Arbide. Elder's Maxfield & Granilo. New pictures. 5380 log hits

hey mom, and dad,

Enjoyed the email, I am still trying to figure out how to open the pictures to see them. I am on a Dell PC running MAC programs, weird combo. Sounds like Justin had a great bday, that's good. I cant believe he's 30, he is officially a "viejo" (old). Se pronuncia asi..."veeayho".

I was telling a few members the other day about the difference between the food here in the center "The bajio" and the food in the north "Comida norteña". In the north we eat almost all flour tortillas, here in the south everyone eats corn tortillas, I still like flour better though.

Church went well yesterday, but I must say. Its a lot of pressure to be working in president Cox´s ward. He sees just about everything we do, so we must always be on the ball. On the other hand, he and sis Cox are such great people, its like having an aunt and uncle in the ward. Our ward here is pretty big, we have about 140-150 assistance. Everyone goes to classes, the primary is full and things in this ward funcion how they are supposed to. There are 5 missionaries in this ward, including Elder Maxfield, Elder Granillo and my self, also the Office Secretarys, my old companion from Cardenas Elder Verdeja and Elder Sherman. Here in my area we are in a companionship of 3. Elder Maxfield is great, like I said he and I have known each other since day 1 of the MTC. He comes from Boise Idaho. He is the 3rd of 4 sons and has a younger sister. He wants to study dentistry when he gets home, his mom is also a dentist. Elder Maxfield has snow white teeth and a great smile, he uses colgate. My other companion is Elder Granillo. He is from southern Mexico from a state called "Hidalgo". He was born in the covenant so he comes from a very strong family. He is 23 years old, and after graduating from "benemerito" a church ran high school in the capitol of Mexico he decided to study business in college. He finished 3 of 4 years and then decided to go on his mission. He is a great guy, very mature, very patient. He has 21 months in the mission. Elder Granillo is not a zone leader but he is working with us till they can find him a companion. Today is pday and Elder Granillo wants to buy a new suit so we are going to go to a big mall here in Leon. I plan on looking for a few leather souvenirs to bring home. I am doing well on money, except I owe 30 dollars to the mission because my cell phone fell out of my pocket in a taxi =(.

Last week, we baptized a 9 year old girl named Ximena. Her parents are very good people, they aren't members yet but want to be baptized and even go to church every sunday. They cant get baptized because one of them hasn't been able to start a divorce process because the ex husband is in the US. They are talking to some lawyers to speed up the process. We have a beautiful family of 4 that we are probably going to baptize this week. They truly have let the restored gospel take effect in their lives. They absolutely love when we come over and teach them. The father has even stopped smoking. He smoked around 80 cigarettes a week, elder Maxfield and I made up a plan to help him stop smoking. He went from 12 a day, to 10, to 8, to 6 to 3, to 1 , to 0. Right now he hasnt smoked a cigarette since thursday. We are praying for them, and if all goes well they should be baptized on wednesday.

Time truly is going by quickly, today Elder Maxfield and I complete 19 months. We are excited but try not to talk much about our time ending or us going home. We mostly talk about the things we need to work on and get done before our time is over.I took some pictures last week of our house and stuff. I will send them to you now.

Thanks for all the love and support!

Love Elder Salazar




Ximena and some members at her baptism.
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Our house. Rent is 1500 pesos. $150. Elder Maxfield locking the door.



Red Jello made by ward members.
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Blue Jello made by ward members.
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