February 29th Leap Year & Baptism

Hey guys, I'm doing fantastic, we finally had success this week. More than anything, this week we learned that you have to do anything to get success. We were doing well this week, chugging along finding people, when boom, Wednesday hit and everyone of our appointments fell. That day was horrible. Missionary work is like working out at the gym.  If I want to get big and pumped I need to set goals and make plans.  I also need to work hard and consistently.  If I give it everything consistently I will see results.  We contacted and visited members to resupply our teaching pool but that day was a big downer. Wednesday night we planned and went to bed. Thursday night we made back up plans for all our appointments, we did a whole bunch of stuff to not have a another bad day. It worked, we found a whole bunch of people and committed a whole bunch of people to baptism. At the end of the week we brought 4 investigators to church!!!!!.  Also, this week one of our investigators Jose got baptized. His nick name is el venado which means deer. We only call him deer. At his baptism one of the members made a pretty good joke, he said " here in the Trinidad we are going to have the first deer to be baptized, what a miracle." We also committed Satan to get baptized. Everyone here in the Trinidad are known for their nicknames. On Thursday we passed  some people referred by a member. Her name is Guadalupe and her husband is named Jose but everyone calls him Satanas. He said he wants to change, but smoothly. It's pretty funny teaching lessons with him because whenever we talk about Satanas it's like we are talking to him. Everything is going great, we are excited to see el venado progress. He has had an awesome change in his life.  He has stopped drinking, smoking and everything.  He wants to help out his dad so he can get baptized as well.

Answers to Questions:

What do you do when you get up?
 In the morning I get up and go work out for 15 minutes to 30 minutes, then I eat some breakfast.  I try my best to read a lil bit to practice Spanish, but I've been bad about that lately. 

Do you think and dream in Spanish?
Oh yeah, I think and dream in Spanish all the time. Speaking Spanish is so awesome.  I love to study it, and I want to study more languages when I get back.

How do the people live?
Here in Esteli the poor live well.  There are very few plastic houses, and the poor live in big cement houses. The rich live in 3 story houses in the center and they have some bills!!!! The bread is sold in bags like in the states but its more commonly sold in bakeries in loaves, little pieces, in rolls, and stuff like that. The biggest bakery in Nicaragua is here in la Trinidad

February 22nd

LUNCH AT PIZZA HUT

Alright, first of all, thank you so much for writing me everyone one of you!!! 

Answers to Questions

How do you feel about having less than a year left?
1-How, do I feel having less than a year left, honestly so pumped!!!! I feel like I'm going to the Celestial Kingdom.

Describe the area.
2- Here the area is very mountainous. There are a ton of churches here, so it's a little different than my old areas. The people here are very friendly, and there is not much crime. Most of the people here make bread or work in the mountains.  Our area here is super rich, the only place I have seen that has 3 story houses, it is so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.    We have to go to Esteli to do baptisms.  We don't have a font here.

3- I enjoy learning more, even though it's hard.  Now that I'm with Ajquejay, a native companion, I'm learning more style of teaching and I'm learning more Spanish. This change has taught me that none of us are perfect and every day we just gotta better our way of working and teaching. We work together with another companionship hear in Trinidad, and they live right next to us, so when we are free we talk a lot. They are big fans of Hogans Heroes!!!!

Do you do any trading with other missionaries?
4- I love my comp, he helps me a lot, and there is a ton of trading in the mission.  If I need something I just look and ask. We trade ties and all sorts of stuff.

How are you doing?
I'm doing so great, it's stressful, but I love it.  I feel like I actually have a purpose.  This week I did an interview for a baptism, and I felt this overwhelming joy to be helping someone out, really helping them with their doubts and fears.  My greatest fear is that the Lord won't trust me, and I won't be able to have this privilege for long.

Nothing to crazy happened this week. On Tuesday, we had a multi zone conference with President. I learned again that knocking  on doors is almost useless. Sure, we can find people who are ready to change their lives, but those who have more help are the friends of members. In two days we found more positive people than we have found in 2 weeks. It's not complicated either, you just need to be a friend. Unfortunately, no one came to church with us.  This Sunday we are going to walk with them to church, so it is much easier. We also learned that The Book of Mormon is a very powerful tool in bringing souls to Christ if it is used correctly. Elder Ajquejay and I have been using scriptures that are short and direct, ones that teach us that through true repentance and baptism we can receive forgiveness for our sins and live with our Heavenly Father again. Before,  I was afraid to be so direct, but Elder Ajquejay has helped me realize that the only we can help is by being direct. It's like a doctor or a surgeon, if they just beat around the bush instead of telling us what's going on, nothing gets done. God wants us to know the key to happiness and we need to be direct in teaching it and not have fear.

February 15th La Trinidad

La Trinidad 

Hey guys we completed our second week of the 8 week change. We climbed a mountain and ate hot dogs at a local gas station for our P-day today, it was pretty fun.  The weather is not too hot here.  In this area, it gets to about 80 in the afternoon and at night it drops down to 70.  We had a good week, but we learned the hard way that when one feels secure with the people he has, then you need to worry. We had everybody set up to go to church. They were all really positive and told us yeah we will go. Then Sunday rolled around and we woke up to find a giant party festival thing with beer and horses and girls and stuff like that. In the end none of our investigators went to church....No WORRIES THOUGH! Elder Ajquejay and I have plans to work super hard, super smart and super efficiently this week.

