random thoughts

This week we got some Christmas soap from this person in the ward. It looked really good. Had the green poinsetta on it and everything. It almost looked like fudge so i took a bite of it and faked my comp into thinking it was fudge so he bit it starting chewing it and it was just soap. other than that. not much this week. we went over to the rosarios house this new years to play some board games. stayed there til bout 9 then went home. woke up at midnight because of allthe fire works. they are called m80's aka quarter stick of dynamite. so wack. we didn't go outside to look at fire works because at midnight everyone with guns just start firing in the sky. all the "hiberos" (hillbillys) shooting up in the sky. last year 3 kids and a bunch of dogs died from it. crazy guys. i am sending my memory card home today. Thank you for everything. thanks for the christmas presents and thanksgiving presents. 

Take Care of Each Other

dear family. you are the best

thanks for everthing.

this week was good.

i am really tired.

cool train ride.

wish i was there.

it is not too cold here.

nice bama sweaters.

teaching/ baptizing two people this week.

not the complete families but we are getting there.

we have some cool people/ families we are working with.

this guy gave up smoking all in one week.

pertty cool

im going to mail that talk for brother combs soon.

hopefully before christmas.

i love you all.

we had interviews with president his week.

we talked about 5 attributes we need to conquer in this life.

love, obidience, faith, courage, i dont remember.

elder smoot is a funny companion.

he is always laughing which is a problem during lessons 

but other than that it is pretty funny how much he laughs.

president Vinas of the seventy spoke to us today.
talked a little about the christmas devotional.

looking for angels and and looking for knowledge.

it was sweet.

those videos are sweet from the new bible website.

burn those on a dvd and send them to me!!! haha

well. merry christmas.

take care of eachother.

i love you all.

love elder scroggins

Christmas in 85* weather

that tree is where we sing our chtristmas carols every single satuday

Rededication of missionary work in the area

Dear family-

Following the council/ advice given to us by our mission president, Elder Smoot and I called our branch president and asked him to call his councilors and meet us in the town square in Aguas Buanas the next morning. We arived there at 4 am. shared a few scriptures about how we need to work underneath the keys in the branch.  That we are here as divine missionaries called and set apart by God. They tell us they are fully behind us and we tell them as well. We also make a promise that following the faithfullness of the branch i.e. the willingness to work with the missionaries, the branch will double in size before the end of the year. Then under the direction of the branch president we rededicated the area of Aguas Buenas to the preaching of the gospel and rediedicated our efforts as well.

We left there feeling edified. That afternoon our high councilor came out with us for 5 hours. We taught 2 less active members and also 2 non members. Received refferals form the less actives and set up family home evenings with the families. Really a miracle. That is just one day. In reality we know that we will have our trials but we need to do this as a ward. Last night we left to go visit a few less active members. We have visited them the entire  time while I have been here in Aguas Buenas and nothing has come from it. Always them saying, "Yea, ill come to church" and then not coming. So we decided that this would be the last time, if the did not progress.  We made that desision as a ward with our branch president.

Two beautiful families were taught last night. Now the choice is still theirs. The father of one of the families admited he did not have a testimony of the church but knew it was good. We explained Alma 32 with him about the seed and that he need to be nurturing his seed. His sapling. He need a desire. We talked about how he can have a desire. then I gave a testimony that I can honestly say was not from this world, it came from beyond. I bore testimony about the power we have to call on the POWER OF GOD to help us. and when we are worthy he can BLESS his famliy . I told him that I was very grateful for my fathers. My earthly father who has ALWAYS been worhty to give me a blessing when i needed it, even before i understood what it was. i also explained about our Heavenly Father that gives us the opportunity to recieve blessings but also to GIVE blessings. I then proceeded to explain that I felt promted to ask if he would like a blessing of desire to have help to attend the chruch and to evercome his pride. He said yes. He asked me to give it.

