October 14, 2013 Baptism of Rodrigo and Prayers Sought and Answered

I´m back!! Basketball was good but exhausting. But I needed it :) I guess I´ll start explaining the picture. After Rodrigo´s experience during Conference, we felt to mark his baptism for the 13th. We stopped by or called every day of the week and everything was set for his interview on Saturday. Until he called us at 6:00 saying he was going to spend the night at a cousin´s house. Which got us worrying a little bit since 1) we were sure Satan would take full advantage of the opportunity to tempt him there and 2) it was pretty likely he´d sleep in and miss the baptismal service after the Sunday meetings. But Rodrigo promised we could bring our district leader by Sunday morning and he´d be there. And he was. Turns out he decided not to spend the night and he was interviewed without any problems whatsoever. The baptismal service itself was incredible. Seriously. The room was filled to the brim with members that had met him at conference and seminary when he went. Our ward mission leader planned everything--from filling up the font to asking people to say prayers and give messages and testimonies. Rodrigo asked that I say a few words, and when I started talking he started crying just like he did when we showed him the font. Then his dad, who had been pretty cold with us every time we passed by to teach, started crying. We found out he´d been praying for a long time that his son could be baptized, and he saw our appearance as an unquestionable answer to his prayers. When he started to cry, a few other ward members too. José Roberto, a ward member that lives close by, did the baptism and we had a short testimony meeting afterwards in which 2 members commented that it was one of the most spiritual baptismal services they´d ever been a part of. And, now we have Jorge and Patricia (Rodrigo´s dad and sister) to teach.

After the baptism we went to visit Adrianna to see how she was doing with her recovery from the surgery. The pain´s gotten a little bit worse and I felt kind of helpless watching her stuck in her bed groaning from time to time. We decided to read Alma 7 with her and talked with her about the Atonement and how personal it is for each of us. She liked that, and when we got to verse 14 and 15 I felt to reemphasize a promise that I´d made the week before--that if she had faith her physical condition would not in any way impede her from being baptized this Sunday as we had marked the week before. I´m confident that that promise came from the Lord, and that because of her faith, she´ll be baptized. Even if we have to put her in a wheel chair and fill the water up to her shoulders and lean her back ever so slightly. She´s an incredible woman. After the lesson she let us take pictures of her house (I´ll try to send a few in a sec of Elder Chagas and I messing around) and she asked if we could walk her 2 dogs for a little bit. So we did :) Good memories of walking around with Jimmer and Scooter. Haha.

Saturday we had an...interesting....experience. We were on our way to visit a less active when we heard a car screech to a stop next to us. The driver seemed kind of frantic and asked if the 2 of us were Elders. We said yes of course. So he kept going down the street another block and parked the car and slammed the door shut and started walking at us, messing with something in his pockets. I looked at Elder Chagas and he asked me if we should run. We decided to stay. He came up and after a tense silence asked if we could say a prayer for him. Elder Chagas asked why. He said something had happened with his granddaughter and he was feeling like doing something violent. We asked who. He said with the doctor that had diagnosed her with something. We were kind of reluctant to close our eyes so we said the prayer with them half-open. Then we heard another car screeching to a halt next to us. I seriously thought we were being kidnapped! But no, it was the Bishop. He said he was on his way home from work and felt like he should stop by that less active´s house. And he got there just in time for Elder Chagas to say "Amen." The man thanked us for the prayer, gave us a hug, and walked back to his car. Rather strange, but it was really cool to see how the Lord works to protect His servants. I have no doubt that that will always be the case as long as I´m doing His will. And I´m doing my best when it comes to that.

So yep...that was our week! Ricardo and Shayla and Igor and Diego are still golden and we´re going to try to do their interviews this Friday. We gave them a print-out last week about The Book of Mormon since a bunch of their friends were asking. They seemed to really appreciate that. Before going home, he said he had something for me. He came back with a SWEET winter blazer that I´m stoked to use when I get home. They are amazing people. And not at all because I got a blazer. 

