Elder Jake Stark's Mission: #12 Chinandega

November 12, 2012

Hey familia,

I just got done reading you're letter. Its always super, super fun to get to do the email part on P-Day. I really enjoy hearing from you, and getting a little news from the outside American world. It’s really weird being here, but like I’ve said before, I’m adjusting.

So yeah, this week I heard about the election. We were in a members house eating our lunch (Always rice, always rice. I said that twice, because it is literally always rice), and I heard about the election on the TV. I didn’t understand much cause it was in Spanish, but I just saw a glimpse on the TV of the post-election celebration thing. It’s pretty lousy, and all of the missionaries were ticked off. Especially my companion, and he is not even from the States. Anyways, yeah, whatever. It’s funny being in houses with the TV. I never watch it, because were not supposed to, but I sometimes get a glimpse. So far I have seen on the TV, Jason Bourne, Lord of the Rings, 50 First Dates, and a bunch of others like Toy Story. Literally every family here has a TV. They could be dirt poor (literally), and starving, but it is almost guaranteed that they'll have a TV and some loud nice speakers.

So I’ll give you a rundown of what I have been doing this week. This week has been really hot. Chinandega is one of the hottest zones in Nicaragua, so yeah, we sweat it out always. It kind of blows, and I sometimes wonder if I’ll ever be dry? Who knows? The handkerchiefs are a must have for being here. So this week we have been working with our investigators, and getting them ready for baptism. We have one family that is almost guaranteed to be baptized this Saturday, and another that we are somewhat skeptical about. Anyways, we will see what happens. I really like the missionary work here, and it’s really fun working and talking with people. Or in other words, it’s pretty cool just to walk around and talk to people. We have been doing a lot of walking like always, so if you ever wonder what I’m doing at any given time, I’m probably walking, or sitting teaching, or sitting in a bus. My trainer is really cool, and I get a lot of opportunities to teach, contact, and work. He leaves in 3 weeks to go home, so he is always talking about what he will do. It’s pretty interesting because I’m just starting. Anyways, yeah I get to hear a lot about how he will be long boarding, or playing guitar in Costa Rica. He is going to come visit Nicaragua with his family in January, so hopefully I will be able to still be in Chinandega, and get to ride his long board. Anyways, it’s pretty cool having a comp that likes to work hard and who is cool. I hear a lot of stories about comps who are lousy, curse, and don’t want to work. I’m just glad that I have a good comp right now. It’s pretty sweet.

So this week we worked in La Linea/La Graca a lot. I decided to take some pictures, so you can get a taste of what it looks like. It’s super poor, but Elder Silva and I refer to it as "la minea de oro" or the gold mine. It’s cool, cause in almost every contact, you can place a baptismal date, and they'll say yes. But in reality, they usually are lying. So it goes either way, sometimes they honestly want to be baptized, and sometimes they're just feeling good in the moment. We'll see though. I have been in La Linea a lot this week, and it’s fun to work with the really poor people. They are some of the most humble people in the world, and you can get along with anyone there. It’s not like the US where people don’t like to talk, in Nicaragua, almost every person will stop what they’re doing, pull up a chair, and have a nice long conversation about the Gospel. Anyways, different culture, cool stuff.

So this P-Day, we went to Burger King (they actually have on here in Chinandega), and I got some cini-minis and an ice cream cone. It was super expensive thought, like 60 cordobas. I felt bad spending that much, but I just decided in the moment that I needed some cini-minis. Good decision. After this, we went and played soccer in the court across the church. It was fun, and the Latinos are pretty good, but I scored 3 times, and I did all right. The Latinos here always refer to us white people as cheles. It’s like another word for gringo. I literally here that 100 times each day. I don’t really care though, its just cool to be here. So after soccer, we went to the parque and bought some food. I got a jumbo hotdog (super jumbo) and a huge glass of orange juice. Its really good, and you can get some pretty good food for cheap. I think all in all today, I’ve spent about 5 bucks American, which is a lot down here. It was a fun P-Day thought.

Ok, so this week, during some free time, I’ve been thinking about all of the stuff that I’ve learned being in the field and the MTC, so I wanted to pass this info down to Sam Schriever (Elder Schriever) and Elder (Bailey) Stark. This is probably most applicable to Sam, because he is coming down here to Central America. You can also post this stuff on you Missionary Mom thing. Here is what I’ve come up with.

#1 In the MTC, buy scripture covers for your Spanish scriptures. They are like 15 bucks, and they are a must have. Most people’s scriptures get pretty thrashed when they don’t have scripture covers.

#2 You don’t need to take your nice English scriptures down here, because they will pretty much never get used. I would follow the example of some other gringos, and send the nice English scriptures home at the end of the MTC time, and buy some cheap paperback English scriptures to take down here.

#3 Buy a watch that is waterproof. A watch is something that I use all day, and it’s important to have a good one, but not a really fancy looking one. Mine is waterproof to 100m, and this works great.

#4 Get a backpack that is super waterproof. Mine stuff got pretty messed up the first day, because I didn’t have it in a plastic bag. It’s good to have stuff that is really water-resistant, because you don’t want to have your stuff messed up. I saw an Elder with a thing called a dry bag - and it’s like a bag that you put your stuff in. Pretty cool idea.

#5 Get good shoes. The hushpuppies (husssshhh) are working really great, and so are the Eccos.

#6 When you buy the stuff from Petersons, make sure that the belt fits through the belt loops on the pants. The belt loops on mine are super tight, and its a little annoying. Also, reinforce the hemming on the bottom of the pants, because the hemming they did was a little weak.

#7 Buy and bring handkerchiefs, because I use them all the time, and they work great.

#8 Get a good waterproof camera. I have the Fuji Film XP50, which works really great. I have also seen a waterproof one by Olympus. Buy this, because you need a rugged, waterproof camera.

#9 Make sure that all of the clothes have the labels, because the lady brings our clothes, and they're always mixed up. The labels work great. Also, buy mesh G's. That is a must.

#10 Get good ties that you like. I got like 2 that I don’t like as much, and I never use them.

#11 Don’t worry too much about getting an umbrella. I have never seen a missionary use an umbrella, and you'll get wet no matter what.

Ok, there are the things that I’ve been thinking up all week. Oh, I forgot to tell this earlier, but tell Katie congrats on NY. That’s really cool, and I know she'll work hard. Its super hard being out here. I’m so exhausted every night, but it’s really worth it. So yeah, tell Katie congrats, and to work hard. That’s really cool that she gets to work in English, because it’s really hard learning a new language.

Well, I love you all, and I hope that you're all doing well.

Elder Stark