#89 El Naranjo

May 26, 2014

Hey family,

So it’s all going pretty well here. We're just hanging around and today we haven’t really done anything too big. We woke up and I washed all of my laundry on the board, and cleaned the house a little. Then we wandered around Chinandega for a while and found a cool bread store and ate some ice cream. Somehow we ended up at the mall and met some other elders there and got some food. The "mall" is not really that cool. It’s basically just a food court with 6 restaurants and a couple of clothes stores. Pretty low key. But yeah, then we went to the supermarket and went back to our area. Nothing really too extreme. Right now we're over by the chapel because we had to fill up the font. Someone is going to get baptized and the bishop asked us to fill it up. So yeah, that’s how my p-day has been. Pretty casual.

So I didn’t know that today was Memorial Day. That’s pretty cool that no one is working or has school. 

This week we've just been visiting a ton of investigators and working like normal. I don’t think that anything too extreme happened this week. Last night we saw a guy crash his motorcycle, but he was going super slow so it wasn’t too bad. He just got scuffed up, and was kind of angry. I bet that he was drunk. Oh and yesterday we had a family of investigators in the church. That's always fun. And our convert J seems to be doing really well. He came to church with his family, and the cool thing is that they were able to bring one of their daughters who has been less active for many, many years. That was really cool. 

So the rain began this week. It’s been raining a lot, and every day it pounds for a couple hours and we always get really wet. Part of our area is called the "champas" and it’s where all the tin houses and dirt roads are. When it rains it gets super nasty and the streets turn into mud pits. It’s pretty crazy, and really dirty. I'm thinking about buying a pair of the giant rubber boots that come up to my knees. But we'll see. 

That’s about all that's been going on. I'm doing well, and we're just looking for people to teach. We should baptize a family this week, and that will be really cool! But yeah, I’ll keep you all updated. Anyways, let me know what’s new, and I hope that you're all doing well. I love you all.

Elder Stark

To Henry: Darth Maul is the best, because he has a double light saber

#88 El Naranjo

May 19, 2014

Hey family,

Well this week has been pretty good. We've been working pretty hard and getting all of our investigators pumped up to get baptized. On the 1st of June we should baptize another family named A and E. They also came to church yesterday for the second time and they are stoked to get married and baptized. It should be cool. Anyways, I’m doing pretty well here. We have some cool people that we're teaching, and its fun to be here in Chinandega. The other cool news is that another of the families that we're teaching has been receiving the lessons for like 8 months now because they've been waiting for a divorce to come through, and couldn’t get married. The husband was married to someone else, and couldn’t get married to his current wife. But the good news is that soon the divorce should come through and it will be fun to see them get married and baptized. I’m pretty stoked.

So this week at like 8pm at night we were walking around our area, and everyone was already asleep. We didn’t have much to do. Anyway, we were passing by a house where the Sister missionaries have been visiting, and they invited us in. It was kind of funny to be visiting the investigators of the Hermana’s. But anyway, we sat down and chatted with them for a bit. Then they offered us food. As usual, we said yeah and they brought out the rice. It was arroz aguado (soggy rice??) and it had some chicken. Anyway, I was chowing down on my rice and got to the chicken. I had thought that it was like a drumstick piece of chicken, but actually it was the chicken foot! Funny stuff. It was totally different, and I had never eaten a chicken foot. The skin is all scaly and weird, and I just popped it into my mouth and chewed it for a while. It wasn’t too bad. And then I found another chunk of chicken in my soggy rice. I was convinced that surely it couldn’t be worse than the chicken foot, so I pulled it out with my spoon and quickly realized that it was the chicken head! Pretty hilarious. I had no idea how to eat it, So I wacked it with my spoon and all the brains came out... Pretty weird. I just pulled off the scalp skin and ate that, and ate as much as looked edible. Kind of a funny story. I would have taken a picture, but they people were watching us eat.

