#51 Managua (Villa Venezuela)

August 26, 2013

Hey family,

Well this week has been pretty good. I'm glad to hear about the fun week that you're all having. Actually it sounds pretty boring, except for the cool picture of dad with the news cameras. That was pretty cool.

So here's what’s going on here. On Saturday, we had a cool baptism. I baptized Hermana B. So that was cool. There is also a really cool story behind the baptism. So for the past week, this family had been in "la Costa" which means "the Atlantic side of the country.” They have a farm there, and were doing some work on their farm for the past week. But on Tuesday, they arrived here in Managua to their house, and we got a chance to teach them. So while we were teaching them, Hermana B told us a cool story that happened while they were at their farm. She said that while they were there, they stopped by her mom’s house. B’s mom is the local Evangelical pastor in the town. So B stopped by her mother's house to talk about being baptized in the Mormon Church. So while she was talking to her mom, and explaining the situation about how she wants to get baptized in the Mormon Church, she was basically asking for her mother’s permission/approval. Surprisingly, B’s mother said "well... it appears to me that these young men are teaching you very good things that will help you through the rest of your life. They are also going to help you get married. So I suggest that you follow their council, and get baptized in this church.” 

WOW.... So yeah, basically B’s mom who is an evangelical pastor just gave permission to her daughter to be baptized in the Mormon Church. I wasn't expecting that, and neither was B. But on Tuesday, we put a baptism date/marriage date with the family for this Saturday.  We had to get them ready, so I traveled around all of Managua with Elder Ch getting all of their papers ready for the marriage. So yeah, on Saturday, we married them, and baptized B. J (the husband) was also going to get baptized, but he got cold feet, and we are going to baptize him in a couple weeks. I did the baptism for B, and I was actually pretty worried. She had just had brain surgery like 3 months before, and I was worried about the baptism affecting her. So I just prayed all day, and when we got into the water, I baptized her really gently and it worked out. Good stuff. Yesterday we confirmed her in church. Also, just about all of their family came to the baptism, and afterwards they were all really interested in the church. So on Sunday, we had a ton of investigators and families that came.

So other than that, we have just been working and looking for new people to teach. Not much too eventful has happened other than that. Oh, but H and K have told us, "We think that the Mormon Church is the correct church to join.” So, we haven’t yet put an exact baptism date with them, but they should be getting baptized very soon. So yeah,  patience is starting to pay off. Hopefully we should start to see some success in the next coming weeks.

Well I’m glad that all is going well at home. That’s pretty exciting about school starting up. Good stuff. Well, I love you all, and hope that this week is good for you all. Enjoy,

Elder Stark

PS. I didn’t get a chance to burn a pair of pants when I completed a year, but maybe someday I will do that.

#50 Managua (Villa Venezuela)

August 19, 2013

Hey family,

Well this week has been pretty normal, as usual. We have just been working with our investigators, and helping out the ward here. 

So here is a cool lesson that we had with one of the families that we´re still teaching. Their names are H and K, and I think that I’ve mentioned them to you. So we had a lesson with them on Wednesday. They have now been to church 9 times, and are progressing slowly towards the baptism. So we were teaching them, and we watched the 1-hour Joseph Smith movie, which was pretty cool; almost like a little FHE. But anyway, after the movie, we started talking to them, and I got the impression to ask them, ¨Do you really have the desire to know that the things that we´ve taught are true?” It was a pretty straightforward question, but I felt like I should have asked it. They responded with something like ¨Yeah... but it’s hard to believe, because the doctrine in the LDS church is so different from the doctrine in the other churches that we´ve visited. But yes, we have the DESIRE to believe.” So this was the prefect moment, and I just opened up my Book of Mormon to Alma 32 where it says ¨even if you can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.” You know, the verse in Alma 32:27.

Anyways, their response kind of shocked me. They just sat there for a while, and finally said, "Wow, it seems like that’s talking directly to me.” Kind of a cool moment. That opened the door to a cool lesson about faith. It was a really cool lesson, and although they haven’t said exactly that they want to be baptized, I can see that they are progressing. 

So the next day, we had a big meeting with President Collado. He talked a little to my companion and I, and we talked about this family with him. He said something like, "Just be patient. And imagine what a great family they will be when they finally make the decision to be baptized.” Then he went on to say "Think about the families that you convince in a week to be baptized. That means that they have a weak character. If you can convince them in a week, what is there to say that some evangelical pastor isn’t going to come and convince them a week later to leave the church? A family that takes a long time to convince will be even harder to convince to leave the Church.” So yeah, it was kind of cool to hear that. A lot of times its hard to be patient, but we're progressing with this family. Like for example, there are missionaries here that have baptized 40+ families in their mission, but the conversion of these families never really took place. They just convinced them by "sweet-talking" them. The way that you say that in Spanish is "echar la ca-sa-ca".  So yeah, maybe Elder C and I haven’t baptized a ton of people this change, but our converts are going to be the future bishops and stuff like that. Good stuff. 

