Golden Investigator

So don't worry! I got the package last week!!  I got it on Tuesday so I couldn't write home or send you a text and let you know! I don't have that convenience anymore... sorry yeah?  But I got it and I loved It!!  When I watched the video of the little girls, I won't lie, I shed a few tears.  This was the first time that I had cried on my mission.  Watching home videos was so cool!!! And hearing all your updates was pretty sick as well! That should be something you send in birthday packages and Christmas packages is a memory card with photos and videos with you guys.  That would be sweet!  So DHL is the quickest way to send a package.  They probably received it on that friday or whenever, but the couples don't bring them out as soon as they get them.  They bring them out when they come to your apartment or when president Sayon comes by.  So yes if you want to send something quick, do it DHL  I got everything in the package that was sent and nothing had been taken.  This was the first package that I have received that I was the first one to open it!!  Not the mail men....  Thank you for everything that has been sent in the package! I love the journals and I love how you put my name on it.  Its really cool!  Also, since its my sons (Elder Bowring) birthday this coming week, He received a bunch of letters and a package from his family and friends.  But  being zone leaders,  we decided to keep the package and his letters and we bought wrapping paper and wrapped them all together so that he'll have a present to open.  We left out 7 letters though and we give him one everyday until his birthday.  Kind of like the 12 days of Christmas idea... lame I know.  But this is mission and its pretty sweet(:  He doesn't know he has a package or a bunch of letters waiting for him either so it will be a huge surprise to him!  I was thinking the package was his birthday package so I didn't want him opening it until his birthday.  What a great father right? And small side note, Can you send a list of items that are okay to take home and get through customs.  Thank you.

Not much happened this week, but what did happen was a miracle.  Like you know, this is a new area for me now.  This place is full of powerful investigators or i should say, Converts.  The testimonies of these investigators who are preparing for their baptism is incredible!!  These are the type of people that will make the church strong in Liberia.  I'm excited to be here and I'll tell you why.  We were going to see this investigator named F. S. David.  I haven't met the man before and Elder Humphreys had only talked with him small when he was with his other companion.  They didn't teach him but they introduced themselves and talked small about the church.  So, us going there was kind of like a reintroduction again in a way...  Anyway, we get going there, and we get stopped by this really thick, strong, muscly fisher man.  We say hi and then Elder Humphreys asks if we can talk with him.  He says yes and then takes us to his place.  Elder Humphreys then tells me this is the guy we're seeing.  This dude is HUGE.  He takes us back to his place by the river side and as we're going, my companion tells me that this is all his stuff he owns.    So on the shore is were he docks his canoes. Its a really cool place, but their is only a couple problems.  Number one, if a tsunami came through, He'd be the first one gone. Number two, The river has all the sewage and stuff flow into it....  It doesn't smell like poop, but they go swimming in it, so its pretty gross.  off topic...  We go to his place, sit down, open the lesson, and then he asks us if he should go get his books.  Why not? So, we tell him to get them.  He goes inside and is in there for a solid ten minutes.  When he comes back out, he sets down on the table Ensigns and Liahonas from 1966 and also the book of Mormon stories book.  What the?!  Me and my companion look at each other and have the BIGGEST smiles on our faces! We were thinking we were in a dream! Then he goes into telling us about what he knows and about Joseph Smith and how he returned to look at the plates each year and tells us how incredible he thinks joseph smith is.  At this point I'm trying to hide my joy by not showing too big of a grin, but you don't know how hard it is to hold back all that excitement!  We let him finish talking and then we kind of went into talking more about the Apostasy and Joseph Smith.  After we had gone a little ways into the discussion, he brings up the book of Mormon and asks if he should go grab his.  Sure, go get it.  He goes in a comes out with this beat up book of Mormon that looks like it had been in the rain for awhile.  When he sits back down, he tells us that he found this book of Mormon 8 months ago floating in the river by his house.  He said he pulled it out and ever since then he has been reading it every once in a while.  NO WAY?!?!?!?  How often can a missionary say their investigator found the church as he was fishing and the Book of Mormon comes floating by?!  We were in complete awe as he was telling us the story!  The book of Mormon was handed out by missionaries almost 2 years ago...  How crazy is that?!  Now he has all these books about the church and wants to join in.  Just the other day while we were teaching him, he was leaning on his knees with his elbows and he looked at us and said while grabbing his heart, "I know the Latter Day Saint Church is the church."  You got to be kidding me!  Where's The water?? Lets baptize him now!  This guy is the definition of a convert.  I will never forget this guy my entire life.  He will be a future branch president.  He has a strong testimony of Joseph Smith.  And I say that because of what he said at the end of the lesson.  When we were about to say the prayer, he stopped us and said, "What is your bible role model?"  Alright, so we told him, and then we asked him what his was?  He told us David and Paul.  Then he continued and said," But Joseph Smith... It is amazing that he went four years to the same place and was getting made fun of."  Then he just sat there.  How awesome is this guy?!?  Big fisherman who knows the church is true!!!! I love it!!