It's not the hardest thing in the world. We are really excited to throw fire here in La Trinidad. We work fairly closely with Elder Worden and Elder Brown. Those guys are killing it. This week they brought 9 investigators church, which boosted the attendance by a ton. The rest of the district is doing awesome. Hermana Near and Hermana Melendrez work pretty consistently, and Elder Alfaro and Elder Shawcroft are climbing again.  I enjoy being a leader because it gives me more opportunities to learn from other missionaries, learn from the responsibility itself, and help others.  

February 8th La Trinidad

Nicaragua's Band of Spiritual Warriors

Hey guys it's good old Elder Scaggs here,

So I had changes and I am now in Esteli with Elder Ajquejay.  He came with me, or in other words we have the same time in the mish.  We are kind of opening an area with Elder Warden and Brown.  The area is called La Trinidad and it is gorgeous.  Right now we are in the mountains, so all around the city there are mountains.  La Trinidad is in the center of a grand canyon.

 There are few members here. About 7 are members and almost all are recent converts of Elder Warden.  These people are amazing. I have never seen recent converts that are so into the gospel.  Every time we have baptisms the entire congregation goes with us to Esteli.  Right now the church is a little house, and we have an attendance of about 16-19 people.  To be a rama we need 30 baptized people.  We should hit that mark soon with four missionaries.  Elder Ajequay and I have seen a ton of miracles this week and we have learned so much.  As leaders Ajequay and I need to lead the pack.  So we need to work doubly hard and doubly diligently.  Before when the end of the week came along I would let the tiredness bring me down a bit.  As leaders we can't slack off, we've gotta be talking with everyone and helping out our district.  Elder Ajequejay compared it to Achilles or Leonidis.  They were leaders who were first into battle.  They did not ask anything of their soldiers unless they did it themselves.  That's the kind of leaders we want to be.  Instead of commanding and demanding we are going to work ourselves super hard and earn the respect of our district.  So they will have confidence in us and the inspiration to do the same.

February 1st District Leader

Elder Williams Elder Scaggs La Paz Centro

Well guys I finally left the Paz Centro. It was a bitter sweet ending.  We had the blessing to see a great change in many families. Out of all the families, we passed by Hermana Marcia and her family, Juana and Jose and her family. Juan and his family was the most difficult to get through. I thought I was going strong until Marcia started balling and I lost it. Shortly after, the whole family started tearing up, it was a toughie but it all worked out.  Hermana Marcia and her family felt like my family away from home, there was a lot of love between the missionaries and them. I felt like I had another mom, another dad, and three more brothers, super funny, you gotta keep track of them for me
   Elder Williams stayed behind to build the area up. I 'm confident he will make a big difference in La Paz. I'm going to miss that guy a lot, he has helped me out so much and has bettered me as a missionary. Now I'm in Esteli with Elder ajquejay in San Isidro and La Irinidad . It is located in Esteli and it is so great!!!!!!!. I met Ajquejay when I first came to the mission. He has the exact same time as me and I am very thankful to be working with him. He is an honest, true, hard working missionary and I know we will throw fire together!!!
Oh by the way guys, I'm a leader now, woohoo, lots of responsibility. I got a notebook especially for my district and I'm really excited.

January 25th The Lord Loves You Mom

Questions:

• What can you get there that you can't get here?
• What makes it hard for them to do well or survive?
• Who has made a difference in your life as a missionary or otherwise?
• Your Dad is interested in how you feel about your mission right now?
•   ready for a new area/not ready for a new area

So the fruits that we eat here that we don't get in the states are mangos. Yeah we can get mangos in the states but here there are so many that people throw them away. They are amazing. You can eat them when they are ripe or when they aren't it works well. The fruits here thrive because its super hot and super tropical. My mission president has made a huge difference in my mission, as well as my patriarchal blessing,  the scriptures, and prayer. Before the mission I didn't really use those resources well but here on the mission that is all we have.  I have received so much revelation and so much help just by using it a lil bit. Those things have saved my butt every week. So right now in the mission I feel pretty good about it but just recently I've felt just so great. With Elder Williams I feel like the missionary I want to be. We are honest, we are hard workers, and on many occasions we have exhausted ourselves on the street and kept working to complete our goals. Dad I now understand exactly what you have told me before, Elder Williams and I are doing our best down here. I want to complete a year in La Paz Centro, and I want to leave this area better than I picked it up.
This next message made me cry.
Mom I thank you every week but I want to thank you again. At the end of every week I'm tired, I'm beat, I'm kinda sad, and I look forward to your messages, because I know you always help me out. You always make sure that I have something to read. Mom you are doing a great job please keep it up. Even though you may not see all the results from your work now, you will see the results. Don't loose hope, keep reading, keep praying.  The lord loves you mom the lord is well aware of you.

