Monday, May 25, 2009

304 Baptism's - goal achieved, Foot x-rays, transfer, district leader. 3760
















Hey mom and dad,

I loved the wedding pics. Everything looks like it went really well. That’s funny you took my graduation pictures =D. I am excited for Nathan and Jen; I know they will be great together.
Here’s the big news:
We reached our Mission goal of 300 baptisms yesterday. We have 304 right now, with one week left! WE DID IT!!!! Things are well here. Elder Krebs and I didn’t reach our personal goal of 4 baptisms yet, we only have 3. BUT we still have 2 scheduled baptisms for next week, so in the area of Cardenas we may be able to fulfill our goal still, even though we already have 300 in the mission.

I am being changed from Cardenas to.....Irapuato Guanajuato! AGAIN!!!! But to another area there called Salamanca. My companion will be an American named Elder Whittle with about 6-7 months in the mission. I will now be a District Leader! =D!

Cardenas threw me a huge going away sacrament meeting, people gave me gifts, made me a cake, sang to me and a lot of people were crying.

I had to go take x-rays of my foot. Luckily nothing is broken. But I did get a call from the mission doctor; he says I have a Cyst in my foot and that I opened it/caved it in. He wants more x-rays of my foot, and then he will decide what to do. My foot continues hurting.

Sorry this email is short.

Love you all!

1. About how much money do you need per month to provide for food etc? (Questions 1-3 submitted by the Trader family)
------If we don’t spend like crazies, about 600 pesos ($60) lasts us a whole month (Strictly food though).
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2. What would you say to someone who might be serving a mission one year from now - what should they do to prepare?
---Learn from three gardens.
1) The Garden of Eden.
2) The Garden of Gethsemane.
3) The Sacred Grove.
You will gain an understanding of the gospel, and a strong testimony, and with that testimony comes a strong desire to share it with others. Even if your're not a great speaker or don’t know the language well, people will be able to feel the spirit of your testimony and message.
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3. Do people there listen to pop music or Mexican/Mariachi?
------People here listen to all kinds, but mostly: Reggaeton and ranchera (Mexican country music).
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4. I have a question for Ben please. He talks about the goal to baptize 300 people, what time frame does that entail? Is this by region, does he have a personal goal for his 2 year period of missionary work? I can see in the pictures he sends that he is losing his little boy look. (Question submitted by Maggie)
------Good question. Our goals in the mission are usually entailed in a one month period. Our goal of 300 baptisms was limited to the month of May. We also usually break our goals down into weeks, days, even hourly so that we are able to achieve. I have my own personal goals of people I want to help baptize also, when I achieve it, you will all know =).

1 comment:

Matthew Crespo said...

dear ben,

I think its great that you and the other missionaries are trying to baptise 304 people. You are doing good so keep it up. We miss you and cant wait till you get back so I can kick your butt on the WII SPORTS:)