#17 Chinandega

December 17, 2012

OK familia,

Well here I am again, another week has passed, and all is well as usual. I was really glad to get your email. It’s really fun to read, and Elder T (the new missionary), and we both agreed that sending emails home and reading emails was easily the best part of each week. So yeah, I’m always really grateful that you guys send me emails each week. This week was a pretty long email, so thanks, I really enjoyed it. Anyways, from the email, it sounds like you are all doing really well. It sounds like every thing is pretty normal, and that you’re all just getting ready for the Christmas season. I really love the Christmas season, and the build up for Christmas day is really fun. Good stuff.

I was glad to hear that Owen has been working hard on the wrestling. It sounds like he is turning out to be working really hard, and is having fun. How much is he weighing these days? Probably a lot, what a giant! And Bailey? How has he been doing this week? I bet that he is probably doing well. Anyways, I was really glad for you email. It also sounds like Mom is super busy. Well Mom, I’m glad that the primary stuff is all going well. It sounds like you're working really hard, and that the primary is a success. It also sounds like the farewell of Sam went well. It sounds like jokes were made, and that he is pretty ready. I am really excited to hear how Sam likes El Salvador, and how he likes the CCM's in Guatemala and Provo. Good for him. He will really, really like it here in Central America. Also, in the email, you all said that you're going to California. I forgot to mention this earlier, but during the cambios, I got a letter from Grandma Anne. Today during P-day I wrote a letter back to her, and mailed it. Hopefully it gets there in a week or two. 

Ok I’ll just talk about what has been going on this week. We have pretty much just been working, but mostly in other areas of the zone. It was pretty fun, but it’s sometimes a pain, cleaning up the mess of the other missionaries. Because I’m with the ZLs we have to deal with the poopy missionaries who aren’t working hard, and we have to work in their areas a lot. It’s all right though, because I get to know all of the areas of the zone, and I get to work with a lot of different people. On one of the days of the week (Thursday) I was in Chichigalpa, and I ate another empanada (yeah, I made the same mistake a few weeks ago), and the next morning I was barfing and had bad diarrhea. You would think that I would have learned my lesson 3 weeks ago, but no. It’s just that the empanada looked so good. Well, that’s what I get for following my eyes. On Thursday too, we had one of the AP's come and visit our zone. During the night, he stayed in our house, and it was fun having another missionary to make more jokes with. 

Well, Dad was asking for just normal day-to-day stuff. Generally each day, we study the Book of Mormon and eat and stuff. Then we leave the house at like 11, and work for a little while, and then go to lunch at 12:30. The food here has been the same. It’s always some white rice, maybe a little chicken, some leaves of lettuce with cucumber and tomato, and some fruit juice of something. I have gotten pretty used to the food, but I sometimes miss American food. But a couple days ago, the Hermana who makes us food made some lasagna. It wasn’t the same, and I think she used catsup (they REALLY love that stuff here) instead of tomato sauce. Anyway it was different, but it was good at the same time. 

So yeah, this week I have been spending a lot of time with the new elder. It’s pretty cool and he is fun. His Spanish isn’t fantastic, but who cares, its pretty funny. He talks really loud, and acts a lot like Sam S. Funny stuff. During contacts, he will say in a really loud voice with a gringo accent "usted es el hombre" or "somos sus amigos". Usted es el hombre translates to "you are the man", but it isn’t a phrase in Spanish. So people always look at us funny. It’s pretty funny though. I’m surprised at how much better my Spanish has gotten in just 2 months. I can generally understand people, and it’s not too bad. Well, the missionary work has been going pretty well here. We haven’t been having as much baptisms as we normally would, because we have been working in the zone. Either way, it's cool. Hopefully this week, we will have a family baptized. It’s a guy who we contacted, who his job is to stand outside of the bookstore and guard it with a shotgun. We just casually contacted him a few weeks ago, and he said that he might go to church. The cool thing is that he actually went to church, and he also took his wife. We were really surprised, because it is a pretty big sacrifice for him, because he lives really far away, and the bus is expensive for people out that far. He is really cool, and I actually just talked to him today. So yeah, were hoping that his wife and he will be baptized. Cool stuff. It's fun visiting them, because it’s really far away in the farming parts, and the people there are a little different.

