Chinese Food Cure, Bus Hopping & No More Shyness

Hello,

OOOKAY, so this week was interesting. So really nothing too notable... lets start with the worst news. So Friday morning I woke up at 2 AM vomiting and diarrheaing (yes, at the same time), and that was miserable. I think I ate something bad, but I have no clue what it would have been. Nonetheless Friday was no fun at all, but don´t worry as I am healthy now. Its actually a miracle that it took two months into the field to get this kind of sick, you know as a gringo in Central America. Every last Saturday of the month there is the "Festival Gastronomica", which is literally just a food party up at the tower park. People set up a tent and cook food and sell it, all sorts of cool things (that I didn´t eat) like armadillo, and normal things like pupusas. This evening I was still feeling a bit sick, but hungry because I ate nothing but white rice and Gatorade for two days. So we saw a tent selling Chinese food, we both saw it and were super excited to eat Chinese food here, because there just isn't Chinese food in San Vicente, there is a little bit in the capital, but none here. So we went and ate some Chinese Food, and it turned out the chef is an investigator of ours, who is also from the states, so he cooked really good food. After eating a plate full of stir fry, rice and won tons, my my diarrhea magically disappeared, so I guess Chinese Food was the cure!

So in this mission, we have a goal to talk to 140 people to find investigators, and this past week we have been doing terrible on that, so on Saturday in the afternoon we tried a new method of contacting people... Bus contacting. So here in El Salvador, there are people who hop on the buses to try and sell stuff and they hop off before the money collector comes around, which this method of selling stuff is perfectly legal, and it is a legit method of us missionaries contacting people! So what we do is we wait for a packed bus to come by, we hop on, we begin shouting who we are and a brief explanation of that we want to share a message, and we have to yell because these buses are so loud, kinda like monster trucks. Then we pass by each person on the bus and if they are interested we take down their info, then we hop off the bus when we see the money collector coming by! It is really nuts! We get like between 40 and 60 people in each round trip. It is super cool, and the references that we do get from the buses are good quality because the people don´t feel pressured into saying yes. So that was a lot of fun this week, we will probably use that method now and then.

So, today is day one of month 5 as a missionary. I really do feel like I have grown a lot since I first entered the MTC 4 four months ago! My Spanish skills sure have grown too! Yesterday I really realized that when I carried on a 45 minute conversation on my own with a guy after we had a FHE. This guy is an investigator, family of some members, and so he was there and he was really interested in hearing about my life in Washington. So at the end of that lengthy conversation I realized that yeah I really do speak Spanish now! That was a really big moral booster! Also this investigator supposedly has a girlfriend from Brooklyn who has the last name Vaughan, so that was interesting! These past two weeks I have really noticed that it is becoming a lot more natural to talk and listen to people, and teaching is so much easier!! I really have learned a ton, and I still have a lot more things to learn! Also, before the mission, I always felt like I had an element of shyness in front of people I didn´t know, but after being able to talk (yell) to 40 people in a foreign language on a loud bus, really that had to have scared away whatever remains of shyness I did have!

So these past four months have really flown by, just 5 more chunks of 4 and I am done! This will go by so fast, I can already tell! But now there is a lot of work to be done here! Sounds like things are going great at home (I think I have said that every email for 4 months now), but you are all doing good back home!! I love you all and miss you a lot! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Vaughan

Climbed the Tower, Temple Trip & "It is what it is"

Hello!!

So another week, mostly average with a few cool twists! So the cool twists, first last Monday we climbed the tower here in San Vicente for the first time, it was a ton of fun! Such a pretty view!! I attached a picture from that which is cool! Our area covers from that street that the large catholic church is on all the way down into the jungle. I am glad we have finally climbed the tower, he have been wanting to do it for ages now!

Ok, Saturday was sweet. We had a mission wide activity at the temple (as you can see the pic of me and my comp at the temple). The activity was for all the non members and all the recent converts to get to know the temple and learn a little bit more about it! Which was great! Because of the activity some members may start to reactivate and a good handful of investigators had their interests perked and are now.. well more interested which is great! So we are hoping to have great things come from that!

