Hey family,
Well, I bet the big news you're all
wondering is where I am, right? So I had the changes on Thursday, went to the
office of the mission, and the APs just told me that I was going to be going to
Villa Venezuela in the Zone Villa Flor, which is part of Managua. So yeah, it
looks like I still have several more months of the Managua experience. It’s
pretty crazy being here, and it is A LOT different than Bello Horizonte. Here
it’s poor... and the computer I’m on sucks. But I’ll explain more about the new
area later on in the email.
So my last couple days in Bello, I was
just completely working with the members. The ward in Bello isn’t very united,
and the attendance in the ward is very low. So we just spent days visiting all
of the members, and trying to get them excited about missionary work. So we'll
see what happens in that ward. The 2 missionaries that I left in Bello are
awesome, and they'll work hard and get the wheels rolling. I'm really sad to
have left that ward. I wish that I could have just stayed there for a couple
more months. By the time I left, I knew almost everyone, and I had a ton of
friends. It was pretty sad. As missionaries, we planned a sweet ward activity
on Tuesday that was more or less a farewell for me and another sister who also
had changes. Almost all of the ward, and a bunch of investigators were there,
and we had "cine Mormon" again. So we all watched "The Other Side
of Heaven" and it was super successful. After the movie, everyone was all
crying and it was awesome. I got hugs from like a million people and everyone
was saying things like "we’re so going to miss you" or "you're
the best". Good stuff. I have a ton of pictures with almost everyone in
the ward, but the computer won’t let me send pictures home. But yeah, it was
sad to leave the ward. All of my converts were especially sad, and they have
been so nice to us. M even gave me another Daniel Ortega shirt, which is
awesome.
So yeah, I somehow got everything to fit
into my suitcases, and we paid the 1st counselor to drive us to the mission
office in his pickup. It’s a little pickup smaller than the Schriever's, and we
elders rode in the back. It was awesome. We drove for like 30 minutes, and I
have a ton of video and pictures of the trip. Super fun. So we got to the office,
and everyone else just left. I was in the office with the other people who had
changes, and the APs. It was fun just to hang around for a couple hours, and
there wasn’t much to do. The APs found a bag of popcorn, and we microwaved it
up, and that was my breakfast. But anyway, finally they did the changes, and I
am now with an elder named Elder C. He is from Guatemala and has like 15 months
in the mission. And our area is Villa Venezuela. It’s really weird finally
going to a new area, and not knowing anyone, and being completely lost all of
the time. The area is just a huge maze of little rusty tin roof houses and dirt
roads. It doesn’t really make much sense, but I’m gradually learning the area.
We live in a pretty ghetto house, and it’s super hot. But all in all, its
pretty cool, and we live with 2 other elders in the house. The zone is
completely Latino, except for like 3 Americans. And one of the elders that we
live with is an American, so it’s fun to chat it up in English.
Anyways, I’m glad that you are all
always praying for me each night, because this area is one of the most
dangerous areas in the mission. It’s pretty sketchy (for lack of a better
word), and it is super super poor. But aside from the area being dangerous,
it’s actually a very good area. Because it’s so poor, I can already tell that
we are going to have a lot of success. I don’t know why, but the poorer areas
have more success. A part of our area to the south is named Milagro de Dios,
and this is like the most dangerous place in the world. But it’s awesome,
because they are so poor, and there are millions of families there. So I’ve
armed myself with just a paperback Book of Mormon, paperback Bible, pamphlets,
and my man-bag. I pretty much don’t carry any money or anything. So this way,
if I get robbed, I wont lose anything. But pretty much everyone has respect for
the missionaries, so there isn’t too much danger. Just to give you an example
of how awesome Milagro de Dios is, I’ll share a sweet little story.
