#39 Managua (Bello Horizonte)

June 3, 2013

Hey family,

Thanks as always for the email. Managua is pretty normal, and nothing really has changed. Except for one thing. The rain began. Last Monday, after I got done writing home, we went to the supermarket and as we left, it was just pounding rain. It was crazy how much water falls from the sky here.  I’ve never seen anything like it... I have been taking some video of the rain here and there so that you can all see what it’s like. But it feels really, really good, and I’ve been putting that umbrella that mom gave me to good use. Also, that dry bag that Aunt Laura gave me has been VERY helpful, and I use it every day. So yeah, when it rains the people pretty much just all go inside, so the contacting becomes very hard. But that’s just how it is. Also the temperature has dropped a little, and when we go to sleep at night, it feels really good, especially when it’s raining. There is something very nice about sleeping under a tin roof with the clatter of the rain.

We changed houses this week. We are now living with our Elders quorum president, and he is way cool. He served a mission in El Salvador in the same mission as Elder Schriever, and he talks about his mission all of the time. My comp and I are always joking that we make him trunky. But yeah, it’s nice to live with members. Our new room is EVEN SMALLER, and it is (according to my feet size) 10 feet by 12 feet. Pretty small, but its nice and we're really happy. Also, the house is completely concrete, but above sits a tin house that’s pretty ghetto. I took some cool pictures from above. There is nothing up there, but it’s really scary, and we have plans to study up there. We refer to it as the "monster house". Cool.

Oh, and this week the ZLs went to the mission office, and surprisingly I got a package from the Arnell family in our ward. It was really nice, and has some goodies and cool Idaho post cards. I took a picture of myself with the package, and you can show them the picture for some proof that it actually arrived here. But yeah, it was nice, so if you can please tell them thanks, that would be nice. I think I'll write them a hand written letter, but in the meantime, can you tell them thanks from me?

So this Sunday, all we had was 1 investigator in the church. We were pretty sad that we didn’t have a family. Right now we're struggling to find new families to teach. But sometimes, there are just weeks like that. So yeah, we’ve been doing a lot of contacting, and not a ton of teaching. Also, we're trying to better our retention of the recent converts. It’s hard to baptize, and it’s even harder to convert the people. So that’s where we stand right now. Also this week, our family progressing (J and O) dropped us. It’s the first time in my mission that a family has dropped us. Usually we do the dropping when we see that they can’t progress. We went and visited one day, and the Hermana O told us "I don’t want people thinking that I’m Christian, because I’m not, I’m Catholic. And I’m going to die Catholic. So you can just get off my porch, and leave, because I’m never going to your church again." It was really harsh, and I tried to say something and she just said, "Shut up, and leave. I don’t want anything to do with you two". So yeah, that kind of sucked, but everyone has their agency, and I feel like we gave that family a very fair chance to accept the gospel. It’s pretty sad, but I know that we will just keep working and find a new family to baptize. Well, even though we only had one investigator in church, my converts W and C went. It was fast and testimony meeting, and after being a little pushy, I got W to go up with me and we bore our testimonies. It was awesome, and it’s super cool to have some good converts in the ward. And W’s testimony was great. While I was trying to convince him to go, he said to me "I don’t want to go up, because I feel pretty nervous." and I just responded "WELL SO DO I!!” He laughed, but still felt pretty nervous. So finally, I just stood up and began to walk towards the pulpit, and then before I knew it, W was behind me. Super awesome. After he asked me, "Did I do a good job?" Great stuff.

So I’m glad that you all had a good vacation in Hawaii, and that you all made it back home. It’s awesome that the summer vacation is now up and running, and that you all have a little time to relax. I hope that Bailey can find a job, and that Owen can keep working hard and keeping the house clean. I was pretty blessed to have the chance to work for Uncle Mark, and to have the chance to save up for my mission. Hopefully Bailey can get a good job and save up some moolah.