Gotta run, but I love you all!

Elder Sears

October 7, 2013 Reflections on Conference and Lessons from a baptismal font

Hello!

I´ve been asked by several for my impressions from Conference, so I´m going to start (briefly) with that. I´m not sure if the fact of me being in the field makes me biased or anything (probably), but I don´t remember any other Conference in which missionary work was so heavily emphasized. What a Conference! And I was able to listen to 4 out of the 5 sessions in English, which makes a NOTABLE difference. Especially when it comes to Elder Holland speaking his soul. Of course, I loved Elder Ballard´s talk, as I´m sure all the other 80,333 missionaries serving right now did. Elder Chagas and I decided we´re going to put in a petition to have it added as Preach my Gosepl chapter 14. I found the promise that, if we pray and seek them, we´ll be blessed with missionary opportunities for "YEARS" to come very powerful. Also loved Elder Nielson´s talk about missionary work and exclamation points and the 3 keys for members to get involved. From all the reports I´ve been getting it sounds like Lost Mountain Ward has got them down. I´m thrilled with the success you´re having back home. Seriously. President Monson said everything in his opening remarks, that this work can only go forward with the both of us, member missionaries, and full-time missionaries. I think the line that most touched me came from Elder Holland: "if you feel like a broken vessel, remember you´re in the hands of a divine potter." I needed to hear that, and how true that is. 

This conference for me was especially special because I saw its influence in lives other than my own. We´ve been teaching Rodrigo (16) for the past week and a half after we did a street contact with his step-mom. He came to seminary with the young men Tuesday and to the Saturday afternoon session. He´s not exactly the most open of people. We try to get him to talk but he´s the shyer type. I know how that goes. But a miracle happened after that conference session. Elder Chagas and I showed him around the chapel and made a special stop by the baptismal font. We opened it up for him and talked a little bit about what happens there. I asked him how he felt and he said "arrepiado" (goosebumps). Elder Chagas bore his testimony after that. I was looking at Elder Chagas but when I looked at Rodrigo I saw tears. For the next five minutes he cried. Sobbed actually. He turned to me and asked me what was happening. The Spirit was SO strong. There was a quiet, inexpressive and seemingly normal teenager sobbing in front of 2 twenty year-old´s. We called some of the members so they could see what happened and meet him. We invited him to be baptized on the spot and he accepted. I got to thinking...we were all staring at a simple, empty, slightly dirty font. That´s normally not the sort of thing that gets someone crying. Unless of course what is done there is done with God´s approval and will determine the salvation of one of His children. I´m a logical person, but logic doesn´t explain what happened during those 10 minutes. As Elder Hales said at the beginning, the hear and feel are so much more powerful than the words (and the logic). No sincere person can successfully doubt this work and keep doubting. His feelings won´t let him. And that´s what happened with Rodrigo.

So, summarizing, conference was a miracle for us here in Castelo. And a much needed breather from a hectic week. Ricardo and Shayla, Igor and Diego are well on pace for their wedding and baptism in under 3 weeks now! They asked me to play at their wedding reception :) We watched part of 17 Miracles with them on Friday and talked about the blessings that come when we sacrifice something good for something better (that´s from Charly I think...?). Gislane passed her baptismal interview but said she still wants to work some things out with her boyfriend. She brought him to the Sunday afternoon session but he kind of made a joke out of it. I´ll stop commenting there before I get worked up about it :) Adrianna is already walking after her surgery. Yet another miracle. She came back from the hospital yesterday and we´re going to visit her tomorrow. 2 sisters from the ward stayed with her the whole 5 days she was in the hospital. I´m really, really optimistic for this coming transfer and the people God´s given us to baptize. And EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM (aside from Rodrigo) is a referral from the members. You make an unbelievable difference. 

