Weekly Update

Well another week has flown by! I can’t believe it’s Monday already! But here’s a little bit about this week :)

First off, our investigator José Fernando. Hess been really struggling to find an answer. So this week we really focused on the Holy Ghost and praying. So we marked Moroni 10 for him to read. When we arrived in the visit he said he had read and we were super happy! Then he went on talking about how people ate each other and i was like what?!?! Haha. We were so confused! Then I tried to remember all the war stories but all I could remember is when they would leave the bodies in the desert and the animals would eat the bodies. So we tried explaining that to him but he wasn’t satisfied. So then the three of us did a scripture search. And finally he found where he had read. Well when he went to read, he read Moroni 9:10..... Which says:

"And after they had done this thing, they did murder them in a most cruel manner, torturing their bodies even unto death; and after they have done this, they devour their flesh like unto wild beasts, because of the hardness of their hearts; and they do it for a token of bravery."

So then we went on to explain how the BOM teaches us things we should do and that we should not do... haha. So we went back to talking about feeling the spirit and receiving answers and he says he feels good every time he reads and prays. But now he is struggling to understand why he needs to be baptized again. So that is our challenge this week. To help him understand why he needs to be baptized again.

We spent a lot of this week contacting people and trying to find some new investigators. We found some really awesome people! One afternoon as we were teaching seminary, a woman walked in the church. So Sister Costancio talked to her as I continued to the give the lesson. And turns out that her "husband" knew the church when he was a kid but wasn’t too interested. But then she saw the plaque and saw that we teach English and she got super excited. So we went and visited her and her husband this week and we were super happy! So he knew the church when he had about 12 years. But he wasn’t too interested. But now he is really wanting to learn more and be baptized!!! Yay!!! But we’ve got a few things we’ve got do to do help him out first, like marriage and the word of wisdom. But at least he is willing to change! So we will see how things go this week :)

Well that’s it for about this week! I hope you have all had a wonderful week and I hope that this next week is even better! Keep reading the scriptures and saying your prayers :)

Love you all!
Sister Steadman

11 Months Down

Well as of today, my companion and I have officially completed 11 months! So crazy!!!! We are still trying to wrap our minds around the fact. But, time sure does pass by quickly.

But this week was good! Our focus this past week was to either mark a date for baptism with our investigators or drop them. And basically all of them got dropped, ha. But we have found some new investigators that I am super excited about! 

First off we have an investigator named Mabia. She is so funny! She’s this little lady who is probably 45 but she is so full of energy! I love it! This week we taught her a couple of times and she was reading the Book of Mormon and was praying as well. Yesterday we went and visited her with a member and we were just checking up to see if she was still reading a praying and she said she had been reading. So she pulled out her Book of Mormon and she opened to Mosiah 25 and told us that she had read until there. At first I did not believe it. Never before had I had an investigator that had read that much. So we asked her to explain to us what she had read. So she went off talking about the Lamanites and King Benjamin and the government..... We were AMAZED!!! I was so excited! So we also asked her if she had prayed to know if the things that we have taught her are true and she said she had prayed and knows that it is all true! So we were super excited! We just haven’t marked a date with her yet because she has to get married and stop smoking.... but we are getting there :) 

We also have another investigator, José Fernando, who was in church yesterday which was also another surprise :) He is catholic, but the catholic that never goes to church, ha. So we’ve have been explaining a lot to him the importance of having the priesthood. He seems to be understanding it all very well. We were able to mark a date with him for June 6th. And he said if he knows it’s all true, he will be baptized. So we are praying like crazy, ha! 

Last Monday, one of our members finally got married!!!! We had been waiting sooo long for her to get married! So now she will be able to help out a lot more in our group! 

Well that’s about it for this week! Remember to always read your scriptures and say your prayers! Love you all!

Sister Steadman

A Crazy Week

Well this week sure flew by so fast! So many things happened! But, best of all it was so good to talk to my family :) But here’s a load down of my week here in Cristalina :)

Last Monday we did an activity for our district here. We planned on walking to a club that has a beach so we could visit it and take some pics. Well in the end, it turned out to be about 12 kilometers away so we ended up walking for six hours that day! We were all dead and by the end we could even walk straight, ha. But we spend the night in a pizza place and ate a good dinner, ha. 

Wednesday morning I set up an interview for Maciele and Elder Todt (leader of my district) because we really felt like she just needed to talk to him to feel better. So we sat there while they had the interview and she came out and was like well, if I’m going to get baptized I’ve got to be baptized soon! So she was like let me grab my planner. So she grabbed her planner and looked at us and said, "Can I be baptized today at 4:30?" haha, we said of course! So we hurried and ran home and got everything ready! It was so cool! 

