Happy New Year

Well Christmas sure was good here! It was so good to be able to see and talk to my family for a bit! We spent the day with Irma Fabiula, who is absolutely wonderful! She seriously is the best! So we spent the day in their house, eating yummy food and talking to our families. I even got some American food which was the best :) Here in Brazil they celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and midnight so we didn’t get to really participate. But we spent some time celebrating in our house with the other sisters. They loved the stockings from my parents (thank you!!!!) then we ate a fruit cake. Fruit cake is huge here!! They are so expensive too! But a member gave them theirs and it was just chocolate so it was pretty good :) We slept in a little bit on Christmas which was nice as well ha! But that was our Christmas and it was absolutely wonderful :)

They next day we went out and gave some food to some homeless people. I sure love being able to really serve those around us who are less fortunate then we are. It makes me feel good that even if it’s not a lot, i can do a little something to brighten someone’s day :)

Well wave got a baptism this weekend!!!! Luiz will be baptized on Sunday and we are so excited!! It’s amazing to see how much he is changing and how much this gospel is already blessing him! So cool!

Well that’s about it for this week. Not too much happened other than getting Luiz ready for baptism and Christmas. But i hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a wonderful New Year as well! Love you all and remember to read the scriptures :)

Love Sister Steadman :)

McKell and her MTC companions at a Christmas activity

Elder Fonseca sleeping on the way home

McKell's Birthday

Elder Fonseca

Christmas with the President

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and remember the true reason for the season :) Also I invite you all to watch the video the church made of the savior, I don’t know exactly what it is in English but translated from Portuguese to English it is he is the gift. It’s a really good reminder of what this holiday is all about.
Here’s a little about my week:

We moved into our new apartment.....FINALLY!!!!!!! We were so excited but it’s been a little bit of a mess around our place ha. Since the elders were moving into our old place we left everything there and received a bunch of new stuff and it was interesting trying to set it all up. So the elders and others from our zone spent several hours in our apartment setting up our stuff ha. It took forever because we don’t have any tools so it was interesting to watch then improvise and make the best of what we had ha. But we are finally all set up and settled in :)

Wednesday we had our Mission activity for Christmas and it was so good :) First we had a really good training from the assistants then we got to watch frozen!!! It was so awesome! Then we had a talent show! I did a song with the sisters I lived with in Palmas then sang a Christmas hymn with my sisters and some of the elders. It was really good! Then we had an awesome dinner and watched another movie. I don’t remember the name of it but it’s fairly new. Its Ephraim’s something... a church movie about the pioneers. But it was super good!

Thursday we went to a retirement home and sang Christmas songs to them! It was so sweet! They were a hoot! It was fun to take some time and talk to them and get to know some of them!

We didn’t get to visit a lot of our investigators this week because of our move and activities but we did get to visit Luiz!!! We visited him yesterday with some members in our ward and it was perfect. We talked about the plan of salvation with him and he was amazed! He loved it! And we set a baptism date with him!!! So we are shooting for January 4th! So fingers crossed that he feels prepared by them! But he is already so ready. It’s so amazing to see the spirit work in people. It’s amazing to watch and see how the lord starts to bless people as they start to learn more about this wonderful gospel. I love this gospel.

Thank you so much for all your love and support! I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy this holiday :) Take this time to remember our savior and help others as well. But don’t stop with the holiday. Continue to serve those around us. Love you all!

Sister Steadman

The Christmas Spirit

I loved seeing the people here get all excited for Christmas! I absolutely love the Christmas spirit! Here’s a little bit about my week...

This week we were able to visit Luiz and his family and it was so good! We were able to teach him, his mother, his grandmother and his aunt the restoration and it went so well! They seemed to just soak it right up ha!  But really it went so well with them! We invited them to be baptized and they were all for it! They just want to receive an answer first. But they were so ready to receive the message! It was so perfect! We had that lesson with a young man who is waiting for his call to come and he was so perfect! He said exactly what they needed to hear! We tried to visit them again this week but Luiz wasn’t home. So we talked to his grandma a little bit more, but she’s a little more difficult. So we are hoping to catch him again this week.

