Most of these pictures are from our Presidents Day Three day weekend trip to Moab with mom and dad and the Gladiator Jurassic Park Jeep. That was our Christmas present to my parents, and we had a lot of fun with them exploring the snow covered red rock and having a two night hotel stay.
But a few other things happened in February. We celebrated Fiora's 20th Birthday, she was kind enough to come down and spend the 12th with us, her actual birthday is the 13th but she had plans with her boyfriend that day. We had a nice dinner, gifts, cake, and games.
Valentines Day came and went and with it our ward's annual Sweetheart ball. We are getting old, I've had 24 valentines with my sweetheart.
Savanna and McKay's 1 year anniversary was the 22 and they celebrated this year with a cruise to Mexico. They really enjoyed it.
And I had a 3day corporate training in salt lake and they put us up in the Little America Hotel. It was quite a nice room and I took some pictures, felt spoiled. I enjoyed eating out with my colleagues those days.
We celebrated my nephew Othello's third birthday and had a fun little party! Savanna did my nails as usual. Otherwise still cold and snowy all the month long.
Weston is still hanging in there on his mission, still miss him but are grateful to be able to talk to him each week. I have copied and pasted some of his fantastic emails below. Really good reads if you want to be inspired!
January 16 2023:
Hey there my friends! Another week gone, can you believe it? Nothing especially exciting, just always busy as you can imagine.
This week we did a lot of finding, because at the moment we don't have a ton of people progressing that we're teaching. So yeah lot's of door-to-door, and the circumstances aren't usually ideal. Around 5-9 in the afternoon is usually prime time to talk to anyone, so we usually use that part of the day for teaching our investigators. Before that usually any time can be inconvenient. If it's before lunch, people are either sleeping or preparing lunch, and if it's after lunch, people are usually sleeping. One thing about Brazilians that I've come to realize is that they like their sleep! A lot of the time when we invite people to church and tell them it starts at 10 am, their interest level drops a substantial amount. The norm here is to stay up a lot later than average as well. Simply put, the missionary schedule does not at all align with anyone else's. But after a lot of clapping (You're meant to clap in front of people's houses instead of knocking here), people getting a little annoyed with us, and a pretty fair amount of walking, we managed to find a little over thirty new people to visit again this week. I would be thrilled if even just one of them decided to accept the gospel. A big part of missionary work I've learned is just sorting through all the people we find, trying to find the elect that are ready to hear the message of the restored gospel. So yeah just be sure to keep these people in your prayers this week! We really need some people with some open hearts and minds to be able to see the goodness of the gospel.
This last week we got another round of bucket-dumping rain, with some pretty real lightning as well. There was one moment where we just booked it into this humble man's shop with our sopping wet clothes. Luckily he was okay with us staying for a bit so we didn't get struck by lightning. One of the worst parts as well with storms is just trying to traverse all the mud on the pre-storm dirt roads. My shoes and the bottoms of my pants definitely suffer. We did get a pretty epic rainbow afterwards so it ended up being okay haha. A pretty good analogy I think, just of being patient through hard things in particular. God promises us so many blessings if we are faithful through afflictions. Simply one of the greatest teachings of the gospel is that of hope (Hold On Pain Ends).
And that's about it guys! Nothing too crazy, stay safe and remember that God loves you!
-Elder Schauers
January 23, 2023
Hey people! It's me again, Elder Schauers. Or to the people of Jaguarão, Elder Chuveiros (Showers in portuguese) because sometimes my name is difficult for them to pronounce. Anyways, bora lá.
Soooo yes I did snag someone's cigarettes this last week. We've been visiting this re-activating member who has a son that we're teaching, but she's slipped into another smoking habit that she'd gotten out of before her baptism. She has a lot of faith and always has good insights when we're teaching her family, but yeah the smoking is an issue. So during our last visit, we saw the pack sitting on the ground (the house is usually cluttered), and during the lesson Elder Pabst spoke to me in English to snag it after the lesson as she was letting us out of the house. So I did.. I think it was a good decision to make? As far as we know she hasn't suspected anything of us, hope that doesn't change the next time we visit her haha. We will be making a smoking calendar for her as well, making goals to get her to quit again. It'll take a lot of prayers, and a lot of faith, but the Lord will provide a way. He always does.
