Hey everyone!
As far as food this week, I was able to have a childhood favorite Bai2chang1yu3. Its this fish, a "white pomfret" which is delicous. It's really pretty expensive, but this member took us out to dinner and when she found out that it was my favorite she said that she had to get it for me. It was amazing. My favorite, as always was the cheeks. Yum. 5 Cheeky chowdowns out of 5.
This week I baptized a Brother Liu as well. He is an awesome man who failed his first interview because he still believed there were many gods out there. However, we kept meeting with him and he started to see miracles in his life. Because of this, he finally decided to give up the former religions and commit to this one. His faith is really, really strong. When I gave him the dunk (I only needed one go at it, I'm a natural) he came out and told us in his testimony that he wished he could have stayed a lot longer in the water. He said that it was the most peaceful, happy feeling he's ever had. I am blown away by his experience. It was pretty much amazing. Not gonna lie. I was also very honored to be able to baptize him. I ended up singing another solo at his baptismal service. Sigh. I am going to be a world renowned singer by the end of this mission.
So since I am almost out of time, I am going to do the unthinkable and copy and paste something out of my email to my mom.
So yesterday, I had a great experience with the atonement. We were going to go with one of our investigators Godric up to Taipei to have a baptismal interview with the president, when Elder Benson broke it to him that he was actually meeting with the member of the presidency that had failed him in his last interview nearly five months ago. Godric is terrified of the guy because he was pretty mean. Basically, Godric was unwilling to go. He walked away from us and got on a train going home. I cried some. Less than I wanted to. I then prayed, hard. I didn't really pray that things would work out, but I just prayed and talked to God about it. When I ended, I had a completely and utterly peaceful feeling come over me. It was incredible. I knew then that everything would be okay. We sat at the station for nearly thirty minutes because Elder Benson was super depressed and sad, then Godric called. He asked where we were and then a couple minutes later, he showed up. He decided that he was willing to do the interview and that we could go down. I was really afraid when we got there because the President Zeng1 guy was going on to us missionaries about how Godric didn't have the right attitude about it having cancelled once and then coming fifteen minutes before a huge meeting. I was praying so hard for Godric because President Zeng1 seemed pretty hard hearted against Godric, however, Godric passed and he will be baptized in two weeks. So yeah, an emotional roller coaster of a day.
I know that the atonement is for reals. I add my testimony to my brother's. Christ stands with open arms, becconing all to come. Take his invitation and be healed. Don't wait. He will heal you right then and there if you will trust him.
I love you all,
Elder Siebert
P.S. Thanks for all the mail and support everyone!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Weekly Report: I am a Weatherman, and I predict things will get wet
Hey everyone!
The weather is warming up here in Taiwan which means that many times I feel like I am melting/swimming in sweat and that no one is bothering to wear pants anymore. Seriously, there are no pants anywhere. As a general rule, I stopped looked lower than eye level anymore.
This week I finally had a1gei2 (agae). It was really not bad. I rather liked it, I won't lie. It's kind of this gelatinous ball of doughy stuff that gets steamed and then stuffed with various things. The type I had was stuffed with these noodle things (dong1fen2). I would have to say it's a 3.5 out 5. As far as other food, I had this amazing Miso based soup from an investigator's restaurant. He asked us to have lunch there and then gave us all this food for free. It was amazing. I felt like a king. The soup was possibly the best that I have had in a long, long time.
This week was very good. I had an investigator who passed his baptismal interview this sunday. He will be baptized this Friday. I am super excited because this is a guy that we almost gave up on, but then in answer to prayers, he started to see that the miracles and blessings in his life were coming from God. He wanted to get to know God more than he does now and that's why he is willing to be baptized. It is amazing to see that in just one week he has had a complete reversal of faith. He went from not really believing that Heavenly Father was the only true God to firmly believing and being so excited. He knows that Jesus is the Christ and he wants to do what he can do have something to give back.
We have also seen miracles as we have been carrying around a copy of the book of mormon with us wherever we go. It really lets people see that the gospel is something tangible. It gives them proof of reality of our message. They can feel it, read it and hold it in their hands. I want to encourage everyone that has taken the BOM for granted to really think about what this miraculous book means to you, how you know it's true, and what that makes you want to do. I'll do it too, because I feel like that'd be awesome.
