Hey everyone!
This week was an awesome, really busy week filled with strange smells because I tried STINKY TOFU! It was actually fairly bland for how bad it stank. I really was kinda disappointed with it because I thought it would be much more horrifying. I would eat it again if people bought it for me, but I think for myself I will not waste my moeny on it. Really not that great. There was the revenge of the tofu though. Everytime I burped the entire day long, I would have the most disgusting taste in my mouth. Seriously, it tasted like the stuff smelled. I would burp silently and then apologize to my companion because of the rank-ness.
We will finally have someone baptized in the Danshui Ward! Our investigator, Zhen4 Jm will be entering the fold of God this Saturday. I am so excited! Elder Benson was selected to do the honors and I will be giving the talk for her service. I am nearly dying of anticipation. It's the first time on the island!
We saw some really awesome phone miracles this week. We'd be calling someone and their phone would be off but we would need to talk to them, so I would say a prayer and sure enough, even though the power had been previously off, the next time we called, just minutes later, they would pick up the first ring. I was totally blown away by the stark miraculity (almost sure that's not an actual word) of it all. It was so cool to see that the Lord will really support His servants and make a way for them to succeed.
Speaking of succeeding, I have been making remarkable strides in finishing my Phase 1 which is a language study tool. I had a goal to finish it by the end of this transfer, which is today. I have not quite hit that goal, but I will be done this week for sure. I have really seen miracles as I have tried harder to do my part. The Lord has blessed my knowledge of this language to increase so much in just this week alone.
Oh, we got move calls this week and both my companion and I were very surprised that we are both going to be staying here. I am very pleased because I wouldn't mind seeing the fruits of my labors all get baptized.
The girl situation has gotten a lot better this week. They are still after me like crazy, but someone must have talked to the worst of the bunch because this Sunday she didn't try to hang onto my hand for minutes when shaking it, didn't try to cozy into me, pet my arm and best of all, apologized when she kinda did. I think that is a small miracle and blessing because I'll be honest, I was really freaked out by her and it was really affecting the way that I interacting with her. I feel like I can love her more if I am not so terrified of her.
Well, that's all from me this week! I love you all, over and out!
Elder Siebert
Monday, March 28, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Weekly Report: Sadly, Still Dry
Hey everyone!
I am reporting live from Danshui to let you know...that unfortunately, our baptismal candidate for this upcoming week failed, but there is a lot of hope for him and I think that he will be getting the big dunk soon!
Due to the craziness in schedule, we haven't really been able to do a lot with food this week, but I did manage to make a HUGE pot of Dong1gua1 cha2 with milk added into it. We got the Donggua cha from this one investigator who gets it free from his company. There is enough to make something like 20,000 ccs. That's a TON of drink. Man. I feel the pressure. But as for the rating for this one, 4 magnificent melons out of 5.
The week has flown. We are teaching something like 20 investigators, which really keeps us on our toes. I realized something the other day as I was studying: as long as I keep it mostly centered around the investigators, everything goes much better for the day. Let's face it, I am not here for me. I will be changed and grow through these years, but the main purpose is to help the investigators and that means spending most of my time thinking about them. I've noticed that I have the spirit more and that I am happier as I center my life more on others.
This week we had an awesome teaching experience with a Chen Jiemei and her daughter. Her daughter, Jie1Yi3 is not baptized yet, but Chen Jm had been inactive for nearly eight years. We started out teaching more to chen jiemei because she was majorly concerned that the only reason that we wanted to come over was to teach JieYi the lessons and baptize her. I realized that Chen Jm needed the gospel shared with her just as much as her daughter though. We pretty much focus it fifty-fifty. The other day I had a distinct impression to share in depth about the atonement for Chen Jm. When we did and I shared Alma 36 and testimony, I could see that she was really feeling the spirit and that JieYi could feel it too. I invited her to be baptized and we ended up setting the date for her birthday 5/2. It was awesome. Chen Jm was crying with joy. I was elated all day long. I really have a testimony as we focus on others and do all we can to serve them, the Lord will step in with all the help that we need.