For the first time in my life it was not Elder Scroggins speaking. It was the spirit. I made him promises that honestly will come true if he is faithful to the covenants he has made with the Lord and if he makes more with the Lord,he would be the reason for his parents to join the church. His brothers and sisters. He would be a great leader in the church in Puerto Rico. I left it with him based on his faith and fidelity.

I love this work. I love the Lord. I love my companion and I know the Lord lives and directs his servants.

Thanks for the pics and everything. also facebook status-- "the bike ride home is alot easier when you give out two books of mormon."

love and mercy

elder scroggins

The Good Life

ONE YEAR

dear family,

thanks for all the loVe and support. summer camp is good. hard to believe it is half way over. the food isn't very good. and we dont get very much sleep at night but for some reason i am still here. ONE YEAR TOMORROW!!

I remember the hotel room in Provo, dropping me off early. riding in the truck.... half way over. so long ago but so recent as well.

i am not going to be like a stereotypical missionary say it flew by it has legitly felt like a year. it has been worth it.

last conference was about getting married (RACHEL GOT MARRIED)

this conference talks about having kids (FILL IN THE BLANK)

love uncle elder scroggins

September 2011

dear family.

thanks for the package. i appreciate the mms. who knew they didnt exhist here in puerto rico. oh yea i also exercised half self control i only opend one present early. the football. yea. 

when we were tracking the other day we passed a baseball diamond in which there were some puerto ricans playing softball. they invited us to play. so i called the other elders and they met us over there to play. there were a bunch of families there so it was a cool atmosphere. elder girffin played college baseball so he hit a homerun everytime. me..... i hit the ball every time but it didnt even makeit outhofo the infeild. never really learned how to play baseball. but i do appreciate that nationals jersey i got at home.

thanks for the birthday presents. it was way sweet. and tell the grnadparents thanks as well. i will send them a letter but i appreciate all the love. it reminds me of a verse in alma 50:16. it doesnt really apply to this year but next year i jst dont know if i will remember it that far in the future. oh yea and the tie and corsage was way sweet. not going to lie it doesn't matter how many emails or packages or emails i get or pictures. i am never satisfied. haha. but thanks for being my parents. ill eat at sizzlers for my birthday if you all want to come.  elder aldous in th e apartment was singing or whistling that song form robin hood. reminded me of that movie i watched a bunch of times as a child. thanks for the memories. keep making the younger childern play sports. build character.

another though i had this week was about 2 nephi 4. when nephi is about half way done with his life i believe. he praises the lord saying how he will never put his trust in the arm of man. i realized that is the problem with laman and lemuel. they always see lehi and nephi as a man. when they leave jerusalem and go to the desert. crazy ideas of this man. when nephi breaks his bow. it is becasue he is a man. they never relize that they are men OF GOD. they only look at them for their faults and nothing more. so just need to realize and not hold past transgressions on people. like and learn. and do all that you can to be better.

love elder scroggins

they do not have all the american luxuries here. such as grapenuts.

it was a pretty good brithday. we went to cold stone. as we were leaving we see our stake president in the parking lot. he waves us over to talk to him. turns out he is getting released the next day and president Vinas is here in cabo rojo organizing the stake presidency. so got a birthday wish from a seventy on my birthday. pretty sick. 

you can preach all day to the brick walls of puetro rico aka la gente but you will not get anywhere if you are not going by the spirit and teaching those that are ready to LEARN. be humble... i love The Lord. never change. only get better?

love elder scroggins

Picture Time

 Of course they are!

 Always need for help...especially after all the hurricanes and tropical storms.

 This one makes me want to visit Puerto Rico.

 Great Creation.  All About Brian!  Love it.

 sweet memories...

First watermellon in 10 months.  So good.

Sweet Week!

This week has been SO SWEET. it started out kinda rough with our investigator chris not "dropping"us but he is moving to the united states. he says that he is going to look up missionaries up there but he really appriciates the book of mormon. that was kinda a trial.