Ah, so the cool news is that this week we finally bought our gas tank. It was like 50 bucks, but it has been well worth it. We've made Mexican tacos, hamburgers, Sloppy Joes, eggs, homemade corn tortillas, pupusas and peanut butter crepes. The Sloppy Joes were easily the best of all the foods. I was actually on divisions with another elder (getting on the chele party), so my comp hasn’t tried the sloppy Joes yet. But today we went to the super market and bought 2 bottles of bbq sauce and 6 pounds of ground beef. The funny part is that we bought the "economic ground beef". So if you can imagine economic ground beef in the states, just imagine what the economic type is like here in Nicaragua. Funny stuff. But yeah, we've been cooking it up, and its really fun. But yeah, it’s been fun and we're really enjoying our time here. 

Well, I'll try to send some photos home. Today for p-day we went to the beach and played some football. While we were just kicking the ball around, tons of Nicas ran over and took their shirts off and were like "let’s play". We were kind of bummed about that, because they came and kicked our butts. But yeah, it was fun playing some football on the beach and getting super sun burned. But anyway, I have been having a great time, and we're having a lot of success here. It’s fun and our investigators are doing great! I love you all, and hope that you're all doing well. Hopefully Owen can get better at ice-skating! Just kidding :). Well hey, have a great week, and let me know what’s up.

Con amor,

Elder Stark

#87 El Naranjo

May 5, 2014

Hey family,

Well, this week has been a pretty good week here in El Naranjo. I'm pretty stoked that it’s almost Mother’s Day, and that we'll be able to see each other. That'll be fun. It’s all going well here. We've been having some success, and the coolest thing is that we were able to teach the family of J and H (the family to complete) and they’ve decided to get married. J is going to get baptized this weekend. Right now we're actually in the other zone in Chinandega because we had to go to the Alcaldía (town hall) and take out the birth certificate for H. Its pretty cool, and I’m stoked that they'll be getting married and that J will get baptized. We had a spiritual lesson and put a marriage/baptism date with them for the 11th of May. Very cool. The other cool thing that happened this week was that on Sunday we were getting skunked. Nobody wanted to go to church. So when the last family that we had committed to go the church bailed on us, it was kind of a bummer. But anyway, we sat down with them and talked for a while. The wife was ready to go to church, but her husband wasn’t going to go. He has just gotten done working a 24-hour shift and being awake all night, and had only been asleep for one hour. But anyways, we sat there, and she went and woke up her husband and he got up and decided to go to church. I was really impressed, because man... I’d be really really tired if I were him.  But yeah, that was the cool success story that we had this week. That was the family of A and E. They have a baptism date for the 17th, so hopefully that works out.

But anyway, it’s going well here. Today for p-day I woke up and washed all of my clothes, but then I ran out of hangers and there wasn’t space on the clothesline, so I didn’t get all of them washed. But I’ll probably do that later. We went and got our hair cut, then ran to El Viejo and Chinandega to do some errands and we got some food and fruit smoothies. It was pretty cool. And right now were just waiting for the Alcaldía to give us the birth certificate so that we can get J and H married. 

I took some pictures of some birds that our investigators have. There are 4 and they all walk around together and it’s kind of funny. Also a new family of investigators that we found gave us some water while we were fasting, but we had to drink it because if not they would have gotten really offended. They were really poor, and I’m pretty sure that the water just came from their well, because it had a lot of garbage floating around in it. It was kind of gross but whatever. Also whenever we go to teach J and H in their panadería (bakery), it’s always unbearably hot. Its like 95-100 degrees outside, and inside their panadería where the giant wood burning oven is, it’s at least 110 or 115 degrees. I don’t know how they can handle it, because my comp and I are always just sweating like pigs in there. It’s really hot.  J really wants me to baptize him, because he says that his dream has always been to "be baptized by a gringo", but I’m trying to convince him that it'd be cooler if his brother, who is a member, does the baptism. We'll see what happens. 

Well that’s about all I’ve got for you guys this week. I hope that all is well, and that you're all doing well. Let me know what’s new, and I'm stoked to talk to you all on Monday. Only 3 more months... wow... the time is flying by. Thanks for everything,

Elder Stark

#86 El Naranjo

April 28, 2014

Hey family,

Well hey; this has been a good week here in Chinandega. We've been working pretty hard, and we've got some cool families that we're teaching. Its fun to be here, and I enjoy the work. I'm always amazed at how fast the time is flying by, and we're really having a great time. My comp and I get along really well, and he reminds me of a Latino version of Jake Rodgers. It’s pretty funny. 