So changes are a week from Wednesday. I am like 99% sure I’m leaving. I’m a little bored in my area, because I feel like I’ve contacted every family, and I know the streets better than I know myself. On  P day I went to a paca (thrift store) and it turns out that all of the stuff in this thrift store is from the US, from Deseret Industry. I found a ton of discs of General Conference, and just about every church movie every made. It was cool, and I bought some church videos to watch. They're in English, which is cool. The one sad thing to see is that all the stuff that DI sends here to Nicaragua just gets put into some thrift store with high prices. I’m sure that some Nicaraguan dude is making a lot of money from the donated stuff.

Well family, thanks for the letter, and I hope that this week is a good one. It’s fun that you're all out of school and can take a break. I hope that all is well, and I'll write you all next week.

Love,

Elder Stark

#38 Managua (Bello Horizonte)

May 27, 2013

Hey my dear Hawaiian Familia,

So you're all living it up on Oahu now?? That’s pretty sweet. My old comp had lived in Hawaii for the past year while he went to BYU-H, and he told me all about it 24/7. So I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what its like there. I’m pretty jealous, but yeah, I’ve got pretty much the same climate that you all have right now. They only difference is that I’m sweating it out 24/7 in my white shirt and tie (not in my short-shorts...) But yeah, I bet when you've been in Idaho for such a long time, the tropical climate feels good. Here I just feel normal. I am sweating all of the time, but you reach a point where you just get used to it. Oh, and to answer the questions about the rain here. The rainy season is just starting to pick up. Don’t believe anything that Google says, because there is only a little rain so far. But on Tuesday it rained for the first time in like 7 months. It was awesome, and I felt like it was just dumping buckets from heaven, but the people assured me that it was just "sprinkling". It was awesome though for me, because I was soaking wet, and my shirt magically turned from white to brown. Also, it was about the first time in many months that I had actually felt a tiny bit chilly. It’s super cool. There are always these huge black clouds on the skyline, but the rain never seems to arrive. I’m just hoping that the rainy season will really start to kick in, but who knows. I imagine that in the next few weeks though, it will start to get really wet. 

So to me, its pretty funny to think that you're all getting super excited about the tropical fruits and whatnot. Like pineapple and all that stuff is super normal here. I’m a pretty big fan of buying pineapples and just chowing down on them for lunch. Also, mangos here are really common, and you can find them in just about any tree. People will literally come out of their houses, and just give us a huge handful of mangos. We chow down on fruit 24/7.

So it sounds like you're all having a sweet vacation, swimming and cruising around in a car, and sleeping in a condo. It totally sounds like you're having some very touristy like experiences. I was smiling when I read the letter, because it just sounds super touristy (you know, taking tours and whatnot). IF you ever want the REAL experience, just come down here. Like, the idea of a sea turtle on the beach swarmed by iphones. Funny stuff. I have seen pictures of missionaries from Puerto Cabezas, and when the big sea turtles land on the beach, the indigenous people just go out with a machete and start chopping the turtles to pieces. It’s a different experience her, but it’s great. I really hope that I get transferred to Puerto this change. I’m about 100% sure that I'll get changed. We'll see.

So it sounds like you're all having some sweet experiences. I really liked the story about the church and the cool talks, and the people passing the sacrament in the flip-flops. Sounds very cool. Super spiritual and all that stuff. I imagine that this vacation is the best!! I remember when we went to Belize, and how good it felt to just walk around in the warm climate, and to see different things, and to just relax. I really love those kinds of trips.  I hope that Bailey is having a good time, and it loving every minute of it. I'd love to go there some day.

So this week has been pretty normal for me. Just filled with hard work, contacting, teaching, and trying to help our converts/investigators. We have been focusing a lot on the older people J and O. I've already told you about them, but we try to wake up early in the morning and give service to them in the cemetery. The water situation is lousy in the cemetery. There are a ton of gardeners, and they all have these pioneer style handcarts that they use to haul around 55 gallon drums. There is only a little water, and the water pressure is really horrible. So there is just a big line, and not a lot of water pressure. And it takes a long time to fill these big drums. So J and O: they're pretty cool, but they're super old. I put a baptism date with them for the 8th of June, so I hope that they can get baptized then. Good stuff. They're super old and poor, and earn about $3-4 each day, so a lot of times they don’t have food. We try to buy them a loaf of bread each time we visit them. So now we don’t have any more mission money and I've had to tap into my bank account and withdraw a little to buy some food for Elder P and myself (sorry!!!). So right now we are just focusing on J and O. Even though we are contacting a ton, it feels like it’s been hard to find new families to teach. So we're just focusing on the people that we have right now. 