That's about all I have for this week, I love you all, but am alarmed that I am not getting mail from my no-doubt countless readers. Hee hee.
Love,
Elder Siebert
PS Oh, I forgot, last week, we went to this all you can eat hot pot place and pretty much everything else you'd ever want to eat place for Elder Benson's birthday. Some members in his former area invited him to go and I went along and it only cost a total of 200 NT for me. They had all the meats and stuff and I literally ate no fewer than 8 platters of meat by myself, along with a whole plate of the hot pot stuff, a plate of fruits and desserts (dipped in the chocolate fountain), 4 coca-colas, and....ready for it? 7 Haagen Das ice cream cones with 3 scoops a piece (except the last one which had four). Yeah. We were there for nearly two hours and I didn't eat until lunch the next day. Pretty much it was a 24 hour meal. It was pretty crazy and delicious. I was appeased. I probably have to frustrate my dad and give it 6 bulging bellies out of 5.
I am reporting live from Danshui to let you know...that unfortunately, our baptismal candidate for this upcoming week failed, but there is a lot of hope for him and I think that he will be getting the big dunk soon!
Due to the craziness in schedule, we haven't really been able to do a lot with food this week, but I did manage to make a HUGE pot of Dong1gua1 cha2 with milk added into it. We got the Donggua cha from this one investigator who gets it free from his company. There is enough to make something like 20,000 ccs. That's a TON of drink. Man. I feel the pressure. But as for the rating for this one, 4 magnificent melons out of 5.
The week has flown. We are teaching something like 20 investigators, which really keeps us on our toes. I realized something the other day as I was studying: as long as I keep it mostly centered around the investigators, everything goes much better for the day. Let's face it, I am not here for me. I will be changed and grow through these years, but the main purpose is to help the investigators and that means spending most of my time thinking about them. I've noticed that I have the spirit more and that I am happier as I center my life more on others.
This week we had an awesome teaching experience with a Chen Jiemei and her daughter. Her daughter, Jie1Yi3 is not baptized yet, but Chen Jm had been inactive for nearly eight years. We started out teaching more to chen jiemei because she was majorly concerned that the only reason that we wanted to come over was to teach JieYi the lessons and baptize her. I realized that Chen Jm needed the gospel shared with her just as much as her daughter though. We pretty much focus it fifty-fifty. The other day I had a distinct impression to share in depth about the atonement for Chen Jm. When we did and I shared Alma 36 and testimony, I could see that she was really feeling the spirit and that JieYi could feel it too. I invited her to be baptized and we ended up setting the date for her birthday 5/2. It was awesome. Chen Jm was crying with joy. I was elated all day long. I really have a testimony as we focus on others and do all we can to serve them, the Lord will step in with all the help that we need.
That's about all I have for this week, I love you all, but am alarmed that I am not getting mail from my no-doubt countless readers. Hee hee.
Love,
Elder Siebert
PS Oh, I forgot, last week, we went to this all you can eat hot pot place and pretty much everything else you'd ever want to eat place for Elder Benson's birthday. Some members in his former area invited him to go and I went along and it only cost a total of 200 NT for me. They had all the meats and stuff and I literally ate no fewer than 8 platters of meat by myself, along with a whole plate of the hot pot stuff, a plate of fruits and desserts (dipped in the chocolate fountain), 4 coca-colas, and....ready for it? 7 Haagen Das ice cream cones with 3 scoops a piece (except the last one which had four). Yeah. We were there for nearly two hours and I didn't eat until lunch the next day. Pretty much it was a 24 hour meal. It was pretty crazy and delicious. I was appeased. I probably have to frustrate my dad and give it 6 bulging bellies out of 5.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Weekly Report: Spring Cleaning
Hey everyone!
This week was great. I want you all to know that we weathered the massive, 100cm tsunami here in Taiwan and that we are just fine, though all our members thought we were crazy to be going out that night.
