Entire mission traveled to Leon. Elder David A. Bednar Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke to the entire mission. 4020 blog hits

Hey dad/family,

Hola familia, this week was absolutely awesome. We had the chance to meet and hear Elder Bednar. I will give a breakdown...
On Thursday night Elder Whittle and I traveled to Irapuato from Salamanca and stayed with the zone leaders. On Friday morning we got up, showered and headed to the bus depot from where we traveled to Leon with the entire Irapuato and Celaya zones, Leon is a little over an hour away Irapuato. The entire mission met in the stake center in Leon. We all hung out, talked, ate a ham and cheese sandwich lunch and then we headed into the building to wait for Elder Bednar.

Elder Bednar's talk was amazing. He actually didn’t really prepare a talk, he told us this wasn’t a fireside, or a meeting, this was a "revelatory experience." He would ask us questions and we would respond and he would go into a little more detail. He even gave us time to ask him questions. I never asked a question but I did respond to one of his, he asked us “What are you learning and observing from this pattern and method of learning?" I responded that I noticed that instead of him preparing and speaking to us for 3 hours, we (Elder Bednar and the mission) were sharing comments, ideas and participating, thus we are creating an environment where the spirit can testify to us. As missionaries sometimes we fall into the rut, where we show up, and "teach" someone, something about the church, when really, we should be trying to create an environment where the investigator can participate and feel the spirit testify of the truth of the things we share with them. Elder Bednar responded that that was a great observation and "well expressed". His remarks were absolutely amazing. Elder Whittle and I have been talking about nothing else for 3 days. At the end he gave us the opportunity to come up and shake his hand.

We were in Leon from 10:30 to 6:30 and we ended up getting home at about 8pm, then my district and I went out for tacos =). As for Elder Roberts, of course I saw him, he’s impossible to miss. I never got a chance to talk to him, but I did talk to his companion. Right now the mission is receiving a lot of new people, and many of them are from California. I met an elder named Elder Su'a, from the city of Torrance and a Samoan elder named Elder Toutai from Fontana. Right now Californians total 14 in the mission including Pres y' Sis Cox.

Things are going well, Elder Whittle and I are looking for more baptisms and working hard. I will definitely take pictures next week and send them.

Con amor hacia todos!

Elder Salazar


I will now answer your questions...

1. What was it like to have the entire mission gather together at one time, and hear Elder Bednar talk?

------It was awesome, we all felt the spirit really strong.

2. There are 150 elders in the Mexico, Leon Mission, where did you all meet?
------A lot of elders just went home at the end of the last change, so I believe we are a little less than 150, but we all met in the stake center in Leon.

3. What do you do to stay healthy and fit? Do you work out? Do you still use your push up helper?

------ I do every now and then, usually in the morning to wake myself up. I am really glad to have them, they help a lot. To stay healthy and fit, not really anything, I’m tired basically everyday, usually too tired to workout. Basically to stay healthy, we don’t drink the water. As for working out, some elders used to get up extra early and go to the gym, but the Missionary Dept of the church has banned us from going to the gym. All exercise must be done in the house. I usually stretch to get myself to wake up.

4. What’s the weather like right now?
------This last week has been really weird, the days are sunny and warm but almost everyday after 6pm it gets really dark, and really heavy rain clouds move in, and we get thunder and lightning and really heavy rain. If we don’t plan things right we get SOAKED. But only after 6pm, really weird...

5. Tell us about your apartment in Salamanca? (cost, size, amenities, neighborhood, landlord)
------Our apartment here is actually pretty cool. We live in downtown Salamanca so there are always cars passing by and people outside. Our rent is 1500 pesos ($150). It’s a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom with a patio. It’s not very big but it’s perfect for missionaries. We have a stove, refrigerator and Elder Whittle has a really nice CD player we listen to. This is probably the most comfortable house I have lived in. Our landlord only comes by about once a month to collect rent. Last time he came by he couldn’t believe I was American, it was pretty funny.

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/background-information/leader-biographies/elder-david-a-bednar