April 28, 2014 Missão Brasil CASTELO!

Dear everyone,

Do I hear a seventh transfer in Castelo?! Yep, I´m staying. I´m actually pretty excited about that because we have 3 families set to be baptized in May. I´ll get to them right about now.

But first, Douglas´ baptism!! He was baptized on Easter morning :) Pretty cool symbolism when you think about what he chose to do compared to what Christ was able to do. Both lived again, just a little bit under 2000 years apart. The usual crowd of members was there in support and it was a fantastic baptismal service. He´s been a member for a while now--coming to seminary, stake dances, mutual, reading half of The Book of Mormon, and now it´s official. Bishop interviewed him yesterday so that he and Ana Claudia could go to the temple with the youth this Thursday. Ademir and Wanda and Viviane are solid for May 24th/25th (marriage and baptism) after a really miraculous experience Friday night. Marcos, the member who referred them to us, was with us during the lesson and we felt it´d be a good idea to have him give Ademir a blessing to help him get over the 2-3 cigarettes he´s been smoking for the last 2 months, after having brought it down from a pack a day. Marcos gave the blessing and said afterwards he´d never felt the spirit so strong in a blessing before. Ademir felt it too because he started crying after the 'amen.´He and Marcos shared a long hug and we left. Sunday, after priesthood, Ademir leaned over to me and told me that since Friday every desire he´d had to smoke left him after the blessing. He´s been clean for 48 hours already :) I felt so happy in that moment, because it´s been 2 months we´ve been working with him to get to that point. Marcos was with us and was beaming when Ademir told him. Really, really special. They finally went to the cartório this Wednesday and everything´s squared away. It´s been worth the wait!!

Placídio is coming along really well too. Saturday night we taught him with João Batista in a lesson that I won´t be forgetting anytime soon. We´d studied, prayed, practiced, and fasted in preparation for that lesson--something needed to happen to help him and his family agree to get married and be baptized. We taught him exactly as we´d planned and nothing. Questions, testimonies, member´s help, examples, scriptures, and still nothing. Quite a bit disappointed, we decided it was time to end with a prayer. Out of nowhere Jessica, his 8 year-old daughter, volunteered to say it. She hadn´t said anything during any of the 6-7 lessons we´d given to them over these past 3 weeks. But, she said one of those perfect, heartfelt, innocent 8 year-old prayers that are enough to melt anyone´s heart. And that´s what happened with Placídio. When we stood up to leave he was crying, and he said, "I´ve got something to say. This isn´t for me, but if it´ll help my daughters, I´ll get married." YEESSSS! Elder Nelson and I looked at each other, grinned, and skipped down the stairs and out the door. They accepted May 31st for their baptismal date. They came to church as a family yesterday and we have a lesson with them tonight to solidify their date and schedule when we´re going to the cartório. It´s a marriage party down here :)

Unfortunately Paulo and Adriana (mostly Paulo making the decision for Adriana) decided not to continue investigating the church and went back to their old ministry. That left us pretty sad BUT, Marcos Damico gave us another family as a referral that seems to be golden. José Milton is the dad, Maria the mom. José found out just 2 weeks ago that he has terminal cancer, and he instantly got serious about God. He stopped smoking and drinking on the spot, and was eager to find out more about the church and the possibility of living together with his family. The 2 of them came to church yesterday with Maria´s sister and loved it. My favorite part of it was when Maria told me, smiling, "I got the hang of your hymn book!" And guess what--they´re married! We´re going there on Wednesday to mark their baptism for later this month.

I am feeling sooooo happy right now. Not just because of all the miracles God is heaping down on us, but because I can honestly say I am giving everything I can and have lost myself in the work. It really is fantastic to be a missionary.

I love you all!

Love, Elder Sears

April 26, 2014 "Until Monday . . . ☺"

Hello!

I´m sorry for all the email/P-day switches, but we´re out of time today so I´ll get off all the emails on Monday. Do you forgive me?!? I love you!

Love, Elder Sears

P.S. A picture just for kicks...Elder Nelson insisted on doing my hair today and he put a "part" in it. I think it´s the first time since 2nd grade. Ha Ha!

