#84 El Naranjo

April 14, 2014

Hey family!!!!

It was awesome to get your email today. It sounds like you're all having a pretty good time back at home, and that dad is pretty busy with work and the stuff in the ward. Fun stuff. We've been pretty busy here too. It’s been fun working in El Naranjo. The area is a lot different from the other areas that I've been in, and it’s been interesting trying to change my teaching style and all that stuff.

So yeah, the cool news is that in this week there have been a lot of earthquakes here in Nagarote. The first one that I remember feeling was on Thursday and we were standing outside the house of a family teaching them the restoration and all of the sudden the dogs started barking, and everything started to shake. I was leaning against a cinderblock wall, and it was moving quite a bit so I got away. It was a pretty cool experience, but only lasted for like 7 or 8 seconds. Kind of funny stuff. Anyways, I didn’t really think much about it. But yeah, later that evening we had ward council and we were sitting there and J and Y from Nagarote tried to call me, but I cut the call because I was busy. Later they called me again. They explained that the epicenter of the earthquake was in Nagarote, and that it had caused a lot of damage. They explained that they were alright, and that they were helping the other members in the branch. J and Y are the only members in the ward that have a car, so they were driving around helping all of the members in the branch. They told me that the quake had knocked down some of the houses of the members, including a chunk of the sister missionaries house. But they said that everyone was alright, and that it turned out ok. Supposedly nobody died. But yeah, they are awesome converts. I was really impressed that they had gone and helped everyone in the branch. Anyways, that was the first earthquake on Thursday. On Friday I was on divisions with the ZLs and at like 2pm we were planning a little of the day, and while we were sitting on the bed planning, the windows started to shake a ton and the dresser almost fell over. It was a really weird experience again. I'd never felt an earthquake until I came here, and yeah, it was kind of cool. Same thing though, it only lasted like 8 seconds. But all of the Nicaraguans are really, really scared. It’s turning out pretty good for us though as missionaries, because we can call the people to repentance easier. :)

So last night there was a high warning that in Nicaragua there would be a large high magnitude earthquake in the night. Our neighbors came over and warned us, and later in the night I got a bunch of phone calls. Also I got a bunch of texts from President Collado and had to call all of the missionaries in the district and warn them. That was at like 11:30 at night. I kind of felt bad for having to wake them all up. But yeah, my comp and I were all pumped up. We were super excited. We were going all Rambo and planning up some cool plans. Anyways, we didn’t get to bed until late that night, because we were all excited. But nothing happened, so it was kind of a letdown. Anyways, that’s the word on the streets. It’s pretty exciting! And we're all doing perfectly fine here. President Collado said that if we're doing the right thing, none of the missionaries would get hurt in the event of an earthquake. So I'm not worried. :)

Today I got a little email from Y, but it was a really short email because apparently the power keeps going out in Nagarote and its not very consistent. She said that they are alright, and the J is pretty nervous about his new calling, but that he accepted and they are going to keep helping out the branch. I am really, really grateful that I had the opportunity to go to Nagarote, and to baptize them. As I left Nagarote, I was kind of bummed that I hadn't baptized more people, but now I feel really happy for the people that i was able to baptize. I’m really happy.. That was probably one of the happiest moments of my mission. Very cool.

Anyways, on Sunday we kind of got skunked and we weren't able to get any investigators to church, but we're working hard and finding new investigators. It’s awesome being here, and I'm really happy. My comp and I get along really well, and he is one of my coolest comps. We're always joking around and having a good time. We have some cool investigators. We found a cool new family the other day. One of the families that we're teaching is a family to complete. The wife is a member, and the husband isn’t. He wants to get baptized and everything. They even have a daughter that just left on her mission about 3 weeks ago. The only thing is that the wife doesn’t want to get married to the husband... Kind of a bummer. So we're working on that and teaching a lot about the law of chastity. The cool thing is that they own a panaderia (bakery) and they've been giving us bread all of the time. I took some pictures of their bakery. It’s pretty ghetto, but that’s how they are here. They gave us about 100 cords of Picos (triangle sweet bread with cheese inside). Cool stuff. So hopefully they can get their issues resolved and get married. The guy really wants to get baptized. So we'll see what happens.

 Let me know what’s up! I love you all and I'm glad to hear that all is well. Have a great week!

Elder Stark