I love the temple here, it is now on my list of favorites, I won´t number them because they are all houses of the Lord. For example, I really wasn´t too enthusiastic about the Guatemala temple because there's no windows. I don´t know, just not too interesting! But the temple here is just so epic compared to the other ones! And it is huge!!! Look how tiny those people are standing next to the temple! Its so cool. Also, it truly is a TON like the new Canada temple, its crazy how similar to the Canada one it is. Of course the one here is a million times bigger than the Vancouver one, but the layout is the SAME and the way it is furnished and all. Its so beautiful and we are glad that members and non members had the opportunity to learn more about it and see it!

Happy birthday Chris! You are now 21 right? You can buy beer now!!! But don´t ok? Enjoy something else instead!

So as far as the work goes this week, we are continuing searching and talking to people, it is tough as usual. But my new favorite quote is "It is what it is". That is what I tell myself when people reject us like crazy, or when we get soaked head to toe in a storm, or when I am just hungry and tired! Yesterday was tough especially, we talked to a ton of people, but they all rejected us hardcore. People telling us we are "perdidos" (lost), or people saying the Spanish equivalent of  "I don´t give a Da** what you have to say to me!" (that happened twice yesterday). Yeah, its real tough, but it is what it is and I know that my efforts have already payed off and will continue to benefit!

Other than that all is great! Pupusa count: 95, almost 100!!! So far all of the elders in my group from the MTC are keeping pupusa counts until the end of the mission... we will have some scary numbers... Anyways, I hope you all have another great week!! I love you all a lot! Talk to you next Monday! :)

Love, Elder Joshua

PS: Best of luck to Mohonri Dorff and Brandon Little in the MTC! You will be great missionaries! Good luck also to Spencer Wilcoxson and Riley Dufour as you prepare to get your own mission calls!

PSS: Mom. I can only think of two things in a package I want. Some skinny ties and some packets of crystal light or some kind of juice powder that I can throw in a water bottle because that sounds good! maybe like some gummy bears too, I don't know what else! I say skinny ties because they are so in style here and I only have one of them! Thanks Mom and Dad, I love you :)

Also the verse I want on my plaque is this one I think. Alma 37:6 and 7 if it talks about the "small and simple things" that would be the one! :) Thanks!!! Talk to you next Monday!!!

Independence Day, Tamales & Pizza

Hello People,

So, I am going to be really honest and blunt here. In terms of the missionary work this week, it sucked. We only had 3 lessons with investigators (10-15 is average), nobody came to church, and we had to drop some investigators who are not progressing because they do nothing and its wastes our time. So in terms of the Mormon stuff this week, nothing cool to report, we hope that this week will go better. One big challenge here is retaining members. SO many people get baptized and think they're good, so they go inactive super fast. So we teach "Persevering to the end" at least a million times a week. In San Vicente there are enough members to make two stakes, but so many are inactive, and as a result we have one District, not even a single stake! ¡¡Super Chaffa!! So many times when random people we talk to, or drunk guys in the street approach us they say that they're already Mormon, which is hard to believe. But when we go back to the house, we look those people up and there they all are! Its crazy how many inactive members there are, its kinda sad! But that is also a part of our job here! Man the drunk guys here are so nuts, they all speak English and always try and teach us about God in the middle of the street, it's nuts.


So this past Saturday, the 15th was Independence Day here in El Salvador! I think that most of the other countries in Central America have the same Independence Day, can someone check with Dr. Google on that for me? Thanks. So Saturday was a big parade festival cool thing going on in town, and since nobody was in there house we got to go to the parade thing and contact people and watch the parade! It was so cool! I am attaching pictures from it! They had the military (fully armed with heavy machine guns, bazookas, ghillie suited snipers, it was legit. Also all the schools marched down the street with all the marching bands and lots of cool people in costumes and all that good stuff! So that was really exciting! I attached some pictures of the parade.





So later we had an activity at the church where they had typical foods from each of the Central American countries which was good for the most part! Lots of tamales (every Latin American country claims the tamale to be their "typical food", I think they're gross! More boring than gross really). We went to the activity because we had invited some investigators to come, but as aways, nobody showed up! Which is so frustrating! People here take no shame in lying, they lie like crazy!!! You can call someone a liar and they take ZERO offense to that, but if you say "tú madre" they will put a bullet in you. its interesting. Ok, they really don´t shoot you if you say "your mom", but they get so offended, not that I tried it, because I didn't! For example, about a week ago we tried to return to an investigators house for a second lesson and the man and his wife were sitting on the front steps, when he saw us approach he walked in the house. We talked to his wife to see if the man was available for a lesson and the wife said "he's not home now, he just went to the store", right after we saw him walk right into the house! I was so stumped, how could you lie so obviously and have no shame or whatever! People are crazy!