April 19, 2014 Harvesting in the Field and Laboring in the Office

 Baptism of Ana Claudia--the first one in her family to be baptized. Viviane (almost 8), Ademir, Wanda, Ana Claudia, Elder Sears, and Elder Nelson

As an A.P., Elder Sears helps plan and train at a multi-zone conference. "The Elder with the hammer is my friend, Elder Riquerme."

April 19, 2014 Easter Sunday--Missionary Work's Greatest Victory

Happy Easter my friends!!

I hope that you´re all able to feel the missionary spirit this weekend, seeing that Christ´s victory over death and hell is the greatest missionary moment in history. How grateful I am to be serving full-time in His service, helping others recognize what He´s done for them and how to accept it. We are being so blessed in our efforts.

This week was CrAzY, but crazy good. 36 hours of multi-zone conferences is enough to drive anyone insane, but I was insane to begin with so it´s all good. I sent along a few pictures at the end showing some of the trainings and practices. The emphasis was planning (Preach my Gospel chapter 8). The multi-zone was set up like a regular missionary day. We started with daily planning, then personal and companionship study, then the actual lesson itself and finally and evaluation of it all. During the companionship study part we got to practice preparing object lessons (that´s why you see Elder Riquerme gleefully waving around his hammer in the second picture I attached). It was a really good experience. President showed the Church´s new Easter video in the end to cap everything off. Friday I accompanied another missionary singing "His Hands" to bring the Easter spirit. It went really well, in spite of not really being able to see the last few measures of the sheet music because my eyes were fogged over with tears. Really special.

AND, work in the field has been an absolute joy. Ana Claudia asked us on Sunday if she could be baptized Tuesday after mutual so that all the youth could be there. After coordinating with her family and the young women´s organization, bishopric and ward mission leader, that´s what we did. It was a really, really special baptismal service. Her brother Douglas is A okay for tomorrow too :) Ademir and Wanda didn´t make it to the cartório this Saturday because it´s closed for Easter. Kinda forgot about that, but we remarked for next Saturday. Ademir, who is simple by nature and sometimes a little slower to understand what he´s reading in The Book of Mormon, told us 2 days ago that he was reading in the Gospel Principles book about the millennium and felt a bunch of goosebumps all over the place. He said it was a feeling he´d never had before, and because of it he resolved that 12:00 a.m. Easter Sunday he would give up smoking. He´s only been smoking 2-3 cigarettes a day, but for Elder Nelson and me his experience with the Spirit was a miracle. We asked the family what´s been their favorite part of getting to know the Church and the missionaries--Ana Claudia was the first to respond with "knowing that I made the right decision in getting baptized." They are a really special family. Ana Claudia and Douglas passed Jacob in their Book of Mormon reading. Viviane (almost 8) is following along in the Book of Mormon picture book we bought for her at the temple. We talked about enduring to the end the last time we met, and to demonstrate I got down on the floor and did a "plank" (it´s an annoying ab exercise Elder Nelson and I have to do as part of our P90X exercise routine in the morning) for as long as I could while talking about enduring to the end. We explained that at baptism we set ourselves up in the right position, but the only way our muscles grow (spiritually) is when we endure to the end. They seemed to understand. So, all smiles on that front :)

I talked a little bit about Paulo and Adriana last week. We had one of the most spiritual lessons of my mission with them on Thursday night with a ward member named Jean and his wife Ana Luiza. Our plan was to follow up with 3 Nephi 11. When we did so and asked what most stood out to them Adriana responded with "well I thought it was interesting how Christ called Nephi to be one the 12 apostles in the Americas just as He did with Peter in Jerusalem. Then he gave him power to baptize. I also liked how Christ warned against contentions because of different doctrines about baptism, which is basically what you see happening today." I´m gonna go out on a limb there and say she got the gist of 3 Nephi 11?? I can´t explain how much I LOVE teaching people like her, not just because she accepted but because she understands the doctrine in The Book of Mormon. People that gain a testimony that way, really embracing and feasting upon the word, are the type of members that build the Church and don´t fall away. Paulo understood similarly well and told us he´d read the testimonies of the 3 and 8 witnesses as well. The time came when we invited them to be baptized. Paulo was a little reluctant because of his involvement in another church but Adriana cut him off before he could finish. She told us that she´d been praying for a long time to know the truth, and that the first day we showed up and talked to her daughters was moments after they´d had a huge fight and were needing a little bit of the "palavra de Deus" to calm them down. She told us that, as she receives a spiritual confirmation that The Book of Mormon is true, she´d more than willingly be baptized, and soon. I felt really strongly to leave 3 Nephi 15 with them and promise that that very night they´d receive their witness. 3 nephi 15 because she talked a bunch about what Christ meant when He talked about "other sheep which are not of this fold." We´ll be seeing them tomorrow at Church and following up with their answer. I´ve never felt more confident that they´ll have received it. Their faith is inspiring to me. Especially Adriana´s.