I´m so grateful for you all. Grandma Sears, I got 2 letters from you! I´ll be writing back today. Dad, Grandpa Sears sent me an article that mentions you in a rather significant way. You´re awesome. 

"Look up!"

Elder Sears

P.S. Several of you have asked about daylight savings...I think it´s coming up in 2 weeks, and it´ll be spring forward for us. I´ll check and let you know.

P.p.s. I got a notice from myldsmail that some people didn´t get the group email I sent last week. If you didn´t get it, please please tell me so I can forward it to you!

Sept. 30, 2013 Powerful testimonies and progressing investigators

Booooaaaa tarde!

I need to start off with a thank you list. Last Thursday I think it was I got a package from my family! Mom, thanks a billion for sending that. The shirts were perfect and have already been used loads of times. The weather here has been crazy--it gets down to 50 at night and then the high 80´s in the day, so they´ve been really useful. And of course the hot tamales and reese´s puffs are "divine" as Grandpa Q always says :) AND, 4 letters got in this morning! One from Grandma Julie, one from Grandma Sears, one from home and one from the Shell´s. All with HAPPY MIDWAY DAY written all over them. I seriously loved it, you can ask Elder Chagas. Thank you to everyone in all of the pictures--Sister DeLeon, Sister Cheaney (not sure if I´m remembering the right way to spell that...), Megan, Brayden, Sister (Kirsten) Shell, Bishop Shell and Sister Shell (Sr.), Alyssa, Tanner, the Miller´s, the BYU crew at the Virginia game, and the Detweiler´s. It was an AWESOME way to start my P-day. Muitíssimo obrigado.

As for the work this week. We haven´t had as much time as I´d like, what with the transfer coming up and all that joyful goodness. But God´s been blessing us with a really good teaching pool (Elder Chagas and I call it our "grupo de batismo." And some really neat spiritual experiences. I´ll get to those in a sec. We started teaching Adrianna this week. She´s in her 60´s and is going to do a major back surgery this Wednesday. Bishop has been inviting her to come to Church for a year now and 3 weeks ago she decided now was the right timing. When we walked into her house I was a little bit, maybe a lot bit, impressed. Bummer I didn´t have my camera on me but the next time we go there (tomorrow) I´ll take some pictures. It´s basically the inside of an Egyptian tomb. All sorts of paintings, sculptures, beadwork, exotic plants, everything. She´s fascinated with Egyptian culture. And native american culture too. She lived with some Indians in Manaus (Amazon territory) for TEN YEARS. And the whole time she was talking I was thinking about how excited she´d get when we told her the 2 cultures that fascinate her most have everything to do with The Book of Mormon. We showed the beginning of 1 Nephi to her when Nephi talks about writing in the language of the Egyptians and she showed quite a bit of interest in reading. She´s an older lady and feels pretty alone sometimes and is pretty nervous for this Wednesday, so I´m glad for the opportunity to help. We asked her if she could one day see herself as a member of the Church and she said yes. So we´re excited for the baptism prospect too! Last Sunday Bishop gave her a Priesthood blessing and a member from the ward is going to stay with her during the 5 day recovery period from the surgery. Her faith is something that really impresses me. It´s possible the surgery paralyzes her but when she brought that up she just said, "I´ve done what I´ve needed to with my legs. If there´s something left for me and it winds up not working out, I´ll be able to do it without my legs." Paraphrasing a bit, but that´s the gist. 

Gislane is coming along really well too. I´m amazed at how open she is with us about her life and her dreams and the testimony she already has. We were on the phone with her yesterday and she started talking about how we needed to baptize all of Campinas. I was like, yes ma´am! She brought a friend with her to an activity Saturday and told us she wants to invited somebody over for a family night. When we followed up with the Law of Chastity, I asked her if there was anything impeding her from telling her boyfriend she wasn´t going to break a commandment with him anymore. She said, "no." 

"So Gislane, will you tell him that?" 

"Yeah." 

"The next time you see him?" 

