Week 16 Santo Domingo: I'm eating all kinds of things!

Dear family,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM, FELIS CUMPLEAÑOS!!!!! My comp says happy birthday too. So I had a super good week. Here is what we did:

Monday I got to try two, really good but weird and different Dominican foods. The first was called Mofongo. We ate it at our neighbor’s house. It's fried, mashed platanos balls mixed with meat, and in this case fried pigskin. It was really yummy!! Then we had a family night at the bishop’s house and for desert we had flan!!!! It’s soooooo good. Its like Crème Brule mixed with Jell-O and with caramel on top! My comp and I decided to make it ourselves and Tuesday morning we had flan for breakfast!!!!

Wednesday we had a temple trip that was super great. We get to go every six months. On the way to the temple we took a güagüa, which is a Dominican bus, but we had to take it during morning rush hour and it was super full. There was an evangelical guy on there who decided that it was a good time to yell the word of God to everybody, so that was fun, but I talked him later and he seemed like a good guy. We finally got to the temple, which was super awesome! We went to Taco Bell afterwards. I was a little sad that they didn´t have Mountain Dew, but what can you do.

On Thursday we had a lesson with E that was super awesome! She just needs to go to church.

Friday, I got the gripe.... aka the cold. It sucks, but the good news was that everybody gave me stuff to help cure my gripe like orange leaf tea that tasted like fruit loops and ginger tea. The bad news is they also gave me stuff like Aloe Vera that they made me eat, and honey mixed with lime juice. Both of those are gross! Also, we went around collecting machetes from members for a service project that we had the next day. We got a bunch of weird looks in the streets like, “What are the Mormons doing with all those swords?” 

Saturday we had the service project, in which we basically cut up a bunch of weeds and trees with machetes. It was pretty fun because I got to chop a banana tree in half with one slice! But then one of the elders found some aji peppers which are about a half-inch long, and they just look evil. So of course I got dared to eat one of the green ones, which are the super spicy ones. I remember thinking, “What would Brother Turley want me to do in a situation like this?” So I ate it......my mouth was burning for two hours while constantly drinking water! But now I can say I did it, Totally worth it!!!! Then later that day we had a goodbye party for Elder M at a member’s house. We had Sancocho, which is a super good Dominican soup!!!

Then Sunday after church we had tacos for lunch at S’s house, which was super good! We ate a lot there and then after that we hiked to another lady’s house and she made us habichuelas con dulce. It is a bean milkshake thing that is really good! Later, we went to a different area, an old area of M’s, and visited a family that he baptized and they fed us a ton of spaghetti. So we just had a ton to eat that day! Then on the way back, I was walking along the side of the road. Cars here like to see how close they can get to you. Needless to say, a car clipped my arm with their mirror. It hurt pretty bad, but it didn’t bruise so that’s cool, plus I think I broke their mirror #bonus points! 

Anyway that was my week!

Love you all,

Elder Stark

Week 15 Santo Domingo: Highlights of my week

Dear Family,

Well this was a super good week. We have been working really hard and goofing off along the way! By the way, huge shout out to Elder Brian P for receiving the call to serve. I’m proud of you buddy!

This last Monday we had a family home evening at a member’s house where we ate spaghetti and then had s’mores. It was super fun!!

Also we had some bad news. We had an investigator who was ready to be baptized named A. She seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. She moved out of our area, but we kept teaching her at her work. but then she stopped showing up to work and hasn’t answered her phone so we don’t know what happened to her.

Also on Wednesday, we had exchanges with the ZL’s, so I had Elder F in my area. It was super cool and we had a great day. Our last lesson was with E and we taught her the whole plan of salvation in one lesson. At the end she said, “Wow, this plan is perfect!” So I felt impressed and followed the Spirit and asked her if she wanted to be baptized. And she said yes!!! So I was super excited about that!

Sunday we had church, which was pretty cool, because there’s an American family living in our Ward right now who are adopting a little Dominican girl. It was nice to be social in English. Then we went to my comp’s first area in Santo Domingo to say goodbye to some converts he has there. We also saw the ocean, which was so beautiful!!!