That is pretty much what happened this week with me! 

Being zone leader though has been interesting.  We had a couple of meetings with President Kirkham and the District presidency this week, and now we are planning for our Leadership training that we will be teaching on Wednesday and then our zone meeting on Friday.  Zone leaders have plenty of work to do!  But its a nice change from being a trainer.  I have trained enough on my mission(: I'll let someone else do it now.  Im excited to hear how your guys week went and what happened!  I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you next week.  I love you all and I'm now 7 months (:  time is slipping away.

I love you!!
Elder Zaugg

Muddy Service and Shocking Transfer News

 

So forgive me about last weeks email!  It was long until the computer decided to chuck it away....  Its been happening again this week already and its taken everything within me not to chuck it out the window.  First off, I saw the pictures and I was super jealous of the snow!  Its getting hot again here and I'm beginning to not dry once I get out of the shower.  so yeah, I'm jealous of you all. 

 

 Second thing, the picture with dad roasting on your guys super cool portable fire pit, is legit.  But who in my family is wearing black crocs....  that is a Liberian thing.... not a Zaugg family thing.  No..... I just pray that none of you have given in to the croc temptation...  just let the Liberians keep this trend. 

 

And now another thing I'm jealous about.... you've seen more African animals in the past 1 week than I have in the last 7 months.  I haven't seen an Elephant or a Lion, and you've seen both. How does that work out..?  I'm in the place where they originate from and I can't even find them.  The only thing I see is the naked natives running around in the rain.  That's about the closest I get to National Geographic...  You probably explained in the email above, so I'll read it when i get home, but I hope the hunt went well! I didn't see an animal, so when I mean went well, I mean I hope you guys enjoyed yourselves!

 

This week, we had a few cool stories that I would like to share.  The first one was when we were in a lesson with a lady named T.  Her daughter is a member, but she is not.  She has been taught by previous missionaries, but because of past transfers, the missionaries lost contact with her.  Anyway, we go to her house to check up on her to see how everything is, and we see that she's reading her Bible while she's cooking.  Sweet, she likes God business already! so, we ask if she has small time to talk with us, and she tells us to go wait under the tree.  While we're waiting, I tell Elder Bowring to share a scripture with her since she doesn't have much time because her foods on the fire.  So, she brings chairs, we sit down, and we open the lesson.  We ask if she has any questions for us, and then my companion opens a scripture to heb 11:1 to talk about Faith with her.  After he reads it, she stops him and tells us that she had just finished reading about faith in James.  Well, that's sweet!! As, they're talking, I opened my Bible and looked down.  As I looked at the page that my bible had opened to, I saw a scripture that was highlighted and it was matt 18: 3-4 I believe.  Anyway, I was like nice, I'll be able to tie this in with what they are talking about.  The cool thing is, we didn't know she was reading about faith, and my companion shared a scripture on faith.  I wasn't going to share a scripture, but I opened my bible and that's the page it opened to.  It was such a spiritual lesson and you could tell that she was understanding everything.  When we were about to close, she asked something about the Book of Mormon so she went to grab it.  She wanted to learn more, and of course we took advantage of her giving us more time.  I told her to open up to Ether 2-3 and we would read about The brother of Jared and his faith.  At the end of the lesson, the spirit was so strong, and she just expressed how much she enjoyed the lesson.  Its moments like these that I live for on mission!! When everything just works and the spirits there.  Its a great reminder to you for why your on a mission. 

