Sifting Through the Clutter

31 Flavors!

Hello family! 

Thank you for the emails! It sounds like y'all have had quite the adventures these past few weeks and everything has all turned out!

There isn't a ton of news from this side of the world. Just same old same old. A lot of people that I talk to have kindly informed me that this is the hottest summer in 140 years and that I am a hard worker for being out in it doing what I am doing. That's nice of them. I have found that I am actually pretty well informed out here with regards to news and weather and things of that nature. A lot of Japanese people spend the vast majority of their free time on their phones or on TV. So when I talk to them then they often blurt out whatever is dancing around on the surface of their mind, which is usually what they were looking at most recently on their phones. No wonder, when I ask, they usually tell me that they have never thought about God or the purpose of life or some of the deeper topics of discussion. There is so much clutter on the surface that there is no time to focus on what's under it. I have learned a lot from the Japanese people. 

I am so grateful for the part of my mission where I come out changed. I think that there are many aspects to a mission and one of them is the part where you change others, or help them change themselves. There is also another part where you (I) change. I am grateful for both, but right now I want to talk about one of the ways that I have changed. I have learned to ponder. As I said earlier there is a lot of clutter in this world, lots of notifications and tweets and posts and newsflashes and popups and latests and disasters and jobs and friends... All of which are good (well, ok...disasters aren't good), but they aren't always good. Before I came on a mission I was really into my phone, the Internet, TV shows...to the point that I would just spend all of my free time focusing on those and I couldn't truly ponder. It was as if my mind was itching for the latest text message, Facebook post, tweet, anything to think about. On my mission that has changed. I can be still and think and hear the voice of the Spirit in my life. That is something that I have learned here. So many of the people that I have tried to talk to have been too engrossed in their phones or music or something to listen to what I have to say. I realized that I was the same way. I feel like our Heavenly Father is always trying to talk to us, always trying to send us revelation, and it's up to us to just be quiet and still for long enough to receive and recognize it.

One of the elders in my apartment will be transferring to the mission office as an office elder this Tuesday so my companion and I will absorb his old companion and be a threesome for the next week and a half until transfers! That's exciting because now we are taking on the work load of two very busy areas. It will be a challenge to balance that out. On Monday we now have seven lessons planned! That might be a record for me! We also have a baptism this coming Saturday for a great man named Baba-san. We are pumped for that! He is wonderful and will be a really strong member and missionary. He already invites all his friends to hear the lessons!

This week we did a lot of finding and a lot of teaching as your typical missionary will do. We saw a lot of miracles and got to teach a lot of people on the front step of their houses. One of the people we found and taught we had to turn over to the sisters in our area and she already has a baptismal date scheduled! She was incredibly prepared. She will be baptized sometime next month.

Kanagawa District

This past week I came across a lot of great scriptures in my studies. One that I loved was in Mosiah 9. This is actually the record of Zeniff who went to claim the Nephite's lands of inheritance. He and his people are fighting the Lamanites and, although outnumbered, manage to kill 3000 Lamanites with a loss of only 280 Nephites. The scripture that I love talks about the most important part of their preparation for battle.

17 Yea, in the strength of the Lord did we go forth to battle against the Lamanites; for I and my people did cry mightily to the Lord that he would deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, for we were awakened to a remembrance of the deliverance of our fathers.

I am learning that it is absolutely necessary to cry mightily to the Lord. One other thing that I have learned on my mission is that it is rare for God to change our situation. Of course he can and does remove barriers and hinderances from our path, but he leaves a lot more of them right where they are. If you think about it, what do we gain or learn if all of the hard things in life just disappear? Rather, he gives us the strength to overcome or change our circumstances and in so doing allows us to learn and grow. He gives us the strength to lift our burdens. I have learned that on my mission. I have had opposition, a lot of it, and instead of seeing it go away when I pray, it has stayed. It took a long time for me to realize that after you pray and cry mightily to the Lord, then you just man up and face your problems and do everything you can do to overcome them. Then you watch as He provides the strength, after yours is exhausted, that gets you over the hill. I have literally been helped over real hills (Yokohama is full of them and we live on top of a huge one) when I am exhausted and feel as if I only have strength left to pray for help. Then, oh how great is your joy when you realize that you--with the help of the Lord--overcame all that stood in front of you! I have a testimony that He is there waiting to strengthen us. We may be disappointed when we open our eyes after praying and behold the mountains still in front of us, but I just have to remember that it is for my benefit, and there is nothing that we are asked to do that we can't do without the Lord's help.

Love y'all!

