Elder Jake Stark's Mission: #19 Chinandega

Family!!

I was really glad to hear from you this week. I can’t believe that another week has gone by too. It’s really weird being here sometimes, because the days go by so so slow, and we are literally dead by the night. But then we wake up and have a lot of energy, but by 8pm, were dead again. It’s a vicious cycle, but it’s super fun. The days feel like weeks, and sometimes the weeks feel like days. Kind of hard to describe, but maybe you know what I’m talking about.

So I was really glad to hear that you all had fun on New Years eve, and also on The New Years Day. That’s totally awesome that you had the party at our house. I’m glad to hear that you had fun. My new years eve was a little interisting. The day before our Recent Converts had boughten us some Nakatamales. There like tamales, but super huge, and wrapped in seaweed rather than corn husks. They were really good, but during Monday night, I got pretty sick. They fed us again on new years eve, and it was a super fancy dinner. I can really tell that these two people are so so so so so grateful that we helped them get baptized. I feel really bad, because the man is a total stud, but he doesn’t have work because he got hit by a car while on his bike, and he had surgery on his arm, and can’t use it for the next year. So basically, the family is without much money, but they really really express their love for us by feeding us a lot, which is a sacrifice for them. Ok back to the story, so they fed us a really nice dinner on new years eve, and I was feeling a little sick. I ate it and was doing fine, but after when we were chatting and stuff, I started to feel pretty nasty. Finally we got up to leave, and I walked outside, and walked across the street in the dark, and just barfed it all up. I felt really bad, because the food was fantastic, but I just had a little upset stomach. But they are totally awesome, and we just laughed after. The woman went and got me some medicine, and it all worked out. I am so glad that I had the opertunidad to teach them, because they are totally awesome, and they really love us. They are always trying to buy us something and do good things to us, even when it’s a sacrifice for them. It’s hard to explain in the email, but it’s amazing to see the impact being a part of the church, or in other words, having a testimony, can have on the life of a person. Really awesome.

So for the rest of the night on new years eve, I just took it easy, and we hung out with other members after the dinner with the man and woman. It was all good. So for the record, I have barfed twice in the field. Don’t worry about me though, because I’m doing fine, I’m just a little skinny.

Well mom, it sounds like you have you hands full with the primary. That’s sweet that you have a good calling, and that you have the opertunity to work with the kids. I’m sure that it’s hard sometimes, but you can take some satisfaction in knowing that you are helping the kids develop their testimonies, and that your are furthering the work of the Lord in the world. I don’t know how to say it, but this idea has helped me a lot in the mission.

So I’m glad to hear that everything is, like usual, well at the house. You got to go see the play, and that sounds fun. It sounds like Owen is working hard with wrestling, and tell him congrats from me. And mom, don’t worry about Bailey serving a mission. He is super mature, and I know that he will do fine. Bailey is one of the hardest working guys I know, and I know that he will work hard, and have success in his mission. I think that it’s crazy that in 8 months or whatever, there will be 2 Elder Starks in the mission field. Here we call it echando fuego, which translates to throwing fire. I’m sure that Bailey will echar fuego during his mission.

So to answer dad for a little about the Mission Prep. That’s great that you have the opertunidad to help the prospective missionaries to learn and understand what they need to do. I honestly can’t remember a lot about the mission prep class I took in the BYU, or the mission prep I took at home. If you want to, in the emails each week, I can write a little message about the mission prep. We do a lot of role playing during zone meetings, and it’s really helpful. I think some really good advice for the prospective missionaries would be to know that the mission isn’t easy. Its really really hard, and if they want to serve a mission in some foreign land just to sightsee, then they should forget about serving a mission. There are a lot of super hard working missionaries, and there are some who are just here because their parents made them. It’s really easy to see the difference between these two groups of missionaries, and it’s really important to have a desire to serve the Lord. I’m worried that with this new change, there will be a lot of new missionaries, but also a lot of slackers. The mission presidente visited our zone this week, and had interviews with each missionary. It was really sweet, and for almost a whole day, we received training from the presidnte, his wife, and the 2 APs. To be a successful missionary, (this is what I’ve come to learn), you need to know how to teach by the spirit. In D&C 50 verse 13 and 14 it basically tells what our perpus is. I know my spelling sucks, and its because I am forgetting how to spell the words in English. But basically, this scripture says that we are here to teach by the spirit. So yeah, dad for the mission prep course, make them role play, and make them understand that they need to learn how to recognise the spirit and how to help their investigator feel the spirit. Basically, teach, testify, and ask inspired questions. That’s how we teach here, and it works really really well. Hope this helps answer your question. I really liked hearing the story about your mission, and it helped me understand a lot about agency. Thanks.

