Final Witness

The Flags of Hong Kong and Macau

Dear friends and family,

I'm pleased to report that the Lord does continue to perform miracles! But only after we show forth our faith. Last Monday I went into the Immigration office and spent about 2 hours applying for and meeting with officials to get the oh so coveted extension of the visa. It was a nail-biter for me as officials met with me and explained the procedure. It wasn't too incredibly hard actually, but they needed a few days to process the application and get back to me. They told me to come back Wednesday afternoon between 2:30 and 3:30. Upon my return I was pleased to find that I didn't have to wait very long at all. Just a few moments and then they called me up to the counter. The lady told me that I was permitted to stay the additional 3 days that I had requested! That was a big sigh of relief because quite frankly I want to work here in Taipa right up until the end and I wasn't very keen on sitting in the mission home for 3 days waiting on my flight.

This past week has been another whirlwind. Tuesday we had our district meeting and I was happy to finally learn about and apply good door-knocking techniques--haha! One of the Sisters in our district, Sister Li, showed us all the ropes and taught us how to be personable and get into people's homes. Obviously the Spirit is the most important single factor; however, there was some good advice too about being enthusiastic, speaking slowly, smiling etc... Though we learned these things it was hard to really apply them when we were knocking. I can't help but feel that an endearing native HK Sister Missionary probably is a little more welcoming than the towering broad-shouldered English and American Elders. I could be wrong though. Regardless we will keep trying and pray for the Lord to soften the hearts of those we interact with each day.

Monday evening after P-Day ended we had about 1.5 hours to find. So we went down to the harbor and easy-as-pie taught 3 lessons. They were GOOD lessons too! Each one of the men we contacted really listened and was involved in the conversation. One of them, Mr. Wong, is actually a former investigator from a few months back! We had no idea. He's going through a bit of a work/family crisis right now and so it was just a great experience to remind him of eternal truths that he had temporarily forgotten. Namely; 1 God is our loving Heavenly Father, 2 He listens to and answers prayers, and 3 The Atonement is the remedy to all that is unfair in life. We scheduled him for Friday where we were able to then meet once more and share about Joseph Smith and the Restoration.

This past week we were also blessed with many lessons which is something we struggled with last week. Many of the college students are on summer break right now and are therefore more available. One of our best investigators, Rex, we were able to meet with twice this past week and help him learn more in depth about the Gospel of Jesus Christ as well as Sabbath Day. He is struggling with church attendance but has committed to talk to his boss and see if he can re-arrange his schedule so that he can attend Sunday Meetings with us. He is reading and praying daily and the best part is that he knows that it is helping him and he is developing his relationship with Heavenly Father!

We picked up another college student this past week to investigate. His name is Jones. He's 20 and really interested to meet and learn about this message. His biggest struggle is coming to church as well! We also met with him twice this past week and spent one lesson teaching the Restoration and the 2nd lesson reading from and explaining the importance of the Book of Mormon. He's making good progress.

Remember that miracle-Book-of-Mormon guy I told you about? Yeah, well he's been too busy this past week to meet with us... Pretty sad but he answers our calls and seems like we could have an opportunity to see him this next week.

Wednesday evening Elder M and I spent some time looking for and knocking on doors of less active members. During our study earlier that morning we had been impressed to select 3 members from the roster and search them out. One of them hadn't been contacted in about 10 years and her address had changed. We weren't sure if her phone was still correct so we decided to go searching first. We ended up knocking on 4 different doors trying to get any information that we could on her. It was all to no avail. When we got home later that night we called. She picked up and was really quite interested in scheduling something! We were just kinda floored! We saw her about 2 days later, shared a message, gave her a Book of Mormon and GOT HER NEW ADDRESS! That was the biggest miracle. Hong Kong has a lot of people who are 'lost sheep'. These are basically members that people have lost trace of because they have moved, passed away, or changed numbers and are therefore harder to contact. We don't like to have lost sheep. So any speck of information we can get is really a blessing from the Lord. I'm confident that the Lord saw our labors that evening and blessed us by toughing her heart so that we could meet with her and start the process of bringing her back into the fold!

Just yesterday we had another similar experience. Elder M and I finished our studies and went out to a gov't housing estate to go finding. We met and talked to everyone we could for a couple hours with some success. As we were turning a corner to go down a street, we greeted a couple that was walking along. As we spoke to them we found out that he was a member (hasn't been active for awhile) and his wife is not. We bore our testimonies to them of the importance of family and I talked about my family and how I was going home to them soon. I expressed that I wanted to take a picture with them. They were touched by this gesture and actually brought us into their home where we then met their 8 year old daughter and their 6 year old son. The little boy has Down's Syndrome, and as we sat there I was so touched by the way the parents were so loving and patient with their children, and I became full of love for this family and just wanted them to come back to the fold and feel the love and unity that comes from the gospel. I hope that in the coming weeks and months we can help them come back.

My time in Hong Kong and in Macau has truly been a wonderful experience. I have spent many sleepless nights thinking about the people we've taught and how we can help them come unto Christ, and I have rejoiced with the few souls that have "heard and come unto Christ." I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and for His Son Jesus Christ. This is their mission and I am simply one of their Cantonese mouthpieces. I forget which Prophet or Apostle said this, but he said something along the lines of, "God really loves his Asian sons and daughters; just look how many He created." They are a remarkable, strong, and spiritually sensitive people. When I started my mission there were many things that I BELIEVED were true. As I end my mission there are many more things that I now KNOW are true. This is His church. These are His children. He allows us to participate in His work of Salvation and for this I am eternally grateful.

I pray that we will not 'sleep through the Restoration' as Elder Uchtdorf so cleverly stated. In everything we do and say, in every way, we should reflect the image of Christ. I testify that Christ lives. He watches over each of us. The most powerful experiences of my mission have been pulling people from the waters of baptism and seeing the light of Christ in their eyes. I have seen Christ's reflection in my investigators and recent converts. I have felt His love for his sons and daughters as I have been privileged to confirm new members and ordain men to the priesthood.