Finally, we watched conference this week and it was amazing. The long wait for conference finally culminated in a 6 hour, nearly non-stop session watched in English on our Bishop's iPad this Saturday. We then watched the rest on Sunday. It was really, really good. I felt like I found answers to almost all of my personal questions and many of my investigators' questions. I can't wait for the Ensign to come out.
Love,
Elder Siebert
The weather is warming up here in Taiwan which means that many times I feel like I am melting/swimming in sweat and that no one is bothering to wear pants anymore. Seriously, there are no pants anywhere. As a general rule, I stopped looked lower than eye level anymore.
This week I finally had a1gei2 (agae). It was really not bad. I rather liked it, I won't lie. It's kind of this gelatinous ball of doughy stuff that gets steamed and then stuffed with various things. The type I had was stuffed with these noodle things (dong1fen2). I would have to say it's a 3.5 out 5. As far as other food, I had this amazing Miso based soup from an investigator's restaurant. He asked us to have lunch there and then gave us all this food for free. It was amazing. I felt like a king. The soup was possibly the best that I have had in a long, long time.
This week was very good. I had an investigator who passed his baptismal interview this sunday. He will be baptized this Friday. I am super excited because this is a guy that we almost gave up on, but then in answer to prayers, he started to see that the miracles and blessings in his life were coming from God. He wanted to get to know God more than he does now and that's why he is willing to be baptized. It is amazing to see that in just one week he has had a complete reversal of faith. He went from not really believing that Heavenly Father was the only true God to firmly believing and being so excited. He knows that Jesus is the Christ and he wants to do what he can do have something to give back.
We have also seen miracles as we have been carrying around a copy of the book of mormon with us wherever we go. It really lets people see that the gospel is something tangible. It gives them proof of reality of our message. They can feel it, read it and hold it in their hands. I want to encourage everyone that has taken the BOM for granted to really think about what this miraculous book means to you, how you know it's true, and what that makes you want to do. I'll do it too, because I feel like that'd be awesome.
Finally, we watched conference this week and it was amazing. The long wait for conference finally culminated in a 6 hour, nearly non-stop session watched in English on our Bishop's iPad this Saturday. We then watched the rest on Sunday. It was really, really good. I felt like I found answers to almost all of my personal questions and many of my investigators' questions. I can't wait for the Ensign to come out.
Love,
Elder Siebert
Monday, April 4, 2011
Weekly Report: Super Soakers are so not just water guns
Hey Everyone!
THE DANSHUI AREA JUST GOT DRENCHED! Zheng4 Li2 Yi3 Jing4 is now a member of our church! She was SO awesome! We ran out of gas at the church when we were filling our little ghetto "Port-o-font", so the water was freezing. Despite all this, she said that when she first stepped in she thought it was cold, but when she came out of the water, she felt like she was super warm. It was so awesome that she had such a powerful experience. Elder Benson had to do the honors twice because her foot came up the first time, but the second time he got her all the way under and even sent up a small tidal wave over the side of the port-o-font. It was really funny. The bishop had to jump back to avoid it. Hehehe. The service went really well, I ended up giving a talk in it and also singing a solo rendition of Nearer My God to Thee. It was really good, minus a couple girls giving me the goo-goo eyes in the back. Sigh.
Besides baptizing, I have been eating more great food lately because I have been getting menus and translating them with the help of Nina, one of the members who comes teaching with us a lot. I have vastly expanded my ability to try new foods I think. It's awesome. This week I tried some Ga1Li3 (curry) Ke2Le4Bing2 which are basically these fried mashed potato things. They have meat and veggies in them too, but they get all breaded up and fried. It was really quite wonderful. I liked it a lot and a lot. I would have to give it 4 out of 5 curried confections.
