Homecoming January 18th 2017

January 2nd 2017

Well guys,  Mendez and I kicked some serious but this week. We started off a little disanimated, for the past couple weeks we have been running low on animo, but on Thursday we decided to turn everything around.  We had a killer scripture study in the morning to boost us up and we left the house ready to throw fire. We invited everyone we saw to get baptized and it helped a ton. We found like 3 or 4 families who were interested and we put like 9 fechas.  It was super fun because we were competing with the other zone. The other zone beat us, but both zones worked super hard and put more than 40 fechas.  It was super awesome. We managed to see companionships that were super disanimated work miracles in their area. Right now we have three super super awesome investigators.  I want to talk ABOUT ONE REALLY QUICK. His name is Arnesto.   Arnesto is a very humble man but has struggled with cigarettes throughout his life. He has also been looking for a church all his life. We have been working with him for about a week now and his demeanor or his personality has changed dramaticALLLY. He surparsses the goals we put with him and goes to activities with out us reminding him. It's all going well down here in Acombe. See you guys later

December 26th

Hey guys,
Christmas was awesome down here in Nicaragua. Here, on the 24th everyone celebrates.  They shoot fireworks, and have parties, and eat a ton of food, it's super awesome.  Mendez and I ate a ton and we chilled with our recent converts. I'm so thankful for you guys. Thanks for always messaging me. The packages were awesome, I loved the pants and the blow up santa. They were perfect, and I liked the peanut butter and the cliff bar.  The real miracles were Sunday. We passed by everybody, to see if they were coming to church, but everyone was drunk, or asleep, or went to the beach. Even our most awesome investigators went to the beach. BUT, orlando went with us.  He is a super awesome young man who is going to get baptized.  Ernest, the dad of a super giant family went as well. He went to church alone without any help and he says that he loves it and that he's going to keep going. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to see people like him realize that the way he lives does not bring happiness.  I love to see them change and love the gospel. 

I asked him what he did today and this weekend, this was his response.

Well, we hung out with the zone today. We played soccer and stuff, then we ate at a cool chicken place.  Mendez and I bought some nerf guns, so I'm going to take a lil money out for that sorry, they were cheap (his perspective about money has changed a lot since serving in Nicaragua).  The Christmas party was awesome, I forgot to tell you. We went to the stake Christmas party, and Elder Mendez and I sang a cool funny song together.  He's helping me sing better.
Keep being awesome guys, I'll see you next week.

December 12th and 20th

Mission Christmas Party with President Sergio A. Poncio Alvarez and Sister Poncio Alvarez
Elder Mendez and Elder Scaggs

Hey guys this week was a little hard but we learned a lot from it. In the month of December we worked really really hard to get Magda and her family baptized, but we stopped working so hard afterwords, so we haven't had much success,  and we have not seen very many spiritual experiences either. BUT, we learned that we as people, we gotta work constantly to have the spirit with us, and work constantly bringing people to Christ. If we don't it's always going to be a up and down battle. We need to learn to be more constant so we can have the spirit with us more often. This month we are having a ton of activities with the ward and with the mission for christmas time its really awesome.

So, in this month of December we have a ton of crazy parties that are going on. My companion plays guitar, so he likes to participate a lot. I'm in barrio acome.   Next monday we are going to managua again for the mission Christmas party!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey a question, do you guys still have the guitars, because I really want to learn to play the guitar when I get back!!! love you guys

December 5th

Hey guys,
The time has finally come, I have 6 weeks left. It's pretty weird, but I feel good about it.  Mendez and I have another change together and it's going to be my last change. We have many plans to consecrate ourselves by being exactly obedient and working very very very hard to give a super awesome gift to our Savior this Christmas, we don't have much to say from this week, but we had an awesome experience with our convert Hermana Magda. Magda is a very awesome person, but she gets really nervous when meeting to new people. She tends to seal up until she gains confidence, but this Sunday she did something so spectacular. In sacrament meeting she got up to bare her testimony, and it wasn't just a regular testimony, she gave it her all. She bore her heart guys, it was awesome and it felt so great to have been an instrument in the Lord's hands to help her get to that point. Magda and her family have made enormous changes, and will continue making changes. I'm so gratefull for this time I have to serve my Savior.
I'll see you guys next week

Elder Williams and Elder Scaggs
They were companions months ago and are now working in the same general area.