Monday was the sweetest day ever. we pass by a cool family that we had met a couple of weeks ago and left a book of mormon. they were cool but when we tried to passs by there agian they werent home. we had tried a coupel of times since then but just never there. but when we passed by on monday we show up and heis super excited to see us. he has been reading and is in like nephi chapter 13 or something like that. more reading than the members do here sometimes. we answer his questins and then teach him pure docotrine from 2nephi 31. discuss it. bear teasitmony and invite to be baptized. he accepts becasue he know that is what we should do follow the example of Jesus Christ. his wife didnt accept but that is becasue she has "been baptized already." now we kinow her need though.

my companion elder marzariegos blew a tire last night on our way back from cabo rojo last night and we called him adn he ran to pick us up and drop him off in hormigueros. i love this family. they ARE SO READY!!! his name is manuel and carmen ayala. they have a little girl cammile that is 3 and does not stop talking. ever. kind like andrew??

back to the side of elder scroggins that you all know and are aquanied with. football season startign up agian. usu vs auburn in jordan hare or logan? how is unlv's team looking this year. what position is adam playing and let me know abut his games. that is so crazy that emmalee is in high school. teari it up in sports. gorls basketball. i want emmalee to paly girls volleynball or tennis, basketball and golf or softball. shes fraking tall!!!!!! make her do it. i lvoe yo uall in the family. i am not quite a holocaust victim but i am about 200 pounds now. bout 35-40 less then wheni came on the missoin. its the 20 mile bike ride we do 2x a day. we like so far form our area.

hope rachel and brandon are doing well. thanks for the ties. i am wearing one right now. i hope all is good in las vegas.

The Hurricane Before the Hurricane

Now a couple of exciting stories to keep you on the edge of your seat. so last Wednesday i think, this guy names Jose (its a real creative spanish name i know) came up to us and was telling us to be careful(it was the night of the storm and we were heading home through the pueblo, it was dark and no one was there). then he said he respected us and all this stuff, but then all the sudden turned on us and started asking us for money. we stared telling him that we didn’t have any money and that we needed to go, but he was starting to get a little agitated, and told us to pull out our wallets, I had a $5 and gave it to him. so that was scary. when we got home the other Elders started telling us how this crazy guy named Jose robbed them a couple hours earlier. Pretty crazy huh? Well two days later, our neighbor was yelling at us for no reason ( he was drunk) and causing a lot of commotion. Well out of nowhere, guess who shows up?  That’s right Jose, with a horse on a leash in one hand, and a beer in the other. He asked us if our neighbor was giving us trouble and we said yes, so he started yelling at our neighbor and through his beer can on his porch. Finally our neighbor left and José started talking to us in very foul language about how he just got out of prison of 21 years for killing his dad, and that he was going to kill our neighbor for us. we were like, ümm no, its okay, we'll be alright" then like before, he starts asking us for money. this time there is all 6 of us together. he was telling us that he had a gun at his house with 15 shots, and that he could kill us if he wanted. so then Elder Hammer is like, ümm i got $3. so we gave him the money and he left. after he threatened to kill us. so we all went upstairs in our house and locked the door and grabbed our newly bought machetes and called president. He didn’t answer, but his wife did and told us to pack our bags right away. So we started packing when we got a call from president. we told him the story and he told us to stick together and go out and work. So we did and we haven’t seen José since.
I was called to train and be a district leader these past couple of weeks.  We moved to Mayaguez. 30 minutes from our proselytizing area.  Church shortened on Sunday because of the hurricane. Hurricane preparation made. We put all the shutters on and picked up all the trash all around.  Hurricane got moved to Monday. Stayed inside on Monday and president made us clean the house. Hurricane never came just a bunch of rain. A nice shower of water when we went to work on Monday evening. Crazy rain sporadically on Tuesday while on a trade off in Aguadilla and today Wednesday completes the one week anniversary since I have last written. The lord has really blessed me and my companion, both elder mazariegos and elder cluff with success in finding the new investigators. we taught a man named Jim last Monday when we went outside to work. It was cool to find out that he believes that jose smith could be a prophet of god but he also says that all things of God and churches are good.  He needs some work on a testimony through prayer.

