Hey everyone!
This week brings hot weather and cold weather and then hot and cold. It's either a Katy Perry song (heaven forbid, that woman is the devil on hormones) or as my mother says, the PMS days of Taiwan.
Food: Thai Sweet and Spicy Soup: This is a pretty okay dish. I tried it out this week because I thought that it would be a refreshing way to stave off the cold. I was right, but the soup gives you a rancid aftertaste in the mouth. 2.5 rank reminiscees out of 5.
Verbatim:
So why do you want to meet with missionaries?
I saw a movie that said you could a lot of wives!!!!!!!
We can't.
Oh, Fine. I'll be muslim then, they can have a lot of wives. --guy on the street
Oh shoot! I would've taught that part better, but I forgot the scripture that I was going to use and on it was my little cheat sheet! --Sister Wu after teaching me for Phase 1. She is a shameless cheater and always puts stick notes with words and phrases in her scriptures and other materials as she teaches me. She's a hoot.
Are you sure Jimmy won't stand us up? (10 minutes pass) JIMMY!!!!!!!!---me on Elder Chen's (the ZL) insistence that their investigator Jimmy wouldn't stand us up. He then stood us up.
JIMMY!!!!!!--me anytime something bad happens. I don't think that my companion understands.
But getting too close to God isn't too good, then you can't do anything bad.--Brother Zhang, our investigator about getting nearer to God through prayer
The terminator:
There's this crazy guy, A1 Nuo4 who follows us around these days. It all started a couple weeks ago when I mistakenly talked to him and then he began showing up everywhere and riding his bike after us. I actually started to tell him off recenlty, so he doesn't bug me, but he'll always come up to Elder Chen and just say, "Elder Chen, Elder Chen, Elder CHen." I told my companion not to talk to him as this will eventually cause him to leave, so my companion says nothing. It's really rather humorous. We ran into him at the store the other day and just had to give him the cold shoulder. I felt bad, but it's what needs to be done. We always joke about how we'll just find him outside our door one day or when we turn down a dark alley I'll always say, "A NUO!" and act terrified. Haha.
We saw a lot of miracles this week. One of the coolest ones was Brother Zhang who was someone that I talked to on the street. He was handing out realestate fliers and stuff when I met him but I just kept talking to him and sharing about the BOM and he was willing to listen. You could tell that he was still trying to do his job, but he was really distracted and interested in what I was sharing. He finally broke down and listened for a while and then set up a time for sunday morning. We got a new rule from our President that we don't have to do full studies on Sunday, so we were able to meet with him super early and all. He has tons of great questions and as we shared with him he was really intent on learning and meeting more with us. He is a really fun guy. He was just a hoot and his questions were breeding new questions like bunnies.
We also had a great miracle with a new investigator, a Brother Yang. He has long hair and looks like a punk, but I had the feeling that I needed to talk to him. I set him up and then he came. He really wants to know God and is willing to do pretty much everything that we ask. It was so cool that God led us to find him on a lonely street where he was the only person walking. Such a good man.
I know there are miracles,
Love,
Elder Siebert
Monday, March 26, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Good Times
Dear Everyone,
This week was a fun one. We had some pretty good times.
Verbatim:
Me: "I got it! let's go adventuring!"
Elder Chen: Uh, I like the hiking part, but the adventuring no.
Me: Why?!?
Elder Chen: I'm a wimp....
Me: What's your name?
Guy: Robin
Me:I'M BATMAN!
Guy: Whoa! (contacting for english class)
My english name is Jackie Chan.--guy by the church ( I then covered my face in mock defense. He laughed)
Oh my gosh! Was that your cactus that just stabbed my buns?!?--me on getting stabbed in the tush by Elder Chen while taking my contacts out.
OH! My eye, you hit my eye, it hurts so bad!--Elder Chen after being wounded in our epic "boba" (tapioca ball) straw-shooter fight.
