Temple Trip and Rain Storms

Well this week was fairly decent. Nothing too extraordinary to report on. Thursday we had a temple trip for everyone in our mission boundaries (members, investigators, missionaries, everyone). With like presentations and stuff about the church and the temple and what not. Nothing too crazy. But it was pretty solid. We had 41 from our ward cram on a crappy school bus for 4 hours (one way), but they all liked it. I didn´t do anything. I walked around picked up garbage and bought food for other missionaries. Pretty boring for me, but it was nice to go. Bummer because it was pouring rain the whole time so we didn´t get to walk around and take pictures really, but oh well. Yeah so one minute it will be bright and sunny and hot like none other, then you see this black wall in the distance... then we say "okay we got 4 or so hours till the storm hits us", 30 minutes later the storms on the outskirts of the city... "ahh crap we gonna die" then 5 minutes later its all around us, lighting everywhere, then it pours like crazy. The streets turn to rivers (we couldn´t get to a families house because the street flooded too much) then it just dies away like nothing happened (or continues on through the night. it kindof changes sometimes). So yeah its pretty nuts usually. so we were visiting this less active lady and she said she didn´t have time to talk but she went over and bought us two charamuscas (really good frozen chocolate things). She spent a dollar on us, and she literally has nothing. Her husband spends everything on alcohol. She did it another time too and legit the next day asked us for a dollar because she didn´t have any left, but we arent allowed to give any money away. So that kinda stunk. Everyone here is so kind and giving. It doesn´t matter how much they have, they give to help others.

Elder Vaughan

Here´s a couple pics of the temple, some graffiti in the town, and something else random from the bus, and a bottle of pepto bismol that we down like noneother. JK I have yet to partake of that vile drink. Me with our delicious giant watermelon, I decided to practice my photography skills with this watermelon because I had nothing better to do and the finished product, with some pan dulce. and my cool backpack I bought the other day.

Dog Attacks and Progressing Investigators

El Salvador is nuts man. I guess today marks 2 months. Does it go by fast? Eh, sure. I don’t know. So this week has been somewhat eventful and also not. I´m not gonna go in any particular order. I saw something that I thought I would never see... a mattress store like from Spongebob Squarepants! That part when Spongebob asks Patrick "Wow, how many do you think there are?“, and Patrick says, "10." Legit. This store had stacks and stacks of mattress just like the cartoon, so that was a bright spot in my week to remind me of my childhood. Still have only had 11 pupusas. I should be counting how many tortillas I eat, because we go through a ton of those. Also today we played soccer and had a Gringos (white guys) versus latinos game, and the gringos won! Very unusual yes, but hey it was like 10-3 and I scored 3 and got a couple assists too. People are kind of annoying here. We ask them "hey so you going to church ya?" and they´re like "oh yes of course Elder" then we set up plans to take the bus with them, and we show up to their house in the morning and don´t answer so we walk all the way back across town to make it right on time for church all sweaty and stuff. Yeah, fun stuff. We had a good experience where we met with this one guy and we were finishing up and we asked him to pray and he was saying stuff like "Oh, no. I don’t like to pray. God doesn´t listen . . .". Then he finally did, and after my comp asked, "how do you feel?" the guy says "really good..." while smiling. then we set another appointment and left. that was our bright spot this week.

Here´s my first sketchy story. So we were walking through this neighborhood in our area called “15 de septiembre” at about 8 PM on Monday night (a week ago) and we hear this guy screaming and a horn honking around a corner about a block or so ahead of us. we stop, listen, wait, and just keep walking to our appointment. As we get to the corner we see 2 guys beating this other guy to a bloody pulp. We kept going to our appointment and tried not to look. they pulled the guy out of the car threw him to the ground and let loose on him. I can honestly say that I do not know if he is alive or not. The part that hurt me the most was not being able to help. All I´ve thought about is about how I wish that I could have helped, but it would have gotten the both of us in trouble for sure. Honestly the worst thing I´ve ever seen.