     Next thing, this happened on Thursday.  We were going as a zone to a service project and saw a truck carrying a bunch of bottles stuck in this huge puddle and mud.  Why not give some service before we do our actual service right? So, we walk up there and I'm ahead of everyone, so I pick up some concrete pieces and shove under the tire.  I then look at everyone and said,    " I'm sure we could push it out." Good thing I was wearing boots by the way, or that would have been bad. So, I walk to the back of the truck and step into the water.  As I was moving around the back, all of a sudden my boot goes under the water and now I'm standing up to my knees in this puddle.... Great, nasty poopy water between my toes.  Nice...  Well, I'm already wet, so I just stuck my other foot in there and got good footing.  Then my companion comes hopping in and of course, his boots disappear as well.  He gets into position, and I look to the driver in the passenger mirror and tell him we'll try it on 3.  "1.... 2.... 3!!" The driver punched the peddle and the tires started to spin.  Me and my companion are pushing, fully extended bodies, and this truck just spins. We tried it again, and as we pushed, I felt the truck become lighter and then it finally climbed out.  At this point, we have a lot of people from the surrounding communities watching the two of us white men push this thing.  After it climbed out, I had a guy come up to me and say, "You a strong man!!" and then the driver of the vehicle came walking back and thanked us.  Who knows what would have happened if me and my companion wouldn't have done that.  Their truck was already smoking a ton and could have ruined it if we wouldn't have gone.  Also, who knows, this could turn into a great teaching opportunity now. 

      Last thing, and this is the craziest of them all.  It was the end of the transfer yesterday, so we received transfer news on Friday.  Me and my companion didn't think anything was going to happen to us because they don't usually take trainers from their trainees, but it does happen on occasions.  Well, this was one of those occasions.  The zone leaders gather us together and start reading off all of the news and what's happening.  Everyone's freaking out and going crazy about the different positions they are receiving.  They tell Osayi that he is staying District Leader with his companion.  Then they look at Elder Bowring and tell him that he will be receiving....  We were thinking they were joking and going to say Elder Zaugg, but then they say Elder Guymon.  What?!  We were both shocked!! Then they look at me and say they'll get back to me on mine..... um... alright? They go to the last Elders and then they tell them.  Now Elder Skouson is becoming the new AP so we needed a new zone leader.  Elder Humphreys starts talking about it and then says, "And our new Zone Leader is..........." Then he points to me.  What?!?!  Zone leader?? If you could have seen how stunned I was, you would have laughed.  I haven't even been district leader yet..... crazy! So, now I will be the new zone leader with Elder Humphreys.  We already are good friends so it will be a sweet companionship!!  This is my second American companion as well.  He's from Utah.  He's sweet. I'm excited to be a zone leader.  It will be a change!  I haven't been anything other than a trainee to a trainer and now to a zone leader.  I'm excited! It will be good!  So, that is the crazy news that I have from this week.  Hopefully you guys will have an enjoyable week this coming one.  It will be conference weekend so cross off another conference! 2 down and 2 to go!  (: 7 months next week as well!! AND!!! 12 weeks until the call home! Things are getting exciting!  I love you all and keep telling me how things are going with you guys! Have you received any letters? and I still haven't received any letters from the grandparents or my friends...  I love you and pray for you always!

D&C 58:43
D&C 64:7,12
Moses 26:35-36
1John 1:9

Love Elder Zaugg

 

(Picture courtesy of Elder Bowring.) Elder Zaugg and his companion, Elder Bowring are in the middle of the back row. Elder Bowring is on the right and Elder Erickson is on the left.

Short email due to power outage

Once again its email time!!!  I replied to last weeks email and a few emails before that in a letter, so they should be coming soon since I gave them to the couples last Tuesday. And mom, Elder Avornu finally got his package and he loved it! Thank you for making these missionaries day with sending them packages.  They see other people getting them and they don't think they'll get one, so when they see it come for them, they go CRAZY!!  If you could send them a Christmas package I think it would make their mission.  This is Elder Osayi last Christmas on mission to.  How is everything back home? I saw the pictures on copy.com and they are sweet!  My sisters haven't changed one bit. still that sassy attitude going on(;  and then the pictures of Brook and Tay are cute.  Those two will be big when I come home!!  I hope there is some explanation about the buck and bull pictures... those things are huge!! And I don't have any pictures this week. sorry... 