I want you all to know that I know the Book of Mormon is true. I've read its 531 pages 7 times in my mission and each page 'denote[s] that there is a God'. I am proud to say that I have read all 4 standard works in my mission as well as the missionary library and they too are true books. I leave my testimony as did Joseph Smith that I know the Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book and that a man or woman will get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book.

I say these things humbly as a Representative of Him whose name I've worn on my chest 757 days, even the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Feeling "Infinitely More" Blessed

Dear Friends and Family,

Things have really been pushing along here in Taipa. This past week was about as hard a week as our first week when we had no investigators. Partly due to the fact that one of our best investigators got baptized, and some of the others whom we regularly meet with are busy with college finals and Secondary School projects/finals. We really didn't have any scheduled lessons so that made for a lot of finding. The finding turned our to be pretty good and we were able to find some really great people. Also had a few heart-breakers, with some really good people who just didn't go through and choose to continue investigating:(

I may or may not have mentioned that last week when we were in Zone Conference there was a real emphasis on being effective and productive at all times. Especially in finding since that seems to be a struggle for some missionaries. I think that I've been blessed in that even though in the beginning of my mission I disliked finding, I have grown to really enjoy the challenge of it all; the street, the elements, the potential and possibilities, all the new people I get to meet, etc.... It helps that now I feel comfortable in the language too.

One of the things that Elder M and I decided to try was something called a 'morning find'. Basically we cut out our studies in the morning and right after we were showered and ready for the day we went out and tried to do some contacting. The contacting was just that; contacting. Lots of international people and a lot of domestic workers all going to work. No real time to listen.

We got in from our morning find at about 12pm a little discouraged that it felt like such a flop. Then the miracle came. We pulled the phone out of our proselyting case to find that we had 2 missed calls. We called the number back and it turned out that it was a man whom we had contacted about two hours previously. He was busy when we contacted him but he took a flier. I specifically remember in that contact that we also mentioned that we teach people about The Book of Mormon and that we had a website that he could go to if he wanted to learn more.

Well, come to find out, he felt something as we mentioned the Book of Mormon and for the next hour or so the thought pestered him. He finally looked up the website, read all about the Restoration and Joseph Smith and then called! He scheduled with us for that afternoon to get a Book of Mormon. We met him in the park at the hottest part of the day and with sweat running down our faces (literally we had to stop and pull out our handkerchiefs for a moment) we taught him about the Book Of Mormon. I wish I could say that the lesson was the easiest thing in the world but it wasn't. He has a lot of pre-conceived ideas about apostasy and prophets and wasn't accepting much of what we said. He did, however, believe that the Book of Mormon was true and wanted to read it. We gave him a copy of his own and that's where we are. Now I have to have faith that if he reads and really asks God he will know the truth of the message and we will see him again. Truly a miracle contact! Morning time, flier, Book of Mormon. What more could you need? Besides maybe a member to be his friend:)

Another highlight from this week was this past Friday. We had Zone Training in the morning and the ZLs and Sister Training Leaders (STL) gave us all the new updates in the mission and some things to continue to work towards. Afterwards we all ate together and had a bit of a celebration with the Filipina Sisters providing their signature "Mango Float" dessert. It's wonderful. Right after that I went on an Exchange with Elder Ketring who is a Mandarin Elder and we took the ferry into Hong Kong to renew our visas. We turned back around soon after and once we got to Macau we were ushered into the Immigration Office where we sat for about 45 minutes as they processed our information only to tell us that they need us to come back in 3 days and we can then apply for extended stays in Macau. So 3 days later (today) we were in the Immigration Office from 8:30 to 11 taking care of all that. I've applied and in 2 days they will come back with a decision. I feel pretty confident that I will get it since I'm only trying to extend my stay for 3 more days. I also had a letter of Recommendation from the Branch President and my Boarding Pass as proof. It's in the Lord's hands now though.

John was confirmed a member of the church this past Sunday. That was a really sweet experience! The 2nd Counselor in the Branch Presidency gave the blessing and the Ward Mission Leader and I both participated. John was in a suit and really looked good. He's so much happier and he lifts the spirits of those in the ward around him. During Elders Quorum he had his first experience fellowshipping an investigator instead of being fellowshipped! Next week we're looking forward to him receiving the Priesthood!

Speaking of new members, I've been in contact with Leo for the last couple weeks trying to organize some sort of a final meeting. He's an absolute stud. He wanted to come out here so bad but the ticket is just too expensive. I'm really hopeful that on my last day in Hong Kong we will be able to have a reunion of sorts. He's going to be a Summer Missionary for 2 weeks this August and is preparing to serve as a full-time missionary too! :)

I think one realization I've come to on my mission is that no matter how much you may think you are teaching and blessing those around you, they are blessing you infinitely more. Every member, investigator, less active, etc... These relationships and experiences will last an eternity. I'm so blessed to serve as a missionary and to be here at this time. 

I'm grateful for each of you and especially grateful for scriptures. I know that anyone who will read with even the smallest ounce of faith can get an answer. God doesn't need a lot of faith to make miracles happen, He just needs some. As the prophet so eloquently quoted, we can all "lift up the hands that hang down." I know that Heavenly Father wants all of us to be missionaries no matter what our capacities or strengths may be. Keep going! GA YAUH!

Love, 

Siebach JeungLouh.

The Lord's Hand

My heart is full as I write you on this absolutely roasting hot Monday afternoon. It's been great to see the photos of Sterling going off to the plane and all the goodbyes. I'm super proud and happy for him! For most of the street contacts that I make I like to show them a photo of my family. If they ask whether or not my family supports my decision to be on a mission I like to launch into how my father served in Germany when he was a young man, my mother served in Portugal when she was a young woman, and my kid brother is serving in Japan with me. Because I don't know for sure whether or not Grace will go, I just mention that she is thinking about going when she is graduated. It really is a blessing to have so many missionary examples in my immediate family!

This week was wonderful. We worked hard. The sun beat down, we got tan, and an uncountable number of people now know that we are missionaries who share the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Most of them have a flier with which they can re-contact us if they have interest. 

