Great week. Great mission. Great God!

Dear Friends and Family, 

Hot Pot

Things are going splendidly here in Hong Kong. Like too good almost! This week we had a number of members treat us to dinner. I already mentioned the Lin Family on Sunday, then Bishop Wong on Monday (we had An-- and one of the Sister's investigators, A-Y in attendance), and then on Tuesday we went to the Cheng Family's for dinner. All the dinners were super good and great opportunities to get to know members and help some of the RC's build relationships. Al-- was at the Cheng's with us. Al--'s lesson particularly stands out to me because as we were sharing the message it occurred to me that he is the same age at the Cheng's. He happens to be unmarried of course, however, he is at the same road in his life and I feel that Brother and Sister Cheng's testimonies did a lot to resolve his concerns. He is doing well. Loves reading the Book of Mormon, and yesterday he got the Aaronic Priesthood! I've loved being able to work with that man! He's more of an example to me than I am to him for sure. He's really showed that he puts aside the 'good' things (like money, friends, etc...) and consecrates himself to the Lord! The only problem with that meal was that it was Hot Pot... We didn't tell the Cheng's and so when we got there everything was just cooking away. We made sure that we ate the vegetables, and already cooked items like tofu and hot dog. I'm not exactly sure why Hot Pot is banned in this mission but that and uncooked sushi are not allowed. 

On Wednesday we were down in Kowloon Tong for the Mission Leadership Council and that was another great experience for us to present our goals and actuals for January and our goals and plans and actions for February. For the next quarter year we will have a focus in the zone of baptism (meaning talking about it in every lesson, extending dates by the second lesson, and learning how to help investigators overcome their fears of baptism. We will also be working to use the Book of Mormon more effectively (carrying it on the street, sharing at least one verse per lesson, building faith in Christ through the Book of Mormon and answering concerns through the Book of Mormon. Lastly we will be working on being more obedient to planning (i.e. planning for 30 minutes each night, sticking to plans, and using our Daily Planners better). We hope by doing these things we can consecrate our time and our efforts to the Lord. And have a greater measure of the Spirit. We presented all this in Zone Training this past week and it was great to see the fire of the missionaries in the zone. Previously they didn't really understand why we had Zone goals and what it meant to them, but I really feel like we were able to build unity and enthusiasm. Our baptismal dates jumped by 5 in the zone within the 2 days of the meeting! 

After that meeting we rushed back to our area where we then met with A-W and her son R. They just immigrated from Mainland and so we went to their apartment thinking that we would try and teach about prayer and see what we could do to help them adjust. It was a great lesson and they committed to pray and then came to our English class later that same evening. They were also both at church yesterday and seemed to really be enjoying themselves! Good strong spirit at church! We will have to turn them over soon though because their Mandarin is better than their Cantonese. That's OK though; it's all the same work! 

That same evening (Friday) we then met with Sister C (the lady we brought to church last week). She invited us to her home where she then treated us to a spectacular Chinese dinner! Lots of different meats and steamed veggies. Very tasty! Finished it off with sweet potato soup for dessert. That was a wonderful environment to see her and her 2 children in. Much more relaxed than on the street and we met her husband, Mr. L as well. Due to time constraints we were unable to get a formal lesson with them, however, we left a Restoration pamphlet and we will be working to get over there is next week and share more! Talk about a miracle though! I want this family to have this gospel so badly. Haha, its keeping me up at night just thinking of how we can help some of these FAMIILIES meet and 'experiment upon the word.' 

That evening we went on Exchanges with one of the Elders companionships that is struggling in our zone. It was a great opportunity to work with them. I stayed in Tuen Mun and on Saturday we had some finding opportunities, taught a lesson, and were about to start doing some LA finding with a member when yet another miracle just fell into our laps! We were with our member in the elevator going up to an LA's apartment. I started talking to the lady who was also in the elevator and our member, Brother W, just turned to her and said, "Hey, can we come share a message with you." Without hesitating she said, "Yes." I almost didn't believe it. We rode up with her to her floor and then spent the next 45 minutes talking about the differences between our church and the Catholics. (She was born Catholic but doesn't really practice.) We were able to share our testimonies of the Restoration and give her a Book of Mormon. Got all her contact information and will be contacting her for follow up! It was crazy. The Elder I was with was just like, "Does this kind of stuff normally happen here?" Wonderful to be able to work and learn with him! 

On Sunday it was super cold and rainy. Thankfully we had 4 people at church with us, including A-W and R! Great testimonies and Elder P got up and bore his for the last time. I also felt prompted to do so and shared about what Elder Perry said recently about how the time in which we live ranks up with the greatest events in history. This time is comparable with the 1st Vision, the Restoration of the Priesthood, the Book of Mormon etc... It was humbling to think about that this week and realize that when people ask me one day if I serve a mission I can say, "Yes, I served when they lowered the age; I served when the Hastening of the Work began!" 

Hastening the Work

Last night was My Conversion Story Fireside and I was able to see a lot of the RC's and missionaries that I've come close with over the last 1.5 years. I also had the privilege to translate some of the testimonies that were born. Great night. Great week. Great mission. Great God! 

Love, 

Elder Siebach

P.S. Mom, I really want to meet your friend who works in Central Market! I want to keep up my language skills. 

P.P.S. Congratulations to Enoch! That's so cool! I know a few guys who were in TaiChung but by the time he gets there they will probably all be home.