A Visit from the President and a Baptism

So, we had a pretty sweet week this week. On Wednesday we had a family home evening in our church building and the presidente of the mission and his wife came to share a message with investigators and less actives and other members as well. He talked about the Book of Mormon and his conversion. He read the book in 23 days, and what drew a lot of his attention was how it helped him to learn more about the 12 tribes of Israel. Stuff that he could never answer with the Bible alone. A pretty cool lesson.

After the family home evening we were leaving the church and on of the counselors in our ward told us that he had an interview with a girl named Olga. Her husband got baptized 5 or 6 months ago and is a counselor in the young men's quorum, but his wife Olga didn't feel ready for baptism so she waited for a while. So the counselor told us that in the interview she accepted a baptism date for the 4th of February. So this Saturday we are going to have another baptism with her! Honestly one of the best families I have met in this country. I see myself being like the dad when I am older and having my wife call me an idiot all the time like it happens with them. So yeah we are super stoked for that.

Also, this past Saturday we had the baptism for Jose. A really awesome crazy dude. He loves God and the church. He said he wants to go in front of everyone to preach on Sundays, but we still gotta teach him some stuff . . . But he is awesome. He was in the army before and is still legit. He always leaves his house to travel to Guatemala and Mexico because he says that the gangsters wanna kill him... he's pretty dang sweet though.

So, have a fantastic week children! Don't run with the scissors, don't eat the glue, and be nice to the girls.

Elder Vaughan

Baptism of Jose and a story of a family in my ward that made it into the Ensign. We are going to baptize the wife this Saturday.

Sanitizing the Streets

So this week was a fairly interesting week. Nothing too crazy but a good end to the week. So this Sunday we had 8 people go to church, and some of them are people that we have never even taught before, or only 1 time. We just invited them to go, and they actually went! The sad part is that the people that have a date for baptism did not go. Only one of them called Jose, and he is going to be baptized this Saturday! He passed the baptism interview and is ready to go! But sadly other people don't have desires or "don't have time". So this week we are going to focus on those people that went to church. Funny story, we were talking to a guy in his doorway then out of nowhere we heard cats fighting like crazy. Then I look over to my side and see to cats falling out of the sky wrapped in a ball fighting each other in mid-air. Then they smacked into the ground and just stood there growling at each other. If you want to imagine it better just think about the first Lord of the Rings movie when Gandalf is falling in the sky fighting with the Balrog, (big fiery dragon thing) that is what it was like. Also, a gangbanger used some of my hand sanitizer because he said he needed his hands clean to smoke. Little does he know he needs a little more than hand sanitizer to clean up. He needs some repentance.

Have a fantastic week

Elder Vaughan

Matching Iron Man shirts, giant fat banana things, sweet street.

A New Baptismal Date and Some Sunday Tamales

Well, nothing too crazy happened this week. We had a fairly successful week with our lessons. There is this one guy in particular that came to church two Sundays ago, that we had never seen before. He came and told us "I love this church so much, can I be baptized?" So yeah! We started teaching him and then invited him to be baptized the 28th and he said "Of course! What clothes do I need to wear what do I need to do?" and so on. So yeah he is super cool. He's like 70 or something and full of life. He won't let us go to his house though because he says some thugs wanna do bad stuff to him . . . So yeah we have to teach him in the church twice a week.

We have another teenager that is very similar but its hard for him to go to church because every time that he is ready to go, something happens and his mom or someone changes his plans. He said that he his convinced that it is "the enemy" that is causing that.

Other than that all is well. I gave a talk in my ward the other day, and I decided to speak about commandments and more specifically the day of rest, because a lot of people break that commandment. Mainly in buying stuff. But yeah, I saw the need for it. It's comforting to know that I can make people laugh in a different language. I tried cracking a few jokes in there and it seemed to work, but then right after church we went to a member's house for lunch and they were there working to make tamales to sell . . . So I don't think they understood or listened . . . But all is well here! Have a great week people!

Elder Vaughan

Reaping the Rewards of the Fast

So this week was pretty good! I will start with the worst part. On Tuesday I got a fever of 103F and almost passed out trying to leave the house for the day, so after that I stayed in bed the whole day with a cold rag on my forehead. But all is well now!

We met up with a member in our ward called Sister Estrada. And we asked her if she knows anyone that we could visit. She then gave us 12 references, and helped us to set up appointments with these people. She has given Books of Mormon, videos, and magazines to all of her neighbors and she has it written down everything she has done. Let this be an example to all. To share what we love and we believe in is simple. Go to your neighbors and say "Hey, I go to this church and this book has helped grow my faith in Jesus. Would you like one too?" (obviously with a little more explanation) and like that you are helping to bless the lives of others. Also she cooks really good.

Monday night we went to a guy's house that we havent taught in a month or so and when we met with him he said that he had been thinking that day about us and that he was looking for God more in his life. He said that he sees us as the answer to the difficult times he has had the past little while. He is already reading the BOM and has a baptismal date for Feburary. So he is pretty excited to go and visit. This past Saturday as a zone we had a fast to increase the number of people attending church. Specifically for our investigatores, and none of them came. But a guy we have never seen came and he said "I like the spirit here and I want to be baptized!" So hello there! Then we had other people we have only met in the church that came, and visited with their kids. We had 6 investigators and 4 less active members in sacrament meeting this past Sunday. My testimony on the fast has really been strengthened, and its not just something we should do once a month but more frequently to really help with whatever problems we have and it will be answered, and maybe not in the way that you wanted but in one way or another it will be answered.

Heres a dope scripture as well

"...Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of Life." Rev. 2:20

Be faithful children

New Years, New Legos

Well, happy new years to all! A solid 7 months here in Central America now! Time really does fly by but it has all been great!

Not a whole lot happened this week, but there was one experience that was kind of cool. So we were visiting a couple people with a member and then he was going to take off and me and my comp were debating on where we were going to go next. We had another member set up to leave with us, in another part of town, but then we thought about visiting an investigator that lives in a different part. I was about to call the member to cancel our appointment with him and head out to this investigator. Then at the end of things we decided to go with the member. Not really sure why, but we left. Then later in the night we went to the investigator (after visiting people with the member) and it turns out she wasn't even home when we were going to visit her. Maybe that was a slight impression from someone that knows more than us in all that we do. And from this we had a really good lesson which we would not of had if we would had left early.

Now for the cheesy New Years resolution. Something that me and my comp did with some families was talk about the attributes of Christ and each of us had to pick 1 that we needed to work on for the new year. I picked humilty, because as missionaries we always think that we are so amazing and we are going to change the world based only on our efforts, but that's not how it works. I need to be more humble and realize the role that my Heavenly Father plays in everything I do. So that is my invitation for you all, to pick an attribute of Christ and focus on it this year. Patience, love, humilty, service, . . . (Josh help me with a couple)

"I know, in the strength of the Lord thou canst do all things" Alma 20:4

Elder Vaughan

I bought some legos, family from church, a huge firework bomb thing, and a New Year's Eve party.