We didn't get nearly the numbers that we had last week, but we had some great success teaching less-active member lessons. We were able to schedule 3 different people and share a message of sorts. One of the most impressive to me is a man that we make regular visits to. He is a bus driver and so when we went to visit him on Saturday and saw his arm all bandaged up, he related to us the story of how when he was putting water into the radiator, the lid exploded and gave him 3rd degree burns all up and down his forearm. It looked really painful. We asked if there was anything that we could do to help and he asked if we wouldn't mind coming back the next day since he was entertaining company the time we arrived. We happily agreed, so yesterday we were able to go down with the Elders Quorum President and give this good brother a blessing. Elder M anointed and Brother Wong was voice. Great spirit in that home!

Earlier that day (Sunday) Elder M and I were anxiously preparing for a lesson as well as for John's baptism. After John had his baptismal interview this past Thursday, he asked if I wouldn't mind baptizing him! I was very honored by the invitation. Especially since when we were assigned here to Taipa I had 2nd thoughts as to whether or not I would get to see another baptism. 

John showed up about 10 minutes before Sacrament Meeting in a tailored shirt and pants that he had purchased and been preparing just for this event. I also got a little "snazzied up" and wore a suit that I've only worn one other time on my mission (my birthday). 

During Sacrament Meeting John was listening and really enjoying himself as he listened to the testimonies that were borne and then he pleasantly surprised us as he got up and bore a testimony as well. He talked about his reading in the Book of Mormon and shared with us 1 Ne 3:7 and talked about how this year has been very hard on his family. Economic crises, health problems and general discord. He said that at the lowest point he was called by Elder M and I and felt like he should try listening to the message again (he was a former investigator from about 13 years ago). It struck me how we could be an answer to his prayers and how that same day, April 17th, was the very day that Elder M and I actually arrived Taipa, and that 3 hours previously I had told Elder M and more than anything else in the world, I wanted to baptize with him. We met John on April 18th (with a member-present lesson too!) and extended a baptismal invitation. All within our first 24 hours in our area! So to see how this all turned out and having had the foreknowledge that I did, the whole experience has been particularly meaningful. 

I baptized John and thankfully I succeeded in doing it in one dunk (one of the greatest fears of my mission is having to re-do a baptismal prayer).  After I brought him up out of the water we embraced and then went back to change our clothes. He was asked at the close of the baptismal service to share any thoughts or feelings that he had. He mentioned that the first time Elder M and I met with him, we had invited him to pray about the truthfulness of our message. He did, to which he said he got an immediate response that said it was not true. Slightly puzzled by this he decided to pray again but this time to clear his mind of all other thoughts and to be earnest about it. The feelings and impressions that came to his mind the second time are what ultimately strengthened him and built his testimony during those times when Elder M and I weren't around to teach and support. Great testimonies were borne. 

It really was an incredible week! 

This past Wednesday the Macau Zone went into Hong Kong where we were able to participate in a Zone Conference with the Hong Kong Island Zone. We talked about goals and obedience and one quote from the Mission President really stood out to me: "What we get from pursuing our goals is not nearly as important as what we become from pursuing our goals."

Right after the Zone Conference we were privileged to be able to go through and do a temple session. In the temple I saw temple workers from each of the wards that I have served in, and for a fleeting moment I felt like that was what heaven was going to be like. I won't just have these friendships and relationships during my mission. They can be eternal.

 

Great week. Spiritual week. I finished the Book of Mormon too! Love that book! 

I love you all. Keep up the good work! Be a missionary no matter where you are! 

Love, 

Elder Siebach 

Two Elder Siebachs!!

Dear Family and Friends,

First off, I want to say congrats to my kid brother Sterling who goes into the MTC this week! He's headed to Tokyo-- our old stomping grounds!! Sayonara man!

Elder Sterling Siebach greeted at the MTC by his cousin Elder Luke Hartung!!

What an incredible week we had this past week! Things could not have gone better! Well, actually they could have. We could have had more people at church... But, all complaints aside, it was an inspiring week:)

A few weeks back we were riding a bus from the South side of our island to the north. As we went I was lost in thought looking out the window when we came to an intersection that had a plaza with a fountain right in the middle of it. Forgetting for a moment that we were in Taipa, I quickly thought in my mind, "Oh, if we served the Macau side that would be a good place for finding." 3 minutes later, and now completely out of sight of the plaza, I remembered where we were. For the next several days Elder M and I would go finding and try to relocate that perfect spot, but to no avail. Finally, this past Monday evening, we were out in the drizzling rain at the close of another P-Day when we found it!  The reason it was so hard to find was that all the shops, buildings, and roads around it are raised higher than the plaza so unless you are higher up (i.e. a bus) you wouldn't know where to go!  By the grace of God we found it and spent the rest of the evening there. It wasn't a lot of time, but it was really effective!  We taught three lessons and found two new Nepalese investigators. So that's how our awesome week started off!

The next day, Tuesday, we were in Macau for district meeting, language pass-offs with the Zone Leaders (mostly for Elder M, but I like to do it as well), Correlation meeting, and a special training meeting designed to teach ward members how to effectively meet with, share with, and commit less active members to retake the lessons. Each missionary companionship had a part so we were all in attendance, however, the members weren't... Ugh! We had 2 members there and then our Correlator and a less active member-- of all people! It proved to be a great day for us though since we were also able to meet with John in the middle of the afternoon and had Brother Kwan, the 2nd Counselor in the Branch Presidency help out. We shared about tithing and fasting and it was great. Brother Kwan is a professional MMA fighter and a hulking figure if I ever saw one. But, his testimony is as strong as he is and deep down I think he's probably a big teddy bear. He really helped John a lot.

The next day, Wednesday, we were able to meet with Rex, and spend some time reading scriptures with him. We had one of our ward missionaries, Eddie, help us out. Rex is 21 and it really feels like he and I are best friends. Awesome guy, really relaxed and has good interest. We just needed to clarify that we don't invite him to the church just to get out of the stifling heat and have A/C--haha!. We had a great lesson with him and rescheduled to meet him this coming Sunday for church. He committed to read daily even though he is super busy with exams this next week. We then ran back to Taipa and had only about 45 minutes to find before we had to turn back around to meet some other potential investigators we had scheduled at the church. In those 45 minutes we tried a new approach where we went to the University and on a clip-board had a flier for mormon.org with places for people to leave their contact information. It was like giving candy to a baby it was so easy! In 45 minutes we had 16 emails, and 15 cell-phone numbers. Everyone we approached gave us their info pretty much. We ended up getting canceled on for our lesson which was a bummer, but it gave us time to get dinner which we wouldn't have had otherwise. At 7:15 we went on a split with the Mandarin Elders and I went with Elder Ketring back to Taipa to turn over Tyler, one of our awesome investigators--with a baptismal date too. Right after those lessons we got back with our companions and Elder M and went back to visit a Filipino family we had taught the week before. The husband and wife weren't home unfortunately, but we met the grandmother and some of the children and were able to teach them a lesson. Hopefully we can get the whole family this next time.