We were going out there, and there was a high school graduation in the tiny high school out there. The people were all dressed up, and I think that there were like 20 people graduating. Education is a big deal here, and people really try hard to get a good education. It’s tough when we contact people who can’t read (pretty often), and we can’t really teach them the Book of Mormon or have them read the scriptures.

Well, like I was saying, the investigator thing is going pretty well. We have a couple families who we are hoping to baptize sometime this month or the next. Literally, the toughest part is getting people to the church. Placing baptism dates is easy, but getting people to act and go to church is really, really tough. Contacting here is pretty much all we do, we contact, teach, and baptize. So during the day, I am doing one of those 3 things, but chances are, I’m contacting. We were trying to get people to go to church yesterday, and we were visiting a family I had contacted. They weren’t there, but the grandpa was. He was super anti Mormon, and was saying that we worship Jose Smith, and we have a book of "men", and all kinds of things. It was pretty crazy, but during the contact I was just kind of laughing. The guy was so, so anti, and it was kind of funny to hear all of the accusations he was making. The Elder I was with after said "vamos a testificar contra el durante el juicio final". The anti guy was just some crazy dude. Generally people are pretty chill and will let us in their houses and teach a little. I can’t imagine what Denmark was like, getting a lot of rejection and stuff. I’m glad that I’m here.

Oh this P-day I was with Elder T. The ZL's went to Managua for a conference of leaders, and we were together for the P-day. Pretty fun. The zone went to Corinto to the beach, but we just stayed back in Chichigalpa and had fun here. We spent the day walking around the markets, and buying cool stuff. There is a lot of coot stuff to be bought, and it was fun looking around. The markets here are a lot like the markets in Belize/Mexico, but a lot more dirty and crowded and crazy. Sometimes it’s fun being white, and other times it’s annoying. People are always yelling at us, and saying "chele, venga a mi tienda". White man, come to my shop. It’s especially funny when they say "chelito" or "little white man" which is actually a lie, because the Latinos are way smaller than us. So yeah, we just walked around the shops, and I bought a little bracelet for Owen for the gift exchange. I had the guy engrave "Owen" on one side, and "Nicaragua" on the other. Pretty cool. About a dollar (25 cordobas). I also bought a little coin pouch that’s leather and is pretty cool, and a bag. I really wanted a cool bag, because my back always gets really sweaty from my backpack. So yeah, I got my man bag. It’s pretty manly, and I call it my Man-Bag. I paid 190 cordobas, when the guy originally wanted like 230. Bargaining is the best. Yeah so for our P-day we just walked around, and I showed him all of the markets and stuff. Cool stuff. The markets here look like a movie or maybe call of duty. They are pretty crazy, and they are really different from anything American. I really like it, and it feels pretty fun. I really want to come back here after I finish the mission, and I’m planning on doing it. Nicaragua is pretty safe, and I think that Dad would really enjoy it. I don’t know about Mom though, because I think that she would get a pretty big culture shock. She was culture shocked just being in Mexico/Belize, and here is way more extreme.

Oh funny story: During contacts, people always ask where were from. Generally I’ll say the US, but if I’m feeling goofy, I’ll say "Beleces" which means "Belize". I can generally get people to believe me if I can say it with a straight face. Or sometimes when people ask if I’m from the US, I will say no. They are generally pretty confused, and say something else like Mexico or España. Sometimes when people ask where I’m from, and I ask where they think, they say España. That makes me feel pretty good that I can sometimes fake my accent and make people believe that I’m a native speaker. That’s only happened like 5 times though, and generally they can tell that I’m American. 

