Christmas Pupusa Count Update

So I wrote out a whole email then my internet crashed and didn't save the email in my drafts. Here's the important stuff: 44 pupusas in the past 6 weeks. 110 in all. I weigh 156lbs (with shoes and stuff) I've gained a solid 15lbs. Thanks a lot, pupusas. We had a Christmas party as a mission and played water games and what not. Got to talk with the fam, that was aight I guess. JK. I forgot the other stuff that I wrote, but all is well here. People celebrate Christmas like they celebrate the 4th of July.

Love yall

Elder Vaughan

My zone, Christmas breakfast, with Elder Williams at the Christmas party

Too Much Smiling and Sleep Talking

So this week was pretty good, nothing too crazy. We did some service and painted the roof of a member's house which was cool. So they said that normal paint is too expensive, so she bought a big jug of white glue and mixed it with some water. Yeah that was our paint to paint this ladies roof. It was super drippy and we almost painted the floor better than the roof. This day also proved that I should never be trusted with painting. I am pretty terrible at it, but its aight. Apparently I have been talking a lot in my sleep, and a little in Spanish. Last night my comp said I was crying and whining a bit. So yeah thats interesting. My future wife will have some entertaining nights listening to me. Also we have exchanges of companions this week for a day, and I went with an Elder Stout from WASHINGTON! he is from moses lake and goes home like 3 days after Christmas. He was assistant to the president for 6 months and he is super sweet. We had a good day, and he said that I need to smile more. So we were talking to this lady and I was smiling real big (because he told me too) and she was flirting super hard. So yeah we got out of there. Then he told me I need to control my smile or else I will win over too many Salvadoran girls here. So there is my week in a nutshell. 1 week until Christmas kiddos!!

"...I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus" Acts 21:13

Pupusas and my comp, and the street that I live on

Searching for More to Teach

Just my luck, Seattle would win the championship the year I flee the country.

Well another week in the books. Nothing too crazy to report on, just normal stuff really. We've started exploring more in some parts of our area. Like the parts where members gasp because they find out we visit down there. Apparently its dangerous, its all good though. Its hard there because a lot of the doors are closed and a lot of people have already "accepted Jesus.... know his gospel.... set in the path of God" or something like that. So sometimes we walk around for like 3 or 4 hours with nothing happening. its kind of a bummer but we still keep working and doing what we know that we need to do. With time and hard work things will change and get better. We'll find people ready to listen, we just have to keep looking and working hard.

Love ya'll.

Elder Vaughan

Me and my companion in a cyber cafe.

Still Kickin' it in Ilopango

yoooooooo! 6 months and almost Christmas time. To answer the question everyone will have: Yes, time has flown by and at the same time, it hasn't. Time went by normal wich wasn't slow or fast. Sorry if that's not too exciting, but here I am kicking around in Ilopango. Things are going alright, people here are a little more hard and not as accepting. In San Miguel, it was fairly easy to enter a house and teach people, but here they aren't as accepting and don't want to listen, and then when they accept us they say that they accepted us just because they don't want to be punished by God or something. But we're still going. Nothing too exciting to report on this week, and no pictures either. Lo siento.

Tenga una buena semana.

Elder Vaughan

Nothing Special Except an Earthquake

So nothing that special has happened this week. Fairly normal. The mission president is really stressing that we talk to more people in the street and contact more people that way. So that's been interesting, because for me I don't like going out of my way and getting in peoples faces, but it has gotten a little bit easier. Sometimes I just pretend I'm a lost gringo... "Excuse me, how do you get to...? What do you call this place?" Then we just kinda go from there. It actually works sometimes, maybe just because they have pitty on a lost gringo.

We felt an earthquake which was pretty fun, never been awake and standing up like that for an earthquake.

Last night this thug stopped us before we entered a street. He asked us where we were going and we told him the people. He didn't know who they were, but luckly there were some other people that knew, so they backed us up. Then this morning that same guy stopped us and asked me if I don't understand Spanish or something, but I just dont understand drunk gangsters.... then he said we dont have anything to worry about there, he said we're safe so need to worry here.

El Salvador del Mundo statue, big tree, me and my comp

New Trainee and a Lack of Commitments

Greetings everyone!

So we`re still kicking it here in Ilopango with my newborn son. He is Elder Egas from Quito Ecuador. 19 years old and yeah, that's him! Things have been pretty interesting this week, because we had to do a lot of work to move some other elders into the new house that they have. That was a pain in the butt, and its also a bummer because everyone here thinks that the word of God is good. (that's not the bummer part), but its that no one is willing to do anything besides sit there and listen, or try to teach us. so yeah, we can teach a ton of people, but no one wants anything more than that... yeah its difficult but gotta be positive and on my best for my new son.

Apparently, I was going to be the District Leader too, but then an Ex-Assisstant to the president moved into our district so obviously he got it. I'm actually really glad that I didn't get it, but we´ll see what happens. Also the other night I had the fantastic opportunity to talk to three drunk guys and one of them got scared and ran away because someone else told him that we were cops... the other said he´s been to Egypt and knows everything about god because he learned it all from the hieroglyphics in Egypt. Then this other one couldn't even drink because he was so drunk, so I said to him "Hey sorry brother, I have to urinate with all the powers." then we left. Also, we´ve started entering some new colonies that are... well, a little sketch.... and the members told us we have to enter in slowly, little by little so the punks in the streets can know us a little bit better... So yeah things are way good and exciting! That's it for today children.

Elder Vaughan

Me at a members house, me and Elder Wikan with the Villegas family, with the Alvarenga family.

Vista del Lago Illopango

Greetings at the end of another change, and I have some news. I'm pregnant... I was notified this past Wednesday that I am going to be giving birth in a couple days. As in I'm going to be training a newb. Yup! Not sure if its going to be latino or gringo, but I'll find out in a couple days, and I'm gonna be staying in the same area in Ilopango. A little twist though is that they are going to split my area in two and open up a new area here. So that's good and bad news. The good: I won't have to walk nearly as much. Bad: We´re losing some people we´re teaching, and I have no choice now but to go into some more dangerous areas... but no worries, I'll be good! I've been working out so everyone here is scared of my large muscles. jk not really, but It'll all be good.

So yeah Trump won. I almost think people care about the election more in this country than they do in the US. It was on the front page of every newspaper, and everyone was talking about it. People were always asking us stuff about what we thought, but we don't know anything and we cant say anything anyways. "Hey Donald Trump Junior!". "Sorry I can't talk now I have to go pick up my aunt from the airport, because Trump kicked them out. So yeah because of this election the president of the mission said that we should say we´re from England and not America... and we should cover up the american flags that we have on our bags... Eh I'm american and I'm proud of it. So no thanks. I'll be safe though. To give you more confindence in that we were walking and this gangsters said "Hey how are you?" (in english) and we responded and he had a big smile on his face the whole time. Also this morning we ate breakfast at this guys place, he lived in the states for 25 years, pretty cool dude. Then we asked if we could go to his house some day, but he said he rents it from the gangsters so it probably wouldn't be the smartest. But he said that if we have any problems with them, that we need to tell him because he knows the head guy in thast part of town and he´ll help us out. So we got the protection of the gangs I guess. Sweet huh? Also I had my first dream in Spanish! Sadly we were just teaching a lesson in my dream. but still all SPANISH. So theres that. next week I will have given birth to a beautiful 19-25 year old man child.

Elder Vaughan

Lake Ilopango part of the zone and some shirts we ordered.