We also taught the sister of another young man in the ward, Grazielle. She’s a tough one. She has a testimony of this church. She knows it is true, but refuses to go to church and participate. She likes her church way too much! But as we have been talking to her brother and one of the other young men, turns out she doesn’t really know anything about her church. So I’ve come to figure out that they have an awesome music program there and that’s why she likes it so much. Man she is a tough one! She’s had soooo many missionaries visit her and she knows that her baptism in her church isn’t correct but she isn’t willing to leave. As we talk to her she gives us the look of, I’m so bored out of my mind and I want to punch a wall... haha but we keep trying. I’ve learned that some people just need time... some a lot of time ha!

This week in Varjao we’ve had a little bit more success! We met some more people to teach and are returning this week to teach them! Also our investigator Regis is reading the BOM!!!! We are sooo excited! When we stopped by his house he wasn’t there, so his wife, who less active, told us that he has been reading and has been praying as well and is showing an interest again! And as we were leaving he showed up and as us, did she tell you that I read? He was so excited to see us and to tell us about his experience! He had a different light in his eyes! And then he asked us when we would return... he never asks that... so we are super excited! Our only struggle with him is having him recognize his answers. But hopefully this week will good!

We had the elders visit José week which was perfect! We dropped by as well and left an envelope with him so he could write his card. We returned the next day and he wrote the card... we were amazed! And he came to church without us saying anything... he is sooo ready to be baptized! Elder Dobner asked him all the questions and everything! He just needs to say yes! But hopefully this letter will help him.

Well that’s about it for this week. We move apartments tomorrow, we have a mission activity this Wednesday and then Thursday, my birthday, we are going to sing Christmas songs for a retirement home so it should be a good week!

I love you all and hope you’re feeling the Christmas spirit! Have a fabulous week!

Sister Steadman  

This Past Week

Well this past week was a little slow. I feel like we are starting over again, ha. But it still was a wonderful week!!

We spent our last few moments with Eduarda this week and it was so sad! I can’t believe I’ve only known her for about 3 weeks now but I feel like I’ve known her forever! We spent some time with her explaining personal progress. She’s so awesome! She going to be such a great example to her family!

We visited Jose again.... and he just isn’t progressing at all. So we finally just cut him for good. It’s so sad but we need to visit other people and help them. He has the desire but doesn’t want to do anything about it. So we will see if he keeps coming to church. Maybe one day.

As we were making visits in Varjao this week, we found out one of our investigators was moving :(  We were so sad because she was doing so well! But in the process we met one of her friends Maria. She is so awesome! She has a lot of faith and has such a strong desire to help others to come unto Christ, and she isn’t even Mormon! So I told her we could help her serve a mission and she was all for it! So I’m super excited to so where things go with her :)

We finally were able to visit Luis this week, a reference from some of the young men here. He lives in Granja do Torto. He’s about 21 and teaches dance. But as we were talking to him the other day he told us he feels so good in our church and is so impressed by the young men. He came to church yesterday and as he was leaving, he told us it was amazing and he felt so good! He told us he was excited for our next visit. So I’m super excited for him as well! He is so ready for this gospel!!

Well that’s about it this week. I hope you all have had a wonderful week! As Christmas is approaching, try to remember our savior. For he is the reason. Help others have his spirit and help them to feel of his love. I love you all and thank you all so much for your love and support! Have a wonderful week!

All my love,
Sister Steadman

Coincidences and a Pit Stop in Águas Claras

Well this week was sooo good!!! And I am officially staying here in Asa Norte with Sister Brito :) We are extremely happy!