November 28th Chinandega

Hey guys,
More miracles this week!!!!! Emanuel got baptized. The zone baptized 30 people, but it was accomplished with a whole ton of miracles, we can't lie.  After a ton of work, prayer, fasting, teaching, and sacrifice, both districts managed to fight and fight and fight until the last minute, everyone fought. Yet again, I learned a very valuable lesson this week.   If we are obedient, and we work hard, God will always bless us with what we earned, even if at the moment it doesn't look that way, in the end it is.  Sorry I don't have much else to say my friends.  Keep being awesome and keeping working hard.

As there was a Hurricane in Nicaragua last week, and a 7.0 magnitude earthquake offshore at the same time.  I asked him how they handled all that and this is his response.  

Everything is going well down here.  We felt the earthquake, but it wasn't too bad.  The hurricane was on the other side of the coast. This week was pretty normal.  I'm normal, and I am actually getting a little fat because we eat so much here, but it's all good.

November 21st Chinandega Elder Mendez

More miracles guys,

Alright, so Mendez and I started the week with a ton of people ready to be baptized.  Even though they are ready and nothing is holding them back, it is always a challenge. One family is  so awesome.  It was tough to get them to decide to get baptized and we want to be sure they never turn back. When I say never turn back, I mean never turn back.  When Hermana Magda and Marlen finally made the decision to get baptized they were sure, but almost all of their friends rejected them.  These women are friends with everyone in the city. In fact we were with them when their buddies passed by. Magda said she was going to get baptized and invited them, but all their faces turned to frowns and they started making fun of the church.  Magda held strong and defended everything and so did Marlen.  In the end they all left, but Magda was still a little worried. The next day we found out her friends were saying unkind things on Facebook and Whatsapp. They almost all rejected her. BUT, this did not bring her down, she told us that nothing is going to stop her and she is going to keep strong, Marlen also defended herself against many of her friends who rejected her. These people, are easily some of the best converts I have ever had.  I'm so proud of them and I'm so glad that they took the leap. The other family pulled off a miracle with the help of members. They left work to help out the sister because she wasn't going to get baptized. They left and went to support her during the baptism at the last minute. Seriously guys incredible stuff her in La Roberto. I am so thankful for all the miracles that the Lord gives us, but to get these miracles we gotta work as a team, because satan's got a team too, and he always throws a wrench in things.  God is way more cool, so he wins every time.
Love you guys!!!!!!

November 14th

Hey guys,
Everything is rolling smooth down here in La Roberto. Elder Mendez and I are living off miracles, because here if you don't have miracles nothing happens. We have an awesome family that's getting ready for baptism this week. We love them a ton and it has not been easy getting them ready. On various occasions we have said to ourselves, "these guys aren't interested, we are not coming back."  With a lot of patience and the help of all the members, the doubts and conflicts from before no longer exist.  They are actually strengths for them. The mom of the family leads the pack, she invites everyone to go to church and always tells us "we are going to make them Mormon."  The highlight of the week was when Magda came back from Costa Rica. We thought that she was going to come back without any desire to go to church. She told us that she visited another church in Costa Rica. When she told us that, we thought everything was lost, BUT then she said, "it was beautiful and everything but not a single other religion has filled me like this (lds). When she said that everyone got quiet and she started to cry, her sister as well. It has been an incredible journey with them. Elder Mendez and I have finally found our family in La Roberto.

