The True Sadness of a Missionary

What a wonderful week it has been! I hope you all have had a wonderful week as well. :)

So this week we tried really hard to visit Luana every day and get her acting so she could be baptized. We visited her a lot and read a lot out of the Book of Mormon with her so she could learn how to relate the stories to her life and get in the habit of reading. It’s amazing to see how much we can really relate these stories to our lives :) So as the week went on she wasn’t reading. It’s not because she was too busy, it’s because she simply just doesn’t want to. So we got together with the Elders and had a family night with them. We talked about the atonement and really focused on what we need to do because he gave us everything. So we started out with an activity. We asked them questions, and they were tough questions, and every time they got one wrong, Elder Noyes did 10 push-ups. It’s moments like these I’m grateful we have Elders here ha! But we tried to show them what it was like for our savior. Oh the spirit was so strong! As of right now Luana isn’t reading the Book of Mormon, but her mom is and they were in church yesterday!!!!

We are also teaching the uncle of some recent members in our ward. With the elders he never did anything and never showed up to anything. So we had a good talk with him. And this week he stopped drinking coffee, he showed up to our bible study, fasted with us and showed up to church! All within a week! We were amazed!! I was so happy! He has a date set for this Sunday to be baptized so we are hoping he can stay strong!

We were also able to find some awesome people to teach this week! We are planning on setting more dates this week for baptism!

But there is one thing I have truly come to learn this week. ya it’s a bummer when we get rejected in the street or people just really don’t want to talk to us, but the hardest thing is when you have done everything for a family, taught them everything and they know it is true, but they just aren’t willing to take the little steps to be baptized. This is truly the sadness that we missionaries feel. Knowing that they have so much potential but they just don’t see it. But I am so grateful for this gospel and this knowledge that I have. I am so grateful to have this opportunity to bring others unto Christ. I love this gospel!!

Well, have a fabulous week! Love you all and read your scriptures!

Sister Steadman

Church house in Cristalina

Family Home Evening in Luana

Playing Soccer

Cristalina

Well my first week in Cristalina has been absolutely fabulous!!! First I’ll explain a little bit about this town.

Cristalina is in Goiás, and I have been told that it is the crystal capital of the world..... So there are little crystals everywhere! So we are always on the look for them. :) We are here with two sets of elders because this town is pretty huge! It’s got the small town look and feel but it’s big! There are farms on the outsides, we’ve got a nice center and there’s a good mixture of a bunch of different people here. But I’m absolutely loving it! The town is a little bit more elevated so everyone told me it would be a little bit cooler here..... Hahaha wrong. It’s super-hot here and the sun is so close to us so it’s super bright. But we have spent most of our time in people’s houses teaching this week. In such a small amount of time, we have met sooo many awesome people! This town is full of miracles!

So to start off with some of the investigators we have. One days as we were walking around with Elder Dias (Sao Paulo) and Elder Noyes (some super small town in Utah) a lady came up and asked if we could visit her dad and say a prayer for them. Her name is Iracema. So we went and visited them and they were super nice and receptive! She has an older lady that helps takes care of her dad and her niece and the niece’s daughter live with her. So it has been really good visiting them this past week. The little girl, Thalita is five and she is the cutest! She loves it when we are there! But they believe in everything we have taught them so far..... Which is good but we are more concerned about them really gaining a testimony about these things and knowing for themselves. So that’s one of our biggest challenges with people here. But some of them were in church yesterday and they loved it!

We’ve also worked with a less active member, Andre and he has progressed so much this week! He made a ton of visits with us and was in church yesterday!

Since we don’t have a ward here we as missionaries kind of run everything ha. Man it is quite the experience but we are loving it! Me and my companion taught relief society and it was really good! And we have 37 people in church yesterday, 17 of them being investigators! So we are slowly getting bigger. We are receiving some help from the stake that is closest to us and they are sending us some people to help us grow a little faster. So it’s going to be so cool to watch this area grow!