Sorry if this letter seems short, I feel like every other missionary in the world writes an epistle giving an account of every step of every day of the week. I just say what I find to be the highlights of the weeks. By the way, pupusa count update: 76. that's pretty impressive for six almost seven weeks! Anyways, I am ready to enjoy a good p-day, we have lots to do because the last two weeks we had to spend p-day as a zone which is lame but still fun! By the way, last Monday after I wrote home from San Salvador in a cyber cafe, we went to Pizza Hut. Most satisfying meal I have had in months, including the food in the Provo MTC, the food there just made me feel fat. Anyways, in Pizza Hut me and Elder Ledezma (Panama) shared a huge pizza, 8 buffalo wings and a pitcher of colachampange (don´t worry, that's not champagne, its a soda they have here in El Salvador, so good!). I was so satisfied and happy after Pizza Hut!

So, It sounds like all is well back at home! I love hearing from you all, as usual. Have a great week, I love you!

Love,

Elder Vaughan

PS: Theres also a couple photos here with the kid, Alejandro I baptized! wooo! Also a random picture of the volcano with some super legit clouds, thought that was a cool thing to show. This is the ugliest pretty country I have ever seen! By that I mean, the whole country is your garbage can, but somehow its pretty at the same time! This is a cool country, I love it and hate it! :)

Bloody Cow Hearts, P-Day Soccer & 4 a.m. Birthday Bands

Hola!

Hello once again! Well this has been another interesting week, tough, but slightly more rewarding! So cow hearts. I was in a house of a recent convert teaching them, and I didn't understand the dialogue before this happened, but the mother of the family brought out a cow heart!!! A freaking cow heart!!! what the crap!!! Apparently they eat them here!!! It was bigger than my head and dripping in blood, I felt like puking. So sick. Third world countries like to eat weird things, its weird. Anyways, I feel like there were a million other things to say this week, but they all escaped my mind.

Anyways, right now we are all in San Salvador because we had a soccer game against the Ilopango Zone, I don't know who won, but I scored two goals, which was super awesome. I really forgot that I have some small amount of skill in soccer, a skill that I thought was long gone! So that was super fun. And now we are in San Salvador writing in a ciber, because we won`t have time when we return to San Vicente later this afternoon. So on Wednesday marks my 6 weeks here in the field, my first transfer done. I really feel like I am starting to get into the groove of things and understand Spanish better! I really feel like that is becoming stronger!!

So Saturday morning at about 4 AM, we were abruptly awoken by a mariachi band outside our house! They were playing music for some one's birthday in a neighbors house, and I don't understand this tradition of playing music really loud at 4 am for a birthday. I would be upset if anyone did that for me, the band played like 5 full length songs and I got gypped out of a solid 30 minutes of sleep! People here really have no sense of when they are making too much noise at the wrong hour. I miss the sound ordinances we have back in Marysville WA!!

This week I have definitely seen more progress or "success" as you could say it, we didn't baptize any new people or anything. The good thing is, we are starting to see more and more people who have been prepared by the Lord to be received into the church. So one man, Roberto, we came into contact with him one day in the street and he let us in his house to teach him. When we finished the first lesson, we extended the baptismal invitation (without a specific date), and his response went as follows(translated of course): "Yes. So when is the soonest I can be baptized?". That really kinda blew my mind because we are so used to indirect answers from people with such questions, but we know that this guy really has been prepared to hear what we have to say!

One happy thing about this week, is we stopped doing breakfasts with our cocinera because those were just terrible, cold refried beans the consistency of water, spongy cheese that contains more salt than the Great Salt Lake, and eggs that were fried in a swimming pool of grease. Seriously, people here cook with so much grease, it is so horrible (you can see the grease on so many people here too). I thought America was bad with eating greasy foods, try the food here, worse than any Big Mac you ever ate. So for the breakfasts I eat cereal and milk with whatever fruit I have, and since Latinos think cereal with milk is so weird, my companion eats sandwiches. It is so much better making our own breakfasts, we would usually have to sit in the cocineras house for 30 minutes to wait for our plate of cold beans and cheese. So I am doing better in the food dept.