November 7th Chinandega Oste

Alright guys,
This week, we have seen so many miracles, but I gotta tell you about one. We have had an investigator named Nubia for months. When I came to Acome we found her, and we have been working with her ever since. It has been hard, because she is the only person in her family investigating the church and the rest of her family is not so pleased with that. She has gone to church millions of times and was going to get baptized this week, but on Saturday she sent a message saying that she was going to wait another month. We felt horrible, so we went to her house to see what was going on. She told us that she was nervous and didn't feel ready. We explained that she had received everything and that she was ready. We shared scriptures, bared testimonies, and everything. She told us that pow she was going to do it, and when she went to get ready her dad and brother followed her. They came back, and the dad and brother explained to us that she was not ready. Nubia stayed quiet. We  explained and explained and helped and helped and nubia said she was ready and wanted to but her brother and her dad kept saying that she wasn't. Our district leader passed by to help her out and in the end she said she would do it the next day before church in the morning. Elder Mendez and I were super disanimated because we had given it all working in the week and helping out Nubia.  We were sure she would not get baptized. The next day we got to church and found that Nubia had come to church early to get baptized. This is something she had never done before. In the past we had to get to her house early to wake her up, and help her with her kids so they could go to church, and in the end she came early without our help!!!!. She was really nervous, so I gave her a blessing.  The truth is, I have a hard time giving blessings.   I never could do it good.  But this time I felt I could, I knew what I needed to say, and in the blessing I felt more words that I needed to hear!!!!!!! She got baptized, after 4 months of work, after 5 different missionaries, after almost all the members knew her. That same day, we managed to bring almost all our investigators to the baptism and they felt the spirit. Mendez and I have been working hard and we have been disanimated because we haven't been able to see the fruits of our labor but......God never fails with his promises.  If we are obedient and work hard we will see the fruits now or later.  I know because I have felt it and seen it.

October 31st Chinandega

Hey guys everything is going fantastic here in Chinandega. This week I learned that if you work hard and you're obedient the Lord will bless you, no matter what, no matter how bad things look, it always works out in the end. Ever since Elder Mendez came here we have been working super super hard trying to boost up the ward and get people in church and baptized. It's ben tough though. Some days we haven't been able to find anybody, and we are in Nicaragua where everyone listens. Those days were super tough, and it was super tough to keep working when no one accepted, but we did it, and we are FINALLY FINALLY SEEING THE RESULTS. This week we have an awesome family, Karla and her kids. A family in the ward brought them to us after they had been reading the Book of Mormon with them for weeks. They are so awesome, but they work a lot which makes it hard, but they are committed!!! For the month we have a lot of families that have gone to church several times and have gone to several baptisms. The ward has helped us out a ton. Almost every time we pass by the people, we bring 4 or 5 hermanas to help us out. Magda and her daughter will get baptized in two weeks. Magda and her family are awesome. Every time we visit them they give us banana soda with bread or some kind of snack. We also have a super awesome teenager named Miguel Angel. He is cool, has gone to church, and he understands everything we teach . The only problem is that his friends influence him a lot, but no worries, we will bring the young men to hang out with him.  In the end, remember guys, even though everything may be going down hill, if you kill it working hard everything will always work out!!!!!!!!

October 24th Chinandega

Hey everybody,

We had another week full of miracles. The truth is, to see the miracles you gotta look.   You can't just expect them to come and wait and wait and wait. You gotta search under every rock and look in every crevice. This week, we had a great miracle with Hermana Magda and her sister. They have gone to church a bunch of times and they are reading what we give them, but they are full of doubts. When it comes to the worldy things, everything is a sign to them, but when it comes to spiritual stuff it's difficult. BUT, we made a break through people!!!!! This week we sat Magda down and we talked straight up without jokes about The Book of Mormon. She understood,  still had doubts, but it helped us a lot not to have her sister to make jokes and distract the lesson. Then, on Saturday we took them both to a baptism.  Both Elder Mendez and I were praying so that they would feel the spirt. At the end of everything they were both crying because they felt the spirit so strongly. They said that they wanted their whole family to have this experince. We helped them understand that they had to take the step of baptism for their childeren to follow and they understood.  Now they have plans and goals to get baptized. This is something that we have never ever had before with them!!! 
Love you guys............. look for the miracles

October 17th Chinandega

Whats up guys!!!!!! 

