#97 El Naranjo

Hey family,

I just got your email, and it sounds like you're all doing pretty well. That’s awesome that you guys were able to go all over central Idaho and now that you're in Lake Tahoe. Cool stuff

Well, it’s all going pretty well here. Sometimes I swear that the time speeds up, and sometimes I think that it slows down. It’s really weird. But I can’t believe that in like two weeks I’ll see you guys. That’s a crazy thought for me.

Well this week passed by really quickly. I had a leader’s training in Leon on Wednesday. It was cool to hear from the President, and there were a ton of new missionaries that I didn’t really know. Everyone seems so young in the mission. Our mission did really well last month in June, and we baptized 102 families (we broke the record), but now in July everyone has their tanks empty and there aren’t a ton of baptisms. The mission has the goal to baptized 100+ families again in August, so we're all preparing for that. 

On Thursday we had interviews with President Collado. It was cool, and my district was from 10am-noon, but they didn’t start until around noon, so we had a lot of time to sit around and hang out. While we were waiting for the interviews, as a district we read the whole mission handbook. I've got a pretty big district of 9 missionaries, so it was fun just to hang around. We read the entire mission handbook, and there were like 10 pages left of "priesthood ordinances." But anyway, we read all of that too. It was funny. When I had my interview with the President, I basically just renewed my temple recommend and that took up most of the time. Did you know that only the mission president needs to sign a recommend for a missionary? Pretty cool. Now I have one in Spanish. Right when I entered the room, the first thing that President asked me was, "How is Brother Rawlings?" Funny stuff. I also asked him about the switch-off, like dad was saying. President Collado just looked at his iPhone and said that he had some meeting with the stake presidents in the morning. He said that I could probably just go with him, and that he'd drop me off at the airport at like 1pm. He didn’t really seem too worried about the switch-off. So yeah, all is good. 

It’s fun working here in the area. It’s really weird now though, because basically all of the people that I’m finding now, won't be baptized until after I leave. Right now I'm basically just getting the area set up for after I leave.

I feel pretty good, and I’m excited to see you guys. It'll be really fun walking around the markets and stuff and buying cool trinkets. Life is great, and its fun to be here. Well, I guess that I’ll see you guys soon! Have a great week on vacation! 

Elder Stark

#96 El Naranjo

July 14, 2014

Hey family,

Can you believe that it’s almost coming to an end? I can't... It will be really weird not reading the weekly letters from you guys and it will be weird to see you guys in person and talk to you face to face. It really weirds me out. I also think that it will be really weird not chilling with people in Spanish. Today my comp and I went and did the grocery shopping, ate some pizza, and my comp went to some guy in the market to get his watch fixed. While the guy was fixing it we had a pleasant conversation about Nicaraguan watches and the immigration problems/racism in the United States. I really enjoy just hanging out with the Nicaraguans and talking with them. The people here are so laid back and they are always down to chat it up. That’s something that I’ll miss. Also, while my comp was getting his watch fixed, I just sat down in front of someone’s store and the guy came out and was asking about the US. The people here are always really interested in the US. There aren’t really many white people here, and whenever the people see white people they get interested and always want to chat it up. The Nicas really get excited when they figure out that I can speak Spanish, and they just want to talk.

So today was pretty laid back. We were doing some grocery shopping, and we each bought a giant 4-pound bag of cereal and lots of milk. Also, there was a giant 10-pound bag of pancake mix, so we bought that too. It’s not any pancake mix either, its American. I think that it’s the Krusteez brand or something like that. I can predict that we'll be eating lots of pancakes and cereal. I'm pretty excited. When I first began the mission we didn’t get very much money, and we would only eat cereal on special occasions. But now I have a 4-pound bag to finish it off. I'm pretty stoked!

So not much has been going on this week. We've been working pretty hard and contacting a lot and teaching a lot. I feel like I’m doing a pretty good job, and I enjoy preaching the gospel. It’s really fun to be honest. I can’t really think of any crazy stories that happened this week, but it all went pretty good. We had ward council on Wednesday and one of the sister missionaries was looking at the pictures on my camera. When the council began, she turned it off and put it in her lap and forgot about it. But when it was the Hermana’s turn to speak, she stood up and the camera fell and smacked the floor pretty hard. It broke. Haha! I just shrugged and didn’t really care. It's not really a big deal. I was surprised that the camera made it this far, and its funny that it died when I had 23 months. Anyways sorry, I now don’t have any pictures to send home. But yeah, all is well. We're working and doing our best. 

I've now read the book of Mormon like 7 times in my mission, and I want to finish it again before I go home. But one of the main messages that I’ve seen in the book is to not be prideful. I feel like humility is the opposite of pride. In DyC38:39 its says something like "beware of pride, lest ye become as the Nephites of old". Something like that... Also in Moroni 8:27 it says that the pride is what made the Nephites fall. Basically there are a lot of people that become stuck up on silly little things and it gets to them. They can’t comprehend that maybe they are wrong, and they can’t see it from any other perspective. I see that a lot as a missionary of Jesus Christ. It’s a really interesting thing, and I try to be humble and teach the people the truth. I recently was listening to the talk by president Benson about beware of pride. It’s a really great talk, and I really recommend it. 

