Not hungry anymore.

I am glad that you enjoyed the FHE. That talk is so amazing! it went really well for me we talked alot about it and everyone bore their testimony in portuguese. it was really awesome to hear from all of them they are all so awesome! I know that i will get the language i have actually improved a lot in portuguese this past week. I had a dream the other night and a couple of the phrases were in portuguese so that is really cool that it is on my mind often enough for me to be dreaming about it! I am not hungry anymore thanks to the "care packages" i have gotten from you guys. Thank you so much i dont know who is the one that spearheads that. I would assume that it is lou because there is usually a letter in there from her but i know that you guys all have something to do with it.

I want my tennis shoes. the shoes that Lou bought me are falling apart on the insides and they are starting to hurt my feet when i play volleyball. I dont know if i told you this but every day except on p-day and sunday we have gym and i play volleyball the whole time. its awesome i love it and i have forgotten how much i love volley ball. I am getting enough mail i have heard from Al Vester and Garrfs and Davis's. I was so grateful to get their letters.
Not much has changed since last week. life in the MTC is the same EVERY day. it is getting a little old. I feel bad for the people that have to learn Mandrin Chinese or something like that because they have to be here for like 12 weeks. I met an Elder from Brazil that was going to Japan and he was here for 18 weeks before he left. because he had to learn English first.

I can't wait tell i am out of the MTC and in the field. I still love being here it is just getting really old.

I love you and hope to hear from you soon

Love, Elder Vaughn.

Take care of Kiki and my fish!

Everything here is the same i am learning a lot and the schedule is getting a little old because it is the same thing every day! But it is not the same because i learn something new everyday. The language is coming along really slow. i feel like everyone in my district is learning a lot faster than me and that i am not getting it as fast as i should be. But everyone in my district is very supportive of me and everyone else and we all learn this language together.

I dont know if i told you this but as a district we have our own little family home evening and it is so amazing to go to them. each compionship takes turns giving the lesson and this monday is my turn and me and Elder Melendez are going to talk about how the lord is with us in our trials. i want you to have the same lesson as us so if you would go to the chuch website and watch the talk by Quinten L Cook of the october session 2008 the talk is called hope ya know i had a hard time. also watch the mormon message of the same title. its amazing and i want you guys to feel of it as well.

Lou you will be very happy because i finally preached to you but i dont want to think of it that way i just want you guys to learn and feel the same thing that i felt when i watched it. I also watched the talk of Joseph B Wirthlin were Elder Nelson had to come and help him stay standing. I cried like a little baby when he was talking about christlike service as Elder Nelson is holding him up doing exactly what he is telling us to do. He showed us all how to do it. so if you want to watch that one too.

I love you all and hope that you are doing good and that you are taking care of Kiki and my fish.

Love ya tons.

Elder Vaughn

Pictures at the MTC

1-14-11

Dear Family,

I am still so excited to be a missionary and I can’t believe how fast the time is going.  Before I know it I will be in Brazil and then I will be home and I will be sad to leave Brazil.  The other day my teacher told me that he cried the whole flight home because he was so sad to leave the people.  I am pretty sure that is how it will be for me because I get attached to the people around me.  I still have not heard about my visa. But I know that it will come when i am supposed to get it and if i get sent somewhere else until i get it then that will be fine with me.

The most amazing thing happened to me on Tuesday. Every Tuesday we have a devotional and this week Elder Jeffery R. Holland came and spoke! I don’t know if you know this but he is my favorite! He talked to us about how in order for us to teach well we have to have the gospel engraved in our hearts.  And that after our mission we need to stay strong in the gospel or we will break God’s heart.  The spirit was so strong in the meeting.  I think it was the strongest I have ever felt the spirit. It was amazing! You know how he speaks.  He is so bold in the way he says things.  I just love him.  I know that Heavenly Father knew that I would get the most out of his talk and I did! It was just amazing!

I am very happy to be serving the Lord even though I am just in the MTC.  I can’t believe how fast but slow the time is going.  The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days.  If that makes any sense at all.

I went to the temple today.  It was weird to not have my own clothes and to not be with you guys but it was awesome to do it with my companion.  I know I have mentioned this before, but he is so amazing! I am so blessed to have him as a companion.

I love you and miss you.  Thank you for everything.

Love,

Elder Vaughn

No naps allowed!

Everything here is the same. i dont know what else to write about. i had a list of things i wanted you to find out for me but i left them in my room so i will send them in a letter. most of them are dates of my blessing and stuff like that so it could be easy to find because you have a copy of everyting in my scrapbook.

We have ate all the food that our familys sent us for christmas which is a good thing because we were worried that some of the stuff would go stale. some of it was like brownies and stuff like that. but we finished all of it and all i have left of what you sent me is a few oreos. thank you for sending me all of the food it has been great to be able to snack at night!

