#55 Managua (Villa Venezuela)

September 23, 2013

Hey family,

Well, another good week has passed by. The days all just kind of mush into one big day, and it just feels like we're living in a dream. Like when I go to bed at night, I fall asleep immediately and then somehow in the blink of an eye, its morning time and were getting ready for the day. So yeah, the days all just kind of mush together and it is pretty crazy. So yesterday I arrived at 13 months, and it seems like the time just flies. 

But yeah, P-day we didn’t really do too much. We woke up, went to the supermarket for a little. I bought some ice cream and airheads (breakfast of champions) and then we went and played some football in the church as a zone. Somehow, someone got the A/C turned on in the basketball court and that was awesome. Then that’s about it. My comp and I went with the ZLs and we hung around with them at their house and ordered some pizza. Here the delivery guys use motorcycles rather than cars to deliver. But the idiot Pizza Hut delivery guy robbed us. He gave us our pizza, and we gave him the money, and while we were waiting for our change, he just jumped on his moto and took off. We were all pretty ticked after that, but the pizza was good. So yeah, we can’t trust anyone, not even our beloved Pizza Hut deliverymen.

So we were kind of bummed because on Saturday, we were going to baptize J (the husband of B), but he didn’t show up to his own baptism. All of the members were there, and we had the font filled up and all that stuff, but he just didn’t show up. We finally tracked him down at his house and it turns out that he didn’t want to get baptized. So yeah, that kind of stunk, but whatever. We're going to keep working with him.. But that’s cool that in the Edinburgh ward there were lots of investigators in the Gospel Principles class. My comp and I have been leading the zone in bringing families and investigators to church. We filled up the Gospel Principles class with 8 investigators this Sunday, which was just awesome. Plus, we had a man show up to church, and he said that his wife was a member, and that she has been trying to get him baptized all of his married life.  Finally he agreed and he took all of the missionary lessons online by missionaries that only use Facebook, and he said that he wants to join the church. So now we have a cool investigator that’s just asking to be baptized. So that is awesome. And plus, he already knows everything. Isn’t technology crazy how people can just receive all of the gospel information and missionary lessons without even leaving their houses? This guy said that he had "teaching appointments", where he gets online and chats with the missionaries. And the missionaries referred him to our ward. Pretty crazy stuff.

But yeah. Life is good here. Oh, and on Sunday, my convert H (the coolest convert I’ve got) taught the gospel principles class. I can really see how his testimony had grown. Now he is teaching hour long church classes, he is studying the scriptures each day, and is praying with his family each day. Its really, really awesome. We went and taught them about tithing, and they loved it and promised to pay. So yeah, when they complete a year of being members, I’m going to buy a plane ticket here and go with them to the temple.

Right now, the rainy season is kicking in to high gear. Last Monday, it rained the hardest I’ve ever seen in my life. Like, even many of the Nicas said that they've never seen rain like that. It rained so hard, and everyone in our house went outside and we stripped down to just a pair of shorts and we showered in the rain. It was totally awesome, but then I got pretty sick after. But now I’m feeling fine. But the rain was unreal. When it rains here, the sky turns red and the lightning is everywhere. It’s impossible to explain, but its crazy. And the tin roof factor just amplifies the sound of the rain. So yeah, it’s impossible to sleep when it’s raining, but it’s awesome. Every day it usually will rain like crazy for about an hour or 2, and then it calms down. And after it rains, it gets really hot and humid and almost unbearable. I don’t know which I like more, rain or heat, but I am kind of leaning towards rain. It’s just so unreal that its kind of awesome for someone like me who grew up in the desert climate of Idaho where it doesn’t rain too much. It’s pretty different.

Changes are the 16th of October and I wont get changed. Supposedly the training process is 12 week, so all of the trainers are tied to their kids for a minimum of 12 weeks. So I’ll have one more change here at least. That’s all right thought because we get along and we work hard. I let my comp teach a lot, and he is a lot better. He is sometimes hesitant to contact, but we do it anyways, and he is a lot better at teaching. He put a baptism date with one of our investigators named R, and the guy accepted. So that was cool. I told my comp that he did a great job. Oh, and we don’t really see the President too often, but we had a training with him all day Tuesday, and it was just for trainers and their kids. So all day I was in that training. It was all right, but I didn’t really like it because I had an upset stomach. So that was kind of mas o menos.

Well, I hope that all is well. I love you all and pray for you all each night. I hope that Bailey loves his time off, and is working hard. It sounds like he is putting in a lot of hours. And I hope that the homecoming is good for Owen. Tell him that I think that he is a ladies man. Good stuff.

Well, I love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Stark

#54 Managua (Villa Venezuela)

September 16, 2013

Hey family,

It’s crazy to think that it's P-day again, but yeah, the time seems to be flying. Today for P-day we have just been chilling around. We went to play some football at the church, but a bunch of kids showed up so we didn’t end up playing. Instead we just went to Pizza Hut and got some pizza. Pretty normal P-day.