January 18th Hermana Ortencia Baptism One Year Mark

Hey everybody, this week we had many miracles and many awesome experiences. We wanted to help a family of 2 get baptized, but in the end only the mom Hermana Ortencia got baptized. She is an awesome lady of about 5o years. She lives way out in the middle of no where with her family but she has a lot of  fight in her. She has come to church with us without fail for 3 Sundays in a row. My favorite thing about her is that when we pass by our other investigators to bring them to church, she shoots down their excuses. Sometimes they come out with a headache or clothes to wash, and she walks up to them and says "we are going to church though right."  She taught Elder Williams and I an evangelical song about oil from heaven it was pretty funny. When she got baptized, our recent convert Juan showed up. Juan has helped us out almost every single day this week. He wants to be a missionary, so he is reading and helping us teach. Every day we can see that his knowledge of the gospel is growing.

Watching a Video of the Restoration
Notice the Chair

The biggest thing Elder Williams and I learned this week is that we need to pray to receive help from God, but we need to pray for specific things. Before we have been praying very very generally and working in a very broad unproductive manner. We decided to pray and ask where we should go, ask to put people in our path. We presented a plan and the lord helped us find a whole bunch of people who are super positive.
I asked him a few questions in my letter and these are the answers.
Here are a few of the things that surprise me about the people in Nicaragua. For example, people here have a ton of superstitions. People don't like to drink cold stuff or shower at night because it will make them sick. They also don't eat very much chili because it's bad for your kidneys.  So dad raised me to drink stuff super fast and devour food. Elder Williams eats very slow and drinks stuff sip by sip and it bugs me so much, but it has grown on me, now I sip my food and eat slow, I get less sick in the end and I have more food. I think I'm going to miss all of the families we have baptized. Our recent recent converts are really awesome so it will be tough to leave them.

Chinese Food Celebrating One Year Mark
Scaggs/Williams

January 11th

So this weekend the greatest guy in the world decided to get baptized. His name is Juan and he is one of the most honest and most dedicated converts we have had. He works with us, talks with us, and actually wants to learn, instead of saying yeah yeah mhm  si si claro que si. He plans to be a missionary and he is already working with us in La Paz to help build the rama (branch).

 Hey guys this week was a fight to the death to keep our head above the water, We had to look, teach and prepare for baptism. It all worked out really well but it was tough. At the end of the week we managed to bring Hermano Juan to baptism. He is a great guy and loves to learn. He is also very humble which has allowed him to forget about the worldy things that hold us back and seek our Heavenly Father. We have seen others who want to change but cannot manage to leave the world behind. Elder Williams and I are working hard here in La Paz. I'm really thankful for my companion Elder Williams. This week he has really taken the lead while I have been sick, and in the end he has learned a ton and is super awesome. I'm excited to see where he will go and who he will become in the mission. He teaches in a  very clean very direct manner which causes the people to think and to act in a very secure and sure way. We have finally gotten down a pattern of teaching and we are making it work.

Frijoles con Crema

 So the converts that I relate to the most are almost all of them. I really love spending time with them and I've been here for a while so they feel like the are my family. For me its really hard not to spend two or 3 hours with them. One family talks to us and asks us questions so that we can't leave. With the family of Juana and Jose she always invites us over to eat tacos.  We try to split up in the mornings so we can pass by more people, but basically we go to the most positive people and wait and walk with them to church.  So, unfortunately New Year's is a lot bigger than Christmas, but it's still fun. Everybody buys fireworks and gets super super drunk and they blow up scarecrow doll things that represent the old year. They make the maniken look like an old man and they fill it full of firecrackers and blow it up. We were sleeping by that point but we definitely heard it.

January 4th

 Sunday went well. We had pretty good attendance and we brought some investigators to church. We bare our testimonies every week.  So, being a "father" for another missionary has helped me learn a whole lot more and get better. New Year's Eve night we hung out with some members and our investigator Juan.

Hey guys!!!! This week went great. It was tough but it was great. We finally found a way to work efficiently. Before we couldn't crank out many lessons. Right now we are doing things short, and simple. We met some awesome people this week and are helping them progress towards baptism. One awesome awesome guy that we are teaching is called Juan. He is the brother or cousin of one of our recent coverts who is named Felipe. When we first met Juan he was a very gruff looking bago( street walker). One day we we started talking with him, which led to  a lesson, which led to him putting a goal to get baptized. He has not had much experince with churches but he has a fairly strong background in the basics. He prays alot and even prays over his food which is amazing! He learns very fast, and once you get him interested, he reads, investigates, and studies without us pushing him along. He is one of our favorite investigators. We have another family that lives out in the boonies.

Being Ridiculous with Maricela

We have David, Maricela, Urtencia and Ceiner.  The single mom that leads the family brings everyone along behind her. More than anything I learned how to keep the hope and excitement going even though the circumstances are so incredibly draining. I found a scripture that teaches us that we should be happy, we should not fear because our Lord is with us and understands us. If we are obedient, everything will work out fine even though we may need to pass through some tough trials. 

Williams, Scaggs, DeLeon, Ward, Spence, Crane

 Love you guys a ton see you later