First off I’ll start with Eduarda! We set the date for baptism last week then ended up visiting her on Tuesday. We didn’t have her planned in our visits but we just thought we’d stop by really quickly and see how she was doing and finish teaching her the lessons. It was funny because right as we were walking to the door of the apartments, she was walking out to walk the dog, the first coincidence. Turns out she was having some major doubts. She had stopped reading the Book of Mormon and was afraid of all the changes that were going to take place in her life. So we walked with her for a bit and right as we were up to an apartment building it started to pour so we quickly ran underneath it and talked to her some more. It turned out to be so perfect for her. We were able to answer all of her questions and help her feel more comfortable about things. And because of the rain, our FHE for that night got cancelled so we were able to spend more time with Eduarda. Second coincidence. Her baptism was Saturday and it was absolutely beautiful! We were afraid that people wouldn’t come and support her but people ended up coming and it was so great! She was so happy and excited! The spirit was so strong and it was a really good meeting :)

This week we also came across a girl named Julianna. But first I will tell about our lesson with President Lundgren. We hopped on the bus to Lago Norte and got talking to people on where we needed to get off because we still haven’t worked a whole lot in Lago so we don’t know the area very well still. But we found a girl who just happened to need the same stop as us to we stuck with her and she helped us out. So we arrived in the president’s house and then headed to his friend’s house. It was a really good meeting with them, ha. I guess you would call it a meeting because it wasn’t really a lesson. But we got there and got to know them for a little bit. Their names are Roberto and Silvia. They are both super smart and have the biggest hearts. And he sure loves to talk! So we talked about a whole lot of things and just got to know them. It was really good and he wants us to return! So we will be returning there with the president! I’m not exactly sure when yet because he is super busy with work right now but we will return! But after our visit with them, president gave us the address of his mission president so we walked to go meet him. On our way there I had to use the bathroom really bad! Typical.... So we made a quick stop in the gas station. We gave one of the workers a pass along card and as we were walking away a girl said to us, "hey I’m a member of your church.... Julianna". So we met Julianna Wednesday night. She has been less active for many years now. So we sat there in the parking lot and talked to her for a while and she told us her whole life story, ha. She was a ballerina in the USA for a while and studied at Julian arts, got baptized there, married, divorced and returned. She now is here as an event manager. But it was so good to meet her and she has such a strong desire to return back to the church! So we are going to start working with her. And she happened to give us a ride to the president’s house :)

So we had a nice little trip to Aguas Claras yesterday, ha. As of right now I haven’t been in my apartment for 28 hours, ha. So during one of our lessons here in Asa Norte yesterday it started to rain really hard. So after we headed to the bus stop. As we were walking across the road we saw a bus sideways and one part of the road was completely flooded. So none of the buses were able to pass by. We had no idea what to do. But a lady on the other side of the road asked for help so we went and talked to her and she ended up giving us a ride. So we ended up in Aguas Claras for the night because that’s where she lived. So we stayed there for the night and returned this morning to Asa Sol for the transfers. So it was crazy but we are happy we made it here this morning safely and that we are staying here in Asa Norte. The Lord truly watches over us and puts things in our path for a reason. I know for a fact that everything happens for a reason. We just have to take it as it comes and trust in the lord.

I love you all and hope you all have a wonderful week! As you’re preparing for the holidays, remember the reason for the season and help spread the true love of Christ to everyone!
Sister Steadman

The Miracle of Fasting

Well another great week has come and gone! I hope you all had a good week too! Here’s a little bit about my week. 

Last Monday we got to visit the body of Brasilia and it was so cool! Brasilia was built in the shape of an airplane and I work on the north wing so we went and visited the body. We visited the TV tower they have and got to go up and see the city from above. We also visited and art museum and it was pretty cool! We took a lot of cool pictures and it was a lot of fun!

We’ve been teaching an older man named José since the first week we got here and at first he was progressing really well but this past week it’s just been the same thing over and over again. He still wants the approval of his old church in Sao Paulo (turns out they have the same church here and its right down the street from where he lives but I definitely was not about to tell him that ha) and he is still drinking a little bit of coffee. So I told him we are doing everything we can for him but he needs to do things in return. So we told him we would visit him in a week and if he wasn’t improving we couldn’t visit him anymore. So we will see how he is this week. He was in church yesterday which was a good sign but he left right after sacrament. So we will see how he is feeling about things on Wednesday.

