Week #45- Florianópolis - Episode #14

Hey y´all!

This week was honestly pretty rough. A lot of our appointments fell through with investigators being sick or working or whatever. At least they didn´t drop us though. So I don´t really have any news.

The only big news of the week was that President and Sister Gonçalves got here. We haven´t met them yet but everyone is saying that they are super nice and loving so I am pretty excited. There should be some big changes coming up!

This week I read Mosiah 2 and a verse that really stuck out to me was verse 22 which says:  And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

I really liked this scripture because the Lord simply requires that we keep His commandments. I know that if we do this we will be so blessed. The Lord is perfect and He will always keep His promises as long as we do our part. On the mission I have been able to change my perspective of the commandments from being annoying rules to a way that Heavenly Father shows His love for us. I know that He gives us commandments for our benefit!

Sorry for the short letter this week. I love you all and hope you have a great 4th of July!!!

Sempre fica firme, forte e feliz!

Elder Scheer

Week #44 - Florianópolis - Episode #13 - Give Heed to the Words of Christ

Well this week has been pretty busy! I hope you are all surviving the Vegas hear. Really glad I´m not there right now....

First off I got to spend all of Tuesday at the Policía Federal to renew my visa which was a good time. Brazil wants me to stay for another year I guess. But I got to see Elder Simonsen and Sister Townsend from the CTM which was fun.

On Wednesday we had a lesson with a new investigator. The Spirit was really strong during the lesson. At the end, Elder Montero sang Nearer My God to Thee which is a classic and she cried a little bit. She seems very interested so that was exciting. 

Friday was my first bday in Brazil and it was a great day. Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes!!!! In the morning we had District Meeting and everyone sang to me. At night we had another lesson with a new investigator named R at the American´s house. The lesson started off really bad and she was just saying random stuff but once we got to the part about Joseph Smith the Spirit was really strong and she stopped talking non sense haha. At the end she said she would read the whole Livro de Mórmon and she went to church on Sunday! After the lesson the Americans brought out a cookie cake and sang to me as many of you saw on Facebook haha. 

Sadly JP didn´t go to church again because he has been having to work on Sunday...

Also this Friday President Silva will be going home and President Gonçalves will take his spot. I learned so much with President Silva and I´m sure I will learn a bunch with Gonçalves as well. 

This week during study I found a scripture that I really like in Alma 37. Alma talks about how Lehi and his family were led through the wilderness by the Liahona, but the Liahona only worked according to their faith. In verse 43-44 it says 44 For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.

45 And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise.

I know that if we give heed to the words of Christ, we will be following the Liahona that the Lord gave us. Without a doubt it will lead us down a happier path and most importantly to eternal life.

I love you all and hope you have a great week1

Sempre fica firme, forte e feliz!!

Elder Scheer

Week #43 - Florianópolis - Episode #12 - Happy Father's Day!

Hey everyone!

Happy Father´s day to all the dads out there and especially to my amazing dad! Thanks for being such an incredible example for me! Love you so much!!

This week was pretty decent.

We finally got to go to the Filipino lady´s house. When we arrived she told us how her husband had kicked her and how she was planning to head back to the Philippines this week. I think she left today. She was super sad and she asked me to give her a blessing and it was a really spiritual experience. She told us she wanted to be baptized so we told her a little about the process and she got so excited! I know the missionaries will take care of her there. 

We had another awesome lesson on the Plano de Salvação with D, L, and W, but sadly they didn´t show up to church on Sunday :(

My man JP accepted baptism for July 8th but didn´t wake up for church on Sunday so we will see where that goes.

I really like the lesson this week in church about how the Gospel is simple. The gospel of Jesus Christ really is so simple. Sometimes we complicate it to make it seem like something almost impossible to follow. I know that if we study the scriptures and apply what we learn, we will become much more like our Savior. He gave us this gospel so that we can become more like Him everyday! 

Also right now I am sitting next to a guy from Holland and he just started speaking english to me lol. Pretty cool.

Congrats to my man Powell for finishing the mish!!! 

Love you all have a great week!!

Sempre fica firme, forte e feliz!!

