Oct 13, 2013 I Wish I Could Teleport

My area is big. I feel like we've been over this several times but it's like, really big. It doesn't really have southern or western boundaries. If we had people who REALLY wanted to listen to us we could bike for hours to go teach them. I don't really mind biking, but sometimes it really eats time. For example, on Thursdays we leave for Baku at 1:30 and bike for a little over an hour. We teach from 2:45 to 5:15 or so and then I teach English from 5:30 to 7. Then we leave so we can be back in our apartment before curfew. What if I could teleport?? We could be to Baku in seconds and teaching for hours rather than riding for hours and then teaching for well, longer than we are right now! So next time someone sends me an email and asks ''is there anything you need that we can send in a package?'' that's it. A teleporter. Also, someone needs to fix spell check so it recognizes the word teleport.

The big thing this week is the pictures I sent but I do want to tell one story. I don't know how food always manages to get into these emails but my companion and our district leader were on an exchange and they saw a snake. This one was a little bigger than most snakes we see out here and so they stopped to take pictures and look at it. After looking at it for a while they killed it with a stick, brought it home, fried it and ate It. I was actually going to try it too but I decided to go to bed before they were done so I don't have any pictures of anyone actually eating the snake. Sorry! Enjoy the other pictures?

I was talking to a young man in our branch the other day. He hasn't been to church in a month or so and keeps somewhat unsavory company. He expressed his desire to serve a mission when he got older (he's like 16 right now) and told me that he had seen that all the returned missionaries in our branch had lots of success in their lives.  I suggested that if he wanted to serve a mission later, he needed to prepare for it now.

 He thought about what I had to say and then completely dismissed it. He said he would return to activity in the church when he graduated from high school and then would prepare to serve a mission. I was reminded of some of my friends and acquaintances from high school who wanted to become doctors but had no desire to study or even go to class. ''I'll wait until college, then I'll really apply myself and get a degree'' they would say. Goals are important. We need to decide today what we want in the future. Whether it be a mission, a job, a marriage in the temple, or next week's math quiz, we have to prepare today for what will come tomorrow. We do this by applying what we know to be true (eg. going to school with help me prepare for the test, which will help me get into college which will help me get a job) and not putting off or ignoring things that will not help us or can even slow us down in the long run. Enjoy the pictures! -Elder Vore

Elder Vore before a baptism

                                                               Flooded, muddy river of Baku