On my very first day, my comp and I went
to this area. Its super far away, and it doesn’t even feel like Managua. It’s
all spread out, and we walk on these little dirt trails that run between these
little tin/plastic houses. There aren’t any cars honking, or motorcycles flying
down the road, or aggressive buses pushing you off the road. Its just super
quiet, and there aren’t too many people. So the first contact that we did, we
found a fairly negative family. But there was some guy walking behind us, and
he was the son of the woman we were talking with. He was like "Hey, I got
baptized in your church like 20 years ago". Obviously he was completely
inactive, but he said that his wife wasn’t a member. So we followed him a ways
until we got to his house. We finally got there, and I think that he lived in
the poorest house I’ve ever seen. It’s even worse than "la linea" in
Chinandega. It's a little sheet metal house about the size of mom and dad’s
closet. It has a roof made out of black plastic (that look like plastic lawn
bags), and it looks like it could topple over any minute. The house doesn’t
have running water or electricity, and it’s a really poor place. I don’t think
that I’ll ever take a picture of the house, because my camera is probably worth
more than their house, and I would never want to offend them. But anyway we
arrived at the house, and found his wife. After a minute of talking with them,
we just all sat on the ground, and had a lesson. Within a couple minutes, we
had placed a baptism date with the woman, and it was awesome. She had been to
church once before, and liked it a lot. So in 6 days, on Saturday, we are going
to baptize this woman, and complete the family. The guy used to be a completely
faithful member, and was about to serve a mission. He had been called to panama.
But for whatever reason, he never went, and instead he just hooked up with this
woman, and dropped off the map. The awesome thing is that Heavenly Father never
forgets about his children, and even though someone can go through 20-something
years of inactivity without once seeing missionaries, He always sends a way to
rescue His children. So we are working to get this guy active again, and to get
him back to church. On Sunday, we brought the family to church, and they loved
it. It was awesome to see that the husband who hadn’t been to church in years,
still remembered the song "Ye Elders of Israel" and to see him get
emotional again about going to church. Awesome.
So this place "Milagro de
Dios" is pretty dangerous, but I know that there are families that are
just waiting to receive the gospel there. It’s totally worth the risk, going
there, because there are all kinds of people to help. But yeah, the area is
pretty sketchy. I was contacting a house, and as I was walking away, a crazy
dog came out and bit my leg. I was pretty mad, and my leg started bleeding and
everything, but I just said a prayer like "please... don’t give me
rabies". So we just kept working, and eventually the pain went away, and
it just scabbed over. The next day, I called the mission nurse, and explained
everything, and we're just going to keep watching the leg to make sure it
doesn’t get worse. But I’ve been using the antibiotic stuff you sent me with,
and my leg seems to be doing just fine, and its healing great. So yeah. Good
stuff. Now I’ve finally got some war wounds from Nicaragua. Love it.
So, as with every baptism, there is
always a challenge. The family that we brought to church with the baptism date
is totally prepared, but there is one problem. The woman doesn’t have any papers
to get married. In fact, in terms of legality, she doesn’t even exist. Many of
the people that live in poverty just give birth to their niños in their houses,
and their children don’t ever get written into the system. So we are looking
for a lawyer to give us some help getting her written into the system. It’s
basically just a big pain in the butt, but it can be done. I know missionaries
that have had to do this before, so it’s totally possible.
We have also put more baptism dates with
other people. We found a guy, taught him lesson 1, and put a baptism date with
him for the 13th. He also went to church on Sunday, so we have a ton of
possibilities for baptism in the next weeks. Sunday here was awesome. We had 5
investigators, which were made up of 2 families, and 3 potential Melchizedek
priesthood holders. It has been a long time since I’ve had 2 families in
church, so I am really happy. I can tell that we're going to have a lot of success
here in Villa Venezuela. So I’m pretty happy that I’ve become friends with my
comp, and that we are both working hard, and that there aren’t any problems.
Everyone is really happy with us.
Well, life is good here. I’m gradually
learning the area, and I’m working hard here. This area is just a pure gold
mine, and it’s awesome. Also it’s awesome to live with other missionaries who
are cool. The other elders in my house are Elder E and Elder Ca. They are both
way cool, and E is the gringo one. He's also my DL. But anyway, we get to chat
it up all night long which is fun. We live super close to a huge black market
named "IVAN" and its really cool. I went there today and bought a new
wristband for my watch, because the leather one I had fell apart recently.
Well family, I hope that all is well at
home. I am glad to hear that the Edinburgh Ward is pumped to go and do some
missionary work. Maybe you can try and contact some of the people on our
street. I don’t know. Missionary work is so different here. Nicaragua its so
religious, and nobody had fear of talking/arguing with their neighbors about
how their Evangelical church is better than their neighbor's Catholic church.
And as missionaries from the LDS church here, we can teach almost anyone, and
most people are really cool.
Well, I love you all. Have a nice week.
Love,
Elder Stark
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