Throwin Down Testimony

Hello beloved family! 

I forgot to let y'all know that I was going to the temple this week!

This past week was pretty dang good! We have been busy with a lot of investigators and a lot of splits! One of the people we are working with is Chinese and he has the same name as one of the Book of Mormon prophets we are studying with him. (They both use the same Chinese characters too...which is rare considering how many different characters could be used in different combinations and yet end up with the same sound!)  That certainly makes likening the scriptures with him pretty easy! He is struggling a lot with believing that God is real. Elder Cook and I feel like that is his biggest obstacle. Once he overcomes that he will start progressing more!

Elder Cook and I held Zone conference on Tuesday and it turned out really well! Leading up to it we kept planning to set aside time to prepare what we were going to teach during the meeting, but every time the time came we always felt like we needed to go do other things. Because of that, when it came time to give our training, we didn't have anything but the theme and some scriptures planned out. That may sound like enough preparation to a lot of you, but to me, being the awful public speaker that I am, I did not feel nearly as prepared as I would have liked! Fortunately, when the time came to give our training the Spirit took over and Elder Cook and I were able to give and speak the words that God would have had us say. The theme we planned to teach on was "Faith as a principle of action". What it became was "Fear and doubt: the opposition to faith". I was so grateful for the incredible help we received. I now have a much stronger testimony that when we give our all in order to do what God would have us do, He will make up the lack. We focused on following the Spirit instead of doing the things we thought we needed to do and that helped us get a lot more things done! It was awesome!


This week I went on splits with an Elder Tolen and Elder Ishikawa(石川). They were both great splits and I learned a lot! The missionaries in this zone are all incredibly hard workers and really want to improve! I have been able to learn so much from their example. Yesterday Elder Ishikawa and I stopped a man on the street who is a young father suffering from a pretty severe illness (I didn't understand which illness it was, but it was a pretty bad type of cancer). We got to know him a little bit when we stopped him. While we were talking I looked at his hand and did the only natural thing someone that has spent a year at BYU would do and did a ring check:). I saw that he had one so I asked him about his family. He told me a little about them and I was able to testify to him about how the Gospel blesses families. I felt directed to show him the picture of y'all--the one where we are all sitting in the middle of the train tracks! He loved it and commented on how we all seemed so happy. I told him that y'all were far away. I talked about how hard it is to be away from you, but how through the teachings of the gospel I know that no matter what happens, if we all keep the commandments, we will be with each other again. I promised him the same thing. After that Elder Ishikawa threw down a testimony of prayer and Heavenly Father and tied it to my family testimony perfectly. I felt like we were Alma and Amulek testifying to the Zoramites!! We plan on teaching that man again this week!


This past week was great! There were some tight situations, some heart wrenching moments and some frustrating experiences, but I felt a lot of guidance and influence from the Spirit of the Lord, and that made everything better. This zone leader thing is really fun, primarily because I get to spend so much time with a lot of different, awesome, amazing missionaries--and my companion is a pretty amazing missionary as well. I feel like I learn a lot more from the missionaries I serve then they probably learn from me!


Anyways, love y'all! I got a call from the mission office saying that I have a package! I haven't seen it yet but thank you!

Elder Siebach

Learning to Forgive

Hello beloved family, I have another few minutes so I will tell you about another experience I had this week while doing splits with the Elders in Kofu. 

We sat down with this new member named H and started teaching him but the lesson was going nowhere. We could tell that he wasn't feeling the Spirit. We were letting him talk, bearing testimony, reading scriptures (a lot of them) and I was praying...HARD! I was feeling the Spirit, but I couldn't figure out why he wasn't. After awhile we started getting somewhere, but we had only set aside an hour to teach him, so I was about to end the lesson when I could feel the Spirit saying "No, don't end the lesson". We decided to continue, and from there the lesson took a meandering stroll through various subjects until the missionary that I was on splits with got a phone call from a member. He ignored it, but H asked him who it was. My companion told him and H scowled. From there he replayed a story to us of how he had let that specific member down. He used the word uragiri, which means backstab. He told us how he had tried to apologize and make it right, but still had an awful feeling. That feeling was causing him to stop wanting to come to church. He felt like he couldn't please the members, couldn't become friends with them, and certainly couldn't love or be loved by them. We talked to him for a long time. Through the Spirit we were able to determine that the hinderance he felt was not forgiveness from the member. It was H's personal forgiveness. H could not complete repentance because he could not forgive himself and therefore could not forsake his sin. He couldn't forgive himself because he hated himself. When I realized this I remembered an experience I had. I too had hated myself and I couldn't forgive. I couldn't love those around me because I couldn't love myself. I was able to relate that experience to him, tell him what had helped me to finally love myself enough to forgive myself. I was able to bear a testimony that I didn't know I had because the Spirit helped me to remember specific experiences. I have a testimony of repentance and the ability it gives us to learn how to love ourselves, even though imperfect, which in turn gives us the ability to love others. I have a testimony that one of the purposes of the atonement is to allow us to have faith to repent

15 And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance.

To allow us to love orpurselves again and so allow us to love others. I have seen that happen in my life. I wasn't a very loving person before the mission, in fact there were very few who I could bring myself to love, but I have been blessed to change and to love the people here.

By the way, good luck in school Gremlin (he means Grace)!! Can't believe it's your senior year!!

