Working Hard, Teaching English & an Investigator from Germany

Hello World!

So another week has just happened here! This past one was even better than the last! Right now we are working really hard and we are finally seeing the fruits of our work come up in these past few days!

Yesterday in church we had a few surprises, we had a total of 5 investigators come to church yesterday! Two of them were current investigators who we are already teaching, and the other are new investigators that were brought to church by the members! So this week we are really excited to start teaching them because as any missionary knows, the best way to find and teach investigators is through the members. Now that we are receiving more support from the members we will for sure have some more success!

So being a trainer so far is pretty cool up until now! Its harder because I have to be a perfect example in everything I do, but it is better that way! I wouldn't mind training the rest of my mission, it helps me be more motivated!

Also at this point I know Spanish pretty well compared to 6 months ago when I first got here, I don't have to worry too much about my language study. So now I am teaching my companion English, as it is highly encouraged of the Latino missionaries to learn English here so that they can have more job opportunities when they get home from the mission. So I am enjoying teaching him English as well! I have really learned how strange English is since I started teaching him English!

This coming up Saturday we will be having a baptism! An 18 year old investigator named Jenifer will be baptized! She is actually from Germany, and is just here in San Vicente until March to visit all of her family for a time. And we found her and we are teaching her! This will be the first baptism in quite some time here in our area! We are really excited!

So that's about all that we have got planned for this week, and not too much happened this past week. We are excited to continue working hard! I really enjoyed hearing from all of you! I can't wait to talk again next week!

Love,

Elder Joshua Vaughan

Another South American Comp, Training & a Family Reunion

Hello World, 

Well here we are starting another change in the mission, and this time I am training!! The president called me Tuesday morning to tell me that the following day I would be training!! It's crazy how fast things happen here like that. Well I am with Elder Flores, yes another short South American! I am probably going to be one of those missionaries that only has Latino companions the whole mission and later forgets how to speak English!! I sure hope not.

So far it has been great training, not as hard as I thought it would be, but still a big responsabilidad! I always tell him that I am still somewhat new to the mission and that he probably has lots of ideas to help me learn as well! It is going to be a great experience training him here! 

At the end of this training period, which ends in March I think, I will for sure be leaving San Vicente. I have already been in this town for almost 6 months, so my time to go is coming soon! I will be sad to leave this place because I have made some good friends among members and even a few non members!

But for now I am still here for 2-3 months more! We are excited to be working hard here! I like being the senior companion for once because I don't feel like such a baby compared to the other missionaries. Even though I am still relatively young in the mission I have been here for quite some time! At the end of this month I will be hitting the 8 month mark, almost one third the way done!!

Well I don`t have too much else to report this week. Things have been pretty hectic with all of the changes and starting to be a trainer! I am going to attach a photo below, a "Four Generation" photo that I took with my trainer, and my trainer's trainer and with my hijo. My hijo is the Latino with glasses and the tall gringo is my Grandpa! It was sweet having a short family reunion at the change meeting on Wednesday!

Well that`s all for now! I hope that you all have a great week, talk to you all then!

Love,

Elder Joshua Vaughan

Cojutepeque, Liahona Mag & Packages

Hello World!

First of all, sorry for being so slow getting to email today, we were in Ilopango all day for a multi-zone p-day, which is always a lot of fun. Right now we are in town called Cojutepeque (freaking legit name) just to write and then we will hop back on a bus for San Vicente (not as legit of a name). So today we received word on the changes for this week! I thankfully will not be going anywhere in this change!! At least another 5 weeks in San Vicente (still not a very legit name!) And my comp who has only been here for 6 weeks is already leaving from here! I am very happy to stay here in San Vicente (yeah, still not a very cool name). One of the things I don´t like about this country is that half of the cities are named after the Catholic Saints. Separation of church and state just doesn´t exist here.

Oh, I have a random cool thing to tell you. In the January Liahona magazine, open the front page and there is a picture of two sister missionaries. The one on the right, Hna Rubio, she is a member of our branch here!! Just another random person that showed up in the Liahona, but this one I actually know somewhat well, pretty cool huh? She directs the hymns every Sunday in church.

Well, Jacob Thomas is heading out to the mission this week, I can´t believe that he is already leaving. Time is really starting to go faster and faster here!! At the end of January I will be completing my 8 month mark in the field, which is also the one third point. That kinda went by faster than I thought! I can finish this out no problem!