Elder Siebach

Ground Control to Major Tom

Hello family! 

I know that I have been saying this a lot, but I have zero time! 

This week I went on splits twice with people in my district and saw great miracles both times. We got referrals, found multiple investigators, and taught lessons. They were incredibly productive! 

M-San came to church which was really exciting! He has been super busy recently and hasn't been able to meet with us for a few weeks, but we are not giving up on him!

This past week I found a really good scripture! 

It is in Mosiah 7:12-13

This is Ammon talking to King Limhi. Ammon went on a search for the people of Zeniph and finally found them after wandering in the wilderness for 40 days. Limhi, Zeniph's grandson, is now king (he comes after King Noah) and the people are in bondage to the Lamanites. Ammon and three of his buddies (he left twelve behind at camp) went and were captured by King Limhi's personal guard. Two days later King Limhi calls Ammon forth to try him. Limhi introduces himself rather gruffly (in which he talks about how his forefathers left Zarahemla to obtain the lands of their inheritance) and then demands that Ammon answer for himself. I love Ammon's words:

12 And now, when Ammon saw that he was permitted to speak, he went forth and bowed himself before the king; and rising again he said: O king, I am very thankful before God this day that I am yet alive, and am permitted to speak; and I will endeavor to speak with boldness;

13 For I am assured that if ye had known me ye would not have suffered that I should have worn these bands. For I am Ammon, and am a descendant of Zarahemla, and have come up out of the land of Zarahemla to inquire concerning our brethren, whom Zeniff brought up out of that land.

On my mission I have never been thrown in prison and bound or anything, but I have been treated poorly, I have been yelled at, shoved aside, laughed at, ignored, etc... Just like Ammon, I came here to inquire after my brethren. I came to find those who have been lost. I came to reestablish communication with those who are lost and have left home and those that are still home. Just like Ammon I have been mistreated by them that I am trying to bless. I love what he says; he points out that Limhi threw him in jail and bound him because Limhi didn't know who Ammon was. He didn't understand Ammon's purpose. Ammon intends to overcome this problem through speaking boldly. I know that too many times I have stayed quiet and held my peace, when I could have and should have been bold. I know that we have all had those times. I know that I have seen miracles when I have boldly invited people to find out who God is. 

Gotta go! Love ya!

Elder Sterling Siebach

Institute of Corrections

Dear family! I was nice to hear from y'all this week! It sounds like your big hike was a lot of fun and nobody got hurt! We need to go do something like that when I get back! I would love it! Well I am on my way home now from the temple. It was a great session!

We were supposed to get hit by a typhoon this week, but it snuck around us and instead of a ton of rain all we got was a lot of humidity! It is boiling! I am not a fan. We have also forgotten to take our trash out for a week and a half now....not pretty. We had a great week though. We went housing a lot and got rejected a lot, but we found some prepared people. The Ward had a big talent show on Saturday and we went with a bunch of investigators and potential investigators. That was really fun too. We were able to strengthen our relationship with a lot of the ward, have a good time, and most importantly, get those non-members in an environment conducive to building friendships with members of the ward. That was so important.

One of the craziest miracles is that Elder M and I got three referrals this past week, which is unheard of! This past week effectively quadrupled the total number of referrals I have been given on my mission. As of right now we haven't been able to contact any of them yet, but we will eventually! There is no way I am going to let this prime opportunity pass!!!!

We also had a zone conference. The two zones in Yokohama gathered and all of the missionaries that are going home this transfer gave their testimonies. It was a great meeting!

I have been thinking a lot about correction, I have had to do a lot of it recently. I have come to realize that correction can be a way to display love. We are all in various places along the path to perfection. A path where we are to change or not make it. We are to improve. Correction is just a nudge from other people that helps us do that. I wish that there were more people around me that would give me correction. I feel like I am plateauing a little bit. I do know that if we correct in the right way, unselfishly, lovingly, with an intention to help and not to hurt, gently, clearly..., that we will be helping those that we correct to take one more step towards being like Jesus Christ. In the past I hated receiving correction. I was proud and when people corrected me I would look for their flaws and use that to disqualify them and their words, but now, despite the fact that it is painful, I really welcome it and need it.

I love you all!

Elder Siebach

P.s. Will you please figure out a way to send me a song called Claire de Lune? Thank you!

Riding in the Rain and Defining Moments...

Hello family!

Sounds like Y'all had a good week and are about to have another! That hike is going to be awesome! Be sure to take a lot of great pictures please!

