So, the post office is on strike right now, so mail isn't moving as far as packages are concerned. As soon as it lifts, I'm sure Sister Roggia will post it (or you could ask her).
Sounds like it's a pretty crazy change again about to happen at home with Josh preparing for college... Dang, he's pretty much graduated! time passes so fast. Can you believe I've been out for more than three months already?? It's gone so fast. Transfer news came this week, and I'm staying here again with Elder Lancaster. I have a feeling I'll move once I've hit six months here. That's a pretty common trend around here. Elder Chikwendu is leaving the district for Liberia though, so that's a sad loss. I've never met the Elder that will be replacing him... we'll see how it goes.
Oh man, we started teaching a family this week! We NEVER teach whole families! It's so amazing! The mom came to church on Sunday "just to visit" because she had "a high position in [her] church," but now she's absolutely in love with the message. "Honestly, I was searching, and I truly found what I've been waiting for. This church doesn't just preach to people, it teaches them, makes them better, and works together to make everyone better." We're going to her home to have FHE tonight. We're WAY excited! :) It's families like this that make this missionary work so worth it...
So, you asked what I meant about the "I am Legend" lock down being a protection from thieves or from critters. The answer is, both. Thieves have broken into this apartment in the past, so there's that. All of our windows and doors have screens too, so we shut those to help with the pests. They still make their way in somehow.
You asked about the requirements for convert baptisms here. Well, we want people to be converted first. There are no real written requirements like in the U.S., but you can just tell when a person is ready. If they're keeping their commitments, conversion will happen on it's own. This helps us create more powerful converts, rather than the ones we've had in the past who accept baptism and then fall away in a month. We focus mainly on making sure they have that change and desire kindled in themselves.
As far as stumbling blocks to conversion, the Law of Chastity is the number one challenge the people we work with around here. I haven't taught anyone who hasn't had any problems with it, though I don't think that's unique to just Sierra Leone. It doesn't help though that people walk around naked all the time. The Word of Wisdom is a close second, with cigarettes and poyo being readily available. The Law of Tithing is sometimes an issue, but its not one that we the missionaries deal with, since they don't pay til they are members. We teach it, and they accept the invitation to pay when they join. After that, its out of our hands.
Zone conference was really nice. I like it because we get to see the Roggias and the assistants, and they are so great to learn from! They talked a lot about emphasizing the law of tithing to these people to help pull them from poverty, and to focus on finding "the one" (coincidentally the topic of the Liahona this month). We had hamburgers from Sab's, but I can't really eat those anymore. I had one about 4 weeks ago, and got REALLY sick that night (I spent the night projectile vomiting while my companion was sound asleep), so I haven't really been able to eat them since. No worries, that's my only episode with illness. I stick with other foods (see attached pictures). One is of Goat Pepe Soup on yams...SO GOOD!! The other is of "stew" on rice. This is some fine eating here.
Speaking of pictures, I've attached some more. Pictured here is my doxy (anti-malaria pills) bottle after I finished my first small one, demonstrating the progress made. I was pretty excited about that! I also added a picture from our baptism two weeks back, of Sister Agnes, which was WAY awesome! Then the two other pictures are from the top of Simbotown mountain, which looks over the southern part of my area. How's the view? ;)
Love,
Elder Vaughan
No comments:
Post a Comment