mini missionary

Dear Family and Friends,

I just witnessed a miracle! Before we came to the church to email we went to walmart to do our shopping for the week. On the way out we were stopped by the greeter guy. I have seen this same man every week that I have been in Galesburg and I've always said hi, but today as we were leaving he asked to come over to him. He is confined to a wheel chair. He asked us if we knew how he could be baptized. LIKE WHAT! Umm yes sir I know exactly how you can be baptized. I would have done it right there. His name is Geoffrey. He said he has a friend in the ward, the name didn't sound familiar, but we gave him our phone number and the address to the church and he said he wants to come. It was so awesome. 

This week we had a mini-missionary from the youth of the stake come out with us for 3 days. His name was Mathias Cash, but we called him Brother Cash since he wasn't yet an elder or set apart as one. We picked him up late Thursday night and he helped us out til Sunday. He was awesome, he was super into it and wanted to learn about what missionary life was like. I hope he had a good experience. I sure thought it was fun to have him with us and I'm sad that he's gone now.

On Friday we did just about some of everything, so it was good to show Brother Cash all the aspects of missionary work. We knocked on some doors in the morning, not too many people answered, but there was a yard sale going on and we talked to a few people there. There was a full horse skin and I really wanted it, but I didn't have any money with me and I decided that I don't have any room to take it with me if I get transferred ): We ran into a less-active member who was there and were able to talk to her for a while, even set up an appointment to go do some service for her. Then we taught a few lessons to recent converts. 

We also got to meet with David and Viola again! That was a miracle because I thought they were done with us. Turns out we just needed to back off for a few days and let things settle. But when we went back he was glad to see us and apologized for not coming to church, but the brakes in his car went out and he didn't want to risk anything by driving all the way in to town. He lives 45 minutes away from the church so I don't blame him I guess. But I learned a really important lesson from that: never give up on anybody, but sometimes you just need to take a step back and let them figure things out because everything that we teach is so new and different to people that it may take a while for it all to sink in. It seems like such an obvious thing, in fact all these little lessons I learn seem so obvious after I learn them, but I guess that I have just been too stupid to figure them out until now. But at least I know them now and I'm sure there's lots more obvious things to be revealed to me (:

Then we went and did some service for Sister Wiley, who is moving out of her house back up to Minnesota. She used to cut my hair for free, now I'll have to pay someone to do it. What a bummer! We also gave her a blessing before we left. I love to give blessings and participate in them. You can feel of the Spirit so strong because you are literally speaking what God wants you to say to them! So that all happened on Friday with Brother Cash so he really got to experience it all. 

Saturday we attended a baptism for an investigator that Elder Butterfield taught in his last area. So Brother Cash even got a baptism in his 3 days! He was so eager to take part in everything about missionary work. We even asked him before we took him back if there was anything else he wanted to experience or learn about and he said that he wanted to stand outside of the car and back us out. He was so great. He is only 16, but he is eager to serve.

Thursday before we got our mini-missionary the whole Peoria zone got together and we met our new president, President Griffin. He is pretty cool, he is all about making the work fun and finding joy in doing what you do and I think that is going to be great to learn from him. He sure is a lot different from President Fenn, but I'm sure he will  be just as good because he was called of God to be here and to lead us.

We taught the gospel principle class yesterday in Sunday school. We taught about sacrifice. My favorite scripture that we used was Abraham 3:25 "And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;". All things means ALL THINGS. Whatever we will be called upon to do we are expected to fulfill what we are called to do. That's part of this test of life, to see if we will do whatever God asks of us.

A man (or woman) cannot live in heaven if they do not strive to live a heavenly life. We live a heavenly life and are a "living sacrifice" as Paul puts it, if we do the things the Lord commands of us and put off the "natural man" (Mosiah 3:19).

We were looking through some former investigators to visit in our area book and this one had me rolling on the ground!

Elder Bolton trying and my companion participating in Sister Griffins object lesson.

Us and Brother Cash

G. Franklin Scherer

1319 Butterfield Rd. Suite 522

Downers Grove, IL 60515

USA

July 4th festivities

heres my 4th of july festivities

first ones akai, zuzu, dudi, and zephie chillin with their balloons. then theres me, dont look at my face the sun was bright and i also smiled like a retard and also i didnt get my hand inside my pocket fast enough so i look like a crooked wack nut. but the one in the chair is anthony and the one in the tank top is raymond. probably the greatest people ive ever met. we had a barbecue are their house for a while. its a mix of both of their kids and some nephews. their wives were both inside. we talked to all of them about how because of the independence of america the restoration was made possible because it was the only free country at the time where they had religious freedom. tito, one of raymonds sons, had a little toy gun and he pointed it at me. I said, "do it, shoot me tito. everybody gon respect the shooter, but the one in front of the gun lives forever." Raymond, who was cooking, dropped the spatula, looked at me with his eyes wide, and came over and gave me a hug. he said, "i love kendrick lamar and you just made my day cause you know that song." It was sick (: 

then we went out the hendricksons farm and had another barbecue and made a bon fire. it was so hot! it was amazing. i took a sweet video of me starting it on fire, but i cant send videos home so youll have to wait for forever til i return. it was tough trying to go to sleep that night while everyone was shooting off fireworks. seemed like every time one burst, my heart burst along with it. i love the 4th and im so sad i had to miss it!

the two people we had on date for baptism are now no longer meeting with us. so we have nothing really going on right now. i guess that means theres a lot of opportunities to find new people. 

