WEEK #18 - JARAGUA DO SUL - Episode #11 - Christmas in Jaragua

What´s up everyone!!! I hope Christmas was great for everyone! It didn´t feel super duper Christmasy here because we sweat just sitting in our apartment, but it´s all good.

This week the work has been pretty slow because more than half of the population here goes to the beach for Christmas and New Year's so it kind of feels like walking in a ghost town. But we are always on the look out for those who don´t have anyone to spend the holiday season with and need a little pick me up.

We had one super good lesson with the Rocha family. The last lesson we had with them, we challenged them all to read Moroni 10:3-5 and pray about it. When we came back a few days later, one of the son in laws told us before we asked that he read, prayed, and felt something that he had never felt before. He also said he just felt so happy afterward. In Galatians 5:22 we learn that the fruits of the Spirit are feeling such as happiness, love, and peace. We were so hyped for him! After we challenged the rest of the family to do the same and we read Lehi´s vision of the Tree of Life with the family.

This week we bought 5 kg of acai, banana, granola, and peanuts. Best thing ever.

We spent Christmas Eve with a few families eating BBQ, playing, games, and just having a good time. I got to see a little bit of the hick side of Brasil culture which was pretty interesting hahaha. And on Christmas we opened presents, went to church (my boy from the Dominican Republic showed up and we were #veryhype), had an incredible lunch of Turkey and ribs with a family from our ward, and then skyped with my family! Christmas in another country was so much better than I could´ve imagined!

Even though it´s weird to be far from home during the holiday season, there is nothing I would rather be doing right now! Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest thing ever. Thank you to everyone who emailed me and sent me cards/presents! I love you all so much!!

Sempre fica firme, forte e feliz

Elder Scheer

Christmas!

Awesome family!

Acai, Bananas and peanuts!! Heaven!

Christmas Day Family Skype

Brotherly love - 1 more week together

Elder Reis with Christmas Stocking from Scheer family

WEEK #17 - JARAGUA DO SUL - Episode #10 - Feliz Natal!

Yoooooooo! I hope everyone is having an incredible winter break.

Not a ton happened again this week but the things that happened are definitely note worthy.

After emailing on P-day Elder Reis and I finished the Christmas ties that we made for everyone in our district and then we went over to Andrea and Miro´s house.  Andrea is an investigator and Miro doesn´t have much interest in the church. They have a son named Gabriel who is 13 and was baptized shortly before we got here in Jaraguá. Andrea and Miro having been living together for like 18 years or something but aren´t legally married so Andrea can´t get baptized. Finally on Monday, Miro agreed to get married to her!!! We were so happy!

When we were walking to lunch on Tuesday we heard someone calling for us. When we turned around there was a young guy calling us over. We started talking and he said he´s from the Dominican Republic and that him and his friend from Haiti are looking for a church and are interested in ours. I´m really hoping we can start teaching them this week.

On Thursday we went to Joinville and had Christmas Conference with President Silva and 2 other zones. It was super fun. It was way cool to meet so many other missionaries, especially the Americans because my zone only has 1 other ha ha. President Silva talked a little bit, we did the White Elephant gift thing, had lunch, and then had the rest of the day to just hangout, play ping pong, etc… .

On Saturday we had Murilo´s baptism and the ward Christmas dinner. I got to baptize him! It was a super cool experience. At the dinner there was like a nativity/choir type thing (nothing like the RR stake but it´s all good) and then of course food. My boys from the Domican Republic and Haiti showed up. They are 19 and 21 and are way cool. They were impressed that I knew how to say What´s up in Creol thanks to the song Don´t Mind hahaha. ´Twas a great time.

That´s all the goods for this week. I love you all and I hope you all have an incredible Christmas!! Always remember our Savior during this season and do your best to serve others as he did!

Sempre fica firme, forte, e FELIZ.....NATAL

Elder Scheer

 

Elder M

My District with our matching Christmas ties!

Elder H

I got to baptize this awesome kid!

Ward Christmas Party

My boys from Haiti and Dominican Republic

WEEK #16 - JARAGUA DO SUL - Episode #9 - It´s So Awesome To Be A Missionary Right Now!

Ólaaaaa everyone!! I don´t have a bunch to share this week but it´s all good in the hood.

