Week 45 San Juan de Maguana: "Matando la vaca!"

Dear Family,

Well this week has absolutely flown by!  Friday we had a super awesome zone conference with our zone and the zones of Azua and Brahona. We had to get up at 5:00am to get ready and go.  I fell asleep on the way there for a bit, but we got to the conference and I met up with tons of friends. It was super cool because I got to see Elder E and Hermana S and everybody told me that I look a lot skinnier. Anyway, they had a scale there so I stood on and it showed me weighing 170. So I was thinking, “hmm, that’s not so bad.” But then I realized two things; one that I was wearing my giant eccos, and two, that I had my backpack on. I took off the backpack and ... 160, still with my eccos on! I’m probably around 155 pounds now. It’s crazy! I think I entered into the mission at 190ish. (I was a fatty before)

The area president Elder Cornish was at the conference and he gave a super cool talk that I wish I had recorded. He told us a story about a poor family that only had one cow and they depended on the cow to live. Because they were so poor, they asked a wise guy to help them out and he went and took the cow and pushed it off a cliff and left! Seems crazy, but then the wise man came back 10 years later and found a huge mansion where the poor family used to live. So he asked the guy who lived in the mansion where the family that used to be very poor was. Obviously it was the guy who was once poor. The wise guy responded that’s what I thought and left! Elder Cornish later told us that the cow represents our limited vision of what we can do and if we kill the cow, we will be able to do great things in our areas. It was really cool and I very much enjoyed it. It was a very spiritual and very powerful meeting. So this whole week my comp and I have been talking about “matando la vaca!”

Then this p-day we went to our chapel and played some different sports, which was pretty fun. There is this one elder in my house that is super cool. His name is Elder T and he is from New Zealand. We are really good friends and we had a fun time playing sports; the sisters in the zone even showed up! When you play sports with elders it gets pretty competitive, but sisters makes it a little calmer. In the other branch of San Juan, two of the sisters are fluent in both English and Spanish and neither of their comps speak Spanish. Hermana F is Mexican American and is training an American sister from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and the other companionship is Hermana M from Honduras and her comp doesn’t speak English or Spanish fluently. She is from a pacific island. Anyway, both Hermana M and Hermana F asked me how I learned my Spanish so that they could help their comps during sports. It was pretty cool! I guess my Spanish isn’t too bad. 

Anyway, I love you all and hope you have a super good week.

Elder Bailey Stark

P.S. My address is: 

Elder Bailey Stark

C/ Hatuey #73

Urb. Los Cacicazgos

Santo Domingo

Dominican Republic

Just in case you want to write me a letter.

Week 44 San Juan de Maguana: Walking in the rain might be worth it

Hey family and friends,

So this has been a very wet week here in San Juan de la Maguana. We are in the middle of hurricane season and it rains hard almost everyday. As missionaries we walk in the rain a lot, but that’s alright because there is a saying here in the mission field that the more you walk in the rain, the more beautiful your wife will be. So yeah, for some missionaries that’s what keeps them walking through the hurricanes. Personally, I don’t mind the hurricanes except that even though it’s probably like 75 degrees when it rains, I get really cold! I have actually become a total wimp when it comes to the cold. I sleep with my sheets and my blanket and I still get cold! I’m fairly sure I will freeze when I get home to Idaho. Mom, dad, my first meal back home might be in the hospital. I’m just kidding.

But anyway, this week has been mildly successful. We have been doing lots of contacting. My area is very rich and all the houses are really big and hard to contact, but its kind of fun. A lot of these people are really interesting. Like one time we were in this super rich neighborhood and this guy runs out of his house and goes on a 20 minute monolog about how we shouldn’t be out at night in the neighborhood because it’s dangerous. The whole time I just kept thinking that this is the nicest neighborhood I have been in during my mission. We also recently started teaching an English class here in our chapel as an idea to find more people and we have had a little bit of success with that. This last week we only had one guy show up, but he was super cool and had an interesting background. He said that his university went to New York City for a trip and he and a few friends decided to stay for the six months that their passports allowed them to. And he said that he was working this super crappy job where they paid him 40 dollars a day for like 10 hours of work and he and his buddies lived like that for a while. It was an interesting story and this guy left the country a month after his visa expired and he doesn’t know if he is in trouble with the US government or not. Cool guy. His name is W. We also found this one guy who was super cool named B. We have only taught him one lesson, but he came to church this week! It was super sweet. I really hope he progresses because this ward needs a lot more priesthood.

So other stuff in my life is that I’ve started learning new ways to eat cheap and healthy. For example, normally, I always buy cereal and milk. But I found out that yogurt tastes a ton better, and is only a little more expensive. Plus, the healthy cereal is actually the best deal, so I eat cereal with yogurt a lot, and I’m going to start putting oatmeal in the cereal so that will fill me up more! Also I’ve been eating lots of popcorn because its super cheap. But yeah, that’s my life here in the DR. Take care everybody and I’ll see you next week!

