Weekly Report: Obama, Giggles, and Pigeons

Hey Everyone!
Another week in Douliu has come and gone. To start off this letter, I'll talk a little about our area. We mostly stay in Douliu, but our secondary areas surround the city and are much more rural. They're very beautiful. Douliu is a circular city, so it's hard to learn where everything goes, and I'm still constantly lost. I have no idea where I am most of the time. It doesn't help that I don't read Chinese that well yet. Douliu is famous for its pomelos. I'm not sure when they come into season, but I hope it's while I'm here. I doubt they will, though. Douliu has two colleges, so we contact A LOT of students. I've found that the older someone is, the less likely they are to want to listen. It's a little frustrating sometimes, but I'm cool with it.

Food Review:
Ku3gua1 (literally "bitter melon"): The name says it all. It's not bad, but not something I'd eat for fun.

Excuse Review:
I got my favorite excuse so far the other day. I contacted a guy at a street corner, and said something along the lines of, "I'd like to share more about our church with you." He responded by saying, "I'm from China, and I'm not allowed to have religion," and sped off. Not a very solid excuse, but really really funny.

Here's one Kyler will love. I contacted a guy at the post office. He was a little older, and one of the every religion is good if it teaches good works type. These are very common in Taiwan. He then goes, "So, it's important to follow good people. Jesus was a good person. Matzu was a good person. Your president, that Obama, he seems like a good person too." Oh man, I nearly died right then and there. So funny. I just kind of smiled at him and invited him to come to church. Sorry, Ky.

We had a baptism on Saturday night. This was the first one where I had taught the person all the lessons. Her name is Xie4 Jia1yu3. She's the little sister of one of the people I baptized my first week. After he was baptized, she came up to us in church and asked when she could be baptized. Since she'd been coming to church for a long time, it was only a matter of teaching her the lessons and getting an interview. She's way cool, but kind of shy. Her best friend is a member, and had originally referred her big brother to us. Jiayu and her friend giggle at me all the time. This actually happens with a couple of the girls in the ward. It's really quite awkward, as we have about a billion rules about how we can interact with females, and I still don't really know how to react, so mostly I just ignore it. At the baptism, one of the older girls was with her friend, a Young Man, and the Young Man turned to me and said, "she thinks you're super handsome." I didn't know what to say, so I just said thanks. Two weeks ago, I would have been so awkwarded out, but I've been in so many uncomfortable situations now that I was only mildly perturbed. Still, it's fairly awkward. I hope it isn't this way in all the other wards I'll be in.

The beginning of this week was really kind of hard. Every lesson we had set up stood us up until Wednesday. In Taiwan, it's no big deal to stand someone up (it's called "fang4 ge1zi", literally, "release doves"), but it's a little frustrating coming from Western culture. However, Elder Wilson and I decided that we needed to show our faith in the Lord by continuing to talk to people. We also decided to strengthen our relationship with the members, and have taught several a lesson where we commit them to pray for someone to share the gospel with and then share it in the next week. It's been really good, and at the end of the week, things got better. On Sunday, we had a returned missionary sister bring her big sister to church. Her sister has already been reading the BoM and had a couple of lessons. We committed her to baptism and set up a time to teach her next week. On Saturday, someone called us, and told us that a friend had given him our number, and that he wanted to meet with us and learn about our church. I can truly testify that the Lord helps us when we trust Him and rely upon Him. We're truly blessed to have a part in this work. I know that if you'll share the gospel with your friends, even your member friends, as everyone needs edification, you will not be alone. God will bless you to know who to talk to, and what to say when you talk to them. If you will but open your mouth, He will help you. That's my commitment for you all this week. Share some gospel message with a friend this week. It doesn't have to be a nonmember, but strive to strengthen someone around you. I promise that as you do so, you'll be blessed and uplifted.

I love you all,
Elder Siebert

PS: They make mango muffins at the Costco here! They're pretty good.