Branch President Does Ninja Leap and Saves His Congregation From Fire & Other Interesting Things

It's interesting to hear that Mom taught about talents in her Relief Society lesson on Sunday, because that's exactly what Elder Bennion taught about in his Gospel Principles lesson on Sunday (more commonly called "investigators class" by the locals. We Elders don't like to call it that). It was interesting to me because I saw that talents didn't have to be anything big. Festus was excited because he has a talent for picking mangoes (on an unrelated note, I discovered my talent to pick mangoes from a tree using a stick as a javelin. It is AWESOME), and his sister Florence was proud of her talents at planting hair and embroidering. It was neat to see a wide spread of what I may not have considered talents before, but I now see as invaluable skills that these people can learn to use and love.

So, Josh will be going to USU at the same time as a couple Elders from this mission: Elder Scott Laneri and Elder Jordan Hilton (he only just made the decision to go there. I'm so proud of him!). Josh should definitely seek them out and ask them about the mission here. They can tell him SO much more than I can in a measly little letter. Additionally, they have my stamp of approval for Hilary to date. They're AWESOME guys. They're serving in Kenema right now, but will be returning home in July, meaning that they will likely be in school by August. I'm going to miss them a lot, but I'll hopefully see them in the not so distant future!

Yay Josh! Nice job on getting your Eagle. It's SO nice to have that sort of thing gone and done. Ah Josh, I miss him a lot. There are just so many things I wish he could be here to see and laugh with me about. If he and i were here together, we'd have so much fun. I can't wait to see where he's going!

So Mom, you saw Mary Poppins? Jealous. That's my only regret about our New York trip: We (sorry, more like *I*) opted to see West Side Story instead of Mary Poppins, which ended up being a crappy choice. You know I'm up for a Broadway show anytime you want! ;) I loved our time that we had together to just have fun.

Can I fake happiness? It came as soon as Elder Bennion came to me. I can't describe how much more fun the mission is when you have an awesome companion! We're having a blast out here. He came from an area that was having leadership problems into an area that was having investigator problems. He was excited to face something he could fix.

So, as far as missionary work goes, Elder Bennion and I are kicking butt. We work so hard in a day, and the area is improving FAST. We went from 4 people with baptismal dates to 26 in a week and a half. We've been working hard, we've found success, so yes, I'm perfectly happy. Also turns out, I've lost a little weight. I'm not much shapelier, but a little lighter. I've started working out (whoops, missionaries are kinda supposed to do that, but I've been a slothful and not a wise servant), so hopefully good changes will come about in the shapeliness of my person.

This is DEFINITELY my favorite companionship. We have a ton in common, and we have endless fun quoting movies and acting generally immature (when not on the Lord's errand). So, we're working hard, and playing just as hard. I'm loving it here. Unfortunately, this companionship will likely only last for this transfer, due to the MASSIVE influx of missionaries coming up. I hope I can stay another transfer, but, I can see that it's not likely.

24 new missionaries = 24 trainers which approx.= me training. It's NUTS. I'm not sure how many are leaving, but it's far less than those arriving. Our compliment of missionaries should reach 100 by the end of the year, thus increasing our total compliment by 66 percent since my arrival. It's EXPLODING here.

So, the most important thing that I've learned from President Roggia is to love the people. As soon as you love the people, numbers melt away, problems melt away, and everything is easier, and the people become more converted. And it's true. I do love these people a lot. It was hard at first when I couldn't look past everything on the outside, but when you overcome that, these people are beautiful and wonderful to be with.

An exciting story this week: Inside our chapel, we have fans that are attached to the walls to help air circulate during the meeting (it's hot here, remember?). However, the fans here have a tendency to short-circuit and burst into flames after extended use. One of the fans that was on a pillar in the midst of the congregation did just that in the middle of the first speaker, Sister Boima. Of course, the people here are afraid of everything (including rain, snakes, etc, but not cars, bikes, or anything that's REALLY dangerous), and so those immediately around the smoking fan scattered and fled, while others stood there dazed and wondering what to do. President Songo (Branch President) had his head on straight, so he leaped to his feet and ninja-jumped over three rows of benches to reach the fan. He had been reading his quad a moment prior, so it was still occupying his left hand. The fan was wired into the wall, and thus couldn't be turned off, so President tore the sparking, flaming device from the wall (it was fastened into CONCRETE) with his free hand and carried it outside. After that, the somewhat-put-out Sister Boima continued her talk. It was awesome. I love this branch.

Congrats to the new missionaries to be (Nino, Ryan, Parker and Austin)! Wow, Arcadia, California? That's sweet. I'm sure Nino will love it. We (the missionaries) use a DVD called "The District 2" for a lot of training purposes, which was filmed in a Spanish speaking mission mission somewhere in California. Not sure which mission, but it's close anyways! I'm so excited for him!

That's way cool. I won't lie, I think I'm most excited to see where Austin will be going. He'd love Africa. I can only pray that someday a friend or relative could serve here. It's becoming more and more possible as time passes, because in the next three months, we're bringing in 28 new missionaries! AHHH!!! That means I'll likely be leaving Njaie Town at the end of this transfer, and Elder Bennion will be training. I will likely train the following transfer. EVERYONE will be training. It's CRAZY. I'm here in this mission at a fun time.

Well Dad, it sounds like the Armar Branch had a fun YSA activity at Cascade Park. I really miss the branch a lot. We have branches here, but they're not part of a STAKE. But they will be soon! By the end of the year, we're trying to have our three districts bump up to stakes. We'll have the missionaries for it, it's only a matter of time now. I'll be here for the first stakes in Sierra Leone! Apparently there was a stake in Monrovia before, but it was dissolved due to corruption within the local leadership. Yikes... That happens a lot here.

TESIA'S CAR WAS STOLEN?? Oh man... AH! I feel it for her. AHH!! Tesia, I'M SO SORRY!!! I don't have anything to say. I'll ponder on that, and write her a letter.

So, time for pictures: The first is of the moon . It just looked cool, so I took it. The second is of a millipede that creeped up when we were in a lesson with someone. Elder Bennion hates creepy crawlies, so I saved it from being squished. The third is of our district (BO DISTRICT!! WOO!!): Elder Bennion, Me, Elder Svongwa, and Elder Kenner (our District Leader). We have way too much fun together. The last one is an epic, dynamic picture of Elder Bennion as we're playing Transformers Monopoly. Also pictured is Starscream, Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee. It's our new favorite Preparation Day past time.






You may notice my GORGEOUS tie in the district picture. Yeah, you ought to look up Jatala brand ties. They come from Nigeria, and they are BEAUTIFUL. They also hold up way better and wash way easier than any of the ties I brought from home. I invested in ten of them (at $5 or 20,000le each), so I'm a happy (and beautiful) Elder! ;)

Well, that's pretty much everything in the life of Elder Vaughan for this week. I love you all so much! I miss you like crazy.

Love,

Elder Vaughan