Gracias por todos,

Elder Stark

[VIDEO] Talking in front of the other missionaries

Belen

Managua

District Meeting

Fanta!

On the bus

With Elder S

With the Man Bag

Zone Meeting

#16 Chinandega

Familia!!!

Well another great week has passes by for me. It sounds like in your email, that you are all having a lot of fun in the house, and that you’re all getting ready for the Christmas time. I’m really glad that you’re all having fun, and that Christmas this year will be fun. It’s too bad that I wont be there, but I’m glad that you’re all having fun. Don’t worry about me, because I’m doing great and everything. Truthfully, it doesn’t feel like Christmas at all down here.  Yeah sure I see Christmas trees, and every hymn in church is a Christmas hymn, but it’s not quite the same. It’s super hot, and it just feels like another month. Anyways, we are all having fun here. The mission Nicaragua Norte has a pretty cool thing for Christmas. I have heard of other missions where the Christmas is not, but here they really treat us well.

Ok I’ll tell you all about this week. This week was a really packed with all kinds of crazy stuff and whatnot. Anyways, on Tuesday we had our last zone meeting and district meeting. It was really bittersweet for my comp Elder S, because he really loved the mission, and he had to go home the next day. Well, I took a bunch of pictures, and I’ll send them home after I send home my big email. So yeah, we had a really big blast, and made lots of jokes and stuff. After the meeting, we had a little contest-voting thing among the zone. We were voting people for things like mas twanis, mas guapo, mas trabajador. things like that. So I got voted the biggest cheapskate. So yeah, I’m the biggest cheapskate in the zone. Not quite sure how I feel about that, but its pretty funny either way.

Ok on Wednesday I had the cambios (changes). We woke up super early around 4. Because our whole zone had to get on the bus to Managua at 5, we had like 9 other elders in our house staying the night, because their areas were too far away to take a bus at that time in the morning. So yeah, we had a lot of elders in our house that night. It was really fun spending time with everyone, and needless to say, there were a lot of jokes made. So anyways, we took a bus to Managua super early in the morning. We arrived at the cambios, and the cambios are really fun. There are almost 200 missionaries here, and it’s fun to all be in the same room. I bought some leather scripture covers for my scriptures, but right now there being engraved with some pictures. I know that probably sounds confusing, but you’ll see when I send pictures home. I don’t have them now, but when I get them I’ll send pictures home. They cost like 40 bucks and that’s a lot of money down here, but that is my Christmas present to myself. Ok so during the cambios, I got my new comp. I’m with Elder C and he is from Guatemala. He is really cool, and it is his first time being the ZL. I’m still in Chinandega by the way, and I’m still in the same bed and everything. So yeah, I’m with Elder C. Elder D. got changed from our house to a city called Mategalpa (in the mountains), and we have a brand new greenie missionary in our house named Elder T. from Arizona. He is cool. So on Wednesday, we went to McDonalds, and then went home.

The cool thing about the new comps and everything is that I get to help train Elder T. The past cambio, I was almost always with Elder D., so this cambio, I’m going to be spending a lot of time with Elder T helping train him. Elder C is a new ZL and he is in training for the ZL too. So yeah, in our house, only Elder M and I know the zone. I spend a lot of time traveling around the zone teaching Elder C the areas, and also our own area. It’s pretty cool. Both of our zone leaders are Guatemaltecos (Guatemalans). Also what’s cool is that Elder P., my comp from the MTC got changed here to Chinandega. He was serving in Leon, but now he is here. Cool stuff. So I have a lot of friends in the Zone.

Ok from about Thursday to Sunday, there isn’t much to report. I just traveled around the zone teaching Elder C, and working in our area. On Sunday, a dog almost bit me, but I lifted up my foot to kick it, and it ran away. Funny stuff.

