Two years is up!

Hey everyone!

Verbatim:

Being evil is really parching!--Sister Muhlstein as we played "Aye! Dark Overlord"

 

Me: Yeah, I'm an old man now.
Sister Taylor: That's hot.

Me: *giggle*

 

Elder Phelps (reporting in zone meeting): He'll be getting sealed in the temple in a year.
Elder Lew: Sounds like Elder Siebert!

 

Whoa! The planes just get closer and closer!--Me when the announcements, folded into a paper airplane, nearly hit me in the back of the head in zone meeting.

 

(written on the calender)

12/31 "My favorite companion kisses another girl at midnight and gets engaged"

Me: Yeah, that'll go well 'I've got a resolution. I'm gonna get married! And it's you!'

Elder Welch: I gotta pee. That's what she's gonna say too.

 

Me: Don't get it mixed up with Fang4Bian4.

Elder Welch: What's Bian4?

Me: Poop.

Elder Welch (and me): *Laughs super loud*

 

Let's go blow up his company. Or at least block the door.--Elder Welch on getting Brother Cheng to church.

 

This week was a good way to end my last Sunday here on the island. We had an amazing baptism. Brother Zhang's baptism went without a hitch really. His good friends in the ward, Brother Tu and President Zeng gave amazingly spiritual talks and the musical number went smooth and beautifully. The most beautiful part was that his whole family came and sat with him. They were given the front spot next to the font and were able to watch their husband/father get baptized. Even more beautiful was the fact that the Zeng family went over after the service and also the Huang family went and talked to them and the wife was much more open after interacting with them. We are planning to visit them with the Zeng family and meet them more and also share a little message. I have a lot of hope for their family. I am so eternally grateful to Heavenly Father for letting me see this miracle happen and let me be here for the realization of it.

This week we had a really cool finding miracle. We set up a referral at a member's house for a first time meeting. When we got there, we brought the investigator, a Brother Chen, in and he met the Que family and they just wrapped their arms around him (figuratively, although I am sure that literally would also have gone well). Our lesson with him went really, really well. We followed the spirit really bravely and taught with power. As we taught, he really opened up to the message and even though he didn't understand everything perfectly, he clearly felt the spirit. He came to church this week and because Brother Que is a counsellor in the bishopric, his wife and Elder Welch sat with Brother Chen. Brother Chen loved the talks and was writing notes down. Then in sunday school, Sister Que took him upstairs and then arranged for someone to sit with him while she took care of some things and then came back to sit with him again. It was amazing how well they took care of him. I am sure that he felt the love and will be very willing to come back.

Well that's all from me! Over and out, thanks for reading all these weeks!

Elder Siebert

Getting close...to another baptism!

Hey everyone!

This is the second to last email that you will get from me. Just thought that I would throw that one out there.

 

Food:

Orange chocolate cake: I was sitting in Priesthood and the idea came to mind that I had to make a cake with candied orange zest syrup drizzled into it. I had made the cake and it was going to be taken over to a member's for dinner so I went home and made the concotion and it was so good! I put super dark hot fudge on it so that it would mellow out the sweetness and it was to die for. 5 orangey....things....out of 5.

 

Verbatim:

Elder Welch: Does he drive a scooter?

Me:Yeah....?

Elder Welch: Well let's brake his scooter....or put a shark on his scooter.

--As we talked about how to help Brother Zhang stay for all of church.

 

We'll use his hormones against him!--Elder Welch on how we could get the young women to get Roy to church.

 

Everyone could use friends of the opposite gender.--Elder Welch

 

President said to stay away from any form of pornography. So he showed us a video... (we all burst out laughing)...No! On the impact it had one someone!--Elder Zou at ZL council

 

Me: Ouch! I got a mosquito bite on my neck! Come on!

Elder Welch: Must've been a girl mosquito then

 

This week I also saw someone change their kid's diaper in the middle of sacrament meeting. yeah. That was uncomfortable.

 

Well as for miracles this week we got a really cool referral from a member. We had an appointment fall through, someone was going to go to the member's place to have a lesson with us, but since they weren't coming, we shared with the family and had a little FHE. They felt the spirit so strongly. The mom was especially moved by the message and how we have the gospel right now. The feeling came into my heart that I really needed to ask for referrals even though we have before. I asked and they talked really quick about their family members and gave me their little brother to see. They called him right then and he accepted the invitation to meet with us. We then met with him and he's really open to the message and really hopes that it can help his family. It was such a cool miracle to see how God prepared him. It was good news!

 

Other business is that Brother Zhang should be getting baptized this Sunday. It's gonna be great.

 

I love you all,

Elder Siebert

Baptisms!

Hey everyone!

