Happy 24th of July!

Hey there Family!

I can’t believe how quickly the time is winding down! There are definitely still some days when I feel like I still have forever to go and then someone reminds me that I go home in less than 3 weeks and it’s just real crazy! I feel so grateful though!

This week was another week full of adventures and miracles. We have been really trying to be exactly obedient. For awhile it was a real test of our faith, but we are truly starting to see the fruits of our labors and God is blessing us so much!

The week started off with a fun little adventure. My companion is obsessed with bananas and has always wanted to see a banana tree in person. Well, lucky her, there’s a banana plantation here on the outskirts of our area. So on tuesday I took her over there and it was actually pretty dang cool! The little security guard guy gave us a little lesson on bananas and told us all about the plantation. We were standing on a 150 acre banana plantation. Those bananas get sent straight to the United States to Walmart and Walgreens. Yes, I was beyond excited about that! It takes 3 months for one bunch to grow and after about two or three grow, the tree dies and grows a “child tree”. So there’s your fun facts for the week lol!

Later in the week we had a pretty cool experience with one of our recent convert families. They had told us that they didn’t feel peace in their home and they had been having some scary experiences with things that are out of the normal. We felt it necessary for the Elders to come and bless their house. When they did, we all came into their humble little home. You can imagine 4 people living in a 10 foot by 10 foot shack made out of wood and tin slats. We all knelt down as the Elders gave the blessing and as we listened to the prayer, the feelings of emptiness that we felt in their house turned to peace and my heart felt full. Their house became a home protected by the Spirit. It was a very special experience and I am so grateful for the Priesthood that is upon the earth again that blesses our lives in every way.

This week it rained some more and it was wild. The streets filled up with almost a foot of water! Luckily we were able to camp out in a members house for a little bit!

This weekend we were able to have another baptism and it was so awesome! It was a day filled with lots of patience and faith. It was a young girl named Massiel who has wanted to be baptized for over three months now. We have been able to teach her and we were able to get permission from her mom to be baptized. A little later we even found out that her mom is a member but fell away from the church! The day of her baptism was a little crazy. We waited 4 hours for the baptism to happen. She wanted her mom to be there but her mom couldn’t come so she wouldn’t get baptized. It was so stressful, but finally some member went and picked up the mom and brought her to the church. As we waited, I was so stressed and found myself murmuring and doubting. So we sat down and I started reading my scriptures about faith and was reminded about the scripture in Ether 12:6 “la fe es las cosas que se esperan y no se ven; por tanto no contendáis porque no veis, porque no recibís ningun testimonio sino hasta después de la prueba de vuestra fe.” (Sorry, I couldn’t remember how it is in English). That was an important lesson for me. After I changed my attitude to an attitude of faith, the members showed up to the chapel with her mom and the baptism finally got started at 8 oclock that night.

I love you all so much and I can’t wait to see all of your beautiful faces in a few short weeks!

Love, Shay
Hermana Staker
Mision Nicaragua Managua Norte
Febrero 2016- Agosto 2017

Here’s some more pictures from a couple of weeks ago!

To explain some of the pictures that I sent:

The horses here are like stray dogs, they’re everywhere!
We love eating fruit in the morning! Every morning we eat something different!
One day we found a little baby pig running in the street and I went and picked it up and took a picture with it.
I am absolutely exhausted. I come home at night and struggle to keep my eyes open.
I am teaching Hermana Harding how to speak spanish. Every day we have “whiteboard time”. Shes progressing really well!
Annnd the natural drinks that they give us here are called frescos and they just serve them in a bag with a straw. Well one day we went and got one thats banano con leche and it was so gigantic, we about peed our pants 1. Because of how much liquid we drank and 2. because we were laughing so hard at the fact that we were drinking a drink out of a huge plastic grocery bag.

GOOD TIMES! I LOVE NICARAGUA!!