June 3, 2013
Hey family,
Hey family,
Thanks as always for the email. Managua
is pretty normal, and nothing really has changed. Except for one thing. The
rain began. Last Monday, after I got done writing home, we went to the
supermarket and as we left, it was just pounding rain. It was crazy how much
water falls from the sky here. I’ve
never seen anything like it... I have been taking some video of the rain here
and there so that you can all see what it’s like. But it feels really, really
good, and I’ve been putting that umbrella that mom gave me to good use. Also,
that dry bag that Aunt Laura gave me has been VERY helpful, and I use it every
day. So yeah, when it rains the people pretty much just all go inside, so the
contacting becomes very hard. But that’s just how it is. Also the temperature
has dropped a little, and when we go to sleep at night, it feels really good,
especially when it’s raining. There is something very nice about sleeping under
a tin roof with the clatter of the rain.
We changed houses this week. We are now living
with our Elders quorum president, and he is way cool. He served a mission in El
Salvador in the same mission as Elder Schriever, and he talks about his mission
all of the time. My comp and I are always joking that we make him trunky. But
yeah, it’s nice to live with members. Our new room is EVEN SMALLER, and it is
(according to my feet size) 10 feet by 12 feet. Pretty small, but its nice and
we're really happy. Also, the house is completely concrete, but above sits a
tin house that’s pretty ghetto. I took some cool pictures from above. There is
nothing up there, but it’s really scary, and we have plans to study up there.
We refer to it as the "monster house". Cool.
Oh, and this week the ZLs went to the
mission office, and surprisingly I got a package from the Arnell family in our
ward. It was really nice, and has some goodies and cool Idaho post cards. I
took a picture of myself with the package, and you can show them the picture
for some proof that it actually arrived here. But yeah, it was nice, so if you
can please tell them thanks, that would be nice. I think I'll write them a hand
written letter, but in the meantime, can you tell them thanks from me?
So this Sunday, all we had was 1
investigator in the church. We were pretty sad that we didn’t have a family.
Right now we're struggling to find new families to teach. But sometimes, there
are just weeks like that. So yeah, we’ve been doing a lot of contacting, and
not a ton of teaching. Also, we're trying to better our retention of the recent
converts. It’s hard to baptize, and it’s even harder to convert the people. So
that’s where we stand right now. Also this week, our family progressing (J and
O) dropped us. It’s the first time in my mission that a family has dropped us.
Usually we do the dropping when we see that they can’t progress. We went and
visited one day, and the Hermana O told us "I don’t want people thinking
that I’m Christian, because I’m not, I’m Catholic. And I’m going to die
Catholic. So you can just get off my porch, and leave, because I’m never going
to your church again." It was really harsh, and I tried to say something
and she just said, "Shut up, and leave. I don’t want anything to do with
you two". So yeah, that kind of sucked, but everyone has their agency, and
I feel like we gave that family a very fair chance to accept the gospel. It’s
pretty sad, but I know that we will just keep working and find a new family to
baptize. Well, even though we only had one investigator in church, my converts
W and C went. It was fast and testimony meeting, and after being a little
pushy, I got W to go up with me and we bore our testimonies. It was awesome,
and it’s super cool to have some good converts in the ward. And W’s testimony
was great. While I was trying to convince him to go, he said to me "I don’t
want to go up, because I feel pretty nervous." and I just responded
"WELL SO DO I!!” He laughed, but still felt pretty nervous. So finally, I
just stood up and began to walk towards the pulpit, and then before I knew it,
W was behind me. Super awesome. After he asked me, "Did I do a good
job?" Great stuff.
So I’m glad that you all had a good
vacation in Hawaii, and that you all made it back home. It’s awesome that the
summer vacation is now up and running, and that you all have a little time to
relax. I hope that Bailey can find a job, and that Owen can keep working hard
and keeping the house clean. I was pretty blessed to have the chance to work
for Uncle Mark, and to have the chance to save up for my mission. Hopefully Bailey
can get a good job and save up some moolah.
So changes are a week from Wednesday. I
am like 99% sure I’m leaving. I’m a little bored in my area, because I feel
like I’ve contacted every family, and I know the streets better than I know
myself. On P day I went to a paca (thrift
store) and it turns out that all of the stuff in this thrift store is from the
US, from Deseret Industry. I found a ton of discs of General Conference, and
just about every church movie every made. It was cool, and I bought some church
videos to watch. They're in English, which is cool. The one sad thing to see is
that all the stuff that DI sends here to Nicaragua just gets put into some
thrift store with high prices. I’m sure that some Nicaraguan dude is making a
lot of money from the donated stuff.
Well family, thanks for the letter, and
I hope that this week is a good one. It’s fun that you're all out of school and
can take a break. I hope that all is well, and I'll write you all next week.
Love,
Elder Stark
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