I don´t really have much to say this week that is interesting... Oh yes. I did get two packages from home and one from Grandma Little this week! :) Thank you so much for that! I am enjoying all of the treats! The fruit leather is a big hit, keep that coming in the packages! ;) I know that you just sent me a package, but there are a few things that I would like in the next one. But please don´t put together a huge package just for these things, just keep a list going for me somewhere because I know I will forget! I would like some mechanical pencils, mine are all broken except for one after these 8 months! I have the Papermate kind that are clear and have the button on the side right, I like them, but they are really big, so maybe some thinner pencils would be nice, 0.5 lead. Wow, there was something else I was about to ask for, but I already forgot. So I will let you know when I remember. Like I said before, do not send a package just for these little things, wait a while because these packages are expensive for you!!

Unfortunately that is all I have to say this time, I am sure that I will have a lot more to say to you this next week when I will be with a new companion! I hope that everything goes well for you all this week. I love you.

Love Elder Joshua Vaughan!

BYU Neckties No Bueno, Temple Visit & Praying for Changes

Hello world!!!

Okay, another week down! So this week was pretty uneventful kinda like the last week was as well! The best part of course was going to the temple!! We went on Wednesday morning and it was great! I am going to try and send some photos here! Here is a picture of my companion, Elder Omontes. Another super short, dark skinned,  South American! After the temple trip I realized that the ties that the mission gave us are all BYU colors, so I officially retired that tie after two uses. The president is such a die hard BYU fan, so he ordered those ties in his colors. Maybe I will give it away to some young man in the branch here!

So in the other pictures you have a couple shots of the temple, and also a shot of the stake center with some random tall building in the background... probably apartments... who knows!

This week was very uneventful week. There is only like a week and a half left in this change. I really do miss my trainer Elder Tenecora because he was the perfect mix of a hard working missionary but very hilarious and fun to be around. With him I even enjoyed the days when all the appointments fall through and we just walked across town 10 times trying plan A - Z. He just knew how to make the best of things and have fun with everything! We would have days where everyone is having so many problems in their lives and they all want us the missionaries to help, and by the end of the day we are just so mentally dead that we would just laugh about how ridiculous of a job it is being a missionary!

So I am really excited for the next changes this next week. I am hoping and literally praying that I can stay here and get a good companion who wants to work hard. I will be really sad if I have to leave the area. At the start of the change my zone leader told me that I will potentially be a trainer soon, and he said it all depends on how well I do in this current change, so I am trying hard to do my best because supposedly training is the best!!

Sorry for an uneventful email, I hope you enjoy the photos, and wish me luck this week! Talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Vaughan.

Making Papusas, Holiday Lull & Too Hot

Hello World!

I know that I said we were going to have P-Day on Wednesday, but they changed plans on us again, I guess our zone leaders couldn't make up their mind on that! Anyways I am here as normal! I was afraid that I would see an empty inbox because I said I wouldn't write until Wednesday, but fortunately many of you still wrote me!

Here is a random picture of how the pupusas are made! A family invited us over for a FHE with pupusas! It was great! Here is an action shot of Hermana Adela making one, then below is some flipping action on the flat iron grill!!

Sooo... not much has happened here since we last talked. These holidays it has been hard teaching our investigators, because who really wants to talk to the missionaries about the gospel on Christmas? So we really just spent a lot of time with the members around here on Christmas, and I imagine it will be the same today since its New Years Eve! This year has really gone by fast, so much has happened in what seems like such little time. Here in El Salvador it is strange because I feel like I am still in Summer, because it just keeps getting hotter and hotter every single month, until April when it hits the hottest point of the year! Mom, you sent me those snowshoeing pictures, that makes me so jealous because it's December and it just gets hotter every day, I showed my companion those pictures and told him that here in El Salv there is no such thing as cold, pointing to the picture and showing him what cold really is! When people say it is cold here, I just tell them that that is how the weather is at the peak of summer in Washington... if we are lucky! So after this whole mission thing I would love to live somewhere cold for the rest of my life, because I really miss the cold!

So  this week we have the temple trip in a few days!! Finally! It has been a while since we have been to the temple, it will be great to be there since it is something we only get to do twice a year now. I really feel bad for those missionaries who serve in places where there is no temple in the mission! I like how we have the temple here, since the country is tiny and everybody knows the new Mormon "castle" that was recently built, it is a great teaching opportunity for them!

Anyways, I really don´t have much else to report! I hope that you all have a great New Years! I miss you all and look forward to talking to you next year!!

