Phones Phones Phones (Weeks 83-84)

7/22/18

 Hey everyone hope you all had a great week this week! This past week for us was really busy as it was the week 1 festivities of the transfer. We had on Monday the official transfers and those actually went very smooth compared to last time and there even was a broken down car on the way to transfers this time ha ha! We were able to get that day done and not have any problems. Also that same day we had some of the leavers stay the night with us and one of them was my former companion Elder Li and so we got to talk about past things that happened on their mission, that was a great night. In the early morning we had to then wake up and take Elder Li to the office so he can make his flight.  The other elder actually forgot something at his flat that he was in and his flight was a little bit earlier. We had 30 minutes to go and get his other item before he had to leave and we made it right at the 30 minutes and he was able to make it on time. That same day we had leadership meeting and sister training leader meeting.  Both meetings went well and they ended around 4:00, so it was a pretty long day. 

The next day we had the arrivers come in and we were able to meet all of them.  We had a plan to port over all sim cards from Vodafone to Optus.  The Northern territory and Mildura were the first zones to do it and all of sudden Alice Springs and Mildura went off the grid. Turns out they had phones that were locked to Vodafone and would not accept Optus sim cards.  They had to call us through the senior couple's phone and one zone from a pay phone, so that was crazy. We in turn had to roll out some of the smartphones to the missionaries in those zones. That way everyone has one to do missionary work and to be in contact. Turns out that Alice Springs had their smartphones so that worked out, but Mildura was 5 hours away and they did not have their smartphones in storage.  Elder Pickett had to take a missionary and drive 2-3 hours to mid way point and drop off the phones and get back before arrivers dinner and testimony meeting. They made it on time and we had the arrivers dinner and testimony meeting. I was able to bear my testimony in that meeting which was great to be able to do that. 

The next day we had arrivers training. We finished up around 2-3 and we had a little bit of time to proselyte. Friday we had time to go out and proselyte, so we did that. On Saturday we also had some time and attended a city meeting.  We were able to proselyte and then had to go out to Marion to drop off a baptismal record sheet for them to get signed and we drove down south. We then had church on Sunday and Elder Pickett gave his farewell testimony. That was the last Sunday for him and we had lunch the day before with one of the recent converts which was fun! Then today we had to roll out the smartphones to Adelaide zones  because of the phone problem the NT had. Last night we drove all over Adelaide literally from the North to the South and dropped off the phones to each zone leaders flat. That was a long time about 2.5 hours, but we got it done. Today they switched over to the smartphones and we are now in the mid roll out faze ha ha! I hope you all have a great week and I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Last Lunch with Elder Pickett

7/29/18

Hey everyone hope you have had a fantastic week! This past week was an interesting week. We have had a lot of time to go finding and teaching this past week.  We have been teaching someone that is so prepared and his name is Freddy! He first met the sisters missionaries because they taught his friend and he was passed to us! So it has been great to work with him now.  Elder Pickett went home on Wednesday.  On Monday and Tuesday it was his prepare to leave days and we went out to eat with a lot of the members and he bought a few souvenirs! Then the latter half of the week we had MLC and  it was the first one we had had with President and Sister Marquis. It was a great council and a lot of things were discussed. Other than that we have been finding and teaching and preparing for our overload in meetings this week, next, and the week after that one until the end of the transfer. It will be super busy for us as we will have a lot of councils, meetings and zone conferences. We go to the Northern Territory (NT) next week for the whole week and it will be the longest time in the NT since I have been traveling around, so it should be interesting! I hope you all have a great week and I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

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Sincerely,

               Elder Ethan Salcedo

American Pride (Weeks 81-82)

7/9/2018

Hello everyone I hope you all had a great week this week! Sorry for the late response  We traveled up to the northern territory with President and Sister Marquis for the week and did meet and greets with those zones! We were up in Darwin on Tuesday until Thursday so it was great to be up in Darwin again and see all of the missionaries up there.  We then went down to Alice Springs on Thursday and did the meet and greet with that zone and we were able to proselyte up there! Working with the aboriginals is great. The kids bring you so much joy because they are so happy and love the missionaries. One of them was running around trying to shoot me with his broken half toy gun. It is neat to see how they find joy even in poverty and I feel they have even more joy than most people not in poverty. After Alice springs we came back and did the meet and greet with Modbury and Marion zone on Saturday all day. That was a pretty long day. 