Thursday was weekly planning. We got about half-way into weekly planning and I just turned to Elder M and said, "How about we worry about this a bit later and go finding instead?" Like the good sport he is, he said, "Sure, where?" So we blazed on down to the southern tip of our island and knocked the 2 doors that had some promise from the week before when we were down there. One was with 87 year old Mr. Ho. He is a good guy. Lots of patience and a little bit lonely. He was happy to see us again. We talked about the life of Christ and he decided to become a new investigator. Then 2nd door we knocked was for a Vietnamese worker whom we contacted the week before. We gave her some of the pamphlets in Vietnamese, explained prayer, and scheduled to come back next week. We're looking to try and get a Vietnamese recent convert named Anna to go down there with us and help us teach. That evening we had rescheduled our two Nepalese friends from this past Monday and we gave them a Hindi Book of Mormon and testified of how it has blessed our families and our lives. Both of them are fathers of 2 and 3 children respectively. They are curious about Christianity but were very clear in explaining that due to family circumstances they won't be able to convert or anything. That didn't stop us though! We're giving them a call tonight to see if we can meet again. The last thing we did that night was go up to the church to start a 24-hour companion exchange with the Macau South Elders. I went to Macau South with Elder Peacock. He came the same time as Elder M to the mission and is from Bangor, Ireland. Great guy.

Heading off on an exchange

When I got to the Macau Elder's apartment that evening I talked with the Zone Leaders for a few minutes and they told me about a miracle that they had had that day. They said that 1-2 months ago they were visiting an LA and seeking referrals. She didn't have any to give so then they asked if she knew of an LA friends of hers that they could meet with. She did. She mentioned two names. Jeff and Cherry. They ZLs spent the next few weeks trying to find anyone in the ward who knew them or even where they lived. Their records weren't in the ward list either. No leads. Then one night as they were finding the contacted a woman and she mentioned that her cousin was an LA named Jeff. That was their first lead. They were about to get Jeff's info during their 2nd meeting but this investigator was anti-ed really badly and wouldn't meet them again. Then Thursday night the Macau Sister companionship were in the chapel when three people walked in. Like all missionaries they went over to meet them and greet them and found out that 1 of them was from out of town and had scheduled the other two, Jeff and Cherry, to pick her up at the church. The Sisters were able to get Jeff's number and address! (So that is the first part of the miracle find.The 2nd part is that in my companionship when we were calling through some really old potential investigator records, we found a lady named Cherry and the only info we had was that she was a referral from a member named Brother Chow). So I turned to the Zone Leaders after the had told me all this and simple asked, Is Jeff's last name Chow? To which they said, "Yes!". I then explained that we had been in touch with Cherry a few weeks previously and had been trying to schedule her. I had also written her name and number down in my daily planner for further follow-up. So there you have it. 3 different companionships, 2 months of effort, and we've found a formerly untraceable family! They also have 3 children who haven't been baptized yet and the parents would consider coming back to church. (I guess the reason they stopped coming in the first place was because after they graduated from BYU and moved to Macau they didn't feel welcome in the Branch the first week and subsequently decided to stop coming). So the lesson is, be welcoming to all visitors! 

Anyway, back to the week...We had a great exchange finding, teaching 2 scheduled lessons, as well as a less active member lesson. Lots of good things happening in their companionship as well. We ended our exchange that evening and made our way back to Taipa. Our phone had stopped working the day before because the mission forgot to pay the phone bill... Miraculously our District Leader was able to pay it for us and so we were able to make some phone calls that night.

Saturday we finished our weekly planning and then had spurts of finding in between dinner and a less active member visit which, by the way, was full of surprises. We went with our Correlator to visit another Brother who is his friend. Turns out this guy absolutely loves animals. He has 3 dogs, a turtle, and 20+ fish. When he came to the door he was in a tank-top and short shorts. He looked like a mess too. All we could hear was whimpering in the background. He ushered us in and showed us that one of his dogs had given birth to a litter of 10 puppies just an hour before we got there. He had been playing "vet" all afternoon before we came. Had a great lesson! Lots of noise and really fun!

So there you have it. Our week was awesome--the best yet here in Taipa--we were really blessed! We were able to invite Rex to set a baptismal date yesterday! We had lots of member-present lessons, a bunch of other lessons (13 of which were right on the street!), and we found 8 new investigators! The Lord really blessed us this week and we're looking forward to another great week to come! John is preparing to be baptized this coming Sunday if all goes well! We're meeting him tonight to introduce him to the Branch EQ President (men's group leader). We're doing great! 

Keep your heads up! Look for opportunities to share testimony whether it is through your words or actions!

Love,

Elder Siebach

U-Turns

Dear Friends and Family,

At a casino buffet for lunch

Another week down here in Taipa. The weather has made a turn for the better and we didn't really have any storms of significance. We did have a day where the skies just couldn't decide if they wanted to rain or not. Consequently it rained for 2 minutes and stopped for just enough time to dry (10 minutes) and then it rained again. On our way to one appointment it rained and cleared 3 or 4 times! 

