May 18, 2015

Hey Mom!

This week was a good one! We got to go the Temple Dedication, well just watch it from here, and it was such a great experience. President Uchtdorf and Elder Christofferson were there. haha President Uchtdorf tried to put to test his Spanish and it was quite an event. He was butchering everything he tried to say in Spanish so that was really funny. However, in the last session of the dedication he was speaking and talked about how he had an awesome translator, "Carlos". He told us that He would say something that we didn´t understand, "Carlos" would translate it into a way that we knew what he was saying. He then applied that to our conversations with our Father in Heaven. He is telling us things to do everyday, however, without a translator, we do not understand what he is saying. So our translator with the Lord is the Holy Ghost. He is there to allow us to understand what the Lord is trying to tell us. I really enjoyed that story.

We found a bunch of new people to teach this week too so I am really excited for follow up lessons with them this coming week to see how they are. A great birthday present that I got was on Saturday night after we watched the youth cultural event was finding one man named Carlos. He was sitting by himself in the park and really needed us to go and talk to him. The spirit had prompted us to go over there and we started having a great conversation with him. Just goes to show that the Lord really does work through impressions by the spirit.

The only bad thing about my birthday was in the morning. I got up a little early and started making empinadas. All was going fine until I put one of the last ones in the pan. Right as I was going to place it in there, it slipped from my fingers, landed in the hot oil, and scalded my hand and sent hot oil all down my pants. Luckily for my pants, they just slicked the oil right off, not so luckily for my hand, I now have burns all over it. So that is how my day went.

Not much else happened this week. Let me know if there is anything that I can do for you!

Elder Salinas

May 11, 2015

I was able to chat with Grant a little bit on P-Day but he didn't send a "real" letter because we had just skyped him the day before!  He is doing great and the language is coming along so well.   He looked good and we loved getting to talk to him.  Here are a few pictures of this cute boy!

 Mother's Day Skype Call!

All of the brothers!  Grant in Argentina, Taylor in Utah (on the phone via Facetime) and Spencer & M'Kay here at home!

May 5, 2015

So Elder Carter got transferred to Rosario yesterday. He is now the zone leader of the Rosario South Zone. I already miss him because I don´t know how to get around in the streets here in San Lorenzo. Also, I don´t know where like hardly any members live either.

My new companion is Elder Brown. He is almost done with his mission. This transfer and one more. He is from California and only speaks Spanish. He knows english and all but he won´t speak to me in it at all. So it is really hard to know what is going on a lot.

This week has been super cold though. Like it sucks to be studying, sleeping, working, anything else, because of how cold it is. So we are looking for a heater and a sweater.

Sunday night the branch had a party for Elder Carter and we made Torta Fritas. I had to try making one. Pretty awesome. Also, One of our investigators came and was wearing this awesome blue sweater so I had to take a picture with him.

After that we went to the house of the Elders Quorum president and he had an awesome shirt with the whole Carc thing so you know I had to get that one too!

Well, im not really sure what to say this week. We are talking this sunday for Mothers day!!! I am going to call home about 1:00 your time. 4 here. WE are going to use the laptop of Hna. Gaby. (Gabriela Caraballo)

More than nothing though, just kind of a sad week cause Elder Carter is gone, I feel like a lost puppy here and to make it worse, now I am suppose to be responsible for someone else here too!


Pray for me!!!

 (This is hilarious!!!  Inside Salinas Family joke!)

April 27, 2015

I am so excited for Taylor and Brooklyn! He did Good! haha We have been teaching a lot about the importance of getting to the temple and being married in the temple lately so this will be great for future reference when I have pictures of them at the temple.

We are teaching:

Betiana. Wife of a less active RM. They have a little girl named Luz and she is the cutest thing ever. They really want to have an eternal family and they are doing everything to get there...except going to church. Before we met them they had stopped drinking and smoking because they wanted to be better for their daughter. So they really want it, however, they haven´t come to church. She had a baptism date for the 9th of May but we keep having to move it back. So hopefully they can come to chuch.

Silvia. She is a friend of a less active who happened to be at their house when we stopped by to teach. She wants to get baptized, she previously studdied the church because it interests her, and she doesn´t like the other churches because she can´t feel the spirit when she goes. She had a date for this coming Saturday but we just don´t feel like she is ready. We need to help her with her prayers and the importance of asking God for help and for answeres. Also for forgivness of our sins.

Liliana. She is an old investigator who wouldn´t get married. We started teaching her and everthing is going great. She also had a baptism date for this coming Saturday but she hasn´t gotten married yet. We met with her and her "Man" last week and they both agreed that they were going to get married this week, but now she is having second thoughts. So we need to help her to receive an answer that she has to get married and baptized to go to heaven.

Other families who we have had one or two lessons with and are still trying to get a feel for where we are at with them.

The only cool things I have seen are all of the donkey carts in the streets and the huge ships that go through the river right here by San Lorenzo. The river is huge and these ships are bigger than cruise liners. It is pretty cool.

Didn´t really eat much exciting this week but it´s alright.

