Well, the work is going well. Elder Priddis and I work our guts out, and the Lord really blesses us for it. We had more than 30 lessons last week, which is REALLY good. We've got 4 people ready for baptism this week. We're on fire, and I love it here. I'll take more pictures, so long as I have the mind to do so. There'll be lots of time when we're in Freetown for the mission Christmas conference.
I'm WAY looking forward to going to Freetown! It's gonna be a blast. All of the elders here are amazing, and I can't wait to spend 3 days with the lot of them! The football game is going to be pure EPIC. It's Bo Zone versus Freetown, and we're gonna dominate! Their key player though seems to be Elder Laneri, who is an Aggie. He gives me reason to fear... ;)
So, attached are a bunch of pictures thus far (sorry, not so many with the other elders yet. We've been WAY busy, but I plan on taking lots in Freetown). The first is of me at the MTC, then pictures around the house here. We really do have a nice place, even though we haven't had running water for almost three weeks... It's nice. Then, after pictures of the house, and our drying laundery, is a picture of our pet tarantula. We named her Shelob. the pic isn't real great, but she's HUGE. She lives in the corner of the veranda. Then, the next picture is of a snake Elder Priddis almost stepped on in his room. It was small, and totally black. Wanna do some research for us and find out what kind of snake it was? We want to know what kind of death we were chipping out the door with a length of PVC pipe... It was legit.
It's nice to hear about things at home... all of the people from school and stuff too. That's so great! I'm honestly not sure what to say, just because home is so very far away. I feel like I've been here for my whole life. We work SO hard every day. Elder Priddis and I are called the "Bush-inaries," because we spend all day hiking. We taught 30 lessons this week, which was pretty dang good. We're planning on 4 baptisms this Saturday (yes, these count for me now) ;). We labor all day in the hot sun, eat weird variations of rice, and then go home at 6:30. At 7, it's totally dark, and we can no longer teach. Plenty of extra time to study. I LOVE IT! Lol.
Well mom, I miss you. A LOT. It was so nice to be able to talk to you about anything, at any time. Now, I have Elder Priddis for that, and he has helped me so much. This companionship is everything I could have hoped for.
It was nice to hear about some of the miracles that have happened at home. Around here, our miracles are a little more, minor I guess you'd say. For example, when Elder Priddis and I are looking for Hondas (that's what everyone here calls the motocycle taxis) the other week, and none were coming for almost 10 minutes, we stopped and prayed for 2 bikes. Not 5 seconds after I said amen, there were 2 bikes there!
The other miracles include safety. We've had "teefs" (thieves) in our area the past couple weeks, and the lady next door has been keeping us safe. She screamed "TEEEEF!!! TEEEEEF!!!" when they were trying to get into her home, and scared them away, hopefully for a long time. Also, my health has been good. That's definitely a miracle. Most elders get the runs real bad, or like Elder Allred get boils all over their body, or some other horrible thing related to adjusting. I've just been subject to some rough digestion a couple times, and minor heat rash, but other than that I've been dandy!
Lastly, there have been close calls on the bikes, but the Elders are always kept safe. Elder Priddis almost got smooshed between a bus and another bike, and I was almost taken out by a wheelbarrow of coconuts. As horrifying as that may sound for you, I'm going to remind you to not worry. If I am priviledged to the ministering of angels, then there's nothing I can't handle on a Honda. We are well taken care of. ;)
With regard to your other question about the church building and programs for members of the church, the Njaie Town chapel is a tiny yellow cement house with a corrugated steel roof. It's not too bad, but it's DEFINITELY not like anything you've ever seen. I'll take pictures as soon as I have mind enough to do so.
As far as programs go, not any as far as I'm aware. Just the classes in church. They don't have Boy Scouts (that's such a white-man thing anyways. Besides, they already live lives similar to camping. All of their cooking is over coals/fires). The main focus here is on getting people to sacrament meeting, so Wednesday night Mutual doesn't really exist yet. It's kinda sad.
Yes, we have the standard 3-hour block on Sundays, just like at home. It's just a little more... I dunno, way different in a lot of ways. As soon as I find a way to describe it, I'll do so.
"Free Meal" refers to whenever we eat at the home of an investigator or member. Usually, they are EXTREMELY courteous, and want you to "stay fo small chop" (food). Even when they don't have much to offer, they give their all. They usually serve up a heaping pile of rice with some sort of sauce or leaves or soup, and give a spoon to me and Elder Priddis, and the two of us go at it someplace outside. Everyone else eats with their hands. Njaie Town is particularly hospitable, so we get 1 or 2 a day, and we've had up to 4 in one day (that was NOT a good day for the good ol' GI tract...)
We had cow skin yesterday. The texture is exactly like soft fruit leather, but the taste is a world of it's own. Fairly nasty, but edible.
It's time for me to go. Until next time, I love and miss you, and look forward to calling you on Christmas!
Love,
Elder Vaughan
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