The food for this week was not too interesting. I did make my own curry though, which was the best that I have had here on the island. My companion gives it two thumbs up too, especially since it's really cheap that way. I would have to give it a nice 4 cheap curry concoctions out of 5.
We had a lot of time that we had to spend organizing all of our info this week. I kept thinking of people through the week that we needed to call, so we overhauled our whiteboard with a sharpie and made a grid to keep track of everyone. It's pretty amazing. Since our board is so big, we even have areas to put in which lessons they have heard so we know all this stuff at a glance. I also have been going hardcore on the records this week and have finally completely caught the area book up. That thing is beautiful now and has sooooo much in it. Sorry to toot my own horn.
This week we had a seventy come to our mission and give us training. Guess who got called a few days before and got told that he was going to have an interview with Elder Perkins? Yup. Me. I was so nervous, but the interview was great. I was able to ask him questions I had about the work and talk to him about being a missionary and get some great training. Best of all, I got a hug afterwards. I felt so holy, having hugged a seventy.
We had some amazing lessons this week. There is one of our investigators, Guo1 You3 Ting5 who has been really struggling because she's been hearing stuff that she believes is true from this devil church, Yi1Guang1Dao4. They are seriously the epitome of the devil's church. Anyway, we had an amazing lesson with her where we were able to help her feel the spirit and stressed the importance of using prayer to spiritually confirm the truth of everything. It was amazing!
I have also been introduced to the fail proof way to feel the spirit. Elder Perkins shared this with me: all you have to do is to remember the Savior, what he did for us, his teachings and ministry and the spirit will come. I tried this out a couple times this week and I was shocked at how filled with the spirit I was in just a few seconds. It really, really works. So if you find that you need the guidance from the spirit this week, just remember the Savior and what he did for you and what that means to you and I promise you that it will come.
I love you all,
Elder Siebert
P.S. Kohl, I think it was you that was the "on toast" person, so for you this week I put curry on toast. Shockingly good. I took a picture for you. I'll send it when I can.
This week was great. I want you all to know that we weathered the massive, 100cm tsunami here in Taiwan and that we are just fine, though all our members thought we were crazy to be going out that night.
The food for this week was not too interesting. I did make my own curry though, which was the best that I have had here on the island. My companion gives it two thumbs up too, especially since it's really cheap that way. I would have to give it a nice 4 cheap curry concoctions out of 5.
We had a lot of time that we had to spend organizing all of our info this week. I kept thinking of people through the week that we needed to call, so we overhauled our whiteboard with a sharpie and made a grid to keep track of everyone. It's pretty amazing. Since our board is so big, we even have areas to put in which lessons they have heard so we know all this stuff at a glance. I also have been going hardcore on the records this week and have finally completely caught the area book up. That thing is beautiful now and has sooooo much in it. Sorry to toot my own horn.
This week we had a seventy come to our mission and give us training. Guess who got called a few days before and got told that he was going to have an interview with Elder Perkins? Yup. Me. I was so nervous, but the interview was great. I was able to ask him questions I had about the work and talk to him about being a missionary and get some great training. Best of all, I got a hug afterwards. I felt so holy, having hugged a seventy.
We had some amazing lessons this week. There is one of our investigators, Guo1 You3 Ting5 who has been really struggling because she's been hearing stuff that she believes is true from this devil church, Yi1Guang1Dao4. They are seriously the epitome of the devil's church. Anyway, we had an amazing lesson with her where we were able to help her feel the spirit and stressed the importance of using prayer to spiritually confirm the truth of everything. It was amazing!
I have also been introduced to the fail proof way to feel the spirit. Elder Perkins shared this with me: all you have to do is to remember the Savior, what he did for us, his teachings and ministry and the spirit will come. I tried this out a couple times this week and I was shocked at how filled with the spirit I was in just a few seconds. It really, really works. So if you find that you need the guidance from the spirit this week, just remember the Savior and what he did for you and what that means to you and I promise you that it will come.