This week I also ended up cutting my companion's hair pretty awesome. I have learned much from my mom's haircutting skills and I was finally confident enough to forget the little razor attachments and just go at it with the bare razor and a comb. The result was some awesome, well blended hair. Everyone and their dog complimented his hair cut. Really, we discussed this the other day and decided that when someone compliments the haircut, they're complimenting the person who cut it (me) rather than the person who's hair was cut. However, if they say that you look good with the haircut, then it's a compliment to you. This is what we talk about in our down time.
We have been biking more than normal lately to save on money and I think that I can quote "The Best Two Years" in that my tush has become very beautiful with all the biking that I have been doing. Just in case you were wondering.
Hmmmm....I don't know that there's much else to say. The girl problems are getting better, which is great because I was getting to the point where I wanted to leave the area because it was so bad. Oh! Last week, we went up to this member's house for P-day which was awesome. They live all the way up in the mountains, near the very top, so when we looked out of their windows, we could see all of Danshui, Zhuwei, SanZhi, everything. It was this surreal, super gorgeous view. I will have to send my SD card home, even though that doesn't do justice.
We saw the changing power of the atonement this week. We have an investigator who has been stagnant for a long time, but he has finally started to keep commitments and he is suddenly making great strides to get baptized. It's awesome!
Oh, everyone here also tells me how I look like I am way older than I am because they all think that I look mature and talk in a very mature way. Hee hee. Uh, I think that's all. Keep pressing on everyone!
Love,
Elder Siebert
THE DANSHUI AREA JUST GOT DRENCHED! Zheng4 Li2 Yi3 Jing4 is now a member of our church! She was SO awesome! We ran out of gas at the church when we were filling our little ghetto "Port-o-font", so the water was freezing. Despite all this, she said that when she first stepped in she thought it was cold, but when she came out of the water, she felt like she was super warm. It was so awesome that she had such a powerful experience. Elder Benson had to do the honors twice because her foot came up the first time, but the second time he got her all the way under and even sent up a small tidal wave over the side of the port-o-font. It was really funny. The bishop had to jump back to avoid it. Hehehe. The service went really well, I ended up giving a talk in it and also singing a solo rendition of Nearer My God to Thee. It was really good, minus a couple girls giving me the goo-goo eyes in the back. Sigh.
Besides baptizing, I have been eating more great food lately because I have been getting menus and translating them with the help of Nina, one of the members who comes teaching with us a lot. I have vastly expanded my ability to try new foods I think. It's awesome. This week I tried some Ga1Li3 (curry) Ke2Le4Bing2 which are basically these fried mashed potato things. They have meat and veggies in them too, but they get all breaded up and fried. It was really quite wonderful. I liked it a lot and a lot. I would have to give it 4 out of 5 curried confections.
This week I also ended up cutting my companion's hair pretty awesome. I have learned much from my mom's haircutting skills and I was finally confident enough to forget the little razor attachments and just go at it with the bare razor and a comb. The result was some awesome, well blended hair. Everyone and their dog complimented his hair cut. Really, we discussed this the other day and decided that when someone compliments the haircut, they're complimenting the person who cut it (me) rather than the person who's hair was cut. However, if they say that you look good with the haircut, then it's a compliment to you. This is what we talk about in our down time.
We have been biking more than normal lately to save on money and I think that I can quote "The Best Two Years" in that my tush has become very beautiful with all the biking that I have been doing. Just in case you were wondering.
Hmmmm....I don't know that there's much else to say. The girl problems are getting better, which is great because I was getting to the point where I wanted to leave the area because it was so bad. Oh! Last week, we went up to this member's house for P-day which was awesome. They live all the way up in the mountains, near the very top, so when we looked out of their windows, we could see all of Danshui, Zhuwei, SanZhi, everything. It was this surreal, super gorgeous view. I will have to send my SD card home, even though that doesn't do justice.
We saw the changing power of the atonement this week. We have an investigator who has been stagnant for a long time, but he has finally started to keep commitments and he is suddenly making great strides to get baptized. It's awesome!
Oh, everyone here also tells me how I look like I am way older than I am because they all think that I look mature and talk in a very mature way. Hee hee. Uh, I think that's all. Keep pressing on everyone!
Love,
Elder Siebert
Monday, March 28, 2011
Weekly Report: Finally About to Get Soaked!
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
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 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
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