310 Baptism's for July, Elder D. Todd Christopherson to visit the mission. 4380 blog hits.

Hey Mom & dad,

Not too much happened this week. I DID get my card (the temporary) but here's the thing, it was already expired since june 13th! Lol. dont worry, today elder Holt and I have a zone leader council meeting in Leon and I have already verified that my new card has arrived in the mission offices, so today I will be going to get it.

Like I said, not too much this week but I will give you a "David Letterman" style run down....

------ We baptized 310 people this month. Our goal once again was 300 and we made it again! This mission is truly changing and its amazing.

----- Two of my old companions are going home the 17th of august, Elder Velez my first companion/trainer and Elder Lopez.G who I was with in San Luis. They will be missed.

------ President Cox announced that our mission has been selected BY Elder D. Todd Christofferson to be visited in the month of august, most likely the 18th or 19th. Elder Christofferson and Elder Johnson of the area Mexico presidency will be visiting us and talking to us! Thats 2 Apostles in less than 6 months, we are all very excited.

------ No baptisms this week =(, and I am still struggling to find investigators.

------ My foot has been feeling well. Except on saturday it rained really hard here and my comp and I had to run home to take all our clothes down from clothesline outside, and my foot has been sore these last couple days. Despite some of the dificulties of the work.

I still find myself enjoying every day of the mission more and more also the opportunity to serve my zone, its alot of pressure but at the same time I feel alot more satisfaction from helping the other Elders/Sister missionaries in my zone.

Thats all I have for this week,

Thanks for ALL the love and support!

Celaya, San Miguel De Allende, ATM card. 4320 blog hits

Hey Mom y’ dad,

Things are ok here. My foot hasn’t been bothering me at all which has been a major blessing and honestly a miracle. Also, my bank card is here. We have interviews with President Cox on Wednesday so I am sure he will bring it to me.

Sounds like things are going well back home. Things are going ok here. We had a baptism fall through this week, which hurt, but we will help her get baptized this week. We have been having a few little problems here in the zone with disobedience so it’s been hard for Elder Holt and I to be focused but we are doing our best. Elder Holt and his companion had two baptisms which went very well. Although after the baptisms one of the water pipes broke in the ceiling which sent water gushing through the ceiling like a waterfall! I’ll send a picture of it. Other than that, not too much going on. We are working really hard here and looking for success. Thanks for everything!

Love,

Elder Salazar

Ps. Feliz cumpleaños Jen!


1. Besides candy, what else goes on in Celaya?
------Other than candy, Celaya isn’t known for much more than that.

2. Is Celaya a modern city? Do they have fast food and big stores?
------Its pretty modern, not as modern as San Luis but its ok. They have McDonalds, Costco =D, Wal-Mart etc, Movies, etc. etc.

3. Are there any craftsmen hand making items there?
------I am always on the lookout but I haven’t found any authentic handmade items. The other day I saw a guy selling some guitars but he was far away so I couldn’t check them out. Elder Holt is teaching a guy that makes rings, so we are all thinking about getting mission rings made for cheap.

4. Tell us something...
------This week I had to go to a town about an hour away from Celaya called San Miguel De Allende in order to do some baptism interviews. It’s a very big tourist town FILLED with American people and rich Mexican citizens. It is very beautiful but the people are very snobby. There are a ton of Americans walking around speaking English, it was very weird being there. We had fun. The city is very beautiful and colonial. If you ever come to Guanajuato we will definitely take a trip to San Miguel De Allende.

I will include a picture of a Catholic temple in San Miguel De Allende that we all think looks like the San Diego Temple!

No ATM card yet, freight trains in the middle of the night. 4245 blog hits

This is a picture of a sticker everyone puts on their door that says: "This home is catholic, forgive us brethren. We can’t listen to Jehovah Witness, Mormons or missionaries from other congregations that aren’t Catholic. Let god be your companion, we live the faith that our fathers left us."

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Hey Mom and pops,

Things here are going ok. My comp and I are working like crazy because we don’t have too many investigators right now. Celaya is ok, it’s not a very beautiful/nice place to live but to say the least it is interesting. There is a big freight train depot in the middle of Celaya, and when the freight trains pass through my area the people find a way to stop it, open the freight cars and basically loot or rob all they can as fast as they can. It’s absolutely unreal seeing people grabbing things and running.

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Elder Richards is doing well. He has about 3 1/2 weeks here in Mexico. We should have 1 baptism at the end of this week. Right now we are working on getting 2 people married, but as of right now they don’t seem too excited about getting married and baptized, we will see what happens.

