Hey family,
Well, here I am in a new area, and it’s
really awesome. I always get a little antsy before getting to a new area
because you need to meet all of the new missionaries in the zone/district, and
usually you need to get used to your new companion. Anyway, life is good here.
Nagarote is la ley (it’s the law...it means that it’s sick, cool, awesome,
etc.) and I am really enjoying it here. We live here, and we share the city
with two sister missionaries and they keep it fun. My companion is Elder T from
El Salvador. So he's pretty new, but that’s alright. There is a giant cathedral
in the city, and we live about a block and a half to the south in a fairly nice
house. We live alone, just my companion and just me. The only problem with the
house is that it’s got bat problems. You know... the things that fly. So on my
first night in the house, I had finished talking to the ZL's and stuff, and a
bat flew into our room. I think that it was stunned by the halogen light on the
ceiling, and it was smacking into the walls and flopping around on the floor.
It was pretty freaky. I was just writing in my journal and all of the sudden
this bat just entered the room. So my comp and I went into "little girl
mode" and we just hid under our covers for a while, and then we couldn’t
find the bat. But finally we found it in our shower, and we beat the crap out
of it with a broom, and then shoved it into a Pringles can. So it then became
our pet. On Wednesday we had a district meeting, and we brought the bat as our
trophy. It was pretty funny stuff. Oh, so the district here is awesome. I’m in
the area Nagarote 1 and in Nagarote 2 we have Hermana C (El Salvador.) and
Hermana W (Utah), in La Paz Centro we have Elder G (Malad, Idaho) and Elder H (Guatemala).
And last in Mateare we have Elder R (Argentina) and Elder G (Guatemala). So
there are 4 areas in all, which comprise 3 cities. My district is one of the
biggest districts in the mission, area wise. Last change right before I came
here, Nagarote was a mini-zone in the mission, with ZLs and DLs, but they sized
it down to a district and now I’m in charge of all of it. It’s huge though.
Traveling to La Paz Centro is a 30-minute ride in a ghetto 1980s era school bus
with bald, wobbling wheels, and its 30 minutes going the other way to Mateare.
To the north of Nagarote is a giant volcano named Momotombo and it is huge. Our
house looks out onto the volcano, and there is always a little smoke coming out
of it.
So it’s pretty big here, and on
Wednesday I went on divisions for the day with the elders in La Paz Centro. I
worked with elder H and his companion went back to Nagarote with my comp. It
was fun stuff, and man this place reminds me so much of Chinandega. The streets
and everything just feel the same. So yeah cool stuff.
The branch here... well... it’s getting
there. Our branch president is currently less active, and there are only two or
three active Melchizedek priesthood holders. The first counselor runs the whole
show. He was the only one sitting on the "stand". My comp and I
blessed the sacrament, and it was really weird. Like my whole life I’ve been
used to big wards and big chapels. And now, we're meeting in a rented out house
with a couple fans mounted on the walls, and it’s really different. The sister
missionaries tell us that we missionaries are pretty much the branch
presidents. They told us that we are in charge of the finances for the branch,
sometimes we have to direct the meetings when no one shows up, and that we have
to fill out the programs, stuff like that. On Sunday, I noticed that my companion
was collecting the fast offerings, and I was like "dude, what are you
doing? The members are supposed to give that to someone in the branch
presidency.” But now I’m noticing that as missionaries, we kind of run the show
here. It’s pretty crazy...
So on Sunday we fasted and I was really
happy, because we were able to bring two families to church. Apparently, that’s
pretty rare here. The branch attendance was approx. 63 people, and apparently
that is rare as well. They say that usually it’s around 40. After the first
hour, everyone took off except for around 15 people. I hope that I don’t sound
like I’m complaining, because I’m not, I’m just blown away for how different it
is.
So yeah, life is changing for me. I’m
beginning to become more aware of how awesome the church is back in the states,
especially in Idaho. It is really awesome; so don’t take it for granted. It’s
also really different being in charge. Each night I have to call all of the
areas and take down their numbers. Going to bed at 10:30 doesn’t exist anymore,
and now I am talking to the ZLs 24/7. It’s really crazy stuff, but I enjoy it.
I like having the opportunity to serve the other people, and it’s fun to work
with all of the missionaries. I've been putting the UNO game that you sent me
to good use, and after district meeting, we all play like two games of UNO to
keep it fun. It’s really awesome. The district here is sweet, and because we
all live so far away from the rest of the Zone León, we all get along really
well. It’s awesome.
Oh yeah, so leaving Villa Venezuela
sucked. I had a ton of awesome converts who were all really cool, and they were
all crying and it sucked to say good-bye. But yeah, when I finish the mission
I’ll be able to visit all of them. Saying good-bye is no fun, but that’s just
how it is. It will suck to say good-bye to Bailey, but soon he'll be out into
the mission field having cool adventures and helping out other people. I’m
stoked that he'll be getting out into the mission life soon, and I know that
he'll like it. The first few weeks are pretty tough, but with every day it gets
a lot better. I imagine that it’s the same way on the other end, back at home.
But seriously, soon he'll be having some cool adventures. Like two days ago there
was a rodeo in the city, and a bunch of drunken men tried to participate, and I
hear that a lot of them got trampled and wounded. I could faintly hear the
ambulances, so yeah. It’s such a different life here in Central America.
And yeah, the cyber where I am seems
awesome. It’s pretty quick. Skyping will be awesome!
I love you all, and I hope that you
enjoy every minute that you have with Bailey,
Elder Stark
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