(I had something here about Elder Vinson, but the computer deleted it.  I'll tell you about it next week if I remember...  Oh Liberian internet.)

Except for when I went on exchange with Elder Humphreys Thursday.  We were walking through another part of Logan Town, when we heard a man screaming words in an unknown tongue.  I looked toward the direction the voice was coming from, and I see a man with one leg and a crutch, running down this path between these huts still screaming.  Um.... this was Elder Humphreys old area and he said, this guy is crazy and likes white missionaries so just keep walking.  Yeah, you don't ask questions when you see that.  Mental illness is sooo common in Liberia.  Its sad.  Even the day before this happened, Elder Bowring and I were walking back to the apartment on one of the roads in our area, and we saw 5 police men go quickly up the road in front of us. They then disappeared around the bend.  As we were coming around the bend, we saw a huge crowd of people gathered around a man, with the police in the middle.  And yes, my curiosity got the best of me. After the police took the man, I asked some of the people what happened and they said Magic.  That didn't satisfy what I wanted to know....  I asked what he did, and the guy told me that He took a knife and pulled his eyeball out and then stuck it back in.  Alright, that was satisfying.  Crazy things happen in Liberia!! I LOVE IT!!  That's why I love living in Liberia!  Where else will you be able to witness sketchy magic tricks?? and no mom, it is not Witch Craft, so don't get scared and call the mission. (; Love you!
Until next time! I love you all and have a good week!

Elder Zaugg
p.s. sorry for the short email. it was longer until it got deleted....  Power outages

Golden Investigator and "Why is it when you're not suppose to laugh...."

Another week has gone by.... I love the copy.com thing!  The pictures are sick!!  The one of Dad and Troy is so sweet!!!! I was soooo jealous!!! haha I can't wait to go hunting!  I know that after I serve with all my heart, might, mind, and strength, that God will bless me with a world record Bull.(; How has the hunts been so far?  Also, I responded to the past 3 p days emails in a letter, so I will be sending that with the couples tomorrow at our Zone Conference, which by the way, Elder Vincent from the Seventy will be speaking at.  Totally stoked to listen to him!  We also got told that he will be randomly interviewing a few missionaries... Yeah that's one interview I don't want to have.  My heart will beat out of my chest if he says that he wants to interview me.  Having President Wayment stare me down in my interview was bad enough!  Now a member from the Quorum of the Seventy possibly....  pray that I don't get picked (;  Be looking for a letter in the next couple of weeks.  I put the emails in there to, so you know which ones I'm responding to.  There's like 10 papers in there.....  hopefully it gets to you.

Only a few stories for today.  The first is about a book I started to read on mission.  It is called The Miracle of Forgiveness.  Mom, you probably have read it.  But, this book talks about sexual sins and marriage a lot! When I was reading it, I was like.. oh this is a really good book, until you get to the middle.... Then you feel chastized for everything. It doesn't only talk about sexual sins, but that's the main one that gets repeated a lot.  It mentions things on anger, lust, bearing false witness, murder and a bunch of other things.  The whole time you read it, you feel like you are the worst person in the entire world.  I do wish that I would have read this a lot sooner though! If you have not read it mom, This is a book you guys as a family should read every Sunday or something.  It really makes you look at your life and helps you to become a better person.  The Lord Chastises who he loves.  So, we all need a little in our lives (;  Really though, read this book if you haven't read it. 

Now, a story that happened during proselyting on Wednesday I believe.  We were teaching two girls named Princess (common name in Liberia) and Annie about the Restoration.  I had just got done talking about what Jesus Christ had done on the earth, so my companion was getting ready to speak on the Apostasy.  He goes into telling more, and begins to expound a scripture to them.  Amos 8:11-12 to be exact.  It mentions that there will not be a famine of Bread or water but of hearing the words of the Lord.  As he was explaining this, he said, "We can see that there won't be a famine of Breasts......." then it got silent.  I had my attention on these girls making sure they were understanding everything, listening to my companion, and when I heard this, I was stunned.  I looked at my companion and he was already starring at me with wide eyes.  I am a horrible missionary for what happened next, and I have sincerely repented for it, but I couldn't hold in my laughter anymore.  I was crying I was laughing so hard.  He tried to continue with the lesson and I had my head down trying not to make it obvious, when out of no where he says, "and I'll let my companion explain the rest" He did this because he couldn't stop laughing either!! now what am I suppose to do?? I tried my all keeping it together, and I told them that we will just start from here next time.  The spirit was totally gone and we couldn't even stay focused.  The funny part was that the girls we were teaching didn't hear what he said, and they just started laughing along with us.  Oh man.... Once we closed we were walking away, and I looked at him and said, "Why is it that when you're not suppose to laugh, you laugh the hardest?"  we just kept laughing.  Memories for life!!!  I love Liberia! You never know what will happen next!