To be honest I've been pretty dang trunky lately  Thanks to the advice from a ton of people, the only way to get rid of the trunkiness is to get rid of it by working hard. This week we did that, Elder Mendez and I are working hard trying to get excellent numbers which allows us to get the most out of the area and find all the people here who are ready to get baptized.

On Wednesday, we had the awesome opportunity to do divisions with the other Elders of Acome, Elder Bassett and Amador. It was awesome and we had a ton of success that day. We found a ton of families and taught some super awesome lessons. One of the families we have is Karla and her 2 sons. Ever since we invited them to pray about the Book of Mormon and Jospeh Smith they have been super set and super firm.  A lot of people say they pray and don't.  When people go to church without us having to pass by them or help them until they go, and when they read extra and respond super awesome, man it just feels great. Karla is getting baptized in November!!!! This will be the first family in Acome!!!!

October 10th Chinandega Oste

Well my friends this week was a toughie, 
On Tuesday, I got a pretty bad case of gastritis. This caused my stomach to inflate immensely and I spent the rest of the week walking around like a frog. I couldn't eat or drink anything and I was super weak. I was super sick and managed to work thanks to the help of my companion Elder Mendez!!! The truth is I was just trying to survive this week, and in the end, for working hard, the Lord helped us be in the top 15 of the mission!!!!!!!! BUT, we worked no worries. I didn't work hard, but I worked. Elder Mendez helped me out a ton.

On Friday, everything cleared up for the baptism of Ceasar the monkey!!!: Just kidding guys, but our young dude that got baptized is named Ceasar and he's a pretty interesting guy. He's very animated and he learns fast. He invites all his friends to family home evening and mutual. The truth is it was a super easy process. At the end of the week, half our zone managed to get on the list of the 15 hardest workers in the mission. I'd like to give a nice big shout out to Elder Ward and Elder Fordham, Vega, Gustafson, Hermanas Baquedano and Swanson. Elder Mendez and I made it on there as well. It feels great to be doing our job well but we need to do it a whole lot better, and the Lord will help us out love you guys!!!

October 3rd Chinandega

Well guys,
Another week has come to an end. This week we managed to climb even more as a zone, everyone seems to be more energized and excited. Elder Fordham and Ward had the great opportunity to baptize and the guy was super awesome.

Hermana Swanson and Baquedano also baptized, like always, they are an awesome companionship. Elder Vazquez and Cedeño always kill it during the week. But the zone is doing awesome, and Elder Mendez and as well.  Before this change, I was pretty disanimated and I didn't really believe that we could have success here, but we managed to find some awesome people and families. They're doing really well. One of them is named Maragarita. Her husband is a member and they have wanted to get married forever but haven't been able to make it happen.  BUT......... this week she had a lot of doubts about prophets and Joseph Smith and we invited her to really read the Book of Mormon and really pray about it with all her heart, AND guess what guys, SHE DID IT  and she received her answer. When we asked her about it she told us with sureness that she knew it was true. So guys......... I invite you all to do it, if you have not done it yet, do it now its super easy. If you have done it, why not do it again to solidify your testimonies. I love you all so much keep doing great and keep being happy guys.

This next part is from the letter he sends to our family.  We make sure he can help others in a small way, when the need arrises, and it did this week.

Hey guys thank you for all writing it makes me feel super happy, sorry about the funds, a family needed some help thank you for keeping me supported.  AS A ZONE WE DID awesome this week. The whole zone went to the stake center and we watched conference with the rest of the stake. It was really fun and a good bonding experience. I love you guys a ton!!!