Speaking of prayer, I've got another story about it! Seriously, my testimony of prayer has grown so much stronger since coming out here. On Friday we realized that there was a pretty significant part of Jaguarão below our house that we hadn't worked with very much yet, so we spent some time there. I soon realized why my first trainer hadn't taken me there, we got some of the worst rejection there than I've ever seen before. It can be pretty discouraging. After feeling prett6 beat frol this I decided to say a prayer in my head that we'd be able to find someone who would accept us. Later we managed to find a woman who was busy when we found her, but agreed we could come visit her again another day. But while we were sitting down for a second to record her contact information, I saw a man across the street come out of his house to feed his dogs, and just got a really strong impression to say hi to him. So just while we were sitting there, I yelled boa tarde at him, asked for his name and how long he'd been living in Jaguarão. My comp was whispering at me to stop because he wasn't saying much. But to our surprise, he came right over to us to have a chat. We talked for a long time, and we got to talk about who we were and what we were doing here in Brazil. By the end, HE invited us to come by again to his house! Just a super sweet result for a little prayer of mercy I had said before. I invite you all to pray just a little bit more every day, you will be surprised to see what God can do for you.
Yesterday we had a pretty sweet stake conference up in Pelotus! Our stake comprises Jaguarão, Arroio Grande, and the South Part of Pelotus. So yeah maybe a lot more spread out than your average stake in Utah. It was so inspiring to see the faith of the people in our stake. The speakers shared the sweetest testimonies, and gave some really good insights. And we got to meet up with the missionaries in our zone, it's always good to catch up with them, they're the best.
The last thing I could share is just the fact that I feel myself improving as a missionary. My confidence is growing a little bit more each day with the language, my testimony, and just interacting with people in general. I'm feeling more love for the work in general. I'd just like to remind you all that God loves you, it's been such a blessing to have him be such a big part of my life every day. Make him a bigger part of yours too!
That's all I got for you guys! Tchauzinho
-Elder Schauers
January 30
Hey everyone! I don't have a lot to report this week, but I do have one pretty epic highlight-- We had our first baptism (technically)!!! So one of the kids in our ward named Matias turned 8 in December, and we got to help his family arrange his baptism last week. Since he's part of a part-member family, we got to teach him as well! It's super fun to talk to kids about the church, I love teaching simply by showing the plain and precious truths of the gospel. It really helps me remember that we really don't need to complicate what we believe in. During missionary work and before as well, I've definitely felt my testimony shaken many times. But it's so much easier to handle when I remember this. Every doubt becomes easier to handle if we simply remember that we don't need to disprove every little detail of every argument that comes our way. In the end, no one can disprove the feelings I've received from the spirit, the blessings in my life, and the miracles and tender mercies I've witnessed during my mission and throughout my life. Sister Holland talked about this very beautifully during the devotional from this month with the young adults. She explains:
"Faith is the conviction that there is a God,
Hope is trusting that he will help us,
and Charity is his love working through us."
Truly I don't see anyone falling off the covenant path whilst having these three attributes, they've been what I've been trying to have during my times of doubt. If you guys haven't read or watched this devotional, I recommend it! It's pretty powerful.
One last thing is that we're having a legitimate baptism this week! We've been teaching this awesome kid named Clarisso, and we marked his baptism date for this week. Be sure to keep him in your prayers, we're sure hoping that everything works out swimmingly.
Short and sweet this week! I hope you guys are enjoying my emails, if you're wanting to know anything else more specifically about my adventures, just shoot me a message and I'll let you know! Love you all, take care :)
-Elder Schauers
Feb 6
Hey guys! Sincerely, I hope you're all doing well! I hope you know that I miss each and every one of you! Anyways, here's a bit about last week!