We have another investigator named Regis who is the husband of a less active member. He received all the lessons a couple of months ago, had a date for baptism and all but never received an answer so he didn’t get baptized. So we are teaching him again, trying to help him recognized his answers. He’s getting answers, his wife tells us all about the little miracles that have happened since we have started visiting him but he is just having a hard time believing. His biggest struggle is the Book of Mormon. So we are doing our best. During our lessons with him the spirit is so strong! So we are just doing our best to help him and understand his needs. One of our lessons with him, he had me say the closing prayer in English, boy was that hard. I got to the end of the prayer and forgot how to end a prayer in English so I said it in Português ha. It was so hard!

This Wednesday we have a lesson with our president, the president of our stake who is the son of the mission president of our mission president and they will all be in this lesson..... Ha so much pressure! We are going to teach the friend of our mission president. I’m excited because he is already reading the Book of Mormon and knows a lot, but having the president there is a little nerve racking!

This week we also found out what is going to happen this next transfer! Perks of being in the same ward as your mission president ha. He basically told us that he is going to keep me and Sister Brito here to together, but add elders to our ward as well. And he found a new house for us!! So we will hopefully be moving soon into our new house which he says is a little bit bigger and nicer for us. So we are pretty excited that we are staying together! 

This week I learned the importance of fasting. Fasting really can bring miracles. Last Sunday everyone in Brazil fasted for more rain because it has been so dry here. Many parts of Brazil are in a drought and don’t have a lot of water. So we all fasted together, and we received rain every single day this week! It was so cool! So amazing!

Sister Brito and I also had our own fast this week. We’ve had to drop a lot of our investigators this week because some just weren’t progressing and some just plain out didn’t want us anymore. So we kind of had no one. So Friday afternoon we started a fast and just started talking to everyone on the street. I had the thought to go talk to people in another part that we don’t usually work in. so as we were talking to people there a mango fell and hit me on the shoulder ha.  We were both surprised. But right as we were about to leave, a girl came up to us and asked if we were missionaries. So we got talking to her and turns out she has been an investigator for five months. She hasn’t received the lessons for a while though and hasn’t had the guts to walk up and talk to the missionaries but decided to that day..... We also found out that she is the daughter of one of the people in our area book that we were searching for in the beginning of this transfer! But we also found out that she is moving to Rio de Janeiro the beginning of next month. So we went and met her dad and got talking to her and she told us she was planning on being baptized after she moves. We got talking to her and invited her to be baptized here, at first she said no but then accepted! So we have a baptism this Saturday and we are so excited! Seriously a miracle! As we were talking to her I told her that I knew her from somewhere else. Sister Brito felt the same way. I’m convinced that I know her from the pre-existence. And her dad was so familiar too! It was sooo cool! 

Well that’s it for this week. I hope you all have a good week! Remember to rely on the Lord. He will help you get through everything. Sometimes it takes a little sacrifice but he will guide us through everything! Love you all

Sister Steadman

5 Months Down!

Well another week has come and gone here in the Beautiful Asa Norte! The work is continuing on! 

Monday: Sister Brito and I spent the afternoon in our house. It was really nice to just relax and bit. We watched the few church movies that we have and we made microwave brownies.... ha it was good :)

Tuesday: We had a lesson with Jose, turns out he is 80 years old ha. He’s a funny old man. But we’ve been struggling a bit with him lately and he finally opened up a little bit more and explained some stuff to us. He has told us about his old church he would listen to on the radio but his radio broke so he hasn’t been able to hear more, this happened right before we met him and started teaching him, if this wasn’t a sign I don’t know what it was ha. But he would keep talking about this church and we didn’t understand why. But he finally told us why. He has a desire to be baptized and wants to, but he first wants to write a letter to this church in São Paulo, saying that he is going to switch churches and he wants to tell them all about us missionaries ha. But hey, whatever works for him. The only problem is that he still hasn’t written this letter and won’t let us help him write it. And he still is drinking coffee...... A bit of a struggle for him. He is willing to stop, he just wants to buy sevada first but hasn’t been able to find it. Sevada is like coffee but its church approved ha. We’ve learned we have to be very blunt with him in order for him to understand why. So now he understands, we are just waiting for him to act. So me and Sister Brito and searching for sevada in every store we pass ha. But he was in church yesterday! He has a date set for this Saturday for his baptism but says he isn’t ready yet. So please keep him in your prayers!

