#69 Nagarote

Hey family,

Well it’s great to hear from you again. Life is going pretty good here, and it sounds like it’s going well back at home also. So that’s cool that dad is just home hanging around. That must be fun. I didn’t even know that they released the Hobbit movie, let alone the second one... yeah I’m in the dark. Oh, so the lady coming to Nicaragua hasn’t called me yet. I hope that she hasn’t forgotten or something. Who knows? 

So yeah it was fun seeing you. It was also fun seeing Jake. He seems exactly the same, and I didn’t notice any accent or anything. Literally like the exact same as the last time I had seen him.  And everything at home pretty much looks the same as well. So that is pretty cool. After we Skyped we all went and got some ice cream and played some Uno. It was pretty fun. We've all been practicing the harmonica. Everyone here in Nicaragua thinks it’s the coolest thing ever. I don’t  know if harmonicas even exist here. But yeah, I’ve figured out how to read the music in the hymnbook and play some hymns. Fun stuff. All of the Latinos have been saying, "Hey Elder Stark, can you ask your family to send ME a harmonica?” Funny stuff.

Skyping the family was weird this time. The last two times I’ve skyped you all, I would get all trunky to come home. But this time, I was just super trunky to stay in the mission. All I could think about the whole time was how I only have like 7 or 8 months left, and how the time is just flying by. It’s just such a blast to be on a mission and to be here in Nicaragua. I don’t really know if this makes any sense, but that’s kind of how I feel. Sometimes I want to go home, but now the majority of the time, I just want to stay in the mission.

But yeah, it’s going well here. We had a cool lesson with a family named J and Y. They are really rich and even have a car. They came to church last Sunday, and yesterday Y came. We went and taught them Lesson 1, which is the restoration, and it went really well. They just sat there and listened while we taught and were totally blown away. They really, really liked it. So yeah, that was a cool part of the week. On Sunday we didn’t talk in church, but my companion and I taught the second hour. 

Well, it was great to hear from you all. Love you,

Elder Stark

SUGGESTIONS FOR MISSIONARY WORK:

Basically, if you need new people to teach back in the Edinburgh ward, just go street contacting with the members. I have done that a ton of times here in my mission, and all I do is go on divisions with the members and start walking around and then I will ask them "who do you know that lives around here?" Because it’s their neighborhood, the members will know EVERYONE, and we will just go knock the doors of the people that they know. It’s awesome, and it helps the members build some confidence with these people. It’s like killing 5 birds with one stone

1. The investigators will have a member friend

2. The lessons are all taught with a member present

3. It’s a really easy way to sift through all of the negative people from the positive people. It’s a whole lot easier than just randomly contacting houses and hoping that you'll find someone positive. The members will take you to the positive people. 

4. If you just ask to share a small lesson of 15 minutes with them, the people will always let you into their houses.

5. The members participate 100% in the work of salvation. 

And the missionaries might laugh and say that your crazy for trying to street contact/knock doors, but it works, and you'll have success. Plus, I imagine that with there being so many Mormons in Meridian, Idaho, that the people probably have a ton of questions about our church and they're just waiting for the missionaries to show up to their houses. 

Love ya,

Elder Stark