"I´ll do my best."

"And you´ll be pure from here on out?"

"Vamos lá" (let´s go)!

That was serious progress for her. Before she always went back to the fact that they were going to get married and her boyfriend would never understand the need to wait. So we walked out of the lesson pretty hopeful and it´s our goal to baptize her and Leo (her 10 year-old son) after Conference this weekend.

Ricardo and Sheila continue to shine. And because of that they are going through lots of pressure and persecution. Which makes me angry! Ricardo invited his sister to be a bride´s maid for Sheila and she accepted. But then said no when she found out they were planning to baptize with the "Mormons." Lots of "friends" have come up to them and challenged The Book of Mormon. So this Thursday we talked about testimonies and the value it has, even when we don´t have all the answers. We´re planning to make a kit with some materials and explanations about the Church that they can give to everyone that´s asking and hassling. But everything´s 100 percent okay with their wedding and baptism for the weekend of October 26th, so I´m all smiles :)

Saturday--the whole afternoon we were part of a Career Fair that was held in our chapel and involved 6-7 stakes and somewhere in the range of 800 visitors. We and 3 other companionships close by were the ushers and had a little room where we had 30 seconds to talk about the Church and get referrals from everyone visiting. It was a huge event and we have a good 200 referrals for the mission. Hopefully some will be from our area! After the fair we had an appointment marked with a family that are members of the Seventh Day Adventist. They are FIRMLY rooted in the fact that all Churches that do not keep the Sabbath Day on Saturday are false. It doesn´t help that the translation of the Bible in Portuguese has the 10 commandments as "guarda o dia do sábado" --which literally is "keep the Saturday holy" instead of Sabbath Day. But the lesson was really, really interesting and the most spiritual lesson I´ve been a part of as a missionary. After about 5 minutes of getting to know Paulo he said, "alright, let´s be democratic about this. You have 20 minutes to tell me what you believe and then I have my 20." So we started teaching. We hit pretty hard on the part about prophets--the fact that any interpretation of God´s commandments needs to be done solely by them. And then he taught what he believed as an Adventist. I was super impressed by how he defended the commandments and was committed to live them. The day he understands that we DO keep the Sabbath Day, and that it was changed by prophetic revelation to remember the SUNDAY that Christ was resurrected, he will make a fantastic member of the Church. The lesson was not at all confrontational, but it did get pretty tense. Towards the end Elder Chagas invited Paulo to bear his testimony that his church was the only true church on the face of the earth. Paulo said, "you go first." So Elder Chagas bore his testimony. It was seriously one of the most powerful testimonies I´ve ever heard. He said he was fully aware that if he lied speaking in the name of Christ and as one of His representatives, he´d be cast out. And then he bore his testimony. The Spirit was SO strong. I wish there were some way to pass on how I felt through email. Then we invited Paulo to bear his testimony. And he did. But when Elder Chagas asked him if he could honestly say his was the same church that Christ established 2000 years ago, he didn´t. Because he couldn´t. No other church can! I am so glad to have the testimony I do that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church that exists and existed. Because it is the SAME church Christ established with his own hands when he laid them upon each one of his 12 apostles. I bore my testimony to Paulo too. And when I did I told him I was inviting the angels in heaven to write down what I was saying so it could be read at the last day. Seriously, it was an incredibly spiritual experience. I would have to lose my mind to lose the testimony I have of this work. No one can stop it, even though so many want to and so many have tried. 

This was a really long email. haha. But it was a really good week here. I love you all and hope you´re well! And I apologize if I don´t get as many individual emails out...I took a little longer on the big one this week.

