The Crazy Beautiful Life of Sister Steadman

What a wonderful, short, quick, tiring week it has been! Holy crap I can’t believe it is Monday again! Once again, this week flew by right before my eyes, but in the end it was a good one :)

So we spent Monday and Tuesday in Brasilia for our P-Day with our zone and we had a training on Tuesday. So we returned Tuesday night. So this week was a short one and got started working on Wednesday. But, first off, we have Fabrissa! She is still reading the Book of Mormon and has been smoking less! Which is a miracle! But I really enjoy teaching her. She is so much fun! And she understands everything so well and understands what she needs to do! So basically she is perfect! So we have been working really hard with her on keeping the commandments and so far so good! She has been improving rather quickly and she has already noticed the blessings in her life. This is one of my most favorite things. When someone starts to change their life for the better and they realize the blessings of doing so. It’s a feeling that I cant describe. But it’s a rewarding feeling :) But she is good and is planning on being baptized on the 19th :)

Next we have Welson, who was the man we found in the street the week before. So it’s a little hard to find him home because of his crazy schedule, but we found him, taught him the first lesson and holy crap it was so good! The spirit was so strong and it went exactly how we wanted it to! He even got a little emotional. But the coolest part for me was to see him realize that he had found what he was looking for. These are the moments I love the most; these little tender mercies from the Lord. It is such an honor to help people realize what they were needing in their lives - The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love helping people realize that the truth is here on the earth. Ahhhh it’s the best!! But, we invited him to be baptized on the 19th as well and he accepted :)

Next we have Anderson, the cousin of Raianne. With him, I just can’t believe how easy it is to teach him. He understands everything and asks such good questions! This week he asked us why churches always fight with one another and talk bad about one another. He is just super perfect and was very well prepared by the Lord :)

This week we also focused on the commandments with Raianne and her mom Edvânia. First we started with the Word of Wisdom and it was a little bit of a struggle for them because of the coffee. But they tried really hard and now aren’t drinking it anymore!! And the rest of the commandments have been easy for them to keep! Edvania and her husband aren’t legally married so we talked to her about the importance of being married and she was all for it! So next visit, the sisters will be getting that all marked for her :)

Sunday we had a district conference with the other wards and branches of our district so we had to travel really early Sunday morning to arrive on time. So we were supposed to leave here 6 am. But we left 6:30. Yes Mormon time exists here in Brasil as well. But it was really good for our members and our investigators. Edvânia and her two daughters, Fabiana and Natália went and they really liked it! Then we returned last night. And of course the elders were hungry and because it was Sunday they couldn´t buy pizza, so of course it was up to me to make food. So we had a pasta night in the church last night, ha.

Well here’s this week: tonight we are having a family night in the church with the members and some investigators for me to say goodbye to everyone. Then tomorrow I leave here at 2 in the afternoon. Wednesday there is a training on how to be self-sufficient then Thursday is our lunch with president and interviews and Friday night I leave. So crazy! But I came here to do what I need to do and it was a wonderful experience. But, all good things must come to an end so more doors can open.

I found a quote the other day that explains the life of a missionary so perfectly!

A mission is a strange experience
It is a trial and a test.
A mission throws at you the worst
Yet, teaches you the best.
I've never been so happy,
I've never been so depressed.
I've never felt so forsaken,
I've never felt so blessed.
I've never been so confused,
Things have never been so clear.
I've never felt my Heavenly Father so distant,
He's never been so near.
I've never been so discouraged,
I've never been so full of hope.
I feel I could go on for forever,
I think I've come to the end of my rope.
I've never had it quite so easy,
I've never had it quite so tough.
Things have never been so smooth,
Things have never been so rough.
I've never traveled through more valleys,
I've never ascended more peaks.
I've never met so many nice people.
I've never met so many freaks!
I've never had so many ups,
I've never had so many downs.
I've never worn so many smiles,
I've never had so many frowns.
I've never been so lonely,
I've never had so many friends.
BOY, I hope this is over soon,
GOSH, I hope this never ends.

I am so grateful for the wonderful opportunity I had to serve the people of Brasil. I love Brasil. But I am so eternally grateful for My Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I have come to know them and love them here on the mission. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life. I’m grateful for all the miracles I have seen these past 17 months. I’m so grateful for all the things the Lord has taught me. I am so grateful for all the people I was allowed to meet and help come to know our Savior more.

Well folks, that’s about it. Thank you all for your love and support! I will be arriving at the Salt Lake airport Saturday morning at 10:30a for any of you who want to be there, you are welcome :) But, just know, the church is true! And continue to read your scriptures and say your prayers :) Have a Fabulous week!

