It’s Never Too Late For A Miracle

This week truly was amazing!! It started out really good with the baptism of Luiz and just continued from there. We spent a lot of time with Jose this week. So Tuesday night we just stopped by his house really quick to see if he was home and to see how he was doing. And as we were talking to him he asked, “So can we have a baptism this Saturday?”, and we were like “Ya!”... then he said, “Well then let’s have a baptism. I’ll be baptized.”, and he said it all calmly. I seriously almost freaked out! For moment I almost didn’t believe him! It was truly a miracle! So he was baptized this past Saturday and it was such a great baptism!!! He was so happy and cute! But it was absolutely amazing to see the light in his eyes. Never before have I seen the light in someone’s eyes change so quickly. It was like the light inside of him was waiting for so long that it just couldn’t wait anymore! It was amazing! As soon has he made the decision to be baptized, his appearance changed completely! He looked so much happier! It was truly amazing!

Jose's Baptism

Teaching Luiz this week was wonderful as well. He also has such a bright light in his eyes now! But we got talking to him about the priesthood and he was absolutely amazed! He was so impressed that he was going to have the opportunity to have the same power that Jesus Christ had here on the earth. It was truly amazing to watch him. We were also able to teach all of his family together...... FINALLY!!!!! And it was so good! We taught them the first message and they all committed to baptism! The spirit was so strong! It was such a cool experience!

Well transfers were today and....... I got transferred! It’s sad leaving Asa Norte, but I am extremely excited for my new area! I’m opening up a new area in Cristalina! My new comp is Sister de Paula who I lived with up in Palmas! But this area is a pretty small city in Goiás. It doesn’t even have a ward, ha. Maybe only 20 members. But I’m super excited to help this area grow and help them progress in this gospel!!

I’m so excited! I absolutely love this work! I am so grateful to be a part of this wonderful work and helping others come unto Christ! It truly is an amazing experience! Remember that your Heavenly Father loves each and every one of you! He knows you personally and wants to hear from you. Make sure to take the time to sit down with him and talk to him. Tell him about your day and all of your problems. He will help you :)
I love you all :)

Sister Steadman

Happy New Year

Baptism of Luiz

Well another year has come and gone..... So strange to see how fast time flies. But this year is going to be great!

This past week we spend a lot of time with Luiz getting him ready for baptism and making sure everything was ok. So on Saturday we taught him the last lesson and had Elder Dobner interview him. So they walked out of the interview and I knew right away from the looks of their faces that something was wrong. So Elder Dobner took us aside and told us we needed to wait two more weeks. For some reason I didn’t take it seriously. I was just kind of like ok whatever. So we went back in and picked a hymn to sing with him before we left. Then Elder took him into the room again to say something to him and walked back out. Luiz picked up the hymn book chose a random hymn and asked me and Sister Brito to practice the hymn for his baptism the next day....... Let’s just say Elder Dobner is the King of pranks and I always forget it, ha. But they both had us! So the baptism happened and it was so good! It was very spiritual and beautiful! Luiz`s family also came and they all felt the spirit so strong! His mom already wants to be baptized! We just got to get her to church and finish teaching her :)

Also, Jose was in the baptism and I think that helped him a lot. He was so attentive and loved it. We visited him later and talked to him a lot about baptism and taught him the first lesson again. His desire has definitely grown. And he got really sad when he found out that our transfers were next week. So we will see what happens with him.

Well I hope you all have a fabulous week! Love you all!
Sister Steadman

Happy New Year

Well Christmas sure was good here! It was so good to be able to see and talk to my family for a bit! We spent the day with Irma Fabiula, who is absolutely wonderful! She seriously is the best! So we spent the day in their house, eating yummy food and talking to our families. I even got some American food which was the best :) Here in Brazil they celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and midnight so we didn’t get to really participate. But we spent some time celebrating in our house with the other sisters. They loved the stockings from my parents (thank you!!!!) then we ate a fruit cake. Fruit cake is huge here!! They are so expensive too! But a member gave them theirs and it was just chocolate so it was pretty good :) We slept in a little bit on Christmas which was nice as well ha! But that was our Christmas and it was absolutely wonderful :)

They next day we went out and gave some food to some homeless people. I sure love being able to really serve those around us who are less fortunate then we are. It makes me feel good that even if it’s not a lot, i can do a little something to brighten someone’s day :)

Well wave got a baptism this weekend!!!! Luiz will be baptized on Sunday and we are so excited!! It’s amazing to see how much he is changing and how much this gospel is already blessing him! So cool!