Elder Scheer

Week #42 - Florianópolis - Episode #11 - A Brazilian, Colombian and an American

So this week was transfers and now we are in a trio... should be pretty interesting haha. A Brazilian, Colombian, and an American. If anyone thinks of any jokes let me know! haha. The Brazilian is Elder L. Ferreira and he was in the CTM with me. He is a good guy so it should be fun.

Another week that flew by...

This week we continued working with the group that we have made until now. They all have so much potential it is incredible. 

Wednesday we had a great lesson with a family. Their names are D, L, and the son is named W. We had a lesson with them a couple weeks ago but they have been busy moving. They had read the chapter that we had left them (Alma 32) D had read more! We had a great lesson about Alma 32. Now they just have to get legally married like almost every family we find lol. 

Last week I talked a little about a guy named JP but this week we got to teach his whole family! Parents and 3 kids, and they are legally married! The American families here met them because this family owns a restaurant called Texas Burger and the Americans invited them to english class. We invited the whole family to church and they committed to going but sadly yesterday only the mom went. But she said she loved it so that´s a start! 

This week I gave up on calling the Filipino lady but Saturday morning at like 8:30 I felt like I should call her. I said a little prayer and convinced myself that she would answer (miracles happen through faith). She answered!! I was so happy. She said she wasn´t answering before because she didn´t recognize the number... and sometimes I would call like 4 times in a row and she would hang it up every time lol. So it really was a mini miracle that she picked up the phone. I invited her to an activity that night and she came! We will visit her and her husband (who she´s not legally married to ;(  ) on Wednesday! 

I am excited to stay in this area and I know we will have success this transfer. I am so grateful for this incredible opportunity to serve a mission! I have learned so much about so many different things. I have really learned to love meeting new people and getting to know their stories. It really is incredible. I love you all!!! Have a great week!

Sempre fica firme, forte e feliz!!

Elder Scheer

Week #41 - Florianópolis - Episode #10 - Long Johns in Brazil?

What´s up everyone!! So this week got pretty chillyyyyy. I never thought that I would use long johns in Brazil but I was wrong haha. The cold is different because it´s a humid cold so you feel wet + cold and it´s just not very enjoyable. Wet shoes don´t dry and wet shoes = wet socks and feet.

 First off the bad news is that I have literally tried calling that Filipino lady 3 times every day this week and she didn´t answer :( and she didn´t go to church. She really be playing with my emotions (smh) But I made the rookie mistake of not getting her address... 

English class got us 2 solid investigators this week!! 

The first one being JP. JP speaks solid English, but more importantly is looking for a path to follow. He is 19 and  6´4´´ 230. He is really open and really smart. We had an awesome lesson about the Restoration and he said it gave him answers to a lot of his questions. I´m excited to watch him progress!

Second is Victor. He is 18 and also looking for a path to follow. He opened up to us during our lesson that he doesn´t really believe in God. He finds it difficult to believe there is a God, that if He is extremely loving, how can so many terrible things happen in this life to good people. We explained about the Book of Mormon and invited him to read Alma 32 and to really talk with God. I have so much faith that he will gain a testimony.

Thursday was President and Sister Silva´s last conference. It was super good and I will miss them! One thing that stuck out to me was when President was bearing his testimony and said, ´´I am not better than anyone, I am not smarter than anyone, I don´t know more than anyone, but I am paying the price. If I died now, I would die happy.´´ He has truly dedicated his life to the Gospel and is a great example to me.

Today a member made cinnamon rolls for us!!! Best thing ever. 

I love you all so much! 

Sempre fica firme, forte e feliz

Elder Scheer  

Lunch with Sis. Kellen

So happy to get to eat cinnamon rolls!

Last Conference with Sis. Silva

Week #40 - Florianópolis - Episode #9 - Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day everyone! I hope you are all enjoying a great day off! I´m thankful for all of those who have fought for our nation! Keep them in your prayers!

This week has been super great! Just the rain that has been really annoying. I remember when I liked rain at the beginning of my mission.....hahaha

Anyway we have had some great lessons and are helping our investigators progress!