Placídio and his family are coming along well. Elder Nelson and I have been very bold and direct with them and I feel they´re on the edge of accepting marriage and baptism. We have a lesson with them tonight at 6:30.

Oh, I think I mentioned a month or so ago an exchange that I did in Jundiaí, a nearby city, and finding a really special family there. Well, I got a phone call from Elder Batista Thursday night tellig me that the whole family will be baptized by May. The kids this coming Sunday and the parents a little bit afterwards because they need to get married. But they have a date marked and are going to the cartório this coming Friday. Sweeeeett!!

Life here is going really well, summing everything up. I´m losing myself in the work. It was maybe 30 minutes ago that I realized that Monday will mark 2 years since I opened my mission call after coming home from freshman year at BYU. How time flies.

An incredible, spiritual, memorable Easter to you all.

Love, Elder Sears

April 14, 2014 Fabio and Fun

Fabio's Baptism! Back row: Church members and family with Fabio; Front row: Elder Sears, Elder Chagas and Elder Nelson

"Elder Nelson and I being dorks while waiting for a mission training to start."

Elder Sears models "the Word of Wisdom coffee mug we gave to Marcilene. (In order for her to drink coffee, she has to read each scripture on the mug first. They all talk about obedience and such.) Thanks for the idea, Mom!"

April 14, 2014 "One of the Sweetest Palm Sundays of My Life"

Dear everyone that I love,

I know this is turning into a theme here, but I literally have 9 minutes to get this all out. Things are super crazy this week but I promise that Saturday I will devote the full hour and a half that we usually have to respond to all of the 30 wonderful emails I received from y´all this week. I just wanted to talk a little bit about the families we´re teaching right now because that´s what matters most to me.

Fabio: baptized member of the Church as of 8:50 yesterday morning!!!!! It was one of the most incredible baptismal services I´ve ever been a part of. Probably in part because it demanded so much patience, trust, so many miracles, prayers, fasts, and lessons entirely guided by the Spirit. Lots of hectic things happened Sunday morning before the baptism but as I started playing my version of If You Could Hie to Kolob for prelude I felt so much peace and gratitude. Elder Chagas came back for the baptism (Fabio´s request), and as always, loads of ward members were there in support. How grateful I am for God´s hand in Fabio´s transformation. He´s changed his life in a way that Alma the Younger knows pretty well, just maybe on a little bit smaller scale. Picture to follow in 3 minutes.

Placidio, Marlete, Janaina, Jacqueline and Jessica: went to church for the 2nd week in a row yesterday!! They really liked it, and Placidio came up to us afterwards asking us for help in getting Jacqueline more involved with the young women. So, a huge sign that he´s liking the experience. We have a family night marked with them an hour and a half from now. We´ve already invited them to baptism but they haven´t accepted a date yet.

Ademir, Wanda, Douglas, Ana Claudia and Viviane. Baptisms marked for Douglas and Ana Claudia for this coming Sunday, Easter!! We felt that´s what needed to happen while Ademir and Wanda get their marriage squared away. They´re still coming to church and keeping all the commitments (minus marriage). But they have a baptismal date marked for May 19th, together with Viviane who will turn 8 on the 18th. We´re able to teach them 2-3 times a week. Douglas is going to seminary and Ana Claudia, when asked where she was in The Book of Mormon, responded with "I don´t remember the chapter name but I know it´s page 109." She´s twelve and she´s read more than some members have in a year! They´re a super special family.

Paulo, Adriana, Janaina, and Larissa: we met them this past week and had a super spiritual first lesson with them. Paulo understood perfectly because he asked us at the end, "so basically you´re saying the primitive church is back on the earth...?" Yesssirr, and pretty soon you´re going to be a member, you just don´t know it yet :)

So, that´s our teaching pool. God is being so merciful with us. This is HIS work. I testify of it. No unhallowed hand can stop if from coming forth and filling the earth. 