Oh, so I’ve been thinking, but how are Bailey’s mission preparations coming along? Have you even begun to start getting him ready, or is he just relaxing while he's got the time? Just wondering. By the way, I’m super excited for him to start his mission. It will be really awesome for us to be in the field at the same time, and to exchange emails about our adventures. Does Bailey even know Spanish? Or what language did he take in High school? For some reason, I think he took German. In Spanish, the way to say "German" is "Alaman". It will be really fun when we get done, and we can understand/speak Spanish. You know, I was talking to some of the Latino elders last night, and I kind of had an epiphany. I was all of the sudden like "Wow, I’ve been talking for over an hour with this guy, and I understand EXACTLY 100% of everything that he said.” Like, I think that everybody just at some time or another just reaches the point where it becomes very easy to speak Spanish, think in Spanish, etc. Cool stuff. 

But anyway, it was fun reading about your adventures in the land of the McGregor’s. I’m really jealous that you all got to shoot guns. I would love to do that. I see guns all of the time. Sometimes, you would think that we were in the 1800´s, Joseph Smith times, because many times I will just see people walking around with some shotgun strapped over their shoulder. But yeah, it sounds like it was a fun trip.

So nothing too much has been happening here. We brought 5 investigators to church, and it was pretty cool. I was praying that the sacrament talks/lessons would apply well to the investigators, and it seemed that they did. So that was nice. 

And yeah, it’s really crazy that I’m at the one-year mark. I feel like the time has flown by, but at the same time, I can barely remember what it was like at home. It just kind of feels like this place has become my home. It’s hard to describe, and I know that another year down the road, I’ll be even more attached to this place. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to leave. But anyways, I’m glad that you're all happy at home. Things are going well here, and we're working and teaching. I hope that your next week goes well, and that you're all safe. Thanks for everything. I really liked the pictures.

Con amor,

Elder Stark

#49 Managua (Villa Venezuela)

8-12-13

Hey family,

Well another week has gone by, and here I am again writing you all. The computer I’m on really sucks, especially the space button, so forgive me if a lot of the words just come out as one giant word.

But anyway, I'm really exited about Bailey's mission call. I think about it all  the time and I am stoked. But he still has a ton of time at home to get ready and learn every thing about the country. I’ve asked a lot of Latinos what the Dominican Republic is like and they all say that the people there speak Spanish really "weird". They say that their slang is hard to understand. But that’s alright. If you have any questions about stuff to buy, and what is good and not good, just ask me and I’ll fill you in.

So this week has gone by quickly, but I have a hard time remembering what happened. One of the days this week, the power went out in the whole area. Like everything. There wasn’t a single light, or street light, or anything. So we just went home, because it was too dangerous to be outside. That day was pretty uneventful, but because the lights were out, we had to go across the street and buy some candles from our neighbors. I bought a couple, and it was really cool.

So we are just continuing to teach all of the people that we have. We are still teaching H and K, and they came to the church again for the 8th time. There are more faithful than 90% of the members here. So that was cool. But sadly, we only had one family of investigators at church this week. Thus ends the 7 week streak of 2 families at church on Sunday. After church we went to the home of a member who always gives us lunch. The awesome part was that they gave us lasagna, which was the first time I remember eating that here. It was awesome, and actually tasted more like chicken pot pie. Good stuff. Oh, and to get to this house, we were just waiting for the bus. Then a taxi stopped, and offered to take us for really cheap. We were like, "Sorry man, we don’t have any money for a taxi.” And he was like, "I’ll take you for the price of the bus.” It was awesome.

Oh and on Saturday, I teach an English class in the church. After teaching the class, I decided to show H the family history center. I showed him my family tree and all of the stuff on the church’s family history website. Then the bishop of the other ward (who was sitting next to us on the other computer) began to talk about baptisms for the dead and temple work. I was just sitting there thinking, "Bishop, stop talking about these things. They'll just confuse my investigator.” But the damage was done, so I had to explain everything about the temples and ordinances. It turns out that it was a really spiritual lesson, and my investigator loved it. I was actually surprised that he wasn’t weirded out. So that was good. Little by little, we’re progressing with that family.

So on P-day today, we got invited by President Collado to eat lunch at his house. So this morning we went to the mission office and hung around with the elders there. Then the Sister Collado showed up, and we all piled into their minivan and went to their house. It is very, very, very, very, very, rich and all of us missionaries just kind of walked around with our jaws open, all surprised and whatnot. It was crazy. Like there is hot water and A/C in almost all of the house. I couldn’t believe it. But yeah, we hung around with them. We played some Ping-Pong, and then Sister Collado made us lasagna. It was awesome, and for the 2nd day in a row, I got to eat one of my most favorite foods. So yeah, that was crazy. Afterwards, Elder Ch and I were sitting on the couch chatting, and President Collado came and sat down and talked with us for a while. Then he was like, "I’ve got a better place," and he took us deeper into his house into their theater room. We three sat down on these crazy awesome recliners, and we chatted for a while. Then President Collado was like, "let’s relax" and he turned off the lights, and we kicked out the foot rests, and relaxed for like an hour. We all fell asleep, and it was awesome. This mission president is totally a stud. So cool. 