Ok, on P day, we went to Managua. We had a huge party, and had lots of cool experiences. It was really fun, and President Arredondo really spoiled us for the party. Pretty cool. We had a super fancy dinner, played soccer and games on some turf fields, and had a really cool devotional. I got my 2 packages too. I think that the mail system here is pretty secure, and that you don’t really need to worry about anything getting stolen. Anyways, I’m just waiting to open my packages until Christmas. I’m really excited, and thank you so much for the packages. I’m super excited, and I’m really grateful that I have such a good family. Funny story. On the bus back from Managua Monday, we were stopped at a stoplight. A little kid was washing windows and asking for money. He saw that I am white, and was at my window begging for money. I said no, and he just kept. When the bus started to leave, the kid jumped in the window, and stole the hat of the guy behind me (Elder M.). Pretty sucky, but it was kind of funny. It was really unexpected.

Ok, right now I’m on divisions with Elder M, and he is pressuring me to leave. We have to go to Chichigalpa (another city) and I need to leave soon. There is a lot more to write, but I’ll try to write it in a hand written letter and maybe send that. I love you all and miss you. Ill also try to send some pictures home.

Lots of love,

Elder Stark

 Belen, a super poor area but really cool 

 Elder C and I in a pickup on the way to Chichigalpa. 

#15 Chinandega

Familia,

Well, another week here has gone by. We have spent the week working and doing pretty much the usual stuff. I have been working a lot with Elder D (he was in the same district as me in the MTC) because my comp (the ZL) has been working a lot with the other ZL in the Zone. So anyways, I have spent the whole week pretty much with another guy with the same time here in Nicaragua. It’s pretty interesting sometimes, because neither of us really knows much, but we can get around all right. This week, during the Tuesday zone meeting, we got a little bit of interesting news. The ZL’s told us that we would be doing divisions for 3 days. So anyways, luckily I didn’t have to leave my area, but I was working with a guy named Elder B from Utah. It was pretty cool, and we worked really hard. I think that I did the most contacting in 2 of the days than I ever have in my mission. We worked hard, and placed baptism dates with a few people. It’s pretty cool here, because fairly often, in the first contact or first lesson, we can place baptism dates. Anyways, we worked hard, and had a good time. It’s fun being with the natives, but sometimes it’s also fun being with another American. 

Well, here it’s December. It’s really different being here rather than at home. Here, everybody is going crazy about the Christmas. I think that it’s probably 70 percent of the population is Catholic, and the other 20 percent is Evangelico. So yeah, literally everyone is Christian, and everyone is celebrating Christmas. It’s pretty cool, but it’s really hot, so it doesn’t really feel the same. But almost every hymn that I’ve sung in the past few days has been a Christmas hymn. I think that I have a few of them memorized. It just feels a little weird though because it's super hot, but there are Christmas trees and stuff in people’s homes. But either way, it’s still awesome. Christmas time here is pretty cool, and the people are really excited. 

Ok funny story. For our plan for our zone to get new investigators, we came up with Plan: Santa Clause. This plan was pretty simple, but the results were a little interesting. Ok, the plan was to get a bunch of the DVDs Joy to the World, and to go to the Bisine (the giant bus area) and sing and hand out free gifts (the DVDs). So we were all super excited, and we even dressed up one of the heavier missionaries as Santa, uniform and everything. We had posters and todos. So we went to the Bisine to sing with the whole zone. Ok, it’s pretty hard to describe in email, but the Bisine is super crowded, hot, and loud. It’s a place where people are constantly yelling and screaming at you to get into their crowded bus. Ok, there is my description. There are also a bunch of kids trying to sell oranges or gum or coke. So we get there, and we set up. We start singing, and another Elder is yelling about the free gifts. So we got a pretty good size crowed, and we gave away a couple DVDs (they were wrapped). We gave some away, and the people started to get pretty excited. We wrote down some directions to the houses, and it was going well, for about 2 minutes. Ok, then the people decided that they really wanted some gifts. So all of the sudden, within like 3 minutes, there was a massive crowd, and they pretty much just mauled us for the "free gifts". They were all screaming at us "da me uno chele" or basically "give me one white man". So yeah, it was pretty crazy, and they stole all of our gifts. Then the people were all mad that there weren’t more gifts, so they got all mad and left. It was pretty interesting, and in the books of all of the missionaries: a big fail. But it was funny either way.  