Oh, I know you're not perfect, Preach My Gospel says so.--Sister Li remarking on me telling her that I am not perfect
This week I saw a lot of family miracles. We were so lucky to have a lot of families set up with us and want to learn. It's the most that I have taught families on my mission. I hope that we will get one of these families baptized. One of my favorite families is this little family who we are teaching, the Zhang family. The kids are the most golden people ever. They are so young, but they are so interested in the gospel. They respond to questions with a depth and maturity that I have rarely seen in grown ups. It's so amazing. I hope that they can get baptized soon. They need to come to church some, but I know that other than that obstacle, it's going to be smooth sailing. I hope. Haha.
We also had a ton of success with formers this week. We found and taught three formers this week and they are all good people. I wanted to share about a Sister Xu who is a Christian but totally open to meet with us and learn. She asked me yesterday what the differences between churches are and why there are so many. She stayed for church and had a great experience. She liked the talks and the classes and it was just an awesome time. She is a great lady and I am so grateful that she wants to meet with us. We have been blessed with a lot of very open minded Christians lately. I will keep you all posted. Seriously though, I think that over half of our investigators are Christian. I've never had that happen before.
Well, I love you all.
Elder Siebert
This week was a fun one. We had some pretty good times.
Verbatim:
Me: "I got it! let's go adventuring!"
Elder Chen: Uh, I like the hiking part, but the adventuring no.
Me: Why?!?
Elder Chen: I'm a wimp....
Me: What's your name?
Guy: Robin
Me:I'M BATMAN!
Guy: Whoa! (contacting for english class)
My english name is Jackie Chan.--guy by the church ( I then covered my face in mock defense. He laughed)
Oh my gosh! Was that your cactus that just stabbed my buns?!?--me on getting stabbed in the tush by Elder Chen while taking my contacts out.
OH! My eye, you hit my eye, it hurts so bad!--Elder Chen after being wounded in our epic "boba" (tapioca ball) straw-shooter fight.
Oh, I know you're not perfect, Preach My Gospel says so.--Sister Li remarking on me telling her that I am not perfect
This week I saw a lot of family miracles. We were so lucky to have a lot of families set up with us and want to learn. It's the most that I have taught families on my mission. I hope that we will get one of these families baptized. One of my favorite families is this little family who we are teaching, the Zhang family. The kids are the most golden people ever. They are so young, but they are so interested in the gospel. They respond to questions with a depth and maturity that I have rarely seen in grown ups. It's so amazing. I hope that they can get baptized soon. They need to come to church some, but I know that other than that obstacle, it's going to be smooth sailing. I hope. Haha.
We also had a ton of success with formers this week. We found and taught three formers this week and they are all good people. I wanted to share about a Sister Xu who is a Christian but totally open to meet with us and learn. She asked me yesterday what the differences between churches are and why there are so many. She stayed for church and had a great experience. She liked the talks and the classes and it was just an awesome time. She is a great lady and I am so grateful that she wants to meet with us. We have been blessed with a lot of very open minded Christians lately. I will keep you all posted. Seriously though, I think that over half of our investigators are Christian. I've never had that happen before.
Well, I love you all.
Elder Siebert
Monday, March 12, 2012
He got away? I love Avril. And being a missionary. And my Zone.
Hey everyone!
I had a blast this last week, there's also Avril Lavigne playing right next to me, as well as My Chemical Romance, so I will get right to the meat. Not really meat though, you'll understand because....
Food:
Pig Ear: Not really meat. Mostly cartilage and skin. My companion got some the otherday and made me eat them with him, claiming that it would boost our unity. They aren't gross. They just aren't good. Not really any taste or nutrition. It's like eating cardboard. Fatty cardboard. 1.5 auricular appetizers out of 5.
่ตไป็ : This is a little egg and oyster and other stuff omlet. That's basically what it is. It's super good. I wouldn't mind eating them a lot. I don't know that I can though because they are a little expensive. 4 oyster omlets out of 5.