I love you all,
Elder Siebert
P.S. Kohl, I think it was you that was the "on toast" person, so for you this week I put curry on toast. Shockingly good. I took a picture for you. I'll send it when I can.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Weekly Report: March Miracle-ness
Hey everyone!
This week was an amazing week filled with miracles, but I guess that's pretty much every week. I just want to tell everyone right now though that you can notice all sorts of miracles in your life as long as you take a moment to look for them. I think that a lot of the time they are happening right under our noses and we are too busy being preoccupied with something else to notice. My challenge is not to take them for granted, but every night in your prayers, try to express gratitude for a least one miracle that you saw that day, no matter how small it is.
Food Critique: Zha2 Jiang4. This stuff is like, fermented soybean paste. My companion wanted to know if it would be good on toast, so he smeared a little on. He kept going on about how good it was so I ended up trying a little bit too and then fell in love with it. It is a wonderful, super cheap, flavor adding addition to toast. I give it 4 tantalized, toasty tastebuds out of 5.
This week, I also used the Zha2 Jiang4 to make the real sauce stuff that you put on noodles with ground pork and all that wonderful jazz for this week's Sunday dinner. I have to say, that I made a pretty delicious meal. No joke.
This week we saw an awesome miracle with one of our investigators, a Liu2 dx. He's super awesome and is planning on getting baptized on the 26th of March. We planned on talking to him about the nature of God and then watching Finding Happiness and the Restoration DVD comibined. We then started talking to him about it afterwards and he told us that he wished there was a way that he could really know that what we were sharing was true. He was ready to just believe it and that was it. We let him know that through the Spirit, we could know for sure, without a single doubt that what we had shared was true. We related DC 9:8-9 to him and asked him to first decide, then pray about it. I felt very blessed because if we hadn't felt the inspiration to show him that DVD and talk about what we had, i don't know that we would have encountered his question. I am so glad that we prayed to know how to help him and then were able to. We also saw a cool miracle because we needed to meet with one of our investigators but our male member had canceled just before. We wouldn't have been able to meet with our investigator because she's female, so we prayed that we could have it work out and started calling like crazy. We couldn't find anyone to help. We went to the church anyway, mostly hoping someone would be able to do it, and then to tell her we had to reschedule if we couldn't get anyone. We got there and she was late arriving and no one could help us. I looked through my planner at the day's plan because I was trying to think of what lessons would still work out. Then, as I was looking at it, I had the feeling to call another investigator, Tang1 dx and ask him to come earlier and to have him be there for the lesson and then tell him that we would have our lesson with him right after, earlier than scheduled. We got a hold of him and sure enough, he was able to come. Me and Elder Benson were eccstatic. It was an amazing experience. I feel really blessed to always have such a wonderful Father in Heaven who is always ready to bless me.
Well folks, I think that's about it for the week, since it was so short. Oh! I found out that we have an approved movie list here in Taipei, so I guess for today we are going to be watching Toy Story 3. I am so excited.
Love,
Elder Siebert
This week was an amazing week filled with miracles, but I guess that's pretty much every week. I just want to tell everyone right now though that you can notice all sorts of miracles in your life as long as you take a moment to look for them. I think that a lot of the time they are happening right under our noses and we are too busy being preoccupied with something else to notice. My challenge is not to take them for granted, but every night in your prayers, try to express gratitude for a least one miracle that you saw that day, no matter how small it is.
Food Critique: Zha2 Jiang4. This stuff is like, fermented soybean paste. My companion wanted to know if it would be good on toast, so he smeared a little on. He kept going on about how good it was so I ended up trying a little bit too and then fell in love with it. It is a wonderful, super cheap, flavor adding addition to toast. I give it 4 tantalized, toasty tastebuds out of 5.
This week, I also used the Zha2 Jiang4 to make the real sauce stuff that you put on noodles with ground pork and all that wonderful jazz for this week's Sunday dinner. I have to say, that I made a pretty delicious meal. No joke.
