Week 24 Santo Domingo: I think I have a rice problem

Hey everybody!

Happy Memorial Day! (I just found out that it was Memorial Day.) Also big shout out to Paul and Crystal Stark for having been married 22 years!!! They are the best parents ever!

Well, this week has been very tranquil. Not much has happened here. We are working hard, but having a hard time getting investigators to progress. We have one investigator named L who is 11 years old and has been going to church for 4 years, but is not baptized. So we decided to start teaching her about a month ago, and then as soon as we start teaching her, she stops coming to church... No clue what happened. But anyway, we enlisted the primary president to help us out. She said she would start going over there and try to get her to keep coming to church.

Then on Wednesday we had lunch at a member’s house. It was super good rice with ground beef. But wow was that rice good! I’ve eaten so much rice that now when I think about the food that I used to eat back home, all I think of is rice. Also, this is a bit embarrassing, but I have even had dreams about cooking and eating rice... I think I have a rice problem!

Thursday was super cool. We had a lesson with a less active family. We were teaching the grandma (A) and one of the aunts (Al) but there is also another aunt and two nieces that are all less active. Anyway, so we were teaching A and Al when Al’s brother showed up and asked us if we wanted to see his work. So he led us into their house and showed us one of the most awesome creations of all time! Owen would be green if he saw it! It is a giant rotating hand-made waffle cone maker!!!! I'll send pictures. We watched him do that for a while. It was freaking awesome! Owen would have been seriously impressed. Anyway, he makes thousands of waffle cones everyday for different ice cream places.

Also on Thursday I discovered one of the best things ever. Fresh mango! They are so amazing-I’m planning on buying a ton of mangos. They are super juicy and stringy and you end up with a lot of stuff in you teeth, but it has the best flavor of all time. And it's mango season so I’m in luck!

Saturday was Elder B’s birthday and Dominicans are so nice. We had 3 parties lined up. It was great- we ate so much food! One was at the G family. Then one at our investigator’s house, N. Then another at the house of a huge less active family. It was great! We had so much food and soda at every single one. I was stuffed, and we also ad a great lesson with P to top off the night. It was great!!

Sunday was really good. We had a fantastic lesson with the B family. It’s a couple with their newborn son. They are super, super funny, so all of our lessons with them are half spiritual and half comedy session. But we taught them about the book of Mormon and they both had great questions. They are a wonderful family.

Today my comp had to go to the doctor, so we got up and went visit the doctor in the CCM. It was actually pretty fun, but it was weird to be back at the CCM. We got to hang out there for a bit. I also met an elder who is serving in the east mission who is from Chinandega West. He said that Jake is serving in his ward. Cool stuff! Since we were already downtown and it was p-day, we decided so stop by Pizza Hut for Elder B’s birthday. Super fun! 

Anyway, that was my week. I’m hoping everything’s good at home. Stay strong, have faith and all that jazz. Quédense mucho!

Elder Bailey Stark 

Week 23 Santo Domingo: I didn't get transferred.

Dear Family,

Well, May has flown by! I cannot believe it’s almost June. On the fourth of June, I will hit my 6-month mark; it’s insane!!! Time here in the DR is flying! Anyway, here’s my week:

Tuesday was Mary's 14th birthday. So from here in the DR, happy, happy, happy birthday, Mary!!!! I hope you had a fantastic day! That day we went and visited H and C, they are a less active couple who got baptized 12 years ago and haven’t be to church since then. They are kind of a mystery to me because I don’t know what to do with them. Usually with less active members I try to remind them of their duty to go to church, and help them make steps to get back. But with H and C, they don’t know of their duty to go to church and don’t even remember who Joseph Smith is.... It’s kind of a problem. Anyway, we took a member of the bishopric over there and I think we are going to reteach all of the lessons with them. I was actually thinking about dropping them because I didn’t see much hope with them, but I was reading in Jesus the Christ, (Kyle, Brian, I recommend you both read this book on your mission) and it was talking about the analogy of the lost sheep and the parable of the prodigal son.  I was pondering over that because for some reason it hit me pretty hard.  As missionaries, it hurts pretty hard when our investigators don’t progress, or don’t understand, or aren't coming back. But to God, these are His children and He loves them even more! Anyway, it hit me and I learned the lesson in D&C 18:10-16 over again!

Now for a bit of a funny story! Elder B and I were playing dominoes at a member’s house. For those of you who don’t know, Dominican dominoes are a very competitive game!!! Elder B and me and a member kid named G, were playing and it was super fun; we were having a great time. Then.... this super sassy, rude, neighbor girl asked to play with us. Dun. dun. dun.  We said “yes” of course, and started playing teams. I was on her team, and Elder B and G were on the other team. This sassy, Dominican chick kept winning and being super rude, in your face about it to Elder B and G. So I whisper out of the corner of my mouth to Elder B and say, "Bro, this chick is rude", and he says, "Yeah, she’s a brat”. I said, ''here, I’ll tell you my tiles so that you win" and because no one understood English, I would whisper my tiles to him during the whole game so he would win!!!! It was super fun because the girl kept getting really pissed off! Elder B were trying unsuccessfully not to laugh, and then there was G, just chilling having a good time!!!!