Another story about an investigator.  His name is Brian.  We first started talking to him while we were conversing with another Investigator named Albert on broadstreet. While we were talking, this man, later known as Brian, pulled us over to him and asked if we had something  he could read.  I didn't think much of it since we get this a lot, and especially since we're two white people, they just want free stuff from us.  We give him a The Restoration pamphlet and then leave.  As we passed the next day, he pulled us into his shop and wanted to learn.  We began teaching him and this guy started to unload the questions on us.  He was wanting to learn!  The thing I love about the Church, is that it has the only true Gospel, so whatever question you have, it can be resolved. All of his questions we're resolved during this first lesson.  The next day we pass by and he asks if he can have a copy of the Book of Mormon.  Maybe this guy actually has interest... I thought. We were in a rush so we told him we would come back and talk more on it, but that we would let him have a copy.  We came back, and he wasn't there... We called him, and he had gone out and said we should come back tomorrow.  Alright, maybe he's not that interested...  The next day, we are passing to a lesson and he says he has read the Book of Mormon and has questions for us, so he wants us to come talk with him. We came back in an hour and sat down.  This guy had read the first couple of pages in the Book of Mormon from the introduction all the way to the 2nd chapter in 1Nephi.  He had questions on it all!  He even told us that he has been looking for a church and wants to become a member of the Latter Day Saint church....  Sweet (;  we invited him to attend a baptismal service on Saturday and guess what....  He showed up!  He even called at 7:30 in the morning to tell us that he was getting ready.  How cool is that? We went there and met him and he loved the service.  We told him we'd come by in the evening to talk and he said okay.  We went back around 4 and started talking.  The response he was giving to lesson 2 (The plan of Salvation) was incredible!  He made statements that I absolutely loved! and one of the statements I loved the most was, "I'm just waiting for the right time, that I can baptize and become a member of the Latter Day Saint church."  Let me just tell you, the spirit was STRONG in this lesson!  I had JOY after hearing him say this!  All I did after that was prayed that the spirit would stay in the lesson so he'd continue to feel it.  We invited him to church and he came!  Golden investigator right here!!!(; He loves the church and wants to be a member.  From this experience, I have learned that I need to give everyone a chance even if they seem just like another person who wants something free.  I love being on mission in Liberia and love the knowledge I have acquired about the church. I know that this Church literally is the only true church on this earth.  People say that if they teach from the Bible that its a true church. False. I tell people that they need to pray about the church their in and when I ask them if they have, most of them say "um... no" Prayer is the only way to find the truth.  After you have studied the scriptures, you need to pray, and you need to pray to know which church is true.  Don't just be apart of a religion just because your parents are apart of it.  Your parents won't be taking you to Heaven, it's yourself that will have to go there. No one will take you with them.  Find out for yourself.  I love the church and am SOOOO glad I had the opportunity to come on a mission.  I keep learning and growing in the church and I love it.  I hope that you all will find out for yourself if it's true and I hope you continue to study the scriptures on your own, as well as a family.  I LOVE THE CHURCH!!!

D&C 130:20-21 obedience brings blessings
I believe its also in this same section that makes reference to something really cool that if you have gone to the temple, you'll understand.  So read the whole thing.

Only one thing that I would like... WHITE CHOCOLATE! I had some white chocolate m&ms yesterday and I miss white chocolate.  so if you could maybe for Christmas or my birthday send some, I would LOVE you even more than I already do!! (;

Have a great week and remember who you are. A child of God.
Love your Brother/Son Elder Garrett Zaugg

 

Elder Bowring celebrating his 1 month mark and Elder Zaugg celebrating 6 months!

This is serious deep dish pizza!  Elder Zaugg's last package contained pizza dough, pepperonis, and sauce. Looks like it was a success!

These boys can cook!

