District Siebert 2.0

Hey everyone!
This is my last week for a while at least of being a zone leader. It
has been a fun haul and I have learned a lot. It's been a blast going
on exchanges with all my missionaries and now I will have far fewer
missionaries to look after--5! I am going to greenie-bust yet again,
for the third time actually. It'll be fun. I am going to Xindian and
it's going to be an adventure! Let's see if we can end the drought and
get someone baptized!

Verbatim:
"Whew, that was a very strawberry burp" (me)
"you smelled that one?" (Elder Kasparian)
"yup"
"Toots loudly in the restaurant. That's not gonna smell like
strawberries" (Elder Kasparian)

Sorry so many of these are about a certain bodily function, but Elder
Kasparian is a monster sometimes.

"You NEBRASKAN!!!!" --me on Elder Kasparian's flatulence
" Hi, this is Elder Shi, your new companion! No, I am your companion!
Fine, I'll put him on" --Elder Kasparian trying to pull the wool on my
new companion
"My singing voice is very unique, it's not always good in the air for
everyone to hear"--benjamin, a carribean investigator

By the way, people thought that I was a beast this sunday when I gave
my talk because I read a super hard scripture and also used a couple
really good idioms. Thank you mommy!

This week I saw an amazing miracle. We were riding along and I saw
this guy sitting outside a seven smoking. I had the impression that I
needed to talk to him and share with him. I said hello and asked how
he was doing. He told me that he was struggling with some personal
issues at the time. I assured him that God loves him and that he could
feel his love through baptism. He listened and talked with me as I
shared and I could feel his thirst for the gospel, something maybe
even he wasn't aware of yet. Nonetheless, he willingly set a date to
be baptized on the side of the street and set up for the next day to
meet with us. It was such a cool miracle for me to see. I really could
feel our Father's love for us. The next day when we met with Chen Jun
Hong he came in looking a little downcast, but as we shared his
countenance had the most amazing change. He went from looking a little
down to smilling and really having this glow by the end of the lesson.
I think that it was so good to see that he was willing to listen and
open his heart to the change.

I have also had a lot of miracles this week with people that I
contacted ages back. I got this Brother Wu to come to church yesterday
and meet with us having contacted him in the first week of the
transfer. I also got in touch with a guy that I got last transfer and
he set up and met with us. He was really cool because he told me how
he decided to come over because he could feel that I was trying to be
like Christ. It made me feel really glad that someone noticed because
I felt like a couple times this last week people haven't really
noticed. Though that's sad, it has pushed me to try harder.

I love you all, thanks for all your support!
(especially everyone who writes!)
Elder Siebert

Move Calls Marching Onward

Hey everyone!
This week doesn't bring any new foods unfortunately, but I did find a
place to get spring rolls for 35 NT and they are huge! Seriously, eat
one of those suckers and you are FULL.

Verbatim:
God's gotta be laughing when you toot in a a contact. --Elder Kasparian

Oh my gosh, it smells so bad. Sometimes I go under the sheets to see
how nasty it is. Is that weird? --Elder Kasparian about the toots he
ripped at night

What do you mean lady problems? OH SNAP!--Elder Kasparian about why an
investigator in the zone couldn't be baptized on her date.

I pretended to look up "dog" while he was looking over my shoulder. To
this day, I think he's confused as to why I didn't know the word for
"dog". --Elder Peterson on Elder Alston's habit of looking over his
shoulder everytime he looks up a word.

This week was a blast everyone, I had an awesome time going on
exchanges with some of our great missionaries and I got to be with my
Brother, Elder Peterson--we are both of the seed of Benson. Very fun.
Sounds like good ol' Elder Benson still had some classic "JT" (joshua
todd) in him. Hilarious!

This week we saw a really cool miracle as we were contacting. I was
going down the street and I saw this older guy who was walking towards
me. I felt like I should talk to him so I went up there and started a
conversation. Turns out he's been going to a church for a little while
now. It all started about ten years ago when missionaries invited him
to english class which he didn't go to, but he recently had some
trials and started going to a church. Now, I have contacted him and
he's totally okay to hear the message and be baptized because he was
already prepared. It is so cool to see that God let me find His child
who He has been preparing for over ten years to receive the gospel.
It's a really cool thing to be on a mission and see all these
miracles first hand. I know that God loves me as he loves each and
everyone one of His Children.

I love you all!
Elder Siebert

Back to the Childhood

Hey everyone!
This week brought both cold and glorious weather, stay tuned through
the commercial break for more on the details.

Food:
Green Bean Soup (mung bean): this is my new favorite breakfast. I
started making it on a regular basis this week and have had it a lot.
What can you say about a breakfast high in fiber, protein and
goodness? I give it 3.5 luscious legumes out of 5.

I also had a rice burger this week which was very good. I actually
like it more than a normal burger I think. 4 ricey recreations out of
5.

Verbatim: This is so legit! They're totally out of their minds!--Elder
Kasparian on the revelries (heathen) on the end of the lunar new year
(they were shaking an idol over firecrackers).
I'm going to toot on my baby. (follow remarks are in conversation with self)
"Honey, why's the baby crying?"
"I tooted on it"
"What's wrong with you!?!"--Elder Kasparian about the toots that made
me think something had died in him.
*Crinkle. *Crunch. I'm starving.--Elder Kasparian on eating paper.

Last week we went to the Disney exhibit here in Taibei and it was an
amazing experience. I had so much fun looking at all the original art
from the movies and seeing how they made them. The stuff was all about
the classic disney movies to the current and had all this art that had
never been shown in public before. Really the whole thing made my
life. I was so thrilled and it was fun to have Elder Baker around
because he could enjoy and talk about the art with me.

