It's great to hear that Sister Dewitt came back to Washington for a visit! She's such an awesome sister. I am so grateful for the time that I had to help teach Andrew with the sister missionaries before I left. How is he doing? I had heard he was planning on moving right before I left on my mission.
Woo hoo!! I'm so excited for Austin and his mission call to Atlanta Georgia! You didn't know he is a history buff? Oh man, is he EVER. Being in Georgia with all that American history will be great for him. When he and Jared Marr were together talking about history my head would spin. He'll love that mission!! I'm so proud of Austin.
It's interesting Dad, that you mention the importance of "councils" in the church because that's something that President Roggia talked about in Zone Conference a couple weeks back. He said that District Meetings, Zone Meetings, and companionship study sessions aren't just instruction periods, but times of council. We are to come together as individuals and learn together, not to have a single person do all of the teaching. As a council, we are able to use all of our talents and abilities that are unique to us to help uplift and enlighten others around us. I totally agree.
The key to our success as missionaries is simple: The companionship (more particularly, how hard a companionship works). Elder Lancaster (oh how I love that man, and would never belittle the great work he did) was struggling pretty bad. He spent a year in two extremely difficult areas (one of which being Njaie Town), and his body wasn't coping well. In the end, the sickness stole away his drive to do much, so we cut down to doing what was necessary, taking care of him so that he wouldn't get any more sick, and nothing more. It was just hard for both of us at that time. Elder Bennion came, was agile, well-bodied, and excited to take charge in getting work done. He had been with OLD missionaries for his whole mission, and I suppose you could guess how it is, they get tired and it's harder for them to keep the drive to work. I was the first young missionary he was with, so he was excited, I was excited, so we just buckled down and got to work. He's an excellent teacher, and we are able to help teach each other many things to make each other better missionaries.
Have I ever told you how much fun Elder Bennion and I have? Oh man, he's the best! Ha ha ha, oh my... I can't even describe what makes it so fun... I guess it's because of how similar we are, but at the same time, how different we are. We make jokes and play around a lot (when appropriate, of course). I just feel like I can be more myself around him, so it's a lot of fun. I love my mission...
So, I have some pictures for you today! The first is of me beating pepe (peppers). It's how people prepare the peppers for use in, well, EVERYTHING. It's a good thing I have taste for spicy food, because these peppers pack more punch than anything I've ever seen. If you get it on your hand, and then rub your eyes, you'll cry all day. It's crazy. But yeah, they mash the raw peppers with the mortar and pestle, which is a lot of fun. They also mash things like cassava leaf and other spices and things. It's way fun.
The next two is of the scorpions that our recent convert Abada found out in the garden. He caught two of them and tied their tails with strings, and made them fight each other. It's really entertaining. He killed the big one and cut off the stinger and buried it. It was HUGE. I asked how he killed it, and he simply said "I used a shovel." That made me laugh.
The last picture is of Elder Bennion and Elder Kenner (our district leader) 'enjoying' our crappy power. Because rain is beginning to come, power is also starting to come, but it's REALLY bad. At least it can keep the fans on at night and make sleeping a lot more wonderful.
Oh, I just remembered: In your next package that you send me, would you mind sending more of those DayQuil capsules? I have since used them in the occasional colds I get. They keep me on my feet! Ha ha ha. Yay drugs... Also, more piano sheet music would be wonderful. I'm getting pretty dang good at accompanying hymns (well, SOME of them), but it's nice to play something else every once in a while.
It's raining now, which means that it could be hard to get home... I hate walking home from town; it's kinda far. Well, thus goes the rainy season. We're toting our umbrellas with us now so that we can be prepared in any case of weather. I'll tell you how that goes...
Love,
Elder Vaughan
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