YOSO = You Only Serve Once!

How is everything back home? Work? School? The Garden? Boys? Anything? I hope it is all going well!!! And that God is blessing you! I'M 6 MONTHS!!!!!! Any sister missionary that leaves now will get home AFTER me!!  That is an exciting thought!  Time on mission is running out very fast.  Time literally slips away while proselyting.  We never have enough time to see all the people we have to see.  I wish you could be in a missionaries shoes for one day.  When they say mission goes by fast, they aren't lying.   I love being in Liberia! I'm breaking my new companion in well.  Feeding him all this delicious African food.  Its funny because you can tell he's new, he doesn't know how to eat the native cuisine...  Theirs a technique to eating rice here.  You don't pour all the soup on the rice at once, you take it small small and then do a back and forth motion with your spoon to mix the rice around. I will demonstrate in 18 months, no worries.  But he likes to pour the soup and skip out on the whole spoon motion.... Amateurs... (;   To answer a few questions from the last email.  I use my back pack on pdays, but I don't wear it out because it stains my shirt and I don't like washing that many shirts. So, I stopped wearing it during the week.  We haven't had a change for the dress code or anything... what got changed?  I don't know if Elder Avornu got his package yet.  It would be really cool if you could send them one for Christmas. I think they'd really love it and it'd make their mission.  Elder Osayi was so excited to get his.  He kept asking me every week if our packages had been sent so he kept looking for it.  He loved it!  And he loved the personalized Journal to!  Speaking of journals... I need one pronto!!!! I'm running out of room haha so maybe you could send 2 if thats alright, then I'll ask for one when I finish the third one.   My hair has grown out now so I hope you were able to see how short it was.  Couldn't believe thats what the barber gave me haha I have learned not to get specific here.  Just close your eyes and pray with faith!  It worked this time...   He gave me a good one.

  I have run out of time and want to send at least one picture home.  So I love you all!!!!  And if you could send a journal or two, that would be greatly appreciated! 

3 Nephi 12:21-24, 34-37
Hope you have a good week. Until next time.
Elder Zaugg
P.S. The Zone has come up with a motto. YOSO....You only serve once.

I LOVE LIBERIA!!!!!!!!!!! and rice.



The Kitchen....Look! The dishes are done! :)



6 month celebration!

Yummy!

The Bedroom

Elder Bowring studying. I got him hooked on the 2 for 1 stale frosted flakes. :)

Pictures, and My New Area

Y'ello!

So, the picture of Brooklyn......  that girl has some serious attitude.  I'm pretty sure she has 5 boyfriends already and its the second week of school..  Tell her boys have cooties and she should stay away from them.  I honestly can't believe how grown up she looks!  I'll have to beat off all those boys when I get home.  She looks like she was ready to start school!  How'd she do with leaving mom?  Doesn't look like she had to hard a time leaving ha  which is good!  The watermelon pictures are sweet!  I'm sad I'm not there to enjoy the first watermelon from the garden....  make sure you write down what you did so it actually was ripe! Then when I get home I'll be able to try some!  and dad... you are killin that blue v neck.  I love it!  I leave for 6 months and everyone's style changes.... what'll it be like at 1 year?? haha  Then you have the picture of my sistas....  I really like it for 2 reasons, 

1. You guys look beautiful.  2.  There are no boyfriends in it. 

 so lets keep it that way yeah?(;  



"The Sistas"  sending their love to their brother in Africa!

 

 

 I'll respond to this email and last weeks email in a letter home so don't worry.  Maybe you could even send a silver paged bible and BOM if that's alright.  I want to put crocodile skin on them and then put them away until I get home! But I saw a missionary do it and it looks sweet! 