Daniely is 14 and is waking up her parents every Sunday to go to church! Her parents are members but her mom didn´t want us to pressure her to get baptized so we are going to finish the lessons and then talk to her parents about a date! 

Miracle of the week: We had just finished teaching a recent convert at the chapel when a Filipino lady showed up asking if someone speaks English. I started talking to her and she said that she has been here in Brasil for a year and she just moved here from another state. Her entire family was baptized in the Philippines and she started going to church and wants to be baptized! Nothing like someone walking up to you saying they want to be baptized. It really puts a smile on your face as a missionary haha. Anyway we will start teaching her and her husband this week! 

Also the Americans that moved here have started teaching English for free every Tuesday night so we are telling everyone and hoping that it works as a great finding tool!

This week I have been studying Chapter 3 in Jesus the Christ which talks about why we need a Savior. I have always known Christ´s role in the Plan of Salvation but I learned so much. God gave us complete free agency which means He will never force us in anyway to choose bad or good. Because of the fall, we are all subject to temptation everyday and make mistakes. Only through a perfect sacrifice sin was overcome. And through His resurrection death was overcome. I have a huge testimony of Jesus Christ. I know that He suffered for us and that He lives. I am so thankful for the scriptures and other sources that we have to learn more about Him and I recommend you
to read this chapter! 

I hope you all have a great end to the holiday weekend! Love you all!!

Sempre fica firme, forte e feliz!

Elder Scheer

Week 39 - Florianópolis - Episode #8

Another week comes and goes! Shout out to the PV volleyball team for winning state!!!!!!

We didn´t have a ton of progress with our investigators this week but some great experiences as always...

On Wednesday we got to visit Dayane for the first time which was the lady that just randomly showed up to church last week. We showed up and just started talking to her and her son waiting for her husband to get home. When he walked in we just thought, man this guy is def an atheist and is going to be hard to teach. Haha but I really learned not to judge because when we were teaching he was one of the most focused and sincere people I have ever taught. We asked him why he thought there were so many churches today when Christ established one when He was here and he replied basically reciting the apostasy section from Preach My Gospel. It was awesome. This family has so much potential and I am super excited to continue teaching them. 

Thursday we had a lesson with Daniely. We taught the Plan of Salvation and the Spirit was strong. At the end we asked her if she wanted to be baptized and she said yes! But then her mom (who is a member) got mad at us and started saying that we were pressuring her and that she wants her daughter to know for sure that this is what she wants to do. I was just thinking, why in the world are you stopping your daughter from being baptized when you have a testimony? haha. But sometimes you just have to put yourself in their shoes and see their perspective. So for now we are going to continue teaching her and see what happens.

On Saturday we were visiting our surf investigator, Devan and he is really struggling. He just recently got divorced after 20+ years with his wife and he is super sad. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ but he wasn´t very focused. He tells us that he is super grateful for our friendship and he actually reads the Book of Mormon every single day for an hour which helps him out.

At night we visited a family where the mom is a recent convert but stopped going to church and the dad isn´t a member. Their 18 year old daughter ran away recently with some guy and it has been super hard on them. We talked with them and then left a message about trials and Jesus Christ. We shared Matthew 11:28-30. I told them that I have no idea what they are passing through because I have never gone through anything even close to this but that Jesus Christ knew exactly what they were feeling. Not only that. but He is there to take this feeling from you. Alma 34 talks about how the atonement is infinite and eternal. which means that it covers everything we can imagine and more.

I am so thankful for these humbling experiences. When I was saying my prayers at night, I was thanking Heavenly Father for the opportunity to meet these people. I felt the Spirit say to me that He visits people through the missionaries. It may seem kind of obvious. but it hit me really hard that everything I do as a missionary really needs to be through the Spirit because Heavenly Father wants to talk to His children through me, and through the Spirit He tells us where to go and what to say.

On Sunday it rained super hard which means people decide that sleep is better than church so that ,was kind of sad. but it´s all good. I had the opportunity to teach Gospel Principles about repentance and we discussed a lot about how through repentance, we can progress every single day and become more like Christ.

Have a great week! Love you all as always!

Sempre fica firme, forte e feliz!!

Elder Scheer