Elder Easton Scaggs: July 25th Condega Thackeray Companion

Questions:
Weather: How do you handle the rainy season? (shoes, boots, jacket, umbrella) What do the streets look like when it floods? Or is it the hot season right now?

Converts: What do you do when you teach them? Do you start with your Go To scripture, or do you have a prayer first? Of your coverts, who warms your heart, and who gives you yummy food?

Couple: I think there is a new missionary couple in Esteli, do they work with you?

We are in the rainy season down here. Here in Esteli it does not rain too much as compared to Chinandega and Leon, where it flooded every week. When it floods, the edges of the street fill first then expand outward until it's like a big river. When it rains hard it floods guaranteed, but here it just sprinkles. In fact this last week we were doing divisions and my companion Elder Thackeray got soaked in a flash torential rain flood. All his shoes got wet, but it's all good now. With converts we try to keep it short so we can find more people but we pass by and read a scripture then ask for references. We play a game where everyone has to touch a part of the body and the one who touches the part last has to do the prayer, everyone likes that. There are a few converts like Hermana Virginia and Nubia, they are always very loving, always go to church, and always help us out when we need them to pass by members or give talks. Whenever we pass by, food is guaranteed!!! There is a missionary couple in Esteli, but I have not met them yet. We work with the Bells a lot. I GOT YOUR PACKAGE!!!!!! THANKS GUYS In fact, when we got it we were fasting and the next day we dug into those chocolates!!! They were so good, oh my gosh, thank you so much.

The week went pretty well, Jade was baptized. The photo is of her and her family.

This next part is taken from a Blog post by Elder and Sister Bell regarding Jade's Baptism.

Sunday, July 24, 2016
Happy Pioneer Day…. We started with a baptism in Condega. A young 11-year-old girl was baptized in the River. We started with singing “I am a Child of God”. The members that were there did not know this song, so Sister Bell and I sang it for them. Then Elder Scaggs had us sing together all the verses. They seemed to pick up the song very well. Then Elder Thackeray found a deep spot without any rocks and performed the baptism. She was confirmed that afternoon in Sacrament Meeting by Elder Scaggs.

After the baptism, we picked up the chairs at the store where the Elders rent them and helped set up the sewing factory for church. While the Elders went to their lunch appointment,

Sunday, July 31, 2016
This was a long and fulfilling day. We left Esteli about 8:30, headed for Church in Somoto. We made a quick stop in Condega to give Jade, a young 11-year-old girl, a picture of her baptism that we had taken the week before and framed. She was very excited and showed the Elders later in the day the picture. They said she was very excited to have it.

This next part is from their July 23rd post. Their blog is such a blessing.
We then went to Condega for the Friendshipping Meeting. Elder Scaggs taught a lesson about the Sacrament and then played a game. He comes up with the most entertaining games. This game had two people standing facing each other, with the arms stretched up, touching each other, forming a church. Then one person stands underneath them, being a member inside the church. There was one person that was out. This person yelled Iglesia, Santa Cena or Apostacia. If they said Iglesia, then the persons who were the churches had to move and create new churches. The person that was out tried to become a church, therefore leaving another person out. If the person yelled Santa Cena, then the people in the middle had to move, with the person who was out, trying to find a free spot inside a church, leaving another person out. If the person yelled Apostacia, then everyone had to move. It was a lot of fun. Where does he come up with these games…. He is amazing.

We visited the home of the grandmother of some of the new members. She has been investigating the church for a couple of months but has had a difficult time stop drinking coffee. She had not been feeling well, so we gave her a blessing. Elder Thackeray anointed her in English and Elder Scaggs sealed the anointing in Spanish and gave her a wonderful blessing.

This next part is from the letter he sends to friends at home and Elders he's met on his mission. I enjoy working with Elder Thakeray because he has high goals and is ready to work hard no matter what. We are not going to be able to get the 13 baptisms this month, but we are loading up the next month. This week we have been working a lot with a few very awesome people. We have Hermano Asdrubal, he needs to get married, but has been reading the Book of Mormon a ton, even more than some of our members. He understands it all and is ready to get baptized but he's just gotta get married. He even helps us bring his family to church on Sundays. It's really awesome to see how people who are very positive and full of doubts read the Book of Mormon. Little by little it has the power to change people. We have another couple who are preparing themselves to get married and baptized. They are Darwin and Magali. They are very young, they went to church already, and they love the lessons. We just need to get them a Book of Mormon to get them studying. They have a little baby who is so funny he laughs and laughs and is always smiling. We also have Darling and Kevin. They have gone to church and they love the hymns. They were singing and everything. Whenever we pass by to teach lessons it's super fun and they learn super fast. Normally at church we sing acapella, so it sounds pretty bad. I'm leading the music, so we get lost a lot, so we bought a speaker, and now we're bumping hymns in the church. Everyone is able to follow along better. We also have a super dope family leading the troop here in Condega. They are called the family Ramirez they have been passing through a ton of problems, from losing their job to getting the son- in-law thrown in jail. They have gotten really sad but they always go to church and they help us teach when they can. We will help the other families follow their example!!!!!
Peace out guys love you