Weekly Report: Set Mathematics, Soy Milk Slushie, Getting Directions

Hey Everyone!
I hope everything is going great in America. It's going good here in Taiwan. It was really hot again this week, but my body has adjusted fairly well. In the nights, when it cools down to about 90 degrees, I feel really nice and cool. Sad. The climate has messed my perception of temperature up. So has the use of Celcius degrees (curse you, rest of the world!). It's ok though. Life is good once you accept that you're gonna sweat like mad.

Enough complaining about weather, and onto:
Excuse Review: Mutually Exclusive
A lot of times, as I'm contacting, I'll meet Christians. Frequently, they will immediately tell me to go find someone who doesn't already believe in Christ, as "they need it more." However, the nonChristians will tell me to go find a Christian, as they are more "suited" to the message. This got me thinking about set mathematics (yes, really, Dad. You can be proud). If B = ~A, then A U B = 0. Not exactly the result I'd like in my proselyting efforts. 0 mutually exclusive entities out of 5.

Shirt Review:
I saw a shirt yesterday that said "God Bless Taiwan." Really, even in English letters. I wanted to go contact the guy, but he raced away too quickly. Then I really could have said that God was blessing Taiwan, and He was blessing him as well. Still, the shirt was good. It's kind of like wearing a prayer or something. 4 printed prayers out of 5.

Yesterday was Father's Day (8/8 is said ba1 ba1, which is close to ba4 ba, which means father). It's a little bit of a bigger deal here in Taiwan than it is in America, but still largely feels like an excuse to have Father's Day Sales. Sorry, pops.

Food Review: Starfruit
Well, it was kind of boring. A little sweet, but not much else. I was kind of hoping to eat it and then become invicible for a while just like in Mario. Of course, the "invincible Mario" theme song is not authorized, so I couldn't even hum it as I ate my startfruit. Sad. 2 star shaped letdowns out of 5.

Food Review: Soy Milk Slushie.
Oh man, so good. We discovered this one by accident. Elder Harris and I went to get breakfast on a Preparation Day, and the lady there only had hot soy milk instead of cold soy milk. Elder Harris didn't want to drink it hot, so he put it in the freezer. Well, we forgot about it until it was basically a slushie. It's SO good (seriously family, go for the real 冰豆漿). We make it every week now. 5 accidental awesomes (yeah, I know it's not a noun) out of 5.

This week, we had Zone Conference. President Bishop is so great. He's got a really dry sense of humor (it's really kind of funny), and he's really loving and caring. The meeting was really kind of informal. I liked it a lot, and at the end, we got to watch part of Episode 1 of The District Season 2. Just kidding, it's really just called The District 2.

This weekend, we had the baptism of Chen2 you3 qun2 (陳友群). He's this super cool guy who is currently not working cause he hurt his shoulder and had to have surgery, so he's going to school learning Japanese. I remember the first time I met him, I was contacting near the KFC (they're really big here in Taiwan), and I saw him and knew immediately that I had to talk to him. He was excited to meet with us from the beginning, and throughout the entire teaching process, has been extremely willing to commit and learn. He seemed to consider himself a member from the very beginning of the process. Very very cool cool. The Lord has truly prepared people here in Taiwan for us to find.

Yesterday, we headed out to Xiluo to find a referral. It was a long ride to get there, and we had a RIDICULOUS time finding it. I wrote in my journal something like 10 steps it took to find the address. Here are some of the highlights:
- I spot a building that has a table marked "information booth." We go in, and the lady there has no idea, but there's some old guy there who gives us some bad directions that we follow
- I feel prompted to turn left at an intersection
- we knock the door with the same number on a road with a similar sounding name, which leads some guy who tells us they aren't there to give us some more bad directions
As unlikely as it seems, those different things led us (eventually) to the right place. We never would have found the referral if any of the steps were missing. It's amazing that when we go and do what we're supposed to, the Lord will truly guide us. I think as missionaries, we notice the Lord's hands and direction in our lives more than we did before, but I'm convinced that He guides us just as much when we're not missionaries. As long as we are faithful and patient, we will eventually end up where He wants us to be. This week, I hope you'd all just trust the Lord more. I know that you already do, but if things don't go right, just remember that we got bad directions several times yesterday, and they contributed to getting to the right place. I know that God loves you all, and He has a plan for each of you.

I love you all.
Elder Siebert

PS: Happy Birthday, Klarissa. I hope you soon realize just how boring it is being 17.