We then went to church on Sunday to be surprised with heaps of Americans and it turns out that the BYU dance team was visiting for a conference they were going to participate in and so the head lady was looking for an American flag to bring to the ceremony because they forgot theirs. It was funny because we had one at our flat and after church we were able to give them our flag to wave at the ceremony for their conference in Adelaide, you got to love American pride! Then yesterday we had Firle and City Zone meet and greet and that was another long day, but I love the city zone so it was good haha! They actually were all great meet and greets because it helped me learn so much about other missionaries that I had no idea about. It is cool to see that we all have our own stories and that we are all writing our own story. Seeking how their stories panned out so far was such a great experience and I just love the assignment I have to be able to work with all of the missionaries in the mission! It is such a privilege and I have learned a lot so far! But I hope you all have great week and I Love You All!! 

7/15/2018

Hey everyone I hope you all have had a great week this week! Mildura drove down for their meet and greet on Tuesday and we spent the second half of our day in that zone conference. A cool part of all of the zone conferences was the food oh it was so good! Just kidding, the food was still good but the best part was learning more about the missionaries! Then for the remainder of the week we had transfer planning and lots of meetings that we attended. We were pretty full for most of the days planning out transfers with President and sister Marquis! It was a great experience being a part of their first transfer planning! We had some time on Friday to go out and proselyte so that was very good to be able to do that. Then on Saturday we attended city meeting and had a lesson with one of our investigators Henry. It was good to be able to teach a lesson because it has been a while since we have had the opportunity to do that. We also got to attend some of the city baptisms, it was good to be able to watch and see and hear their experience! On Sunday we attended church and after ward got everything ready for today's transfers and last night we had the transfer call.  We were able to get a lot of things done, so it should be a very exciting new transfer! I hope you all have a great week and I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

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Sincerely,

               Elder Ethan Salcedo

It's a Small World (Weeks 79-80)

6/24
Hey everyone how are you doing! This week just like all of the weeks has gone by really fast ha ha! I am trying to remember what happened this week, but we have been very busy this week doing different assignments from President Parker. The sad part is that this week is their last week then they leave and the new mission president comes in. That will be very interesting indeed. Yesterday at church we got to hear their farewell talks to the city branch. It was nice to hear and see and feel the spirit come from them! BUT I HAVE GREAT NEWS! President Parker is a new area seventy gets different assignments when he gets back. His second assignment is in the Surprise North Arizona Stake, my stake back home!!!! It was crazy how that worked out but he is excited to meet everyone there, from what he was telling me. It's great that they wont be too far! 

We also had arrivers training too this week and we trained all of the new missionaries this past week on how to set goals and do weekly planning. It's pretty easy basic training,  and there were lots of good comments and perspectives! After that training, the new smartphones for our mission came in so we got some of those set and ready to see how they work. The official role out date is July 25th so that is exciting! On Saturday we also attended a baptism at the city branch with President and it was great  to see him one more time before he leaves! It has been a great fast week filled with lots of events. I am sure this week will be just as exciting and event filled with everything going. I hope you all have a great week and I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Dinner with the Parkers and Elder Pickett and Miller

7/1

 Hey everyone,

 Hope you have all had a great week! It was a crazy emotional week for me! It was President and Sister Parker's last week on the mission!  On Tuesday we went to City/Firle zone and had a goodbye conference with the Parkers and they did a family home evening with us. They cut some clothing of the sisters skirts and the ties of the elders to get stitched onto a huge quilt. Which will include the name of the missionary and year of service with whatever they cut to remember them by. They then said goodbye to all of the missionaries. We did a lot of proselyting and we have a really solid baptismal date for July 21st! He is great and came to church yesterday, it has been a while since I have taught somebody and especially really solid and prepared by the Lord! 

President also wanted memories of the city branch and it's history.  We spent the week recording videos of the different city activities and searched for past activities and recordings. We had lots of pictures from the baptism and from church on Sunday! We also helped the Parker's pack their stuff before they left! Then on Friday night they took us out to eat at the Pancake house for a farewell dinner. It was great to be able to go out to eat with them and we had a great time! We then attended a baptism on Saturday that the city had and it was a good ceremony! On Sunday morning we took the Parkers to the airport and said our goodbyes, but luckily I will be able to see them again when President comes and visits my stake! We also attended a fireside last night and we met President and Sister Marquis.  They are also awesome and I am excited to be able to work with them!

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Sincerely,

               Elder Ethan Salcedo