Mon 10/20/2014 9:31 AM

Well, where to begin!  So much has happened I will keep it short and sweet hitting some of the big stuff.

 

Last Saturday we had an open house with something that our mission started doing called the "Portable Visitor's Center."  It is sort of like the Visitor's Centers at the Temples, but with a little good ole MBM twist.  We have different stations with different posters and videos.  For instance, Families and Temples is one with videos where people walking through go up to an ipad and can learn more.  It is a very powerful experience going through all of the different stations.  Really in a sense, it takes the basics of how we as Mormons, or rather, as  Latter-Day Saints worship God.  It was overcast and raining and we were worried that it would be a really bad turn due to the weather.  We ALL said a prayer and started to set everything up.  Sure enough, about 30 min. before it starting the weather cleared up, stopped raining and turned out to be a pretty descent day; a little bit chilly, but good.  We had a descent amount of members helping out as well.  Elder Silva and I went on exchanges for a little bit with the Providence English speaking missionaries, so we could cover more ground and get out on the streets to invite more people to come in.  We had members at the doors as people walked by inviting them in and giving them Books of Mormon as well as giving tours through the Visitors Center set up.  We had one English speaking guy come in, go through everything and ask, "How do I get baptized? I want to change my life."  It was an amazing day.  We had inactives come, our Relief Society President brought her Non Member Husband as well.  It was amazing to see the members being filled with the missionary spirit as they were running people down on the streets with Books of Mormon, inviting them in and to hear the good word.  It was a great experience and as I was out with Elder Gunnel on the street we got some good potentials and even one return appointment.

 

In the branch we have been super busy striving to meet all the different goals we set as a branch; to go on splits with the members; going out and doing Home Teaching to make sure it gets done; having Family Home Evenings with members where they invite non-member friends to come join and visiting in-actives.  It has been great.

 

This last P-day we went to a session at the Temple that was amazing!  Then we went into Boston since it will be Elder Lopes' last p-day in Boston since he is going to be finishing his mission this week.  We ended up getting lost and so Elder Silva and I ran about a mile and a half to the car so we could get home on time for our appointments. 

 

This past week we have had a lot of cancellations, but it has still been a great week.  We received t-texts and Elder Silva is getting booted to New London, CT, which is one of my old areas.  He is going to love it there and I am going to miss him.  Time with him has flown by and we have had a blast working together.  He will do a lot of good in New London, so for that I am excited for him.

 

My new companion will be Elder Sanchez who has been out for about 6-8 months and is from Mexico.  That is all I know about him and I think I heard that he has learned English in the mission.   It looks like hopefully I will be able to smooth down those MANY rough edges in my Spanish...I'm hoping anyway.

 

We met with Oswaldo y Vilma yesterday and they won't be making their baptismal date, but they are still working on getting married. They are amazing though.

 

Time goes by way too fast and it seems like lately everything is starting to "crystallize in my mind" more about everything we have been taught since I have been here.  It is cool to see how the Lord prepares each and every one of us in order to become and fulfill the unique things he has in store for each and every one of us.  I love the mission and am so grateful for it and all that it has taught me and still is teaching me.

 

I know that this truly is Christ's church restored on the earth today, that as we but pray for the desire to share the gospel and then act out of faith in sharing it, we are blessed more than we can ever comprehend.  The gospel is easy. In short, turn your life over to Christ and strive to live worthy in order to receive promptings from the Holy Ghost in order to have him as our constant companion.

 

After seeing the change in the members who attended the open house I would like to invite all of you who are reading this to think of a few people who are not members, whether they be neighbors, friends, family or co-workers and invite them to a Family Home Evening with you and the missionaries.  Share with them your testimonies and I can promise you as you exercise your faith and do this you will experience an even more abundance of the Spirit in your lives and be filled with that same excitement that the members here in Central Falls experienced.

Elder Salerno

Mon 10/6/2014 9:21 AM

This past week has been pretty productive, so we have been able to get a lot done.

 

This past General Conference was amazing, at least the parts that I was able to see, but I know that the whole was great as it always is.

 

Yesterday Elder Silva and I went out to Worchester for conference because in between the sessions one of his previous investigators was being baptized and she had asked him to perform the baptism. It was a wonderful treat and experience to have a baptism between the conference sessions.  We stopped by a lot of the members homes to say hi and it was a blast.

 

This past week we went out on splits with the members and were able to get some Home Teaching appointments done and we also had some good appointments with our investigators.  Milvia y Isaac are doing good and we almost finished the Plan of Salvation with them.  They have some really good questions which is great and allows Silva and I to prepare really well for them.

 

Oswaldo y Vilma are doing good as well and it is neat to see the light of the gospel in their eyes increase as we are meeting with them more and more.  

 

Hugo, our friend from English Class came to the Priesthood session of conference as well which was nice to see him. We also had our first meeting with Johnny who is acting as our Branch Mission Leader and that also went pretty well.  We are prepping for the open house this coming Saturday in which we will have the Portable Visitors Center there in both English and Spanish, so that will be awesome and I am looking forward to that.

 

There are a lot of great things going on in the work here and I am excited to be a part of it.

 

Because time is short today I will have to end my email.  I know that this is the work of the Lord and that it will keep moving forward.  I know that He works through the small and weak things to bring about great things.  I am so grateful for family and friends who stand up for what is right and help me to remember what is truly important. Amen.

Mon 9/29/2014 9:05 AM

This past week has left Elder Silva and I exhausted but in a good way.  We spent it finishing getting everything ready for Jose's baptism yesterday which went amazing!  He was tickled pink and had a great time.  Plus we all had a massive feast afterwards which just made it all the more merrier, haha.