WE HAD A BAPTISM!!! Man it's so great to see a baptismal commitment kept! We managed to hold a really special baptismal service for our friend Cassiano. And I actually got the chance to share a musical number with my guitar! I played and sung my arrangement of Quero ser como Cristo-- I'm Trying to be Like Jesus. I also got to be the one to baptize Cassiano, which was a super cool experience. First time baptizing someone in Portuguese. It truly is great to see our work pay off with experiences as such.
After my first performance at Cassiano's baptism, the bishop invited me to play again the following Sunday. He explained that such music is simply something the ward is lacking at the moment. So I practiced a bit out of this past week to be able to perform one of my favorite hymns, "Where Can I Turn For Peace?" But of course the Portuguese version, "Onde Encontrar a Paz?" I think it went pretty well! Bishop has already picked out two more Sundays for me to share another musical number hahaha.
I watched this really awesome devotional from Elder Bednar called "Is it the Holy Ghost, or me?" Probably everyone at some point has wondered if they were acting under the influence of the Holy Ghost or not. He gives a simple answer:
"Quit worrying about it. Press forward with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Be a good boy, be a good girl, honor your covenants, keep your commandments and I promise you that your steps will be guided. As you open your mouth it will be filled. You will be in the right place, at the right time, and in most instances you'll have no idea why or how you got there."
He then shares a few very tender experiences of how this is so evident. If we are just waiting and analyzing to try and recognize the spirit, we might be disappointed. It is by continued faith, going and doing, and being obedient that allows the spirit to work through us. It may not even be until after the experiences when we recognize that we were in fact acting under its influence. Just thought that was a super cool perspective that really clears some confusion about the gift and companionship of the Holy Ghost and how it works. I definitely recommend you watch the devotional, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Today marks the first day of the new transfer! And the transfer news is.......................
And that's all folks! Love you all deeply, I'd sure appreciate your continued support and prayers. Until next time!
-Elder Schauers
February 13, 2023
Hey guys, it's me again! Can you believe it? You all ready for some tasty updates? Let's get into it.
For the first week of the new transfer, we went through and had to cut a lot of people that weren't progressing. It's always sad to have to let go of people who you've been working with a lot, but necessary to be able to help those who are willing and ready to accept the gospel. So that meant a lot of finding this past week haha. And a lot more rejection at that. Not every week can be a success, and this week was definitely one of grit. Hoping for more success this week though.
It has been veeeerrrrry hot lately dear friends. Can take a lot of willpower to keep bright smiles on our faces all day while enduring the force of the sun as we walk. I might invest in a sombrero or something haha.
We got an awesome guy in our ward who's going on a mission himself soon! So we got to catch him at the end of his farewell party he had on Saturday. He had an epic cake with a missionary tag printed on it, super cool. Though he's the only member in his family, he really has such a strong testimony and just a solid example here in the Jaguarão ward. Anyways we're super excited for him.
One night before going to bed, we found a tiny frog in our apartment just chilling by the window. Naturally my comp tells me, "you can take care of it if you want, I won't do anything about it." After much ruckus I finally vanquished the thing with the end of a broom. Get me a medal please. You never know what you might encounter here on the mish bleh.
One of the members in our ward who we ate lunch with on Friday has this glorious grape vine in his backyard, and he let us harvest and take home a big grocery bag full! Which meant a lot of grape juice experimenting back at our apartment. The final batch we made was pretty tasty!
Remember that God loves you!!! It never matters how other people perceive you if you're doing the will of the Lord. This is something I always have to keep reminding myself here, hope you all remember it as well. Sorry this email is kind of all over the place, hope you enjoy it all the same. Talk to you all later!
-Elder Schauers
Feb 20
Whaaaaaat's up everyone? Hope everyone had a good valentines day! Let's get into last week.
