Amazing Grace: Can We Meet After Church and Learn More?

Dear friends and family,

Another week down. These weeks just go by at an ever increasing pace... It's a little alarming. Speaking of weeks, since when is Thanksgiving the last week of the month? I could have sworn my entire life that Thanksgiving was the 3rd Thursday in November! Oh well. I'm really stoked for Thanksgiving! We will be having a Zone Thanksgiving Dinner. 28 people all preparing different portions of the dishes. We've got a little under 200 dollars US to do it all in. My apartment of 4 is in charge of mashed potatoes for everyone. I'm sure it will be a Thanksgiving to remember though. We will be combining some of the best of America and the best of China in a smorgasbord (that's probably spelled wrong) of goodness. That will be this coming Thursday. 

This past week it was a little harder to get members at some of our lessons so we didn't have nearly as many as in weeks previous. It was a bit of a blessing however, since we wanted to be able to speak openly and understand our investigators. Sometimes, if investigators don't have a constant fellow-shipper, they are a little less willing to open up their thoughts and feelings. A few weeks back we had a Multi-Zone Conference and the APs asked the ZLs to prepare a 10 minute training on something they call the "5 Whys", essentially saying that when an investigator brings up a concern our first thought should be "why". If missionaries can continue to ask inspired question the thought is that within 5 questions you can reach the heart of any concern. Definitely something new to me and something that I will continue to hone and work harder on.

Tuen Mun at night

Since Elder L left the work has been moving forward and it's a lot of fun to be with Elder P in Tuen Mun. We have about 1/2 of our area that is still unexplored by both of us. We're working slowly but surely to chip away at it and find prepared people.

I think I've mentioned in previous letters that we have a handful of baptismal dates right now. It's a real blessing to be able to work with these people and it's so interesting how each one has completely different circumstances and interests. Still, the gospel is something that works for them. It strengthens my testimony to realize that all these people from vastly different backgrounds can feel the guidance of the Spirit and want to change their lives. God really has given us a perfect gospel message. It's also fascinating how each person can have different insights to the same scriptures. Sometimes as a missionary I feel like we're just a bunch of LDS clones, but working with so many good investigators shows me that EVERYONE is different.

This week I feel like I learned from one of our investigators what it means to "hunger and thirst after righteousness". We are teaching a woman named A. She works really long hours for Foster Children. We have almost no contact with her throughout the week but she shows up at church right on time each week. She is happy and full of energy. After services are over she is always surrounded by some of the Relief Society women who are OOOHing and AAAAAHing about the strength of her resolve and testimony. She has honestly had some really hard trials in her life but this message has lifted her burdens. Every week during our lesson she pulls out her notebook, jots notes on the scriptures that we share, and then promises us that she will read and do all she can to learn what God would have her know. She and I are Facebook friends on my missionary account and so each week as I put up a spiritual message, she then has it written down and dissected each Sunday that we meet. She literally walks into church and asks me, "Can we meet after church and learn more?"

Amazing Grace

This past Sunday we had really wanted to share with her about the Law Of Chastity but we only had about 10 minutes before we had to go to the stake center for a meeting with the stake president. So we shared about how God 'delights in the chastity of women.' True to her habit, she wrote it down, read it 3 more times, shared some inspired thought and told us she would read more about it this coming week. As we were getting ready to close she then shared something very interesting. As a single mid-thirty year old woman, with both parents already gone, and both siblings living in Singapore and England, she is understandably lonely during the holidays. In September she found herself suffering from a bout of depression and self-worth and so she went to a library where she found a CD that had a beautiful picture of a white New England style church in autumn. She checked it out and listened to it to get over her feelings. She didn't think much about it after that. A few weeks later she was contacted by missionaries--us. She has been meeting with us since, and just pieced together that the CD she checked out from a library in Causeway Bay was Amazing Grace by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I was floored by this story. I can't honestly express what I was feeling. It was just an overwhelming sense of gratitude for a heavenly Father who watches out for each of His children. I wonder if we, if I, spend enough time thinking about and giving gratitude to God.

Sometimes I wonder why I'm in Tuen Mun and why I'm in the blessed circumstances that I'm in. Yet, I know and feel that this is where the Lord wants me to be and that I'm here to be a learner just as much as I am here to be a teacher.

Preach My Gospel says a similar thing. I will paraphrase, but it essentially says that the best teachers ask more questions than they do expound, and they listen more than they talk.This really is the Lord's work. He will sustain us and help us as we acknowledge the gifts He has given and seek to improve in all the facets of our lives.
Meet A

Please have a gratitude-filled Thanksgiving.