Verbatim:

Maybe it was a poor mosquito, so you're feeding the poor and fulfilling your baptismal covenant.--Elder Welch on me complaining about getting attacked by a mosquito.

 

This is the perfect finding opportunity! They're all on hospital beds, they can't get away!--Me when we went to the hospital looking for service.

 

We can tell her that there are sharks in the water, but in case we can't buy a shark or find one, we need a backup plan.--Elder Welch in response to my question, "How do we help Sister Guo come to church?" (she always goes up to JiLong and swims on Sundays)

 

Sister Taylor touches your little ear thing too?!? I'm telling President.--Me with Elder Zou on exchanges

 

Me: It's an epic quest! Far more exciting than saving a princess! We're saving souls!

Elder Welch: Well, you never know, one of them could be a princess.......for someone.....---While knocking on night

 

Elder Welch: Lebron James.

Me: Yeah........

Brother Lu: Oh yeah, Kobe just called me a minute ago too. So did A-Rod."--While meeting with Brother Lu, the phone went off and it was the kid who calls himself Lebron and just bugs the crap out of us. Hilarious.

 

There's a way out...........SIN!--Elder Welch on me wanting to make banana pie and take it to a member's house but not having bananas at the time and needing to get them. It was Saturday night at about ten, so there weren't any options to get the bananas needed without breaking commandments. We made no-bake cookies instead.

 

Well this week was a good one because Brother Chen got baptized! It was a sweet service and he was ecstatic to be baptized. While sharing his testimony, he told us how he feels like God gave him a good present that morning because he'd just found the BOM and Bible for his phone, that way he can read them all the time. It was so cool!

So this week was also really cool because there was one day where we didn't have anything really scheduled as far as lessons for the whole day and we just went finding. I contacted this guy early in the day that set up with us for later that day. While we were waiting for him later I had this feeling to go and talk to this guy on the corner who was waiting for the light. At this time the guy we set up was nearly ten minutes late and wasn't answering his phone, so we thought it was unlikely that he was actually coming anymore. I talked to the guy on the corner and he seemed really open. I asked about his religious background and he shared that he was Christian but he doesn't really believe much anymore. I talked about the restoration a little bit and asked if he wanted to go upstairs and talk in the chapel. He practically bellowed a resounding, "YES!" and up we went. We sat down and began to talk and he expressed his excitement about the Restoration. As we shared, the Holy Ghost was really strong and it helped out a lot. In the end he accepted the BOM with great excitement and he also expressed his desire to read and know more. It was a really cool miracle to see that God let us set up a person just to put us in the right place to find the person who He'd really prepared.

 

That's about all from me. Peace out!

Love,

Elder Siebert (Trunk-stache extraordinare)

Another baptism!

Hey everyone,

Verbatim:

Sadly, I forgot my planner at home so I don't have the verbatim this week. Oh, I remembered a little of it.

 

Brother Lin: I've been really busy lately, I have to prepare stuff like Noah's Ark because the end of the world is coming.

Me: Oh, don't worry, God hasn't told us yet when the end is, so you can still take some time and meet with us. It's not a big deal.

Brother Lin: He's told me.

Me: Oh........................................................

 

Brother Yuan: I remembered my past life. I'm a God. I came down here to save the world. I also killed my son in my past life because he wouldn't be obedient.--Brother Yuan while meeting with him. He had been getting really close to baptism.

Xiang3Xiang: Oh, our stuff is all in there.

Me: Okay. (close door. Freeze. Turn and look at Elder Lew) Their stuff is all inside?

( He looks at me and the devil enters into both of us and we run back into the church and giggle as we hide all their stuff)--When we were leaving the chapel while the YM/YW were cleaning the chapel.

 

I think that's all for the verbatim that I can just remember.

 

FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

White sauce, Cheese Broiled Stinky Tofu: Oh man, I totally saw this on a menu and I hadn't ever had it before so I thought that I would have to try it out. It was amazing. The flavors just mix so well. It makes the cheese taste super duper sharp and the sauce kind of mellows it a little. 5 stupendously stinky soys out of 5.

 

Beef Roll: It's basically the chinese version of a taquito. I still like the mexican version better especially Reyna's, but this wasn't bad. 4 China men from Mexico out of 5

 

We are also excited that we have an investigator that has passed his interview. Brother Chen has been making a lot of progress lately and has a great testimony. The other day he came to the church with a really big question because he saw some pamphlets from another church that said some miracles that happened there and he asked us, "Why would a miracle happen outside of His Church?" It was a really good testament of how much he believes in the Church.

The work is going really well. We are stoked.