Since Friday, Brazil has started their massive annual event called Carnival. Generally everyone gets together in a massive multitude in the center of the city and just has a massive party which usually includes alcohol, music, and various other inappropriate things for missionaries. We live about 14 blocks away from where the fun was happening, and we could still hear the music they were blasting from our apartment. We literally had to put in some earplugs to be able to sleep. This is a 5 day event, and the parties last all night until the morning. Which unfortunately meant a lot of the time we were out trying to find new people, a mass amount were too drunk or tired to hear a message hehe. I just hope we can be able to bring the good kind of joy that comes from faith in Jesus Christ to them instead of the limited joy that comes from the world.
Weird moment here-- the other day we ran into this lady on the street that asked us if we were from the devil. After saying no, she pauses for a second and starts CRYING. My comp and I walked away very confused. If anyone can explain this to me I'd be interested in knowing haha.
The weather actually cooled down quite a bit this week. Thursday night was probably the first night on my mission where I felt colder. And since then we've been getting a little bit chilier wind, which makes everything in the work a lot more comfortable. The only thing is that showers are pretty cold now, which is less fun but ya know it is what it is.
Yesterday after church I got to meet the sister of the Bishop, who came down to visit but has actually been living in Las Vegas for the past several years with her daughter. The daughter is completely fluent in English and the mom more or less is as well. So it was fun to kind of talk to them in two languages at the same time. What's funny is that I was able to understand her a lot more clearly when she was talking in Portuguese than in her English, just a super cool moment where I realized how far I've come with the language. Of course, I still have a lot to learn but it's always reassuring to see the progress.
Pabst and I have been listening to a Podcast called Mr. Mormon, where this guy shares his thoughts and what he's discovered through lots of study in the scriptures. He really helped me understand the importance of our purpose here on earth, how we're meant to use our gifts from God to help other people rather than ourselves. We are already saved from death by Jesus Christ and his atonement regardless of what we do, but it is our works during our time on the earth that determine who we will become in the kingdoms of heaven after this life. I'm grateful for the Plan that God has for us, and I encourage you guys to figure out what it is that God would have you do to be part of it.
February 27
Hello lovely people, hope you're all doing well :)
This last week started off with a two day division with our zone leaders here in Jaguarâo, and boy both me and my comp learned a whole lot. There are so many ways to find good people to teach that we simply hadn't realized before. We ended up finding a good amount of people with a lot of potential and desire to hear our message.
Ok so I've been meaning to try making this brazilian style chicken stroganoff, it's probably my favorite thing to eat here. I managed to find the right ingredients, except the chicken, so I just used ground beef instead, and it turned out pretty good! It was also my first time (don't laugh) cooking rice by myself. And yes I do eat rice and beans every day, just that the members make it and not me ok? But yes the stroganoff was a success, and my comp really liked it as well. I also made a pretty tasty fruit salad with condensed milk, so I guess I'm a cook now! Let me know if you guys have any other recipes that I should try to make, keeping in mind that the ingredient variety here is pretty sparse haha.
A major obstacle here in Brazil as far as getting baptized is marriage. Right now we're teaching a couple who just like many others wants to get baptized but not to marry. The main obstacle is that the woman stops getting paid by the government for being a single mom if she decides to marry. If you guys have any advice on how to help people like this, I'm all ears. It can certainly be tricky as marriage is seen as a very optional thing here in Brazil that very few people choose, even after years and years of living together with someone.
I got to play guitar again during sacrament meeting yesterday! It was Isaque's farewell, he's a great kid going to serve in the Bolivia Santa Cruz North mission. One of the youth Igor and I played Bring the World his Truth, a piano and guitar rendition which I think sounded pretty great. Anyways keep Isaque in your prayers, today is his first day of online MTC. Next Monday he leaves for the São Paulo MTC. Super exciting stuff for him.
Aaaaanyways hope you all remember that God loves you, he knows how and wants to help you. Have faith that he will. Hope you know I miss each and every one of you very much. Until next time!
-Elder Schauers