This Sunday, J and O couldn't go to church. They had a lot of work to do in the cemetery, and just couldn’t go. So we didn’t have any investigators in church this Sunday. Also, none of the Recent Converts could go, so it was a little tough. We have 19 recent converts, and not a single one of them could go. It was a little frustrating, but I learned that as much as I want people to keep the commandments and go to church, I can’t make the decisions for them. It’s rough as a missionary when your converts can’t go to church, but they need to learn to make their own decisions. But my converts M and M are still super cool. The M’s mom died this week, so that was rough, and she just wanted some time to stay at home. And M was working.... But anyways, we are working on bettering the retention here in Bello Horizonte. Sometimes I just wish that it could be the same here as it is in Idaho. A 20% retention of the members is pretty bad... So I want to try and fix that. We'll see what happens.

So I hope that all is well in Hawaii, and also in Idaho. I’m glad that you're all happy, and I'm doing pretty well here too. My comp and I made some good jokes this week, and we were trying to film a video. I sent a lot of pictures home, and some of our footage. So you can watch that. Funny stuff. I get along well with my comp, and we've had several months together, so it’s all going well. I sure hope that my next comp is cool too. The zone is not doing too hot with the families baptized, but we are off the hook, because we're one of the few areas that has baptized. So I’m glad that there isn’t some leader breathing down my back. And we've got the old couple ready for baptism in June. So I’m pretty happy. I’m pretty excited too to see how the new mission president is. Changes are 2 weeks from Wednesday. Fun stuff.

So all is well here, and we are pretty much just doing the same work, day in and day out. Today I had a scary dream that I got changed to the Boise Idaho mission, and was serving super close to home. It freaked me out, and I woke up freaked out, but it was awesome to look around my room and see that I was still in Managua, Nicaragua. Very relieving. 

So I am having a great time, and I hope that you are too. Be sure to take a bunch of pictures and videos on your vacations, so that you have something to remember. I have a package with some stuff that I want to send home. I don’t know when I will have a chance to send it, but its loaded with a sweet manbag that I bought a couple months ago (the only problem is that it ripped, but I did some sweet repairs, and sewed it back), and a hammock (we were there for like 5 minutes arguing with the sales man. It started out at 250 cordobas, but we FINALLY haggled it down to 100 cordobas), and all of my Spanish books from the MTC which I never use. 

I love you all, and hope that you're having the time of your lives. Take it easy and be safe.

ELDER STARK

#37 Managua (Bello Horizonte)

May 20, 2013

Hey family,

It was great to get the email again. I don’t know why, but I was totally looking forward to reading the email this week. But anyway, it sounds like it’s all going well, and that this week has passed by pretty quickly. I really liked the photo of the seminary graduation. It sounds like Bailey is a stud and has been having a good time his senior year. I wish I had paid more attention in Seminary in high school. I think that I just kind of goofed around the whole time and didn’t really pay too much attention. But yeah, it’s cool that Bailey will be graduating soon.

So it feels like the time goes by pretty quickly. I had been telling people that I have 8 months in the mission, but after reading your letter, I realized it has been "9 MONTHS!" So yeah, basically we just do the same stuff every day, but we get to talk to a ton of people each day so it’s pretty fun. 

We were walking by some guy one day, and he said something in some choppy English, which is pretty normal. I said something back to him, and we started a conversation. The guy was an Indian dude from here in Nicaragua (a true native), and he was walking around the streets screaming "yo afilo cuchillas!!!!!!" He had his grinding wheel slung over his shoulder, and had a couple machetes on his hips. Pretty awesome. But he knew a lot about the American Indians in the US, and I told him that I live in Idaho. The first thing he said was, "Ah.... the Nez Perce. They ride the Appaloosa.” I was thinking... how many Nicaraguans know who the Nez Perce really are...? But yeah, it was pretty funny. As we were walking away, my comp asked me if there really were Indians where I live. I said yes, and he asked me "do they even hunt white people......” I thought that was pretty funny, and then I explained that the Indians are just normal people. He had the idea in his head that there were still savage Indians in the US.

