Week #79 - Lages - Episode #13 - Who Drinks Bottled Water With a Straw?

Every time I buy a bottle of water here they offer me a straw... after a year and 5 months I still don´t understand why, haha.

But this week had many miracles. We got to teach Camilli and Amanda and we asked if they had read and prayed. Amanda told us that she read the chapter that we left, knelt down and prayed for about 20 minutes. She said she felt something super good and felt that it was an answer. What 13 year old does that? We took them to seminary and mutual on Wednesday which was pretty cool.

On Friday we were in Florianópolis for a meeting with all the zone leaders. It went really well and it was awesome to see the progress that our mission has made.

Saturday we were trying to find some new people. When we turned onto a street, Elder Almeida said, ´´there is an elect here´´.  He walked past a few houses and then clapped one. A lady answered and let us right in. She and her two daughters listened to our message and really liked it. On Sunday one of the daughters, Samantha, went to church!! I think it was the first time during my mission that we found someone on Saturday and they went to church on Sunday. 

Lastly, on Sunday, our recent convert Kate, gave her first talk in church. It went really well! It is so great to see people progressing in the gospel.

Sometimes it´s easy to forget, but when I remember that I am here because of Christ, it makes everything easier. I am not here for me, or for anyone else. If we remember that when we were baptized, we promised to be a disciple of Christ, it will be easier to love and serve others and to be more like Him.

Have a great week!

Elder Scheer

Week #78 - Lages - Episode #12 - Round 3

The weather this week has been sooooo nice. It´s supposed to be summer here but it was been kind of chilly and man am I grateful!

This week was pretty decent. We got to teach a guy we contacted on the street named Moises. He was limping on the street and I was just like ´´Dude are you alright?´´ haha and we started talking. We were teaching him the Restoration and out of nowhere his mom is standing next to us helping us to teach! She was literally like another missionary as we taught about prophets, Christ´s ministry, and the great apostasy.  When we got to the First Vision, we told her that this is the good news we bring and why we leave everything for two years. Moises and his mom were really moved by our message. Hopefully they can progress.

Another day our plans had fallen through and we didn´t know exactly what to do. We thought of teaching a guy that we met at  a member´s tire shop that said we could visit him. We didn´t know where he lived so we called Irmão José, but he said that he had separated  from his wife and moved out so he doesn´t know where he lives anymore. We kept walking around trying to find someone to teach and we went to this street that we had never been to.  As we were walking, the guy comes out of his house!! We were so amazed, haha,  we got to teach him and his sister and it went really well.

On Wednesday we had a ward activity and we were in charge to set it up. We stood the pews up on their sides and made a maze connecting them using paper. It turned out really cool and I felt like I was in student council again. We put distractions in the maze to keep people from finding the way out and compared it to the Tree of Life. If anyone has any good ideas for ward activities let me know because we want to do another one!

Also we got transfer news and we will both be staying for our 3rd transfer together,  I´m excited and really hoping to see the fruits of our labors. 

Lastly I got news that Vanessa, a lady from Florianópolis, got baptized! Elder Montero and I reactivated her husband and they finally got married! 

Have a great week!

Elder Scheer

Week #77 - Lages - Episode #11 - Trioooooo

I´m not gonna lie, this wasn´t the best week, but it still had some highlights, and currently we are in a trio because one of the Elders that lives in our apartment was transferred,  so his comp is staying with us, but we are having a good time. 

First off, Juliane, who was supposed to be baptized this week called us on Tuesday telling us she was going on a trip and doesn´t know when she will be back... so that wasn´t cool. But it´s okay, I know we will be able to baptize  her when she comes back.

About 2 weeks ago when we had Zone Conference, some missionaries were traveling to our area on the bus and the bus broke down, so they ended up talking to this girl next to them that lives in our area. This week we visited her and her family and they are awesome! We were teaching and her mom started crying and said that she was asking the Lord for help in the morning. We were able to testify that the Lord cares about every one of his children and hears our prayers.  Also, her 13 year old daughter Amanda was so fascinated by the idea of a mission that she is already talking about going!

Yesterday at Church the lesson in Sunday school was about Noah´s Ark and how we can apply his story in our lives. Sometimes we don´t know exactly why the Lord gives us certain commandments or why we need to live a certain way but when we follow His counsel, we are ´´building our arks´´ to prepare us for the challenges that come in our lives. I know that as we follow the Lord´s counsel daily, we will be blessed with joy. As a mom gives rules to her children because she wants to see them safe, the Lord gives us commandments because He wants us to be physically and spiritually safe. 

Love you all! 

Elder Scheer

Week #76 - Lages - Episode #10 - 6 Years a Convert

First off,  Happy Birthday to one of my best buds, Jayden! He is really one of the best pals I´ve ever had!

This week had it´s ups and downs but ended up being good! 

Roziane is a lady that we have been working with since we got here. She has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and wants to be baptized but for whatever reason she won´t go to church! So on Monday during our lesson we asked a lot of inspired questions to figure why she won´t go. We found out that she had a bad experience at another church and now she is like traumatized. We have been teaching her thinking she was just being lazy but now we know the real reason and we´ll be able to help her! Asking questions is muito importante. 

Juliane is still progressing super well. She hasn´t decided if she will be baptized on the 10th or the 17th yet so we will see. 

This week we found out that Cristiane smokes which is super weird because there was literally no sign in her house. So we will have to work with her on that and probably move her baptism to a little later.

Wednesday at about 11 am we found out that we would have to catch a bus at 1:50 pm to Caçador to do a baptismal interview. So we lost all day Wednesday and Thursday to work. But on Thursday we were in a city called Joaçaba and there were 8 missionaries. An Elder from Texas plays the violin incredibly well so we decided to go to the middle of the city and sing hymns and contact. 5 of us Americans also sang I am a Child of God acapella and I was having flashbacks to the Bethlehem Boys days hahaha. 

On Sunday we had 6 investigators at church and a few that were supposed to go didn´t show up! A family that we have been working with for a while that we were about to stop visiting finally showed up!

It's been 6 years since I have decided to become a member of this Church and my heart is full of gratitude for the infinite blessings I have received. I can´t imagine how different my life would be if I had not decided to be baptized. 

Love y´all!

Elder Scheer