Darwin!! (Week 51-53)

Hello Everyone,

51(12/10) I can not believe another week is over and we are already in the final week of the transfer, so crazy.  We had a huge miracle this week! Elder Li and I taught a former investigator, Anthony and we lost contact with him.  Monday night of last week we found him on the street and he wanted to meet with us again. His exams are over and he has met with us pretty much everyday.  We are seeing him again tonight! He is on baptismal date for December 23, which will be super exciting because he is a great person!  

Our mission is participating in a world wide program called Light the World.  We have signs all over the city, with displays that are 2 meters wide. We have different shifts and during that time we just blitz contact as many people as we can. I have been talking to more natives than usual.  We have been giving out a ton of referrals as a zone so far. Light the World has gotten so many people's attention with the different things they can do to help others. It has been a great message to share with people.  I invite all of you to spread this message with your friends at school or at work. I challenge you to give out Light the World information and calendars to at least 3 people before the end of the year! I promise you that you will inspire your friends to participate.  It will help them feel the spirit of the Lord in their lives and draw them closer to the message of the restored gospel.  I hope you all have a great week and continue to spread the good news of our Savior's birth and life! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

52 (12/17) Well we just had transfers and I am............transferred. This transfer I will be serving in the Darwin zone with the new assignment of Zone leader!! My area name is Nightcliff. I must say that it was a very big surprise and shock to me to be leaving and serving in the assignment that the Lord has given me! One of the hardest things I would have to say about transfers is packing and fitting everything under the weight limit ha-ha, just kidding, that is one of the tough parts. Of course I would say leaving all the people behind that I have served for this past year! I will miss them a lot, but I am excited to see what new adventures await me in Darwin! 

This week was a tough week with trying to find new people to teach as lots of people were traveling to China for the holidays.  Sunday was great though, because our recent convert Rocket taught a short mini lesson in Elders Quorum class and he did a fantastic job! He talked about the reason why we go through trials and how obedience will bring us blessings from God.  He shared his experiences which were very recent. He has only been a member for 3 weeks, which is crazy to see the growth and his progress! 

Today will be a very busy day as I leave at 5 pm for Darwin, it is a 5 hour plane ride.  It will be an interesting transition.  I hear that Darwin is a very beautiful place, but that it is also the wet season and it rains like almost everyday. Hopefully my clothes last while I am in Darwin ha-ha! I want to wish everyone a merry Christmas! I hope that you all enjoy the holidays and have an amazing week. Always remember Christ's birth and the many blessings that come from Him in our lives! 
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! 

Christmas Skype

53 (12/26)  Merry Christmas!!!!!!! I hope you all had a great Christmas this past week! It was great up here in Darwin! It was so busy with so many meetings and so many things to do. I don't even know where to start! The first day after I arrived in Darwin we did a cool service project.  We went toad busting. We spent time catching kain toads in the botanical gardens at night.  As a zone we caught around 150 toads in about 1.5 hours which was cool! We then hosted an activity at the YMCA in the city.  It was a big Christmas special, we sang Christmas songs, watched the Nativity and had lots of food! There were a lot of people, mixed both members and nonmembers.  The people at the YMCA loved it and want us to host activities once a month for all the people that live there! We also went to a barbecue as a zone. We watched some mission skits and photos from the year which was fun! 

On Sunday we went to church, watched the devotional and had a big lunch which was cool! We also went to visit people. On Christmas day we got to open presents. I got a nice neon orange and black rugby ball, some pancake mix and maple syrup. Elder Dickson's mom got us a drawing board that we can write notes and pictures for lessons. She also gave us some candy, Nerf guns, and a tie which was super nice of her! We then ate breakfast at a members home and had scrambled eggs, hash browns, pancakes and it was very good!

Later that evening we watched, The spirit of the Game. A movie about Mormon missionaries in Melbourne who were a part of a basketball team called the Mormon Yankees. They were there to help the Australian Olympic team train to become good.  It helped remove barriers from Mormons and Australians which was cool.  A fun fact, is they faced the Olympic basketball teams and beat all of them in a exhibition match, except the Russians, which was cool!