So as far as the missionary work goes, we're doing pretty well. We brought a family to church, and that was cool. Hopefully the guy will get baptized soon. The dealio is that we're just working with his wife (who is a very less active member) to try to convince her to get married. Sometimes missionary work is kind of fun that way, because we're totally repairing relationships and convincing people to get married. I’m glad that our family doesn’t have any marriage problems or stuff like that. It’s just a big pain in the rear. But yeah, we also have a cool family that we're teaching named A and E. They didn’t come to church this week because their little girl got sick, but they should be good to come this next Sunday. A works in the tiny local Chinandega airport. He is a mechanic and works on the crop dusting planes. It’s pretty cool, but he works a lot, which stinks. One of these days I’m going to ask him if he can take us to the airport and show us around. That'd be cool. There's a big banana plantation in our area, and the little airplanes are always spraying chemicals on the bananas. But anyways, we visited this family with the bishop and 2nd counselor and it went really well. It’s fun to do visits with the members (especially the bishop) and it helps a ton. But yeah, that’s the scoop with the work here in our area. 

So the funny thing that happened this week was that we went and donated blood. On Friday I went and did divisions in one of the areas in my district in El Viejo. Anyways, on Saturday morning we went to the stake center to get some pamphlets and stuff like that, and the stake president found us and convinced me to donate blood. The stake had an activity going on, and the Red Cross was in the stake center with their donation station set up. I had never done it before, but just said yeah, and it was pretty cool. While I was there, Elder T and his comp showed up and we convinced them to donate too. Funny stuff. Then we called Elder B and my comp (they were together in my area), and they came and donated too. The stake president was really happy. After, they gave us some juices and cookies and stuff like that. It was kind of a funny experience. 

Oh, so I don’t know if I’ve told you yet, but this area that I’m in right now is like the most ghetto area of my mission. It’s pretty crazy. We only have water from 6am until around 10am, and the power goes out quite frequently. Oh, and I wash my own clothes in a bucket/washboard. I've already done this a ton in my mission, so it’s no big deal. But yeah today I woke up and washed all of my white shirts, and my pants. Mom would be proud of me! Seriously, washing clothes in the washing machine doesn't count. When you guys come here I’m going to make you try to wash your clothes bent over a washboard. It’s a pretty good workout too! I took some pictures to show you guys how it is. 

So today for p-day we went and spent a lot of money. We got permission and went to the other Chinandega zone and ate some good food in some nice restaurants, and got some really good tacos in a place called Tacontento. They were the best. This was the second time that I’d been there in my mission. The other time was my first day, when President Arredondo brought us there. But yeah, my comp and I ended up spending like 200 Cordoba, which is a lot here. But it was fun. So yeah.

I’m really happy here in my mission. In my patriarchal blessing it says something like "you'll have a lot of joy in the success that you'll have in your mission.” And it’s true. I'm especially happy for the family in Nagarote of J and Y. They email me a giant email each week, and it’s awesome. In the email from them this week they were talking about how J is much more busy with his calling, and how it consumes a lot of their time. They emailed me about how they go out and visit the less actives, and how they've began to hold FHE's in their house. Y said that she is now the YW's teacher and talks about how she is studying the gospel manuals all the time, and how fun it is to teach the class. I don’t really know how to explain it, but it’s super awesome to see the change/conversion of this family. In their emails they always talk about how much Heavenly Father has blessed them, and how their family is more peaceful and blessed. It’s really cool. Nagarote has been having a lot of success too, and yesterday they confirmed 4 more converts into the branch. I'm really happy and I think that this is the kind of happiness that the patriarchal blessing was promising.

But anyway, life is good. I hope that you are all well at home, and that you're always making correct decisions. I love it here; I’m having a blast. Let me know what’s up, and I love you all.

Elder Stark