So, basically we just teach and contact a lot here. It’s hard to describe everything that goes on here, but I write in my journal each night, so when I get back, you can all read it. I teach a lot here, and I’ve gotten a lot better. By asking the inspired questions, we can help the investigator to feel the spirit, and it helpes them to think. I was in a lesson with an elder named Elder M, and we asked ¨what experiences have you had when Heavenly Father answers your prayers¨. It was really a good question, and the lady sat there for a while and started to cry, and told us some experience where a prayer was answered. We basically just sat there, and she learned everything just from the Spirit. I think I’ve said this before, but its hard to describe what it was like if you wernt there. Basically, the lady felt the spirit super strong, and she understood. It’s really cool to help people, and to have people to teach and listen. I’m really glad for the chance I have to help people learn and be baptized.

Right now, I’m just working hard and helping people out. The language is hard, and it’s a little frustrating sometimes. But I’m learning, and I’m not too worried. Of course I would love to be 100% fluent and understand everything people say, but I’m happy with where I’m at right now. The comps are doing well, and I learn a lot from being with the leders of the zone. Right now, in the scripture reading, I’m in Alma where him and Amulek are ¨echando fuego¨. I wish that I could have the success that they had, like baptizing thousands. But I know that I probably won’t have those kinds of experiences. Really cool to read about either way, and I learn a lot. The chapters in Alma about Alma and Amulek are really applicabale to the missionary work, and they are super awesome to me, because I’m a missionary like them. The hardest part, to be honest, is getting people to go to church. Well, yeah, that’s just the delema right now. People will commit to be baptized, but they wont go to church. On Sunday, they will lie to us, saying they’re sick, busy, or cant to. It’s a little frustrating, but whatever.

So yeah, I really love my time here. I’m having a good time, and I also hope that all is well at home. In the email, dad signed off with a scripture. I will sign off with some cool things that happened this week.

- One night, we went to our house to get more panflets to hand out. As we walked outside our house, we heard a boom, and all of the lights went out in like a square kilometer. I don’t know what happened, but the electricity went out. What was once a busy street, all of the sudden because super dark. There arnt emegerency lights or anything. So yeah, it was pitch black, and there were a lot of people in the streets wandering around, because they couldn’t see anyhing. Luckily we had a flashlight, and we were able to find are way around. People started lighting candles, and it was really a different experience.

- I was in an alley in La Linea, and we were contacting and looking for a house we had contacted. PS, the direccion-addresses are a pain in the butt sometimes. So we were in this alley, and a dog got mad at us and was trying to eat us, then when all of the other dogs in the houses heard the fiasco going on, they came out and tried to eat us too. We had a lot of dogs, and we took off our backpacks, and put them in front of us, and backed out slowly, while like 9 dogs were barking at us and trying to bite us. Pretty freaky!!

- On the way to a neigherbood, there is a street with a bunch of rich people. Like really really really rich. The top .01% or whatever of Nicaragua. They were really rich by US standards. So we decided that we were going to try to contact there. We walked in and some servant dude told us to leave, because we weren’t aloud there. The people there even have servants! It was really crazy, and we left. Kind of funny. Apparently it’s a colony or something, and you cant go there unless you have permission. Otherwise they’ll call the police and make you leave.

- for P day, we had a water fight in the parking lot of the church. I was soaking wet, but it felt really good. Fun stuff.

- oh and we found another tarantula in our house.

Well, thanks for the email, and I love you all and miss you. I have changes a week from Wednesday. We will see if I stay in Chinandega or leave.

Lots of love,

Elder Stark