This week we had a few extra good lessons. First was with an older women named Eva and her grandaughter. When we arrived at her house, she had the pamphlet open about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon open. She already has a really strong faith in Jesus Christ and reads the Bible daily. When we started the lesson she started asking all these questions and we were able to answer all of them using the Bible. It was so cool! After we answered her questions she said that she still had some doubts so we bore our testimonies that if she prays about it sincerely she can recieve an answer. After she shared an experience she had with prayer before and shared her testimony too hahaha. When she gave the closing prayer she was crying and it was super spiritual and hype. She has a large fam with grandkids so it would be awesome to see them all come unto Christ!

Another great lesson we had was with a family that lives in another small city just outside of Jaraguá. We contacted the mother like our first or second week here just walking the streets and realized that we never called her. So we called her this week and we went and taught her family on Saturday morning. In the middle of the lesson we had to go to make it back to the bus stop in time because this place is basically in the middle of nowhere and the bus comes like once or twice a day. We said that we were sorry but we had to go because we had lunch scheduled with a member. But the family insisted that we continue and that they would drive us all the way to the members house. The rest of the lesson went super well! 

It´s so awesome to be a missionary right now! Here in Santa Catarina the people are more similar to people in the United States and less willing to talk with you but the Lord is truly working with this area and people are ready to accept the gospel.

One more story of the week. Elder Reis and I were  sitting at a bus stop and leans over to me and says ``Dude these girls next to me speak really good english``. So I started listening and then I asked are you guys from the U.S? And then once was like ``yeah I´m from Wisconsin``. And I was just thinking what in the world are you doing in this small town of Brasil but she´s here in Brasil for a year for a foreign exchange thing haha. 

That´s all for this week! I love you all!!

Sempre fica firme, forte e feliz!!!!!

Élder ScheerI

I wish you could all taste the Acai!

Hanging with another Zone after District Meeting

WEEK #15 - JARAGUA DO SUL - Episode #8 - True Joy in Serving!

Holy December!! Time is flying by. I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of the Christmas festivities and music.

T'was another great week here in Jaraguá. Starting with after emailing last week... We have a new investigator named Carol and she was a reference from another investigator haha. After our first lesson she asked if we would help her move and of course we were more than happy to help. We headed over after emailing in the morning and spent all afternoon moving apartments without elevators haha but it´s all good. It was so hot and humid I sweat very nicely through my shirt and pants haha. When we finally finished it felt so gratifying and Elder Reis and I were honestly so much happier than we were before. Find true joy in serving others!

Tuesday was a pretty devestating day for the people of Santa Catarina and the world of soccer. I don´t know if you all heard but a whole team (Chapecoense) was flying to Columbia and the plane crashed. Elder Reis and I we eating lunch at a members house when we saw it on the news and it was super bonkers.

On Tuesday night a member came by to drop off some money for lunch the following day since she was going to be busy. She pulled out her wallet and gave us each R$ 60!! We were so hyped haha. So we have been eating some fine meals. Elder Reis is nice on the stove so he´s been teaching me a couple of my favorite meals like noodles with chicken, broccoli, and alfredo sauce and some other great stuff. Life is always good when there is good food involved.

I also got back in the lab this week and made another Christmas tie that turned out a lot better than the first.

This week we had zone training. It is always so incredible how much I learn just from meeting weekly with my district and monthly with my zone. After the training we went to take a picture and my pants just straight up ripped hahahahaha. Elder Reis was super clutch with the sweater to wear around my waist for the rest of the day. Big newssssss....... we recieved training manual on how to use ipads which means that our mission should be getting Ipads sometime in the future. I have no idea when but I´m pretty hyped. 

We have been teaching an incredible family that we found one day. We never go door to door but we always pray that we can recognize when need to talk to someone or knock on a door. We found this family 2 weeks ago and we have taught them 3 times since. They are such an incredible, humble family with so much potential. On Friday night we invited Alex, the 15 year old son, to be baptized and he said yes! Sadly his parents can´t get baptized yet because they aren´t legally married but hopefully we can help them get to that point. 

We have a few other investigators that are progressing and it is so awesome to see the gospel work in their lives. Lately it has been pretty tough to find new people to teach and our teaching group has gotten smaller. I know that as long as we keep working hard the Lord will put people in our path that are ready to accept the gospel.