This week we saw an awesome miracle with one of our investigators, a Liu2 dx. He's super awesome and is planning on getting baptized on the 26th of March. We planned on talking to him about the nature of God and then watching Finding Happiness and the Restoration DVD comibined. We then started talking to him about it afterwards and he told us that he wished there was a way that he could really know that what we were sharing was true. He was ready to just believe it and that was it. We let him know that through the Spirit, we could know for sure, without a single doubt that what we had shared was true. We related DC 9:8-9 to him and asked him to first decide, then pray about it. I felt very blessed because if we hadn't felt the inspiration to show him that DVD and talk about what we had, i don't know that we would have encountered his question. I am so glad that we prayed to know how to help him and then were able to. We also saw a cool miracle because we needed to meet with one of our investigators but our male member had canceled just before. We wouldn't have been able to meet with our investigator because she's female, so we prayed that we could have it work out and started calling like crazy. We couldn't find anyone to help. We went to the church anyway, mostly hoping someone would be able to do it, and then to tell her we had to reschedule if we couldn't get anyone. We got there and she was late arriving and no one could help us. I looked through my planner at the day's plan because I was trying to think of what lessons would still work out. Then, as I was looking at it, I had the feeling to call another investigator, Tang1 dx and ask him to come earlier and to have him be there for the lesson and then tell him that we would have our lesson with him right after, earlier than scheduled. We got a hold of him and sure enough, he was able to come. Me and Elder Benson were eccstatic. It was an amazing experience. I feel really blessed to always have such a wonderful Father in Heaven who is always ready to bless me.
Well folks, I think that's about it for the week, since it was so short. Oh! I found out that we have an approved movie list here in Taipei, so I guess for today we are going to be watching Toy Story 3. I am so excited.
Love,
Elder Siebert
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Weekly Report: Ups and Downs (the hills)
Hey everyone!
Sorry this week's email is a little late. We are having temple day today, so we didn't have our P-day this week on Monday. I am super excited for the temple. It's been a while.
My companion and I finished our "Let's Pillage" shirts this week. I am rather pleased with the results. They are very shuai4. Seriously though, I think it was the experience that made the shirt for me rather than the shirt itself. We just kept chipping away at the shirt during our spare few minutes before bed or meals. It's been really fun.
Food review for the week is something that I don't actually know the name for. We went to one of our investigator's restaurants though and had this special soup that they make there. It's supposed to be SO SO spicy, but I thought, though it was spicy, that it wasn't too bad. It had an amazing flavor though. Probably one of the best meals I have had since I got here, despite pretty much all the food being really great. 5 spicy specialties out of 5. I feel like such a bandwagon hopper.
This week we went and saw the Lin2 (dog) family. They seriously have 14 LARGE dogs. We walked in and had to sit on this one couch and let them chill out and get used to us for a few minutes before we could go on with our visit. I got warned to wear crappy clothes, and I am glad that I did, because I was covered in dog oils, hair and saliva when I left. I even took a tongue to the inside of my ear. Nasty. Large dogs suck. The Lin Family is great though. They made this superb Ga1li2 rice for us and then we taught them a little. They are so ready if they would only understand that it's not just every church that is good, but that our church has the fullness. We'll keep working on it. It was really funny afterwards though because we gave Gou2 (literally dog) ba4ba a hug after, then Gou2 ma1ma1 (both of these are the Lins) gave us both a hug and then the girl, Lydia gave Elder Benson this big hug and he was freaking out about it for about 10 minutes after because he has gone so long without being hugged. It was hilarious.
I have encountered the terrifying xiao2jie3 problems. There are a couple investigators that will just call to try and talk to me. I always make Elder Benson call them to set up and whatnot, but then they always ask to talk to me and being the jerk (just kidding) he is, Elder Benson will oblige. They are terrifying! They are always just super flirty and I don't know how to deal with them. I'm going to start having to wear Eau de Garbage to ward them off. Some of the member girls are actually onto me now too. Elder Benson says he's relieved to have someone more shuai4 than him around so that he doesn't have to be the object of their affections anymore. I am not amused. Pray for me.