I hope that there will soon be even more food review soon, my companion eats like crazy, so I think that there are great hopes for it.
Game Review:
Settlers of Catan: My zone leader, Elder Chen is way into games. Like as much or more than me, which is shocking to me. He brought settlers to the Church the other day and we played. It was a blast especially with him going "oh, oh, oh!" Everytime that something even remotely big happened.
This week we had a bit of a rough start. Even though we were working hard as ever, we weren't seeing much success. I had a sneaking suspicion that the Lord was going to test our patience and wait until the end of the week to let us see a lot of people start progressing and wait to let us see new investigators. It was exactly like that. It was really cool though. I wanted to share how we revitalized one of the formers that was in the area. We went over to Sister Wei's house and brought a really great member who knew her already. We shared a really powerful message about the BOM and I was praying very hard for what to say because I had never met her. We shared some scriptures and the spirit just led. We were able to help her a lot and she told us that she was ready to "set out" again and try and again to learn and progress. It was a huge miracle. We got to meet with her again and this time she was willing to set a baptismal date with us. It was so great! I think that the ward is finally starting to trust missionaries again because of our hard work these last two weeks. They were all excited about Wei Jm, they were all very sad when she stopped meeting. I am so excited about the miracles that we are seeing.
We also saw a cool miracle this Friday. We had had a day where there was not really happening even though we were trying hard. Seriously, I didn't have a single lesson planned for the whole day. However, at the very end of the day, I had a feeling to go to this one part of the street that we were planning on tracting and knock. Sure enough, the second door opened up to a Brother Huang who was willing to talk to us even though he is Christian of another church. He feels like he is very weak and wants to be better. I shared 2 Ne 4 and he really got it. He allowed us to come back and meet again. Yesterday we met his wife and they are both amazing. I am being so blessed!
I love you all and love this work,
Elder Siebert
I had a blast this last week, there's also Avril Lavigne playing right next to me, as well as My Chemical Romance, so I will get right to the meat. Not really meat though, you'll understand because....
Food:
Pig Ear: Not really meat. Mostly cartilage and skin. My companion got some the otherday and made me eat them with him, claiming that it would boost our unity. They aren't gross. They just aren't good. Not really any taste or nutrition. It's like eating cardboard. Fatty cardboard. 1.5 auricular appetizers out of 5.
่ตไป็ : This is a little egg and oyster and other stuff omlet. That's basically what it is. It's super good. I wouldn't mind eating them a lot. I don't know that I can though because they are a little expensive. 4 oyster omlets out of 5.
I hope that there will soon be even more food review soon, my companion eats like crazy, so I think that there are great hopes for it.
Game Review:
Settlers of Catan: My zone leader, Elder Chen is way into games. Like as much or more than me, which is shocking to me. He brought settlers to the Church the other day and we played. It was a blast especially with him going "oh, oh, oh!" Everytime that something even remotely big happened.
This week we had a bit of a rough start. Even though we were working hard as ever, we weren't seeing much success. I had a sneaking suspicion that the Lord was going to test our patience and wait until the end of the week to let us see a lot of people start progressing and wait to let us see new investigators. It was exactly like that. It was really cool though. I wanted to share how we revitalized one of the formers that was in the area. We went over to Sister Wei's house and brought a really great member who knew her already. We shared a really powerful message about the BOM and I was praying very hard for what to say because I had never met her. We shared some scriptures and the spirit just led. We were able to help her a lot and she told us that she was ready to "set out" again and try and again to learn and progress. It was a huge miracle. We got to meet with her again and this time she was willing to set a baptismal date with us. It was so great! I think that the ward is finally starting to trust missionaries again because of our hard work these last two weeks. They were all excited about Wei Jm, they were all very sad when she stopped meeting. I am so excited about the miracles that we are seeing.