Everyone check out mormon.org and learn how to be a light to the world during this Christmas season! Seek and pray for opportunities to serve others and they will recognize the Light of Christ in you. I love being a missionary and sharing the gospel! Have a great week!!

Sempre fica firme, forte e FELIZZZZZ

Elder Scheer

1 pair down.....

Nice sweat action after helping a lady move

Silly face showing off Christmas tie made by yours truly

Christmas has arrived!!! 

WEEK #14 - JARAGUA DO SUL - Episode #7 - Diligence

Hey y´all I hope Thanksgiving was incredible for everyone! On Thanksgiving I had a solid dinner of egg and rice on bread. On Thanksgiving we were walking and there was an English school and Elder Reis stopped and said, ´´What do you think about you going in there and saying that today is Thanksgiving and as an act of thanks you want to give the students the opportunity to talk to an American.´´ I thought it was a cool idea so I went in and asked the receptionist if she speaks english and she said no and asked why. I explained what I wanted to do and she got super excited and ran out of the room to find the owner. He came out and started speaking in pretty good english and brought us into the main room. Everyone came out of their class and piled into this room. There was probably like 25-30 people, ages 15-40. I didn´t really know what to say and it´s always a little weird to speak English these days so the start was a little rough but I began to talk about who we are as missionaries and then about Thanksgiving and why we celebrate it. Then I asked everyone if they wanted to go to the United States someday but everyone was super shy and scared of me. They probably just aren´t confident in English, but it was kind of awkward lol. I think we are going to go back there and offer to teach people the missionary lessons in English.

We didn't have a ton of people to teach this week but the people that we are teaching are making progress which is great. We were expecting just a few investigators to show up to church but we had 13! It was so awesome! Hopefully we are able to teach all of them this week and get them to keep coming to church.

One of the families we are teaching is Mario, Rozi, and Carlos. Rozi was baptized a long time ago in a different state and moved shortly after but never put in effort to go to church here in Jaraguá. On Friday night we went to their house with our Bishop and it went incredibly well. We pretty much just sat there while he taught about the importance of church and how it will bless their lives so much. He taught perfectly to their needs and I learned so much during that lesson. I hope that I can continue to improve my ability to teach by the Spirit.

I can finally say I ate something weird! Yesterday at lunch I had chicken heart for the first time and it was actually pretty good. It was weird to think about what I was eating but the taste wasn´t bad. Ive already eaten a bunch of cow intestine but that´s normal here. They usually put it in beans and it just tastes like a piece of fat.

On Friday I gave a training on diligence at our district meeting so I was studying it throughout the week. It really made me think about how Christ is the best example of diligence. There is a part in Preach my Gospel that says being diligent is working even when you are tired. I thought of how Christ was so diligent in his work and when even when he was bleeding from every pore in the Garden of Gethsemane he didn't stop. He pressed forward until the work was completely finished. It is so humbling to be wearing His name.

I hope everyone has a great week!! Love you all!

Sempre fica firme, forte e feliz

Elder Scheer

Dinner at Rozi's home

Loving  the opportunity to teach Rozi and her family! 

WEEK #13 - JARAGUA DO SUL - Episode #6 - Baptism and Christmas Ties!

First Transfer done already?? Holy cow time is flying by! These first 6 weeks in the field were so much faster than the first 6 in the CTM. I´ll be staying here with Elder Reis for another transfer to finish training so not much is new. But we will be getting a new District Leader so hopefully he´s chill.

Big news!!!!! Haha not really. After emailing last week we bought some fabric and stuff and I made a Christmas tie! So I´m pretty much like a pro seamstress so it's whatever. It took a solid 2 hours or a little longer but it turned out pretty good! I forgot to take a pic of the back to show ya'll but it looks so dang horrendous hahaha.

On Monday we had plans to have Family Home Evening at the Bishop´s house with 2 investigators but both of them bailed because of something at work. It´s all good though. We went over there anyway and had FHE. Bishop shared a video that is like a tribute to Joseph Smith and showed him in a bunch of places that I was able to visit on the Church History Tour last year. I was able to remember the Spirit that I felt in all those places and shared my testimony. After we had some pizza :)

On Tuesday we taught the Relief Society how to make chocolate chip cookies! Sounds super strange that the Relief Society doesn't know how to make cookies but they don´t have them in Brasil. It was a great time.