This past week was pretty good. It rained a lot and and I got soaked multiple times. Very few people were willing to stop and talk with us so we focused a lot on visiting members and housing. That was great, we found a couple new investigators that have return appointments coming up. That's exciting. When it wasn't raining it was ridiculously
humid, so I still got soaked. It looks like we might have a pretty rough typhoon here pretty soon! I'm excited, but if it is anything like the other typhoons that I have experienced here my mission, we won't take much of a hit. 

Some big news is that within the next two weeks the mission will be getting Facebook back. I am both excited and apprehensive. There are a lot of great investigators that we will get to "resurrect" and I am excited to use Facebook during a time when I am a better missionary, but there are some missionaries that used to use Facebook as a waste of time. I guess we are not immune to the disease that devours hours and hours of time on social media! I am worried that some in my district may struggle with that. I'm sure that there will be an improvement curve.
 
This past week I got to go on splits with a member of my MTC district. He just barely moved into my district. That was really fun! I haven't seen him for almost a year and then he moves to my district! We talked for a long time--it was interesting to compare our experiences. Despite the fact that we have been here for the same amount of time and in the same mission, his experiences have been FAR different from mine. While we were on splits we went and surprise-visited a member of the bishopric and got the privilege to serve him and his family. We pulled out a tree (I will send a picture when I get them). We also got to talk to his neighbor and invite him to church. Before we visited them we tried to visit a different family near the same area. We spent almost an hour riding around trying to find the house. We couldn't find it anywhere and we were dying and pretty much swimming in sweat (there are a lot of BIG hills... like the Japanese classify them as mountains!) and a little bit frustrated, so we said a prayer and went into a convenient apartment building and started housing. It wasn't long until someone talked to us (first miracle, you can go a day without people wanting to talk to you or giving you the time of day). His name is H-san. He cracked the door and suspiciously asked us if we were members of the Jehovah's Witness sect. We responded negatively, but that we had a message about our Savior Jesus Christ and His love for him. He swung the door open wide and listened to our message. I could see he felt the Spirit so I invited him to accept a visit from us the following week. He said he would be there waiting for us. That was a miracle! However now my companion isn't very happy because it looks like we are scheduled to ride to his house right in the middle of a downpour. Oh well, we will go all the way out there and we will tell H-San about his Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ in the rain. Can't wait!

Another fun experience from the week was going on splits with another elder who lived with me during my second transfer. He is about to go home, but it was a great reunion and we talked a lot. We talked about some of the defining moments in our missions have been thus far. It was an interesting topic and one that I have thought a lot about since. I don't think that I can pinpoint specific moments--I guess I change so gradually I don't notice the difference. There's got to be a time or some '"moments" where I've changed.

Something that came up in my studies this week was spiritual gifts. The prophet Joseph Smith said that everyone has spiritual gifts from God. They aren't always visible or developed, but they are there and can be realized. He also said that through righteousness and prayer we can know what those gifts are through the Spirit. I want to know what mine are. They certainly aren't readily apparent. I have no idea what they might be, but I want to know. I am surrounded by some amazing people with readily apparent gifts in this mission, so I can see a lot of the gifts I don't have! Those gifts are given to us that we may use them to bless others. I want to find mine so that I can bless others.

I'm grateful for this week and the miracles I have seen and experiences I have had.

I love you all!

- Elder Siebach

Sticking it Out

Dear Family,

I have very little time to write today! We started a new transfer this week. I am still with Elder M. I am excited.
We did a lot of housing this week and found a few investigators. That was pretty good. M-San came to church unexpectedly. That was a blessing. We had a good lesson with him. His wife isn't happy about him going to church. They seem to have neglected their relationship for the past 30 years. We are really trying to help him and are praying for him. He is such a good person.

Today I said goodbye to my old companion Elder W for what might be last time on my mission. That was sad, but he is ready to go home! I'm excited for him!

Today my companion and I were housing and nobody wanted to hear from us, which is sadly pretty typical, but my companion and I decided to stop and pray for guidance. We asked that God would guide us and speak through us as well as allow us to see a miracle. After our prayer it came to mind that, as in most of the experiences I have had on my mission where nothing was happening, it is often after long persistence and at the last minute that the miracle comes. We continued housing and did see a miracle! It was a testimony to me of persistence in following revelation to the end. We had planned the night before when and where we were going to house and felt that it was right. The miracle came only after we persisted to the end (within the last five minutes of our allotted housing time). Pretty cool!

Mom thank you for the package! I already ate all the candy.... I had been craving all things American for the past week or so!

Happy fourth!
Love Y'all!

Elder Siebach