Elder Scott Visits the Mission, Our Branch is Growing & Trunky vs. Baggy

Good Day,

This was kind of an interesting week for us here, I don't know where to start really... Yesterday was stake conference, every stake in central america had theirs yesterday. The reson being was for a special transmission from a few general authorities. Did you know that Richard G Scott can speak Spanish?? He spoke Spanish in the whole thing while the others had translators. His gringo accent was hardly noticeable really. It was a good stake conference and all.

In our branch here, we are preparing for some future changes, the main one would be the new church they are building for the branch, which will soon be a ward. Our attendace is around 80 or 90 each week. So there's only a little improvement to do so that we become a ward, and when that happens they will begin construction on the new building. The new building will be so cool because it is literally in the center of the area and has a huge piece of land and it is visible from everywhere. Right now they have us going to a building that is a 20 minute bus ride away, so as you can imagine that makes it a nightmare to take investigators to church. We even offer to pay a taxi for our investigators, but they can be pretty tough to get to church.

The good thing is that once the new church is built within a few years, it will be way easier to take people to church. But for now, we will continue taking the bus.

Dad, I think it's funny how you say "Trunky" when you talk about a missionary being ready to go home. For some reason here we say "Baggy", but it's all the same really. I could be baggy right now if I felt like it, but I try to pretend I'm a greenie still. I can get baggy when I am on the plane.

Dad, I can't imagine how cold that Lake Stevens water felt when you jumped in with your clothes on in a dare. When it gets under 80 degrees here I shiver. So... well... That will be cool to see what happens in May when I get home ha ha! Way to go Dad, seeing the white house dog, Its kinda weird that you were there in DC, it's so far away from home. Even though El Salvador is super tiny (smaller than Massachusetts), I feel like its so big sometimes, but it really isn't. It probably takes 5 hours or more to get from the east border to the west border.

Well that's all I have for now! I hope you have an awesome week everyone!

Love Elder Vaughan

Kickboxing Companion Saves Woman From Harm, Cell Phones & Awesome Faith

Good day,

This week was a pretty memorable week, for some interesting things that happened. Lets start with the most fun part. 

Last Monday after p-day ended (at 6 pm) we went to go see an investigator Yeimi (pronounced Jaime) and as we were walking up the road, we noticed an angry sir who was yelling at the mother of Yeimi. He was obviously drunk. When we were about 10 meters away from where he was, and he chased the lady, with the intention of beating the pupusas out of her, yelling lots of swearwords. Luckily the lady closed the gate behind her, but he was pushing the gate to get in and beat her up. The lady's son came up behind him to restrain him, but he received an elbow to the face, then my companion (who just so happened to practice kickboxing and martial arts before the mission) put the drunk in a lock and was able to calm him down and talk. 

We were then standing in the street listening to this drunk cry about his life for about 5 minutes, while the lady hid in the house and called the cops. The cops finally arrived and while we were talking to him (trying to keep him calm, since he was a large powder keg ready to explode), three officers pinned the dude to the ground and took him away. It was awesome. Ok, sad that the whole thing happened, but awesome because my adrenaline levels haven't been that high in a long time. 

Well, other than that the only other cool thing is that we now have cell phones here. Honestly, a cell phone is the most useful tool a missionary can have. We have only had them for a few days, and I am already loving it for so many reasons. We have wasted so much time before for not being able to communicate with people or other missionaries. Seriously, I cant believe I missioned for 21 months without one. Ok, I did have one in the office, but I hated it because people only called me to ask for money. It's so awesome.

Well, most of what I said has nothing to do with anything to do with the work. Just so you know, one of our best investigators is Carlos (original name, huh?). But he has cancer, and unfortunately does not have many months left in this life, but the great thing is his desire to change and follow Christ is ginormous. Hopefully April 5th he will be ready to be baptized. For the pain that cancer causes Carlos has to buy a very expensive medication that he cannot afford, and so his only other option to calm the pain was (you guessed it) medicinal weed!!! :D But when we taught the word of wisdom, he was sad to hear he couldnt take that kind of herb anymore, but was more than willing to leave it behind. That's an awesome faith!.

Well thats my week in a nutshell. Have a fantastic week! I love you! :)

Elder Vaughan

Stressful Annoyances, Big Earthquake & Being in Good Hands

Hello,

This week was honestly kind of stressful. Between all the interchanges with other areas and what not, I'm kinda tired. I am glad to be working hard and to have this chance to serve and all. But my biggest annoyance right now is feeling like all the missionaries are a bunch of kids who don't know anything. But that's okay. I just wish that people could treat me more adult like, because I still feel like a little kid sometimes ha ha.

Well, good to hear that Lokey is back on his feet. That dude is quite the trooper. I seriously thought he would be gone by the time I get back, well it's still possible, but whatever.

I think it would be cool to use my Spanish skills in work, if at all possible. I would just have to really polish my vocabulary for lighting and decorating products, that is something that they didn't teach in the MTC.

Umm, everything else is well here. Two nights ago, according to my companion there was a big earthquake in the middle of the night. I didn't feel a thing. He said he felt his bed being tossed side to side. I guess I am just a heavy sleeper. Our area is actually pretty darn close to the volcano, all day we see the thing seeping out smoke. Its kind of intimidating, but whatever. If something were to happen, we are in good hands. 

That's all I can think of for now. All is well. I hope you all have a great week!

