#83 El Naranjo

April 7, 2014

Hey family,

It’s been great to hear from you all. I was glad to hear that you're doing great, and that life is good. That is kind of stinky that you're all so busy, but sometimes that’s just how it is. But anyways, I’m doing pretty well. 

I got here to El Naranjo on Tuesday, and I like it here. It’s really different from any other area that I’ve been in before, but that’s ok. Basically for me, I’ve been in super rich areas (relatively) my whole mission. El Naranjo is pretty dang poor, and it’s way different, but I like it here. I feel kind of weird though because I have to change my teaching style and teach to a different manner. Basically, I need to teach a lot more simply and direct. A lot of people here don’t know how to read, and most of the people live in little tin/cardboard/plastic wrap houses. It’s pretty humble here.

But yeah, it’s going well here. My comp is Elder R from El Salvador. I think that he's my 4th Salvadoran comp. But he is really cool, and we get a long really well. This is one of the first times in my mission that I’ve had a comp with more time than me, and its fun to teach alongside with someone who knows how to teach well. Fun stuff. In my district I have 8 missionaries, and they are cool. My district includes a city called El Viejo, and I’ve got 2 companionships of sister missionaries and 2 companionships of elders. Fun stuff. Here in the ward, its just me and my comp, and two sister missionaries. But yeah, I’ve been getting along well with all of the members. The elder who was here before me was a punk and everyone disliked him. So now that he's gone, everyone is in love with me. On Sunday we went on divisions with the bishopric to try to bring investigators to conference, and I was with the 2nd counselor. He was telling me about how good it is that I’m here, and I really like the members here. The bishop is a good guy too, and seems to enjoy working with us. I'm really, really happy because I’ve never had a bishop in my mission that's wanted to work with the missionaries and teach investigators with us. Very cool!

Today for p-day we went to El Viejo where the stake center is, and we played soccer and basketball as missionaries, and it was pretty fun. I have a lot of friends here in the zone, and it’s fun to see them. The zone if full of "dying" missionaries who are ending in 2 or 3 changes. I think that there are like 7 missionaries in the zone who are going to end in this time frame. So its really fun, and we're all having a good time. In the zone Chinandega Oeste there is pretty much no supermarkets or restaurants or anything, so we can usually get permission to go to the Zone Chinandega. That is the same zone where I began my mission. It was like deja vu walking around the old places where I was over a year and a half ago, and it was really weird. We went to the supermarket and did some grocery shopping, and in this town there is a small tiny subway restaurant so we got some of that. 

So yeah, it kind of sucked leaving Nagarote. I went to the house of J and Y on Monday night, and Y had made like a going away poster with pictures and stuff like that. It was really sweet, and they really love me. Y said the last prayer before I left, and broke down crying in the middle of the prayer. I was super sad too. The funny thing is that they've been calling me/texting me like every day this week asking how I am, and how the area is, how the members are, stuff like that. I opened up my inbox today and had 3 letters from them. So yeah, basically they're like the coolest converts. Y wrote me today and was super, super excited that you (Mom) had responded to her email. Fun stuff. Anyways, that’s about all for today. Sorry that I didn’t take a lot of pictures, but I’ll do better this week. I love you all and hope that all goes well.

Elder Stark