I am still loving it here. i have only had a couple of times where i wish that i could be at home so that i could take a nap. because i can only take a nap on P day. so that means no sunday naps for me. i know its a sad day. =( other than wishing that i could nap i dont miss that much about being at home.

i am kinda getting tired of the food here. it is all cafeteria style food so its not that great quality and i have to eat three meals a day here so it is getting really old.

I love you all and glad to hear you are doing well.

Love, Elder Vaughn

Warm again!

1-7-2011
Mommy,

I know that the whole family read this email but since everyone else writes me letters I will address this one to you. Thank you for sending me the pictures. =) I did get the blanket and I am warm now. but i want it on the record that i am not the only one cold in my room. all of us are!

Thank you for ordering me another contact. And finding my mission call.

I still can't believe how much i love it here. When i first got my call i thought the MTC would be the worst part. But I love it and i love my district! they are all amazing and my district leader, Elder Killpack thanks you for being such a good influence on me so that i could come here and be a great influence on him! He is amazing i love him i actually love everyone in my district! there is one Elder in my district that i have a hard time with because he is really annoying! and coming from me that is really saying something! I think i might of mentioned him in my letters i dont really remember! Its hard for me to keep things straight because all of my days are running together and I dont remember what i have told you. so if i tell you something more then once i am sorry about that.
Today i am going to write a nasty letter to Ashlin and Holly because they have not written me. I have gotten several letters from Heidi and a letter from Chelcey. so they are the only ones that have not written me.

I am not discouraged because they have not written me but i have almost been here a month and i would really love to here from them. I wrote them on christmas so they have had plenty of time to write me. =(

I am starting to get the language now. it will get eaiser because we have are real teacher to teach us now. before he was on vacation for christmas break. we only got to have him teach us twice and then he went on vacation but he got back on monday. I dont know if i ever mentioned his name its Brother Halverson, our other teacher is Bro Morey. They are both awesome! We have gotten to the point in the MTC that they only speak portuguese to us and we have to try and only speak portuguese. but that is a good thing because i will learn faster. The sub teacher that we had for Bro. Halverson was Bro Allred. He is awesome too and i am going to miss him but Bro Halverson is awesome too so its ok.

I am so glad to here that everything is going well at home! And I dont worry about you because one i dont have time and two i KNOW that the lord will bless you all in ways that i dont understand or know and that you will come to realize that they are blessings. I love all of you and i am praying for you!

Love, Elder Vaughn

Still doing great!

Dear Family,
I am still doing great! I can't believe how much i love it here! Christmas was amazing! We had two Christmas devotionals one on Christmas Eve and one on Christmas Day! Elder Nelson from the twelve spoke at both of them and he also taught preisthood lesson for the Elders! The spirt was so strong when he read the Christmas story form Luke chapter two! It was the coolest thing to have a prophet of the lord read to us about the Savior. I wish that you could have been here to hear it! On Christmas Eve me and the other Elders in my room read from Luke two as well and it was amazing. I missed being with you guys on Christmas but the Elders here and companion have become like a second family to me! I love them so much! There is only one elder in my room that i dont like that much but the other two are amazing and the Elders in my district are amazing! We have tons of food in our room because everyone got food packages from home so please dont send any more food for awhile because we are sharing all the food we got! The other Elders in my room thank you for the food that you sent me! I am not sleeping very good because I get really cold at night so if you could send me a blanket for a single bed that would be awesome! I swear it is more cold in my room that it is in Mom and Dad's room at home! Its so cold! The portuguese is coming ok, I guess. Its really hard to pronounce the words because I just want to pronounce them in french but I know that I will get it! My companion is a huge help in learning the language because he speaks spanish wich is closer to portuguese than french is! And he is always willing to help me when I need help! I thank heavenly father every day for him. He is the best companion in the world!

 

What do you mean you are not getting enough words from me!? I write emails and like two page letters to ryan and lou. don't you all read thoose letters. Do you want me to spend all day writing you? I thought that I was doing pretty good in writing and telling you about my life here.

 

I do have some bad news for you.... I tore a contact this morning so if you could order me another RIGHT contact and send it to me so that I could take two whole pairs to Brazil. I realized sometime that I forgot to bring my old pair of contacts. I also forgot my misson call papper, don't send it, but will you make sure that it is in my room and that it is not lost. I don't remember where I put it. the reason i mention the mission call is because last night i had a dream that it was lost and it made me really sad.

 

I have not got any letters from Ashlin or Holly. =( I wrote them on Christmas Eve and I thought they would have written me back by now but I guess they don't love me anymore. Haha im just kidding. Do you know if any of my other siblings are planning on writing me?

 

Thank you all so much for praying for me. You are in mine and my companions prayers. I love you guys hope that you are doing as awesome as I am!

 

Love, Elder Vaughn