So this week was pretty cool. We are progressing a lot with an investigator named J. He is the husband of B. So yeah, now he's given up smoking and should be ready to get baptized this Saturday. That should be cool. Whenever we go to their house, I always joke around with him saying "ya tiene calor" (are you hot?) Then I respond with "necesita bañarse" (you need to bathe yourself.) It’s kind of a funny inside joke that in other words is saying, "You gotta get baptized." So yeah, he should be getting baptized soon. That will be cool. Then we'll focus on his family. So yeah. On Sunday we brought 6 investigators, and that was cool as well. We brought a new guy, and he seemed to like church a lot. He promised to bring his wife and kids and grandma next Sunday. It turns out that this guy's neighbor is a Recent Convert, and this guy went crazy when he saw his neighbor in the church. He was all hyped up and was like "SO WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO BAPTISE YOU? HAVE THEY PUT A DATE WITH YOU YET???" And the investigator guy was all like "uhhh....." So yeah, that was cool. We have some other investigates that are cool. L and his brother in law arrived at church. He works in the market, and they live in a pretty normal Nica house. The wife of L (D) sells clothes from their house, and they also sell these fruit frescos from their house. J and B are pretty cool. They live in a nice house in Grupo F like 4 streets away from where we live. Super close. They are the rich farmers, but have been having problems due to government regulations. They also cut and ship lumber, and have been really worried about their lumber industry. They say that their first semi trailer should be arriving tomorrow. The drive from Alamicamba to Managua is a day and a half drive, and their semi should be arriving here soon. And the other investigators are doing well, but J and L/D are the investigators that are progressing more than anyone else. 

Well, aside from that, there isn’t too much to report. We just work a lot, and do a lot of contacting. My comp is pretty nervous, but I take him out of his comfort zone a lot. A lot of times I make him contact/teach/make phone calls and stuff like that. But he has improved a lot, and seems to be doing a good job. Sometimes he just runs out of stuff to say, and looks at me all frantically. But it’s all good. We work well, and I help him out a lot. So yeah, that’s pretty cool.  My comp is really short. I sometimes think that he looks like Mark Walburg. But he is like 5 feet tall, and even the Latinos call him short. He has been a member his whole life and has a brother that served a mission in Guatemala. My comp is 21. And yeah, I’m like a giant here.

Well, its been raining a lot here. I sent home some pictures and stuff about the rain. It flooded the street, and we had to kind of jump across these huge puddles. If I were Bailey, I’d buy some of the Hush Puppy boots. They don’t look too extreme, but they probably keep the water out. Sometimes I see missionaries with those on.  But anyways, we always end up getting wet. The rain here is pretty extreme. Just look at the pictures and you'll understand.

It’s pretty cool that an apostle will be coming to the stake. An apostle hasn’t visited Nicaragua in about 2 years, and the last one to visit was Elder Nelson. So anyways, that guy totally knows what Nicaragua is like. 

But yeah, I hope that this week is a good week for you guys. I’m enjoying Nicaragua, and I really don’t want to leave the mission. I think that I’ll be pretty nervous when I finally have to come home. I don’t want to leave this place. I hope that Bailey can enjoy and appreciate the mission as much as I do here. Serving a mission really is one of the best things in the world, and it is amazing. I’m learning a lot, and like I said before, I don’t really want to leave the mission. I was lying in my bed last night all sweaty and looking up at the tin roof of my house thinking "I really don’t want to leave. I feel like I’m just getting the hang of things, and I feel like the mission is one of the best parts of my life". So yeah, life is good. Real good. (Nacho)

Anyways, have a fun week,

Elder Stark

#53 Managua (Villa Venezuela)

Hey family,

Well, I liked your email. It sounds like all is going pretty well, except for the vomit-covered mom. That’s a pretty funny story, and it sounds like it was all laughs. Aside from that, it looks like you all had a pretty fun week with all of the dessert parties and bags of hair. Good stuff.

So here it’s been going well. Now that I’ve got a new comp, it’s been going a lot better. We are working hard, and we are contacting like crazy. But yeah, I’m making sure that we arrive home at night "ready to die" for how exhausted we are. I suppose that that is a good thing though. My new comp is pretty cool. He is about 5 feet tall, and just about arrives at my shoulder. It’s pretty funny. Back at home, I was probably just like normal sized, but here in Nicaragua, among all of the Latinos I’m actually pretty tall. And my comp is really short, so it’s a funny combination. 

I can’t really think of anything really exciting that we did this week. Basically we have just been working really, really, hard and we're being super obedient. We are doing everything that we should be doing. On Sunday, it was pretty cool. We brought 2 families of investigators to church, and one of these families was a new family that we haven’t taught yet. It was a family that I had contacted with Elder C a couple weeks before, and around 7:45 (15 minutes before church started), I saw them again in the street so I walked over to them and invited them to church. They said that they would arrive, and I was really happy when during sacrament meeting they arrived at church. Their names are J and M, and they seem like really cool investigators. So yeah, they totally LOVED church, and I imagine that we'll probably baptize them pretty soon. I really want to give my comp a ton of opportunities to baptize this change.