Also this week we had a lesson with M. M is an investigator who is married to a less active named N. They are super cool and really funny! M always volunteers his wife for the prayers, and they are just a cute couple. They have one daughter who is 3.  M was investigating the church, but found a bunch of lies on the Internet about Mormons, so we have to address those and figure it out with him. Right now we are working on the restoration and answering all of his questions as he has them. It’s pretty fun and he’s one of those investigators that you really have to study for, which I like. He is a fantastic guy and is just really nice, honest and curious. He said last time that he really likes us because we are teaching him to understand. 

Another funny thing. There’s these stairs that are in our area that we use a lot. They are huge, long and basically have been constructed in a way that would make Uncle Mark tear up! Half the steps you can barely get the tips of your toes on, and others are like 4 feet long and slanted so you almost slip. Anyway, there was one day where we went to go teach an investigator named Andre who lives at the end of the stairs. We hiked all the way to his house, down the stairs and found him in his house, only for him to tell us that he is Catholic and doesn’t want to talk to us anymore... So we hiked all the way back home, up the terrible stairs and to our next lesson. We named the stairs, “the stairs of Andre!” And now every time we walk up them, we yell, “Augh, Andre!” 

Saturday we had a ward activity to try to spark interest in the ward for missionary work. Each of us had a part for the activity. Elder B shared a talk called “Hastening the Lord’s game plan.” I highly, suggest that you all read it, especially Kyle and Brian! Then Elder M showed how members can use Preach My Gospel. Elder E shared how members have a duty to share the gospel, and I did a practice where everyone was in a group and they had to invite a friend to church. It was a lot of fun, and hopefully in these coming months we can get more help from the ward.

That was my week! I love you all so much! I love all of your letters. Thank you and have a good week.

Your servant,

Elder Stark

Frying Platanos

They becomes Tostones

My Typical Day:

6:00- Wake up.

6:30- Roll out of bed. Take a freezing cold shower and get dressed.

7:00- Start making breakfast. What I’ve been doing lately for breakfast is a fried egg sandwich. I fry the egg and sprinkle all-purpose seasoning on it and put it on a slice of bread.

8:00- Start personal study. I should work out, but I don’t have motivation that early in the morning. For personal study right now I’m reading Jesus The Christ for 30 minutes and reading the scriptures for 30 minutes. I try to read a chapter of the Old Testament, a chapter of the New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.

9:30- We do comp study, which right now we are slowly making our way through Preach My Gospel, going in depth with all of it!

10:00- I do about a half an hour of language study. Usually I just use a book they gave us in the MTC.

10:30 -12:00- We leave and usually contact or visit less active members.

12:00-2:00- Lunch, which we cook for ourselves. I cook every other day, and we always cook Dominican food.

2:00-9:00- The Lord’s time! We try to get about 7 lessons every day- 2 less active lessons, 2 member present lessons, and three others.

8:45- We head back to the house, plan for the next day and cook dinner.

10:30- Get to bed

Week 22 Santo Domingo: Inspiration Rocks!

Dear Family,

Wow, so this week was wet! It rained hard almost every single day this week.

Monday was a super good p-day. In the morning we got up and had to go to my comp’s last area to get a suit that he is having made. It was a bit of a walk, but we got there. The guy who’s doing the suit is super cool. He’s an older guy and is working super hard to save money so that he can serve a mission. I think I might have him make me some nice scripture covers. 

Later that day we had a lesson with a super cool investigator named P. P is what we call a dry member, meaning he knows everything but for one reason or another he hasn’t been baptized. Anyway P has two issues: marriage and church attendance. So brief history, P and his ¨wife¨ Y were living together with 2 kids but weren’t married. When I was with Elder M we taught them and set a baptismal date. They were about to get married, but a problem came up where the hospital wrote Y’s name wrong on one of their kid’s birth certificate. So they had to set an appointment in June to get it fixed with the hospital. But they stopped going to church and we couldn’t find them anywhere. We finally found out that they broke up and were living separately. Anyway we tried teaching P, but he wasn’t really into it. So Elder M and I decided to give him a break. Then Elder B and I were talking to P’s mom, who is a less active member, and she told us that every night P reads the Book of Mormon and is also studying the teachings of Joseph Fielding Smith. So I thought, “well those are the actions of one who wants to join the church”. We talked with P and he told us that he doesn’t know what to do. Should he wait and get baptized with Y, or do it solo? He really wants his family to be sealed for time and all eternity. So we had a great lesson with him this week, and both my comp and I received inspiration. My comp said that he and Y should read The Family: A Proclamation to the World together. I said that we should also have a special fast. It was super cool because it was a spur of the moment thought for both of us. Anyway, later that week, we were able to meet with P and Y and read The Family: A Proclamation to the World and WOW! It was powerful!! P has a super strong testimony and Y has the desire too! I think it will work out between them and I am so happy.

There are a few other things that happened like my comp and I using an Ax deodorant spray can to kill ants, or us rocking at playing dominoes. But yeah, those are the highlights of my week!

Love you all, 

Elder Stark