Sunday, December 28, 2014

Week 54 San Juan de Maguana: Guess what!

Hey Family,

I won’t write much because I’m going to Skype with you this Thursday, but guess what! I am now the district leader over San Juan. I have 4 elders, including me, and 4 Hermanas in my district. It’s actually a lot of stress. We had a mission Christmas party and it was a ton of fun, but I will also be planning a Christmas activity for the district and it should be fun too. Anyway, I love you and I will be calling you Thursday morning with my plans. Can’t wait to see you.

Love,


Elder Stark




Week 53 San Juan de Maguana: I'm getting a new companion

Dear Family,

Well this week has been very good. I don’t know what it was, but this week my companion and I have been working really well together. We have had a lot more unity in our companionship and have been teaching really well together and it has made this week really fly by. I’m not sure if I told you guys but this was Elder Qu’s last transfer here in the country. He goes home this Wednesday and I’m going to miss that guy.  
So here are some of the adventures of the week. We have been working a lot with less active members, and it was really cool because we found a woman named A, who hasn’t been to church in over 11 years. So we went to her house where she lives with her two kids and her mom.  Because she stopped going to church such a long time ago she is the only member in her house. Anyway, we went there this week and it was a really special experience. She still remembers everything and we just talked about Jesus and how He created a plan with steps to help us return to our Father’s presence. It was a really sweet experience, but then her mother came in and started trying to argue with us about Joseph Smith. Before we could even respond, A, who hadn’t gone to church in eleven years, started defending Joseph Smith. It was a super cool thing to see that even after all this time; she still had a testimony of the truth. I was pretty happy to be there at that moment.
Then we had another really cool experience with one of our investigators named F. We had not visited him for a week or so when he called us to ask if we could stop by and talk to him more. Now that might not seem like much, but that is literally the first time on my mission that an investigator has called us to set an appointment! We are trying to help him understand the great apostasy, but it’s a bit tough. But yeah, that’s my week.
Oh and I’m getting a new companion named Elder K.  He is Tongan, but from Utah. I haven’t met him yet but I’m pretty excited to have him! So that’s my week. I’ll see you this Christmas, mom and dad.


Love,


Elder Stark

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Week 52 San Juan de Maguana: This country has a freaking Bible on its flag

Dear Family,
I hope you all liked the photos that I sent. Well this week was super crazy! It was pretty normal until the very end. This weekend we had our district conference. It is sort of like a stake conference, but since we are a district, not a stake, the mission president shows up and it really good. We had quite a few people from our branch come and it was a very spiritual meeting. The crazy part was that we had to go sit on the grass for a big part of it and watch it on a TV. This reminded me of how at home they broadcast stake conference to other areas, but in this case, we were just out on the front lawn of the church. Surprisingly, most of the talks were about the Book of Mormon. And the best part was that we had two investigators there!!!! I loved it!
We are working with one investigator named S. She is my age, but has an 8-month-old child and a husband. She’s super cool, though we have only visited her like four times. The first two times everything looked good and she seemed like a golden investigator. She said she was willing to have us over whenever and that she would read all the material that we had. But then the second visit, she hit us with a bomb! She said that she didn’t believe in God!!! Now I know it’s normal in other countries to run into people who don’t believe in God or Jesus, but up until now, I have only met two Dominicans that don’t believe in God. Everybody here believes in God. This country has the freaking Bible on its flag, with a scripture below it as its motto. So this was a little strange to meet her, but we started talking and asked what made her conclude that there was no God and how she felt about her purpose here with that belief. Then we testified and it was a very spiritual experience because it was the first time testifying of God that I really felt it. I really got an understanding of how great it is to know that there is a God; that our lives have purpose and that He loves us. Anyway, I could tell that she felt it as well, because she started staring at her child for a while and said, “I really want that best for my son,” and then asked us when we could come back and if she could offer the final prayer. The next time that we came back it was a short visit, but it was in the park over by her house. My comp was playing with the baby a bit and I felt impressed to ask S about her prayers. I identified a big problem in her testimony because when she used to pray, she would ask for things and wait for a miracle. Also she has always had a problem trusting people, especially people she doesn’t know. (for example- God!) So I challenged her to  kneel each night and to talk to God. Not to focus on asking for stuff or giving thinks, but to just tell God about her day and her plans and how she felt. Anyway, my challenge was definitely inspired because she loved the idea, she called it her diary with God. The next lesson I asked her to tell me about the adventures that she has had these last couple days. She was like, “Well, my work adventures have gone good, and my home adventures are good, and my spiritual adventures have gone really well.” So that was the key. She said the first day she forgot to pray and she said she felt really guilty for not doing it. She said, “I promised that I would talk to Him and I forgot”, so then she said a prayer in the middle of work and she told God she would talk to him later. Haha. So I’m not sure if she will really progress, but I am trying my best to help her. She is one of those investigators where you can really see her potential. I want her to progress, but it was super cool because she followed up on her commitment and came to the district conference.
We also had this weird funny guy named F show up. He’s a little weird, like he lives his life wandering around San Juan visiting friends, but he is super good with commitments and if you tell him when you’re going to show up, he will be there waiting!  So he also showed up to the conference with a half-liter of chocolate milk. It was quite the sight!
Then Monday we had our Christmas zone conference that was super amazing. We had all of the elders in our zone here in the house for a good 4 days straight with all of the conferences. There are 14 elders in the zone, so it kind of sucked having 14 elders in one house... you can only imagine how dirty it got!! But then we woke up at 5:00 in the morning on Monday and started getting ready to leave for the town of Azua for the zone conference. It was tons of fun because I got to see a bunch of friends there. At the conference we got this awesome presentation about the steps of Jesus' life and it was a very cool moment with President Knuckles. Then during the Christmas broadcast I was talking with Elder A about different doctrine and studying and it was a really great talk! He’s this cool elder from California that was in my first zone.  Then the really fun part is that we each got assigned a skit from the book of Mormon and you had to act it out weaving in funny missionary jokes and stuff like that. So we had Ammon and I was a guy named Aaron for the first scene, then a sheep at the end, but it was really, really funny! We had a great time and we also got a bunch of food. Rice and chicken- I loved it!  But yeah, that was my week.  Hope you all had a fun week and I’ll see you next week.