So I think that I already told you all about the dog that attacked me and ripped off my sleeve. I was in Cuidad Jardin (literally, Garden City) and I was just walking by a fence, and a huge dog jumped through the slats of the fence and tried to bite me. Luckily he just ripped off my shirt sleeve. It was pretty scary at first, but afterwards I just started laughing because it was so ridiculous. After, I walked over and quickly stuck my camera through the slats of the fence and took a picture of the man-eating dog. It was awesome. I was with Elder F, and he happened to have a needle, so I ripped a thread off of the shredded shirt and sewed it up. Then I just worked the rest of the day with my sleeve all messed up. Pretty awesome story.

Oh and last Saturday, we baptized M and M and their daughters, N and J. So we went to their house, and then walked with them to the church. We had already filled up the baptismal font, and everything was already set up. It was awesome, and there were a TON of people at the baptism because a priesthood meeting had just ended. So we drew names, and I ended up baptizing M and M, and my companion baptized N and J. It was super cool, and they are some of the best converts I've had here. After the baptism, Manuel said, "I plan on staying in this church for the rest of my life". This family is awesome. They read their scriptures, pray each night, and go to church.

Oh and last P day, we went to the National Palace which is the Nicaraguan equivalent of the White House. It was cool, and there was some huge ancient cathedral and some nice statues, and a giant flag. We took about a million pictures, and right after that, we jumped onto the bus and went and Skyped the family. That’s about all that happened last P day. Oh and we had a FHE with M and M. 

So right now we are just preparing another family to get baptized. Their names are J and O. They are older people, and O cant walk so J just pushes her around in her wheelchair. They work in the cemetery as gardeners, and in the mornings we usually try to go and help them. They are preparing for baptism, and we have had some good lessons with them. On Sunday they said that they would go to church, but we stopped by the cemetery, and it was going to be impossible. So we were like... dang it! J was waiting to get water from the tiny hose sticking out of the ground, and he was waiting in line with all of the other gardeners. There was no way that he would be able to finish his work in the cemetery and still get to church. So my companion and I were thinking, and we had an idea. Our food appointment lives about 2 blocks from the cemetery, so we ran over to her house and got a few old 5 gallon paint buckets. We filled them up with water, and carried them to the cemetery to fill up J’s big 55 gallon drum. My arms were pretty much dead for the rest of the day because it was hard work, but we finally finished everything, and got them to church!!!!! Awesome!! We arrived just as sacrament was ending, and my companion and I were soaking wet and all muddy, but it was awesome. J and O stayed until the end of church, and then we got them a taxi and sent them home. The hard work was worth it.

So yeah, those are just some of the things that have happened this week. I am having a good time, and it’s all going well. Today my companion and I got permission to go to the south mission to the distribution center and we got my comp some things. Then we went and made some pancakes, and now I’m here. I am 99% sure that I'll get changed this transfer because I have been in Bello Horizonte almost 6 months. But we'll see... Anyways, I love you all, and I hope that your week was good. Let me know what’s new!!!!!

Lots of love,

Elder Stark

P.S. The rainy season still hasn’t started. Who knows when it will actually begin? People are pretty confused that it still hasn’t rained. Also, it sounds like Dad is starting to get the groove of things with the Bishop calling. I’m glad that it’s super rewarding, and I bet it’s fun at times. I love my job, and I think that at times, its pretty similar to what Dad does. Good times.