 

Also this past week we spent a lot of time on the computer, going through and updating all the programs that we have in place to keep track of the growth of the branch and to help get the leaders more integrated in what we are doing.  We spent a lot of time Saturday doing that as well because that night Presidente Martin wanted us to come to church so we could start to make a Branch Mission Plan.  To add to the fire, we finally have a Branch Mission Leader!  Well, sort of.  It is Jonny Guerrero who is the 1st counselor in the branch.  He is just acting as one parttime until we actually have someone called.  It is great to have someone though.

 

We spent 2 hours, or so, Sat. night coming up with a 5 step branch mission plan.  We feel pretty good about it.  The only reason it really actually got done was that President Hutchins, the Stake President, found out we didn't have one and met personally with Presidente.  It was a great experience.  We talked about it in Branch Council and everyone is on board!  Now as we start to implement it everything will start getting pretty crazy over here in Central Falls, RI!  I am stoked! It is going to take a lot of work getting it going though, but once it is, it will be a huge blessing.  Sunday was great for that reason and I don't know if I had mentioned this, but Jose Rosas was the first baptism the branch has had since it was started a little over 9 months ago!  The members are stoked.

 

We picked up 5 new investigators this past week all of which are looking very promising.   Two of them have baptism dates for the end of October.  The hard part is that we just found out they aren't married.  Good news is they have been together for a while now so we shall see how it goes.  Sometimes on my mission, especially being in the Spanish Program, I feel like a matchmaker.  I have seen and been a part of more weddings on my mission than my whole life before the mission.

 

Needless to say, everything is going great here in good ole MBM Mission. It seems to me like we are taught all these things in our mission over the course of two years and it isn't until the end everything starts to finally click.  I remember hearing time and time again from missionaries going home that now that they are going home they finally understand how to do missionary work!  I feel that is what is happening with me as well.  Things are finally starting to click where all the pieces are starting to come together and it is amazing!  I am so grateful to be out here on my mission, to strive to lose myself in the work and to leave behind all problems and concerns.  I have no clue what will happen afterwards, for the most part, but that is the beauty of it.  I don't need to worry about it because it will all work out the way it needs to as I do my part.

 

On Sunday I tried to prepare my talk since we didn't have anytime during the week.  I don't know why, but it seems like ever since my farewell talks, I have never been able to get anything written down for talks.  It drives me crazy at times.  I spend so much time trying to figure out what the Lord wants me to say, the focus that I am going to have in the topic I have been given.  Anyway once again I had nothing written, but right before Sacrament (really only a few minutes before) it finally came.  Out of all the scriptures that I had read a few that I had selected stood out to me and I knew how I needed to focus on everything.  Then, I wasn't able to give it because one of the testimony bearers spent 15 minutes bearing testimony, so I only had a small, small moment to get up, but I feel that it is something that we all lose sight of at times; what our message as Latter Day-Saints really is.  I think at times we focus so much on the Restoration or the Plan of Salvation, etc., that we often don't comprehend the REAL MESSAGE which is about Christ and his Atonement.  I would invite all of you to remember what the first covenant, or promise that we make when are baptized is when we enter into the church.  You can find that in Mosiah 18:8-10 and then read all of 3 Nephi 17, but focus especially on the first 10 verses because verses 5-10 to me are really this covenant in action.

 

The invitation from Christ has been the same ever since sin had entered the world and that is to come unto him and be saved/healed. We are all afflicted in one way or another.  All of us.  I love this chapter because when it talks about the people who were healed, bringing those who were afflicted and those people are us.  If we have experienced the joy and love of the Savior then it is us that should go and bring those who are afflicted, in whatsoever manner,  to Christ himself, so that he can heal them.  That is our message.

 

Why does Christ want to heal us so badly?  The answer is in D&C19:16-19.  He loves us so much he suffered for us more than we can even come close to comprehend.  "Which Suffering caused himself, even God the Greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore and would not that he should drink the bitter cup and shrink."  Nevertheless, he partook and finished his preparations unto the children of men.  He knows what our sufferings feel like, whatever they may be, and because of that he is filled with compassion wanting nothing more than to lighten our load and make us whole again.  That is the message we have. I invite all of you as you read verses 7&9 of 3 Nephi 17, to think about all the people in your life who are afflicted in one way or another.  That includes family, friends and even the people on the street you don't even know.  Think about the great joy you have felt as you were forgiven and made whole and then with "ONE ACCORD" go and gather them and bring them to Christ.  The result will be one of the most beautiful scenes you could ever imagine in verse 10.  Our joy will be so full that we will ALL worship him together bathing his feet with our tears.  This to me is the message that we have.  That Christ suffered, died and was resurrected that he can make us whole again.  That WE, as we come to taste of the fruit of his Atonement, then go out and bring others to taste of that fruit as well, with ONE ACCORD meaning all of us acting together.  That ALL may bathe his feet with tears of gratitude and joy having come to know Him.

 

This is my prayer that these words which were engraved upon my heart will be engraved upon yours.  That you will work closely and personally with the missionaries and other members in your ward to GO and BRING those who are afflicted to Him our Savior that ALL may experience this great joy as a result.  I know that this is Christ's Church restored on the earth today.  The significance of this is that we have the fulness of his gospel, which will allow us to fully come to him if we chose to let it. 

 

I know that Christ is filled with compassion toward us to the point that he weeps when we weep, and wants nothing more for us than for us to be happy.  He wants to forgive and make us whole.  I know that to be true for I have witnessed that time and time again in my own life.  I know that He lives and truly what joy that sentence gives.  I leave these things with you all in His sacred name, even the name of Jesus Christ, amen.