That's it. Really.
Love you all,

Elder Siebert

PS Hey, I forgot to tell you about the wasabi strike this week. I took this tube of wasabi that I had to this dumpling wrapping activity that we had and I totally made a wasabi dumpling. Me and Sister Taylor (who has as much devil as I do) worked in coordination and pulled the heist. It was awesome. Elder Lew ate half of it, knowing that it was the wasabi one and he was completely red in the face and crying and phlegm everywhere. It was hilarious. Then Sister Taylor wanted to make another one to surprise someone with so we wrapped a double peel one and gave it to Sister Wu and she nearly died before spitting it. So fun.

Major Baptismal Fury!

Dearest D,

This week was so good. I loved your letter this week and it was so funny. I was blown away. I snickered the whole time. I was on exchanges with the elder that is now my real companion and I gave it to him to read and he was laughing the whole time and it was great. I am prophetic these days. Elder Welch was on exchange with me and I told him, you could just leave your stuff here because you're going to come here on Friday and be my comp anyway. It happened. It was hilarious. He's a good guy. I like him. Hey, everyone tells me that I have lost tons of weight lately even though I haven't really because I've been putting on muscle, but I have found the most magical way to cut down on body fat. If you eat only from 11 or 12 to 6 and then nothing after that until the next day at about noon, you can eat normal (or for me above normal amounts of food) and cut down body fat percentage. It's a really great system. It's been working wonders and I think that if you tried it out, you would be really pleased with it. Anyway, you could also wait til I get back and I'll walk you through it. Oh, I am so tight with Sister Day, President's wife. At move calls she called me out and had me stand up and raise the roof. It was hilarious. She always comes and specially shakes my hand whenever she sees me. It's so cool.
Love you so much dad!

Matt

 

Hey everyone!

This week there were two people baptized and three confirmed! It was so good! I was so happy to see what the Lord has blessed us with here in Songshan. It's been great.

 

Verbatim:

I learned so many good things from you...I'll look in the mirror a lot now.--Elder Zeng on us going our separate ways. He's commenting on how I always make faces in the mirrors in elevators.

You make a cool tongue twister and it blows their minds.--Elder Robinson

 

We are going to go find Chen2Yi4Han2 (who is in my opinion, the most beautiful actress/model in Taiwan) for Elder Siebert's bye-bye book, please bless us and make preparations--Elder Zeng, praying for us to find a picture opportunity. I felt slightly sacrelidgious.

 

I noticed his fishing gear and talked to him about it. You could say I hooked him. --Elder Welch while contacting

 

This week brought many miracles with following the spirit to find people to teach. We were coming back from Nangang when I saw a person sitting on a corner by a light. The feeling came to me that I needed to turn around and talk to him. I slammed on my brakes, startling my companion and expressed my feeling to him. We both returned to this brother and began to talk to him. Turns out he had some exposure to christianity before and he's very open to learn more about our message. He was very grateful to talk to us and learn more about this gospel. I know that if I had not heeded the still small spirit, I would have missed that chance. It was really cool.

 

I had another experience just yesterday. We had the feeling that we needed to stay near the church and make calls to LAs and potentials and find someone to teach from that. We did so and I was sitting with a pile of potentials when I this guy came and asked me for a pen. I gave it to him and then kept calling. He returned the pen to me and I had this subtle tugging in my mind that I should keep looking up. I looked at this man that had borrowed my pen, but I didn't have too much feeling about him. I then noticed looking over his shoulder, that there was a younger man who was walking towards us. The feeling then came that he was the one that I needed to talk to. I got up and ran over to him and felt to give him an English Tract. Turns out that he was a student three years ago. I asked him to sit down and talk and he did. We then went upstairs to the church and had a lesson. I am so blessed to have God placing these people where I can teach them and just leading me along. I have no clue what to do on my own, but with the Lord, I can do all things. 

I love you all,

Elder Siebert

Brother Lu's Baptism

Hey everyone!

Food: Banana Pie: I made this the other day because we had it somewhere with Wu Mama and I thought that it would be the perfect treat here because it's cheep to make and easy to get the stuff for. I got the pie crust down this week over many attempts and I have found that I can make a pie in just fifteen minutes and that includes baking it in my tiny little toaster oven. The flavor is just amazing. With cinnamon and sugar, the bananas are succulent and soft with the crisp, flaky crust underneath. It's a refreshing dessert that leaves you feeling not too heavy afterwards. I brought two over to Wu Mama's last night for dinner and everyone wants to learn how to make it and also raved about my pie. That's a cook's greatest joy. Wu Mama said that it's much better than the one that we ate at the restaurant. Brother Lu says that he wants to learn it and then he's going to sell it at his restaurant as "Elder Siebert Banana Pie". I will finally be on a menu! 5 banana bonanzas out of 5.

 

Bitter gourd: I ate this a long time back but forgot to review it. Terrible. It's what the name suggests: really stinking bitter gourd. So nasty. It's stomachable but it's just painful. If you're going to eat, eat well. 0.1 bitter belly-grumblings out of 5.