We were also able to teach Lucia today. She is a mom and definitely thinks very differently about things ha. She loves to talk about the profound things of the gospel and asks a lot of questions. But I really enjoy teaching her. She is so curious! We still haven’t been able to really sit down and teach her the lessons yet though. Every time we set an appointment with her she ends up calling and canceling, but she still is going to church. So hopefully this week we can help her a little more :)

Wednesday: We started teaching a women named Dilci and our first lesson with her was so good! She was so receptive and loved it! So I went into our second lesson so excited, all pumped and ready to teach her about the plan of salvation. But turns out she talked to some pastors of other churches and they confused her soooo much. We were so sad to hear this. She didn’t read the Book of Mormon because they all told her it was bad and of the devil. We explained to her the importance of trusting in god when it comes to things of god. And we told her people will talk bad about our church because it is different and they don’t know anything about it. We read part of the Book of Mormon to her and she was surprised. She said she liked the message and felt like it was from god. And not the devil. She realized it really contains the truth and is a good book and said she would read it and pray about it. But she didn’t go to church Sunday so we are going to try to visit her this week and see what happened.

Thursday: We have an investigator named Ingrid and she is interesting ha. She told us she has fear of finding out the truth. So we talked to her about this a bit and helped her understand that she doesn’t need to have fear.

We talked to her about sincerely praying and asking God. But she understands things a little better so hopefully this will help.

Friday: We got caught in the rain today ha. It’s been raining quite a bit here but today it poured! We were in Lago Norte, which is a huge area and is kind of far from everything else, and as missionaries we like to save our money and walk everywhere instead of taking the bus ha. So we got poured on. We were looking for a house and weren’t really sure where to go so we were just walking in the pouring rain. I got the feeling that we needed to stop looking, turn around and catch a bus. We were starting to approach a part that from what I’ve heard is a little dangerous. So we turned around and started to head to the bus stop. It started to rain even harder, but we got so lucky. A member pulled up and gave us a ride. Turns out he was headed exactly to the same area we were headed towards. Truly a miracle because then we were able to arrive in our area and teach some more instead of waiting forever for a bus. Lots of little miracle happened with the rain this week. It’s almost like the Lord was waiting for us to take shelter, then the rain would pour. This happened several times this week.

Saturday: We had an activity in the area of our district leader. So all the missionaries in our zone participated. We all went out proselyting in their area and gave them a lot of references. It was awesome! We met an old lady in the street and got talking to her. She told us that she was sick and her sister was super sick as well. So we went in and met them and Sister Brito had the feeling that she needed a blessing. So we had the elders come and give her a blessing. It was such a cool experience. I'm so grateful for the priesthood!

Sunday: I walked into church and the first person I saw was the mom of Sister Mercer ha! Crazy!! But I was so happy to see her :) We also had Jose come to church with us and it was really good! That night was a baptism of the dad of one of the members in our ward. The assistants of our mission taught him because his daughter wanted him to be taught by elders first then have us teach him after a few lessons with the elders. He’s super sick so president had him be baptized on Sunday. We missed the actually baptism part but it was cool to talk to him after. He was so happy. Now we just have to teach his wife ha. From what we were told, she is going to be a little bit harder. She is extremely catholic but president tells me every time I see him that we need to teach her and baptize her. So I’m hoping and praying that we will be able to say something that will touch her heart.

Monday: Yesterday we spent the day in Granja Torta. We finally got to meet some people that we have been trying to meet! So it was really good. There are some great members that live there so we are going to try to work with them more and get them to make more visits with us!