Yesterday I had an amazing spiritual experience. At the end of sacrament meeting we sang "Battle Hymn of the Republic". As we sang the very last line, "Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on." every single hair on my body stood straight up and I felt overcome with the spirit as I almost yelled the words, his truth is marching on!!!! This work is going to progress with or without me, so I either need to get out of the way, or jump on the train. I wanna get on the train and help this work progress. God's truth is here and I, we, are a part of it. It was incredible. The spirit is so great. 

have a good week everyone

G. Franklin Scherer

1319 Butterfield Rd. Suite 522

Downers Grove, IL 60515

USA

Gburg 6.29.15

People,

We have been super busy this week and it's been great! Tuesday were transfers and we had to wake up at like 5:30 to get to the Peoria stake center. Since we are so far away from Naperville where they have the transfer meeting if you are not leaving the Peoria stake you just stay down here. Elder Butterfield and I were both already here, so we just went back to Galesburg after we got everything and everyone else situated. Elder Hermansen took almost all his weights from Peoria to where ever he went. He had like 200 lbs worth of weights in one of his suitcases!! He told me to take it out of the back of the truck and put it in the trailer; that thing almost ripped my shoulder out of place!! haha gravity has a good hold on 200 pounds.. 

So they collapsed our zone into a district because there were so many areas closing down here, so now there is only one zone down here with three districts. Anyway we had to help clean out the old zone leaders apartment. I scored a cool little 1 foot long pool table! Except it's so hard and frustrating to play that it is now safely stored in our closet where I will never see it again. We also got a new bench press!! The family that was lending our other one to the missionaries decided they wanted it back, but now we have another one! Blessings are so real.

We've spent a lot of time cleaning out the Monmouth apartment this week. We were over there like 3 times this week. That really ate up a lot of our time, we didn't even have time to weekly plan so now we are going into this week with almost no plans. But we will make it. 

Elder Butterfield is from Harriman, Utah. We are so different, but Keaton told me that the companions that seemed to be the most different from him usually ended being some of the best ones. I am hoping that will be the case here. 

Elder Riggins, my last companion, is being sent home. He got into some drugs with members and is being excommunicated!! Just kidding! but on the reals he is going home for a season because they found a blood clot in his left calf. I remember the last couple weeks we were together he said that it was hurting him and it was super swollen. I guess once he got to his new area it was hurting him so bad he went to the hospital and found out it was a blood clot. So he has to go home for a little because after whatever they do to him he won't be able to walk on it for 8-10 weeks.

Brother Wynkoop, the ward mission leader told us that it has rained 23 inches here this month. That's probably more rain than I've ever had out in the good ol' desert my whole life!

We are no longer teaching David and Viola as of right now. We taught them about the law of chastity and how they would need to either separate or get married. He straight up told us,"No I'm not getting married." So if he's not willing to progress then we can't help him anymore.. So he fell off date and is now dropped.

Dawn, the other one we had on date, is no where to be found. We haven't seen her since the time we put her on date. BUT we started working with this awesome family in Monmouth. There's actually like three different families living there, but they all said they are willing to be baptized!!! We haven't extended a date yet because they said they might be moving, but I think it's still in Monmouth.

I finally saw Ramona! First time since the day she got confirmed. She is still the same ol' Ramona. She has been really sick, but we have an appointment for next Thursday.

I learned and have been learning these past couple weeks how effective good planning is. Turns out my whole high school philosophy of just "winging it" isn't quite as effective as good planning. Who would've known! 

Friday we had a mission conference up in Naperville. Man I really missed that place. It was amazing to see so many people! I have never been happy to be in traffic before, but that day I was because it meant I was no longer in a landlocked island! There were people everywhere! I am so weak.... We drove through downtown Naperville and I broke.. We drove through the auto mall and I couldn't constrain my eyes. There were Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Maserati, etc. dealerships all down the street.

President Fenn talked about how the scriptures say there are "few" true followers of Jesus Christ. D&C 132:22. This is what he said: "'Few' as of right now means 15 million, one day that will be 100 million. Mark my words, you will live to see the church 100 million strong, before you die there will be 100 million Mormons!" That's a lot of missionary work for us as members to do isn't it! President Monson has said, "Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together to work together to labor in the Lord's vineyard to bring souls unto Him."

Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5, and Mosiah 13 all teach us the 10 commandments. When the Lord repeats something three times that means it's REALLY important. So keep the commandments and the Lord will bless you. Not just these 10, but all of them. There's 613 commandments throughout the scriptures, do you know them all? SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES FOR THEM! (Someone told me that's how many there were so don't quote me on the exact number.)

Hope everyone has a good 4th of July. That's my favorite holiday so remember you all need to live it up in remembrance of me. I literally am not allowed to watch any fireworks. We have to be in by 7. So while you're all enjoying the festivities I will be in bed crying that I have to miss the single greatest day/night of summer.

Peace be with you. Don't do anything I wouldn't do! #CaptureTheDream

Elderer Scherer

1319 Butterfield Rd. Suite 522

Downers Grove, IL 60515

USA

June 22, 2015 Galesburg

Que pasa amigos? So the greatest thing ever happened. I got a hug from President Fenn! That is Legen-----(wait for it)----dary! President only hugs his most beloved missionaries. According to what I've heard he has only hugged like 4 or 5 elders his whole time being president here. So I guess it just confirms what everyone already knows, I'm awesome!

This was a pretty good week. We got 4 new investigators!! We are still working with David and Viola. He really wants to be baptized, but he can't make it to church. Before I got my hug from President, I was asking him in an interview what we could do to help him. He said we could try asking the bishop if we can get a Bishop's Storehouse order for him so we can get him food so he can save some money to buy gas to get to church. 

Two of our new investigators that we got came from a street in  Monmouth. I don't know what I did to deserve it, but there were 3 doors in a row that all said we could come back and teach them! I guess maybe it came from all the hard we have been doing in this area. 

I still have not heard from Dawn, the lady we put on date for July 18. I don't remember if I said, but she is Jo's daughter. I also haven't heard from Ramona, the woman we baptized 4 weeks ago.. I haven't seen her since the day she got confirmed. She didn't even stay for all of church that day. She left right after sacrament, so she made it about 40 minutes. I may now hold the record for the fastest convert going inactive.

We got our transfer calls on Saturday. I am staying in Galesburg and Riggins is going up to Schaumburg. My new companion is going to be Elder Butterfield. He has been in Havana, which is in our district, so I already know him, plus he and I entered the Mtc on the same day and flew out to Chicago at the same time. H

This new transfer, so starting tomorrow, they are collapsing the two peoria zones into one zone with 3 districts instead of 2 zones with 2 districts each. They are closing a lot of areas down here in the boonies! Elder Hermansen is getting transferred back up to Joliet. I miss Joliet so much!!! I really hope I will get to go back. We have to be in Peoria at 6 tomorrow morning so we can get to transfer meeting up in Naperville by 9. We have to wake up at 4:30... I'm gonna need to pick up some monsters before then or I won't make it! haha

We finished the training program and we now have Facebook again. It would make it a lot easier on me if you didn't try and message me or anything like that because I'm not allowed to message back. I also have to untag myself from anything anyone tags me in and delete a post if someone posts on my wall. Just a heads up. I found out through Facebook that Aubrey turner who I went to junior high and high school with is coming to this mission sometime in like July or August! That will be weird to see someone I know.

At the time when Moses talked "face to face" with God (Moses 1), he was addressed as "my son". We are indeed the very sons and daughters of a Heavenly Father. Of all things that we could call God, the Savior Jesus Christ taught us to refer to him as our Father. What a great thing to know that he is our father. In spirit of Father's Day I want to give a shoutout to Gregalicious for always keepin it real (except in NHL '14 cause there's no way he can beat me!)

Elder G. Franklin Scherer

1319 Butterfield Rd. Suite 522

Downers Grove, IL 60515

Galesburg 6.15.15

dearest people who read what i write,

i apologize in advance, i am so over using the shift key and therefore am not going to use it anymore. sorry. 

i had a really awesome exchange with elder hermansen this last monday/tuesday. he was my zone leader up in joliet for 3 transfers and then came down here. so hes only not been my zone leader for one transfer. anyways he is really cool and i always have a good time with him. he offered me some advice that could help me. at first it really made me mad that he suggested it, but i realized it will help me. 

so after pointing out like 4 camaros, 2 corvettes, several bmw's, a couple mercedes benz, and several other beautiful machines, he told me that i had not completely given up the world. after cooling down for a few minutes, i asked how this would help me. he said by giving up the world and worldly things i can better focus on the part of the vineyard the Lord has entrusted me with. i have therefore committed myself to give up the distraction of looking for nice cars on the road, which illinois is full of. this has been one of the hardest things i have ever had to do. so right after i decided i was going to give it up, i saw a dodge SRT Viper.. so yeah satan isnt going to make it easy i guess. yesterday there was a white camaro with red racing stripes following me like a shadow while we drove to the church. i had to focus so hard to not stare in the rear view mirror at it. STRUGGLES!