We taught one lesson to a recent convert family last week of a mom and twins. They live in a little pueblo, (town) which is about 40 minutes away by car. So a family in our branch drove us out there and we taught them about temples. We are going back out there tonight for a family night and dinner. But I got some pictures of the trip out there.

Another really cool thing happened. Last night I gave my first blessing in Spanish. It was all by the spirit. I don´t have much time so I will write more about it next week.


I love you mom!


Elder Salinas

April 20, 2015

This week went by so fast!!!

So last Monday we had a Zone P-Day activity. We played capture the flag for a few hours haha. I didn´t really feel it until Tuesday though, I was so sore walking that day. But to make things even better, not one of our appointments was there, so on Tuesday we walked for about 6 hours! It was good though! Something that helped me get through the week was the fact that we had a baptism scheduled for Saturday night. I was looking forward to that all week!

Saturday morning came and the first thing I say, "Elder, We have a baptism today!!!" I was pumped! We went and made sure the font wasn´t full of water in the morning...it was. So we drained that and then around 2 we went and started filling up the font. Went to some other appointments and then back to the church at 5 to get things finished. Maria showed up about 5:45 and she was the only one there, besides her daughter. So she is changed into whites and we are just thinking, it´s alright, more people are going to come. 6o´clock came and there was only 1 other person. So we said we would wait a little bit longer so we did, because we had to! We needed another priesthood holder to be there! People started coming in and there was about 20 people and still no one that could be another witness so we were getting a little discouraged until finally, the Brach President showed up! So the baptism was great!!!

We ate quite a bit this week, we had two lunches fall through, (Friday and Saturday). So we had Milanesa one day and hamburgers the other. Sunday for lunch we were going to eat with the Family Rafignini but he was sick so his wife told us to come over and get the food to take home. MASHED POTATOES AND MILANESA!!! It was so good! Then Sunday night we went to a members house to share a message and they made us dinner too! So good! Then last night we were wondering where we should go and had an impression to go see Christian. A recent convert who isn´t very active. They were getting ready to eat dinner and insisted that we had some. More Milanesa! We ended up giving him a blessing though and he was crying at the end of it and told us that he is really going to apply repentance in his life now. Then he said the closing prayer and asked for help to be a better person and he started crying again. So we are really excited for him.

San Lorenzo...It is a really bi area honestly. From side to side, it takes about 3 hours to walk. We divided it into 4 areas and try to just work in one of them per day. It is kind of hard though when you have people from different areas who can onl meet on the same day. It is one the richer areas of our mission but still, not up to date with the rest of the world. Ave. San Martin is like the main street and that is where all the "stores" are. Tons of people here and they all are pretty friendly for the most part. I haven´t gotten robbed yet. I got to kick some dogs that were trying to bite us though, so that was fun!

It is funny to see all these people settin up tables on every corner to sell sunglasses and movies though! All the ones that haven´t come out yet are already on sale here! So it is pretty funny. Elder Carter and I are just treckin along though with the work! Having a blast!

I set a goal of myself to read the Book of Mormon once every transfer. So I didn´t finish in the MTC so i spent the first two weeks here doing that but now I am almost done for the second time. So I want to challenge all of you to try and read it twice a year, if not, more! It is amazing how much time you can find in your schedule for the Lord if you actually look!


If you would like to know anything specifically about my mission, feel free to send me an email! :)

Something that I would love, from family, friends, anyone else. Pictures!! Send me pictures, like physical pictures, of life. I like getting to hear from you guys!

I love you! Have another great week!


Elder Salinas

The following pictures were sent to me (Lauralyn) via someone in Argentina!  So grateful for the internet and the ability to connect with people that my son is serving with!!!

April 13, 2015

This week was great! It started off a lot harder than I thought it would but that`t alright. I know that with the help of the Lord, we can do anything. So I just kept pressin along. The language was still a pretty big hurdle but now, I feel really confident about it. It helps that my trainer is awesome about trusting me in the lessons.

I remember back to a letter from Spencer on his mission about how his companion wouldn`t ever let him teach in the lessons, THAT IS NOT THE WAY TO TRAIN A NEW MISSIONARY! Elder Carter lets me teach just as much as he does and I love it! Yeah it might be challenging at times and he might have to jump in to correct something I say but it has helped me grow tremendously! However there are two experiences in particular that stand out to me.

1. We were teaching a less active member named "Hermana" (don´t know her name). We are teaching her 11 year old daughter and her mom is learning more than she knows. This week we went to teach her daughter but she wasn´t there so we ended up teaching the mom. During the middle of the lesson, Elder Carter looked at me to share something and I just started speaking. I don´t know what I said, I don´t know how I said it, but I was speaking Spanish. I was saying the things that this sister needed to hear. Because right after I finished what I had to say, she stared bawling. I think of the scripture in 2 Nephi 33:1 1 And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things whichwere taught among my people; neither am I mighty inwriting, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.