Elder Stark 

Week 43 San Juan de Maguana: General Conference

Hey mom and dad,

How’s everything going?  I like the car, Dad! It looks super cool! I too am on a spiritual high from conference. This week has been a big spiritual week and I learned a lot from conference. I have set a bunch of new goals to help learn and grow. Unfortunately we worked really hard this week to try to get people to come to conference, but nobody came. We only had a few less active people come, but hey, who knows? The Lord works in strange ways. But I know that even though my investigator’s testimonies didn’t grow, mine certainly did! I especially loved the talk by the seventy that spoke Portuguese. I thought that his talk was really good. It was also cool to hear some talks in Spanish that didn’t come from a translator’s voice. For a special conference treat I made the cheesecake mix you sent! It was great and things are going really well here in the DR.

There is a new mission rule about only using Internet for an hour, so I’m struggling trying to figure out how to obey that and write enough. Let me know if you have ideas. I love you both.

Elder Stark

Week 42 San Juan de Maguana: New Companion and a few crazy people

Hey everybody,

So everything is going well here is San Juan. Last week I got a new companion named Elder Qu from Peru.  He is a super cool guy. He is really short and very spiritual and social. So in other words he is a super fantastic missionary. He has 21 months in the mission so he has quite a bit of experience. I think I might be the one that sends him off to his house, but if that is the case, then that means I’ll be here for a long time because I would have to teach the new elder the area before I go, but we will see. This area is a lot different than my last area. In my last area we lived with four elders in a house, and here we have an 8-man house. There is another district living with us. It has its ups and downs, like cleaning goes a lot faster, but we always have to wash dishes. But yeah, I think I like to have more people in the house. It makes it more interesting, but at the same time it’s hard to find a quite place to think.

This area also has a lot more crazy people than my last area. In my last area there was just one lady who would sit in the street reading a bible and then yell at us as we passed by, saying that we came from the devil. But here in San Juan there are tons of crazy people. There is one lady that is like 45 years old and bald. She walks around the bus stop trying to take peoples luggage and flirt with guys. One time I was at the bus stop sitting outside the bathroom while my comp was in there, and she started harassing me a bit trying to take my backpack. The she went into the bathroom where my comp was and I heard him start yelling at her, telling her to leave and that he was going to call the police. It was all a very funny experience. She is a harmless crazy, but kind of annoying. There is another harmless crazy guy. He goes to this one park everyday and begs for money so that he can buy cigarettes. When he buys the cigarettes, he smokes them out of his nose and dances as he does it! It’s really funny to watch. But yeah, there are a few more crazies, but that’s alright. I just think it’s really funny.

This week has been a little different, just getting used to literally speaking Spanish the entire day! I can do it easily enough; I just feel like I don’t have as much to say in Spanish. It’s kind of weird, but when you speak two different languages you sort of have 2 different personalities. For example, while speaking Spanish, I’m a lot bolder and more direct with the things I say, but also a bit more quiet. Maybe that’s just the culture rubbing off on me though. Another interesting thing about the house I’m living in is that there are 2 greenies. One guy is from Mexico and one from America. They are both super cool.

As far as the work goes, this week we have be trying to help out the members a lot because this ward isn’t very strong. There are a few excommunicated members and a ton of less active. Many of the members don’t have very strong testimonies so we are working on that. My comp and I have lots of goals to get this area getting going and get the ward super strong, but it’s a bit of a battle. This week our main progressing investigator threw us a curve ball. She decided to take month long class that is on Sunday during church hours.  She wont be able to come to church for a while, but on the bright side she is really progressing and asking us questions and expressing doubts. It is always better when people express doubts about the church to us so that we can explain it, and then they can understand clearly. In my last area there was a less active member that struggled for years with doubts she had about the Book of Mormon. In the end, she fell away because of it. The most important lesson I think we teach as missionaries is how to receive an answer from God. That way they can gain a testimony for themselves. We don’t teach- we provide the information and the Spirit and the investigator’s personal prayers teach the lesson! Anyway, that’s my week more or less. I love you all and hope you all have a good week!

Elder Stark 

Week 41 San Juan de Maguana: Duh... soccer

Well family and friends this is going to be a very short email! The whole week my comp and me were stuck in the house. Last week we were playing football. Sorry, I can remember what that sport is called. (Duh… soccer) With Latinos in the house, you play lots of football. Anyway, my comp sprained his ankle really badly. So because of that we have stayed in the house this week to let him heal. I have gone out with the zone leaders almost every night and been able to get one or two lessons in. But apart from 7:30 to 9 every night, I have been in the house.  There was one elder here who had a bunch of those funny Mormon movies, like Singles Ward, and Mobsters and Mormons, and The RM, so those were fun to watch. They are particularly funny when you happen to be a missionary. Elder J and I also played lots of chess and got into some deep scripture studies.  

But yeah, that was my week. Then Saturday we got transfer calls and my comp is leaving. I’m pretty sad that I only got one transfer with him because got along super well and had a ton of fun. I also learned a lot from him, but now I’m getting a new comp. His name is Elder Qu and he is from Peru. He will end his mission in 3 months so I might be here in San Juan for a long time.

 I love you all and hope you all have a good week. 

Love,

Elder Stark