Over the last month or so Elder M and I have walked every inch on the roads in Taipa and so we decided to go out and explore the south-eastern part of the Taipa Island. From all we knew there was a hospital, prison, and beach in the vicinity. We were happily surprised to see that besides beach-side restaurants and pubs there were also a few places to knock. We taught a simple lesson to an 81 year old man, we contacted a tourist-y looking grandmother and were able to share our testimonies of family with her, and we knocked the door of a heart-diseased European with no interest, and homes where Vietnamese maids were home. Obviously we didn't go into those homes. It was pretty sunny that day and since we hadn't packed water we were about to turn around and look for a restaurant but as we were walking down the street a car pulled up right next to us. Kinda freaked me out honestly; I thought someone was going to yell at us. Instead, we were greeted by a friendly, "Hey missionaries!". Turns out we were contacting near the apartment of some members from the Macau 2nd Branch (2nd branch is for non-Chinese speakers). Really nice mom and her 3 daughters asked us where we were headed and invited us to dinner. We politely declined since we had an appointment at that same time. But before she left she told us all the codes to get into the fancy apartment buildings down there! We'll see if we ever get the courage to go knock on Westerner apartments.

In companionship right now we have 4 pretty solid investigators. 3 of them have baptismal dates, and the 4th one is praying about whether he needs to be baptized or not. He's got a lot of sincerity so I'm not too worried that he won't get an answer. John continues to make progress and says that he knows that the Book of Mormon is true and will continue to work towards being baptized in June. A-Fan is doing OK. We are trying to find a time that we can meet with her and introduce her to the sister missionaries. She still has her baptismal date for the middle of June but she struggles finding time for reading, praying and church since college finals are right around the corner for her. Tyler is another one of our solid investigators. We met with him twice this week and were blessed to have members at both lessons. He is making great progress, however, we also need to turn him over since his Mandarin is better than his Cantonese. We're looking to do that this week. The last investigator is Rex. We haven't seen him for a little over a week but that is because of work and he's also preparing for finals. He's also coming along well.

This week Elder M and I were blessed to have a number of lessons scheduled. We were able to get some members to come along which will go a long way for helping these investigators, and of course we did some finding:) The irony of the situation is that it took miracles for us to find the investigators we have, but they don't do much for our companionship since we keep having to turn them over to other missionaries. Since we have been able to get into the apartments, we have taught 2 lessons. One was a Mandarin who respectfully listened but then didn't have time to reschedule, and the other was a Filipino father that we've rescheduled for this next week and hope to be able to meet him and his wife. Great lessons but they will need to be turned over to the appropriate companionships. It's all the same work so I don't mind too much. 

This past Saturday marked 30 days for me in Macau and with my visa I had to leave the island. Saturday morning Elder M and I went into Hong Kong to renew my visa, get his HK ID and then pick up supplies at the mission home. Since American's can only stay in Macau a total of 60 days unless they have special permission, I will have to leave Macau in 20 days time and then again 10 days later, at which point I will have to leave for good. Since transfers are 64 days, I'm praying that as we continue on down the road I will be able to get a special "Black Stamp" that would allow me to stay until I finish my mission. So that's all on the horizon right now.

This past Sunday was a great day for us. We had 2 investigators in church and it was Branch Conference. President Hawks and the mission presidency came out and each of the three of them took a different hour of the 3-hour block. President Hawks started us off in Sacrament Meeting and really powerfully invited the members to grasp onto the idea of "Zion" being both a place and a people. With President Holland having been in Macau about 3 months ago and dedicating the land for missionary work he quoted some of those promises in regards to the growth and potential of Macau. There are 2 small branches right now but with the vision that an Apostle of the Lord has for this place, there will one day be stakes in Macau and a temple. It's all very exciting and being a missionary and sitting in the midst of the members and investigators it really impacted me. He finished his thoughts by encouraging investigators to hold on to the gospel and build their foundations. I think it was really good for those that were in attendance.

After church there was a baptismal service for Tomson C. He is a power-house. The whole ceremony went exactly as it should and afterwards he shared his testimony. He talked about learning the gospel once before but turning from it. Then recently having a strong desire to know the truth and so he called the missionaries up. Through meeting with the missionaries he found that his questions were resolved. However, much like Joseph Smith he wanted to investigate other churches and see if there was something more. He talked about the peace that he found in the Book of Mormon and that regardless of what his friends and family said about this church being a cult he had a witness from the Spirit that it was truth and that it was good. So prepared! I was so impressed by his comments and the insights that he has. Even before being baptized he was with the missionaries almost daily and would attend "less-active finding" activities with the missionaries where he would share his testimony and invite these members to come back. He'll be a powerful influence in Macau for good if he will continue to endure! And all this from a mere 16 year old boy!

It's been a great week and really highlighted by the events of this past weekend. We're looking forward to another week full of miracles! Best of luck to all of you in your missionary efforts!

Love,
Elder Siebach

BTW, today for P-Day we went to one of the buffets in the Sands Casino. Super good. Super stuffed, but the food I ate that was new and exotic was snails--yum!

Slamming Doors? Slamming Tim-Tams!

Dear Friends and Family,

First of all, Happy Mother's Day! Love you Mom! Things have been a whirlwind this past week. The days just seemed like they took care of themselves. I haven't really formulated any thoughts for this week's letter since yesterday I called home and shared an hour's worth of thoughts. It was so great to talk to the family!! Ya'll sound great. Good luck to Sterling in these last couple weeks of pre-mission preparations! 

One of the other real high-lights of the week was the rain! A blessing and a curse. I personally really enjoy rain. Pre-mission, I loved to work in it and to fall asleep to it. As a missionary I only like to fall asleep to it :) It's hard to keep a maintained look in monsoon rains. Thankfully we got haircuts last week so as our hair flattened to our foreheads it wasn't in our eyes or over our ears. Since this is my last transfer and I left about 1/2 my clothes in the mission home. I somehow forgot both my umbrella and raincoat in that suitcase. Hmm--not sure what I was thinking there! Elder M has been really good to me, loaning me his umbrella on a number of occasions while he uses a raincoat. He also has a waterproof bag, and so he often carries our copies of the Book of Mormon and weekly planners so that we don't ruin them. The rain was so torrential on some days that when we went outside there was no one for blocks and so we turned back around and went inside and made calls to potential and former investigators until the rain slowed down. Other days we went out anyway and made our way down covered alleyways and under trees to get some relief and attempt a contact. The Lord saw us working and blessed us, and if nothing else, we were able to talk to these people and bear testimony.

