Transfered to Salamanca, 350 baptism's for the month of May. 3825 hits

Hey mom and dad,

I am in my new area, here in Salamanca, Guanajuato, in the Irapuato Zone. I am really enjoying it, the city is actually very nice. I must say I am really enjoying it here. My comp is Elder Whittle, he's a really good kid, who has about a year in the mission. He is from Riverton Utah. Hes about 6´3 and 215 pounds, he's a pretty big guy. His spanish is coming along, he struggles a little bit, but is always making progress and willing to accept suggestions. He's a really humble, quiet person, and very, very patient, but he likes to work hard which is good, we get along very well.

As for my foot, it still hurts, right now medication helps but it doesnt take the pain away like before. Today I am actually going to Leon to have a meeting with Pres. Cox and a few other Zone/District leaders, so I will talk to Sis.Cox. But until we get more Xrays of better quality, we wont know what to do.

Elder Ditto is doing well, right now he is in San Luis Potosi. He is still a trainer, but I think he will be moved up to District Leader by next change. Elder Maxfield is still an office secretary, and Elder Callen was also moved up as a district leader, so we are all doing well. As for feeling like an old timer/experienced, sometimes I do because all of the people that were in the mission when I got here are all going home. Even Elder Velez MY trainer from Irapuato is going home in August, so the mission is changing alot. As for President Cox considering who will be a District or Zone leader, I know he considers our weekly numbers, what the zone leaders opinion is about us, and our interviews with him tells him alot, other than that I am not too sure. As for the packages, I STILL havent gotten them, although I know they are in the mission offices. Today I am going to Leon for a leadership conference so I will pick them up today!!! =D! Other than that, All is very well. We were informed that Elder Bednar will be coming the 20th of this month! But we will not have interviews with him =(, just a mission conference. Either way it will be fun, and a great experience. Also, we ended this month with a little over 350 baptisms, we over shot our goal of 300 by 50 baptisms! We are all very excited. And tired, =D.

I have to run, but I love and miss you all.

Con amor, elder Salazar

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).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 =).

241 Baptism's, water pipe repaired. 3685

Hey mom, Hey pops,

good to hear from ya. Things are shakin’ back home?? I bet Sasha was freaked!! That’s really sad to hear about Sis. Byers. What a tragedy and terrible thing to happen to her. This last week we were visiting a recent convert here in Cardenas who happens to be epileptic. We were talking when all of a sudden he started having one of his attacks, and he began vomiting and shouting. It was very sad also. I guess we can all just trust in the lord and his resurrection, that one day these types of tragedies won’t exist.

First off I still haven’t gotten the medication, but I will today!! Right after we go eat... The reason I haven’t gotten it is because we have soo much to do, we are 100% work here, there is 0 time to relax or take it easy. Even this month we haven’t had p-days, that’s why I have to write so early, because we only have till 11am as our p-day. Things are basically back to normal here in Cardenas , the water situation is over and today the kids are going back to school. Although, all kids must wear doctor masks, and must bring their own hand sanitizer. Also, all teachers have to wear doctor masks.

Things here are well in the mission. If I heard right, we baptized 91 people this weekend so that brings us up to around 240 in the month of may, leaving us with 2 weeks to baptize 60 people. President told us that if we baptized 90 people last weekend he was already going to call Elder Bednar! This week Elder Krebs and I baptized 3 people, the baptisms went well. We need just 1 more to baptize our goal of 4! But we had kind of a hard week. We had over 15 people who were going to get baptized, all but 3 backed out at the last minute. It’s hard going from 18 scheduled baptisms to 3, but that’s how the lord works sometimes.

Sorry to hear about your truck, at least now you have a good reason to buy a new one! There is a Ford F150 in the exact same style as yours here in Cardenas , same color and everything. Sometimes I think it’s you coming to give us a ride somewhere.