Love,

Elder Siebach

Members are the Bomb!

Dear Friends and Family, 

It's been another whirlwind week. I swear, I feel like I sit at this computer every day typing out an email back home. It's crazy that a week ends this fast! I swear they used to drag on FOREVER in college and high school. There never seems to be enough time to do all that we want to do. It's awesome though. Being busily engaged in the Lord's work is the goal. 

Last night was actually the first time Elder P and I really had the chance to introduce our families to each other and talk a little bit about pre-mission stuff. Haha, now he feels like a real companion:)

At the start of the week we had just a few scheduled lessons, so it was a little frightening when Elder P turned to me and asked, "Well, who can fellowship?" and my only response was, "Let's see" as we opened up our member book and started calling people. It all worked out though, and every scheduled lesson we had this week we also had a member in attendance (no small thing with how busy everyone is and scheduling conflicts). 

Members at our lessons proved to be pivotal in almost every case too! In one lesson we were teaching 70-year-old P about the plan of salvation. He wasn't taking it. Our fellowshipper, a seasoned member, asked me for my pen and a notepad. He drew out almost word for word what we had just taught and it suddenly clicked. There was a visible change in his countenance and the Spirit seemed to pour out in greater measure as our fellowshipper, Brother W, bore his own testimony. The two of them immediately struck up a friendship and turned to us after the lesson and together took us to dinner at a noodle shop. Members! 

In another lesson this week we met with 17-year-old A-F. He referred himself through Mormon.org and committed to be baptized last week. This week we decided to teach the Plan of Salvation to him as well. He was super involved, but as with every new companionship, trading off and teaching can be a learning experience in the beginning. Elder P and I were teaching well together but we were teaching even better with our fellow-shipper, G. G is 28 and a convert of 4 years.  He worked so perfectly with A-F! His testimony and explanation invited the spirit and we set a date with him for December 29th! 

Yesterday at church we met with A. Words can't even describe how golden she is. She is also set for baptism on the 29th. We used our High Priest Group Leader's wife, Sister L, to fellowship and although she has A by like 30 years, she had some great insights into the Word of Wisdom and really was able to just come in and love our investigator. I'm so grateful for members! These are just a few examples of some of the lessons that happened this past week. 

This week we were able to contact a guy named A. He is in his mid-forties and recently quit his job so that he could take care of his ailing parents. He previously was a construction manager and spent a lot of time in Kowloon Tong where he was very impressed by the temple and stake center there. He decided to investigate a little more into the church! We met him this past week, gave him a tour of the church, and shared the first lesson! 

On Friday the whole zone was able to go down to the Mission Home and we had Multi-Zone Conference with the East Kowloon Zone. It was a great opportunity to learn and we heard some great messages on humility, gratitude, and developing our teaching skills as found in PMG Chapter 10. Everyone left just a little more invigorated and committed to being a cheerful, enthusiastic missionary. One quote that I will do my best to paraphrase was, "Those who seek happiness are bound to fail." We then discussed how happiness is a by-product of doing one's duty and living a life founded on gospel principles.

Saturday was another great day this past week. In the morning there was a barbecue YM/YW activity and we had 2 investigators attend so we also got to go along and roast some marshmallows and hot dogs! Great stuff and we really got to know our YM/YW even better. It's so interesting to be serving with Elder P. This past week was his 1st week in church and only my 3rd. We're so green to this area but we're working hard and seeing miracles! 

After the YM/YW activity, we taught a lesson and then finished our weekly planning. A later appointment we had fell through, and so we used that time to collect a few supplies for Saturday night's Missionary Talent Show. The stake really wants the members to get to know the missionaries on a more personal level so they organized an event where the 27 missionaries would perform, trying to have investigators and members assist in anyway possible. Lots of different talents were shown off. Lots of piano, singing, juggling, and whatever else you could think of. I was involved in 3 talents. One was a quartet where we sang, "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" (I sang tenor), the other was a district skit where we acted out a few Book Of Mormon stories (I was Ammon), and the third was a companion skit with Elder P where we had a competition to see how many grapes we could catch in our mouths, and then I placed as many grapes under my lips that I humanly could--I think I got 12 or so between my lips and teeth! We had 2 investigators in attendance with us and then 2 of the young men from KwaiChung, my last area, showed up. Really fun night!

Tuen Mun area is the bomb right now! In fact we've got like 12 investigators or so and 5 baptismal dates set! We're working hard but the Lord is blessing us more! We're looking forward to another great week ahead of us! 

