Monday, July 28, 2008


Ohla familia y amigos!

¿Como estan? Pues, aqui es mi reporto para esta semana...nada mucho paso, pero establecemos cuatro bautizmos por este fin de semana. (How are you? Here is my report for the week. Not much is going on right now, but we have four baptism's scheduled for next weekend.) So we're excited! Expect a larger report next monday. I dont have much to talk about right now, but thanks for all the comments! Heres a picture of my little buddy that hangs out on our steps, and a picture of yours truly!




Ohla madre!


Sounds like the pioneer fair was pretty fun, its cool to hear whats going on with the ward and stake. Be sure to send Jared and James my bienvenidos, its pronounced "bee en ben eedose". As for my pants, I'm just going to wash them regularly, we hang dry all of our clothes/garments so I'm sure they'll be OK. Don't worry about sending me pants, Maybe this week or next my comp and I will go to Walmart and I can buy a pair of dickies or slacks, everything is super cheap here so I can do it when I need them. I haven't gotten your July 3 letter yet, I'm sure it has arrived at the mission office here. We had a big meeting with president the other night but he didn't bring letters. I have already received dads package and I have already eaten everything, including the box. Well I gotta run, but yeah i'm loving the blog too! its cool to read all the comments even though I cant reply to all of them I really enjoy them.
Love ya!
El misionero de los mejores padres!
Elder Salazar

Ohla padre,

ya recibi so correo electronico, thanks! As for the blog everything looks good, thanks for updating it for me it saves lots of time, I really enjoy reading the comments. As for clothes, everything is fine. My suits are clean, I only have to wash a couple pairs of slacks but they aren't even that bad. You should see some of the clothes of the missionaries in my zone, it looks like they have been through 2 missions. Also, we have lots of places to buy clothes here, there is a walmart and other stores to buy stuff. Also, almost everyday Irapuato has basically a swapmeet(called Tiangis) where they close a street down and the people sell all types of stuff. I Bought a cheapie watch the other day for 60 pesos which is 6 american dollars, it's not too bad, although I miss my G-shock, this one will do for now. Well I gotta run!

Love ,
Elder Salazar

Monday, July 21, 2008

Hol Familia!

This week has been good, it's starting to warm up here which is nice because we don't have the pouring rain. We don't have dryers to dry our clothes so we leave them out during the day, when It rains it soaks our clothes so we have to wash them over again so it has been nice not worrying about that. Also, this past Saturday we baptized a mom and her two daughters it was really nice. We have been working with them about a month and seeing the restored gospel enter their lives has been a testimony to me. I gotta keep this one short, but thank you for all your support, Emails and everything!

Hola padre,
Got your package! I received it this past Thursday. President Cox and his wife brought it to me when I had interviews with him (They haven't gotten moms letter yet). Thanks! I had been dying for some candy. I don't buy much candy or anything to eat at the house. I really have to budget my money because we use alot of our money to buy taxis to bring our investigators to church.

Buenas Tardes madre,
Como te vas??Ojala todo esta bien. Everything is good here, this week was really good. We have been tracting in some different neighborhoods of our area, so we have found a few more people to teach. Thursday was nice, my comp and I rode the bus (the buses here are absolutely insane)to central Irapuato were we met President Cox and his wife and all of our zone for interviews. We had a really good interview. I'm really really blessed to have them as my mission presidents they both really care about me.

Love ya!! El Elder Salazar





Tuesday, July 15, 2008



Hola familia!
I hope all is well. Here is my weekly report----This week, we have had TONS of rain, we have been running home soaked everynight which is fun because we live outside our area so it takes about 15 minutes to get home. In the daytime it will be really hot and at night POURING rain with Lighting and thunder that ive never expierienced before, its pretty cool. This week I have been making french toast everymorning, at night Im excited to sleep because I know when I wake up Im going to have french toast, its the little things here in the mission that make me happy. Umm, what else...the other day a member took us out for tacos. we fit 8 missionaries into a ford focus. 1 in the trunk, 4 people in the backseat with one laying across their laps and 3 in the front seat(it was stickshift by the way) not to mention all of our backpacks. Nevertheless, the tacos were amazing. My companion is from guerrero mexico yet he has lighter skin than me, so when we are in the streets lots of people think its funny to try to talk to him in english and he absolutely hates it. I think its great because I act like I dont understand, lots of people tell us that I look more mexican than him, I love it. well I gotta run, I hope you enjoy the photos, the scorpion accompanied me today as I did my laundry (you know your in mexico when scorpions help you with laundry), Mis pantalones, my desk, elder velez and I giving service and finally me in a taxi. Love ya!!
To Dad,
This week was good. We had a zone conference with president and his wife on wednesday. So we got up about 5 in the morning and traveled by bus about an hour to a little town called Celaya it was really cool. About 50 missionaries. The president was really funny, he served in peru so he can speak spanish but his wife cant. He was giving a talk in spanish about how when we return home life is different with our wives, they are eternal companion. He was kindof focusing on how hard it is and we were lauging, she sort of realized what he was talking about, got up and walked up to him and grabbed his tie really hard, we were all lauging. He defended himself by saying to her that he was telling us in spanish that she kisses well and smells good. It was really funny... they are really good people, she is just like mom. Always asking me if Im ok and I have everything I need. Our bishop here is really good, hes pretty young, about rickys age, but he has alot of enthusiasm so he helps us out alot with the members. The area Im in is pretty poor, read ericas email and you will get an Idea, its pretty ghetto. There are a few private propertys that are really nice but who knows, they probably harbor and sell drugs. My comp is a nice kid, we are almost the same age. He was born the 26 of january and is from guerrero mexico which is really close to acapulco. He graduated from a school ran by the LDS church in mexico city so hes pretty smart and knows just a tiny bit of english which helps me alot. Im not really sure what he likes to do, I think he likes dancing.