This week, I also bought a slice of cake from a pastry shop. I know that probably sounds pretty normal and of no worth, but it was really good. We just eat rice and beans, so a slice of cake was so so good. It was 20 cordobas. About 85 cents. 

Another Story. 2 Nights ago, my comp Elder S and I were walking to buy a Fanta. It was like 9 at night, and the night was pretty calm. So he was talking on the phone, and a moto came up behind us. There are constantly motos cruising by us, so we didn’t really pay much attention. So this moto with 2 people on it, cruised beside Elder S, and stole his phone and glasses from his hand, and then took off. It was really, really lame, and Elder S was pretty mad. The phone wasn’t that big of a deal, but he had some pretty fancy glasses, so he was really mad. The guy on the moto just reached and grabbed, and probably accidently took his glasses too. No bueno.

Oh ok, some interesting stuff for dad. This week I have seen a couple people with the shoe glue getting high. I remember that we watched some sort of documentary about that. Anyways, it messes up the people pretty bad, and I saw a guy yesterday just stumbling down the street because he was so high. No bueno! The lessons here: don’t do drugs. Not even glue.

Ok some stories about the spiritual side. Elder D and I were teaching our recent convert about the priesthood blessings. He just got the Melchezidek priesthood, so he can do them now. We taught him all about the blessings, and after just answered his questions about the tithing and other stuff. So I shared some scriptures about tithing in 3 Nefi, and taught him a little about it. He is super poor, so there is no way that he can pay tithing and buy food for his family. So we taught him and everything, and at the end he said the closing prayer. The lesson went really good too. During the prayer, he kind of started crying and stuff, and after said that he received an answer that he should pay his tithing. It was really cool, and that guy is super strong in the testimony.

Oh this week we contacted a dude with a shotgun. His job is just to stand in front of a store, and guard it with his gun. We just casually talked to him, and he said that he would go to church. We didn’t give much thought to it though, because 95% of people just lie. But he actually came to church, and sat behind us. Really cool! Our amigo with an escopeta. 

Ok, I'll answer some of your questions that you said: 1. How many missionaries are in your mission?  2. What is the mix between gringos and Americans? 3. Do you have a new comp/area?  Is your new comp the ZL?  4. Are there any weird holidays they celebrate in Nicaragua around Christmas time? 5. How often do you see the President? 6. Where are you going to be at Christmas?

There are 180 missionaries in the mission.  It’s probably 50/50 cheles and Latinos.  I haven’t gotten the new comp/area because the changes are actually Wednesday. On Wednesday I'll figure everything out. Right now I’m still in Chinandega.  I don’t really know of any weird holidays here. Right now the majority of the focus is on Christmas.  I have seen the president once this change, during stake conference. But we see the Daniel Ortega in the news every day. (other pres)  For Christmas, I'll probably be here in Chinandega, if I don’t get changed. But we are going to Managua for the Mission Christmas party on the 10th.

I was glad to hear that the letter I sent arrived really quickly. 10 cordobas are about 50 cents in US, and that is about how much I spend on breakfast, just for a little perspective. 

Well aside from that, it sounds like that your all doing really well and having a fun time. I hope that all goes well, and that the Christmas time is great for you. PS: I sent another letter today, and it can be my Christmas present to you all from me. I wrote a paper for each person. Gracias,

Love Elder Stark

Getting the Led out in Chinandega

Rice and Beans for every meal

We drink a lot of soda

Pre-Santa experience

Pre-Santa experience