June 22, 2015

This week was not as expected.

This week went way better than I had expected it to go. My companion is awesome and we are doing a lot of work here already. It is a little bit difficult still because we don´t really know where everything is or who people are but we are finding a lot to do. I also really like that there are two companionships here. Makes things way more fun. The church building is huge for only being a branch. It is as big as a stake center...for Argentina. Probably because the church was anticipating a change that is hopefully going to happen here in the next few years. Announcment in the next few months if we are lucky. However I cannot share exactly what it is. I will let you all speculate on that one.

I got super sick on Saturday night. I am pretty sure it was food poisoning from our second lunch that day with some investigators from Bolivia. So all night I was in the bathroom with terrible stomach and saliva filled dry heaves. It was at that moment Mom that I realized how much I miss You and McCall. However, Elder Medina did a pretty darn good job at playing Mr. Mom. Made me soup, moved my bed out in front of our heater. He is super awesome and really funny. The other two elders here are really great too. One is from Oakley, Utah. Elder Reidhead. He is on his last transfer right now. His companion is Elder Rivarola from Paraguay. Once again, a really cool Latino missionary. I guess I am just lucking out with having my first two Latins be super cool.

I don´t really have any worries with the language anymore and I feel really comfortable teaching as well. An experience that happened a few times this week was, We had just finished teaching a less active family and we left and Elder Medina told me that he really liked what I had said, or the commitment that I had left with the family, or the way I said somehthing. I thanked him for the compliment and asked what it was that I did because I legitamitely had no idea what he was talking about. He told me that I was joking because I had just taught like a picture perfect lesson and all. Once again I told him that I didn´t know what he was talking about. It took me a minute to understand what was happening. I wasn´t teaching or speaking. He told me that I was talking like a native with perfect Spanish. (A promised blessing in my patriarchal blessing). I was teaching 100% by the power of the Spirit. The reason that I did not remember what I had said is because I wasn´t the one saying any of those things. I just remember feeling such a powerful feeling during our lessons. A feeling of boldness and strength. A feeling of being a representative of Jesus Christ.

I want to challenge each one of you to find an experience like that this week. Share your testimony with boldness to a friend, colleague, or family member. Testify of the truthfullness of the Restored Gospel and the love you have for it. The blessings that you and your family receive from it. And how they can benefit from it both temporally here on the Earth and Spiritually in the life to come. I can promise you that as you do this, your testimony will grow tremendously and you will realize just how powerful the Spirit is.

I want each of you to report back to me on this in email within two weeks. Don´t be afraid to share the Gospel.

I love you all and would love to help you and whatever it may be that you need help with. However I cannot help you if you do not tell what it is that you need. So email me!!! I love to hear from you all.


With love,

Elder Grant M Salinas

Argentina Rosario