Love ya!

Elder Sterling Siebach

Peace Be Unto Thy Soul

Hello my beloved family! 

Riding a Japanese-sized bike

This week has been great! We have been all over the place! On Wednesday I went and got my tooth fixed in Tokyo and afterwards we had to go to an area called Kofu (which is on the opposite end of our mission) on splits! Kofu is by far the biggest area in our mission. It is made up of the entirety of Yamanashi-ken, which is the Japanese equivalent of a state. It actually makes up close to 50 percent of the geographical area of our mission, but only has a small percentage of the mission's total population. It takes a two hour train ride to get to the church from Hachioji and we will be going up there once a week for district meetings. While I was there on splits with the district leader, we taught two lessons he and his companion had set up for us. One was a with a recent convert and the other was a man that has not yet been baptized. He is a refugee from Iran. If he were to receive baptism and then return to Iran he would very likely be tortured and killed. Because of that he will not be baptized until he knows for sure that he won't have to go back. 

While we were with him I was trying to get to know him and figure out what kind of scripture I should share. He started talking about the challenges he faces here in Japan. He spoke about racial prejudice, difficulty with the language, his divorce, the government, and a lot of other things that are making his life difficult. I had been planning to read a chapter with him from Mosiah that is about the trials that Alma and his people faced and how they overcame them through patience and trust in the Lord. It really is a truly inspiring account, but I felt that I should share something else instead. I remembered some scriptures in the Doctrine and Covenants that had comforted me through hard times before. They tell of a time when Joseph Smith was stuck in Liberty Jail while his family and members of the church are being persecuted, some even murdered, and driven away. He feels hopeless, as if the Lord has abandoned him and his people. Here is what the Lord says to him:

D&C 121:7-8 -- My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

I asked him to read it and watched as the Spirit carried these precious scriptures to his heart. There are a lot of people in this world that aren't very comfortable. There are a lot of people that are worried, scared, sick, hopeless, and discouraged. It can be due to the actions of others, our actions, weakness, nature, really anything. But no matter what the situation is, no matter how low we are, how dirty we feel, how hopeless we are, we are the children of God. Not a cold God or an uncaring God, not a cruel God or an absent God, but a God that loves, a God that lifts, a God that blesses, and a God that strengthens. I have seen him reach out to many; I know He is always reaching out. We are His children after all. The man we were teaching was visibly moved. He thanked us, and then got on his knees and thanked God. It was a beautiful experience. 

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Elder Siebach

How to Soften a Heart

Hello everyone! 

With Baba-san

This past week was pretty great. Elder Matsumoto, Elder Richardson, and I partied in Kanagawa for a few days. We taught a bunch of lessons because all of our investigators wanted to say goodbye before I left. It was awesome. Then I hopped on a train and had a nice smooth transfer to Hachioji! Got here and my companion and I hit the streets pretty hard. We have been pretty busy with district meetings to attend, lessons, baptismal interviews, conference calls, and the like. That keeps us pretty busy! We still haven't been able to complete all of the planning that we desperately need to plan for this transfer!

One special thing about being in this zone is that one of the districts is the Kofu Area, which consists of Yamanashi Ken in its entirety, which is comparable to a state in the U.S. Geographically the area is massive and a two and a half hour train ride from my area. We will try to go there every week, which will take a long time and extra money, but all those hours on the train will give us an opportunity to teach a lot of lessons to people who aren't going anywhere--haha!

This week I decided to study how hearts are softened. I have come across quite a few hard hearts in Japan, and I want to see what is required to soften them. I haven't finished studying this yet, but I came across a few scriptures that stick out to me...

2 Nephi 2:16 -- Nephi is trying to understand and accept the words of his father as the word of God.

16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers.

I love that, despite being young and inexperienced, if you have a desire to know and to cry unto the Lord then you can receive. In this case his heart was softened so that he could believe his father's words. A couple verses later he's sad about his brothers' disobedience and prays for them, after which the Lord talks to him and promises him many things.

Another scripture that I liked was Alma 24:8. Here the king of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis is speaking.

8 And behold, I thank my great God that he has given us a portion of his Spirit to soften our hearts, that we have opened a correspondence with these brethren, the Nephites.

The Lamanites, a people who for hundreds of years had hated the Nephites and had tried to kill them and had, despite constant efforts from the Nephites, never had an interest in the things of God, finally received the gospel. It was because God granted a portion of his Spirit to soften their hearts.

I love these scriptures, and I love that Heavenly Father softens our hearts so that we can receive Him. I know that He is softening the hearts of some of these wonderful Japanese people that they may receive this perfect gospel. I pray that He may continue to do so and that He will soften my heart as well.

Elder Siebach

Transfer 'Flash in the Pan'!

Dear Family,

I have no time, but I have news!

I am getting transferred again! Another two transfer flash in the pan and I'm gone! I will be companions with Elder Cook. I don't really know him, although he seems like a great guy! Bonus: I will be getting a bike from a very tall missionary that just went home! It is a lot bigger and nicer and American! Yay--I'm excited!

This weekend we had a baptism! Brother Baba! He is going to be an incredible member! I'm so grateful I got to teach him and be a part of his journey toward Christ! I will send you a picture of him next email!

I'm sorry that this is so short! I really love all of you!

Elder Siebach