We’ve sure got a lot of work to do and I’m so excited! Things are starting to progress and the work is continuing! Thanks for all the love and support :) I hope you all have a good week :)

Love,
Sister Steadman

Another Week in Aza Norte

This week was really good! We were able to contact a lot of people and have some awesome investigators now! Nothing too exciting happened but I’ll talk about the few investigators that we have :)

Jose: We came across him our first week here and he has really been progressing! He reads all the pamphlets we leave with him and he started to read the Book of Mormon! The only thing we are really struggling with him is having him pray with us. But we finally got him a little bit more excited for his baptism and he is starting to feel more comfortable with things. This week we taught him the word of wisdom and it was so funny! He was so surprised to figure out that coffee is actually bad for our bodies, like so surprised but he jumped right on board and agreed to stop drinking it! We talked about having him come to church with us and our first lesson with him this week he said he would. But when we returned to visit him again he said he couldn't come to church with us because he had to go to the fair in another city. He could only go on Sunday because he works all the other days and doesn't want to go at night because he likes to ride his bike there. So we reminded him about keeping the Sabbath day holy and the importance of going to church. And sure enough he was at church with us yesterday :) it was so perfect! For Sunday School it was only him, us missionaries and the teacher, so we were really able to focus on him and the instructor helped him out a lot! And we got him to say the closing prayer! He really is progressing so well and I am so excited for him!

Ingrid: We found Ingrid in the area book and she is a young girl about 19 years old. She is awesome! She does a lot with her religion so I was a little nervous going into teaching her but she is so receptive! She asks a lot of really good questions and really understands everything so well! We weren't able to get her to come to church with us this week but I think she has great potential. One of the young women in our ward made visits with us yesterday and happens to know Ingrid and was surprised to hear that she was receiving our lessons and was reading the Book of Mormon. So I’m hoping that’s a good sign!!

Cleide: She was a reference from the elders and contacted her this week. She is and older lady and works as a maid in one of the houses right by the church. We started talking about the plan of salvation with her and she opened right up. She told us that she smokes but has tried to stop two times with no success but she is confident by learning more about this gospel she will be able to stop. She also told us a lot about the family she works for and asked if we could help them as well. She loved our message. WE spent a lot of time talking about the atonement and our life here on earth. She was sooo receptive and accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 30th of this month. We weren’t able to visit her again because she wasn't home, but we are hoping to visit her again this week!

This week we visited some other people again and they actually were improving! Our first week here we visited a woman named Maria Madalena and she wasn't too interested. Then we stopped by her house again this week and taught her the restoration and it was totally different. She had a different look in her eyes and actually paid attention.

This week we also visited a nursing home. One of the Elders passed a reference for a man in the home so we visited him. Fransico is his name. We walked in and he instantly took us on a tour. He showed us all the bedrooms and introduced us to everyone. It was a pretty small house with maybe 16 people living there but it was fun! We got to the activity room and he made me play the piano for him... ha I don’t know anything without music in front of me so it was a little hard but I played a little bit and he started dancing then got mad when I stopped ha. At the end we gave him a pass along card and told him he could call the number on the back and receive a free DVD about Christ. So we ran to the phone and called the number ha. It was really fun!

Well that’s it for this week. We are just trying to help these people progress and come to know who they really are. I love teaching them and am so honored to be here. Sometimes I think to myself how lucky I really am. Every lesson I teach, every person I share this gospel with, my testimony is strengthened. As I share my testimony, the spirit testifies to me that these things are true. I know this church is true. I love this gospel. I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to be a part of this great work. I am so grateful that the Lord has trusted me with his children.

I hope you all have a fabulous week! Love you all!

Sister Steadman

District Meeting.  Sister Brito dropped her name tag in the font.

Sister Oliveira made her 9 month mark here in the mish and so this is what us sisters do ha. We had fun with it:)

This is what our companionship study consisted of one of the days this week ha. Sister Brito was trying to be Mia off of princess diaries.