Anyway those were the highlights of my week. ;)

Love you all,

Elder Stark

Week 14 Santo Domingo: My newest Dominican obsession

Hi family,

So last Tuesday, we had a pretty boring day except we taught E. She is in love with the Book of Mormon! She has been reading every night and cross-referencing it to the Bible. It is super cool!!!

Then Wednesday we had exchanges as a district. So I took Elder Mo to my area and my comp, Elder M, went with Elder E to his area! So during this exchange, we went to see a dry investigator (one who has been taught everything but for some reason, usually marriage, doesn’t want to be baptized). Her daughter is a member. Anyway, I asked Elder Mo to share his favorite scripture, and he pulled out the baptism scriptures and forced a baptism date on her, and I had to sit there all awkwardly because I can’t really jump in and say, “She’s not ready for that, or she doesn’t want that.”

It was really frustrating.

Thursday was super cool! We found a guanabana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a green squishy fruit that is super white on the inside!  Anyway, I bought 2 and made juice out of it! FYI: when I get home, I’m going to make homemade juice all the time! It’s my newest Dominican obsession! I’ve even had avocado juice! Anyway, while I was making juice, Elder M discovered a bunch of magic settings on my camera and was taking some pretty cool photos!

Friday I had my first zone conference! It was super long! From 8-5, but super cool and really spiritual! Also afterwards, I got the package! Thank you sooooo much mom! Later, we went the ward party for J, an 18 year old in our ward, who is leaving on his mission! He goes out with us sometimes.

Saturday, we went and bought food for the week, which was fun and then we also went to a baptism for two little kids that the other companionship in our district has been teaching!

It was a great week.

Love,

Elder Stark

Week 13 Santo Domingo: Goals and Rewards

Familia,

So this week was fairly normal. We have a new investigator that I´m really excited about named E. She is super cool! We gave her a Book of Mormon and she read a bunch of it using all of the cross references, and kept telling us about how the people in the Book of Mormon are real!

Then on Wednesday, we set a goal as a companionship to memorize the ten “How to begin teaching points” in chapter 10 of Preach my Gospel by Friday. As a reward if we did it, we would toilet paper our next door neighbor’s (She is the relief society president) house Saturday night!! So of course, we memorized the points! And on Saturday night we TP’d her house!!! Don’t worry she wasn’t mad; she thought it was super funny!

On Sunday, I found out that this is my comp’s last transfer in the mission. Whenever people ask him, he just says he has a year and a little bit. But it came as a bit of a shock, I really love this guy. He is a super, super good trainer! Also Sunday a guy invited us over to show us how to make octopus, but when we got there he wasn’t there, so that was a bummer!

Anyway, that was my week!

Love you all,

Elder Stark

Week 12 Santo Domingo: Lots of interesting food

Dear Family,

So this week we had transfers and we lost Elder A, which was sad because we had become good friends I’m still in the area and loving it here! But then Elder A’s replacement never showed up, so we were in a trio for a bit with the other Elder M.  We were able to find priests in our ward to go out with him, until his new companion came on Friday.

This week we also cleaned the chapel Dominican style, which basically means we flooded it!!! That was pretty fun. Friday we went to the mission office to pick up Elder M’s new kid. I made rainbow Jello cups that day! The new guy is a Dominican elder who is waiting for his visa to Mexico. His name is Elder E. He is very tidy, which is cool, but he was cleaning our freezer and I think he broke it..... So that kind of stinks. Saturday, Elder M and I were going to teach an English class, but nobody showed up. So while we were waiting we talked about how awesome the movie Avatar was!

We found a new investigator named E who is super, super chosen. I get a really good feeling about her. We taught her the whole restoration in one lesson, which is super fast, and she understood it all!  Sunday was Elder M’s birthday, so we had a super good lunch of yucca and chicken! We also a type of cake called tres leche which is so good!!!  Then for p-day we went to the zone leader’s area and hung out for a bit. Then we went to a special birthday lunch at the neighbor’s house, which was super fun! Now we are at the internet.  It was a pretty good week!

Love,

Elder Stark