Oh yeah, and President and Sister Collado totally think that it’s awesome that I know Brother R. Sister Collado talked to me for like 15 minutes about Elder/Brother R, and she even showed me a picture on her iPhone of the R family. Who would have ever thought that I would come to Nicaragua, and find a picture of the R family on someone’s iPhone? But yeah, did you know that he baptized Sister Collado? He also helped a ton of people go to the temple, and yeah, they totally love him. Fun stuff.

So not much else happened this week. A dog went to bite my comp, and I chucked a rock at it, which hit it and it ran away crying. Fun stuff. And I’ve learned a little queqs'i from my comp. But that’s about it.

So yeah, I’m glad that all is well at home, and that you're all safe. Hopefully you don’t all have any more medical scares like you had this week. But yeah, it looks like you're doing well. Stay safe, and have a good week. I love you, and don’t forget to read you scriptures.

Elder Stark

#48 Managua (Villa Venezuela)

8-5-13

Hey,

I’m really excited to hear about Bailey’s mission call. Hopefully he goes to South America. South America is generally more normal and civilized than Central America. But you'll have to let me know where he'll be going. Now it’s just a waiting game.

So life has been pretty normal for me. Nothing much new has happened, and we're just trying to move from "families progressing" to "families baptized.” We have 2 awesome families that we're teaching. H and K, and J and B. So yeah, H and K have been to church 6 times, and J and B have been 3 times. Both of the families came to church on Sunday. I know what you mean about weird doctrine being discussed when we have investigators at church. During church this Sunday, there were many members that got up and bore their testimonies, and only talked about Temple work for the dead, and stuff like that. I just kind of was thinking, "I really wish these members would shut up, and talk about something normal, like the Bible...” But yeah, such is the church here. So hopefully the families aren’t too worried about that. But life is good, and we are having very spiritual lessons with our investigators each day. These families that we are teaching right now are really positive, and we are just working with them so that they can get baptized. I’m really stoked though, because I know that they will be 100% solid members, and will be future bishops and stuff like that. The cool families are never the easy ones to baptize. So that’s where we're at right now. We had a spiritual lesson with J and B, and we arrived at a point where they had a question for us, but couldn’t remember what it was. We sat there for like 2 minutes while they were trying to remember. In this moment, I got the chance to receive revelation, and to know what their question was, and exactly what they were thinking. It felt pretty similar to what Ammon must have felt in Alma 18 where it says: 

14 Therefore Ammon turned himself unto the king, and said unto him: What wilt thou that I should do for thee, O king? And the king answered him not for the space of an hour, according to their time, for he knew not what he should say unto him.

15 And it came to pass that Ammon said unto him again: What desirest thou of me? But the king answered him not.

 16 And it came to pass that Ammon, being filled with the Spirit of God, therefore he perceived the thoughts of the king. And he said unto him: Is it because thou hast heard that I defended thy servants and thy flocks, and slew seven of their brethren with the sling and with the sword, and smote off the arms of others, in order to defend thy flocks and thy servants; behold, is it this that causeth thy marvelings?

So this was a really cool moment for me, because it felt like the Spirit really just told me what they were thinking. So I asked them "Hermanos, saben ustedes como uno puede llegar a ser miembro de la Iglesia?" (Do you know how someone can become a member of the church?) They answered "No", and this opened the door to a very spiritual lesson about baptism, and what they need to do in order to be baptized. This family is really awesome. Right after explaining that a person needs a spiritual answer from God to be baptized, B said "Ok. I’m going to pray tonight, and I’ll have my answer from God tomorrow.” It was awesome. During the closing prayer, B prayed that they would have their answer in that very night. They have a lot of faith. So that night, B fasted and prayed, and got an answer. We're now just working with her husband, J, so that he can quit smoking and get his own answer. So yeah, life is good, and we're having spiritual experiences/lessons, and the Spirit is guiding us each day.

So I really like the new mission president and he is making things a lot better for us. With 300 extra Cordoba every 15 days, we have a lot more money to buy food. I have been pounding peanut butter. It’s pretty spendy here, but I love it. And yeah, we have been bringing tons and tons of investigators to church each Sunday, so I have been able o go all three hours. Our ward attendance is usually about 100, and it’s awesome to see that just my comp and me are bringing like 10% of the whole ward attendance each week in investigators. Nice right? We're "throwing fire" and the gospel principles class is always full. Be sure to be nice to the investigators in the ward each Sunday. Like maybe you can say something from the pulpit like, "We would especially like to wish a warm welcome to [so and so family]." Just stuff like that. And be sure to welcome the investigators and shake their hands, and be extra friendly. The members here are pretty lousy with the investigators, and don’t really do anything to make them feel at home. So yeah, work hard so that the investigators in the Edinburgh ward can have a good experience.

Life is good and I’m feeling great. I hope that we can get these new families baptized. Anyways, I’m really stoked about Bailey and his mission call. I've been praying that he will get called to a place that will be best for him. Let me know! And be sure to congratulate him on my part. Thanks for everything. You're the best!

Elder Stark