His Reflection (Week 33 & 34)

Hello Everyone,

Week 33

This week was another busy week! We had lots of lessons, and we also prepared two of our brothers for baptism! Nick and Jim were baptized on Saturday and confirmed members of the church on Sunday. It was great to hear their testimonies and see the change in their life.

 Jim was really solid! He was going through a depression because he broke up with his girlfriend. He attended one of his friends baptisms last month and felt the Holy Ghost. From there he always felt happy and he knew that God was real. He also knows the Holy Ghost really does speak to us through our feelings. He has shared the gospel already with his friends. He has helped them feel the influence of the Holy Ghost and helped them find peace, which is super great.

 Nick, I first taught him with Elder Maddock and we invited him to baptism twice and he said no both times. He finally told us it is because he didn't believe in God. We had him read Alma chapter 32 which taught him about faith and how to build it on his own. Then the very next lesson after talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ he accepted baptism. He said he finally believed and from there he was finally able to be changed. He accepted all of the commandments no problem. He went from not laughing to normal faced to smiling and laughing and actually socializing with others. It was amazing to see the Gospel change his life and Jim's as well! 

District Selfie

Mark our recent convert who was baptized 3 weeks ago was able to baptized them both.  He has already baptized 3 people!! Seeing the people I have witnessed change and be baptized has grown and strengthen my own testimony, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes people. It's not me and it's not us, its not the church, but Jesus Christ that allows us to change.  The church and us are conduits in which our brothers and sisters around us are able to feel and allow Jesus Christ to change them.

 

My District

It is like the famous comparison, the church is like a hospital where we all go to be healed and Jesus Christ is the doctor. I heard something that I really like it was, a silversmiths works all day melting down the metal and cooling it down and allowing it to harden. Someone asked, well how do you know when it is ready? The silversmith said when he can finally see his reflection in the metal.  

It is the same for us, God allows us through our own experiences to be melted down. For us to experience trials in our life it is to allow him to mold us into who He knows we can be. He knows when He is finished is when He can see His reflection in us. It is our job to let Him do that. I invite us all to allow ourselves to be molded into who Heavenly Father knows we can be.  I know that this Church is the restored and true church of Jesus Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and because I know that, I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know that this is Jesus Christ's church, and I know that Thomas Monson is the prophet today.  I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us with a perfect love. I know that through Jesus Christ we can be molded into the child of God he knows that we can be.  He knows when we have reached our potential as a child of God, when He can see His reflection in us. I hope you all have a great week and I love you all!!!!

 

District Temple Trip

Week 34
This week was a busy week as always. We had quite a few lessons. We are also trying to find even more people to teach. It pretty much rained all week here, which is very new to me since it never rains in Arizona, ha ha! On top of it, it is also really cold.  I hate the cold ha ha,  There was a soccer game last night between the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power. I think they must be big rivals because everyone was driving around the city yelling stuff and waving their team flags.  We could hear the yelling of the crowds all of the way from the stadium, which reminded me of  football games in the states.

Sacrament meeting was interesting, there was a drunk man who came into the building and started to cause a scene in the middle of Sacrament. They had to escort the man out, but it was very crazy to say the least. I have seen this man several times in the city and have spoken to him in the past, he told me a few weeks ago that he is trying to stop drinking and would like to attend church. Luckily it was testimony meeting, so the spirit was brought back really fast with all of the amazing testimonies bore by the members of the branch. On P-day we have been playing card games and getting shopping done. We are also teaching lessons too on our P-Day. We are keeping pretty busy. I can't believe it is already week 6 of this transfer, which is crazy. It was probably the fastest transfer. I'm pretty excited  because Elder Stevenson of the Quorum of the twelve apostles is coming to speak to us.  Everyone is preparing for his visit, including our recent converts. We can't wait!  I hope you all have a great week and I love you all!!!
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> Sincerely,
>                Elder Ethan Salcedo

Baptims Baptisms Baptisms (Week 31 & 32)

 Hello Everyone,

(Week 31) For our P-day being moved it sure didn't feel that long! So to start off with we had zone conference on Monday and we had Elder Laikes of the seventy come and train us so that was really awesome, his knowledge of the gospel and the scriptures was stunning.  It motivates me to want to get to increase my knowledge a lot more. But he has been in Adelaide recently to meet with all of the stake leaders and ward mission leaders to discuss missionary work and working with members, we attended the fireside with the stake and it was really great to see these leaders start to get motivated to help the missionaries in the Australia Adelaide mission. I encourage everyone to share the gospel with your friends, bring them this Sunday it would be really great because that is were you will start to see success. You take away members missionary work and the work would got go anywhere. The city branch is nearing more than 30 baptisms this year with 5 this week and possibly 2 or 3 next week.  I can say that the two reasons are that The Lord's hand is in this work and He progresses it as well as the member support here is tremendous. We have some members who stay literally all day to help us missionaries teach.  Our recent convert Mark has already brought us three friends to teach one of which is preparing for baptism in August! Member missionary work is so important and so vital to progress the Lord's work, I invite you all to be a vital part of the Lord's work.

Elder Li and I have been very busy the past couple of weeks. The Lord has blessed us with so many miracles, we found 7 new investigators last week and we have been teaching 4-5 lessons a day. That is the most since I have been on my mission. It is all because of the Lord, He loves His children and has trusted Elder Li and I with almost 15 people to teach.  It has been great and has kept me busy and I absolutely love it! I find so much joy teaching and working with members and getting to share my testimony.

 I was able to go to the temple today, But this time it was more special for me, I was able to do some  ordinance work . I was able to get baptized for one of my great grandfathers. My heart is full of joy and love. I am at peace knowing that my great grandfather is learning about the Gospel.  He now has the chance to keep progressing because these ordinances have been done for him. I must say I have truly felt the prophecy of Elijah that the hearts of the children will be turned to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers will be turned to the children. My heart has been turned to my ancestors, Just as a temple worker told me, temple work is just as vital as missionary work, these ancestors need baptism and many other ordinances just like us living and breathing now.  It was an honor and a privilege to do this work for my great grandfather. It has been a great week and I hope you all have a great week and I love you all!!!

Elder Chen and Elder Li

(Week 32)Well not too much happened between my last update and this one so it will be a little shorter today. This weekend we attended a baptism of four more recent converts into the city branch. Mark our recent convert was able to baptize someone and he has only been a member for two weeks! He will also be baptizing someone else this week, because Elder Li and I have two preparing for baptism.  Please keep them in your prayers.  Pray that Nick and Jim may be able to stay strong and avoid the temptations of Satan trying to pull them away. The City Branch has just been growing so much over the past few weeks. It is certainly because the Lord is blessing the branch for the dedication and hard work of the members. They are always coming to help us teach and assisting with the work. One member, Summer was out with the missionaries teaching lessons the whole day from 11-7. It was crazy, but she loves it and so do the other members. Member missionary work is the key and the Lord will bless the area if both the members and the missionaries are engaged in the work. Since most of the members in the ward are young single adults (YSA) they attended a conference this weekend and we also attended the YSA ward and had dinner with them yesterday. It was very interesting to say the least, ha-ha! It was my first time attending a singles ward. I'm not sure I will attend one when I get back home, but we'll see ha-ha!  That was my short little week, it has been busy with lots of lessons, but great nevertheless. I hope you all have a great week and I love you all!!!!

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Sincerely,

               Elder Ethan Salcedo