Also on Monday night (before the story above) me and my comp were walking and out of no where a dog comes chomping at my heels. I pull my leg away and turn from the dog, then my comp delivered a swift kick to its face, then we were good. Nothing too bad though.

Due to request here is my average daily schedule: 0630 wake up. 0800 personal study. 0900 companion study. 1000 We study the 12 week plan for new missionaries. 1100 language study (ive only had it like 2 times.) 1200 lunch either at a members house or our own. Usually at a member’s place. 1300 We return and get ready to leave. 1330 Leave for the day for lessons and stuff. 1900-1930 we go to someone’s for dinner or fight for ourselves. 2030 we need to be back in the house. Then its read, write, wash clothes, cry (I don´t cry), pick your nose, whatever you want until 2230. then we sleep. Wednesdays we have an English class, Thursday meeting with ward mission leader, and district meeting at some point in the week. It’s kind of whatever.

Yeah things are good and moving. Havent been sick, mugged, shot, or all that falls in between yet.

Don’t run with scissors. Don’t eat the glue and be nice to the girls.
Love you all!
Elder Vaughan

I didn’t have any other pictures to send, so here are some from my living quarters.

First Baptism, Migration, and a Bag of Water

Greetings kids,

Well things have been pretty good recently. I'm officially a resident of El Salvador now (or something like that) had to go to migration (3 hour bus ride) to San Salvador, but it was aight. Then went on changes twice, once with my "grandpa" so that was pretty good. This week has been fairly unusual because we´ve had a ton of meetings and stuff which took away from the normal work, but its all been good. Pupusa count is now at 11. Spanish I don't know its better but pretty much the same. Also we had a baptism yesterday morning. I didn´t know her too well before because I'm new, but it was still a pretty good experience. she's a 19 year old girl and yeah. I'll send pics in a bit. We only got 11 investigators this week, and 9 less actives, but we had a very weird week. I had to go to migration, we had a multizone conference with the presidente, and we had 2 exchanges. There´s this investigator that decides to breastfeed every time we go over. I straight up look her in the eyes then she lifts of her shirt and the child starts going to town. I mean it is a natural thing and kids need it, but come on lady. Today the bus was crammed so I could only hold on to the bars on the outside of the bus with my toes on one of the steps, but that's normal here. Still cool though.

We eat some Honduran food because this guy will give it to us for free twice a week, it's way good. I've Only had 11 pupusas. My favorite investigator is Otmaro and Alexandra, or Luis. Mainly his family as a whole because they´re just fun to visit and talk with. Haven't had anything too outstanding spiritually, but I´ve started reading the old testament and new, and its pretty good. I don't know why we don't read it more. In the New Testament Jesus is spittin straight fire to all the newbs. It's dope. My area is fairly nice, and we have the nicer area where we live, then the ghetto where the streets are crappy gravel. Everyone is pretty nice though. 25 cents for a bus to one of our areas that´s fairly nice. If you thought hammocks were popular in the US, think again. EVERYONE has at least one hammock right in the middle of their living room or kitchen. P-days don´t feel like p-days yet, because they´ve been fairly disorganized. We play soccer at the church though and that's pretty fun. We write in a crappy internet cafe right now, but its aight. Sometimes we go to the stake center just depends. We´ve got like 12 people with a baptismal dates, not sure how many will follow through, but we got them. obviously we hope they all do. all is well, life is good and moving. The comp is good too. Huge-normous volcano that´s poking up out of no where.

Baptism, the bishop did it.

My watch tan.

My desk with the glorious bags of water.

Me, my trainer, and his trainer, our little generation I guess.

First Area, Colonial Ward, San Miguel!

Well I´m in El Salvador now! I´m in San Miguel! One of the hottest places in the country. I sweat like none other, and my skin is always so slimy and nasty, but its aight. My companion is elder Westra from Manti Utah. He´s been out for 6 months all of it in San Miguel. Things are good. I love bags of water. In the MTC they said, "Don´t drink the bags of water", but every day in the field we have 4-6 bags of water. Its cheap, easy, and delicious.

