Week #69 - Lages - Episode #3 - It Isn't About You

If I have learned one thing on the mission it´s that it´s not about you. Many people think that people serve missions to learn a language or to get to know a new place but if I wanted to do that I would not serve a mission haha.

This week has been super #blessed with finding even more investigators and inviting them to come unto Christ.

Wednesday we had Christmas Conference with 3 Zones and it was a great time.

Thursday was one of those days where you look at your planner and think ´´´this is going to be one of the best days of my mission´´ because you have a marked appointment every hour of the day. But as we went through the day every single appointment fell through... and it was super hot. So we were super discouraged but we still had 2 more appointments at night. It was getting late so we decided to go on splits with two members from the ward. I went to visit an investigator named Roziane with Brother Guto. We taught the rest of the restoration and at the end Guto bore a really strong testimony and she started crying. The Spirit was so strong!! At the end I asked if she had any questions and she said ´´can I be a part of this church?´´. So we put her on date for Jan 6! It´s moments like these that make the mission worth it. 

Saturday we got to teach Bruna, a member´s girlfriend. She accepted everything super easily and accepted to be baptized if she recieves an answer.

Lages is getting more lit every week. Elder Almeida and I are working hard and having a good time. I love you all and hope you guys have a great holiday season!

Elder Scheer

Week #68 - Lages - Episode #2 - Spreading the Light

Another great week in the grand city of Lages!! hahaha

This week was pretty cool. Since we have started from scratch in this area we have been working hard to find people to teach and use the area book. We were able to find 15 investigators which is pretty awesome and contacted a bunch of other people! 

On Tuesday we went to a children´s hospital with a return missionary from the ward and gave out Liahonas (a Church magazine) to those in the waiting room. We were able to contact a lot of people and many wanted us to visit them. 

Although we were able to find a bunch of people this week, we spent the most of every day sweating and being rejected haha, but that´s life. I am super grateful that the Lord has helped us to find many people that are open.

Honestly not much this week but I promise to have more next week! I love you all!!

Elder Scheer

Week #67 - Lages - Episode #1 - His Love

I´m in my new area and I´m loving it! It was sad to say goodbye to everyone in Concórdia, but it´s nice to move on. 

On Tuesday night I had to go to the bus station to catch my bus at 9:45 pm. We took a taxi from the apartment and when we got there, I went to pay with my card but the driver said that they don´t accept cards. I didn´t have any cash and I just looked at my companion with so much hope. But he only had $6 and it was $15. I thought the guy was going to be a good guy and let it slide or let my comp come back and pay the rest the next day, but nope. He decided to make a show and started yelling and it was great. We called Bishop but he couldn´t come in the moment and the driver was demanding the money in that moment or he would call the cops. I know the cops wouldn´t have done anything, but I had to catch my bus and didn´t have time to deal with mad taxi drivers and cops over $9, so I turned and walked up to an older lady and told her my situation. Without any hesitation she gave me $10. What a blessing! I´m so grateful that some people in this world are good!! haha.

Then when I got to the bus station in my new area at 2 am there was supposed to be some Elders waiting for me... but nope. Haha I just got off of the bus and walked around the bus station by myself but they weren´t there. I tried using the payphone to call the Area Pres but nobody answered. Then this guy came up to me and asked if I was a missionary. He told me he was the ward mission leader of my new area!! What in the world was he doing at the bus station at 2am?? Haha he had offered a neighbor of his a ride to the bust station. So I was able to use his phone to call the elders in my area to come get me. When I called they were sleeping hahaha. If he hadn´t been there I would´ve ended up sleeping at the bus station!

I know that Heavenly Father looks out for his missionaries and I could really feel His love.

I am loving the area. This ward hasn´t had a baptism for over a year but Elder Almeida and I are going to work. He has a year and 5 months in the mission, so we know what we are doing. We get along super well and I am so excited for this transfer. The ward is also super hyped to help in the work and grow the ward, so it´s going to be great. I´ll let you guys know more next week!

Love you all!!

Elder Scheer

Week #66– Concórdia – Episode #17 - Falouuuu Concórdia!!

This week has been awesome!

To start off... Tuesday we had a Zone Conference so we traveled through the night again to get to Lages in the morning. I got to see Elder Castagneto and it was so great.  He showed me an email he got from one of our recent converts that said he is going on a mission! So cool.  Now that I have over a year in the mish, I get to see recent converts preparing to go on missions and to the temple! This has helped me to better understand the importance of my calling. I love the mission so much and it´s moments like these that make everything so worth it.

Elder Sanchez and I were able to find a bunch of new investigators this week which was pretty cool. Some have a lot of potential and I hope that Elder Sanchez and his new comp can continue the work with them.

I´m being transferred to Lages and I´m super hyped.  I loved my time here in Concordia but the time has arrived to move on. I will never forget the hills, but more importantly, the eternal friendships I have made with many. 