Saturday we had a baptismal service for a kid who just turned 8, his parents are recent converts. The Andrade family, they always have us over for FHE every Monday at 6:00, its awesome. So I got to perform the baptism (doesn't count towards mission numbers, but I got to perform it), which was a great experience! I think the kid (Alejandro) wanted me to do it because I always talk with him about The Avengers and other super hero stuff, so for that he really likes talking with me! So this family is really great! They are super poor, they live in a shack house kind of thing. At night it is illuminated with candles. And every time we go over they try and offer us food, whether it be pupusas or beans and rice, they always give us something, which I appreciate so much!! I know beans aren't exciting, but when a family like this gives it to you it is the most delicious dinner ever! They are so great to the missionaries, even though they don`t have much they always want to give!

I guess that sums up the notable events from the week. I would attach photos, but I didn't know we would write in San Salvador so I don't have my camera stuffs. So next time I will have some pictures to share! Thanks for all the letters and emails I get from you all! I am happy to hear all is good at home! I miss you all a lot, and look forward to hearing from you again soon! I love you!

Love

Elder Joshua Vaughan

Tropical Storm, Bloody Shirt & Dengue Fever

Hola!

Well another very interesting week just happened here! And really? There was an earthquake?? I didn´t know that! I felt a very tiny one a couple weeks ago, because apparently they happen here a ton, lots of little ones! So really, I wouldn´t worry about the earthquakes here if I were you, well be good! I did hear about some big tropical storm here named "Isaac" that passed through Central America, but I really didn´t take notice of anything unusual because it rains almost every night here super hard with thunder and lighting and all that good stuff. Last night the rain was a little bit more nuts than usual, at about 8:00 we were eating a nice dinner of pupusas across the street from our house and that´s when it started dumping buckets. The street literally turned into ankle deep water, and we live on a slight hill, so the water was cruising down the street like a river. So when we ran the maybe 10 or 15 step distance from the pupuseria to our house, it appeared like we just came out of a river, well, we did. So really during the daytime hours it usually doesnt rain, sometimes, but most of the time it is really sunny and hot, then in the evening it cools off with a nice raining. I usually hate the heat, but really I don't care anymore, "Es lo que es" (it is what it is), anyways, when I come home I know I will be begging for a sweater when I step off that plane! But once you get past the heat this place really is beautiful, except on garbage day when everyone chucks their bags of garbage in the streets in order to be collected later, but all the dogs tear in to the bags and it is a mess! Other than that this is really a nice place, in terms of nature and stuff at least!

So in our area here, there is a town called Zacatecoluca (legit name, right? say it 10 times fast). Well we go to this town usually once a week on a Friday or a Saturday, this week we went there on Friday to visit a couple members of the church. Our method of transportation to Zacatecoluca (tecoluca for short) is a 35 cent bus ride, about 20 minutes away. But on the way back to San Vicente from Tecoluca, the buses only come by every 30 minutes. So to save some time we are allowed to hitchhike, yes, hitchhiking is a legitimate means of transportation here for us! We just stand out by the street and stick our lovely thumbs in the air and eventually some kind soul in a pick up truck stops and we hop on in the back of the truck and relax for a nice speedy and free ride back to San Vicente. Its really a lot of fun riding in the bed of a pickup, although it is a risky thing, its worth it!

Now lets talk about some interesting people. First, Santos Merino. Lots of people here have religious names like "Santos" because this is a religious country (hence the name "El Salvador", (Para ellos que no hablan Español, "El Salvador" is Spanish for "The Savior" (you're welcome!))) Anyways, this Santos dude, we contacted him on the street one day and this week we came to visit him. He is a strange brew of Catholic and Evangelic, and we came to visit him and he already knew everything about our church, and well every church in the world! The last thing we talked about was that he doesn't believe in modern day revelation, and that it all ended with the apostles. The ironic thing is that earlier he told us a story of one day he prayed to God and that God directly answered his prayer (which would be modern day revelation right?). Anyways, this man offered the final prayer, and during the prayer he whipped out a little vial of consecrated oil and stepped towards me and anointed me and gave me a blessing that I could go forward and preach with the power, authority and revelation of God (I know ... this guy's logic really isn't fitting), then he did the same to my companion. I tried so hard to not laugh, I almost burst out laughing in my prayer because it was just so strange!