Love,


Elder Stark 

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Week 51 San Juan de Maguana: "One Year!!!"

Dear Family,

Hey Mom and Dad! I’m super grateful for your letters. It’s amazing to think that we are getting into Christmas. Dad, I’m glad that tithing settlement is going good. It is always a fun time as a bishop, I know. It really does feel crazy to be at the year mark on my mission. It has truly gone by super fast. Pretty soon you guys will be here with me in my world!!! 
There is a really funny story with my Thanksgiving experience. To be honest, I completely forgot it was Thanksgiving. I finally remembered when I got home Thursday night and the funniest part is I was actually fasting that day. So I didn’t eat anything on Thanksgiving, not even Jell-o and rolls. Hahah! Something just never change! Mom those pies you made looked amazing! I almost started drooling here in the Internet center. 
Well I don’t have much time so here’s a brief over view of my week. 
This Saturday I baptized R!!!! He’s an eight-year old boy whose mom served a mission in Nicaragua, but has since gone inactive. Her husband is also inactive. Teaching R was a lot of fun and they are probably one of my favorite families here in the mission. 
Then we had a super fun activity on Sunday where we went to the other branch in San Juan where the Hermanas are.  We contacted less active members and it was super fun because I got to go to a different area and go with a ward member. I was the only missionary, but we had a really spiritual lesson when we went to one house. It was a husband and wife, a little bit older, maybe in their fifties. Anyway, their daughter came out and I realized that the daughter very faithful member, so we got talking and I figured out that she is a returned missionary. So we just keep talking, including the parents in the conversation, and I pulled out my Book of Mormon. The daughter said in English that her parents don’t like it when the missionaries share using the scriptures, so I just kept talking and cracking jokes. I got everybody laughing and then the daughter asked me whether I was converted before the mission, or on the mission. The Spirit just grew and I was able to explain my conversion process and enduring to the end in a way I don’t think I could repeat. It was very spiritual experience and at the end we knelt and prayed.  It was a sweet experience! Then, the daughter wanted to come with us to find the other less active members. She told me that she wished that I could stay in that branch. It was super cool!!!! A very big compliment, but anyway that’s all I can write. I promise I’ll write more next week. 
I’m super stoked for this Christmas. Elder M left me this super cool binder that has a missionary Christmas story for everyday of December leading up to Christmas. So I started that today and it is very cool. I loved seeing the picture of our house at Christmas time. I’m glad that you got everything set up, but one question, “Why the pig ornament?” I’m excited to Skype and see how Jake’s Spanish is. He always says it’s near perfect, so we’ll see. It might be hard to talk with Jake in Spanish because I speak very Dominican Spanish. As for my plans for Christmas, I don’t have any thus far. No one in the branch has invited us over, but it’s guaranteed that I will be here in San Juan for Christmas. Do you realize this is my last Christmas in the mission? Next year I’ll be home with you guys!


I love you mom and dad! 


Elder Bailey Stark













Monday, December 1, 2014

Week 50 San Juan de Maguana: "But it doesn't work!"

Dear Family,

I’m doing really well right now. This p-day we went to a little pueblo and I bought myself a really cool bag that I’m going to start carrying my scriptures in. It was kind of funny because I argued the price down a ton!!! I just kept saying that I saw another place selling them for less and the lady sold it to me for pretty cheap. I also did the bargaining for another sister missionary. They always try to rip me off because I’m white, but it doesn’t work! The work here is going pretty good! This week I’m going to baptize a little kid whose dad is inactive. Should be fun. It will be my second time in the water!
I hope that all the plans for Thanksgiving go well. I don’t know what I’ll do, maybe buy a big coke and drink it up on my roof. Probably something like that. There are only 2 Americans in my house, so it would be hard to do something, but we’ll see. Anyway, I’m really excited to see Henry wrestle. I think it would be super great to watch. Mom don’t worry too much about the Nica lady not being able to speak English, she will love the hospitality and also Jake can translate with everything, so there won’t be a problem. I am planning on sending you something, Dad. We will see if it gets to you in time. Is there anything you would like? I miss you both like crazy mom and dad. You mean the world to me. I’m super excited to see you guys soon. With Christmas coming up, we will be able to Skype for a while and it should be fun. Is there anything the family wants for Christmas from the DR? Let me know. 

Love,


Elder Stark