Turning Up the Heat in Palmas

Well it’s been another good week here in Palmas. I can’t believe that August is almost over, which means it’s almost September, the hottest month of the year here! Our district leader suggested changing our schedules around a little bit so we wouldn't be out in the heat all day long. So some days, we go out teaching a little bit earlier, then come back to our apartment after lunch and study then back out at night. We can’t do this every day because our area is so huge and it takes a while to go back and forth, but it’s been working for the most part. 

Last Monday we had a big zone activity and that was a lot of fun! We first had a training from the sister trainers and it was really good. It was exactly what my companion and I needed to hear. Because we have opened up this new area, we don’t have a whole lot of people to teach so some days are tough trying to decide what to do. But in the meeting they talking a lot about how our success doesn't come from our numbers, it comes from our dedication. As long as we are working full heartedly and giving it our all, everything will work out and we will be blessed for our work. So we've been doing our best and trusting that the lord will help us. And he has!! We had a nice breakfast with them then went to go play games with the elders. We played volleyball, ping pong then ended up having a water balloon fight, kind of ha. But it was fun! We had a big lunch then every companionship had to make a dessert and we all tried everybody’s and voted whose was the best. Our dessert was a mess. I had no idea what it was or how to make it so I was no help. But I think it was supposed to be mousse. Then another some chocolate thing with cookies. But the mousse was way too watery so we froze it and put the chocolate on top. Ha it was a mess. But it tasted good! 

We looked at a couple more apartments this week but haven’t had any luck. But the members are helping us now and are telling us every time they see one so hopefully we will be able to find one soon! 

We have a new investigator this week, Luci. We came across her two weeks ago when we went to go teach another lady she lives by. She went to the ward activity and loved it! I was on a split that night so didn't get to go to it. But we taught her this past week with some of the members and she’s loved it. I asked her to be baptized as well and she said yes, but wasn't ready to set a date yet. But she came to church with us yesterday and has made some good friends in the ward. So we plan on working with her a lot this week and helping her feel more comfortable with things. She’s 19 as well and is here in Palmas to study, as is every 19 year old here ha. 

We’ve continued working with Zelia, and we’ve set a date for baptism. September 6th. We taught her the word of wisdom and she’s been so good at following. She drinks coffee but she really wants to be baptized so she’s been trying really hard and hasn’t had a problem yet. She spends a lot of time at her sister’s house, who is a member that we work a lot with, so she has a good example always with her. 

The sisters have been trying to learn English this week and it’s been a lot of fun ha! It’s funny to hear them say some words but I know it’s the exact same for me and Portuguese. Some nights I and Sister Alves will sit there and she is trying to help me say a word, I always have a problem with the endings of some words and we just sit there and laugh. But I'm finally getting better ha! We have been memorizing a lot which helps. The ward is also wanting me to teach an English class so this week I am going to try to talk to the bishop and see if we can set up a time for that. I’m hoping that maybe this will be good for some of our investigators as well. 

Yesterday in church, both Zelia and Luci came. We were so excited and they both loved it! We've been working with a less active member as well, Eduardo, but we can’t seem to get him up in the mornings. So we continue to try with him ha. Yesterday we went to go visit him but he was sleeping so his mom, Fransica taught me how to make their version of pancakes and showed us how she makes pizzas. She makes a huge batch of dough then makes little pizzas and freezes them. It was fun to do that with her!

Things are progressing, slowly but surely. Because we don’t have a lot of investigators we've been trying to talk to a lot of people in the street and this past week was pretty good. We found a guy from Africa and he said he was here because of God. I thought this was perfect. So I explained to him, that we are here because of god as well. We talked to him about our purpose and before we could finish he was telling us that his wife is Christian and he invited us over! So this week we are going to go visit him. Also while I was on my split with Sister Bennion I talked to a lady on the bus and she loves to talk about God. So we went and visited her this week and she was happy to see me! The first thing she said was you came!! But we had a good conversation. She is very curious about our beliefs and realizes our purpose as missionaries but said she wants to continue to talk to us. So we will see what happens with her. The people here are so nice and laid back. Which is perfect! 

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you all!

Sister Steadman

The Work Continues

I don’t have much time this week so it will be short. But here’s what happened!

We had a lot of good lessons with our investigators. They are progressing and are really liking the lessons! Thursday we had a lesson with Zelia about the plan of salvation and it was so spiritual! Talking about being with our families and seeing our loved ones again. I love teaching the plan of salvation. I asked her to be baptized as well... and she said yes!!! I didn’t know how to respond ha. So we have a baptism at the end of this transfer.