 The next day we went to do a service project at a members home to help them clean up their rescue farm and clean out their shed, which was fun. We were able to see a lot of different animals.  I was able to hold baby Joeys, which are baby Kangaroos, that was super cool. The senior couples have a picture of me holding one, but I haven't gotten it from them yet.  We also went to the territory wildlife park and saw a whole bunch of Northern Territory animals which was super fun! 

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week and Happy New Year! I Love you all!!!

Sincerely,
              Elder Ethan Salcedo

 

A Family Matter (Week 46-50)

Hello Everyone,

Here are some highlights of Ethan's last few weeks:

46 (11/5)-Well we just had transfers and I will be............................ Staying!!!! I will continue to stay in the Currie area and I've been called to be a Trainer! I will continue to be District Leader as well.  I found out my new companion on Wednesday which everyone thinks will be Elder Chen's friend who is coming in from China! 

We were able to move into our flat which is really nice and refurbished! I will send pictures soon, finally got moved in so I can take pictures :)  I have been cooking food the past few weeks and I think I have found the secret to survival!!!! (Probably not, but its what I think ;) I just bought 65 cent bags of pasta that can feed 4 people a few servings with just one bag and 2-3 dollars on jars of different selections of sauces which only take half a jar for the pasta. Boom you can have a different tasting meal everyday for cheap and it is healthy and filling. It is totally the secret to surviving on your own, like way better investment than insta noodles!  Ha! Ha!  Our electronic touch screen stove isn't working yet, so we have had to use a camp master stove ha! ha!

They talked about family history in church yesterday and I cant help but think back to a quote from President Nelson which says, " Salvation is an individual matter, but exaltation is a family matter"! I am so grateful to be apart of the restored gospel and church that believes this. I can know through revelation by a prophet and personally, that we can live with our families eternally. It isn't just until death do you par, but that through the restored priesthood authority ( or permission to act in God's name) that we can be sealed with our families together forever! I invite everyone to do their family history whether you are a member or not and to find those names of your ancestors and make your exaltation a family matter!!! I hope you all have a great week and I LOVE YOU ALL!!!


47 (11/12)- I received my new companion to train and yes you all guessed he is from China! His name is Elder Zhang and he is best friends with Elder Chen! He speaks like no English, so it has been very hard to communicate.  I have to spend each day teaching him English. Which has certainly been a challenge, but through God I know that we can do anything :) 

We went to the temple twice, the first time was with our recent converts Mark and Nick and it was their first time which was great.  Mark brought a family name to the temple and he was super excited. Last week there was a ton of meetings for me to attend, leadership training, arrivers pick up and training, branch coordination and council. I was very busy! 

This week I have had more time to actually do the work which has been nice and we are working on building our area since a lot are leaving for China soon.  We have been trying to find more of God's children to teach! We have been seeing our investigator, Andy everyday this week. He is excited for his baptism next week, so please keep him in your prayers. He is so prepared from the Lord! We taught a referral also named, Andy who is prepared and has set a baptismal date for December 9, please keep him in your prayers too! He had a concern about his family agreeing, but we were able to help resolve his concern by helping him see that the blessings he desired for baptism are very important.  That God will bless him and his family just like a few people that I know ;) He accepted and he was so glad to meet with us and we will see him on Friday! Boy is time going by so much faster even now, which is crazy, I can not keep track! I hope you all have a great week and I LOVE YOU ALL!!! 

48 (11/19)- I must say it was a very spiritual weekend for me! Being District Leader I get to interview investigators before their baptism to see that they have been taught everything and that they are prepared spiritually for baptism! I was able to do an interview for the zone leaders investigator Alex  We were able to really talk deeply about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He had a concern before his baptism and he felt unsure about the date that he had set. After sharing scriptures about the Atonement of Jesus Christ (Alma 7:11-12), and bearing testimony, I invited him to pray by himself right then and there! He was able to feel the spirit and from what he said, he did not want the .1% of his concern to hold him back from making covenants with his Father in Heaven. He was such a great example to me of a spiritual giant, someone who has truly become converted to the Lord and came with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  The desire to change and to be able to see him resolve his concern and be baptized and confirmed was truly special. After the interview I was in tears from the things we discussed and from the spirit that was there (And for all of you that know me I don't cry that often :)) I am so proud of him, I may not have known him as much as the zone leaders, but after that experience one thing for sure was that he is my spiritual brother. Who has now finally made his first covenant with his Heavenly Father and can receive more blessings and the hope for eternal life because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ! 