Sharing the gospel on the street:)

On Friday the rain was going as hard as I've ever seen it, and with so few covered places we decided to try our luck at "tracting" in apartment buildings. That was quite the experience. Despite that everyone told me, getting into apartments is easier in Macau than it is in Hong Kong! I was a little apprehensive and worried at how the apartment guards would treat us. We smiled at them, and walked through as if we had an appointment or something. They didn't stop us. That was the first tracting miracle. The 2nd was that from the 21st floor (the top) to the 3rd floor (where we stopped that evening) none of the residents complained about our presence and knocking. (Essentially if anyone calls the guards for anything they come up and escort missionaries out. It's typically an unpleasant experience with unfavorable consequences like being banned from housing estates, etc...) So we knocked at each door of those apartments, got a couple of numbers, had a few doors slammed on us, met some Filipina workers who had been previous investigators, and almost taught a man in his apartment doorway. Then on the 4th floor we knocked on the door of some Mainland Construction workers. He opened to us and beckoned us in. In my incredibly poor Mandarin I tried to explain who we were and what we did. He nodded in some sort of approval and then rummaged through his bags to pull out his passport. I'm not sure if he thought the 2 white foreigners were policemen or what. A minute or so later 3 or 4 of his apartment mates come through the door and miraculously one of them spoke some Cantonese. We sat him down and taught a 5-minute Restoration message. Because of the nature of Christian Missionaries and Mainlanders we were unable to get their Mainland cellphone numbers and had to call it at that. We're hoping to go back in a few days and see if we can't find him again.

Speaking of Mainlanders. On Tuesday night we were finding in the rain and came to a park which had a slightly protected area. We approached someone who we could tell was most likely from Mainland and sure enough he was. Although he couldn't speak a lick of Cantonese he spoke fluent English and was once an exchange student in Denmark. Really nice guy named Tyler who lives in Taipa to work in the construction business and build casinos (any Mainlander living in Taipa is employed doing the same thing). He had already done a ton of research on the LDS faith and wanted to schedule to meet with us. We got to teach him Friday evening and then he was at church with us just last night for the English services.

In the middle of the week we were really happy that we were able to meet with a guy named Rex whom we met last week. He is a 21 year old college student and has a lot of interest in the gospel as well as learning English. Really nice guy. We met at the church and he had already read the first couple pages of the Book of Mormon and was looking to learn more about Joseph Smith. We had planned on reading 1 Nephi 1 with him but switched gears and had a really great lesson reading portions on 2 Nephi 3 and talking about how Joseph of Egypt had seen and prophesied of Joseph Smith. He thought that was really cool and we've got him scheduled for church this week!

Wednesday morning we met with John. He's had some challenges in his family for the last month or so and it's been hard to really see him. We've felt pretty helpless ourselves. This past week though we were able to share the Plan of Salvation with him and it went really well. He said he feels that this knowledge will help him and that he feels that as he has been praying for help he has received answers on how to help his family! We just need to get him to pray and get answers about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith too! 

Besides these investigators we are also teaching a girl named A-Fan. She's 21 and also a college student, so we are trying to turn her over to the sister missionaries (don't worry!) She's a very logical thinker but is interested and feels like God is leading her to learn more about Christianity. She came to us this morning with some concerns about whether or not we believe in the Bible, why people are punished for disobedience to God, and what our thoughts towards other Christians are.  We had a really good lesson and I was really grateful for her questions and insights. As we were teaching and answering these questions I had an example come to me that I thought was pretty related to her as well as to all of us. Here it is:

When someone applies for a position of any sort or entrance into a University, for instance, there are requirements. We have to be at a certain level before we are granted admission. If we aren't granted admission it is like a penalty of sorts. There isn't much of an outward struggle, but internally we might be a little bothered. Following the Gospel of Jesus Christ is like trying to get into college where the only admissions exam question is to write your name. It's that simple. Anyone can do it. But people choose not to. So God, in his infinite wisdom and justice doesn't just show them in. When we don't enlist in His army we can't have the full blessings that we would have otherwise received (there are a lot of scriptures along this line in D&C 88:32-33). Nothing earth-shattering, but a simple example that I've been mulling over ever since. Maybe it will help someone understand a little better. We have A-Fan rescheduled for this coming Friday where we hope to be able to read with her, turn her over to the Sister missionaries, and teach her more about the Plan of Salvation.

Good times in Macau!

Now for Friday--my birthday!!! It was good but relatively mundane for the first 16 hours. We knocked doors as I mentioned earlier, it rained, we made some potential calls, and then at 6:30 we went to a Thai restaurant for dinner. We got some Green Curry and Pad Thai. Super tasty! Then we went to the local Dairy Queen (yes they have those here in Macau but not Hong Kong) and got milkshakes. At 7:30 we taught Tyler for the 2nd time and that evening we came home made calls, planned, and at 10 pm the other elders in my apartment had pulled together some money and bought 3 dessert wafer things and then we TimTam slammed! It would take me too long to explain what that is, so I'll have to tell you later, but it was great. And that's how we ushered in my 21st birthday, Macau-Missionary style! Now our apartment has one Elder each who is 21, 20, 19, and 18.

Can you Tim-Tam Slam?

Things are well. We're working hard; probably will continue to find and teach and get people ready for baptism despite the stifling heat/humidity and rain/humidity (notice how no matter what the weather is doing, it is humid!) It's bad here. Some of our clothes, even though they get hung up, stay a little wet and in two days' time start growing a little bit of white mold.

Keep the faith! Work, pray, and seek for missionary moments!

Love,

Elder Siebach

P.S. Pictures to come eventually. Not this week though, sorry.

Working Hard, Seeing Results

Dear Mom, Happy Mother's Day!

It's hard to believe that another half a year has gone by! Just yesterday was Christmas, I swear. Things have been going well in Taipa. Elder M and I are getting along great, and besides the British English versus American English language barrier (haha!) we are completely united in the work. Which there seems to be plenty of that! We end each of our days with thanks to God for the miracles that we witness each day and then crash. It's been a long time since I've been as tired as I am now. I wouldn't want it any other way though. If anything I just want to work harder.