I don't know what you want to hear. Its pretty safe here. Not a lot of gangsters. Everyone here is pretty nice. There are some interesting people around here, but its all cool. My apartment is fairly nice. We got ants that like to hangout, and a cockroach that likes to shower with me. All is well though. I´ve only had 6 pupusas so far, but all the food is good. Spanish isn´t too bad. I can speak fairly well, its just hard understanding the people because they don´t talk normally. if you wanted to say we (nosotros) here the people would say "nojotro". They don´t really say their S's a whole lot. but other than that its not too bad. I saw a dude wearing a sounders jersey with Dempsey on the back, so that was pretty dope! I nut megged a Guatemalan pretty hard, so that was sick. (soccer stuff) Never loved mo-tab so much because its the only music we have. It's good here, so far so good at least. Ask me q´s cause I don´t know what else to say.

These are of us at the Guatemala Temple:

These are pictures from the Guatemala MTC:

These are some of the Elders with me in the Guatemala city center:

The San Salvador Temple:

The mission president and his wife:

Our group from the MTC after arriving at the mission president's home in San Salvador:

Enjoying the view of the city:

Me and Elder Westra in our house in San Miguel:

Elder Vaughan

A Better Way to Smoke

One week left kids. I leave guat Tuesday morning probably around 3 in the morning. No one has told us anything yet, but that was the last group of gringos.

So this week was fairly average. nothing too crazy to report on. I went in for a lesson with my "investigator" (my teacher) named José and he is a very unique person... I basically laugh throughout the lesson. and one of the lessons with him he started it out by asking if Mormons can have multiple wives... so we had to explain how we can not do that anymore.. then he asked "oh so only one wife in Guatemala and one in USA and one in...." NOPE. I guess we cant do that either. Then he said he has multiple girlfriends all in different cities... I asked if any of them knew about each other and he said "Ohhhhhh no es muy malo..." (very bad) so we told him he needs to only have one girlfriend and one wife. then 2 lessons later he told us that since he cant have multiple chicas he snorts crack and smokes weed to fill the gap... then my comp. accidentally said we would show him a new way to smoke instead of a way to quit smoking... so that was great fun.

And this past Sunday was the last fast Sunday in the MTC. And I bore my testimony in Spanish. It´s crazy because that was the first time I've born my testimony in about 4 years or so in front of the congregation, and it was in a different language. I didn´t even have to think about what to say, everything just flowed so easily. I wish I could have had longer. The branch president said at the beginning that everyone can only have 1 minute maximum so of course everyone went on for 2 or 3 minutes, then the guy right before me took up 15 minutes and the pres. had to tell him twice to sit down and he still did not sit down. so I had the great opportunity to talk for 20 glorious seconds because he took us 20 minutes over time. yeah it was dumb. but it was still good.

Also in a lesson with this girl (my teach) and her husband (a supervisor) I bore my testimony for the first time on the BOM and it felt way good. Gotta say that was one of the best feelings ever. I couldn´t hold back my smile and my body was shaking and shiz. man it was lit.

Other than that nothing is new in Guat. We´ve been playing B-ball a lot during our gym time and lets just say I´ve won about 10 times. more than anyone else. we play "bump" AKA "knockout" i don't know whatever you people call it. I straight up beat an elder from florida that played with guys that are in the NBA now. and he´s played against Shaquille O´Neals son. so yeah I should go pro. Yeah that´s it bois. one week left.

Estoy entusiasmado para entrar el campo mission, y para cambier las vidas de las personas del Salvador. Tengo miedo para este experiencia, pero estoy listo. Yo he aprendido muchas cosas en la CCM Y yo se que yo puedo ayudar todas las personas en El Salvador. Hasta Luego. Quidense.That's from memory. I think that´s pretty much right.