This week we really focused on getting Josi prepared for her baptism and everything went super smoothly! The baptismal service went really well and we always have cake and food after which is a mega plus haha. But it is such an incredible experience to be helping people follow the example of our Savior!!

We have other investigators but not many are progressing right now. Hopefully this week we can focus on a few and help them to take big steps of faith by praying, reading the scriptures, and going to church.

In this short time my love for O Livro de Mormon has grown so much. It is so applicable to our lives and was written for these days. In 2 Nephi 28, Nephi sees the days that we are living in today. He says that there are many false prophets and churches (organizations and people in the church). Many of these people say ´´Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die´´ which is the today´s equivalent of YOLO (You only live once). So many people today live in the moment and do things to have instant gratification. It is so important that we follow the standards that we have been given by Prophets of God and have an eternal perspective.

I hope everyone has an incredible Thanksgiving!! Sadly Brasil doesn't celebrate it so eat up for me and all my boys serving over seas. I´m so thankful for all of you! Have a great week!!

Sempre fica firme, forte e feliz

Elder Scheer

Josi's Baptism

Grubbin' with some Elders

Our Christmas Tree

Modeling the Christmas Tie I made

Our apartment

More of our apartment

WEEK #12 - JARAGUA DO SUL - Episode #5 - The Spirit is the Teacher

Bom dia for everyone in Vegas!

I hope life is great for everyone. This week was honestly such a blur but I´ll try to remember what happened.

So first Roberto.... One night we were walking back to our apartment and we hear, Mormons!!.... Elders!! So we stopped and turned around and this guy just started talking to us. He said he saw the Book of Mormon play and he is super curious about our church. He started asking all these questions about our church and missionaries and stuff. He already knew so much though from researching on the internet. We gave him a tour of the chapel and it went really well. It´s so cool that he found us and has a desire to learn. Tonight we are going to have a family home evening with him in Bishop´s home so that should be great.

Josi is scheduled to be baptized this Saturday and everything is going really well! We gave her a tour of the capela as well and she said her favorite place was the baptismal font! Which is actually really funny because it was filthy but she felt the Spirit.

We had some investigators show up to church that we were not expecting so that was a really nice surprise. It´s always really cool to watch people take small steps of faith which are actually huge steps in the process of gaining a testimony.

This week I found a scripture; John 15:26-27. It talks about how the Spirit is the teacher and we are only there to help the Spirit teach. My testimony of this has grown so much during this short first month in the field.

That´s all for this week! Miss and love you all.

Sempre fica firme, forte e feliz

Elder Scheer

So happy to receive peanut butter in his package!

WEEK #11 - JARAGUA DO SUL - Episode #4 - Peanut Butter

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a great Halloween!

To start off, one day we woke up early and a member took us up a mountain and then we hiked a little bit to watch the sunrise. It was one of the most beautiful things I´ve ever seen. Everything is so green and we were above the clouds. Brasil is amazinggggg.

After we emailed last week we headed to Joinville because my companion had a doctor´s appointment and we had interviews with Presidente there on Tuesday. We were walking to the hospital and we walked past the first chapel that was built in South America! So that was pretty cool.

Our zone meeting and interviews with President went really well. It was great to get to know him a little better. It is crazy how much he knows about the gospel and how strong his spirit is. I learn so much every time that he talks haha. My zone is super cool but sadly transfers are next week so it will change a little. But the best part about zone meetings is that I receive packages and letters! Elise sent me peanut butter and chewy bars and my mom sent me Isagenix shakes. So clutch. Three things I can´t live without haha.

This week we had a lot planned but a lot fell through. It´s all good though. We taught Josi again and it went super well. She accepted the goal to be baptized on Nov. 19. Hopefully everything goes well. She has a 13 year old daughter as well that we will start teaching this week too. We read 3 Nephi 11 with her and it was such a spiritual experience. The Spirit was super strong and she was crying. If you haven´t read 3 Nephi in a while I strongly encourage you to do so. Every time I read it or teach from it during a lesson my testimony grows so much!

Earlier today a family took us to a nature park type thing called Parque Malwee. I was trying to get a cool picture of my name tag on a lily pad and I slipped and my legs below the knee were completely wet. Super embarrassing haha but a good laugh. 