This past week we had a great opportunity to meet with President Hawks as he went around and conducted interviews with each of the missionaries in the mission. We each got about 10 minutes and it was more of a chat than anything else. We talked about the area, the branch, the apartment, and other such things. And as I talked about how it was I just had an overwhelming impression that this is exactly where I am supposed to be. I don't know for whom; whether that is an investigator, my companion, or just for myself. But I know that Taipa is absolutely the right area for me. I expressed a little bit of concern to President Hawks over the fact that I felt that we worked so hard but that we weren't seeing new people in Taipa and he just reassured me by saying, "Elder, I didn't think it would be easy." Which to me was a bit of a relief. If he thought this would have been easy I would have started to question every missionary tactic I've learned in the last 23 months. He said one other thing that really pushed me to want to do even better. And that was that he knows that I am obedient and that I will work hard until the end of my mission. I thought that was quite a compliment. There are 139 other missionaries who would die to be in the position I'm in right now, but, he and the Lord chose me. I don't want to let any of them down and slow down even one bit!

This week we started with lots of finding and were blessed to have a lot of lessons within the first 3/4 days. They didn't all transfer into new investigators though and so that kept us on our feet as we looked for people who would continue to meet with us. By Thursday/Friday we started to really see some things happen. Thursday we spent some time doing our weekly planning and spent a fair amount of time talking about how obedient we were and if we could be even more so. We came up with 2 or 3 things that we are going to work on to stay even more exactly obedient (i.e. not singing anything besides Church music, and not talking about anything that could even remotely construed as post-mission talk.) We also went to the Lord and asked him to bless us as we work to accomplish some of the goals that we have for our companionship this month and this transfer. Friday morning we had Zone Training Meeting and were reminded of the importance of boldly declaring our message when we first interact with potential investigators. With these things in mind we hit the streets and felt that even though we had fewer lessons, they were better lessons in the long-run. It also gave us an opportunity to try these same things on two investigators that we had scheduled, as well as on a potential whom we were able to reschedule and teach at the church.

With our new focuses we felt that we were even more productive and that it helped invite the Spirit in quicker and more powerfully. It was really exciting to be able to work with Elder M that way.

Saturday we had a street display and met a guy named L who wants to meet with us. He's looking for answers to some rather bizarre questions, but also has a spark of interest. Sunday we scheduled R and found out that he had investigated the church 3 years prior. For some reason he had dropped off, but now would like to learn some more and so we will be working with him too. J is still coming along and doing great.

For the time being we're doing well. Working hard, seeing results. We just wish that all the above mentioned people lived in Taipa and not in Macau :P  Ah well, the Lord will provide. Thanks everyone for the birthday messages! I'm looking forward to a good 21st year!

 

Love,

Elder Siebach

Finding, Finding, and More Finding

Dear Friends and Family,

Things are going. Not sure in which direction, but time is ticking and Elder M and I have been working hard. We probably did between 20 and 25 hours of street contacting this past week. Certainly not a mission record but a lot when I consider that for the last 1.5 years of my mission we've had people to teach. I find myself often reflecting on my first few months in the mission when my trainer and I also opened a companionship. I wish that I would have paid a little more attention to what he did and see if there were any things that I could magnify now.

Taipa is a wonderful place to serve. It's an interesting place to serve as well. Macau in and of itself is very separate from the rest of the mission; and considering it's a separate "Special Administrative Region" we can't keep contact through phones with any of the missionaries on that side of the mission. Then throw in that Elder M and I serve the Southern of 2 islands. We are completely isolated from even Macau missionaries who spend all their time on the Macau side. It's a little bit like an undercover mission for me.

We worked and we worked and we worked this week. We were blessed though. We taught 13 street lessons in 4 languages--kind of:) -- Cantonese, English, British English, and broken Mandarin/Cantonese. We contacted about 1000 I would guess (meaning we spoke with them for a minute or more), and got about 50 phone numbers. It could have been really monotonous to be doing so much finding all week but we've been making it fun by finding with a topic scripture in mind. During each companionship study we've looked over what we read during personal study and found one verse or passage that we plan on sharing in any contact we have that day. It's been working well and a good way for us to use the Book of Mormon and make sure that we stay on the same page since, as expected, Elder M doesn't understand everything that we talk about on the street.

Being tourists in Macau--Thanks to Elder M's mom:)

The other thing we did to break up the monotony was to try a few different finding methods. We knocked a few doors, we found in parks, on buses, on streets and side walks, we contacted a guy while he was waiting in a parking lot, and we try to squeeze taking pictures during the water breaks we have. We also did some University finding. We were forewarned by the Mandarin Elders that the 2 Universities in Taipa were a little bit harder for Cantonese contacting. They said that Macau University of Science and Technology is about 90% Mandarin speakers, and that the University of Macau is about 50%. So with those odds we spent 3 hours one day proselyting at UM. They proved to be prophetic. Of the people we contacted, a little over 50% of them were mandarin speakers. Just as we were about to end for that portion of the afternoon though we stopped one girl. She was really willing to talk with us and curious about our message. We shared the Restoration with her, gave her a BoM and rescheduled her for this week. She's Cantonese which is awesome! However, she lives on the Macau side and since she's 21 we'll have to turn her over to the sister missionaries.

That kind of was our week in a nut shell though. We were really blessed to find people to teach but they either live in Mainland and just come down here to work, they live on the Macau side, or they aren't native Cantonese speakers. We haven't struck gold yet... Certainly a learning experience.

During one of the lessons we had this week (it was in English since the guy was from Nepal) we had a girl come up to us and actually ask if she could have our number since she wants to learn more about Christ! We were pretty floored. We're pretty sure she lives in Taipa, but she'll still have to get turned over eventually is our thought. Great story though. I think that's the first time on my mission where someone has come up to me seeking to learn.

One opportunity that we had this week was to go and teach a less-active lesson. Our mission correlator, Brother H, is a fireball. He has so much enthusiasm and really gets missionary work. Every Tuesday evening he has the missionaries come together and tries to get as many members as willing to participate, and sends them off on splits to go teach lessons to members that he has scheduled for us! Because members were short this week, Elder M and I went with one of our Zone Leaders, Elder F, and visited twin 16 year old boys. We had a good conversation with them, but it's sad to see boys that are Grace's age not in the church. I think we did pretty well building a friendship with them and maybe we can help them come back!