Now what you all have been waiting for!!  My new companion and Area!  We'll start with my companion.  His name is Elder Bowring from Blanding Utah.  We went by where he lives when we went hunting last October so we were talking about that!  We get along great and he is doing good with learning the lessons.  It's weird having an American companion because I've only had African ones my whole mission, so it was a change.  I was shocked when I found out that I was training again and going to a whitewashed area..  no pressure Elder Zaugg.  The area is nice. We are on the far end while Elder Osayi and his companion are on the other.  But let me tell you about the area.  The first day I get there, I go on exchange with Elder Osayi and his companion so they can show me the area.  They started taking me to some of my investigators and showing me around, and then we went to see some of theirs.  The interesting part about it, was that our investigators didn't live to far from each other.....  I asked Osayi where my boundaries were and he responded with, "This area doesn't have any boundaries..."    What area has 2 companionships working in it intermingling investigators.... Not True!  Come to find out on Sunday,  we weren't even in my area.    Needless to say, the area was horrible. Our area book didn't help like it should have.  We just started fresh and started contacting our own investigators.  We'll see how things go now.  Oh yeah, and when it rains over here, we proselyte in about 2 to 10 inches of water, depending on what part we go into.   What an adventure right?  Sorry if the writing doesn't make sense, I'm rushing to get all this information out, so its not organized,  but you can kind of get an Idea of what the past 2 weeks have been like. 

The apartment we live in has Electricity all through the night so we get to have a fan, which will be good with dry season coming up.  Its crazy having light for such a long period of time.  I feel spoiled and like I'm living too good for the mission.  Even having Electricity back, I don't use it that much.  I have learned to live without it, so I don't need it as bad.  It definitely helps for sure, but If I didn't have power I could be content.  On to the room situation now.  We have our own bathroom hooked to our room with running water, but our toilet doesn't flush.  Our room constantly smells like poop from the bathroom.     On the same poop topic, our balcony looks off into an industrial park with a ditch right below us.  So whenever it rains and the wind blows, the ditch fills with water and blows the smell into our apartment.  I'm really thinking, the ditch behind our apartment is where all the poops go too... but I'm not sure.  You know when its windy though, that's for sure!!   Scriptures to read Helaman 12:2-4      Being rich is not a bad thing, but what I have learned from studying the scriptures, is that we need to know who's providing our wealth for us.  Don't ever forget God, and don't just turn to worldly things.  Help others and help the church.

James 1:1-4,8,12,19-20 and 5:20      You can read all of James 1 but look at these versus specifically.

After 5 months of living here its Transfer Day.....sad day.

My MTC brother and me, Elder Smith got split up.

The other Elder Smith that goes home on the 30th of this month.

Elder Zaugg teasing the children

Traffic at night...Liberians are impatient. A two lane road becomes a five lane road with any open space occupied with a bike man.

Make sure you are taking time out of your day to sit down and just look over a few chapters or a few versus.  The scriptures tell us that if we rest them, it will be to our own destruction.  Dont ever stop studying the scriptures.  you need to make time for God so that he can make time for you.  Go to church with the desire to participate and to gain something from each lesson.  Don't go to just go.  You'll be wasting your time by doing so.  Make life count by doing what Mosiah 2:41 says and obey the commandments.  Then we'll be able to receive those spiritual blessings of having a stronger testimony and also we will receive those temporal blessings.  If God makes us rich, don't let pride sink in.  Why money is the root to all evil, is because people don't know how to use their money the right way.  They end up putting themselves in a worse place in life then if they would have been poor.  When you're poor, you  actually learn something from your trials.  Don't feel like your life is rough if you have a trial.  The scriptures tell us that we should rejoice if we have trials!  We will grow and become those people who God wants us to be if we go through them.  I know that this is the only true Church on this earth.  I love having this testimony and I want everyone I meet to have this same testimony.  Find out for yourself if this church is really the true church.  PRAY to know!  Don't just listen to everyone say its true.  Me telling you its true, won't get you a place in heaven.  So find out for yourself and reserve yourself a place in heaven.  I love you all and can't wait to hear from you next week!

Love Elder Zaugg

I Clothes Lined Myself

Another exciting week in LIB! First off.... I can't believe that Brook is starting school today!!!!!  BROOK! Have fun on your first day and make sure to tease all those nasty boys with cooties.  You can tell them if they mess with you your uncle Garrett will come beat them up for you.  Make lots of friends so that you can have sleep overs with them(;  Crazy its already time for her to start school! Make sure to send pictures of her first day next week! Braden looks like a stud at the MTC!! I'm so glad he has made it out now!  He'll love serving the Lord with all the energy he has.  It is the most rewarding thing you could do.  The picture of my sisters and Grandma is a good one.  I don't know how they aren't married yet.  Actually I do... I pray that they won't get married until after March 2015...  see the power of Faith?  (; kidding, God just knows what's best and he is on my side with having you all get married in 2015(: 

 

 My first son didn't receive a package before I left, but I think you could still send him one.  It made Elder Osayis day when he got his.  He would always talk about it, so it really brightens their day when they get stuff like that.  My other companions name I just had was Elder Avornu.  So maybe if you guys have time, you could send one his way.  He would appreciate it.  I love that kid so much! We had a great time together, I'm sad that we got separated but I know that Logan Town needs me now.
 