I love you all and hope you have an incredible week! Sadly we tried a different computer place this week and it won´t let us send pics so I´ll send them next week :( 

WEEK #10 - JARAGUA DO SUL - Episode #3 - Sniping With The Spirit

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!! No one celebrates Halloween here which is kind of depressing but it´s all good. I hope everyone is having a great time celebrating the existence of the great State of Nevada as well.

This week was a very successful and an incredible week to say the least. To start off: Sniping with the Spirit. Elder Reis taught me this phenomenal way to find people to teach haha. To do this we take turns saying what house we want to knock next but in a different way. For example one of us could say; first left, second right, and the fourth house on the right. Sounds pretty dumb but it works. On Wednesday we found 3 new investigators in about 30 minutes and then taught 2 of them the Plan of Salvation the same day! It was a really cool experience. The other guy we visited the day after at work and taught a little bit about the Restoration. He said he needed to get back to work but wanted us to teach him and his wife at his house. On Saturday we visited the 2 that we taught first (who are sisters and are neighbors). Only one of the sisters was there but she had her kids and grandchildren there as well! We got to know them and taught a short Family Home Evening type lesson about the love that our Heavenly Father has for us. Through Sniping with the Spirit we found an entire family and a married couple!! The Lord has truly prepared this area for us.

On Tuesday we made the long trip to a small city in our area called Schroeder. All the roads are dirt and all the houses are more shack like. We visited a couple there and got to know them better and left a message. Behind their house are a ton of banana trees. They sent us home with a huge bag of bananas! hahaha so that was a pretty cool experience.

On Thursday we had our District Leader and his companion with us for a baptismal interview. Afterwards we went to dinner at a Rodizio de Pizza. At a rodizio de pizza they keep bringing around different kinds of pizza just like a Brazilian steak house but with pizza. And they have dessert pizzas that are soooooo good. I ate way too much and my stomach hurt all Friday.

But on Friday we had Mari´s baptism and it went super well! We had a good amount of people show up for it being on a Friday. We met a partial member family there as well. The mom is a member but has been inactive for a while and the husband and 13 year old son aren´t members. We made plans to visit them Sunday evening. When we got to their house I was so suprised. My companion is almost done with his mission and said it is the nicest house he´s been in. They have a huge garden with everything you can imagine and have goats and chickens. I got to try some new fruits/plants which was pretty cool and feed some goats lol. They are such a cool family. We ate and had some cake and then told them about what we have to offer as missionaries. The husband and son seemed pretty interested so we will have the opportunity to teach them more.

Welp that´s all for this week! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Scheer

Bananas! Bananas!

Subway with Elder R.

My boy Alex

Waiting for the bus

Elder R - Best Trainer Ever!

WEEK #9 - JANAGUA DO SUL - Episode #2

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week!

I´d like to start by sharing my first funny story with the language. So we were in a partial member house visiting and we were all sitting at the table. Everyone was talking and like usual, I was just trying to understand everything they were saying haha. There is a decent amount of Germans in this area and the family was saying something about Germans. The father looked at me and said something. I thought he asked me if I was German so I said yes, but he really asked me if I was a racist. Everyone just kind of looked at me hahahaha pretty awkward.

Anyway it´s been a great week here in Brasil. It´s been pretty rainy and I got soaked last P-day. But cloudy and rainy is so much better than sunny because it is so hot and humid when the sun is out. I´m not looking forward to summer haha. 

Today we got to move into a new apartment and it´s way nicer than our last one. It has a small gym on the top floor which will be helpful to keep the pounds off haha. We have lunch at a member's house everyday and it is always so good, but very heavy. Beans, rice, and chicken/sausage every day.

This week we were able to teach a lot more. Sadly Mari´s baptism got delayed but it is scheduled for this week. We had a really good lesson with a new investigator, Josi. We taught the restoration and at the end Elder Reis invited her to pray about what we taught her and then I invited her to be baptized. She said yes! I told her that she was making just a great decision and the gospel will be such a huge blessing in her life. She started to cry and the Spirit was really strong. Moments like these truly make the mission amazing.

The language is still tough and frustrating at times but I am always speaking and understanding more everyday.

I invite everyone to read Mosiah 14. It is such a profound chapter about what our Savior did for us. The Atonement was truly an act of pure love for everyone and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be made clean every day through the Atonement. Thank you all for the support and prayers! Love you all!

Elder Scheer