Since you liked the last one, here's part of my letter to President from this week:
Hello President!
I think my arrival at the New Georgia district marks the beginning of a new era for the work for our respective branches. I've made it my intention and design to make New Georgia known throughout the mission as the most strictly obedient district in the mission. No worries President, you'll be hearing lots from us.
This week opened a lot of doors for us as missionaries and we made a lot of progress with our investigators. We found that doing what PMG teaches us, that is, bringing people to church, is very helpful to increase the compliment of investigators in church. As you can see, we had 13 this week, which is a vast improvement. On top of that, we have 10 new investigators to work with. Elder Willis and I do our best to knock out lessons all day long so that those people can receive the attention that they need, and occasionally, people are falling by the wayside, so short are the hours that we're allotted. We do our best, and this week we'll be getting our branch missionaries on board to help. With that, I see no reason why our investigator count can't keep climbing at the insane rate that it's going. Quite honestly, I anticipated that the new investigators would decrease this past week, but as you can see from our numbers, it's been rather steady.
As you can also see, our goals for the coming week are lower than that of the actuals from the past week. Well, we're simply having unexpected amounts of success! While our original goal for this week may be to reach 30 investigators with a baptismal date, we may more realistically try to reach 35. We're really reaching our upper limit though. If we acquire too many more investigators, we will no longer have time to see them all in the space of a week. Again, we'll be getting our branch missionaries on board to lighten the load. We'll take what the Lord gives us and be grateful!
All of our success here can be attributed to obedience. Elder Willis is a very obedient and dedicated missionary. 95% of our daily chit chat is about the work, and seldom do we reminisce of home. It's awesome, because we are outstandingly focused as a companionship. We work so hard day in and out that we can hardly stay conscious the moment we stumble through the door. I love Elder Willis so much for his strength as a humble servant of the Lord. I can see him becoming one of the sharpest arrows in the Lord's quiver. His dedication is a great support for me in my own weaknesses of flesh. I don't think we would be doing so well were it not for this divinely appointed and aided companionship.
I think that's all for this week. You can be sure to expect marvelous things from us President. It's a promise I'll give. Thanks for your support!
Love,
Elder Vaughan
Things these days have been so awesome for us!! New Georgia is hands-down the best branch I've served in. It's definitely coupled with the best companion I've ever served with (well, we just have the best UNITY anyways.), and the members are awesome. The work has never been sweeter for me. I've never had such a craving to proselyte. When the Zone Leaders told us that we'd be conducting a two-day exchange this week, I was pretty upset. I don't want to be away from my area or my companion. I'm enjoying it way too much! I'll be in Paynesville branch with Elder Buckman for a couple days, so we'll see how that is. I hear they have the best apartment in the mission though, so I'll be enjoying that!
No, I haven't received the package yet. The couples usually let us know when stuff comes. Since the mail to Liberia has been heretofore untested by you, I'm slightly nervous as to how reliable it will be. Elder Willis says that he's never lost a package, so I think we'll be okay. It just takes time.
New Georgia is a little like Bo in that we are in the bush a little. Sure, ten minutes on the road takes you downtown Monrovia, but we really are living in the bush again. And the place is SANDY!!
Oh, I bought Dad a sweet present today: A CUTLASS!! Well, it's what you'd know as a machette, but they call them cutlass' here. It's pretty dang cool. Since I guess he still goes camping with Jesse (I'd assume?), it might come in handy for fighting bears and lions and things. ;-)
I bought a cutlass for myself too to defend us from thieves. Our apartment was broken into Saturday afternoon. They busted through the plywood ceiling of the back porch and kicked through the roof in the kitchen and climbed down inside the house. Scary, right? They made off with about $300, a phone, an mp3 player, and Elder Willis' sweet knife. Fortunately for me, nothing irreplaceable was taken. Just $185 of district funds, but that'll be taken care of. It amazes me that they took the envelope of district money and left my personal money and subsistence money in the envelope right next to it! This guy was a crappy thief.
In consideration with what happened, we have 24-hour watch on the house until the mission can complete the wall and put barbwire on it. Really, it's a highly-needed improvement for our security, so I'm pleased with it.
It can be hard for me to find things to share when my mind is so tired... Elder Willis and I are treating ourselves to some much-needed R&R and TLC when we go home today. We bought two whole chickens and a bag of fries to enjoy to ourselves. Oh man, sweet times. We're just having fun all blessed day long, and at the end of the day, we look back and realize the work that was done. I've never been happier on mission.
Elder Willis and I are so productive these days that it's just blowing my mind. In the 13 days that I've been here, we've found 24 new investigators who have accepted baptismal dates. We've knocked out dozens of lessons, and we had 13 people in church. Our teaching pool has roughly 40 people in it, and there simply aren't enough hours in the week to see them all. The number is increasing. Our goal for baptisms this month is 13 people (There's been lots of 13's recently... Skaven??) and we may even have more than that. I've never served anywhere like this in my whole mission. It's so sweet. I could, and happily would, finish my mission here if I were called upon to do so. In fact, I'll pray and fast for it to come to pass so.
I like what you said about gospel living. It's what I've committed myself to do to the day I die. I'm going to live like a missionary my whole life, because, as Elder Holland said, "This is as close to 'real life' as you're gonna get. Capital 'R', capital 'L'." It's made me happy, and it makes life meaningful. Just like it says in The Other Side of Heaven, "There is a connection between heaven and earth. Finding that connection brings meaning to everything, even death. Losing that connection makes everything meaningless, even life." Or something like that. It's how I'll live forever. :-)
Love you all so much!
Love,
Chris
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