We’ve got a lot of activities throughout the week. I’m now teaching English on Wednesdays which was really cool! I have never taught it before so it will be super interesting but I’m super excited :)

Well that’s about it for this week :) I’m loving my comp and I’m loving this area! I’m so grateful to be a part of this work! We always say that we feel like the pioneers, ha. Starting from the ground up :) Of course it’s got its struggles but they miracles are so amazing! truly a blessing to be apart of this :)

Well I hope you all have a fabulous week!

Love

Sister Steadman

It’s Never Too Late For A Miracle

This week truly was amazing!! It started out really good with the baptism of Luiz and just continued from there. We spent a lot of time with Jose this week. So Tuesday night we just stopped by his house really quick to see if he was home and to see how he was doing. And as we were talking to him he asked, “So can we have a baptism this Saturday?”, and we were like “Ya!”... then he said, “Well then let’s have a baptism. I’ll be baptized.”, and he said it all calmly. I seriously almost freaked out! For moment I almost didn’t believe him! It was truly a miracle! So he was baptized this past Saturday and it was such a great baptism!!! He was so happy and cute! But it was absolutely amazing to see the light in his eyes. Never before have I seen the light in someone’s eyes change so quickly. It was like the light inside of him was waiting for so long that it just couldn’t wait anymore! It was amazing! As soon has he made the decision to be baptized, his appearance changed completely! He looked so much happier! It was truly amazing!

Jose's Baptism

Teaching Luiz this week was wonderful as well. He also has such a bright light in his eyes now! But we got talking to him about the priesthood and he was absolutely amazed! He was so impressed that he was going to have the opportunity to have the same power that Jesus Christ had here on the earth. It was truly amazing to watch him. We were also able to teach all of his family together...... FINALLY!!!!! And it was so good! We taught them the first message and they all committed to baptism! The spirit was so strong! It was such a cool experience!

Well transfers were today and....... I got transferred! It’s sad leaving Asa Norte, but I am extremely excited for my new area! I’m opening up a new area in Cristalina! My new comp is Sister de Paula who I lived with up in Palmas! But this area is a pretty small city in Goiás. It doesn’t even have a ward, ha. Maybe only 20 members. But I’m super excited to help this area grow and help them progress in this gospel!!

I’m so excited! I absolutely love this work! I am so grateful to be a part of this wonderful work and helping others come unto Christ! It truly is an amazing experience! Remember that your Heavenly Father loves each and every one of you! He knows you personally and wants to hear from you. Make sure to take the time to sit down with him and talk to him. Tell him about your day and all of your problems. He will help you :)
I love you all :)

Sister Steadman

Happy New Year

Baptism of Luiz

Well another year has come and gone..... So strange to see how fast time flies. But this year is going to be great!

This past week we spend a lot of time with Luiz getting him ready for baptism and making sure everything was ok. So on Saturday we taught him the last lesson and had Elder Dobner interview him. So they walked out of the interview and I knew right away from the looks of their faces that something was wrong. So Elder Dobner took us aside and told us we needed to wait two more weeks. For some reason I didn’t take it seriously. I was just kind of like ok whatever. So we went back in and picked a hymn to sing with him before we left. Then Elder took him into the room again to say something to him and walked back out. Luiz picked up the hymn book chose a random hymn and asked me and Sister Brito to practice the hymn for his baptism the next day....... Let’s just say Elder Dobner is the King of pranks and I always forget it, ha. But they both had us! So the baptism happened and it was so good! It was very spiritual and beautiful! Luiz`s family also came and they all felt the spirit so strong! His mom already wants to be baptized! We just got to get her to church and finish teaching her :)

Also, Jose was in the baptism and I think that helped him a lot. He was so attentive and loved it. We visited him later and talked to him a lot about baptism and taught him the first lesson again. His desire has definitely grown. And he got really sad when he found out that our transfers were next week. So we will see what happens with him.

Well I hope you all have a fabulous week! Love you all!
Sister Steadman