the other good thing that elder hermansen taught me is that theres a gas station called circle k that has any size drink for $0.79. also that gas station has voltage mountain dew in the fountain, and mtn dew kick start. yeah ive been there like 3 times since tuesday.. pray that i dont get fat!

i should probably say something spiritual now.

we put two people on date this week! one for July 18 and one for July 25! one is Jo Godsil's daughter, Dawn, and the other is a man named david. he lives in aledo, which is like 40 minutes away from the church so its going to be difficult to get him to come to church. he said that he really wants to be baptized, so we will see how bad he wants it if he can make the sacrifices to come to church.

my testimony grows every day. alma 32 is a wonderful explanation of how if we give place for the word of God in our lives it will grow so long as we nourish it like any other plant. alma 32, the parable of the sower, lehi's vision of the tree of life, the parable of the wheat and the tares are all small parts of the same metaphor. the gospel is like a garden. our testimonies will grow if we take care of them. all we have to do for weeds (doubts) to grow is nothing. they will come no matter what. we have to consistently get them out and give place and room for the good stuff to grow. listen to the talk by john bytheway, "weed your brain, grow a testimony".

i love you all, i love the Lord, have a blessed week.

Elder Garrett Franklin Scherer 

Galesburg 6.8.15

dear family and friends,

this has been like the worst week of my life...

okay it hasnt been that bad, but i have had to stay inside since tuesday night. my companion has been super sick. i hope i dont get what hes had because it looks terrible. i think i would have gotten it by now if i was going to get it. i finished the whole new testament while i was just sitting there forever. i got sick of sitting on the couch so there were a couple times that i just layed on the floor for a while. i even got up and took laps around the living room because i was that bored. 

our ipads all crapped out so we have to email on the computers which sucks. i dont know how people did this in the past. or even wrote real letters. theres only one computer here so i am going to try and be fast so my comp can have a turn. our ipads will be fixed on the 17th so i will be able to email you all personally back.

that totally sucks that chief died ): im gonna miss my dog. i knew it would happen, but still sucks..

so other than sitting in the apartment for like 5 days it was a decent week. yesterday at church we had like 3 less active people come to church! they all bore their testimonies as well!!! it was super awesome. theres also not a lot of youth in this ward so i got to bless the sacrament yesterday as well, which was pretty cool.

Jo started meeting with us again! it has been great to be back over there. she said she is going to feed us sometime this week. We have been meeting with a man named David, he lives in Aledo which is like 45 minutes away from Galesburg. He commited to be baptized!! we havent set him up for a specific date, because he hasnt been able to come to church and the standard is they have to come to church at least 3 times. if we can get him to church we can get him baptized! its going to be awesome!

Sorry i dont have much time this week, but i will hopefully have more time in the future. the zone leaders are coming to galesburg today and we are going to go on exchanges. were gonna play some ball today so someones brains are gonna fall out after i dunk on em. Love you all!

Elder G. Franklin Scherer

Galesburg 6.1.15

What's up family and friends.

Seems like I was just writing you guys. Probably because we had a shorter time between P-days this time. This was a pretty good week. We have been working a lot with organizing our area book and our investigators. We are trying to find the people who have real potential to be taught.

President Fenn goes home in like 3 weeks and we will get our new president. We are out working everyday, and it really isn't up to us whether or not people get baptized, everyone has their own agency to choose to accept the message or not. But other than that things are going well. 

There are several less active/new member families that we are trying to help get to the
temple. If any of you haven't seen "Temples are a Beacon" Mormon message, you should. It really helps people to understand that the blessings of the temple are so incredible. I really wish I could go to the temple, I miss it a lot. I'm looking forward to the next time that I will be able to go. If I stay in Galesburg another transfer I will probably get to go to the Nauvoo Temple! That would be cool. Last time I was in Nauvoo I think I was only like 11 so I couldn't go inside.

Well everyone I am sorry that this one was kinda boring, nothing super exciting happened this week that I can report on. Just regular everyday missionary stuff.

I know that the priesthood has been restored through the prophet Joseph. I know that because of this families can be sealed together forever by this power. I am forever grateful for the example of my wonderful parents in being sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. The Book of Mormon is the word of God, written for those in our day, it is the tool to gather Israel. A study of the Book of Mormon will bring someone closer to God than any other book. If any one of you is struggling through life's trials, the Gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through Joseph Smith contains your answers.

Have a good week!

Elder G. Franklin Scherer
ICWM
Galesburg, Illinois

1319 Butterfield road suite 522
Downers Grove, Illinois