 

Verbatim:

While playing "what if" for english class:

Q: What if Toku invited you to play golf with him?

A: Then I would take my clothes off.

Toku: That's the right answer!

(The answer was originally to the question "What if you were superman?" This was a shockingly dirty turn of events)

 

Me: I pooped a little.

Elder Reynolds: I haven't been able to poop, that's how nervous I have been!--Me conversing about the huge change in events, namely the assistants calling way too early and personally announcing who's going to move.

 

Wendy: How are you going to make that work?

Me: Tape. Tape fixes everything.

Wendy: *Snorts in derision* It does not. *Starts laughing at me*

Me: (tears a piece of tape off and then quickly puts it over Wendy's mouth as seen in picture 1500) See?! Fixes everything!

 

So when are you going to learn from your dad and come back to Taiwan and find yourself a wife?--Brother Lin. He's just like this. I try to get my companion to call him because I don't know what to say to him. I just ignore what he says. 

 

Brother Lu: (bearing testimony) And I really started to feel the spirit...yeah, it's just like that. 

Me: (mouthing) In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. (I totally thought he was done)

Brother Lu: I'm not done yet! Don't be so rushed!

Me: (Hides behind my hymn book, everyone laughs)

 

This week was a really good one. We had one of our great investigators who has been transforming so much lately get baptized. Brother Lu was so ready to go and he's just awesome. I went and got tons of people to promise to come and we had a great turnout, probably 40-50 people. It was such a great way to welcome him into the ward. President Day came over and attended too. It was a really spiritual experience and everyone was so happy. We are also looking to have two more brethren baptized this Tuesday. The ward is so stoked. I am so happy. We are having a lot of success. 

A really cool miracle that happened this week was actually kind of from last week. I was contacting people for english and I had this feeling about this guy that was walking pretty fast away from me. I chased him down. I handed him a english flyer but really just wanted to talk to him. As I talked with him I just had a feeling that he was really good. I set him up to meet with us and when we met he was really good. He's really buddhist but he's super open to the message. I think that it's definitely because of our faith and the fact that we set a goal to have a new investigator and the Lord just put him right there. So cool.

 

Love you all,

Elder Siebert

It's going to be a wet Sunday!

Hey everyone!

His heart is black--Sister Liu at District Meeting on Elder Zou stealing her scripture story that she was going to share.

Brother Skanky? Maybe they're mispronoucing it, but I'm gonna giggle anyway.--Me at stake conference on callings and sustainings.

 

Mexican? Native American?............Paris?--Sister Ochoa trying to guess the other half of my heritage.

 

Sister Taylor: No! I can't give you.....this heart. (referring to a heart shaped pastry thingy)

Me: You were totally going to say "my heart" huh?

Sister Taylor: How'd you know?!? And yeah, I was but there are too many other missionaries here.

Me: So can I have it?

Sister Taylor: It's not all about you! You can't just ask for it.

Me: Sorry, It's been a long time on the mission, I've forgotten how to get it myself. All I know how to do now is to ask "direct questions"....So can I have it?

Sister Taylor:Fine, you can....have my heart.

Both: *Laugh*

 

Maybe we missionaries love everyone, but I still have Sister Taylor's heart--Me later on in the district meeting.

 

Well this week I also have food report:

Sea Cucumber: It's really completely tasteless. I mean, it's like eating really chewy gelatin that has no flavor. Honestly, I think I'll stick to my jello because it's cheaper and has more flavor. This thing was a total let down. I was expecting really good or really gross but it just yielded a complete zero on the oral satisfaction scale. The only thing that was really good was the texture. No taste. 1 tasteless thing-a-ma-bobs out of 5.

 

This week was really cool. We should be having two baptisms this Sunday night and we are so stoked. Brother Lu and Brother Yan both passed with flying colors and they are happy to be getting baptized this week!

 

This week I saw a really great miracle while finding. We were going along to this street to go tracting. I had a feeling to pray so we did. As we were then riding, I had a strong feeling to go down this back alley. We went down there and I had a really strong feeling about this one stack of houses. I grabbed the Family Proclamation and we started tracting. We told the third floor that we had this family proclamation that would protect their family. They let us up right away. When we got up there they asked if they were supposed to read this thing while they prayed and we told them that they can just pray. They told us that their grandma was in the hospital and not doing well and they really wanted to pray for her and didn't know how. We taught them how to pray and they prayed so beautifully and sincerely. It was a really amazing experience where we were prompted in where to go and what to use to find Heavenly Father's children. He really led us to a family that night because we prayed and listened to what He wanted.

I know that if we will hearken to God's will, we will receive His blessings.

Love,

Elder Siebert