Weekly Report: Diapers, Flat Tire, Lonely Smoker

Hey Everyone!!!
We just found out that I can NOT ghost a bike. It was humiliating. My companion wanted it on tape, but I'm glad we didn't have any such option.

Wow. It's week 6 of the transfer again. Blows my mind. Seems like just yesterday that I got here.

Excuse Review: Captain Underpants Strikes Back
Last night, we went out tracting, and we sat down with a family. The dad was pretty interested. Me and Elder Mikkelsen both agreed that he could have become a solid investigator, but his wife kept interrupting us, shooting down our invitations to pray, etc. Eventually, she left the room and came back, saying, "We're out of diapers, and if we don't go get some now, tonight will be bad," pointing to their 2 year old son. The dad agreed, and we had to leave. It was pretty disappointing to have been defeated by diapers. 1 salvation destroying sanitation device out of 5 (I call that "ABAB" alliteration).

Man, I'm so jealous of you all. We don't get to watch Conference until this weekend. Don't spoil the good parts for me. Who is the real "bad guy"? Will there be a sequel? I guess I'll just have to wait till this weekend to find out.

This week, we headed out to one of our secondary areas, Erlin. It's a fairly small town, but there are a lot of inactive recent converts out there, and we went out to find them. One of the members, Brother Hong drove us around down there. The members here in Xihu are fabulous. They're so willing to help out in any way. After Brother Hong finished driving us around, he drove out to Xihu to help out the other companionship. He was super excited about it. Anyways, on the way back, we were riding in the dark, and all of the sudden Elder Mikkelsen's back tire blew out. We were stranded halfway along the 13 kilometer road back. We ended up calling up the Bishop, who came out and rescued us. I got to sit in front of the truck with the Bishop and chat with him. Super enjoyable, and I got to explain how my parents met each other for the billionth time (seriously, Mom and Dad, you two are famous here in Taiwan now). The Bishop is super solid. Without him, we wouldn't have made it back before 11 that night.

I'm not sure what else to talk about. This week was a pretty average week. We worked really hard and set up tons of people, but we just keep getting stood up. The one shining ray of hope is chen2 gan1quan2, who is planning on getting baptized on Friday. He's a bit of a recluse, and is a pretty lonely guy. He kept smoking forever whenever he'd sit alone and think, but for the last couple of weeks, we've been running with him in the mornings (well, we run and he bikes), and he's seen considerable improvement. He stopped smoking on Saturday. In the whole teaching process, he's changed a whole ton. He smiles now. He responds to questions. The Gospel has changed his life. He's a different person than he was, and a much happier one at that. That's what the Gospel is for. Jesus Christ performed the Atonement so that we can rely upon him to change ourselves. Granted, effort is required, but through Him, we can become better, happier people and prepare to live with Him and our Father in Heaven again for all eternity. This week, I'd like to invite you all to take some time to think about how the Gospel has changed your life. I am so positive that as you do, each of you will come to realize that the good things in your life come from your involvement in the Church. It's true, folks. There's no denying it. So stay strong and love doing "church things," cause they'll make you happier and bring you closer to God.

I love you all. Have a great week,
Elder Siebert