#36 Managua (Bello Horizonte)

May 6, 2013

Hey family,

Well it’s all going really well here. The big news is that during the changes meeting, I DIDN’T get changed. During the meeting, in front of all of the missionaries, President Arredondo said, "Can Elder Stark and Elder P please stand up?" So we stood up, and President Arredondo said in front of the whole mission "Elders, your bishop has requested that I don’t change you".  OBISPO!!!!  So I'm still here in Bello Horizonte for my 4th change. It’s pretty crazy that by the time I leave this area, I'll have been here for about 6 months. That’s like 25% of my mission in the same area. But yeah, it’s all going very, very well. My comp and I get along well, and we work super hard. The family that we have right now (M and M) is the best, and they are getting baptized this Saturday. It is amazing! Last night, my comp was already asleep and I was sitting in my bed (I sleep on the top bunk) writing in my journal, and I was thinking about how awesome it is to have another family baptized. Like truthfully, this family is super awesome, and they will defiantly be future leaders in the church here in Nicaragua. I was thinking about how baptizing this family will be a big impact in their posterity. Just like Dad was saying about the missionary who baptized him, and how later he served a mission, had a temple marriage, and so on... This baptism is going to leave an impact on the future of this family forever. Also, not only are we going to baptize the parents, but we are baptizing 3 of their kids. So this week, we've been pretty happy.

We teach this family every night at 7 or 8pm. For the longest while, the husband was the holdout. He kept saying that "I want to get baptized, but I just want to be 100% sure that its the right thing". Basically the only thing that he was lacking was the answer to his prayers. So we explained that what he needed to do was pray with real intent, with faith in Christ, and with a heart sincere. After teaching him this, he was all like "ahhh.... I understand now. I’ve been lacking in some of those areas.” So we kept teaching the family each night. Then a couple days after teaching the husband about the prayer, we noticed that one day he just kind of changed (Saturday). While we were teaching the family, M just kept saying things about how Joseph Smith was a prophet, and about how the church was restored. It was super cool, because he wasn’t just reiterating the things that we had taught him, but he was actually saying these things like he knew them to be true. Also, while we were talking, he would say things like "So what time is this baptism service on Saturday" or "what kind of clothes do we need to bring?". As a missionary, when your investigators start to ask questions like that... Well it’s just awesome! Although M never said anything about receiving an answer, we could tell that he had prayed and received an answer. So yeah, Saturday is going to be like Christmas for me. Last night we went and taught M and M again. We watched the 1 hour version of the Joseph Smith movie, and it was awesome. After the movie, the family was saying things like "that dude was a stud.”

So the missionary work is going well here. In church, we had M and M and their family in the church with us, and we also had another family investigating in the church. So we're hoping to get another family lined up for the baptism later in the month. Basically, it’s all going pretty well. I’m pretty stoked to Skype you all next week. I’m pretty excited to see the family, but more than anything, I just want to see Rusty... (Just kidding, I’m really excited to see you all!!). Also, what did you think of the package that I sent home? Did you ever open it? If so, what do you think about the Daniel Ortega communist shirt? Pretty awesome right? Who's been wearing it?

So I hope that all is going well at home. I imagine that Dad stays pretty busy with all of his stuff going on. I was sitting in church yesterday, and it was awesome. We were sitting with 2 families who are investigators. I got up and bore my testimony and while I was talking, I was wondering what it will be like when I finally come home and give the homecoming talk from the Edinburgh ward pulpit. That will be crazy! But yeah anyways, it’s too early to start thinking about that. I was comparing the Edinburgh ward and the Barrio Bello Horizonte. In our ward here in Nicaragua, there is usually an attendance of like 90 - 100 members, but there are like 400 inactive members. So the Obispo spends all of his time (literally ALL of his free time) visiting the less actives. He doesn’t really hang around church for super long on Sunday, but rather, he spends his time in the streets looking for the less actives. It’s a different world down here, really.

Its super hot here, and summer is coming to an end. Winter is about to start here. The people say that in this month, the rain should begin. I have been here for 6 1/2 months, and I’ve seen rain maybe 3 times. But the people say that it rains really hard here. They say that the storm drains don’t really do anything, and that you pretty much just walk around all wet all the time in the flooded out streets. We'll see.... 

Well, I love you all. I hope that all goes well this week. Stay safe, and I will see you all next week.

Elder Stark