Com Amor,
Sister Steadman

The most expensive teddy bear I've ever held.

Me, Sister Fidellis, Sister Mercer & Wade (President's Son)

Chasing Down Investigators

Well, I don´t have too much time but I’ll try to tell you guys everything that happened this week.

First off we have Fabrissa. We met her two weeks ago knocking doors and she accepted our visits. So when we went back to visit her, her sister had an emergency and she had to go help. Then we went to go visit her again and her tooth broke so she had to go to the dentist. But finally, deu certo :) So we got to visit her this week and it was so good! She told us right in the first visit that she wants help to quit smoking so we have been setting goals with her and she has been smoking less. She accepted to be baptized as well on the 19th of December! So we are super excited about her! When we taught her the first lesson the spirit was super strong and she new right away that is was all true! And she was so excited to receive a Book of Mormon!

Then we have Raianne and her family. So here is everyone, Edvania the mom, Raianne 18, Fabianna 16, Natalia 12, I think, and Anderson the cousin. So this week we stopped by a few times and we were able to teach all of them. Obviously they weren’t all together every visit but we have been able to help them all progress which was really good! Sometimes its a little difficult to teach them because we show up and its different people every time and some of the family members have heard more messages then others. But they are all reading the Book of Mormon! Anderson we met this week. He heard about our visits and wanted to participate so one morning when we went to go visit Raianne she went and woke him up and he participated so that was cool! And..... they finally went to church!!!!!! We were super happy about that and they loved it!!!!! But it may take them awhile to get baptized because they have a few commandments that they need to keep before.

One day as we were walking down the street, after all of our appointments fell through, we saw a man sweeping and we thought lets make a contact with him. But then he went inside and started to close his garage door and I thought oh crap...... but then he stopped half way. So we ran and talked to him. And it was so perfect! He asked us a bunch of questions, questions that hardly nobody asks, but questions that every missionary wants to hear! So we talked to him a bit then marked to visit him the next day. So we went back the next day and he wasn’t there. So we tried to call him, and out of nowhere he came running down the street, ha. He was caught up at his work and couldn’t leave to meet with us so he ran really quick so that we wouldn’t think that he forgot. So we set up to meet with him again this week. But, I’ll tell ya, he was definitely prepared by the Lord. So I’m super excited about this week!!!

Yesterday in church we FINALLY had some luck! We had 7 investigators in church!!!! We finally got to see the fruits of our work! And yesterday we broke the record here in Paracatú of the number of people. Normally we have like 28 but yesterday we had 40!!! And most of the people were investigators! So we are extremely happy about that! Now we just need to keep up with them so they continue to progress!!

Lately I have had the chance to teach the Plan of Salvation a lot and I have loved it! Never before have I realized how important it is to know the plan that the Lord has made for us. I always think of the movie Alice in Wonderland when she comes to a fork in the road and the cat appears to her. And she asks which path she should take. The cat replies saying that it depends on where she wanted to go, and she didn’t know. So the cat tells her that any path will do. This is very similar to our lives. In many moments we come to a fork in the road and we aren’t sure with way to take. But knowing our final destination (the Celestial kingdom) we are able to figure out which path will be better and take us to there. This path is Jesus Christ. If we follow him everyday and live his teachings, we will reach our destination. But only through him it is possible. Thus, we must always be searching for him, always reading the scriptures to know what we must do to stay on the path, praying for the strength and protection of the Lord to stay on the path, and being worthy to have the spirit with us to help us stay on the path. And by doing this, we will reach the gates of heaven and there we will meet our Heavenly Father with his arms out wide to take us in. I’m so eternally grateful for the Plan of Salvation. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father. He knows me personally and loves me. He loves each and every one of us. He wants us back, but he gave us our agency to choose. So I challenge each of you this week to do a self-evaluation to see where you are. Where on the path you are at and what you can do to continue? If you are not on the path, I invite you to return. He will help you make it back. Seek our Savior Jesus Christ. He will take your hand and guide you through.

I love this gospel. I love my mission. I love my Savior.

Have a Fabulous week!!

Com Amor,
Sister Steadman

Let the Spirit Dictate

Sorry I just have the worst memory and cant remember anything! But I´ll do my best.

So I’ll start with Raianne. She has been reading the BOM a little bit more and she is liking it. But she still hasn’t prayed to know if it is all true. So we really tried to focus on that this week. She is understanding all the messages really well. But, she showed up to the family on Monday with her "almost boyfriend", ya I don’t really understand it either, ha. Then Sunday morning we passed by her house to call to her to go to church with us but she ended up not showing up. So this week we will be seeing what her desire is.