September 26th Chinandega

Well,

My good old friends, another week has passed, and the zone is rocking it.  As a zone, we have seen some major changes.   I'd like to give a shout out to Hermana Gailbrath (gaby) Rivas Coelllo, Elwoood , Baquedano, Swanson, and the Elders Vazques, Sevillla, Cedeño, Ward, Fordham, Carico, Bassett, Mendez, Vega, and Gustafson. We are united and working super hard, every one of us.  Right now, when everything turns out, we are going to destroy the month of October. I'm feeling good.  I'm feeling pumped, and it's all thanks to working hard.  If we don't work, we won't have the spirit, and if we don't have the spirit we won't be able to throw fire so well. BUT WE ARE DOING IT GUYS WAHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In the stake leaders meeting, the whole zone showed up, we were animated and pumped.  We strutted our stuff, presented our plan, and teamed up with the stake, to rock the work this month!!!!
In a letter just to me, this is what he said about the stake leaders meeting........ I was nervous but the spirit helped me to say just what I felt impressed to say.

September 19th Chinandega Elder Mendez

This week was pretty good, so I'm sure all of us have had our times where we get used to doing the same things over and over again and over time we just get kind of lazy.  Then there comes a moment where we do a bunch of exercises, it kills our lungs, body, and everything. I know we have all experienced that before, that's basically what happened this week, but I'm talking about missionary work. NOW HOLD ON, I haven't been super lazy but I will admit I have lost the love for working and when my new companion Elder Mendez came I was struggling to keep up. Elder Mendez is a fire spitting animal and he's helping me get back to working super hard. The best part of the week was when we did a competition as a mission to see how many fechas and baptisimal invites we could do in one day.  Our zone got second place with 47 fechas put in one day!!!!!! Elder Mendez and I invited 100 people to get baptized.  It may seem easy, but on average we ask around 15 people to get baptized daily, so it was a big jump. THIS WEEK WE ALSO had a competition between districts. At the end of the week, the district with the most fechas had to invite the other district to Chinese foood. Our district lost, but we managed to see a ton of the missionaries get super animated and start working super hard. This is something i havent seen in them for a very long time. I am very thankful for Elder Mendez, as he is helping me a lot, and helping our zone a lot. I know that this week we are going to work extra hard and we're are going to do even better, we were only warming up this week don't worry guys!!!!

Questions for the week:
How are your converts and investigators doing?
Think of things you would show us or share with us if we were there.

How has your testimony grown, or where have you seen the Lord's hand in the things you are trying to accomplish.

The investigators are doing great and the recent converts as well. It's awesome here, if you bring members to the lessons, the people get baptized much faster, and they go to church by themselves before and after the baptism, it's pretty awesome!!! If you guys were here I would take you to the familia Mungia and hang out with them.  Then I would take YOU GUYS TO EAT PUPUSAS!!!!!   This week I have seen the Lords hand with my companion, before Elder Mendez came I was super disanimated and super tired, but Elder Mendez came FULL OF ENERGYand ready to work.  We worked super hard this week and kicked but as a companionship and as a zone.  I am so thankful for Elder Mendez.  He is definitely a blessing from God!!!

September 12th Chinandega

Hey guys, This week went  very well, we managed to have a miracle. One of the people we have been teaching got baptized but!!! you gotta hear the story. So, two weeks ago she set the goal to get baptized, but days later her little son died tragically. We lost her for an entire week. We looked and looked but could not find her. It was a very difficult time for all of us.  On Wednesday of this week, we finally found her. We could tell she was not doing well. We talked with her for a while, and tried to help her. She told us that more than anything she was confused and didn't not know what was going to happen to her son. We explained that her son would go to the spirit world to rest and learn about the gospel so that he could accept the help of the savior. She understood, but we felt that it was not enough. We felt the need to teach her about the Holy Ghost, and about how it is a comforter and a source of support that is constant. This time she understood and we could see that the spirit touched her heart. We asked if she wanted to follow through with her goal in order to receive the Holy Ghost, and without doubt she said yes!!!! It was an awesome experience and truly was a miracle.  I love sharing the gospel!