Love, Elder Sears

Sept. 23, 2013 Wedding announcement of investigators

             Wedding announcement of Sheila and Ricardo, investigators to be
               baptized at the end of October

September 23. 2013 English classes, marriage arrangements and blessings

Querido todo mundo,

Wake up! Because September is ending. I don´t really believe that since it´s going by so quickly but I´m going with the calendar. This past week was...less eventful than I wanted it to be. But that´s okay. I think yesterday was the highpoint. Rafael was confirmed and lots of investigators came to church--Ricardo and Sheila and the kids, pretty much the whole orphanage, and a few others we´ve been finding and teaching these past few weeks. Ricardo and Sheila gave us a beautiful wedding invitation (I´ll send you a picture in a sec) and the first counselor announced their wedding and baptism for October 26 during sacrament meeting. You´re probably remembering it was supposed to be on the 11th but the best-man (Ricardo´s boss, Lincoln Martins) is going to be on vacation in Orlando and will only get back the week of the 26th. Which took the wind out of our sails a little bit but every time I look at their family I cannot feel anything but awe with how well they´re progressing. Friday we visited them with a member and read 2 Nephi 5 with them. Mom and Dad, I used our family motto as the theme of the lesson (2 Nephi 5:27), so that should make you happy! We talked about the recipe to happiness that Nephi gives in that chapter. Each time we came across something his family did to live after the manner of happiness each of them raised their hands. Ricardo is going to make a FANTASTIC member and leader in the Church not too far out from here. During Sunday School he was making all sorts of comments about Nephi and Lehi and their journey in the wilderness and the liahona and everything. Elder Chagas and I just looked at each other amazed and smiled. We´re teacing another couple, Igor and Daniela, that also need to get married and when we made plans for them we decided the only thing we need to do to get them married and baptized is bring Ricardo over and let his testimony loose. He´s a better missionary than I am I think. 

Tuesday I taught my first English class in the ward. I´m working with almost fluent speakers which is a lot more fun of a  teaching environment for me. I told them their homework assignment was to write 10 sentences in English about the rules of American football. heehee :) And I promised them that if they looked up the lyrics to Viva la Vida in English I´d play for them the next week. So I´m looking forward to a mini jam-session this Tuesday! Either Wednesday or Thursday was lunch with Lincoln Martins, Ricardo´s best-man and the stake president here. His house is HUGE-theater, elevator, pool, tennis court, 2 garages with Porsches filling up the space, and, A STEINWAY FULL-SIZE GRAND PIANO. I made it about 30 seconds inside the house before saying something about it. They let me sit down and play for a good 10 minutes and I took full advantage. I had completely forgotten how good it feels to be playing on a real piano, not the electric ones they have in all the chapels here. So lunch that day was pretty much amazing.

Saturday we went to visit the kids from the orphanage. They were super excited to see us. We played tag for a little bit and then listened to them sing "The Lord commanded Nephi..." that Elder Chagas had taught them the last time we went. I taught two of the older teenagers how to play volleyball which they seemed to like. After that we sat down and read in 3 Nephi where Jesus blesses the little ones and angels encircle them with fire. We talked about how important they are to their Savior and invited them to church. 11 of them came! It´s been a really neat experience to be able to bring a little bit of light into their lives. They´re definitely not the typical investigator, that´s for sure.

Thursday the 19th, the day I actually hit a year in Brazil, a package came from Grandma Julie with the new BYU t-shirts inside and a bunch of notes and candy. It was perfect timing. Thank you so much Grandma! Elder Chagas loved the shirt you got him and shortly I´ll be putting on mine, in spite of what happened on Saturday (no further comment necessary :) ).