But life is good here. I love the people and I really love this work. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. As I look back on these two years, I am really grateful for having chosen to come on a mission. I now don’t really think of it as having been a sacrifice, but rather as a privilege. I've learned numberless things here, and it's impossible to describe how these two years have changed my life. If I hadn’t gone on a mission, sure I might be farther in school, but I would have forfeited so many blessings. So yeah, life is good. Real good. 

Thanks for all your help, and I’m really excited to see you guys. Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Stark

#95 El Naranjo

July 7, 2014

Hey family,

Well it’s crazy to be writing you guys. I've been writing you guys for two years now, and it blows my mind that soon I’ll be able to see you and hear your voices and that it will be real and not through a computer screen. It’s pretty crazy to me. I can’t believe that it’s only like one month now (actually, its less than a month). But anyways, I don’t know what its like at home, but here on my end I think that it’s pretty crazy.

So I liked reading your letter. It seems funny that it was the 4th of July. I actually almost forgot until around 5pm a missionary sent me a text saying happy 4th of July, or something like that. Funny stuff. I can still remember last 4th. I was in Managua in Villa Flor and it had rained the whole day/night and we were trying to get a family baptized, but it turned into a flop and we were all pretty bummed in the nighttime. It’s funny thinking back on that. But for my 4th of July, we just knocked a lot of doors and worked a lot. I felt pretty happy though because we found a new family to teach and they seem somewhat positive. 

So let me tell you about my week. On Tuesday I woke up early and washed some clothes, studied, and we went to work. I think that we found a new investigator to teach on this day. I think that his name was E, and he reminded me of the druggy off of the Simpsons. He just talked with a deep voice and talked like a gangster. Kind of an interesting guy. We taught him, but then figured out that he lives in another area and so we just passed on the reference, but the Hermanas couldn’t find him. Later in the evening, a guy in our ward invited us to eat dinner, and they had some good gallo pinto.

On Wednesday, I did a district meeting and it was cool. I think that I’ll only have one more district meeting to conduct. And later, we just worked a ton. The next day I was on divisions in Tonola, helping out the elders there. I took some cool photos there. I don’t know why, but every time I go there to do divisions it always rains a ton. Tonola doesn’t really have any paved roads, so it turns into a swamp with lots of mosquitos and humidity. It was crazy. I took some pictures when we got there, and it was about to rain and there was a ton of dust in the sky. It was kind really weird. But anyways the divisions went well. I also did a couple of baptism interviews while I was there, and they baptized a couple people the next day. 

And on Friday and Saturday I feel like we just worked a lot. Sorry, I know that this is kind of a lame explanation for what we did, but to be honest, the days just seem to blend into each other and it’s hard to remember details. Plus, everything that would probably be weird for you guys, seems pretty normal for me. So yeah... sorry. But on Saturday we found three new families to teach of investigators. The last family that we taught was a family of 5, and it was cool to have them all quietly huddled around us and listening to our message. We asked them to turn off the TV, and when they turned it off their living room just got quiet and really reverent. It was a sweet lesson. 

So it’s all going pretty well. We got skunked on Sunday and all of our investigators bailed out and couldn’t go to church. That was kind of sucky. But all in all I feel like we're working pretty hard and hopefully we'll be able to get some people baptized. I'm really enjoying these last few weeks, and when I'm in the street testifying about the restoration, it seems hard to think about home. The only time I really get trunky is in the evening and on P-day. But all is well, and I’m working hard and trying to do my best.

Oh, so here is an interesting story. Last night I got done reporting all of the numbers and I was just laying in bed thinking about the day. I think that it was about 11pm. But then I got a phone call from the Zone Leaders and they were asking if my comp and I could go buy some medicine for one of the sister missionaries in the other district. I said yes, and woke up my comp and we put on a pair of shorts and a tee shirt and went looking for a pharmacy. We just went to the stoplight and waited around for a while, but it was so dead. There was nobody in the streets and not a single car. Finally after like 10 minutes a taxi passed by, so I flagged it down and asked him to take us to a pharmacy that would be open. He said yes, but charged us a ton of money. I didn’t really care, so whatever. But we jumped in and went to the pharmacy. It was so surreal because the whole city was just dead, and the streets were all dark and there was nobody around. But we got to the pharmacy and I bought the medicine and we went and found the sister's house and gave them the medicine/a blessing to the sister. It was interesting seeing the whole city so dark and empty. But anyways, we went back home and I finally got back to bed. I think that I only got like 4 hours of sleep because we woke up early and went to the beach with some other elders. It was fun and I knew my way around. I showed them the deserted house and we played some soccer. Plus I found an American football in our house so I brought it and we threw it around. As we were leaving the place (its called Jiquilillo) the bus half broke down and I think that the muffler fell off. Nica buses... While we were there we made sure to buy lots of coke in glass bottles and to buy some fish. It was a pretty cool p day and I like hanging around with the other elders a ton. Did you know that in our zone, the sister missionaries outnumber us elders? There are 7 companionships of sisters, and only 5 of elders. 