Anyways, things here are well in Cardenas . This is our last week of the change. So by the next time I write you I could be heading off to a new area, today I fulfill 4 months here in Cardenas so I wouldn’t be surprised if president changes me. As for the packages, I haven’t seen President Cox in over a month but last night I was talking to Elder Verdeja who works in the offices and he told me that I have quite a few packages, he asked me if he could open them to make sure if all the candy was ok and wasn’t damaged, I told him NO! Other than that, I am excited for Nathans wedding. I hope all goes well. Erica will be there for me in my place, I will be there in spirit. I will answer your questions.

Love ya mom, all is well here in Cardenas !

Elder Salazar


1. I know you are there on Mission , but do you get time to do your own thing, such as go sight seeing or anything like that? Question submitted by Tony Crespo.

------Yes, at times. Usually when we are not in a sacrifice month, our p-days start Monday morning till 5 in the afternoon, and during that time is when we head downtown to check things out. But here in Cardenas there isn’t much to see, a dog, a few cows, things like that.

2. How's Elder Krebs Spanish coming along, and do you speak English to him?

------He is still struggling but is making progress. I do speak English to him sometimes but the majority of the time I speak Spanish to him.

3. Do any of the people that live in Cardenas speak English?

------Actually there are a lot of people who speak English. Cardenas happens to be one of the major stops people make before trying their luck at crossing the border. Also when people get deported from the US a lot of them come here. So there happens to be quite a few people who speak English. It's the weirdest thing, basically 90% of the people here who have family and/or go to the US on a regular basis always go to Oklahoma .

4. What kind of food do you get at your "own little Fantastic Burger" there in Cardenas ?

------I usually get 1 of two things. First, these type of tacos called "Gringas". They are flower tortillas with carne asada, cheese, lettuce, tomato,avocado and sour cream. They are delicious. Or I get what’s called a "Torta de lomo". It’s basically a sandwich, that comes with a shredded beef, lettuce, sour cream, and avocado. They both cost 15 pesos, or about $1.50. But they are really good

Swine Flu, Mothers Day 3599

Hey Dad,

It was really nice hearing from you guys yesterday. I know you guys had a little bit of trouble getting through. But I know you always pull through and are able to make it happen. Your voices never change but everyone keeps telling me that my voice has changed. Lol, that’s pretty funny.

Things here in Cardenas are ok. There have been 3 cases of the swine flu here, so we are all being careful, but slowly things are going back to normal. The water is slowly being restored, and we are allowed to wear ties again, but they have cancelled school here in Cardenas for another week.

I took pictures of our house, and kitchen, and the hardware store we live above, like you asked. As for the package, I can’t really think of anything else I need. Whatever you guys feel like sending, just send it. I use everything.

My foot still hurts, but I plan on going back to the pharmacy and buying the medication she offered me. I think that Mexico is pretty good with medication, they sell a lot of medication for really cheap.

Anyways, I am out of time and this computer is really slow. Right now Elder Krebs and I are going to go to our usual Monday brunch. We have our own little "Fantastic Burger", it’s awesome. Afterwards we have a service project at a members house. We are going to clean up his back yard in preparation for the baptisms next Sunday. I will take some pics. Thanks for everything!

Love Elder Salazar


1. How do people celebrate Mothers day in Mexico. A man was telling me, it's celebrated on a different day than in the US.
------No, they celebrate it here on the 10th of May too. Not too much different from the US. Although I was asking a lot of female members here what their children were going to give them for mothers day and everyone looked at me weird. Apparently it’s not too common to give gifts to your mom on mothers day. Although we did see a lot of mariachis playing and some people were bbq'ing.

2. Were there big Cinco De Mayo parties, or celebrations this past week?
------Not really, just mothers day, but nothing too crazy. Although, on July 6th Cardenas will be having its town elections. And right now all the candidates are driving around blasting their announcements, and giving out bags, stickers, etc.

3. This past weekend the mission baptized another 78. So right now we are at 156 with 3 weekends left to baptize! If we keep baptizing 78 till the end of the month we will have 300 and Elder Bednar will come visit and interview us.
The mission is asking that all companionships baptize 4, Elder Krebs and I should have our 4 this weekend, pray for us!