Know how much I love all of you,

Elder Sears

Sept. 16, 2013 Baptism of Rafael

         
                       Elder Chagas, Brad and the family of Rafael at his baptism

Sept. 16, 2013 Happy Mid-Way day! Baptism of Rafael

Hello from Brasil! One year ago to the date I was giving my farewell talk in Lost Mountain Ward. That´s a little bit unbelievable for me. But it´s reality! I wrote in my journal this morning, "I had NO idea what was waiting for me in Brazil. And I´m sure I have no idea now what the next year has waiting for me." I´m not sure what I´m going to do to celebrate the year mark but I´ll think of something. Most elders burn something, but I´m not a huge fan of that idea being as stingy as I am and all :)

Actually, my celebration started yesterday with Rafael´s baptism! I think I explained a little bit about him last week. We street contacted his mom and found out Rafael had gone to church several times a few years ago but wasn´t baptized because he wasn´t old enough yet. When his family moved, they lost contact with the Church. Until we stopped them on the street! He asked me to baptize him. I´ve already attached a picture. We´re working with Miguelina, his mom, but she´s not married. She´s going to church every week though. I feel super bad for her. Her "husband" is always out drinking and when he´s home doesn´t even acknowledge her. Rafael is the light of the family. The whole three hour block he was asking when his baptism would be. We took Bishop over to meet the family during the week and get to know the situation a little bit better. Tonight we invited them to a family home evening with some members, and later in the week we promised him a visit (that may or may not include us bringing over pizza...).

Ricardo and Sheila (I´ve been spelling her name wrong for the last 3 weeks) continue to amaze me. We taught them and the family the plan of salvation Thursday night. Friday, during lunch, Ricardo called us just to say thank you for the lesson. He told us everyone loved it and resassured us everything´s in order for the 13th of October for their baptism. Patience, Elder Sears. Seriously though, Ricardo is amazing. Yesterday after sacrament meeting he made it a point to come up to each new investigator and explain to them his decision to get baptized and the difference we´ve made in his life. We just sat back and watched him do our missionary work for us. And he hasn´t even been going to church for more than a month yet! I´ve been thinking a lot lately about the difference that a simple invitation can make. With Ricardo, it was a 14 year old kid that offered him a Book of Mormon. Now he and his family are all going to be baptized. We had another investigator, Wellington, that came to church because his next-door neighbor who is 50 years older than him and doesn´t know him all that well invited him. I´m starting to think the only invite more effective when made by the missionaries as opposed to the members is baptism. Everything else--going to church, receiving the missionaries, reading The Book of Mormon--it´s the members that have a much more powerful influence. Yesterday we were invited to a birthday lunch for one of the member´s moms in the ward. It´s a part member family and somehow we got onto the discussion about life after death. We taught a snippet of the plan of salvation to get the non-members interested but it was Irmã Isabel that invited them to read and pray about The Book of Mormon, and they accepted. Just another example of the influence y´all have!

Thursday I got to go back to Vila União on splits! We stayed there just a few hours to help out some elders there, but it was enough to see the same sights I saw at the beginning of my mission and bring back a flood of memories--good and good, but painful. Haha. Last night in the chapel after a ward meeting I happened across 3 members from Vila União and caught up with them a little bit. So that was fun.

Friday...I like to think of Friday as the day God wanted to see if we really wanted a baptism this week or not. Everything fell through and the contacts we did seemed to be with people having a realllyyy bad day. When I went to talk to a man about the English class we´re having in the chapel (I start teaching tomorrow), he took a look at the pamphlet I was offering him and slapped it in disgust, basically punching my hand in the process. I was like, dude, I´m offering to teach you English for free and this is your reaction!? I shook that one off and a little later went to talk to a lady about the Church. I got to "good afternoon" before she looked at me and booked it (literally, running) across the street to get away from me. I´m not sure if Friday was a bad hair day or what but it was interesting. The highlight was that morning, when President came by surprise to do personal and companion study with us. He shared his insights about Captain Moroni and that scripture in Alma 48 that everyone knows that talks about how if every man was like him the gates of hell would be shut forever. But he pointed out something different. The next verse says that Captain Moroni was "like unto Ammon" and the sons of Mosiah, who were all "men of God." He told us that if we can call ourselves men of God, we are no less important and no less powerful than Captain Moroni in making the gates of hell close forever. I found that really cool. We can all be Captain Moroni´s. 

I´m sure I´m forgetting something but that was my week! Love you all.

Elder Sears