Raining Miracles

Well today we woke up to a little bit of rain and I couldn’t be happier! I love it when it rains! Monday was Independence Day here in Brasil so we switched our P-Day to yesterday. We spent the day in the apartment building of a member just hanging out, ate lunch then went bowling! It was a lot of fun, :) But this past week has been such a wonderful week! It was such a testimony builder! So here’s what happened.....

First I will start with Ian. So about a week ago we got a referral from the mission of man whose father received a pass-along card of the BOM. So he called and asked for one. So we stopped by his house and no one was home. So during a split, Sister Alves stopped by, met a girl there who didn’t know the man we were looking for but she marked a day to return. Due to our busy life here we weren’t able to stop by the day that we planned but on this Sunday Ian called us and he was a little mad, ha. He was mad because when my comp stopped by and talked to the girl she just left a pamphlet of the restoration and not a BOM, ha. So we stopped by Monday morning and we had the wonderful opportunity to teach him. Ian is a man with 27 years. He saw this pass-along card with a book that was another testament of Christ and became curious so he called. He told us that he has already visited many churches but he still hasn’t found what he was looking for (seriously so perfect!!!) Then he saw the pamphlet of the restoration and read it and answered the questions in the back!! Nobody does this!!! So I was soooo excited! So we sat down in front of his house and taught him and it was such a good lesson! We invited him to be baptized on October 4th and he accepted. After we invited him he said, “I sure hope this church is true”, ha. Oh he is so perfect! So we are super excited about him!!!!!!

As well we found a woman named Ana. This past week we spent Tuesday and Wednesday with a young women Diane who is preparing to serve a mission so she spent the two days with us and it was a lot of fun! But she was the one who actually found Ana for us. We just found her in a bakery as we were buying a snack. Sister Alves always says that our stomachs lead us to the best people and that is so true! We always find good people to teach at the bakery, haha. But we went and visited this woman, started talking about the plan of salvation and she told us the story of how her father died. I just thought it was super cool because we knew nothing of her father but felt like we needed to talk about the plan. Another cool experience:) But we also invited her to be baptized on the 26th of this month and she accepted. Unfortunately she wasn’t in church Sunday but we will visit her this week :)

Then there´s Edivaldo. So one night all of our visits fell through so we decided to turn to the Lord to see what we should do. So we pulled out a list of names that we had prayed, and looked at the list. The first name I saw was Edivaldo so we went to visit him. He is an older gentleman. The first time we visited him I think he was a little drunk so we marked another day to visit him. Then when we stopped by the second time he didn’t want to let us in because his wife wasn’t there. But the third time, his wife still wasn’t there but we taught him anyways. We taught him the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and it was a really good lesson! We left a Book of Mormon with him and he was so excited to receive a BOM. He told us that he didn’t think he deserved it but he took it anyways. We invited him to be baptized and he looked at us and said, "I think I’ve reached the point in my life where I need to make and change. And I think now is my moment. So if I know this is right I will be baptized." I was sooo excited I just sat there and smiled. I was so happy! So he went to church on Sunday and he loved it! The members received him so well! I was so happy about that!

This week has been full of little miracles. I am so grateful to be a part of this work. This week has been proof to me that the Lord is aware of everything little thing that happens in our lives. He loves each and every one of us dearly and if we turn to him in sincere prayer, he will give us the blessings and help that we need. I am so eternally grateful for my Savior. Without Him, none of this would be possible. In our lives, we pass through so many hardships, but through him we can overcome everything. We can see the sunlight again. We can feel at peace again. We can be happy. Never in my life have I been happier. I am so grateful for this gospel. I don´t know where I would be without it. I know that this church is true. I know that today we have a living prophet and that he receives revelations from God. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and I love Him.

I love you all and I hope you all have a wonderful week. Remember to always read your scriptures and say your prayers because He is waiting to hear from you :)

Com Amor,
Sister Steadman

Splits this week.

Irmã Edina

Picture taken right before I got hit with a wave of water.

Another Week in the Wonderful Cristalina!!

Time is flying by here in Cristalina! I’ve been here long enough that’s it has gotten to the point where I see so many people every day and we are talking to so many people that I see so many familiar faces, but can’t remember for the life of me where I know them from, ha! But this past week was a very good week!

On Monday we traveled to stay the night with the Sisters in Santa Maria and Tuesday morning we had our interviews with President Lundgren and it went really well! We were able to talk about everything that is going on here in Cristalina and we were able to help him get a better idea of the work and how our group is doing. It was also nice to meet everyone in my zone for the first and last time, ha. 