Flu epidemic, and no water

Hey ma, hey pops,

Elder Krebs and I are doing well. Cardenas is in quite the crisis right now. Many city services are closed due to the flu, and everyone is scared to leave their homes due to the flu. Secondly a pipe broke around here somewhere and the whole town is without water, and they still haven’t fixed it. Water sometimes arrives to the houses at about 630am to 700am, but it's not enough. A lot of people are suffering. There is very, very little water. Many people have to go to the local pozos(wells?) and water springs around here and are carrying water back to their houses, its pretty sad. It definitely has been a wake up call to me, to heed the counsel of the church and have at least a 2 week supply of food and water. I have seen first hand how a town reacts when they don’t have water. We are doing ok, because we use very little water. Because we are never home, our tanks fills up when we are away.

Other than that the work is going forth. Elder Krebs and I found almost 20 new people to teach this week and we taught over 40 lessons and we put over 10 baptism dates for the 16th of May. We also found 2 families this week, so we are very excited. Pray for us that these families and people keep progressing towards their baptism.

Good to hear that Colin and Bryce are doing well. I am excited Bryce is making it to a mission. I think him going on a mission is by far one of the most critical decisions he could make in his life, now he can depend on the lord to make him into the bishop, husband, responsible father that he will need to be in the years following his mission.

It was funny to hear about Mike Corona. I say funny because at one point in his life Mike Corona was in charge of the jails, now he’s going to be in jail. Weird how that works. And ouch for Chad Reed, losing the title by a mere 3 points. I bet he won’t do as well in Outdoor motocross because Reed is a Supercross rider and I think Bubba excels in the outdoors as a motocross rider. I like the pics you have been sending me, seeing those pistols makes me homesick!! Elder Krebs likes looking at them too, I dont think he’s ever shot a gun before.

Anyways...I will answer your questions now.

tu hijo amado,

El Elder Salazarrr!


1. Are there any senior couples serving in the Mexico, Leon mission? Do they speak Spanish? (question submitted by the person formerly known as Bishop Robinson)

------At the current time no there aren’t. But In Cardenas I had the opportunity to meet a Humanitarian Aid couple serving for the church here in Mexico and they were actually from Southern California. Their names were Brother and Sister Olsen. They weren’t from the Garden Grove stake but were from, I believe, the Brea stake?? Nevertheless, they were good friends of President Lewis, and knew gramma and grampa Hicken. They also knew many other people from our stake.

2. What precautions is the church taking because of the flu?

------ I am not 100% sure but I believe almost all church sacrament meetings in Mexico have been cancelled the last two weeks and this next Sunday. I am 100% sure that here in my mission all services in SLP, Guanajuato and Aguascalientes have been cancelled.

3. How is the missionary efforts being affected by the flu?

------We are taking advantage! Many people strongly believe this is a plague sent by god, and that the world is ending. People are inviting us in to ask us if that is true and we happily answer their questions, and teach them the truth. Also, many people are trying to stay home and avoid leaving the house due to the sickness. So when we knock doors, ALOT of people are home and willing to listen.

4. Think of something to put here, I'm out of questions...dad.

------This last weekend we broke the mission record of baptisms in 1 week. Our mission baptized 80 people! And we still have 4 weeks left, to get to 300!!

Swine Flu Epidemic

Hey ma, Hey dad,

Thanks for the Email. first off, I loved the pics of the desert trip. Especially the one of Uncle Mike and Justin…. classic. I was amazed at how much food you guys cooked, that’s awesome. Every time I have been to Hodge we have only made foil dinners and cooked hot dogs. Sometimes we have had peach cobbler. Sorry about your table, lol. Sounds like the wedding shower went really well too. Erica told me she washed a ton of dishes, hahaha.

Anyways, things are ok here. People are really worried about this Swine flu epidemic. The Area 70s will be making a decision soon about what to do. But church has been cancelled for two weeks, and I imagine they will do something with us missionaries, but we will find out.

From what I have heard, they have cancelled all buses from Cardenas and Rio Verde to San Luis Potosi, so basically we are isolated here in Cardenas. People here are walking around with doctor’s masks on and even we have masks. I personally have been feeling fine and there have been zero cases of the flu here in Cardenas but we are definitely taking all measures of safety here. I am trying to wash my hands and we actually don’t shake hands with anyone because everyone is afraid of this disease. I feel fine and my foot is finally getting better.

