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 :(