Me and Sister Brito

"What have you done with my name?"

Well this week was good! I'm absolutely loving it here! The work is slow, but this next week is going to be a busy one!

Last P-day, we didn't have any plans for the night so we went out with the other sisters and visited one of their investigators. Her name is Maria Lucia she is an older woman. From what I understand ha.... She had a stroke a couple of years back and lost a lot of control of the muscles in her body, but she has been able to gain back some of this control but still has a hard time talking. So the sisters have been thinking about dropping her because she doesn't read the Book of Mormon a lot and still hasn't gone to church with them. So we went and talked about the Plan of Salvation with her. We focused a lot on things we need to do now to be able to return with our heavenly father. And we finally got her to agree to go to church with us! It was a struggle but we did it! Then the lesson went a little downhill from there...she started doubting and you could tell the devil was working real hard with her. It’s super hard to understand her so we rely on the spirit A LOT when we teach her. But before I knew it I was searching for the scripture in Alma that talks about us gaining perfect bodies when we are resurrected. That seemed to catch her attention. So we were able to get the spirit back and get our message across. And....she came to church with us yesterday! It was so cute! She loved it! After someone bore a testimony that she really liked, she would quietly clap her hands a look at us! It was such a sweet experience with her :)

Tuesday we found out that Sister Cabanilla had mumps. So this week we did a lot of splits so that Sister Oliveira could visit her investigators as well and not sit in the house all week. But Sister Cabanilla is a lot better and is out with us today!!!!!!! It was a bit scary though because I was so scared that Sister Brito was going to catch it! So Wednesday we went to the doctor and she got a shot. I'm so glad I didn't have to get one, ha. Soooo glad!!!!

This week was spent trying to find more people from our area book. We've been able to contact a few but not a ton. But we were very fortunate and had the help of our zone leaders. They came into our area on Tuesday and worked with us. We gave them a list of names and they went out and contacted them for us. So we were able to mark off a few more names in our area book and they were able to give us a couple of references as well.

This Saturday we had a Family History activity in our church. All the missionaries from our zone and people from their wards came. We had some films playing throughout the day then had courses teaching people about family history work and how to do it. So us missionaries went out and invited people. It was great! We received so many references and got a really good turn out!

Yesterday in church we sat down with the stake president and my mission president. We don’t have a bishop in my ward here right now, they haven’t had one for four months now ha. So the stake president is like the bishop. So we sat down with them and they gave us a bunch of people to visit! They are all people who are super interested in the church but for some reason or another haven’t been baptized. So we are hoping to be able to visit all of them this week and get the work moving here :)

This morning in my studies I was reading a general conference talk from November 2010. I can’t remember who gave it but it talked a lot about what we are doing as members of the church. In Helaman 5:6-8, it talks about how Nephi and Lehi were named after the first Nephi and Lehi. It’s the exact same thing with us. We as members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are representatives of Christ. And what are we doing with this name? It sure made me think a lot this morning. As missionaries, people ask us why we are called sister or elder. So we always go on to explain sister is just a missionary nickname. We have our last names because we are here representing our families, but most importantly we wear the name of Jesus Christ. We are here doing the same thing he did when he was here on the earth. We are here preaching his gospel and helping others come unto him. It so important that we wear his name proudly. Not only as missionaries, but as members of the church. We are his representatives. Through us, others can get to know him. I hope to be able to stand in front of my Savior one day without any guilt or sadness.

I know our Savior lives. I know that through his atoning sacrifice we can be saved. As members of the church we are very lucky to have this knowledge, but it is very easy to become lazy with this knowledge. We must continue to learn and grow. Continue to serve our father in heaven and keep our covenants with him. By doing this, we can have everlasting peace and happiness here on earth and in the life to come. I'm so grateful for this gospel and am so honored to be a part of this work. Love you all and hope you all have a good week!