The Holy Ghost was speaking through me for that sister. She opened up and we just started having a conversation with her. At the end of the lesson, I asked Elder Carter what we were talking about in there and he told me that she said she knows she needs to repent for the mistakes in her life. She just had such a strong impression of that and I know that at that moment, I was a instrument in the Lord`s hands.

2. We went to teach another less active member whose name is Hna. Piston. We were going to remind her about church and just share a little scripture with her. When we got there, she had a friend of another religion there whose name is Silvia. We both just saw this as a great opportunity to have a new investigator. So we were off, talking about the gospel with Silvia. Turns out, she loves history. Especially the history of other religions. She has studied the Restoration of the church, read the Book of Mormon, and she knows that it is true. She was a true answer to our prayers. We were talking about Joseph Smith and she told us that she knows of that story but doesn´t know exactly what happened. She Elder Carter was setting up to share the First Vision and then turned to me to share it. Caught me off guard but I was ready. I spoke from the heart, by the power of the Holy Ghost, and shared what Joseph Smith shared from his experience in the Grove of Trees. The only thing that I can remember from that moment is how strong I could feel the Spirit. Since that moment, I have been trying to have the Spirit that strong in every lesson. He is one teaching the investigators. We are just there to be the mouth piece for him.

We have a baptism this week for Maria-Ester Fonseca. She is the best, doesn´t remember everything super well but is so ready to be baptized. I will have pictures from that next week.

I love this work. When you lose yourself in it, you don´t even realize where the time goes, that is why it is so precious to make sure that you use every piece of the time wisely. You only get two years to completely serve the Lord in this calling. Make the most of it. I love being a missionary and I love that I get to share the Gospel in Spanish. Yes it is a trial, however with the Lord on my side, how can I fail?

I love you all so much, thank you for your support! Let me know if there is anything that I can do for you!!!

PS: Just some misc. things that I have written down throughout the week.
1. The broken bottles on top of fences is real!2. One house we went into had a bunch of like Devil Scent Sticks to cast out the devil. Weird!!3. The time to get packages is anywhere from 7-9 weeks as I have recently found out from the postage dates on packages from people in the zone. 4. Chipoltle

Chilula and peanut butter are awesome! :)



This picture is with Elder Bates. He is one of our Zone Leaders and he is from Meridian.

April 6, 2015

Mom & Dad

This week was better. I finally just realized that I am definitely not in the States any more! Things just werent the same this year for conference. No cinnamon rolls, blankets, nachos, or any of that. Instead we spent the weekend in the office of the Secretary at the church to watch it. The messages were so amazing though! I am so glad that I got to watch in English! If you could send me the May ensign when it comes out, that would be awesome!!

Best thing I ate, definitely some milinasa. It is like carne asada but it is fried! So good!
Worst thing, This member had us over and we ate this "casserole" which consisted of rice, boiled eggs, lima beans, and canned fish! Skin and all! The smell was almost worst than the tase. To top things off though, he has like 8 dogs and they are all just in the house and one of them peed on the floor in the "kitchen" and he just acted like nothing happened. It was different.

I loved all the conference talks! I told dad this but I really liked the one by Elder Holland about how we all need the Hands of our brother, Jesus Christ. Without him, we would all fall with Death and feel the sting of it. But thanks to his sacrifice, we can all overcome physical and spiritual death and be able to live with our Heavenly Father and our families for eternity.

We have 6 investigators with a baptism date so far and 2 more that are waiting on an answer from the Spirit if this is the correct path for them. Maria Ester is a 65 year old lady who has a really hard time remembering what we teach her but it so excited to get baptized and has a strong testimony. Her date is the 18th this month. Then for the 2nd of May we have, Lilliana, Juan Manual, Gabriel Hauser, Gabriela, and the wife of a less active. Then the other two are Luis and Olga. A mother and son that have gotten answers but havent realized it yet. They are preparing for a baptism on the 2nd of May as well.

I love teaching in Spanish down here. I still dont know much spanish yet but I definitley recognize the Spirit whenever we are teaching! There are so many people here that need the gospel so much in their life and I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to share it with them.

Missionary work doesnt start out here in the field. It starts in the primary classes, the Relief Society, and the preisthood. It is in the schools and on the streets back home. Each and every one of you need to either prepare to serve a full time mission or you need to do missionary work through your actions. We should be doing missionary work at all times without even realizing it. We are all disciples of Jesus Christ. Knowing that, do you still feel good about everything that you have done today? Is there something you would have done differently if Christ was standing next to you? Everyone in the world sees what us as members of the church do and they judge us whether it be for good or for bad. Make sure the example you are setting is a good one.

Alright, Something interesting, There is a sister in my district that was in the same MTC district as Lindsay Washburn, they are on their last transfer. Her name is Sister Hawkes.

I have my address for you.


Misión Argentina Rosario

Blvd. Argentino 7935

2000 Rosario, Santa Fe

Argentina

Thank you for all of your support Mom! I love you so much! I cant wait for Conference when we are all together as one big family! That is why we are here on the Earth. To learn and grow together as Families!


Let me know what I can do to help out in whatever ways I can from down here.

Elder Salinas