Friday was Matheus´ baptism and it went really well. When I lifted him out of the water, he paused for a second taking in what he was feeling, and then he turned to me and gave me a big hug…such a special experience.

Don´t forget to be the light of the world this Christmas! Check out the video on mormon.org

Love you all so much!!!

Elder Scheer

Baptism of Matheus

Zone Conference - Reunited with Elder Castegneto

Reunited with Elder Nobre

Love him like a brother!

Week #65– Concórdia – Episode #16 - Portanto, Ide

This week was a little slow, a lot of our plans fell through but that´s alright. 

We are pumped because Matheus will be baptized this Friday. He is such a great kid and he is really excited to go to the temple and serve a mission. 

This week we went to teach some new investigators, but they had some people over. One of the investigator’s mom is their neighbor and we talked to her a little and she said she wanted to listen to our message. She has been looking for a church that she likes for a while . She told us about a dream that she had where she was in a church and is was super reverent and anyone from the congregation could go up and share their testimony.  And I was like ´´yooo that´s our church!´´ hahaha. She said she really wants to go and even invited a friend,  but she said sometimes it´s hard to leave home because she takes care of an old woman. By the way her name is Santa (Saint) so it is destiny for her to be a Latter -Day Saint haha.

We also got to teach a Muslim which was pretty interesting. He has been living here for a year and doesn´t speak Portuguese, so it was just me talking to him in English haha. He is from Bangladesh. He was curious to know what the difference is between Christianity and his religion so I taught him about Christ and through his atonement we can return to live with God. He said that he doesn´t believe that Christ can be God´s son because God is perfect and to have a family means you have problems and if you have problems you aren´t perfect. It was very interesting haha. 

Saturday we got to hear from Elder Rasband! The whole mission got to go and be there except for the forgotten west of the mission which includes my zone and 2 others. But it was transmitted to us so it´s all good. He taught that the last message the Savior taught to his disciples was to preach the gospel. If you were not going to see someone again wouldn´t you say what was most important to you? Right before Christ ascended to heaven he said ´´Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost´´ We are doing what is most important to the Savior. Always strive to share the gospel with others! The Spirit was incredibly strong and I could feel the love the Savior has for me through one of His apostles.

Next week is transfers so we will see what happens! Love you all!

Elder Scheer

Week #64– Concórdia – Episode #15 - Indubitavelmente

I found out that my favorite word in English, indubitably, has a direct translation to Portuguese. Indubitavelmente👍

This week was really good. I feel like we were led in every step to find the people that we did this week. A few quick stories:

On Tuesday the people we had planned to visit weren´t home, so we decided to walk in the direction of the chapel while we were thinking of what we could do.  I felt that we should talk to an older woman who we contacted once. The time we contacted her, she told us that she couldn´t accept us because she takes care of an old lady that is from a different religion and wouldn´t allow it. We knocked and she told us that she still couldn´t attend us but that we should try visiting her daughter and son-in-law who live next door because he has been really sick. So we went over there and he said we could share a message with them. We taught the restoration and they loved it! They said if they receive an answer they will join the church.

Thursday the same thing happened... our appointments fell through so we decided to knock doors in a newer neighborhood that I´m pretty sure has never been knocked by missionaries because it is an hour walk. One door we knocked, a lady came out and we told her who we were. She said ´´Oh yeah my friends Marcelo and Milena go to that church and were telling me how they went to the temple and did something with their family.´´ And I was like ´´Yeah they went last month to get sealed in the temple!´´ She invited us in and we talked for a little and planned to set up a family home evening with them and Marcelo and Milena (Marcelo is the 1st Counselor of the Bishopric) so that will be awesome.  I´m sure that it wasn´t a coincidence that we knocked on their door.

Friday we were contacting after lunch and when we were walking down a street we saw a moving truck and some workers unloading. We went over and offered to help and the worker said ´´we don´t have money to pay you´´ and I was like ”dude we don´t want your money we just want to help” haha.  Anyway,  the lady that was moving in was superrrr stressed and she was treating her 3 year old daughter who is the cutest thing ever super poorly.  While we were unloading I was trying to think of something I could say to her. When we were finishing she said ´´What church are you from?´´ and I explained what we do and stuff. She said she was really interested and had been looking for a church to go to. Soon after her husband got home and his name is Eder haha. He said a while ago he went to our church and invited us to come back this week.  So we are going to go today and I am excited. 

Other news: Matheus will be baptized on the 24th and Elder Sanchez´s bday was on Saturday. Francinte and her family made a dope cake and dinner for him so that was really nice. 

Anyway, I love you all! I have a solid testimony that the Lord guides His church today. Coincidences don´t exist! Have a fantastic week!

Elder Scheer