I also got to do a troca* on Friday. I don’t know what it is in English ha. But I went to Palmas 3 with Sister Bennion who is from Kansas and that was so good! It was nice to understand someone completely ha. But we are finally starting to know our way around the area and I and my companion can now have conversations with each other ha. It’s not silent all the time now. I love being here and couldn’t imagine my life any other way right now.

Have a fabulous week!! Remember to always pray and read your scriptures!!

Sister Steadman

*Troca is when you change companions for a full day.

Little Miracles

This week sure has flown by, there hasn't been a whole lot of work but it’s been a great week for work!

Last Monday was super fun! I tried acai for the first time and it was pretty good. Acai is like frozen yogurt here. Everyone loves it! We went out a shopped a little bit, got a couple of things we needed. Here in Palmas, all the sister missionaries get these wooden rings, so we joined the band wagon and got some too ha. We also visited the center of Brazil!! There is a big government building right in the center and its really cool looking! Big golden gates, statues and big compass, cool stuff like that. Our investigator for that night wasn't in her house so me and sister Alves ended up just going back to our casa (house) and studied for the rest of the night. I also explained why popcorn is called popcorn in the United States. They all thought it was pretty funny. They love trying to learn things in English so vie taught my companion knuckles, peace out, slug bug and yellow car ha. She loves it!

Acai Yogurt

Brazilian Government Building

Tuesday: Work was a little bit slower today. We met with Isabel for a bit, a member from the ward and she gave us a reference. We tried to visit Val and Emily but they weren't home. We had other contacts in that area but they weren't home either ha. But we went to go visit a contact named Valerie and her friend that she lives with was there so we talked to her and set up a meeting for this week. So hopefully that works out!! We had an appointment with a member in the ward but we could not find his house!! We walked in a huge circle! The streets are so confusing here. They do things in quadrants but once you are in the quadrant it makes no sense. And i don’t know which way is north or south so it’s a bit of a struggle sometimes ha. We had a meeting with the ward mission leader at the church so we just headed in that direction. We got lost again ha, but we found our way. Sister Alves started having me ask people for directions which was a little difficult because i don’t know any words but we found our way!

Wednesday: We studied the area book and tried to find some more people and that seemed to help a lot.  So in moments when we don’t have anyone to talk to, we now have people to go see! We went and visited a girl named Dalia. From the moment i met her there was something different about her. She was so curious about the church and had received lessons before. So we took a couple of minutes to get to know her. She’s super cool! She’s 21 i think and is just working and living with her aunt. We taught her about the plan of salvation and her eyes were opened wide the whole time just taking it all in. she set up an appointment for this week and told us she really enjoyed learning about our religion. I’ve got some high hopes for her so i really hope everything works out!!! Later that night we went and taught Zelia, Isabela friend. We taught her about the restoration. She teared and up loved the message. This week we are planning on asking her to be baptized. We will see how it goes ha. That night we had 2 sister from Groupi come and stay with us because we had a zone meeting the next day so there were 6 of us in our tiny apartment ha. But we had it work.

Thursday: We had our zone meeting this morning and it was good. I got a new pillow and finally my carry on!! I was very happy. Then we hurry and ran to lunch. After lunch we tried to find the house of a less active member in the area book but had no luck. But in our searching and asking people we ran in to a girl named Sara and her sister Guiamara. They both love to sing and are very religious. In our ward we are having a talent show at the end of the month and invited them to perform and they were all over that! Then we taught them. I started out teaching the plan of salvation because i had the pamphlet for them and that’s just the direction they conversation went. But right in the middle of it, i don’t really know what happened but i started talking about prophets and the restoration. And it ended up being such a good lesson. They were agreeing with everything we were saying and wanted us to come back. So we are visiting them again this week. Sara is 17 and Guiamara is 15. They have an older sister Jayne, but she didn't join in on the lessons until the end. But i was talking to sister Alves after and she was confused on what happened ha. But the spirit definitely led that conversation and it ended being so good. It’s amazing how the spirit works and influences the work here. Truly amazing. 

Friday: We tried to find that house from yesterday again but had no luck ha. I'm convinced that it doesn't exist or the address was written down wrong ha. But we ended up talking to a lot of people in the street so it was really good. Vie come to the conclusion that i have no problem going up and talking to people, i just don’t know how to say things and can’t always respond to them ha. But it’s slowly coming. We ended up going to a member’s house and talking with them for a while. He gave me some tips with pronouncing the words so I've been trying to practice that. 