This week my comp wasn’t feeling too good so we took it a little slower so she could recover. Friday night we were in our house making some cookies for a surprise birthday party for one of the Elders when she got super sick. The Elders started freaking out and told me that I had to run her to the hospital because they thought she had dengue. So I ran her to the hospital and we ended up staying there for 7 hours...... until 1 in the morning. But in the end she just has a little cold. So we’ve been laying low so she could get better and she is doing a lot better now :)

Saturday I got to talk to my family!!!! And Nivaldo was baptized that night! Ha, he was so scared to go under the water but it all worked out! He only has one leg so he was super nervous about that but two elders helped him. But when he came up from the water he freaked out because he was so scared, ha! But he was so happy after :)

Well today is the transfer and I’ll be staying here with Sister Costancio and we only have one Elder that was transferred. The new Elder is Elder Barker, I worked with him when I was in Asa Norte so I already know him a little bit! But we are all super excited! And this next transfer is going to be great :)

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

Love,

Sister Steadman

Nivaldo's Baptism

What is Faith?

Well it sure has felt like this week has flown by!! So crazy! And this transfer! This transfer was a little different because it was only five weeks so it flew by way too fast! And I’m basically 100% sure that I will be transferred next week. So I’m working as hard as I can to leave everything set and ready for the next sister :) But this week was a really good week! 

On Monday, Alessandra and Edson finally got married!!! Investigators of the Elderes. But they have been waiting for months now! So they were finally able to get married and then they were baptized that night! It was so exciting!!! 

Our investigator Nivaldo is progressing so well!!! He seriously was so prepared by the Lord! This week we taught him the word of wisdom and at first he was a little nervous because he drank a lot of coffee throughout the day, ha! But we gave him cevada (it’s like coffee but a lot healthier and it’s not against the commandment) and he’s been drinking it every day! He said he’s had a few headaches but by the end of the weekend he was perfectly fine! So this week we are just going to finish teaching him everything and he will be baptized this Saturday!!!!! We are extremely excited!! Also, the other day when we were teaching him his friend walked in and we could tell that he had drunken a few.... so Nivaldo started teaching him why it was bad to drink, haha it was so funny! But we are extremely happy with him :)

We weren’t able to visit our family as much as we wanted to this past week but they aren’t progressing as well as we expected. They weren’t in church yesterday and one of the girls is avoiding us.... So we will see what happens this week. 

We were able to find a couple of new investigators that we think have a lot of potential so hopefully things work out this week! Also Thursday night we had a surprise birthday party for one of our members, Mariano, who helps us with everything! 

But today I had a little bit of time to reflect on my time here in Cristalina and it has been one of the best experiences of my life. I have been so amazed by the members and I have learned so much. But one thing that I am so impressed with is the Faith of these members. Faith. It’s a simple word. Just five letters. But it’s a word with so much power. It’s a word we here often, but do we truly understand the meaning of faith. But through the scriptures we learn that faith is believing in things we can’t see. Faith is having hope, and faith is acting upon what we believe. Through faith, we can have miracles in our lives. Through faith we can accomplish just about anything we want, as long as it is according to the Lords will. But, this short amount of time I’ve had here in Cristalina, I’ve learned more about faith then I ever have in my life. The people here have so much faith. But it’s easy to tell who really believes and who just says that they believe. Those that have faith are in church every single Sunday. Our church may be small and simple, In fact it’s just a little house with a few benches and chairs, but they people who really believe and have faith, are there every Sunday to learn more and to renew their covenants with the Lord. These are the people that amaze me. The pathway of the Lord isn’t an easy pathway. Its straight and narrow. It’s full of hardships and trials. But it’s the only pathway that will give us true happiness and that will lead us to our Heavenly Father. The members here now this. They know it’s not easy. They tell us all the time that the pathway of the world is a whole lot easier. But that’s not where they find true happiness. That’s not where we will receive blessings. The world may say it has many promises and wonderful things, but they are only temporary. The pathway of the Lord has blessing and promises much greater than anything else this world has to offer. And the only way we can stay on this pathway is through our faith. By walking with our eyes of faith.

I am so extremely grateful for this gospel in my life. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father and everything he has prepared for me. I love this church and this work.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! And happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful Mothers out there! And a special shout out to my wonderful mother! If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be where I am today! But seriously... If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be here on the earth, hahaha. But I love you so much mom! Thank you for everything! And Happy Mother’s Day to my wonderful sisters and sister in law! I love you all so much and am very grateful for your examples! I can’t wait to talk to you guys on Saturday! Have a Fabulous week!

Love,

Sister Steadman