Yesterday we had a really cool story where I felt like we needed to go
see this guy who stood us up a little while back. We went to his house
and found that it wasn't him who lived there, but the guy who did live
there was totally okay with us coming into his house and sharing with
him. He actually wants to find a church and is excited about the
restoration. It was cool that the Lord put him there for us to contact
through the works of another person. I think that He did that so that
there would be no doubt that it was His hand that made this miracle
possible. So cool.

I love you all,
Elder Siebert

There are short-stops, short people and short weeks

Hey Everyone!
Sorry last week I forgot to tell you who got wet and that was Zheng4
dx who was someone that I found! It was so exciting to see someone
else that I personally contacted on the street get baptized. Yeah!

Food:
Nai3 Ru2: This is a vietnamese milk pudding that a member made for us.
It would have to say that it was the best pudding I've ever had. She
kept apologizing because she made really big glasses of it. I was
totally fine with that. 5 perfect puddings out of 5.

Verbatim:
You should snort one! (me)
I did that once. (Elder K)
You ground it and snorted it?!?(me)
No, I just stuck it up my nose. (Elder K)--Regarding Altoids

This week, we went to this place to get taught Chinese by a bunch of
student teachers at the request of a member. It was a fun and games
until this one girl got up there and ruined my life. She started off
by saying to the girl who was getting taught along with us, "Wow,
Elder Siebert is very handsome. Will you please ask him if he will add
me on Facebook?" I responded that I couldn't because I didn't use
facebook. She then turned to my companion and asked him, "Does Elder
Siebert have a girlfriend?" He, very uneasily responded that I didn't.
She then said, "Oh, well then will you please ask Elder Siebert if he
would like to have a girlfriend?" I was horrified, but my companion
brought down the house by turning to me and saying, "Elder Siebert,
you are getting tempted!" Everyone thought that was the funniest thing
ever and it totally disarmed the situation. Very well played Elder
Kasparian, 5 smooth saves out of 5.

This week was a good one. We found a lot of people this week but my
favorite thing has been training missionaries this week. I have been
on a lot of exchanges and had a blast teaching them about our vision
for the zone and for the mission and seeing them catch that fire. It's
been a blast.

I did have a pretty awesome miracle this week while talking to someone
on the street. I talked to this one guy and turns out he has always
thought that our church is cool, but just never gotten the chance to
get over here. It was cool to invite him and see him accept.

This week I also saw a really cool miracle while waiting for a guy to come
meet with us. I saw an African man who was standing with a box on his
head and a bag in his hands at an intersection, waiting to cross. I
went over and started talking to him. I asked what he was up to. Adam
(that was his name) said that he was just moving stuff to his new
house. I offered to help him out. He said that this was the last of
the stuff and I exclaimed how we were too late! Then he said something
that really impacted me, he looked at me and asked, "why are you so
nice?" I realized how much it means to simply offer to lift and serve
others in small ways. I began to talk to him about religion. He is
muslim. I asked him what role it played in his life and he told me
that he was going to put the stuff at his house and in just a minute
would come back. I said that was fine. When he got back we sat down
with him and shared about the restoration. It was cool because I
realized that Islam has many similarities to our religion. We were
able to relate a prophet to Adam very easily and he actually really
wants to know about the BOM and start reading it. It's so sick we'll
call it ILL!

That's about all! Keep holding strong everyone!
Love,
Elder Siebert

Finally someone gets wet!

Hey everyone!
I know that there are a lot of foods that I tried for the first time,
but I can't remember a lot of the them. Oh!
Kimchi Beef: Kinda spicy and sour, but the beef is a little darker in
flavor, so it balances rather well. 4 barely balanced bovine out of 5.

Verbatim: "Dobby is FREED!" --me on discovering a pair of socks under
the sheets in Elder Thatcher's bed.
"Wow, that was like a clod of poo up my nose." --me on Elder
Kasparian's flatus during WPS.
"Do you realize how creepy half the stuff we say would be in the
states?" --me on contacting methods.
"He dropped the game ball" -- Elder Kasparian on the failure of some
of our missionaries to get us the info we needed.
"We have realized that if you are lost, all you need to do to find
your way is to focus on the NORTH STAR!" --me in Jilong district
meeting
"Hey mister, your shoes are very handsome. We have a free english
class"--me, aforementioned creepiness

This week I have spent a lot on how to get the Zone getting the vision
and came up with the "North Star". Basically, I used my notes from ZL
council and noticed over and over again that the main message I got
was valiantly using time. I noticed too that this was the biggest
change in my work. I looked at that and realized that the way that was
taught to us by president and the assisants was the focus on goals
before plans. I formulated a little bit of training for the zone to
share in all our DM so that the rest of the zone can know how to use
that process to be real missionaries and not just busy doing
missionary things. It has gone very well. We presented it in Tianmu
and also the Jilong districts. It wasn't received too well in Tianmu.
The district wasn't really willing to listen and pay attention, so I
don't know if it will get implemented with them, but the Jilong
district wrote down my "power phrase": "let the goal decide the
action" and also the heiarchy of goals: vision to goals to direction
to plans to action. It was really exciting to see them get the gears
turning and "get it"!

Yesterday I got to meet with one of our investigators Chen Zhi4
Gang1. He is doing so well and is a great blessing. He wants to learn
and learns slowly, but once he's got it, he doesn't forget and doesn't
get mixed up. It's great and it feels so nice to have someone who
appreciates what we share so much.

I love you all and am out of time!
Elder Siebert