Okay, lets talk about some more interesting people! So yesterday we were out contacting people in the street and this clearly drunk man approached me (they always do that) and started blabbing off to me in English, when people here get drunk they suddenly are capable of speaking some amazing English, it truly is impressive! Well, this guy, named Will, started blabbing off a story to me about how his life is super chaffa (when people start telling their life story it usually ends in a pleading for some money or for some food), anyways Will showed me his hand, there was a big chunk of flesh literally just gone from the palm of his hand! He said he fell over and I guess that happened to his hand somehow! Anyway, he started crying because his wife left him (I wonder why...) and he just cried like a baby (I felt slightly bad). So he approached me and gave me a big hug, patting me on the back (with the bloody hand), in my head I was very angry at this man, had he no common sense???? Anyways I ended up with a bloody shirt at the end of the day (photo attached), no worries, I managed to scrub it all out! With the drunk guys ("Bolos"), you just gotta roll with the punches, and if you invite them to church it counts as one of our daily 20 contacts we have to do! The Bolos are really nearly harmless, they just cry and beg for money, and give bloody hugs, I sure hope that doesn't happen again!


So now our best guy we are teaching is named Carlos Gonzales (The whole world here is named Carlos or Juan), he is a, well I don´t know how to put it... He is a B.A. biker guy who we talked to in the street a couple weeks ago. I don't know if I have mentioned him before, but he came to us wanting to raise his new baby in a church where his kid can have a good religious family and grow up in a good situation that Carlos did not have. Which is really great! We taught him one time and we had invited him to come to church but he didn't show up. Yesterday, about 30 minutes into the sacrament meeting, we heard a Harley Davidson bike pull into the church parking lot (as we all know these motorcycles are all super loud and annoying!). So we nearly ran outside to greet him, and not only Carlos came, but on the bike was his mujer (woman) and his newborn son! It's wonderful that he came to church, and hilarious that he takes his family around on his Harley! He is a great guy and excited to learn more!

So that pretty much sums up my week. Also there has been a minor outbreak of dengue fever, so we all had to go to Wal Mart and buy mosquito nets to sleep under at night, but no worries, we are all good! Usually I would avoid a WalMart in the States, but when we had a meeting in the capital on Wednesday, and the president commanded us to go to walmart to buy the mosquito nets. I have never before enjoyed a WalMart trip like I did on that day! It felt like I was back in the States for a moment, the we walked outside, back into a third world country!


Ok, as far as packages go, the mail system here is pretty reliable, I expected it to be really bad, but it truly is reliable! We only get mail once a month, just because thats when they hand it out and all. If you happen to have any stickers of the Virgin Mary, slap a few on any packages you may or may not send me, because here Mary is more important than God or even Jesus Christ. But if you don't have any stickers of her, Jesus stickers will do!

Well all is well here and it is great hearing from you all! I miss you all a lot, but I am enjoying the work here. This month starts my 4th month as a missionary (2nd month in the field!) I love you all, talk to you in one week!!!!

Love,

Elder Vaughan

Baptisms, Bat Attack & Chaffa

Hola!

Well this week has sure been pretty tough, but pretty great at the same time! I guess it was tough because it was hard finding people to talk to, and so many appointments we had set fell through which is really disappointing! But on the bright side, on Saturday we had two baptisms! Ceci and Meybelline, two 13 year old girls who have friends in the church! So we were supposed to have a third kid, Franklin show up, but he didn´t, I don´t know why, this week we will have to go and see what is going on with his life! Anyways, the baptism was really great, I will attach some pictures! The branch president, President Josúe Peralta did the baptisms, and he is here in the photos. President Peralta is really cool, one day his wife made us pupusas and they were super good. In his house he has a picture of the Denver temple, I don´t know why though, he just says he likes it a lot, so he has a picture of it! I thought that was really cool!

This week was honestly pretty uneventful other than the baptisms we had. It has been a bit tricky finding new people to talk to and teach. We have a few cool families we are trying to work with, but it has been tough meeting with them when we have had appointments set, nobody is home! Which is discouraging! We do so much walking sometimes, or always. I am jealous of those missions that have bikes and cars! So there are 2 missions in El Salvador, mine, and the Santa Ana - Belize mission, and they have two departments of this country and all of Belize! Sometimes I am jealous of those missionaries who are in Belize because they have bikes, speak tons of English, sounds pretty cool! Anyways, this place is cooler because we have the temple and they don´t!

