Thank you for sending the stories of my missionary ancestors. I love hearing about the people who came before me. I've started reading a book on the history of the restored church, and it's got a lot of really in-depth detail on the people that took roles in the work. It's so fascinating to read all the trials they faced and how they overcame them!
Wow, Jake is going to Brazil on his mission?? That's way awesome! I bet he's flippin' excited. If I remember right, Brazil was his favorite soccer team, and Ronaldo was his favorite player (also from Brazil). That's so cool! Send him my congratulations! I'm so excited for him!
You’re welcome for the pictures. I have a few more, but this computer’s USB port was torn out. The internet is decently fast though. Only about 2 minutes to load a page, and not 15. It's pretty hard for me to take pictures, since we can't snap while we proselyte (which is pretty much ALL we do), and when we're not proselyting, we're brooking (washing) our clothes.
My shoes are holding up alright. They're gonna be WAY trashed by the time I'm done with them though! We walk probably 10 miles a day. Sorry, not walk, HIKE. It's in the rocks and hills of the bush, so the shoes are taking a beating, but at least they're taking it fine.
The food here is fine (if not disgusting). Most of the time I enjoy it, but every once in a while... For instance, we had eel yesterday. I like it. The time before, we had crab. They were tiny little crabs with hard shells. So, not the East Coast delicacy back home. You eat the (did I say it was hard?) shell and everything. Yum? We've also had beef skin, which is pretty dang nasty. I'm pretty certain I had some bush rat three days ago... Wasn't too bad, I just wish I knew what I was eating. I've been well though! Diarrhea once, but that came to a halt when I fed it a heavy dose of Immodium and prescription meds! I've been well.
Requests for a package you ask? Ha ha ha... Well, boxed mac n cheese sounds REALLY good. Elder Allred got lots of instant foods, like mashed potatoes + gravy or instant Alfredo, things like that. Peanut butter and honey is pretty common to see, and that's really good on the Lebanese bread we can get here. Oh, and send Nutella. That's the only one that I'll actually ask for. ;) Other than that, surprise me! :)
Sister Roggia told us about the Arizona congresswoman (and we saw it on Aljazeera when we were eating at Sab's). It's truly sad. When you look at the rest of the world though, it's way worse off (look at the Lebanese government. It collapsed this week). The Millennium is on its way!
So, you mentioned the article in the magazine about humanitarian service missionaries digging wells. Did it mention Elder and Sister Gredding? They're the ones who head that project here, and Elder Priddis and I got to meet them because they had a package for Elder Priddis. We see those wells all over the place, and it's such a blessing for those who take care of them. There are others though, who choose not to take care of them, and they fall into disrepair. Parable of the talents comes to mind.
So, miracles. They're REALLY subtle here. We work with so many people that it's often difficult to see the miracle in the midst of the work. We have one investigator, named Festus that we have been working with this week. He sort of just joined in a lesson with his uncle two weeks back, and ever since has just been on fire! We asked him to read 1 Nephi 1 as a start of an assignment, and we came back the next day to find out he had read all the way past 1 Nephi 10! Getting ANYONE to read around here has been a HUGE challenge because of the dismal literacy level. He's now almost to the book of Jacob, and we are looking to baptize him this week. He gave up a LOT of sin to do so, and that's the miracle to me. He calls every day, asking how we are, telling us how he's been doing, and asking how to better improve things. It's amazing! The change that we see in people is truly the miracle here.
My testimony... Well, it's the same. I know the church is true. How much can that change? What has changed is that I have a deeper understanding of the things I know to be true. I can see more prominently how the gospel can change lives. It's amazing. If I bore my testimony in church now, it would be in Krio (only kidding…that's such an irreverent language), and I'd share my knowledge on how the gospel can change people's lives. It really can. I've seen some amazing turn arounds (in both directions). It only serves to bolster what I know.
Well, that's all I have time for today. Have a wonderful day! :)
Elder Vaughan
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