#66 Nagarote

Hey family,

Well, thanks a ton for your email this week. Seriously, to you guys it probably sounds like you're just typing bland boring stuff, but to me it’s really exciting. Especially when I was first beginning my mission, I loved getting large letters from you all. So yeah, be sure to send big long letters about the life at home to Bailey. He'll love it.

Well, it sounds like it was a huge fiasco getting Bailey to the DR, but luckily he made it. I remember flying to Provo and then later flying to Nicaragua. For me, I had flown a couple times by myself before, so I kind of knew the deal-io, but yeah I bet it was a sweet adventure for Bailey. Fun stuff. I can just imagine you all panicking and going crazy on the other end (back in Idaho) and that kind of makes me laugh. But yeah, Bailey is now on the biggest adventure of his life and I bet he's having a great time. I’m really excited to get his first letter where he talks about the MTC. Seriously, I think I laughed a little when I heard that he wrote,

"Driving here was super weird; we ran a red light and there was trash everywhere. It is super hot here and I was sweating bullets. I'm super tired, but doing good".

That really makes me laugh because that’s about the exact same reaction that I had when I first got here. I remember the bus running red lights and I felt like it was driving a lot faster and swerving more than was legal. But yeah, soon he'll get used to the culture. Nicaragua is literally the exact same as what Bailey described in his quick explanation, so I know EXACTLY what its like for him. I’m going to write him a letter and ask him what’s up. 

Well, I can’t believe that it was below zero this week in Idaho. Here summer is beginning, and I think that the temp is around 90 degrees. I’m always sweating like crazy, but it feels pretty normal now. So yeah, cool stuff. The president requires that all of the leaders go on divisions twice a week, so on Tuesday after district meeting I went on divisions in Mateare. I was with Elder R who is from Argentina. It was really weird being with an elder who wasn’t from Central America. Almost all of the Latinos here are from C.A, and there are probably only 4 missionaries in the whole mission from South America. But yeah, the culture is totally different in S.A. It was fun being with Elder R, and we get along really well. We went to the food cita, and the Hermana made us "garobo.” In English that means "lizard/iguana.” So yeah, I took some pictures. Remember when I sent some pictures home from Chinandega of an iguana and I said that the people eat them. Yeah, now I’ve eaten that. I got the rib cage and the organs. So yeah, lizard heart... check... Elder R got the tail, and I took a picture of that as well. It is served in a soup and it was pretty amazing. So yeah. Fun stuff. The house in Mateare where the elders live has an AC unit, and it was perhaps the second time in my mission that I haven’t been soaking wet from all of the sweat from the night. Sleeping in AC was really strange, and in the morning I turned off the AC because I got too cold. I wasn’t used to sleeping in 70 degrees. Oh and to answer Dad's question, no, we don’t drink hot chocolate here. It’s too hot... But I have seen it once or twice in the supermarket in the imported section. I think that its pretty spendy because its imported from the states. Anyways, in the morning, Elder R made me some stuff that he had been talking about called "mate". It’s basically like herbs and hot water that is poured into a weird wooden cup and is drunken through a filter straw. R promised me that it’s not against the word of wisdom, so I tried it. It was pretty good. His family had sent him a small package from Argentina cause it doesn’t exist here. Ask uncle Greg if he ever tried it in his mission in Argentina. Thanks.

On Saturday and Sunday was the "purisima de la virgen maría". It’s a huge Catholic holiday, and they shot about a million bottle rockets in the air at certain hours of the day and night, and it was really noisy. Also, they had parades and sang to the Virgin Mary.

I also did divisions with the elders in La Paz Centro on Friday, and I was with Elder G from Malad, Idaho. He is close to ending his mission, and he got me really trunky because he talked about Idaho a lot. So yeah... but it was really fun. We got the "chele party" going again. 

The coolest experience that happened was on Saturday. So the sister missionaries had a family to baptize on Sunday. We had gone to the sister’s area to help them teach this family earlier in the week. So I went to do the interview for the family, and we arrived and the husband was like "I’m ready to be baptized, but my wife is not. And she won’t be able to meet with you tonight.” So the sister missionaries were petty worried and nervous, and so was I. It makes you sad when someone changes their mind the day before their baptism, especially when it’s a family. So anyways, I went with the man (named H) and I did the interview and it all went well. And as we finished, the wife (named A) came back and the sister missionaries were just like "hey, could you please just meet with her and try resolve some of her concerns?" So I just said yes and sat down with the Hermana and started talking to her. I’m not really sure what I said, but before, I just prayed saying something like: "just help me be able to answer her questions.” Anyways, I just started talking to her, I felt like the Spirit was completely in charge and really quickly I was able to help her understand. It was a really spiritual experience and I was reminded of the words in D&C 11:21 which says: Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men.

Dad is really lucky, because with his calling he gets to interview people all of the time, and probably has experiences like this often.

But yeah, it was awesome. On Sunday my companion and I performed the baptism for this family and it was very cool. So life is good here, and we're having some success. Today for P-day we went to Leon and walked around la cathedral de León. It’s a huge cathedral that looks like it should be found in Rome or France or something. It’s super old and has these cool vaulted ceilings and echoes a lot. It was awesome. I took lots of pictures, so maybe you can see what its like. It’s the same cathedral that is on the back of the 100 Cordoba bill. 

Well, thanks a ton for all of the pictures of Bailey. It looks really cool, and it makes me remember when I began my mission and when I left the airport. Well, I love you all, and I am stoked to hear what Bailey has to say. Have a great week, and let me know what’s up.

Love,

Elder Stark