We have been able to see so many miracles this week. Several people called us and just set themselves up to be taught by us. It was awesome. We were able to catch people home that were so prepared and just needed a little direction. We have no joke, 13 baptismal dates that we are working with, almost all of which are for this month. It is absolute madness. We had an investigator call yesterday (incidently, she's one of the ones who is hounding me) who told us how she'd basically been quan2ing the jiao4 or proselyting. She'd been sharing with her friends about the gospel and then called to let us know how she'd felt the spirit as she'd done it. It was an amazing experience to hear about. I don't know that I am doing anything special to be getting all these miracles, but I am so amazed seeing them all happen in my life. Keep plugging away everyone! Also, keep sending me mail, because I really do read it all, even if I don't always have much time to write back. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Siebert
Sorry this week's email is a little late. We are having temple day today, so we didn't have our P-day this week on Monday. I am super excited for the temple. It's been a while.
My companion and I finished our "Let's Pillage" shirts this week. I am rather pleased with the results. They are very shuai4. Seriously though, I think it was the experience that made the shirt for me rather than the shirt itself. We just kept chipping away at the shirt during our spare few minutes before bed or meals. It's been really fun.
Food review for the week is something that I don't actually know the name for. We went to one of our investigator's restaurants though and had this special soup that they make there. It's supposed to be SO SO spicy, but I thought, though it was spicy, that it wasn't too bad. It had an amazing flavor though. Probably one of the best meals I have had since I got here, despite pretty much all the food being really great. 5 spicy specialties out of 5. I feel like such a bandwagon hopper.
This week we went and saw the Lin2 (dog) family. They seriously have 14 LARGE dogs. We walked in and had to sit on this one couch and let them chill out and get used to us for a few minutes before we could go on with our visit. I got warned to wear crappy clothes, and I am glad that I did, because I was covered in dog oils, hair and saliva when I left. I even took a tongue to the inside of my ear. Nasty. Large dogs suck. The Lin Family is great though. They made this superb Ga1li2 rice for us and then we taught them a little. They are so ready if they would only understand that it's not just every church that is good, but that our church has the fullness. We'll keep working on it. It was really funny afterwards though because we gave Gou2 (literally dog) ba4ba a hug after, then Gou2 ma1ma1 (both of these are the Lins) gave us both a hug and then the girl, Lydia gave Elder Benson this big hug and he was freaking out about it for about 10 minutes after because he has gone so long without being hugged. It was hilarious.
I have encountered the terrifying xiao2jie3 problems. There are a couple investigators that will just call to try and talk to me. I always make Elder Benson call them to set up and whatnot, but then they always ask to talk to me and being the jerk (just kidding) he is, Elder Benson will oblige. They are terrifying! They are always just super flirty and I don't know how to deal with them. I'm going to start having to wear Eau de Garbage to ward them off. Some of the member girls are actually onto me now too. Elder Benson says he's relieved to have someone more shuai4 than him around so that he doesn't have to be the object of their affections anymore. I am not amused. Pray for me.
We have been able to see so many miracles this week. Several people called us and just set themselves up to be taught by us. It was awesome. We were able to catch people home that were so prepared and just needed a little direction. We have no joke, 13 baptismal dates that we are working with, almost all of which are for this month. It is absolute madness. We had an investigator call yesterday (incidently, she's one of the ones who is hounding me) who told us how she'd basically been quan2ing the jiao4 or proselyting. She'd been sharing with her friends about the gospel and then called to let us know how she'd felt the spirit as she'd done it. It was an amazing experience to hear about. I don't know that I am doing anything special to be getting all these miracles, but I am so amazed seeing them all happen in my life. Keep plugging away everyone! Also, keep sending me mail, because I really do read it all, even if I don't always have much time to write back. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Siebert
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