But all in all, today was a good day. I’m getting super excited to see you all, and it’s going to be a blast. Hopefully you guys will like this place as much as I do. As we were returning to Chinandega from Jiquilillo I was just looking out the window thinking about these two years. It almost just seems like a dream that's passed by. But anyways, I love you all and I hope that you are well. Have a great week, and let me know if you have any questions.

Love,

Elder Stark 

#94 El Naranjo

June 30, 2014

Hey family,

Well another week has passed by. I now only have 4 p-days left, because the last p-day I’ll be in Managua. That is really crazy to think about. Elder Taylor and I are really good friends, and we call each other each night to chat it up about going home. We were together for the first 5 months of the mission, and now we've been together again for our last 5 months. Pretty cool. Our rule is that we work during the day, but p-days, and in the evenings we can get trunky. Funny stuff. He called me this morning and was just talking about going home. It’s pretty crazy.

Well, I fell pretty good to be honest. I’m pretty stoked to see you guys, and it still doesn’t really seem real, that it’s almost coming to an end. We'll see if it hits me in 3 weeks. But yeah, basically we're working hard. Actually, that’s kind of an understatement. We've been working really hard. Each night it’s tough to stay awake for very long. I feel pretty happy with the work that we're doing. 

So the funny thing is that we were teaching a family and they had a sweet bird (here they're called loras). They are the kind of birds that talk a ton. So I was playing with the bird while I was teaching, and the bird really liked me. So it jumped up on my shoulder and wouldn’t come off. It was pretty distracting, and I was just trying to focus on teaching about the book of Mormon, but the bird kept playing with my hair and stuff and it was hard to focus. Funny stuff. I secretly gave my comp my camera and had him take a picture of me. 

So this week we had a lot of success in my district. We baptized three families. And the week before we baptized three more families. It’s pretty awesome. I've just been running around every Thursday and Saturday trying to do all of these interviews and its sweet to see all of the success. I’m pretty happy. So my district now is El Naranjo 1, El Naranjo 2, Tezoatega, and Tonola. I've got 2 wards and 1 branch. It’s pretty sweet. I was in Tonola on Thursday doing divisions and doing the interviews for the family and other converts that they baptized up there. It was sweet. The crazy thing was that there wasn’t any power in the whole city in the night. That town hasn’t had electricity for almost a week. So at like 8ish we had to go back home because there wasn’t any power. I don’t know if you understand what that’s like, but ZERO power. Not even street lamps or house lights. Nothing. It’s pitch black, like as if you were in the mountains. Luckily my cell phone has a sweet flashlight built in, but yeah, it was dark and raining super hard. I had to do a baptism interview in the pitch black. I couldn’t even see the guy I was interviewing, even though he was sitting right in front of me. Crazy experience.

So my comp is doing pretty good. He's really cool and we get along well. It’s crazy that he's from Belize. Nobody here knows where Belize is. They are always really confused when he says that. But he talks like a Mexican and its funny. He also speaks perfect English, but has a thick Latino accent so sometimes it’s a little tricky to understand. He lives on the Guatemala border of Belize so he also speaks perfect Spanish. I was looking at his passport the other day, and its pretty cool. But yeah, we get along well and my comp likes to work hard. So that’s good.

Today for p day we went to a new chapel and the sister missionaries made scones. I hadn’t had a scone in a really long time. They were good, and we played some volleyball. I got pretty sun burnt, but that’s normal. After that, we went and got some smoothies and I was looking at getting a new pair of shoes, but they didn’t have any in my size. The nicas have small feet. I was kind of ticked that they didn’t have any in my size. I don’t even have that big of feet, just 43's... Whatever.

Oh and yesterday I spoke in Sacrament meeting. We got to church and they asked me to speak. I think that the person who was going to speak bailed out. But it was fun to speak. I really enjoy it, and I like being able to share the gospel. The topic that they gave me was "baptism", so it was really easy. There were a bunch of investigators, and I got up and read in Mosiah 18 where it says "if you have the desire to be baptized, what impedes you in doing so?" or something to that effect. I don’t really know how it goes in English. But yeah, I invited everyone visiting to be baptized. Pretty cool. Everyone was really happy with the talk, and I got a ton of compliments. Tons of people were also saying that my Spanish is perfect and that I didn’t make any errors. Pretty cool :)

Oh so in the other area here in Naranjo, one of the sisters ended her mission. So a new sister came. It’s the Hermana Alan who was in my district in Nagarote. Really cool. She is always telling me about Nagarote and how it was going over there when I left. She said that everyone there still loves me a ton and is always asking about me. She also said (I thought that this was pretty funny) that President Jose publicly announced in sacrament meeting that I’d be coming back on the 10th of august for church. I think that everyone is getting pretty hyped up in Nagarote. I thought that it was funny that he announced it from the pulpit. But yeah, they are doing great over there. Apparently the attendance in Nagarote is now in the 80's. Very awesome. When I arrived I remember that one Sunday we only had like 40ish people.

So I’m getting really excited to see you guys. I’m working hard and we're going to have some success this next month. I hope that you're all well, and I love you all. Thanks for everything!

Elder Stark