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

Transferred

Well I got transferred to Aza Norte. I'm with Sister Brito! She was in my zone the last two transfers and I absolutely love her! She reminds me of a cute ballerina, ha! We are living with two other missionaries, Sister Oliveria and the other I still haven’t learned the name of, ha. But I’m super excited! And our house has two bedrooms!!!! Like heaven on earth ha! But I have to go! Thanks for all your support! Love you all :)

 Sister Steadman