We also saw a cool miracle this Friday. We had had a day where there was not really happening even though we were trying hard. Seriously, I didn't have a single lesson planned for the whole day. However, at the very end of the day, I had a feeling to go to this one part of the street that we were planning on tracting and knock. Sure enough, the second door opened up to a Brother Huang who was willing to talk to us even though he is Christian of another church. He feels like he is very weak and wants to be better. I shared 2 Ne 4 and he really got it. He allowed us to come back and meet again. Yesterday we met his wife and they are both amazing. I am being so blessed!
I love you all and love this work,
Elder Siebert
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Darn Mouse!
Hey everyone!
This week I is reporting from dat dere southern place called Xindian! I just thought that I would try an affected southern drawl for a second because I am now in the south zone. I think it's be cool if I didn't leave the zone for the rest of my mission, that way I would have an equal number of transfers in the north as I did in the south.
Food:
I have become a frequent customer at a Thai shop nearby, one of the dishes that I tried was a Tofu pudding (the same consistancy as the stuff in the states) over noodles. It was okay but really strange and looked like snot. I don't think that it was particularly satisfying either. 2 gelatinous 'gumes (you know, legumes) out of 5.
Mo2Mo2ZhaZha: This is an amazing Thai drink with assorted jellies, tapiocas, and palm seeds in it. It's all in this really good coconut milk stuff and the place I had it at also served it with a squirt of cherry syrup. so good, and so refreshing! 5 bizarre baristas out of 5
Verbatim:
That's the one bad thing about this bathroom. When it's wet and you have to take a poo, you have to take your pants off. --Elder Murphy as he went to pass Congressional Acts on exchanges.
So what are they believing today? --Elder Murphy on the girl who told us that he parents believe Buddhism and Christianity on and off
The Visitor Checks in: We had a mouse come into the house Tuesday night and I was irrate. I don't mind the thing, but it was so loud and it was jumping all over my face and bed, making it impossible to sleep. I wanted to kill it so badly. I found a big cage trap in our house and I set it up thinking that I would catch the thing and then kill it. We came home and sure enough, we had caught it. (i have it on video). However, both my companion and I were a little too soft to kill it once it was in the cage, so we decided after a long discussion about drowning it, freezing it, suffocating it or smashing it that we would put it in a missionary's bike box. However, as time went on and the mouse looked worse and worse, we decided that we would just let it go. We took it on a long run and let it free. I think it was the most humane thing to do.
Benevolence with Bite You in the Bum: Well, last night I had a little bit of evidence that I am too nice. That mouse that we let free has come back. This was the only reason that I was reluctant to let it go in the first place. I am please to inform all readers that it climbed on my face this morning and this time will surely die. I set up the trap again, this time disguising it with a pillowcase and lining the inside with tissues. That little mouse will have no idea what hit it. I will though. It'll be a hammer. There's no remorse or apolgies this time. I will have a dead mouse.
The Miracle that was: This week was a good week for finding. Unfortunately a lot of my new investigators with baptismal dates ended being scummed from me because they don't live in my area. I was praying so hard for the chance to have a baptism this transfer and I saw a miracle last night. We were going to this road that I had felt good about before and I was praying in my heart that I would be able to find the right people. I kept praying and I had a subtle impression about this one stack of houses, so I told my companion and we got off. I gave him the option to knock or call and he took the calls. Haha. I started knocking, praying fervently that someone would let us in. The second doorbell got us into the stack and I just went up from there. I kept talking to people at the doors and I felt really powerful as a witness though nobody accepted, I know that they felt the spirit. It was taking a while really. I finally got the top floor and there was a girl and her little brother out. I asked if there parents would have interest and she said they were going to go to the hospital, but that her older brother would like it. She called him out. The parents lpassed us as she did and they told us they were too busy but to talk to the kids. Turns out the brother and the girl and little brother are all amazing. We shared about prophets, which they understood and then I had a feeling about Joseph Smith and talked with them about that. The older brother told us that he feels like Joseph and he has really wanted to know which church is true and has gone to many, seeking an answer. It was remarkable miracle. They were so excited about the idea that God wants to talk to us now and they accepted baptismal dates and told us they have time to learn everyday. It was the biggest miracle that I have seen in so long! I was so pumped all last night.