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I am having fun being a ZL, although it is a lot of stress. If my zone does well and baptizes a lot, Elder Holt and I receive A LOT of the credit but at the same time if we don’t do well and don’t baptize, we receive ALL the blame! So it’s a lot of pressure. But I enjoy being involved with my companions and helping them out.
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That’s really awesome to hear that someone (Mike and Candy Young) in the ward is from Penjamo, Guanajuato. I will definitely pass that reference on to the corresponding elders. Penjamo is a little town that was actually part of my first area in Irapuato.

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**Thanks to Sue Clark for sending me the referral information!!

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Anyways, things are ok here except for the fact I STILL don’t have my ATM card. I called my old comp Elder Whittle last night and he said that it is still not there. So please, please, please, pay to have it overnighted or something because its hard not having money and I need shoes, I feel bad for constantly borrowing from my comps (even though they understand my situation). This time send it to the mission offices please. As for a package, I am doing well, whatever you decide to send me will be fine. I do need Tylenol but I can probably buy that here for even cheaper.

Love ya!

I will now answer your questions!

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1. Tell us about Celaya?

------It is known for being a big candy producing city. Especially this type of candy called Cajeta. It’s basically caramel but it’s really good. Celaya is also known for its high crime rate. Lots of poor people and lots of drugs here. Since I have been here I have seen about 5 police raids with the Federal Police here. Interesting to watch but scary to know that I probably knock the doors of drug dealers everyday.

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2. How is your new ward, big or small?

------It’s a good size ward, we normally average 100,110 in assistance, which is average to above average here. There are a lot of Priesthood holders in the ward, which is a good thing. Our building is the stake center so it’s bigger than most buildings. When I lived with my zone leader Elder Dalton in San Luis he was actually in the exact same ward I am in now before coming to SLP. So he showed me pictures of a lot of his converts and members he was friends with. So it was funny going to church because I have already seen and heard of some of the members there.

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3. Tell us about your new Bishop?

------I actually don’t know him too well yet, but he seems nice. He’s older than most of the bishops I have had. He’s probably 45-50. But he served a mission and everything. I heard he’s really good

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4. How is your new apartment, size, cost, location?

------We live in a two story house because there are 4 of us in one house. It is 2 bedroom 1 bathroom (rough!) it is pretty nice. Rent is about 2000 pesos ($200) a month. It’s an ok house. We live in a pretty nice neighborhood. Which is nice because we don’t have to worry about people breaking in. The only bad thing is that we live about 10 houses from the freight train depot. So we hear trains all night.

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5. Does the ward help in the missionary work with splits, referrals?

------They do. When we push them for referrals they usually give us the names of their friends, etc. As for splits. I’m not too sure because I still don’t know the members too well yet, but they all seem nice enough to help us out.

New zone (Celaya) New companion. 4150 blog hits

Hey Mom and dad,

Where to start??? First off, the Zone Leader Council went really well. We stayed the night in Leon. It turns out Elder Maxfield, Elder Callen, Elder Ditto and I are ALL getting moved up as Zone leaders so we had a lot of fun all being together again and now as ZLs. The ZL council lasted Monday and Tuesday till about 4pm. Elder Whittle stayed in Salamanca with another companionship while I was in Leon.

President decided to change me so I have left Salamanca and the Irapuato zone and have traveled about 45 minutes to my new zone which is called Celaya. My zone leader companion is Elder Holt from Utah. He has about a month less than I do in the mission. I actually knew him in the MTC. BUT, I am actually not with Elder Holt. Due to the number of new missionaries who have gotten to the mission, all the ZLs have been training newbies. So right now I am with Elder Richards from San Diego, California. Elder Richard’s ex- companion/trainer is Elder Velez my first companion! So I am just taking over as his comp. We are living 4 Americans in one house so this should be fun!

My foot is doing well. I have had very little pain this last week so that has been nice. When my foot doesn’t hurt my knee doesn’t hurt so that’s a good thing. I usually just take regular Ibuprofen because that’s what the doctor recommended.

Things are going well here, I still haven’t received my ATM card. But I’m guessing it should be here within this week. Elder Whittle will bring it to me when we have the zone conference or he will give it to President Cox to give it to me.

Love ya!


1. What are your duties as a zone leader?
------Make sure my zone is being obedient and most importantly...baptizing! Also I have to prepare trainings and do divisions with the companionships that are struggling etc etc.

2. Of all your different companions, who has been your favorite?
------ As for my favorite companion, I can’t really think of one because they have all been so fun. But the funnest time and most memorable of my mission was the time I spent in San Luis Potosi with Elder Lopez and Elder Kay. Those days were golden.

3. Did you and your companion do anything to celebrate the 4th?
------No not really. We actually forgot, which was funny. We worked all day Saturday, and then while we were walking home I remembered it was the 4th, so then we began talking about the blessings of living in the USA.