But anyways, life is good, and we are working hard. I have just a couple pictures of my comp and me. He is cool. He is from Guatemala. In fact, he’s actually from the mission where Elder Dalton (my friend Derek from BYU) is serving. But yeah, have a good week, and I love you all.

Elder Stark

#52 Managua (Villa Venezuela)

September 2, 2013

Hey family,

Well, this week has been a pretty big week. Today I've been hanging around with the ZLs, because I’m really good friends with Elder Ch. The cool thing is that we get the news about changes before any other missionary, because it goes first to the ZLs and then to all of the other missionaries. So basically, President Collado changed things up a bit. He put an end to the giant change meeting. Apparently, the Central American area presidency has been asking the missions to end that. Now it will just be a low-key, boring kind of deal. So all of the missionaries that have changes will go to the chapel in Wespan TOMORROW. The changes are now on Tuesday, so we get word of the changes on Monday nights now. It’s pretty cool. The big news is that Elder C will be leaving, and going to another area within the zone Villa Flor. I think that he is going to go to an area named Los Laureles. But anyway, I will be staying in my area, and I’ll be getting a new companion. The cool thing is that I will be training again this change. So yeah, that’s pretty cool. With all these new sister missionaries, I didn’t think that I’d ever train again, but yeah, it looks like I'll be getting a new green missionary tomorrow. Cool stuff huh? I hope that he will be as cool as Elder P was. I loved training Elder P.

So this week was pretty crazy. Here is the coolest part. We had wanted to visit with H and K all week, but we never got the chance to visit them. Then finally on Friday, we got a hold of H on the phone, and he said that we could visit them that night. So we were kind of bummed, because it was the only time that we would visit him, and normally I like to visit my investigators more during the week. But anyway, we went and visited them, and I was totally joking with Elder C saying, "Hey man, I bet that they'll get baptized and married tomorrow.” But yeah, it was Friday, and there was only one day left until Saturday. Also, in my shoulder bag, I had saved some marriage acts, and I wanted to show them to H and K. So we entered the lesson, and hung out for a while. I pulled out some marriage acts, and showed them what they look like, how the marriage process is, etc. So all of the sudden, H and K were like "Yeah, we really want to get baptized, and we want to do it before Elder C leaves. We want you both to be there.” So yeah, we were pretty surprised. This family was one of the hardest families that I had ever taught, and I didn’t think that they would get baptized anytime soon. But yeah, they all of the sudden said that they wanted to do it. So we were trying to find a date to do it, and finally we told them that the best day to get baptized and married was "tomorrow.” So they accepted, and all of the sudden our thoughts switched to marriage preparation and baptism preparation. But anyways, Saturday in the morning, we did the baptism interviews, and they passed perfectly. Then we filled up the font, and my Saturday was spent running around the whole city of Managua getting things ready. So on Saturday we finally baptized H and K, and it was probably the best day of my mission. I was so, so, so, so, so, so happy. I am totally convinced that he'll be the next bishop or general authority or something like that. So yeah, that was awesome. Then on Sunday, we had the confirmation. They arrived early to church and were confirmed members.  It was fast and testimony meeting, and H got up, and bore the best testimony that I’ve ever heard in my life. He said, "I know that the church is true. I truly know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and I know that all we have to do is hold on to the Iron Rod, like it says in the Book of Mormon.”  I can’t believe that this family has made so much progress. I can clearly remember when we went to teach H about the Book of Mormon, and he denied it, and was opposed to "more scripture than the Bible.” But yeah, now he has a strong testimony of the church. How awesome is that? All of the members are raving about the family of H and K, and I really know that they'll be strong members here in Nicaragua. Plus, during the priesthood hour, we practiced giving priesthood blessings, and H participated. Now he knows how to give the Holy Ghost to someone. It is really awesome. Yeah, I’m really happy. 

So aside from that, on Wednesday we had the "gira misional" with a 70. His name is Elder Ochoa, and he is the 2nd counselor in the Central American area presidency. He just got called to the Seventy, and before he was in the General Young Men’s Presidency. So that was cool. I shook his hand, and met him and everything. So all day on Wednesday, we were with a Seventy and President Collado. Cool stuff. 

Well, I think that that’s about all that happened this week. The best part was the baptism on Saturday. And yeah, it was nice to end the change with some success. So it looks like I'll be with a new missionary tomorrow. How fun is that? I was just now talking to the ZLs, and it looks like my new comps name is Elder Ca. So yeah, But anyways, I hope that you all have a safe trip home. That sounds pretty fun that you all had a good time. Peace out, and I hope that Owen, Mary, and Henry are enjoying school.

Love you,

Elder Stark