Keep up the good work! Make time for missionary work, and read your scriptures daily! They really are for our day! I've been impressed as I've read in the last half of Alma this past week at the wars that occurred. Amalackiah and Ammoron are frauds. They did everything to cover their sins and placed equally hardened men in leadership positions so that they could influence the Lamanites. The Lamanites quickly hardened. On the Nephite side you have Moroni, Teancum, and Lehi. These are men who worked openly and used the Lord as they planned and never denied His guidance in their lives. Helaman constantly praised God for the successes of the 2000 stripling warriors! It's so black and white! Give thanks in everything. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him and he shall direct thy paths." 

Love,
Elder Siebach

Goodbyes and Greetings

Dear Friends and Family,

Things are going really well! Elder L and I were killing it here in Tuen Mun this past week. We had a TON of lessons which is really a miracle because between all the meetings, lessons, and necessities of planning/ Elder L packing, we did a grand total of 1 hour of finding. We taught two lessons out of it though, so it was effective.

Joseph Smith's story

As with all companions, the last couple days are a little rough because you know everything is about to change and there is an element of nervousness. The end of Elder L's mission was no different. He gave a lot of good advice to me. In fact there is one I want to share. He told me that in his two years as a missionary, he finally figured out towards the end of his mission that when we teach lessons on the street, the person we're teaching will often pose some sort of question. He then connected that this question is almost never their ACTUAL problem. It's like a trap: if you answer the question too fast they won't be interested or impressed. He said that no matter what the question is, it can somehow be related to the Joseph Smith story, and that is what we should share. Pretty spot on. That's in line with what Preach My Gospel says, as well as is the quickest way for someone to feel the Spirit and really understand why the heck missionaries are even here.

Since Elder L served here for so long, he has forged some really strong bonds with members, for which I am extremely grateful. I hope I can continue to work well with them and build off of what he did.

We arrived home from church at about 5:30 last night and Elder L immediately set to packing. By 7:30 he was picked up by the AP's and rushed off to the mission home for his last evening as a missionary.

About the same time the APs were picking up Elder L, I was able to get my new companion! His name is Elder P and he is from Layton, Utah (just like Elder B). He is super cool, older than I am by 5 months in the mission, and just finished serving in Causeway Bay as Zone Leader with my MTC companion Elder Parker. I'm really excited to work with him! We're both relatively new to Tuen Mun (I've been here just 5 weeks and haven't been able to visit about 1/2 of our area yet). It's fine though! We will have fun exploring and working together!

This past Friday was also the zone training meeting. It was a super great, spiritual experience for all 28 of us that were in attendance. Elder L and I had to do some of the trainings and did most of the talking, but we had a lot of involvement and I hope/think it sparked some ideas for some of the missionaries.

Sunday we had 6 investigators at church, taught 2 lessons after church, held a stake Christmas Planning meeting where we gave a presentation to the stake presidency/auxiliaries, did my personal study and pretty much used the rest of the time to suck every bit of information I could possibly get from Elder L. Recently it seems like we don't have enough time to eat :). It's great to be able to be so busy though.

Zone Conference is coming up this week so I'm stoked for that!

Well, that's about it from this end! Keep up the good work! Have a great Veterans Day! Pray for the missionaries and their investigators!

Love,

Elder Siebach

Home Away From Home

Dear Friends and Family, 

Things have been absolutely crazy this past week. So much going on and it never feels like we have enough time. It's all good though. It's missionary work and it's a process, not a destination. 

Sorry about the late letter again. We had temple day today and I forgot to inform y'all. The temple was great as ever and I ran into members from my previous two wards, Sister Bradford (from our ward in Japan) was in the temple, and Brother Lewis (served a mission with Siebach grandparents) conducted the Endowment session. It's so interesting to see people from just about everywhere imaginable. Speaking of other people in the mission. I haven't had an opportunity to shake Elder Sheffield's hand yet (young man from our Tokyo ward). I think I saw him yesterday from across an intersection, but I'm pretty sure he didn't see me and I had to go the other direction. Sister Parker (daughter of Ben's college roommate), well she is in my Zone and District now! I feel like I run into her at least 3 times a week. The mission is like a weird collage of home away from home:) 

Last week I had the opportunity to go on exchanges again. This time I left Tuen Mun and I went into Yuen Long and spent the day with Elder M (he was in the group right behind me in the MTC). Nice to see him again. We did a lot of knocking, found a potential family, and then taught a lesson to a guy who unfortunately lives on the Mainland. Still a good lesson though! He lives way out in the boonies. The apartment is super big and super nice, but it just doesn't feel like Hong Kong way out there! Refreshing to have clean air! 