Love,
Sister Steadman

Update: The Last Two Weeks

Well I've been transferred and so far I'm loving it! But I will go back to my last week in Palmas and go from there :)

Last p-day was our zone activity and it was a lot of fun! We did a talent show and all ate lunch together! In the middle of our email time the assistants called and told us they were headed to our house ha! Sister Alves freaked! We weren't with the other sisters and were far from our house ha. So we quickly got to our house and showed it to President Lundgren. Our house was a mess! Normally we wake up and p-days and clean it and usually it’s a little cleaner then it was today. But we had to wake up pretty early for our activity and didn't have time to clean it and things were everywhere. It was a mess but at the same time it was pretty funny!

On Tuesday we had a training with the assistants and President Lundgren. It was so good and exactly what our zone needed! They talked a lot about just focusing on those who are really interested in the gospel.

We spent a lot of time walking around this week, not finding people in houses but we met some awesome people on the street!

Saturday we got a call at 6:45 in the morning saying we would find out the changes for the transfer in 15 minutes ha. We were all freaking out. But we didn't find out til noon and only I and Sister Alves were in the house at the time so we found out first. I knew I was going to get transferred. In our training on Tuesday, when president was saying goodbye to everyone, he said bye to all the missionaries but when he said bye to me he said see you soon... someday ha. In that moment I knew I was getting transferred. So I spent my last day teaching Jorge and Fransica and it was really good. We were able to answer all of his questions and finish the plan of salvation with them. And as us four sisters, we spent our last night eating pizza and packing together :)

My last Sunday in Palmas was so good! During sacrament meeting I looked out the window because I saw movement in the corner of my eye and saw Eduardo!!! He came to church! I looked back at Sister Alves and instantly teared up! It was a miracle seeing him there! We spent the afternoon saying goodbye to members then caught the bus at 7 that night. The bus ride was a lot better than the first one ha. The ride was 14 hours and we were super late for the meeting with the president. We walked in as they were singing the last hymn ha. But I was able to see Sister Dixon which was awesome! And I am now in Aza Norte or the north wing of Brasilia. My area consists of Aza Norte, Granja do Torto, Varjao and Lago Norte, so my area is huge ha. But the climate is a lot cooler here and it’s a lot more modern. The sisters before us left us with nothing so the work has been a little bit harder but I love it here! Wave spent a lot of time trying to get to know the area and the people. The people here are a little richer so it’s hard to get them to listen to us sometimes, but we were able to come across some awesome people and mark dates to visit them again. We had a couple of lessons and Sister Brito invited every single one of them to baptism ha. I absolutely love working with her! Our areas are really far from our house and in some areas we can’t be there past 5 in the afternoon so we’ve been trying to make a lot of contacts by our house. Which is all apartment buildings so it can be a little difficult but it’s been fun and interesting. Aza Norte is full of apartments, Lago Norte is mainly mansions, and we have yet to travel there ha. Varjao and Granja are more normal homes. It’s been interesting comparing here to Palmas, its soooo different but I'm super excited about it! Last night Sister Brito and I got caught in the rain. It wasn't a strong rain like Palmas, but it was enough to drench us. Luckily we were close to our house so we were able to take cover under the apartment buildings. We were trying to find some people in our area book, so in between apartment’s buildings we would run as fast as week could, clinging on to our purses ha. It was so funny, we were laughing our heads off and splashing each other in the puddles. It was a lot of fun and we were able to finally contact some people!

Church was so good yesterday! I walked in with Sister Cabanilla because the other sisters had to vote. And as soon as I walked in the stake president pulled me aside and started giving me names of people to visit! I'm so excited and am so ready to help this ward get excited about missionary work again!

I'm in an apartment with four sisters and I love it! Sister Brito, my companion is from Fortaleça and has 7 months on the mission, Sister Oliveira is from Sao Paulo and has 8 months, and Sister Cabanilla is from Ecuador and has 3 months. We have so much fun together!

Well that’s it for this week! We are just trying to find some investigators right now and are trying not to get lost ha. Remember to always read your scriptures and now that you’re heavenly father loves you

Sister Steadman