Please give Uncle Eddie my support even from here in Mexico. This heart attack comes just as much a surprise to me as to him I believe, I hope all is well.

As for this week, things have been going ok. We had zone conference this week and it went well as usual. This month of May we are going to try to get 300 again, but with these 2 cancelled Sundays in SLP we are already getting off on the wrong foot. Elder Krebs and I have been ok, right now we are really struggling to find people to teach that are sincere. We teach from 5-9 lessons a day but some times find only 0,1,2,3 new people to keep teaching because most people let us in but don’t want us to come back. So we have been a little down about that, we have basically knocked ALL of Cardenas. But my foot is finally getting better and every day I am excited to leave the house to start working, so basically I can’t really complain about anything, I am trying to do my best and be 100% diligent and letting the lord do the rest. Anyways, I gotta run. I am going to try to upload some pics but this computer seems to not be working right.

Love and miss you! Con amor,

Tu hijo,

Elder Salazar

Hey ma! Hey pops,

I am glad you liked that picture of Tomas and I. I too really enjoyed that baptism, it was pretty special for me.

I am glad you had a good time in Utah, here in Mexico they say that Utah is the Mormon factory. Also there is a state here in Mexico called "Yucatan" and all the elders who are from Mexico we say they are from "U-ta-tan." Lol. Anyways things here are well,

How are things? Things here are well, my foot still hurts!! Its really starting to annoy me, I think today I will go back to the member at the pharmacy. She had given me some inflammation pills but only 4 and she said if you like these you can come back and I will sell you the bottle. So I think today I will head back, also the other thing is that she is telling me I have to take an entire day off of work but that’s not so easy to do here. As for stamps, don’t worry about sending any. I just go to the post office here and they send my letters for about 10 pesos so it’s not too expensive. Last night I wrote you and mom, Erica and her fam and grandma and grandpa letters. Although there is a little something I would like, and if you can’t or don’t want to buy it don’t worry about it. But I would really like to have the "Called to Serve" CD by the tabernacle choir. It came out when I was in the MTC and I really liked it, I just never bought it.


Anyways, nothing too new happened this week. Yesterday in sacrament meeting I was asked to give a talk on "How to obtain, grow and strengthen a testimony." Everyone told me they really liked it so I think it went well. Also we had the Director of Seminary and Institute come and visit us in the branch, and while I was teaching my Gospel Principles class he pulled me out and asked if I could teach seminary one day a week in the afternoons. So now I am not only a full time missionary but I also teach seminary! It should be fun, we will be studying the New Testament. Anyways, not much other than that. I will keep this short because the computer is really running slow. I love and miss you all.

Thanks for everything!

Love ya! Adios!

Love Elder Salazar

1. Are there other religions proselyting in Cardenas?
------There are lots of religions here, but the only one that proselytes are The Jehovah Witness. They usually proselyte on Fridays because on Saturdays is when they have their meetings.

2. How's Elder Krebs doing being away from home, and do you have much in common?
------He’s doing well actually. We have a few things in common, he wants to be a pilot after college so we like to talk about planes and a few other things.

3. Have you met any Americans lately?
------Actually we met a Mexican/American. His mother is Mexican and is from Cardenas, but his dad is American and is from New Jersey. He was born and raised in the US for half his life and the other half he has lived in Cardenas. He speaks English and Spanish but just has a bad Spanish accent when he speaks. But it’s funny because he’s a big tall white guy that looks totally American, but he speaks with a Spanish accent. He’s a nice guy, he’s pretty religious also, but belongs to the Pentecostal church.

4. Do you speak much English with Krebs or anybody else?
------With Elder Krebs I have prohibited English. But the members like to have us teach them English, so sometimes we speak English to them.

5. Are there enough kids to have a YM/YW program? How many youth members are there?
------Youth we actually have quite a few. We have about 10-12, but it’s just hard to get them active and participating. What we need is more activities so they are actually interested in learning and participating.