Love Elder Joshua Vaughan!

U.S. Steaks, Sock War & a One Dollar Haircut

Hello Family!

Well this past week was a ton of fun at the Christmas party at President´s house! We ate a ton of food (yes, real food). He has some US steaks shipped in (because good meat just doesn't exist here) and we enjoyed a sock war in the house and lots of other fun games. In the other picture there we had to take pictures of "every-day events" that happen to us missionaries in the mission. So here I am being chased by a bunch of dogs! Its dumb but funny. Me and the guy in the green shirt (from Mexico!!) are the missionaries running from the dogs!  Another Photo from the Christmas party, the whole group that day (2 zones), my new companion, Elder Omontes is the Elder with the shiny name tag from the flash on the camera! And I am the Gringo with glasses! We had a lot of fun that day! More than anything it was a sweet break from this never ending job we have as missionaries, everything has been such a sprint since I entered the MTC in May 30th. 

 

A few weeks ago when I was still with Elder Tenecora, we were talking about how the life of a missionary has to be the hardest job in the world, other than fighting in the army of course. Because our job is literally non stop for two years, and we have to live "higher-than-temple-recommend-standards", which is so true, for example, a regular temple recommend holding member can go to the movie theater to see a nice film, but for us, that's just rebellious! But its a cool job being a missionary, there are things to experience that you just can't do anywhere else, its cool.

So next Monday (December 24) at 4 in the afternoon we are planning on calling on Skype. There´s a member in our branch that owns a cyber cafe thing, and will only charge us 50 cents for the hours, man I love how cheap things are here, especially for us all the members give us good deals. For example I get my hair cut for one dollar. Before at the USU barbershop I spent 13 or 14 dollars for a haircut! I might just die when I come back. 

So this month we are hoping for a baptism, German, the 15 year old "niño pastor". If he comes to church this week he will be baptized on the 31st, new years eve! We are excited for him, as he is excited too. The only challenge with him is that he works selling candy on the buses that run between here and San Miguel. So sometimes on Sunday he gets called in to work super early in the morning, so he just needs to come to church a little more and he will be good for his baptism! He is super excited, this kid always is "Machetting" (criticizing) all of the other churches around, but he likes the LDS church because he can´t find anything to criticize it, and the Bible completely supports the church. So hopefully it comes out well!! 

As of right now we are looking forward to the 24th to Skype home and all that. On January 2nd we will be going to do a session in the temple here, I am super excited!

Love Elder Vaughan

Trainer Transferred, New Companion & a Guy Named Kevin

Hello World,

Well this past week we had some changes here! I am still here in San Vicente, but now I have a new companion, Elder Omontes, from Lima Peru. Ok, not going to lie, this week with changes was VERY hard! First of all when Elder Tenecora left that was pretty sad because we are really good friends, he was sad to leave here! And, ok, I don´t want to talk bad about other people, but my new companion is not the same. It's hard because my trainer was really great, not perfect, but a really good missionary, and for that this change has been super tough so far.

Ok, good news. We found a member here in the ward who owns a cyber cafe, and he has cameras and everything for using skype. So I think that on the 24th we will be calling home (because in Latin America Christmas eve is more special than Christmas.), I am still not completely sure if we will do it that day or not. I would rather call on the 25th because on the 24th we are already going to be writing home in email and all. This week we will get things figured out for sure. I think my Skype account I made before the mission is "joshua.vaughan4". I think, The Jenni Domski could confirm that for you. If I can´t access that account, I will make a new one. No worries.

Tomorrow is a very exciting day for us, we are going to the President´s house in SanSa for a Christmas party, I am super excited. We are going to be there pretty much all day! I can´t wait! Then in January we get to go to the temple! Woooo!

So in the Liahona magazine from December of this year, there are 2 stories regarding the SanSa temple, and one of the stories in there is about a family with a young guy named Kevin (his story also is on a video in Mormon messages online). Anyways, I met Kevin this week on Wednesday at the changes meeting, he is a super cool kid. Well he is leaving on a mission to Mexico in 2 months, but he is serving here in SanSa for two months as a mini-missionary! I just had a short chance to greet him, but hes a really cool guy.

So that´s about all interesting this week! I am excited to talk to you all soon, I will let you know next week what day and time we will call! also, do you have a skype account, what is the username?

Ok, well it sounds like all is going very well back at home, Have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Joshua Vaughan