Until we meet again my fellow servants,

Elder J. Brian Scroggins, Jr.

My Sisters Wedding.......

 Thanks for visiting Elder Scroggins ;)

Love "Photoshop"

Do What Is Right....The Day Dawn Is Breaking

.....I was disappointed that we did not sing the National Anthem in church during the fourth of July. That is my  favorite Sunday of the year for that reason alone.  Oh well, only one more. I know it is Emmaless birthday next Thursday, I will try to make a card.  I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

 

Elder Aldous, Elder Girffing, Elder Cluff and I eat waffles every morning. We buy those from Sam's Club. haha. We cook them, put Nutella and sprinkles on them so our 3 mile jog every morning helps get rid of what they could do.

 

Working hard. 

 

One closing thought is those crunch berry games Rachel, Jon and I would play....haha....I liked those. Anywhoo - 

 

I love you all and know the church is true. Do what is right. The daydawn is breaking.

 

love elder scorggins

So Fast But So Slow

PICTURES...PICTURES...PICTURES

Only A Few Months Left....Random Thoughts

*The mission is good. only a few more months left.

 

*I am not very good about sending pictures to you all but I do like getting them. The missoin is good. I am learning to play the piano. My goal for the end of this missoin is to play the piano at my homecoming and have mom cry because Brian finally learned how to play the piano.

 

*We found 3 yards of fabric in the Sisters apartment that we were moving out so I took it home and made a tie out of it. I didn't want to waste a ton of my time making this tie so i didn't sew it...I juts used ducttape on the back. It is a solid looking tie! 

 

*My companion was sick yesterday so I stayed home and wrote lettters to all the friends on missions. That made me think where has the time gone? Well used, but it went fast. 

*I miss Facebook.

 

*learn the doctrine. live the doctrine. be the doctrine.

 

God be with you til we meet again.

 

Bayamon Shut Down

dear family,

 

its that time again. another wednesday/transfers in the books. i once again moved areas. president shut bayamon down. there wont be missionaries there for a while he says. said that they are not ready and we need to focus else where. i have not met my new companion yet. i know he is a spanish speaker form the dominican republic and has two less transfers than i have. so that should be interesting. finally a senor companion. haha but i am also in the north west corner called aguadillas. also in rincon and other cities in the area. there are 6 of us missionaries working this area. and it should be good i hope. it is a big tourist city becasue "crashboat" beach is right down the street so president told me to avoid the templation and to baptize families.

 

my last area was hard. but i hope that i learned what God wanted me to learn and i did what he wants me to do. ready or not here i go. just got to go by the spirit and do what you feel/know is right (d&c 8:2,3) and hmm keep on keeping on. new area and new companion so i feel like we will just be talking to everyone for the next couple days becasue we dont have any investigators or know where the members live. just got to "forget myself and go to work" not a ton of time to email today but i love you all. i live 3 hours away form the mission office with traffic so a bit farther than my last area. thanks for the package. i got one from grandma and grandpa scroggins too. thanks for all you all do for me. read ponder pray. dont grow up too fast. cant believe andrew wrote that stuff on my card. made me cry... almost. i havent cried in years. anywho i love you all and make it a great week. love,

 

 

elder scroggins

FUN TIMES! Work hard.....Play hard

Bonding is Important

Feeling a little insecure?

Beautiful place to be!

 Brotherly Love

 Wow!

 This is what is in the garages of the homes in Puerto Rico.  Never judge a "book" by it's cover.

Random Thoughts of the Week

So first off my companion shared the scripture 3 Nephi 3:7 for a spiritual thought with an investigator instead of 1 Nephi 3:7. How are things back on the farm? This week has been good, nothing too exciting. We had dinner last night with the family that lives below us. We live in an upstairs apartment. This family has children of the ages of 11 10 and 9. The 11 year old loves sports and is way cool. While we were having dinner I was playing Pokemon with him and just having fun. When dinner ended his mom said he was sick and needed a blessing. She let him choose. I was thinking .... he chose me to give the blessing because his father is not baptized yet. I gave the blessing and it was alsmost like I had a script in front of me. I gave the blessing in English because the family spoke both.   The power of the spirit is real, because I knew exactly what to say.  I love that feeling.  Pray always! Don't let time fly by too fast.  