But this week was full of dropping people and finding new people to teach. And yesterday we had a nice surprise! So a couple of weeks ago, me and Sister Costancio were walking to an appointment when a man walked by and asked us who we were. I love it when people do this! So we talked to him for a bit and explained to him. So we set up an appointment to return and teach him. So that day arrived and he wasn’t home. So then a couple of days later we tried again and ended up finding his sister who said she has been wanting to change religions. So we thought, perfect!!! So we started teaching her. But then yesterday in Church the man, whose name is Denis, showed up in church, not his sister. So we visited him last night and it was perfect! He explained to us that for a while he has been visiting a lot of churches but just hasn’t felt right in any of them. But in our church he felt so good and was surprised when our meetings ended, ha. So we taught him the first lesson last night and invited him to be baptized. He accepted and will be baptized on the 20th!!! We are extremely excited!! But I’m trying not to get my hopes up, ha. So we will be visiting him a lot and helping him a lot to stay firm :)

Saturday night we did an activity with our group and it was so good! Sister Costancio and I planned the activity of the Tree of Life. It started out kind of as a mess because no one was listening to the Holy Ghost and all of our members where following the voices of the world ha. But in the end they made it all to the tree and ate the fruit which was just chocolate. But it was really good to help them all understand the meaning of everything and how important our lives are!

Well that’s about it for this week! I hope you all have had a wonderful week and I hope that you all have a fabulous week this week! Remember to always read the scriptures and say your prayers! Love you all!

Love,

Sister Steadman

Sister Costancio, Natália and Me

"Crystals" in Cristalina.

This week was super good for me and my companion!!! This past weekend we were able to have a baptism! The brother of one of our members was baptized and he got to baptize his brother! Well.....it was an interesting baptism, haha. 

This week, finally in my mission, we found a family!!! We are soooo extremely excited! And this family is so perfect! It’s a Mom, Maria Eunice, and her four kids, Camila, Veronica, Victor and Rafael. They are the cutest! As soon as we met them they were super interested! They have been reading the Book of Mormon and read all the pamphlets that we give them! Maria Eunice was telling us that her two little boys are always reminding her that they need to read and they were so excited to go to church! They are progressing so well! Last night we stopped by their house to see how they liked church and we ended up marking a date with them! So they will be baptized on May 9th! We are super excited!!!! If you couldn’t tell, ha.

Also we have another investigator preparing for baptism on May 9th, Nivaldo. He is an older gentleman who lives alone. It was funny in the beginning with him because he had the hardest time understanding us! He was so focused on our accents that he didn’t pay attention to our message. But it’s better now. In the beginning he would always ask us, "does your church only have people like you guys?", haha but we reassured him and told him it’s full of Brazilians, ha. But he has been in church the past two Sundays and loves it! He’s really understanding everything and is progressing so well! We are super excited for him!

This week we also found some other people who I think have a lot of potential! So we will see how this week goes with them, :)

I’m sure loving it here in Cristalina! This city is full of Crystals!!  This city has soo much potential! I can’t wait for the day to hear that this town will have a ward! It’s so cool to see how far they have come. From only 6 members and having meeting in one of the members’ house, to now having almost 60 people in church every Sunday! It’s the coolest thing! I love this church!!!

Well I hope you all have a fabulous week! Keep reading the scriptures! I love you all!

Com Amor

Sister Steadman

The Power of Words

This week we had a ton of success in finding new people! On Thursday, the sister trainers came and helped us out. They spent the day with us, visiting our investigators and helping us find new ones and they helped out so much!

This week we got to sit down and talk to Maciele a little bit more. We helped her set some goals on what she needs to do to be baptized. She’s doing everything right! She just needs to figure things out with her "husband". Whether they need to separate or get married. So we've been praying like crazy but hopefully soon she will know what she needs to do, and then she can be baptized :)

Also this week we met the brother of André, one of our members. So we’ve been teaching him and right from the start he was praying and reading the scriptures! So he told us he wants to be baptized this weekend so we are going to finishing teaching him everything this week and he will be baptized this Sunday!! We are pretty excited :)

The last Sunday in Relief Society we talked about the power of words and some of the women in our group mentioned all the things people say about the church. So we just talked to them about using their testimonies to help others know the truth about our church and by doing so they won’t have any doubts. This week in a couple of lessons I really felt how powerful our words are. Just simple little words can have a huge impact on people. In a couple of our lessons, I could feel the power and the spirit so strong while my companion and I were teaching. Just lessons very simple and basic, but so powerful. It’s amazing how much a simple testimony can have such a huge impact on people.

Yesterday in relief society we talked about Joseph Smith. I tried really hard to stress how important this message is. Just us who have been members for a while, this message is just another message to us. But do we really understand what really happened in this moment? I encourage each and every one of you to really study the first vision and gain a stronger testimony of Joseph Smith. I am truly grateful for the sacrifice he made of us, so in our days today we can have the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am so grateful for this gospel and my Heavenly Father. I hope you all have a fabulous week! Remember to read the scriptures daily :) Love you all!

Sister Steadman

10 Months on the Mission