Week #92- Pedra Branca/Palhoca - Episode #7 - Revolt of the Truck Drivers

I´m not sure if this news has reached you guys yet but gas prices went up here in Brazil and the truck drivers are not happy. They decided to protest and stopped working so basically the whole country is slowly coming to a stop. There is no more gas in the gas stations and no food getting delivered to stores. It probably won´t last much longer but we shall see. 

Besides tha,t everything is great! This week we had Teixeira´s baptism! It was supposed to be on Thursday but when we went to fill up the baptismal font there was no water... so we had to move it to Saturday. But on Saturday everything went well and it was a powerful experience. 

On Thursday, after we decided to move the baptism we didn´t have anything to do. The gas station next to our chapel was one of the last ones in the city with gas left and there was a huge line of cars waiting to fill up. We decided to go contact all of them since they weren´t doing anything. After we contacted the first one and he said that we could visit him, a car passed by saying that there was no more gas and everyone left :( I was excited to talk to all those people not doing anything, but oh well haha.

On Wednesday we had a really good lesson with an 18 year old named Victor. He told us that he has been praying everyday and has been feeling something that he never had before. He is already in Alma! We marked his baptism for June 16th. 

Not anything crazy this week but #prayforbrazil because if things don´t change it´s going to get rough! Love you all!

Elder Scheer

Week #91- Pedra Branca/Palhoca - Episode #6 - Go Knights!

Go Knights! When I left Vegas the Knights didn´t even exist and now they are in the Stanley Cup?? #lit

This week was good as always. We are working with a bunch of investigators that we have been able to find these last couple weeks. The only frustrating part is that every week we have so many people say that they will come to church and then 4 or 5 show up. But it´s all good. 

Everything is good to go for Teixeira´s baptism this week so we are pretty excited. He´s 60 years old and he´s a big guy and chose me to baptize him so we will see how that goes haha.

Last P-day we hiked up to White Rock which is what our area is named after with a family we are teaching. It was super beautiful. We were able to see the entire island of Florianopolis from where we were.

This week we got to teach a family that is half member half non member. The dad and daughter are members and the mom and other son that just turned 8 aren´t members. She loves church but there have always been some obstacles keeping her from getting baptized but everything should work out this time! We will mark a baptismal date with her and her son this week!

This week I was studying about charity and I learned that we can measure our charity in three ways:

1. How we listen

2. How we give

3. How we love

If we can have true charity in these 3 things we will be so much more like our Savior. I think as a missionary it´s been hard to have charity with listening. I have a bad problem of zoning out when people are talking haha. But always remember that charity is the most important attribute we must have. He said that if we do not have charity we are nothing. 

Have a fantastic week!!! Much love

Elder Scheer

The hills that you can see in the very back is Florianopolis

Week #90- Pedra Branca/Palhoca - Episode #5 - Happy Birthday Elder Silva!

Hey everyone!!

Not any huge news this week but a few cool things happened. Also we have started using Uber a little bit because it saves us a ton of time and it has gotten really big here. 

But this week we got to visit a reference that we received from the church site. His name is Victor and he is 18. He alreadyk new everything about the restoration and had already read all of 1st Nephi. He also went to church yesterday with his mom so we are pretty excited.

But besides that, not much is new. We are working with the people that we have found and trying to help them progress! 

Love y´all!

Elder Scheer

Celebrating Elder Silva's 20th Birthday!

Week #89- Pedra Branca/Palhoca - Episode #4 - Another Week of Miracles!

To start off, a huge miracle... so on Monday we went to mark one of our investigator´s wedding so that he can get baptized. After that he dropped us off at the store to buy food for the week. While we were walking through the store, I saw a guy along with his wife and son that I had taught in Rio Tavares almost a year ago. I´m sure if you look in my blog a little less than a year ago, I talked about Dayane, Lucas, and William. Dayane stopped breathing when she saw me haha. Anyway, I started talking to them and they told me that they had moved a couple months ago and weren´t able to get in touch with the missionaries. They are living in my area now, on the very last street of my area! I was so happy. I know that this isn't a coincidence. All three of them want to be baptized and already know everything about the Church. They just have to get married!! It is not common for the people in Brazil to get married, but I told them that they have to get married and baptized before I go home and they agreed.

Last week we started teaching a really cool family. The dad is into triathlons and stuff and the mom is a scout leader which is really rare here. One thing that I have missed is that most of the people here in Brazil don´t really have hobbies like we do; but they have been super interested and went to Church on Sunday with their 10 year old son, Guilherme. They loved it! 

Ever since I arrived to this area I have been asking Heavenly Father to share the vision He has of this area with me. We have been finding a bunch of new investigators with a ton of potential, so I think I´m understanding what he´s trying to say to me.

This week I was reading a book called ´The Continuous Atonement´ and I came across a phrase that really made me think. It said something like this, ´´It´s not our good works that will earn us a good place in the end, it´s the person we have become through our good works.´´ Many times I just do things because I know I should, but it doesn´t change who I am. It´s easy to change our behavior but to change our nature is much harder. It is only possible to change our nature through The Atonement of Christ. Through lots of prayer and diligence, we can really change and become more like Him.

Sorry for all the rambling. Love you all and Happy Mother´s Day to all the wonderful moms out there!

Elder Scheer

Week #88 - Pedra Branca/Palhoca - Episode #3 - Miracles!

This week was a week of miracles! We worked super hard and we were able to find a few famillies with a lot of potential.

One of the highlights from the week was when we were walking and a guy pulled over in his car and called us over. He said he knows a little about the Mormons but would like to learn more and practice his English. So we marked to go over later that day. He is a policeman and his family is really cool. He has a 15 year old son and a 12 year old daughter. He believes in God but has never had any religion. At the end of the lesson, we knelt down and invited him to pray. When he accepted, his wife looked kind of shocked haha. He prayed and the Spirit was really strong. 

Another cool story: We were walking to our next appointment and a guy came walking by us and stopped us. He said that he has been inactive for a long time but he felt really strongly that he needed to go back to church. He decided to walk to the chapel in the afternoon to try and find us but no one was there. So he walked back to his house but felt like he should take a different path and ran into us! He had the biggest smile on his face and was so happy to be at church on Sunday.

We are having a bunch of great experiences. I am so thankful for the Holy Ghost that guides me daily as a misisonary. It is truly such a huge blessing and we should never take it for granted.

Love you all! Have a great week!!

Elder Scheer