This past week we thought we were going to get some member-present lessons, but unfortunately John left Macau this past week because he had some family things come up that he had to take care of. And the only other person that we had scheduled for this week confirmed the morning of the appointment and so we went to the church and she was a no-show. We had a member and everything with us. We eventually were able to get hold of her, (her name is Leslie believe it or not) but she said that her mother-in-law forbade her from coming to meet with us and said many other things that probably shouldn't be written out in a mass letter... sufficeth to say, we probably won't be able to see her for the time being.

We're still working hard. Hopefully I can come back with a nice tan face and pasty white neckline :)

That's all for now folks. Keep us and all other missionaries in your prayers! We need them! I love you all.

Love,

Elder Siebach

-I'll send some pics if the computer will be fast...

P.S.-- By the way I finally got the Easter package this week that you guys sent out! It's delicious! Thanks:)

Ou Mun Baby! Welcome to Macau!

Dear friends and family,

I'M IN OU MUN (pronounced "oh moon") -- that's how they say Macau! For the last 5 months I've been pretty certain that I would end my mission in the New Territories as a Zone Leader. I wouldn't have complained much considering that with that comes the privilege to meet with President Hawks regularly and eat Sister Hawks' homemade cooking. However, those thoughts were gloriously pushed aside as I was given a new assignment to open a new companionship out in Macau! All I knew was that I would be training, and most likely I would be training the incoming Irishman or the Englishman since they get visas that allow them to stay out in Macau for 6 months at a time while the rest of us just get 2 months. 

With new companion, Elder M from Rugby, England

Come Thursday morning I was in the Kowloon Tong mission home and was promptly assigned Elder M, a brand new 18 year old missionary from Rugby, England! We were hurriedly rushed into a mission van and driven down to the ferry pier where we then spent the next half hour buying tickets for the 10 Elders and Sisters that were going out to Macau that day.

Hong Kong - Macau Turbo-Jet

 We got our tickets, boarded the TurboJet catamaran and were in Macau by 1:30 pm. As we were pulling into port I was just flabbergasted by the view. It looks like Las Vegas was transplanted to the coast. Add in the fact that they moved the Seattle Space Needle across the ocean and plopped it on the shoreline. Then add in Portuguese street signs and European architecture and that is Macau. It's a beautiful city that is just a conglomeration of every place and race of people I have ever seen. (Slight side fact, almost half of the people we have contacted for the last 4 days are either of Vietnamese or Filipino decent.)

Macau Sky Tower

Macau City Center

Elder M and I were graciously picked up by Elder T (a former flat mate of mine from about a year and a half ago -- I was in Chaiwan and he was a Mandarin Elder in TKO) and taken back to our apartment. The wheel on my luggage couldn't handle the European-style cobblestone roadway and so it rolled off every 50 yards or so. We made it home and took an inventory of our surroundings and then promptly planned out the rest of the day. 

Famous cobblestone streets in Macau

There are 7 companionships serving in Macau right now: 4 of those are Cantonese, 1 is Tagalog/Cebuano, 1 is English, and 1 is Mandarin. Our companionship is in charge of one island called Taipa. Taipa is 2 miles wide by 3 miles long and only about 1/3 of it is developed. It is what we call "New Macau" since it is where all the new growth is happening. New Casinos are going up and new housing complexes are being built in the vicinity. 

Our first night together we explored a park and then got hopelessly lost while trying to get home later that night. We finally made it back and called the only 2 former investigators that live in Taipa. One was a guy named John who we scheduled for the next day, and then got a member, Parker, to come fellowship for us. (Another side story; Parker W was found 2 years ago by my buddy Elder Rostrom and baptized soon after that!) He is a stud.

Our lesson with John went splendidly. We were really able to get to know him and Elder M did a great job extending an invitation to baptism. He accepted! So with less than 24 hours under our belts in our new area we had a member-present lesson, a new investigator, and a baptismal date! He also rescheduled to meet 2 days later for church!

After that lesson the 4 Cantonese companionships and 1 Mandarin companionship had our branch correlation meeting. We all serve in the Macau 1st Branch. Following our meeting we took a bus to a plaza on the Macau side and had a Branch missionary display. There were 2 or 3 tents and about a dozen different banners and pass-along materials. There were probably about 15 members with us! It felt so good to be working that closely with branch leaders and members who I had met mere moments before! 

That evening as we were heading back home with the Mandarin Elders we realized that we had grabbed the wrong keys and therefore couldn't get into our apartment, so we turned around and went back into the Macau side and slept on the floor of the other Elder's apartment. I've never heard anything quite like the chorus of 8 snoring missionaries all in one 10x15 square room!

The next morning we headed back down just in time for a locksmith to come and help us take care of it. That day we did a little more exploring of our island and realized just how many tourists there really are and how ineffective it can be to find within even half a mile of the casino strip. That evening we had a branch Easter activity, and although we didn't have any investigators in attendance, we went anyway to meet with the members and introduce ourselves. By evening we were absolutely beat and crashed. Then at 2:30 AM there was an absolutely deafening crack and I looked over at the top of the other bunk bed where by companion was sleeping and saw him at a 45 degree angle crushing the legs of Elder T right below him. Elder T instinctively threw up his arms as Elder M rolled off of the bed and the other end of the bed fell on his head! Miraculously no one was hurt in anyway but the bed frame had finally given way! The last two nights Elder M had to sleep on the floor. At 2:30 AM that was just about the funniest thing that any one of us had experienced and so it took about an hour to fall back asleep and get over our fits of laughter. 

Welcome to Church in Macau!...in English, Chinese, and Portuguese:)

Sunday was a great day. John really did show up for church! He seemed to have a really good experience and the branch members were very friendly to him.

The Lord really has blessed us this past week! We were able to find John again, teach a lot of street lessons to FAMILIES, safety, and good attitudes as we fight the cockroach infestation in our apartment (I'm not kidding!). We still don't have fresh water to drink or gas to cook our food or heat water for showers, but hopefully that will be something we can fix today during P-Day. We already set up a new bed to replace the broken one this morning. 

Things are well. I'm enjoying the change in scenery and training again.

Love, 

Elder Siebach