well! After a few weeks of not serving with my companion, Elder B, we are back together and doing as well as ever! I may or may not have mentioned this in last week's letter, but this past week was EEFY. We ran around last Monday morning looking for materials to put into our biomes and scrounged up some dirt, rock, plant materials, and believe it or not, live fish! That first day (Monday) was full of get-to-know-you activities and then building the biomes. Our missionary-to-investigator ratio was rather skewed but KwaiChung was well represented by a family of 3, 2 other investigators, and 2-3 members. Everyone had a good time and went home with a biome. The topic of the week was "The Creations of God" and so we spent a little bit of time each day learning vocabulary from the 6 different creative periods as well as anything else the missionaries for that day felt to include. We were in charge of day 4 which was light and dark and so we taught very basic vocabulary and then switched gears and taught 'opposites' vocabulary. At the end of that we played Pictionary. The 2nd hour of each day was spent doing some sort of activity and so each day was a little different and ranged from drawing pictures to building tin foil boats. On our day we had everyone split into 3 teams and with pre-determined amounts of bottles, tape, straws, and chopsticks the groups had to make the tallest AND the strongest free-standing structure they could come up with. We determined which was strongest by how many pamphlets, BoMs, and hymn books each could support before giving  way.

With that EEFY activity being everyday, and having been encouraged by President Hawks to participate every day, regardless of who was in charge or how many investigators were coming, we shortened our real on-the-street time by about 12 hours and so that kinda hurt our numbers this week.

This past week was also pretty rainy! I like the rain and it gets me motivated to go out there and just find all the Chinese people huddling under bridges because they are "paa-yuh" (scared of rain). Some of the easiest street finding in the world is in Hong Kong on a rainy day:)

On Tuesday evening we went home after English class and there was a T-3 warning (just meaning that a typhoon was coming through soon). The next morning as we were about to head out for exercises we noticed the T-8 warning had been hoisted (meaning stay inside) so we just went right back into our apartment and looked at the overcast sky. No rain, just some wind and by 2 pm that day the warning had been lifted. I'm still waiting for a super typhoon! Since I've been in Hong Kong I don't think we've ever had any really severe weather that kept us from going outside.

For me the rain is symbolic too. I feel like the rain washes these overcrowded streets clean and hopefully cleans out some of the Hong Kong people's overly scheduled schedules. Rain is definitely a good thing here.

Thoughout the week we were able to meet with our 3 investigators with baptismal dates and work on strengthening them. J is doing well. He's met with the bishop and has the "go ahead" for baptism. If all goes well he will be baptized on September 8th (Grace's Birthday!). We went up to the hospital once this week to visit with Mr. W. He was ecstatic to see us and we had a great reunion! He's been praying and doing all he can while he sits around all day in the hospital. I feel bad that he is stuck there. He's about 400 times more normal then some of the men in there. He still has a lot of faith and believes that God is watching out for him and his family. He thinks that he will probably be out in a few weeks. He's very apologetic that he can't get to church.

This week was quite a week for Mr. L though. He reads and prays every day and had so much confidence in us and in Christ. He comes to us for just about anything now. In fact, one evening this week we just happened to be in TaiWoHau doing some less-active finding when he called us up rather frantically. He came right out to meet us and took us to a McDonald's where he explained that he has some people that are harrassing him, calling his home phone incessantly when he is there. It's a really strange situation. He took us back to his home soon thereafter to explain that a man comes to the apartment across the way a few times a week and looks across towards his apartment and if Mr. L is home, he just calls and calls and calls. I'm not clear on why Mr. L doesn't report this to the police yet. As we were leaving we felt impressed to share with him 3 Ne 14 and talk about the Wise and Foolish man and how we can strengthen and fortify our lives and families.

I wish these were the only problems that this poor man has, but there are many more.  The police came by his home this week and brought him to headquarters on some sort of charge because he is unable to pay off some of his debts (he is bankrupt). He's weathering it well and sincerely wants to do what's right. He got called into work Saturday morning at 8 AM and got off Sunday morning 8AM and made his way right to church at 9:30. He stayed all 3 hours, and then an additional two for a baptismal service for an 8-year-old in the ward. The baptismal room was stuffed to capacity and as I stood in the back corner looking out over the ward members and a few of our investigators that were able and willing to make the time to come see a baptismal service, I had the sweetest, most reassuring feeling that things would work out and that God was watching over us and this ward. It came right as we were singing Choose The Right. It was confirmation and support that I needed.

Church was especially good yesterday because President and Sister Hawks came and they were the speakers. They shared wonderful messages on missionary work of course, but also on the Atonement and what our duty as members and missionaries are. The overriding message to me is that the two should be inseparably linked. Because we are members, we are missionaries. Because the Atonement has changed us, we should look to give the same opportunities to those around us.

I love working in Hong Kong. I love and admire these good people. I tear up as I think about the struggles these members go though. Their friends and family abandon them when they join the church, but they know what they know. It's amazing to participate in class with these members and to realize that every single one of them is a convert! They didn't just grow up in the knowledge of these things. They sacrificed time, livelihood, and comfort to know their Savior. These are good people.

I hope that one day I can be as good as these people. The church is true.

Love,

Elder Siebach