Speaking of air, last week my companion, Elder L, and I came back from a night of finding and were eating a late dinner. I'm one of those guys who always looks out the window at the city around and I got fixated on a certain spot on the mountain where I hadn't noticed lights before. Through the evening haze and smog we determined that they weren't lights at all, but that there was a mountain fire! (I don't know if "mountain fire" makes sense in English, but that's how they say it here. Maybe I should have added a preposition or something...) Anyway, that was fun to watch. They had it under control about the time we were going to bed. The smog of the city hasn't cleared enough for me to get a good view of the burn zone yet. 

Here is a missionary story for you. One day we had about an hour to go finding before we had to go home and take care of some other matters. We decided to go to a mountain village near the church. We were in our suits hiking up this mountain and just getting turned down right and left (they tend to be a lot more traditional Chinese in these villages). Dogs were barking, it was kinda late, and so I was thinking, "Let's just come back when it's light; we'll find somewhere else to knock tonight. We stuck with it though and with about 20 minutes to go we hit the highest point of this village. Knocked, 4 dogs are practically plowing the fence over as we shout out, "Anyone home?". A shirtless 12 year old boy calls off all the dogs and then his 20-something year old sister comes out as well. We say who we are and why we are there and they, in almost a completely natural matter-of-fact manner say, "ok, well come in then." So there you have it. We taught a lesson and gave a Book of Mormon. They're kinda busy with school and part-time work, but when it's convenient we'll definitely see them again! Sometimes we missionaries may have to sweat through our suits, hike mountains, and fight off vicious dogs and any manner of living things. It reminded me of how we need to have FAITH and WORK to get blessings. 

This past week we've been really busy with Zone Leader assignments and lessons! We've been blessed with some new investigators too. The HungShuiKiu Sisters have been working with a guy named J. He's 21 and a college student studying Philosophy and he's really interested in the church! A few weeks ago the sisters had already scheduled him with a baptism date for December. We had a turn over lesson with him early this week and taught him the Plan of Salvation. We're excited to keep working with him! 

Another guy, also named J (but we will call him A-Fung) was a self-referral. He was contacted by Elders a long time ago, had a tour of the Stake Center last Christmas, but was too busy to take lessons. He found the church again through Mormon.org and requested to meet with missionaries! He's looking for a place to worship and was impressed by the church last year. We are definitely willing to help him find a place to worship...and the fullness of the gospel while we're at it! 

This past week in church was super good! We had 7 investigators in attendance, I bore my testimony and shared Alma 29:9, and then in Elders Quorum Elder L and I were also called on to give a 10 minute thought on Home Teaching. It went well. I think the ward is at 2% on Home Teaching right now.. 

The work is super exciting! Yesterday Elder L and I were in Kowloon Tong for Mission Leadership Council where we got new instruction from the APs, President Hawks, and the Online Elders. Lots of good goals and things going on in Hong Kong right now! We are not growing right now however. For the next 5 months the number of missionaries will only decrease, so all the more reason to work even harder! Tomorrow is Zone Training and we get to present this next month's goals to the Zone and get everybody pumped up! 

I'll be sad to see Elder L go home next transfer. The good thing is, he lives about 25 minutes away, and I'm sure I can reach him in case something just goes haywire:) 

Last thought. Read Jacob 6:5 and D&C 88:40.

Jacob 6:5

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would repent, and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you. And while his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the light of the day, harden not your hearts.

D&C 88:40

For intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom receiveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light; mercy hath compassion on mercy and claimeth her own; justice continueth its course and claimeth its own; judgment goeth before the face of him who sitteth upon the throne and governeth and executeth all things.

These two scriptures talk about cleaving to different things. D&C is talking about how like things attract each other i.e. light, knowledge, wisdom etc... and then Jacob is talking about how God cleaves to us, and we should cleave back. It made me think: God is perfect; He is what we want to be. The only reason we wouldn't want to embrace Him is because of our own selfish interests. However, when we put off the natural man we become as He is, and there is therefore an attractive force in place because we become 'like' beings. So... I hope you followed my thought. It's hard to write out, but the answer is Consecration of OURSELVES. 

I hope everyone is healthy and well! Keep working hard! I hope you guys are praying for and looking for missionary opportunities every day! 

Love, 

Elder Siebach. 

  

P.S. Pictures will hopefully be coming soon.