March 14th

Hello everybody,
This week brought a whole to meaning to bite the bullet. We had a lot of success. We found some new people and we managed to baptize someone, BUT, the family talked him out of getting confirmed. I learned that when it comes to people's salvations we can't let even the littlest things slip or everything explodes. The young man was super awesome and ready, but his mom, his friends, and neighbors started throwing doubts into his mind, rumors and little things. He is going to get confirmed next week, but still it was a tough one. I learned that Satan works very well making people lose hope and getting dis-animated. All the people did was dis-animate our convert with little things. I don't have any photos because my camera needs to be replaced.
JUST BE HAPPY WITH LIFE!!!

March 7th

Hey guys the week went well,

We didn't have a ton of success, but we have finally stabilized. Now we just need to work on climbing again. We have learned a lot in this area and we are making progress. The biggest thing that I learned this week is that the mission, and life in general is tough, and sometimes you don't want any part of it. But at the same time it is the sweetest thing. In this area I've passed through dark times without much hope and I've passed by times with a ton of animo, but it's all just great. I've learned that when life gets tough and there isn't hope you just gotta keep pushing forward even though its tough. After working and busting your fanny there always comes a new dawn of hope to help you out. Just stay clean, stay strong, because God will help you out and will make you stronger because of your tough times. This week we are going to work hard.

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.