I know prayers are answered. I know that without a doubt.
I love you all,
Elder Siebert
This week I is reporting from dat dere southern place called Xindian! I just thought that I would try an affected southern drawl for a second because I am now in the south zone. I think it's be cool if I didn't leave the zone for the rest of my mission, that way I would have an equal number of transfers in the north as I did in the south.
Food:
I have become a frequent customer at a Thai shop nearby, one of the dishes that I tried was a Tofu pudding (the same consistancy as the stuff in the states) over noodles. It was okay but really strange and looked like snot. I don't think that it was particularly satisfying either. 2 gelatinous 'gumes (you know, legumes) out of 5.
Mo2Mo2ZhaZha: This is an amazing Thai drink with assorted jellies, tapiocas, and palm seeds in it. It's all in this really good coconut milk stuff and the place I had it at also served it with a squirt of cherry syrup. so good, and so refreshing! 5 bizarre baristas out of 5
Verbatim:
That's the one bad thing about this bathroom. When it's wet and you have to take a poo, you have to take your pants off. --Elder Murphy as he went to pass Congressional Acts on exchanges.
So what are they believing today? --Elder Murphy on the girl who told us that he parents believe Buddhism and Christianity on and off
The Visitor Checks in: We had a mouse come into the house Tuesday night and I was irrate. I don't mind the thing, but it was so loud and it was jumping all over my face and bed, making it impossible to sleep. I wanted to kill it so badly. I found a big cage trap in our house and I set it up thinking that I would catch the thing and then kill it. We came home and sure enough, we had caught it. (i have it on video). However, both my companion and I were a little too soft to kill it once it was in the cage, so we decided after a long discussion about drowning it, freezing it, suffocating it or smashing it that we would put it in a missionary's bike box. However, as time went on and the mouse looked worse and worse, we decided that we would just let it go. We took it on a long run and let it free. I think it was the most humane thing to do.
Benevolence with Bite You in the Bum: Well, last night I had a little bit of evidence that I am too nice. That mouse that we let free has come back. This was the only reason that I was reluctant to let it go in the first place. I am please to inform all readers that it climbed on my face this morning and this time will surely die. I set up the trap again, this time disguising it with a pillowcase and lining the inside with tissues. That little mouse will have no idea what hit it. I will though. It'll be a hammer. There's no remorse or apolgies this time. I will have a dead mouse.
The Miracle that was: This week was a good week for finding. Unfortunately a lot of my new investigators with baptismal dates ended being scummed from me because they don't live in my area. I was praying so hard for the chance to have a baptism this transfer and I saw a miracle last night. We were going to this road that I had felt good about before and I was praying in my heart that I would be able to find the right people. I kept praying and I had a subtle impression about this one stack of houses, so I told my companion and we got off. I gave him the option to knock or call and he took the calls. Haha. I started knocking, praying fervently that someone would let us in. The second doorbell got us into the stack and I just went up from there. I kept talking to people at the doors and I felt really powerful as a witness though nobody accepted, I know that they felt the spirit. It was taking a while really. I finally got the top floor and there was a girl and her little brother out. I asked if there parents would have interest and she said they were going to go to the hospital, but that her older brother would like it. She called him out. The parents lpassed us as she did and they told us they were too busy but to talk to the kids. Turns out the brother and the girl and little brother are all amazing. We shared about prophets, which they understood and then I had a feeling about Joseph Smith and talked with them about that. The older brother told us that he feels like Joseph and he has really wanted to know which church is true and has gone to many, seeking an answer. It was remarkable miracle. They were so excited about the idea that God wants to talk to us now and they accepted baptismal dates and told us they have time to learn everyday. It was the biggest miracle that I have seen in so long! I was so pumped all last night.
I know prayers are answered. I know that without a doubt.
I love you all,
Elder Siebert
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