So there are a lot of people here that actually do speak English as they have family in the states, or they once lived there or whatever reason! So many times I get to speak English with people which is so awesome! I spoke English with several people this week, I love it because Elder Tenecora knows next to no English and he has no idea what is going on, and he just looks at me and asks what just happened, I simply say "Bienvenidos a mi mundo!". Well I say it in a nice friendly way of course! Me and him get along great, he teaches me a lot of stuff and we work hard!

So in the attached photos, first is the church building here with a cool shot of the volcano in the background! Although this town can feel so dirty and polluted, sometimes the scenery is pretty! Next is a random photo I took of my companion last P-Day, I don´t think I have ever shown you all what he looks like, so here's a random photo I have of him (green shirt). Next is just a picture of the baptismal font and the room where we held the baptism. We only filled about half the chairs as the service was held at 10 in the morning because the girls had to do something else later in the afternoon! It was a good service and I got to conduct the service which was a cool experience! Next is a picture of President Peralta with the two girls and his son. The next is a picture of Meybelline with her mom and sisters! Next would be me and Elder Tenecora with Ceci, Meybelline, and the family of Meybelline! I know it may be hard to see the whiteness of my skin as I blend right in with the wall behind me, sorry about that inconvenience!









So at this point I really have gotten over the things that are kinda "chaffa" (a word describing things that just suck), such as the sketchy food, big bugs, dirty stuff and ect. I really have come to accept those things as facts of life, because they really won´t change here, I still have a solid handful of months left to finish(although I already have a solid 3 behind me!). Well last night as we were eating our pupusas and getting ready for bed a bat flew out from our bathroom and started flying around the house. It was hilarous because that bat made us act like two 5 year old girls. It was so hilarious, but freaky. That would be an example of the "chaffa" things in life that we just have to accept as a normality!

As Chris mentioned in his blog, his apartment in Logan Utah now is no palace, but it is better than any other place he stayed in Africa! I can relate to that feeling so well! My standards of what a "nice house" is have changed so drastically! Sometimes I will say "¡Que bonita esa casa!", then moments later I just mentally slap myself in the face and say "what the *swearword* are you talking about?? That house is a piece of junk!". I will definitely appreciate whatever living environment I am in after this mission so much more!

I feel super lame because I really don´t have anything else special to report! Once again this morning I flushed the toilet with a bucket and showered with a bucket too. Every time I flush with a bucket I think of Chris and probably how he had to do that so many more times than me! Anyways, it sounds like Chris and Jenni are doing great in their first days in college! They will have tons of great experiences there, I am excited to hear more!

I apologize if my emails are ever repetitious our uninteresting, sometimes I can´t think of any cool or notable things that happened! Well the other day I officially had the worst drink ever invented on the face of the earth, I just remembered it because Dad mentioned a fantastic sounding drink that he invented. Anyways, this drink is called "atol chucco". Atol is a hot drink made from corn, which is actually pretty decent. the part "chucco" literally means "filthy". So this drink had atol in it (which is fine), about 3 tablespoons of hot fiery sauce, lemon, lime, avocado juice, beans, and some other fluid like a cream or milk that I could not identify. Yeah, definitely the worst thing I ever tasted. Those ingredients all separate are really good, I like them... but all in one drink... that's just blasphemy.

Anyways, All is well, my eye infection is now nonexistent, and I am ready to enjoy this p-day! Gonna do some cleaning, maybe write some letters, buy some food at the store, a haircut and maybe some futbol!

Mom asked me in what ways I think I have grown. Well I would say my perseverance, not giving up on something so easily. Which is a skill that I know will help me later on in life, and that it is an attribute that I somewhat lacked. I actually miss doing homework for Computer Science (im a dork huh?), in Spanish computer science is called Informática! I think that sounds so much more legit! Last night I actually had a dream that I was at USU with Chris and we were doing Computer Science homework up in the Comp labs in Old Main... I sure am a strange kid, sorry you had to hear that!

It is wonderful hearing from you! Sounds like everything there is awesome! I am excited to hear more about Chris´ and Jenni´s experiences at college, it feels like it was yesterday when I was just starting school at USU. You two will sure have a blast! Anyways, I will talk to you all next week! I miss you all a lot!

Love,

Elder Vaughan

Eye Infection, Counting Papusas & MS13

Hola!