Now is the time of the week I present Elder Scroggins random thoughts of the WEEK!!

 

 

1. dad, run for political office in 2012 so i can help you out when i get back. even though it will only be for a couple of weeks. 

 

2. those clown valentines cards we made when we lived at the shop

 

3. that hand held video game with hercules dont know if anyone else remembers

 

4. i need a scripture case for my spanish scriptures. maybe out of skunk fur. also need a journal.

 

5. get adrian tomayo to write me. haah thanks mom

 

6. i heard the air bud theme song and for some reason i started to cry. not cry...tear up. thanks for the endless movies you bought us.

 

7. maybe send the p90x work out. not all of it, just the abs or all of it -  no importa para me

 

8. i miss falilng asleep on the couch at night cold with a blanket watching sports center.

 

9. only two thing make me trunky- thought of the family and sports. i love you guys that's why i am out here

 

10. the fact that me and all the youth my age would play smear the quere at cub scouts. played that with abe and kody and luke... fun stuff. such an inappropriate name for the game

 

11. dad should buy a dolorian

 

12. want to watch sum of all fears in 18 months

 

13. thanks for everything and i hope you all are doing great and are STOKED FOR CONFERNCE!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE NEW BIKE!

SOARING HIGH

THE SUPPORT GROUP

Con Amor

Today was transfers and I am in a new area and have a new companion, Elder Perry from Utah. I miss my old companion, Elder Wardell.  Guess you don’t know what you have until it is gone. 

We are getting a new schedule to help us be able to contact more families. We wake up at 5:30 to exercise.  Leave the house at 7 to go work.  Come back around 10 and have personal study, comp study, language study, lunch and get this  --  because we are waking up early we get to take nap time from 2-3!!! President said so!!! hahah We are teaching a Dominican family.  There are 5 people: dad, mom and three children. pretty cool people. right now they are our only concrete investigators. they are reading the book of Mormon and are hopefully coming to church this next Sunday. (they siad they would this past sunday and didn’t) Dominicans are really humble but not very reliable. not saying that in a bad way, just an honest way. We also helped a man fix his fishing net. kept on making references to "fishers of men" for like an hour. Other than that, just working on my tan line from my watch

The people in Puerto Rico live simple, happy lives. All the houses are square concrete huts but they have what makes them happy inside their houses…... ps3's, lambos, food, and their family. We contacted a run down shack that had a hummer in the driveway, lambo in the garage and a jag just sitting outside. crazy kids! I always ask people in my contacts what the purpose of this life is. Why are we here on the earth. Adam fell that men(us) might be. so we are here because of Adam,  and men are here that we might have joy. So essentially do stuff that gives you joy!

  

One last thought before I sign off……………….i got bit by 1000 ants when I was cutting this lady's yard the other day.

Con amor,

Elder Scroggins

MORE PICTURES!

 Elders.....Disciples of Christ....Fisher's of Men.  Helping a local fisherman with his net.

 Most meals consist of Fried Meat.  We exercise each morning at 5:30a.m. to stay healthy.