I always forget to write stuff that happened throughout the week then I remember then I forget once I get in front of the comp. so that´s fantastic. I don´t think anything outstanding has really happened. Well I'm almost done here, so I´ll catch you all later I guess.

Elder Van

Army Bases, Stolen Dollars and Unkept Bets

Well I´ve finished off 4 weeks here in guat now. got a new batch of missionaries in from central/south america, and north america. they´re all pretty cool, but the old latinos are better. weird thing. one new hermana is from snohomish Washington (20 min from home) and another lived at pineview apartments at USU (same apartments as me) even though we neveer knew eachother. But aparently we were at a hot tub party together, so that´s actually pretty cool! Thinking about last week I just remembered how we saw the army base for Guat and it is a legit castle. Like huge castlewalls and everything. and the HQ for the guatamalen national team. Bunch of armed guards and shiz. it was pretty dope.

this week though, nothing has really changed, new teacher and new missionaries is really it. I was talking with this one Elder from Argentina and he really wanted to see a US dollar so I let him see it, then he kept it, but I though we had set up a trade so I could get an argentinan dollar in return. turns out he doesn´t have any... I wish I knew what was happening around here.

Oh and In one of my meetings with an "investigator" he started vigorously rubbing his eye as if he was trying to scrub potatoes. and he caught me of guard so I just busted. for ten minutes I could not talk anymore. my comp did everything and I just had to wait to leave. oh great fun. he´s my teacher and he is probably one of the funniest people I´ve eveer met. he also looks and smiles like nacho libre so it makes it even harder to keep a straight face.

Since I´m in prison and they control every aspect of my life, they told me to write stuff in spanish again.

Y socedio que yo Nefi dije a mi padre; ire y hare lo que el señor ha mandado porque se que nunca da mandamientos a los hijos de los hombres sin prepararles la via para ser cumplan lo que les ha mandado. 1 nefi 3:7

from memory. I think that´s pretty much right. Yeah me and that argentine that took my money cried together as both of our teams lost in the copa america. oh well I made a bet with he for 100$ that it would be US and Argentina in the 2018 world cup final. good thing I wont ever see him again, so I wont have to give him the money . . .

I always forget to write stuff that happened throughout the week then I remember then I forget once I get infront of the comp. so that´s fantastic. I don´t think anything outstanding has really happened. Well Im almost done here, so I´ll catch you all later I guess.

Adios, Elder Baug-han

Going to the Market, Gun Shots and Earthquakes

All is well. bassically fluent in church talk. other than that I´m like a 3 year old. Today, they took us out to Guatemala city to give us a tour of a cathedral, talk to people, and go through the market. Me and my comp handed out 2 BOM and got rejected 3 times in a half hour. So I guess that´s good. We got their numbers down and gave them to missionaries in the area. Sadly though all the Latinos left this morning. They were honestly the coolest. and it sucks cause a bunch of white people are coming in. I hope there are gonna be some more dope latinos. But other than that, nothing is really knew. I directed priesthood meeting in Spanish. The latinos say I have a pretty good accent for a white guy, so that´s always nice. Also happy to hear that the USMNT is kicking butt in Copa America. Everyone else here is freaking out over basketball, but I couldn´t even care less about that. Wish the Sounders would step it up. Atleast I don´t have to watch it... Really don´t know what else to say. It´s all been pretty much the same. Gotta say I´m really greatful for the Army ROTC because I´m the first one up out of bed in the morning, and the last one to bed. It really did help me to endure long days and continue on through. Falling alseep with a noisy fan on and gunshots in the distance is nothing like falling asleep to artillery rounds going off nearby, and hellicopters flying over while trying to sleep on a pile of rocks. Also my alarm clock the other day was an earthquake, so that´s pretty dope (two mornings in a row). And no one else in my room woke up which was weird... Yeah hopefully these people coming in tomorrow are cool, cause those latinos were way cool. Al que cree todo le es posible
(some scripture in Mark that I don't remember)
Love you guys,
Elder Baug-han