I will need a nice shampoo and cut from Kendra when I get home.  I currently only wash my hair once a week so that I will have enough shampoo to last me a good chunk of my mission.  Every pday is when I spoil myself with a nice shower and good food.  When I mean nice shower, I mean a cold bucket of water with a cup to pour over my body with some shampoo.  That's Liberian enjoyment right there.  And good food is a boiled egg with a cucumber on a 25-30LD bread.  This is a high quality day for me. So, The Frosties are still made by Kellogg's but they call them Frosties... I don't know why.  But the Nido milk is so nice! The Best they have in LIB.  I think its manufactured in a middle eastern country.  That's where majority of our products we buy come from.  They have a ketchup that's made by the Lebanese people and its not too bad actually.  Not the greatest but it still tastes some what like ketchup. I got 5 packages by the way!!! And yes I got all the stuff you have mentioned except 4 pens from the package that you had the sticky note in.  I guess they needed them more than me.  And they also ate one of my delicious protein snickers bars....  How rude.  I eat lots of egg sandwiches and rice.  Sometimes I'll throw in some frosted/corn flakes with sliced up bananas.  If we have some extra money, we'll buy some French fries or a cake and make it.  So we do enjoy some of the time, but most of the time its the same.  I will explain some food details if you write a letter and ask about it.  I'm trying to reply to last weeks email and still write more stories. 

Time just slips away!!  And studying... I don't have enough time to study in one hour.  I wish they would let us have 2 hours personal study and 1 hour companion study.  I love reading and learning about the Book of Mormon and Bible stories.  I am now just learning about all those stories that I heard people talking about growing up.... (;  Thank you for sending all that food and pens and everything!! And the pizza stuff! We will be making it sometime this week or next pday!! I love getting stuff like this!  Different meals are fun to make!  I am in desperate need of a journal!! If you could send me another one in the next package I would appreciate it! I write too much detail so I take up 4 pages a day.  So I need another one.  Maybe you could send 2 and then I will have back ups. 

Okay, so the first story this week.  I had just moved into my new apartment and was trying to figure out how to hang my clothes up, because we don't have a closet to put our clothes in.  I remembered the clothes lines that I had with me. I tied one to a nail on one side of the room and then tied it to the other nail on the other side.  I then hung my clothes up and it worked perfectly!  The only problem was that it hung a little low.  I didn't think anything of it, so I went to bed.  In the middle of the night I had to go to the bathroom, so I got out of bed and went. On my way back to my bed I was half asleep and then I felt something start choking me.  Yeah...  I clothes lined myself.  It was actually pretty scary because I didn't know what it was until I realized it was my clothes line. haha  yeah, I took it down in the morning.  It was a good idea while it lasted!

Now last one, I'm almost out of time. While I was on exchange waiting for my companion to come, we were in the other Logan Town area teaching.  As we were teaching Elder Osayi told me to turn around, and just as I turned around, I saw a little boy going to the bathroom.  No big deal, we see it all the time.  But he told me that the little boy had got it on himself.  The next thing I see is, his mom going over to a dried up palm leaf, rips off some leaves, goes back, and wipes this little boy. I always thought it was funny when people would joke about using a leaf in the wild.  well, I actually saw it happen... and it doesn't look comfortable.  especially with the dried part of the leaf... why couldn't she have grabbed a green leaf?  Probably would have been a lot softer then dried.

Well I'll try to tell more stories next time and more about my companion and area.  This new area is confusing.  I'll explain next week.  I'm training Elder Bowring from Blanding Utah!  He's awesome!  My first American companion and let me tell you, it is pretty sweet watching an American go through what I went through. So many new experiences!  I love it here!! 

Read all of Helaman 6:39-40 but read the whole chapter  as well.  I hope you all have a great week and I love you all!!  Until next week.
Elder Zaugg

Elder Zaugg with his new companion Elder Bowring