I love you all,

Elder Sears

P.S. CONGRATULATIONS TO SISTER SHELL ON HER VISA! APRIL 29TH!

April 5, 2014 The World Report . . . from Campinas

Well, things are getting better down here! :) General Conference will be an awesome way to cap off the week.

Last Saturday after our P-day ended we had an hour and a half planned to find new people to teach. We were heading home when Elder Nelson said he felt we needed to take a different way back, taking a left turn instead of continuing up the avenue. So, we did, and immediately saw a family of 3 headed our way. I talked to them and after a few minutes we marked for Monday. Monday we found out that they´re part of a family of 5, with 3 kids 8 and up. Placídio is the dad´s name, Marlete the mom, and Janaina (19), Jacqueline (15) and Jessica (8) are their three daughters. Huge blessing, right? It was pretty clear to us we needed to teach the plan of salvation first, so we did. The first half on Monday and the second on Wednesday. Since Monday they´ve knelt 5 days out of 5 in family prayer, a tradition that they didn´t ever have in 20 years together. Placídio said it´s making a difference. We talked a lot about eternal families (Placídio and Marlete aren´t married), and Friday we hit pretty hard on that key again. It´s incredible how open and bold we´re able to be with them even in the 2nd/3rd visit. They´re understanding well and everything´s set for them to watch the Sunday afternoon session of conference tomorrow. We´ll have to share Elder Andersen´s talk with them because it´s perfect for their situation. So, score one more family for the Castelo teaching pool!

Thursday we had a pretty interesting lesson with Fábio. He said in the beginning that he´d "cooled off" a lot about the whole church/baptism thing, but we didn´t really buy that. It was kind of an odd lesson in the sense that neither I nor Elder Nelson remember what was said. I just remember saying something about the Holy Ghost and then Fábio saying, "you know based on what you just said I want to get baptized this Sunday. I can´t because my mom´s going to be out of town and she´s gonna want to see it, but I´ll see with her and choose a date and get back to you." We shook our heads okay but inside my heart was pounding and overflowing with gratitude. We felt it was best with him to let him feel 110 percent in control, so we didn´t call him the day afterwards to see if he´d come to a decision. On Friday HE called US, asking if Elder Chagas could stop by to do the baptism after he decided the date. And Elder Chagas is headed home in 3 weeks so Fábio will be a baptized member of the only true Church in 3 weeks tops. Amazing! God is taking reallllyyy good care of him. Fábio´s been trying to fight the spirit for 2 months but he´s losing. Just about the only situation that I like to see an investigator lose :) It was a really important experience for me to feel that I was worthy of the Spirit to the point that I said what it told me to say and because of that Fábio felt the desire he did. Yet another reminder that God is the real missionary in this work.

We managed to get a date marked (April 8th) for Ademir and Wanda to get their wedding underway! We continue to teach them 2-3 times during the week and, slowly and in spite of lots of worldly pressure not to, they´re progressing. Hallelujah. We´ll have to see if I´m around to see their baptism. Either way I´m happy to have helped them to this point.

One thing that I´ve noticed during all the difficulties here is that I´m growing in my ability to recognize small tender mercies. Things that probably went unrecognized for a long time in my life. I loved President Eyring´s line about waiting for blessings because that´s the only way we can build our faith and receive a blessing at the same time. One actually rather large blessing that I recognized this week was an email I got from Vania Madeiros, who was baptized in Vila União last February. I´d gotten a letter from her a few weeks earlier in which she was completely discouraged and lost and frustrated with her situation and with God. She´d moved to another state to help her parents out with a sickness but was totally rejected in the process and left without a place to live. Her plans to enter the temple were frustrated because the temple where she lives is pretty far away and she didn´t have the money to get there to take out her endowment. BUT, in the email I got from her this morning, she´s feeling loads better and has been attending church in the local branch in Paraná, Brasil. I´m praying she finds a way to the temple soon. Grandma Julie sent me some temple clothes that I decided I´m going to send to her. So, hurray for Vania :)

Gotta go to get ready for the next session, but know that I love you. Hope you all receive loads of personal revelation in the hours to come. I´ll have to share some of my impressions next week. From Saturday morning seems like the theme so far has been defending the truth and our standards, which I loved. Elder Holland knows how to put the world in its place.

Love, Elder Sears