So a while ago, like a month ago, we met a girl named Patricia. We were in her friend’s house teaching when she walked in and started talking to us as well. She accepted our visits, but she was going to travel but told us to stop by when she gets back. So we tried to stop by but when we stopped by she wasn’t home. So then one day we found her in the street and she was so happy to see us and marked a visit with us right there! So then we went to visit her and she wasn’t home. So then the next day she drove past us and stopped to talk to us, and marked another visit with us. So we went and she was home. And I have to tell you, it was a very spiritual visit. We talked about the plan of salvation and normally people here don’t think too much about the things of life or the plan. But she had so many questions and it was so cool to be able to help her find her answers! Seriously a super cool experience! So this week we will be going back to teach her and see how things go with her :)

This week we also visited Raquel who still hasn’t gone to church. Because these past Sundays she has had to take care of her boyfriends mother. Its a good reason, but still..... But anyways, we sat down with her and basically asked her what she was wanting from our visits and seeing if she understood our purpose as missionaries. I went into the lesson planning on dropping her... but the spirit wouldn’t let us. But she is one who truly was prepared by the lord. She just needs more time.

Well I’m running out of time but I hope you all have a fabulous week! Keep reading the scriptures and saying your prayers! Love you all!

Com Amor,
Sister Steadman

A Rollercoaster...

Well this week was definitely better than the last! Other than some sore bodies and a continuous pain in my right shoulder, we are good :) And even though it was still extremely hot, somehow we managed to sleep so I was very happy about that :) But I´ll tell ya, my memory is super bad and I don´t remember too much of this past week, but I will do my best :)

So basically the deal with our investigators here is like a rollercoaster. We always have weeks where we find some really awesome people who are super interested and we have such a spiritual lesson with them. Then we go back and they either don’t progress, we never find them again, they run away from us or they have suddenly moved. So we never seem to have a steady teaching group. But finally, we have 2 or 3 people who are really progressing and have stuck with us!! Woohooo!!!!

First off, Rianne. She is the cousin of some recent converts here. She is 18 and super awesome! So last week on Monday she went to the family night we had in the church and she really liked it! But unfortunately, we didn’t see her all week because she has started working. So she was in training all week long and she finds out tomorrow if she gets the job. So first off this made us super scared because she is working at a grocery story. And most of the time the people who work at the grocery store have to work Sunday mornings, every Sunday. But after much prayer, we found out that if she gets the job, one week she will have the morning shift and then the other week the afternoon shift. So at least she will be able to go to church every other Sunday. But we went and visited her yesterday to see how she was doing. And every time we go to her house we always meet someone new. So yesterday we met her mom, who is super nice and cool as well :) Rianne has only read the BOM a little bit so we sat down and read with her, her uncle and her mom. We read 3 Nephi 11 and they loved it! Her mom asked us for a BOM after and luckily this week she will be staying here in the city so we will try to visit her as much as we can. She lives on the farm so she rarely comes to the city. But the Lord was so nice to have her stay this week so we will take full advantage of it :)

Also, don’t know if I have ever told you guys about Sônia. She is the owner of our apartment and lives right underneath us. So every now and then we visit her. The elders started teaching her and then when we arrived we took over. But she never went to church and hardly ever read the Book of Mormon. So we just visited her every now and then when we had no one else to visit and it was a little late to be knocking doors. So we decided to visit her again this week and I sure love how the Lord prepares people. Basically, she had a realization this week that she wasn’t happy with the way her life was and wanted to change it. She lives with two of her kids but they are never home. So she has been super lonely and straight up told us that she knows to needs to go to church more and read more. So she asked us to get on her back about these things. So that’s exactly what we have been doing. We went to church with her yesterday and she loved it! She told us that she has started reading the BOM again. Last night we showed her the video of the first vision and tonight she said she is going to go to the family home evening with us. So we are super excited with her!!

But this week we seemed to find a lot of people passing through tough times in their lives. And what do we do? We give them the gospel :) Never before have I taught the Plan of Salvation so much in my mission! But I love it! I love helping people realize that their family can be eternal :) It’s the coolest thing!!!

Well that’s about it for this week :) I hope you all are still reading your scriptures and saying your prayers :) If not, you better get on it! Have a fabulous week!

Com Amor,
Sister Steadman

Weekly Update

Well, this week was a good one! The first couple of days were a little slow because nobody was home, but we worked hard to find new people and the end of the week was full of success!!!!

