Weekly Report: Earthquake, Sxey Shirt, Zone Conference

Hey Everybody!!!
This week has been exciting and hectic. First and foremost, (Mom, once again, don't read this) I experienced my first earthquake here in Taiwan! It was really weird. We live on the 13th floor, and it was right in the middle of Personal Study. The building felt like Jello. It was one of the odder feelings I've ever experienced (I'll admit I was a little scared). It lasted about 30 seconds, and when it got done, Elder Wilson said, "Meh." I guess it must not have been a very intense one.

Excuse Review: The Ju4Jue2 Wave
This week, I didn't have any amazing rejections, so I'll share one that everyone gets all the time. Basically, what happens is you pull up next to someone and you say, "Hello!", and then they turn their head away from you and wave their hand. This is particularly common from older men. Sometimes they say, "Tia bo," which is Taiwanese for "can't understand." (If they try this, I usually invite them to church in Taiwanese. I'm so wily.) Anyways, this is the excuse you get all the time, and it rubs off. Whenever I say anything about Elder Wilson getting old and going home, he pulls this excuse. It's not the most effective excuse, as many Elders will just keep talking when people do this, but I'll generally move onto someone more willing if I get it. I give it 3 waving hands out of 5.

This week, I had exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I went to Jiayi and spent the day with Elder Mix. Elder Mix is from Provo, and he's got AMAZING Chinese. He's a really talented teacher, and I learned a lot from him. I'm also really jealous of their member situation. The members in Douliu don't really like to come teach lessons with us. Those that do are either silent or the talk your ears off type. This makes it hard for us to effectively help investigators get to know members. Jiayi does NOT have this problem. It was a lot of fun to teach with their members. Anyways, exchanges were a lot of fun, but kind of set us in "catch up" mode for the rest of the week.

Shirt Review
I've decided to start a section I will add every once in a while. The Taiwanese love to have English on their shirts, but they are often poorly translated, have strange meanings, or are mispelled. This can often be very funny. Here's my favorite from this week. It said "Sxey Boy." My only comment is that this boy was probably only attractive to illiterate girls. I give it 3 sumptuous mispellings out of 5.

This weekend, we had the baptism of Dai4 Ci2Xuan1. She's a really nice lady the previous Douliu sisters were teaching. When they left, she kind of got lost. We called her a couple weeks ago when we found her in the Sisters' old Area Book. She progressed quickly, and her faith is extremely strong. She said she used to always see the Elders out contacting people and wonder why they didn't contact her (the answer is: we're not allowed to contact sisters without our companion. So we don't). Eventually the Sisters contacted her, and she was super willing to learn. Her journey into the church has been slow, but she's very strong. It was a great experience teaching her, and she'll be a great strength to the ward (especially since she's middle aged, and settled down, so she's not going anywhere).

We also had Zone Conference this week. It was GREAT. I loved it. It was President Hoer's last Zone Conference, so he gave us advice on what to do when we go home. I'll be honest, it feels like ages away, though the time is SPEEDING by. I've been out three months already! Madness. My favorite thing President Hoer said was, "if you look like a Russian, the Russians will get you. Don't look like a Russian." Hehe. That was taken a little out of context, but the basic idea was that you don't want to go back to looking worldly after you get home from your mission. This Zone Conference, there were a lot of Elders going home, so there were a lot of people giving their final talk. They all bore testimony to how much coming on a mission has changed them. They bore testimony of how relying on Christ and setting goals has made them better people. This is one thing that I think I've really learned as a missionary. If you want something, set a goal and make plans to achieve your goal. Making the goal quantifiable is most effective. This is my challenge to all of you this week. Pick something you want to do or change, and set a goal to change it. Make plans that are specific and set a time table. It doesn't necessarily have to be rigorous or rapid, but having these plans in place will help. I can promise you that as you set goals and make plans, you will progress at a much more rapid pace than you would have without the goal, and you will find much more success.

I love you all,
Elder Siebert