Hola madre!

Como estan todo la familia?? Thats funny that you guys are watching big brother again, typical! My comp and I had lunch with a family who has a little more money, they love to watch tv and I was telling them how you have your weekly shows that you absolutley have to watch. They were lauging and the mom of the family said she definitely can relate with you. We eat really well, we only eat once a day at 230pm, but we have food in the apartment so at night if I get hungry, plus there are tons of ¨abarrhotes¨ which are basically tiny liquor stores where i can buy a soda and my favorite...pinguinos(hostess cupcakes)! all for about 15 pesos, a buck fifty. Well I gotta move on to the next email, mi padre ricardo. Love ya madre, no estoy tomando la agua porque es puro polvo, te amo!(I'm not drinking the water, it's pure dust)




Right now we are in the 4th week of our transfer. Transfers are 6 weeks long and when the 6th week comes its not guarenteed that you will be transferred to another area, for example, I have been in the ciudad de Irapuato for 6 weeks. When this transfer is up, I will have about 8 weeks here, but I think Im going to be transferred this transfer because Im new, but who knows. Our daily routine here is 630 am we wake up, every single day with the exception of lunes where my companion tells me we can sleep a little longer but im not to sure how correct he is on that so I get up at 630 nevertheless. study till 10am sometimes 11 when I want to study spanish, and after we leave the house. Everyday we walk across a huge field filled with trash, rats, and tons of dogs, basically we walk, walk some more and walk. Everyday at 230 we have lunch with members and at 9 we return to the apt and get ready to sleep, sometimes I study more because I love to study. Irapuato is pretty ghetto. There is tons of graffiti, tons of cholos and gangsters, lots of cars, lots of dogs (dead, alive and dying) there is no trash systems so people throw trash wherever they please so sometimes the streets absolutely stink. At times I feel like its LA or santa ana, but I like it because everyday is exciting and there is so much activity. This place never slows down, only sunday morning when everyone is in the catholic church!! Basically that's the low down.
Goodbye,
Love Elder Benjamin


Monday, July 7, 2008

Hola Familia y amigos,

Yesterday was testimony meeting, I bore mine in Spanish, it went well. Lots of people told me I did great, I was definitely more nervous doing it in Spanish than English. As far as letters go, I only recieve letters when I see the president which is MINIMUM 1 time a month =(. Kind of a bummer. Last nite I smashed a rat the size of Jackson with a garden hoe, my comp was freaking out, it was awesome. I am going to make my companion be on time more, we are seriously late to everything, he loves to talk. The people here are quite tough, they are very very Catholic. I have spent the last two weeks studying and marking my bible because they love to bash with us. Also, when we knock doors they tell us *oh I read the bible no thank you.* or they set appointments with us and dont show up, so I have learned to know when to be polite and when to tell people that reading the bible isnt everything Jesus Christ taught and its not the way you're going to return to Heavenly Father. They also love when we tell them Jesus Christ established one true church and they dont have to follow the tradition of their ancestors. That's cool the 4th of July was fun, my 4th of July consisted of a ligtning storm. Living here in Mexico has given me a testimony that we really live in the promised land which is the USA. Some of the most simple things back home are so difficult for people here, eating, drinking water, finding work, disposing of trash sanitarily etc. I am definitely blessed to have been raised in America. Anyways, things are good here, im about to run out of time so Im gonna have to cut it short.
Thanks for everything and for writing me!
Love Elder Salazar



Jackson the rat sized Boston Terrier