go to church. live the dream and love one another

Greetings All,

Not a ton of items are happening this week. People in Puerto Rico live simple happy lives. All the houses are square concrete huts but they have what makes them happy inside thier houses. ie:  ps3's, lambos, food, and thier family. We contacted a run down shack that had a hummer in the driveway, lambo in the garage and a jag just sitting outside. Crazy kids! I always ask people in my contacts what the purpose of this life is?  Why are we here on the Earth. Adam fell that men(us) might be. So we are here because of Adam, and men are here that we might have joy. Mom and Dad, I appreciate the sacrifice you made so your children can be happy and I don't know, haven't had too many children in my life, but I guess that makes you happy when we are happy and succeed just like our Father in Heaven? I love the whole family and I am here because I know I need to be. I might have done things in my life because of mom and dad but I am here now because I know I need to be here. Thanks for having an eternal family and being sealed together forever so our family can all have the benefits of temple blessings. I really didn't understand why we went to church every Sunday. I went every Tuesday because it was fun. It was right to go to church every Sunday so I did, until I gained a testimony for myself.  I love you all. Baptism= important. Gift of the Holy Ghost= important.  Need to always endure to the end. One of the many lessons I learned doing yard work, is if your going to do a job, do it right. finish it. Tell your children i love them and tell them to prepare to go on missions. i wish i would of studied my scriptures more. i wish i would of prayed more. i wish i would of been around the family more. Don't want to start crying in the computer lab so im going to throw out a funny memory ..................inside joke.................................

 

Take care. never forget your calling in life. you have only existed for 5-50 years in this life but as God told Jeremiah. God knew use before we where in the belly and he has a purpose for us. Go to Church. Live the dream. and love one another....and don't expect the email next week to be this long.

 

First Transfer

Hola family and friends. How is it going?  Today was transfers and I was 10000 percent sure I was going to stay in the dirty south but I got moved to an area called Caparra.  It is near Bayamon and actually about 1/2 block from the mission home. Good week this week overall.  Transfers were the biggest surprise. We got a call form the zone leaders at 10 last night saying to be in the mission office at 8 this morning with the bags packed. So we were!  It was weird packing everything up...just by throwing it in the bag.  I included a picture with my zone leaders. Good people and I am gonna miss them cuz i am in a new zone now.  We no longer have a car. we are on bikes. I love the mission and thanks for raising me right mom and dad. Hope all is well at home. I love you all. Make good choices. 

con amor elder scroggins

The only natural rain forest in the United States (kinda) - Puerto Rico

 The Elders enjoying the scenery.

 MERRY CHRISTMAS our Elder Scroggins...love the hat?

 sporting the wares

 Wouldn't want to see the monkey that goes with that banana.

 This tan would be in complete contrast with Elder Mitchell J. Paul's white wonderland of Russia.  Stay warm Mitchell!  Keep thinking warm thoughts of Merrill Hall and the memories made.

only 21 more Fast Sundays

Hey family, here I am once again writing an email.  Like always, so much to say and not enough time to say it. This week has been rough. It has rained a ton and not too much success. The field is white already to harvest but just takes some time getting to the field I guess. We expected 11 people at church this week but we only had 3. The members are good here. They passed around a calender in Relief Society for feeding the missionaries. I'm glad they did but at the same time......man! that's a ton of food. They deep fry all the meat and put a ton of oil in the rice.  I was going to try and fight the weight but hey, I kinda want to hit 300 pounds on the mission. That would be way cool. haha.   I might have to send ya a pic when i do hit it.  That is crazy how much snow Las Vegas got, too bad Jon didn't get a snow day like I did my senior year. I appreciate all the sport scores, mom and good luck with school dad. I also appreciate all that you do for me. Parowan was way fun. I met someone from Cedar City the other day and realize how much fun Parowan was. Thanks for taking an interest in me. 

The bad thing here is the humidity. I bought a pack of gum and every time i opened a piece of gum it was wet... like someone was chewing it. Nasty! so i might just stick to tic tacs. I love you all and sent you some pictures. Only 21 more fast sundays.

 

con amor elder scroggins

PICTURES!

 Elder Scroggins and Elder Waldron both from Las Vegas...meeting up at the Provo MTC!  Brotherly Love.

 At the Dominican Republic MTC.....

 and then there's Elder Scroggins

 Ready for the mission field

 Christmas Time.

 The welcoming mat has been laid out in Puerto Rico.

 A few of the missionaries headed to Puerto Rico.

 The "laundry room"

The dryer works really well in Puerto Rico.

.