Saturday: Not a whole lot of teaching but a lot of talking with people in the street! Sister Alves had a super bad headache so we took things easy. We tried to find some more people and just talked to everyone. We taught Monica that night and Amancay’s house. Amancay is a member and Monica is 20. We taught her the restoration and it was really good. We are hoping to set a date for baptism with her this week. That night we got a little lost so we walked into an acai shop to ask for help and ended up talking to one of the workers for a long time! She was super interested and wanted to hear more. She was also super religious. But from the moment we started talking to her i could tell she was a very special person. So on our way out i told sister Alves that we had to visit her again so today we are going to stop by and try to talk other some more!

Sunday: Church was much better! I could understand a little more! It was father’s day so the primary sang. It was super cute! Later we met with some of the missionaries of the ward and did a little training for them. Just taught them to teach lessons very simply and clearly. Then had them go out and talk to some of the struggling members. It was really cool! I absolutely love working with the youth!

Well that’s all for this week! Hopefully everything is well for you all! Love you all and remember to always pray!

Sister Steadman

Born in Palmas!

Here in Brazil, your first area is where you are born, the last area is where you die ha. So I was born in Palmas! My mom is Sister Alves! She is the cutest! She is from Sau Paulo. She doesn’t really speak English so communicating has been fun ha! She has been out for 3 months. 

We are both new to the area so we don’t have an investigators. But there are to other Sisters in this area as well, one who was here last transfer and the other came with me from the CTM, so she has showed us around and helped us get to know the members. Sister De Paula is from Brazil and has been out for 5 months. Sister Costancio is from Argentina and is new just like me! She’s super cute!

We have been working a lot with the less active members. One is Eduardo. There’s six kids in the family and he is one of the older ones. That family is so nice! The mom, Fransica is always cooking so it always smells so good!  But we try to visit them a lot. 

The other is Irmao Pedro. He has two kids, Paulo I think then Olivia. From what I understand his wife died of cancer a little while ago. But he is very friendly and nice! He is always giving me tons of food! Last week we went over for lunch and Olivia made the best dessert. It is called ovo duce. So it looked like a fried egg. It was a peach in the middle then she made a cream that surrounded it. It was so good!

We’ve been able to contact a few people on the street. Mostly just by asking for directions because it is so easy to get lost here ha! There maps or so confusing! So we are going to go and visit them again this week! 

We’ve gotten to know some of the members really well. I have the hardest time remember their names though ha. But there’s this one family and I’ve met the mom, her two daughters and her son. I love her two daughters! One is 22 and the other is 12. They try to help me a lot with the language! There is another family we have worked a lot with as well. Its three daughters that live with their mom and grandma. One has a little girl named Marianna and she is the cutest! I think she is 5. But one of the daughters doesn’t come to church a whole lot. They feed us a lot and drive us around when we need them. They are so nice. A friend of this family had us teach one of her friends this week! It as super cool. She is super nice and interested in the church. Her name is Monica. So me and Sister Alves went and talked to her a bit, just got to know her and we talked about the book of Mormon. We are planning on talking to her again this week.

Another time this week, we weren't having any luck with finding people because no one was home. So we decided to say a prayer and just talk to whoever we could find on the street. We passed a house with the gate open so we stopped and talked to them. It was a mom and her daughter. The Sister was over but she stayed in the house with the babies. But we taught her the first lesson, all four of us Sisters, and she seemed really interested. Later this week I and Sister Alves are going to go back and teach her some more. 

Church was really nice yesterday! The people are so nice and friendly! A few of the girls my age sat with me and tried to help me with everything. They were so nice! For lunch we went to Shays house, the family with a bunch of daughters. Then Rita, one of the girls in the ward went out with us. We went to talk to Emily, a girl Sister de Paula talked to last week. She is 15 and is super sweet. We talked about the book of Mormon with her and faith. She seems interested!  After we went to Irmao Pedro’s house and had a little family home evening. Sister Alves talked about the brother of Jared and how he needed light for the boats. I didn’t understand all of it but I’ll try to explain what I understood. She said that when the brother of Jared went to the lord for help, the lord told Jared to come up with an idea then ask. She said that sometimes we need to do a little searching ourselves and then go to the lord. We need to be patient with the lord and stay faithful. I really liked it. Then we talked about the things that are the light in our lives... I think ha.

Well the language is slowly coming. Every day I am noticing that I understand a little more. The people are very patient with me, which is very helpful, ha. So far I've just been following my companion and Sister de Paula around. But once we get to know the area a little better, I and Sister Alves will do the work on our own. 

Have a fabulous week! Love you all!!

Sister Steadman

McKell and her roommates

McKell and Sister Costancio (The other new Sister from Argentina)  

Sister Alves (Trainer) and McKell

McKell, Rita, Sister Alvez in the chapel