Hey Mom, thanks for sharing those quotes from John Bytheway. He is just awesome. Elder Kenner and I have re-listened to his recordings tons of times, and just love it. It feels better and better every time, because I'M becoming better and better. It makes it more fun to listen to when you are this obedient to the commandments.
Oh, if the atonement healed only sins, I'd be in trouble. There is so much here that is so far out of my control, and having the atonement makes it possible to overcome even the hardest challenges. I guess that's why the work is so light for me... I'm really depending on the Lord, so he takes the burden off of me. I can't believe I went my whole life before mission trying to bear all of my burdens alone. It was definitely foolish of me.
After being in Bo for eight months, there are of course new lessons and surprises, but since I've never even moved branches, they aren't many! Ha ha ha... Oh man, Njaie Town branch. If you had told me 8 months ago that I'd still be here at this time, I would have wept more bitterly than Paul. But now, I love it here. Things are fun, and there is no stress, because I have my focus on what matters the most. The branch is doing well, and the members are wonderful. I just wish you could come here and meet them. Splitting the branch is really hard work though. We've spent two days every week this transfer doing address location with the GPS gizmo. It's HARD, because we have to locate all of the 350 members on the directory, and GO TO THEIR HOUSES. That's where the work comes in. So, we've found 205 of them so far. The other 145, well, we're working on finding them. So many of them left after the war that they may not be able to be found again. It's a LOT of work!
Wow, a third of my mission is gone? Dang... It goes FAST. I don't really know where I've grown most, I just know that I've GROWN! I have a lot more confidence (nothing shatters your confidence like moving to a third world country in Africa) than I used to, and my love for the people have grown.
Today we played football (soccer) against New Barracks branch, and won! It was awesome. My companion scored two goals! He's pretty dang good. I invited two of my branch missionaries to come play for us, and they scored three of our goals! So glad I baptized them. It's totally paying off now! ;) The fact that I've been able to teach investigators through baptism and up to receiving the priesthood and callings in the church is pretty dang awesome. That's a definite blessing for staying in one place so long.
Here's something interesting that happened this week: One of our investigators died. Yeah, just died. We had only met with him three times, and it's been more than a month since he had transferred to the eastern province. I just found out yesterday. They say he was feeling cold right before he started vomiting blood. He then keeled over dead. Yeah, crazy. Well, I get the privilege of doing his temple work when I return! It's kind of an insane thing to happen. I don't worry about him though, because he was doing exceptionally well when we met with him before he transferred. It's just so...unusual!
Sounds like the business is doing very well! I'm happy to hear that. How do you manage to maneuver the forklift in that space? We had a hard enough time with the pallet jack. So, if Helen is down in the warehouse, does that mean that Heather has to be all alone upstairs?? That's not good. She HAS to have a friend up there to chat with.
Dad, it sounds like you and I are doing similar work. I'm helping all of my recent converts (that are of the age/gender/etc.) to fill out mission papers. The first to go will be Festus next February, then Abraham that March, then Abada in April, and Alusine in May, and finally Ibrahim in June. It's kinda awesome to help my converts work on mission papers. Makes me remember the time when I did it for myself... Oh goodness, that was a long time ago! Can you believe that it's been over a year since I've opened my call letter??
Anyways, time to jet. I love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Vaughan
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