So first off, we went and visited Bia again and she read the Book of Mormon and commented on how she felt and she knew right away that it was true! We were so happy! And she said she feels so good every time we teach her! So we invited her to be baptized but she didn’t accept because she wants to go to church first and see how she feels there. But she still hasn’t had the opportunity to go to church because she works every Sunday. But we are continuing to teach her. We will be visiting her again tonight.

This week with Raquel was also really good! Tuesday night she opened up to us and basically told us her life story. But it was really good to help her out. We were able to see what her needs were and plan our lesson accordingly. She is an amazing woman! She is super strong! So we are super excited! Unfortunately, she wasn’t in church yesterday and we aren’t sure why. But we will be visiting her tomorrow night.

This week we visited the cousins of some recent converts here. So we met Rianne, Natalia and their uncle whose name I still don’t know ha. But in the first visit we taught Rianne and Natalia and we taught them the Restoration. And let me tell ya, it was a super good lesson! We taught them with Iasmin (Recent Convert) and her testimony helped a lot. But Rianna accepted our message so easily and she got the goose bumps! Some people truly are prepared by the Lord! But I was commenting to my comp the other day how easy it is with her. It has been so long since I have found someone so prepared as she is its almost too real to be true! I am so grateful that we found her and are able to help her come to know the true gospel of Christ :)

Well, that’s about it for this week. I just wanted to share with you all a scripture that has helped me out a lot and is one of my favorites :) Matthew 11:28-30

 28 ¶Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! Keep reading your scriptures and saying your prayers! I love you all!

Com Amor,
Sister Steadman

A Burning Feeling

Boa Tarde Gente!! How are you all doing today? Today I’m doing great because it is raining, haha. Today was transfers and luckily I will be staying here with Sister Aldana! We are very happy about that :) Three of the four elders here got transferred and we will only find out which ones are coming here when they arrive, which will most likely be tomorrow or Wednesday.

But, this week was really good. It was super hot!!!! But good :) But here when its hot, its hot and there´s nothing you can do about it! When we are out in the street we get fried, but when we enter a house we bake, ha. But the Lord was so nice and blessed us with a little bit of rain one day last week and today :) So, we are still alive :)

But anyways, this week flew by once again. But this week was a really good week! My comp and I were commenting last night on how much stronger the spirit was this week. We had a couple of lessons where the spirit was so strong that people were in tears and I was on the edge of tears! But, it really was such a good week!

So two weeks ago we started teaching a woman named Bia. She lives alone with her 2-year-old daughter Kathleen. In our first visit she was super receptive and we taught her the Plan of Salvation. The second we met her ex-husband and we talked to them about the importance of prayer and gave her the pamphlet of the Restoration. So this week we went back to visit her and we taught her the first lesson and I’ll just tell ya, it was really good! It was one of those lessons where the spirit led every word. She took in everything and was so excited to receive the Book of Mormon!! The only down side is that she works almost every Sunday, but she is excited to go to church and get to know more!

Then this week we spent some more time with Alsirene and her family :) They live just one street above us so we see them in the street a lot and every time her kids see us they come running to us and ask when we are going to visit them again. I sure love her kids :) She has a daughter, Estefani, who is 10 and she is super smart! In one of the lessons we asked her if she had read the Book of Mormon yet and she said no. But she said she really wanted to start reading it because it has a good name and so she thinks it is a good book. This week we have slowly been teaching them the Plan of Salvation. Unfortunately, they weren’t in church yesterday. We stopped by yesterday morning before church and nobody answered but we are going to stop by tonight and see what happened.

Yesterday we had some way awesome lessons as well! On Saturday we met a girl in the street named Yasmin who is 14. She told us that her family was looking for a church and told us how she has been to a couple of churches already. Basically all the stuff we love to hear :) So we went back to visit her yesterday and we met her Godmother, Raquel. So we got talking and we started to teach the first lesson, the Restoration. And it was going so perfectly! But of course, right as my comp was talking about the first vision a bunch of people entered the house, making a ton of noise and talking to Raquel and Yasmin.... super annoying. But we were able to bring the spirit back and my comp finished. But the coolest part was when we went to bare our testimonies. The whole time Raquel had that look in her eyes that she just wasn’t listening to our message, but she was feeling the truthfulness of what we were teaching. I love these moments! But when we bore our testimonies the spirit was so strong that is was tangible! And Raquel started to cry. So we invited her to be baptized and she accepted. But we didn’t mark a date because we think she has a boyfriend and we need to make sure that they aren’t living together. But for sure, she will be baptized :)

