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

Week #63– Concórdia – Episode #14 - Jello

My legs are dead jello because of how much we climbed hills this week haha. But it´s a good feeling. I´m pretty sure this Halloween was the first that I didn´t eat a piece of candy which is crazy.

This week was great, but had it´s difficulties. Ana, Ruan, and Carlos have been progressing really well. We had some great lessons this week and Saturday night we taught them how to have a Family Home Evening. We marked their baptism for the 12th but they didn´t show up on Sunday. That was a bummer, but we will keep on working with them!

I feel like one of the reasons I was sent to this area was to find Francinete and her family. They are so incredible. They have gone to church the last 2 weeks and are loving it. Her daughter, Luana, was baptized when she was 8, but they didn´t keep going to church after, so we have been reteaching them. I feel like we were sent in such a perfect moment as well. There is nothing better when you teach someone who really has a desire to learn and change and they pay close attention and ask questions.

Wednesday was a rough day... haha after lunch we were trying to take a shortcut to our next appointment because it was on the other side of the city, but we got lost in the jungle. We were trying to find our way through when we came to a barbed wire fence so we went under it. There were cattle roaming but we kept climbing. After about 15 minutes we got to another barbed wire fence and went under it, climbed a super steep dirt hill, and ended up on the ´´highway´´. Then we got to the guy´s house and he wasn´t there.  Best feeling ever! hahaha. Then the rest of our appointments fell through the same day. But that´s life as a missionary! 

I would never trade this time I have had until now as a missionary. My testimony has grown so much and have I learned so much about my Savior. I am so thankful for his infinite sacrifice and I look forward to the day that I can thank him face to face and give him a hug.  

Have a great week!

Elder Scheer