Love Elder Vaughan

Back to the Volcano, District Leader & Sickness

Hello again,

Well I got changed yet again, I thought I would stay in Santa Rosa de Lima for the rest of my mission. But I was wrong! Now I am in San Miguel again, but in an area called La Pacifica, its small neighborhood on the outskirts of San Miguel. Not to mention the closeness to the volcano, I am even closer than ever :) So if it erupts again, Ill be the first to know ;)

My new companion, well, isn't exactly new to me. its Elder Caballero from Argentina. Does that name look familiar to you? He was in the trio with me and Elder Wyatt a bit ago in San Miguel, and here we are again (just without elder Wyatt this time).

Oh, and I am district leader, which is kind of cool but annoying at the same time. There are a total of 13 missionaries in my district, and the zone leaders want me to do 3 intercambios a week with each area, which sucks, because that leaves me no time to know my own area and get things done. The zone leaders want me to be the district police, which is NOT why I am here. I trust the missionaries and know that they are doing things right. I don't feel it necessary to do so many interchanges with them. I'll just ask president to see what he thinks on the situation, because whenever there are new zone leaders, sometimes they go do crazy things that don't make sense.

Oh, almost forgot. I got sick on Friday. That was not fun. Crazy case of mustard diarrhea, and vomit. It was horrible, but its over now. All I have now are some light headaches. The coolest things about the resurrection is that we won't ever get sick. Because spending all day on a toilet is not fun.

Umm... That's about all I have for now. Things are good here. I don't know much about my area yet since I spent the greater part of Friday and Saturday on a toilet. 

I'm pretty excited for USU with Chris this fall. It will be cool. Who knows what crazy ness we will do!

Be sure to congratulate Jenni Domski for BSU winning the Western Champions thing in swim!

That's all I have for today! Have an awesome week.

Love Elder Vaughan

Chronic Disease of Inactivity, Giving It All We Got & Cars Are A Luxury

Hello!

Now this week, was pretty average. We are fighting hard against the chronic disease of inactivity in the church. Neither of our recent baptisms showed up to church (Ismael and Miguel). Who knows why, but it is a trend I have seen my whole mission here. People get baptized and they disappear. We are really going to give it our all with our most recent converts so that that same thing doesn't happen to them! That would be the explanation of why there are 500 members in Santa Rosa de Lima, but only 30-50 attend weekly.

By the way, its good to see Lokey is still alive, I was wondering if he was still around, how old it he? I imagined that he would die of old age during my mission. what a trooper!

Also this week are changes, the fact that I just got here means that I probably will not have changes. But my companion will probably be sent to a new area. But, who knows?

Seriously dad? A car for more than half of your mission? Lucky. Was that for leadership positions, or just for having a huge area and having to travel a lot? When I was in the office we traveled in bus daily about 1.5 - 2 hours. We begged and begged for a car, but we never got it because a couple years ago the office secretaries totaled one they had. Two changes after I left the office, President gave the office missionaries a Toyota Hilux pickup. Talk about bad luck huh? That would have been cool.

Well time is up, and I must be going! Have an awesome week family!

Elder Vaughan

PS: Jesse wants me to do a wilderness survival thing with him when I get back, sounds cool. but I don't know If I will be able to because I don't know how my schedule will be.... I don't know haha peace!

Baptism, Faith of a Child & No Pics

Hello again,

Yet again, another week has passed. The highlight would have to be the baptism we had with Ismael, he is a little kid whose father passed away when he was littler, but his grandma has taken him to church and now he was ready to be baptized! Ismael shared his testimony after being baptized, and it was so cool to see such great faith in a little kid. Adults are the stupid ones who doubt, and don't believe in the simple doctrinal principles. I feel like kids have more faith than most other people, and its really cool to see.

For next month we have a couple potential baptisms coming up. Hopefully all goes well with that. 

Sounds cool with all the wall smashing that is going on in the office and warehouse building. In a few years there wont be anymore walls to bust down, you will have to start building new walls. ha ha. Really, that's all I have to report for now. I would send pictures, but I left my camera in the house on accident, oops. Next time I will send you the pictures!

Have an awesome weekend family, until next time.

Elder Vaughan

Baptism, Presidential Elections & Elder Duncan of the Seventy

Hello,

Well this week went well. First off, we had the baptism of Miguel, that was the highlight. The Sunday right after the confirmation, the president interviewed him and ordained him to the priesthood. It is good to see that kind of progress, now it looks like we will have help blessing and passing the sacrament from here on out.

Next week we have another baptism planned for Ismael, a little kid we are teaching. Hes a spaz, but we are equally excited for his baptism. Hopefully all goes well with that. 

Yesterday was the presidential elections of El Salvador. There were three main candidates, two of which are republicans, and one is communist. One republican lost so bad (just like the Denver Broncos) and the other two candidates did just about equally as well. So in March they will do another election to see how things play out with just two candidates. I think this will give the republican a greater chance of winning big time. This country could really use a good president to start fixing the many problems, but whatever, soon none of this will matter to me.

This Saturday, following the baptism of Ismael, we have a big fun activity planned for the branch, in the effort to bring back inactives and to bring in new people. hopefully all goes well!

Also this past week we had a zone conference with Elder Duncan from the 70, it was a great meeting, and a great chance to meet the man in person. When I mentioned where I was from, he knew exactly where Marysville was because he used to live in... Renton I think he said, I dont know. But it was a great meeting, I learned a lot about the importance of setting goals to be able to achieve great things.

Unfortunately, time is about up. I hope you all have a great week, talk to you next time!

Elder Vaughan