Well another week done! This week was rough but at the same time good. Rough because, well on Thursday night I got an eye infection (supposedly from the heat, sun, and humidity. Lots of gringos have had this problem here!), and It was super red and I couldn't really go outside because, well I really couldn't see in the light! It was super dumb, so I spent all of Friday and most of Saturday indoors trying to recover. but please don't worry, I am fine now! Seriously! My eye really doesn't hurt anymore and I am capable of working! So STOP WORRYING! Oh yeah, so btw I gave up on wearing contacts, because well, this place is somewhat filthy and well I can probably avoid future eye problems if I don't use contact lenses, no worries, all is good!

Ok so we are hoping to have a baptism this Saturday with 2 hopefully 3 people, the third girl is really a flake and we don't know if she really wants to be baptized, so we will see what happens! So we are hoping that all will go well with that as planned! I am excited!

So the food, Yeah, I am getting a lot better at downing the food here! I am really probably making it sound terrible, which sometimes it is, and sometimes it is pretty good! Just about every night we buy Pupusas for dinner, we can buy 3 for one dollar, which is a sweet deal! I like them, they aren't exactly healthy, but they taste good! I attached some pics of pupusas, we usually drench them in salsa and you eat them with your hands! You just rip a piece off and eat it, which actually is really hard because they are so stinkin hot after they have been on the grill! So far I have only had 28 pupusas (yes I am keeping score, all the gringos are doing it), some of the elders that came in to the country at the same time as me are already in the 40s, so I really haven't eaten too many in comparison! Some missionaries get up to 1,000 or 2,000 by the end of the mission, which is nuts!! Anyways, we will see what happens! We only eat the pupusas with bean and cheese, because the others with port and stuff really do damage to the gringos! The rules here are so strict with what we can and cant eat, its good but its tough. We cant eat fish, anything from a pig, no pupusas with meat, no Coca Cola or Pepsi, no cabbage and no strawberries! Sometimes its tough because we have to reject food from people (its especially tough when the person is poor because they don't have much), and in the MTC I heard that theres a lot of fish here, but when we got here they said we cant eat it! Theres one situation in which you can drink a Coca Cola, and that is if you get parasites, which I don't want... but if I do get some parasites, I will be more than happy to drink a Coca Cola!

So this past week we have been teaching a few new people, the people are really great, but it is tough teaching people who are Catholic or Evangelico, because they really try and teach us when we are trying to teach them. We did find a cool family the other day and we taught them once, and I fell like it is promising with them! So we will be working with them and a few other people pretty hard this week!

So I realized I haven't really sent many pictures home that I am actually in, so I will try and take more photos in the coming weeks for you! Attached here I put a couple pictures of the pupusas and my legit cases for my scriptures and my hymnbook! So that stuff is cool, after the mission I want to try and make some pupusas because they really are pretty good!




So this last Wednesday we went to San Salvador to do some immigration stuff for me, which was cool. And I ate a cheeseburger at Wendy's which was heavenly! And this coming up Wednesday we have to go to San Salv again for some meeting, so that will be interesting! When we go to the capital we take these buses that are actually really nice and have movies and music (its all in Spanish so I cant understand it anyways). so yep!

So people are asking what things I would like to get in a package. Well its tough to say really! I really don't know, really anything that's cool snacky food, I don't know. There's really nothing that I really really need right now. If something comes to mind later on I will let you know.

So Dad mentioned stuff about a war that was going on here in the 1980s, and a bunch of crazy stuff. I really don't hear much about that stuff, really the big thing is the gangs, which aren't really even too bad. As long as you mind your own business you will be fine. It's actually a rule that we CAN NOT teach anyone who is part of or ever was part of MS13 without special permission from the mission president. Really the most that the gang people do is "ay, gringo, de me una cora!" ) give me a quarter. And that really never turns hostile or dangerous in any way, if they don't leave us alone, we just have to throw them a quarter and they leave. So honestly, no big deal. We are always safe here! I have had probably 4 or 5 people ask me for a quarter, but I never give them one, we just say sorry and move along. So yeah!

Well it is super exciting that Chris is headed of to school this week, as well as Jenni! They are going to have great experiences! And its too bad that Jesse hurt his ankle and cant do tennis for this moment. Kind of a bummer, but you will heal up soon dude!

Well sounds like all is well back at home, It has been great hearing from you as always. I hope you all have a great week! :) I love you.

Love, Elder Vaughan!