Then last night we went and visited Leo and Bella. I will admit, I wasn’t really looking forward to it because I didn’t want another lesson of him trying to prove us wrong. But we promised to return one more time so we went. The whole day we were praying for the spirit to really guide us in our lesson with them that they would be able to feel that what we were saying was true. And we really didn’t want to cut them because we haven’t been able to teach them anything else other then the first lesson and we really wanted to help them know a little bit more. So we went into the lesson planning to teach the Plan of Salvation. So when we arrived, there was a different feeling in the house. They were a little bit more quiet then usual and didn’t seem quite as happy. So as we got talking to them they told us that they had a really rough week that a lot of things happened so they were a little down. So we decided to talk about our purpose here in life and the Atonement. We only used scriptures from the Book of Mormon and it was perfect!! By the end Leo was emotional and said it was exactly what he needed to hear! But once again, it was all the spirit. The lessons we had this week were only possible because of the spirit.

Well, one more transfer left. It’s a little strange but its gotta happen sometime. One thing that I am so grateful for, is my testimony. Before the mission I thought I was ok. That I was prepared for whatever life would bring. But that is so untrue. I have learned so many things here on the mission that has only strengthened my testimony. I’m so grateful for everything that I have been through here on the mission.  I’m grateful for everything that I have learned as well. I’m grateful for the testimony that I have gained. I’m grateful that every time I share my testimony, the spirit confirms for me that this gospel really is true. I’m grateful for my Savior. I’m grateful for my Heavenly Father. For all the things he has taught me to prepare me for my future. I’m so grateful for this gospel. I don’t know where I would be without it :)

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week. Keep reading the scriptures and saying your prayers. Work on your own testimony and share it every opportunity that you have. Love you all!

Com Amor,
Sister Steadman

Let the Spirit Speak

Well time is flying by so fast I just can’t catch my breath! Literally, climbing these hills everyday is really getting to me, ha! But this week was wonderful!

This week was an adventure! We had cut a lot of our investigators so this week we explored our area a little more and found some way awesome people to teach! First off, we found Ana Paul. We had the Sister trainers come and spend a little bit of time with us this week so one morning me and Sister Alves went out and made a bunch of contacts. And we came across Ana Paula and her daughter Rafaela who is 4. So we sang them a hymn and marked the next day to visit them again. So I went back with Sister Aldana the next day and we taught her the Restoration. And it was a super good lesson! She made comments and participated and even said the closing prayer! Usually with people here we have to bribe them a bit to get them to say the closing prayer, but she willing said it!

These past few weeks we have been doing personal progress with some of the young women and this week we were really seeing the fruits of the work! They are turning into such beautiful women! In the beginning it was a struggle to get them to pray, but now they fight over who will pray, ha! But they are so excited to get working on the next experiences! We also split classes yesterday in church! We were going to start this week with just splitting the youth and kids from the adults during Sunday School because we don’t have a lot of members to help teach all the classes. So we showed up yesterday and they decided to do all three hours so I gave the lesson in Relief Society yesterday. But from what is was told I will now be in charge of the YW and one of our members here will take on the Relief Society! So I’m super excited about that!

One struggle that we have here in Paracatú is that no one goes to church! Nor wants to! So it’s been a challenge, but yesterday Alsirene showed up! So we visited her a couple of times this week just helping her out with her kids a bit and teaching her little bits of our lessons. And one night we caught her husband as well so we sat them down and read the Book of Mormon with them and it was perfect! The spirit was so strong! So we passed by quickly Sunday morning before church and reminded her because we had an hour change here so everyone forgot. So we passed by and she ended up going to church by herself. But she really liked it! So our plan this week for her is to set a date for baptism! Please send some prayers her way!!

Last night we visited Leo and Bella. So we got there and he told us that he had 2 questions that he wanted to ask. So we said a prayer and we let him do the talking. So he pulled out his bible and started to read it to us. He has been struggling a lot with the fact that Joseph Smith saw God and the Son. And every time we visit him we invite him to do the same thing, to pray and ask God personally. But he always turns to the bible. So he spent about 40 minutes explaining to us that God doesn’t appear to man and that Jesus was the last prophet here on the earth and that there couldn’t be another. We have showed him all the scriptures before, but scriptures just weren’t what he was needing. He needs a personal answer from God. So we sat there quietly listening and when he ended we asked him 1 question. If he had asked God if Joseph Smith was a prophet and Bella said that she has but Leo no. So we sat there and bore our testimonies of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. We quickly said a prayer and booked it out of there to let the spirit do his work. But we are going to give them time to see if they really will seek for God or not.

Well that’s about it for this week! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Remember to always say your prayers and read the scriptures! For in the scriptures, you will find peace and answers :) I love you all!

Com Amor,
Sister Steadman