It has been an adventure helping Elder Zhang with his English, but he is improving which is always good, we'll continue to see how that goes! We have 3 people working towards baptism for December 9 who are so prepared from the Lord, please keep Andy and Andy (now wants to be called Liang Chu since he met the other Andy ha-ha) and ROCKET, which I think is a cool name;) They all meet with us almost nearly everyday, but please keep them in your prayers! Well I hope you all have a great week and I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

49 (11/26)-Happy Thanksgiving to everyone I totally forgot that it was Thanksgiving, but Happy Thanksgiving!  I went on trade offs with one of the zone leaders Elder Hanely this week, it was really great and fun! I was able to learn a lot from him. We also had to fold hundreds of brochures for Light the World!  We are handing them out on the street. It will be cool to see how much of an affect it will have on others! We also had arrivers training this week for the new missionaries. It was great because it was like a review from back when I was a new missionary a YEAR ago! What I remember when I first attended the training was that we had to believe first, then we would see.  This time what stood out was that our vision influences our perception and our perception becomes our reality. As we put our vision to be more like Jesus Christ and to apply His Atonement, that will become a part of us. We will be able to experience lasting and permanent change! Well I hope you all have a great week and I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

50 (12/3)- It is December, I can not believe it and it is still cold outside ha ha! It is time for that Australian Summer! It is just like last year a few days of really hot weather and then a few days of cold rainy weather!  It is in the middle of summer right now and it is 65 degrees outside and raining. It will be like that for the rest of the week. It is so funny and confusing, but I guess you can experience the best of both worlds during the Summer here, ha ha! 

We also made our own hotpot today, which was good ha ha! It's a pot filled with spicy chili and oil. You throw in whatever you want in it like meat and vegetables and stuff, but we just eat meat.  We had fish, fish balls, beef, and some lamb.

This weekend I was able to witness the baptism of three investigators I had the opportunity to teach! Rocket, Andy and Liang Chu were all baptized and confirmed this past weekend! It was such a miracle and a blessing.  I'm grateful for all of the prayers said! I must say the Lord always has children prepared to hear His restored message because all three were taught within a 2-3 week period. They have all experienced true conversion to Jesus Christ and God.  Andy's experience with baptism is that he said that he saw the face of Jesus Christ when he entered the water and came out just a remarkable experience! They have really impressed me with their dedication and their service as they participate in the Light the World initiative! 

President Parker is also doing a program where he records recent converts testimonies.  He will create a recorded history with all of their precious experiences.  I was able to see them bear their powerful experiences that really touched my heart and really showed how the Lord was in their life even back in China! I noticed with all 3 of their testimonies they were all looking for something! First was their purpose in life, as we follow the answer given in Alma 34:32, we know our purpose is to prepare to live with God again.  We do that through gaining experience, learning, growing, and being happy! Second, is they were looking for their true identity! 1 Nephi 11:16-17 explains perfectly that we are Children of a Loving Heavenly Father and that He loves us so much.  Everything that happens and will happen to us is because of the love that Heavenly Father has for us! As they discovered the truth of these two principals they were able to escape the spiritual darkness surrounding them and grab hold to the iron rod! 

Many of us in our life will experience a time when we feel that we are in the dark due to spiritual darkness, if you ever feel this way always remember, always remember that you are a child of a Loving Heavenly Father. Who has provided you with a perfect plan and purpose, so that you can always feel and experience the results of His love for you!!! As you understand these two principals you will experience change in your heart because true doctrine understood changes our hearts and our very nature because of Jesus Christ and His Atonement! May we always remember these doctrines going into the Christmas season as we celebrate the birth of our Savior and Redeemer even the very Beloved Son of the Father, Jesus Christ! I hope you all have a great week and

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

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Sincerely,

               Elder Ethan Salcedo