Loma Bonita. Elder Maxfield. Moved into mission home. 5940 Blog hits

Elders Hatten, Robles, Salazar & Maxfield
click image to enlarge














Hello mom, dad and family,

This was the first real week in the offices. Elder Maxfield, Elder Callen and I have officially moved into the offices. There are 7 of us living here right now. Elder Verdeja (my old comp from Cardenas) whom is the Executive Secretary in the mission, Elder Sherman who is the Financial secretary, Elder Hatton and Elder Schow who are the old assistants, Elder Maxfield, Elder Callen and myself. We have a lot of fun but we are all working really hard. Elder Hatton and Elder Schow are really good friends and they have been traveling the entire mission helping out the zone leaders. Elder Hatton is from Naples, Florida and Elder Schow is from a small town called "Medicine Hat, Canada". They are both really great elders, they will be leaving the 19th and 20th of this month to be home for Xmas.

I will not be working Arbide anymore; we will be focusing on the next area over from ours called Loma Bonita. I am a little worried about my new area, only because the assistants have been working this area the last 10 years. Just imagine 10 years of the most dedicated, hardest workers, the best teachers, best door knockers, you would think that the area is literally overworked. I feel under qualified but I know that with the help of Elder Maxfield and Elder Callen we can find investigators and baptize.

Some other great news...! This last month, Elder Maxfield and I had the highest baptizing zone in the mission, also Elder Maxfield and I were the highest baptizers in the entire mission for the month of November. Overall, the month of November has been one of the best months of my mission by far.

Anyways... Some of the duties of assistants are... Provide Training for the ZL's and the other missionaries. Set goals for the mission. Be in charge of various ZL’s to make sure their Zones are working hard, baptizing and being obedient. Decide what the Mission studies in their companionship study. For example, this week we are studying Chapter 1 of Preach my Gospel "My Purpose as a Missionary", 1st and 2nd sections. Also, as assistants we should be setting an example for the whole mission, this is probably the most important duty. We have to be the most obedient, the hardest workers and we should always be contacting investigators and baptizing. We also take the elders who are going home to the airport and send them off. We receive the new elders who come from the US MTC and the Mexican CCM, and we give them a small training meeting. We get to drive mission vehicles (including presidents Trailblazer =)! and we eat dinner with Sister Cox on Sundays.

This week went well, we baptized 7 people! The baptisms went great. Things are going great here in the mission. We are working hard and having fun. It’s a lot of stress, but it’s the same stress I felt when I first became a ZL, and I know that with time, instead of stress I will feel confidence!

Thanks for everything!

Love,

Elder Salazar