September 5th Chinandega

Hey guys,

This week was very difficult. On Sunday I was not able to partake of the scarament, so that kinda brought the whole week down spiritually. Throughout the week I haven't really been able to study. which also brought things down. Basically, the entire week was just low on the spirit. We worked, but no one really wanted to receive us. On Saturday, we did a fast to end the month, and Sunday morning I was dieing guys, just a whole bunch of things not going right. BUT,  I learned a valuable lesson, if we don't partake of the sacrament the portion of the spirit that we are given is greatly diminished. When I finally partook of the scarment this Sunday it wasn't something great and marvelous, but I found the motive to keep working, I found the energy and the hope that I had been lacking the entire week. I also learned the importance of scripture study. For  me, when things don't go right, I get disanimated and frustrated, and as I read the scriptures, the spirit guides me so that I can resolve my problems and have peace in my life. I basically didn't study this week. and a whole bunch of trials went by so everything just kinda flopped guys. BUT WE ARE THINKING POSTIVE THIS WEEK WE ARE GOING TO BE AWESOME LIKE WE HAVE ALWAYS DONE BEFORE, NO EXCUSES ONLY SUCCESS, WE HAVE LEARNED A HARD LESSON AND WE ARE GOING TO PUT INTO TO PRACTICE WAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YOU GUYS

ELDER SCAGGS THINKS HIS SMILE IS BETTER WITH HIS TONGUE OUT :)

August 29th Chinandega Oste Elder Cedeno

Hey everybody,
I haven't written in a while, my bad. It was a computer problem but no worries. This week went pretty well, but pretty stressful. Throughout the week we had the semana misional, which is a bunch of activities to bring more people to church. It was really fun and we managed to find a whole bunch of people, so that was a great blessing. On Tuesday, we had a talent show.  Elder Cedeño and I, the Hermanas Atifale and Muños, sang Hakuna Matata  super goofy and crazy. Elder Cedeño and I can't sing at all, so we kind of just joked around singing.  The hermanas sing amazingly, so it was a cool combo.   Everyone loved it, everyone laughed, and it felt really nice to have the activity with the ward. On  Saturday, we had a baptism.  Three were going to get baptized, but one of them decided not to go through with it. It was her decision and everything but it stunk to hear that she didn't want to get baptized. Afterwords, I felt super stressed and disanimated. The whole day was just filled with dumb stuff that disanimted me and my companion, but Elder Cedeño did something super awesome that taught me so much. Instead of complaining he just smiled. I know he was way more stressed than me and all he did was smile and focus on the other people, messing with them making them laugh. That night there was a birthday and we helped out with the party. We did everything we could to forget about the disnimo and focus on the other people. I have never learned to do this and I am super grateful because Elder Cedeño taught me how to do it and taught me that when we focus on other people our problems disappear and we are much much more happy. 

August 22nd Chinandega Oste Elder Cedeno

Questions:
What problem did you overcome, and how?
What miracle happened his week or what worked that you didn't think would work?
Who touched your spirit in a positive way, who did you see that you haven't seen in a while?

This week I was feeling pretty disanimated and thinking about home a lot. To counteract it I set goals to work more. For example,  I do my best to give away at least 2 Book of Mormons each day and invite 5 people to get baptized. There are a few other goals, but it helps me focus and enjoy the mission, instead of thinking about home all the time. This week the goals were a miracle for me. It helped me a ton  by getting rid of my stress, and it helped me have fun and feel accomplished. We also had a miracle on Sunday. One of our investigators came to church and he loved it. That was something that I haven't seen in a while in fact.  Roger came to church because he felt as though he needed more blessings and work in his life. He told us that he recognized that he was not doing the things that the Lord wanted him to do, and that he was committed to making a change.

HEY EVERYBODY!
The week went really well. We were able to see a ton of miracles during the week. In our area we managed to see Hermano Roger go to church after a whole bunch of time not knowing what he should do. The zone is doing good but we need to do a little better, work a little harder, we will work on it. We also began working with the mom of one of our recent converts. Her name is Ester and she is cool.  She's got a  few things to work out here and there.

I got to go though, but next week I'll write a bigger letter.