Well that’s about it for this week. Not too much happened other than getting Luiz ready for baptism and Christmas. But i hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a wonderful New Year as well! Love you all and remember to read the scriptures :)

Love Sister Steadman :)

McKell and her MTC companions at a Christmas activity

Elder Fonseca sleeping on the way home

McKell's Birthday

Elder Fonseca

Christmas with the President

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and remember the true reason for the season :) Also I invite you all to watch the video the church made of the savior, I don’t know exactly what it is in English but translated from Portuguese to English it is he is the gift. It’s a really good reminder of what this holiday is all about.
Here’s a little about my week:

We moved into our new apartment.....FINALLY!!!!!!! We were so excited but it’s been a little bit of a mess around our place ha. Since the elders were moving into our old place we left everything there and received a bunch of new stuff and it was interesting trying to set it all up. So the elders and others from our zone spent several hours in our apartment setting up our stuff ha. It took forever because we don’t have any tools so it was interesting to watch then improvise and make the best of what we had ha. But we are finally all set up and settled in :)

Wednesday we had our Mission activity for Christmas and it was so good :) First we had a really good training from the assistants then we got to watch frozen!!! It was so awesome! Then we had a talent show! I did a song with the sisters I lived with in Palmas then sang a Christmas hymn with my sisters and some of the elders. It was really good! Then we had an awesome dinner and watched another movie. I don’t remember the name of it but it’s fairly new. Its Ephraim’s something... a church movie about the pioneers. But it was super good!

Thursday we went to a retirement home and sang Christmas songs to them! It was so sweet! They were a hoot! It was fun to take some time and talk to them and get to know some of them!

We didn’t get to visit a lot of our investigators this week because of our move and activities but we did get to visit Luiz!!! We visited him yesterday with some members in our ward and it was perfect. We talked about the plan of salvation with him and he was amazed! He loved it! And we set a baptism date with him!!! So we are shooting for January 4th! So fingers crossed that he feels prepared by them! But he is already so ready. It’s so amazing to see the spirit work in people. It’s amazing to watch and see how the lord starts to bless people as they start to learn more about this wonderful gospel. I love this gospel.

Thank you so much for all your love and support! I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy this holiday :) Take this time to remember our savior and help others as well. But don’t stop with the holiday. Continue to serve those around us. Love you all!

Sister Steadman

The Christmas Spirit

I loved seeing the people here get all excited for Christmas! I absolutely love the Christmas spirit! Here’s a little bit about my week...

This week we were able to visit Luiz and his family and it was so good! We were able to teach him, his mother, his grandmother and his aunt the restoration and it went so well! They seemed to just soak it right up ha!  But really it went so well with them! We invited them to be baptized and they were all for it! They just want to receive an answer first. But they were so ready to receive the message! It was so perfect! We had that lesson with a young man who is waiting for his call to come and he was so perfect! He said exactly what they needed to hear! We tried to visit them again this week but Luiz wasn’t home. So we talked to his grandma a little bit more, but she’s a little more difficult. So we are hoping to catch him again this week.

We also taught the sister of another young man in the ward, Grazielle. She’s a tough one. She has a testimony of this church. She knows it is true, but refuses to go to church and participate. She likes her church way too much! But as we have been talking to her brother and one of the other young men, turns out she doesn’t really know anything about her church. So I’ve come to figure out that they have an awesome music program there and that’s why she likes it so much. Man she is a tough one! She’s had soooo many missionaries visit her and she knows that her baptism in her church isn’t correct but she isn’t willing to leave. As we talk to her she gives us the look of, I’m so bored out of my mind and I want to punch a wall... haha but we keep trying. I’ve learned that some people just need time... some a lot of time ha!

This week in Varjao we’ve had a little bit more success! We met some more people to teach and are returning this week to teach them! Also our investigator Regis is reading the BOM!!!! We are sooo excited! When we stopped by his house he wasn’t there, so his wife, who less active, told us that he has been reading and has been praying as well and is showing an interest again! And as we were leaving he showed up and as us, did she tell you that I read? He was so excited to see us and to tell us about his experience! He had a different light in his eyes! And then he asked us when we would return... he never asks that... so we are super excited! Our only struggle with him is having him recognize his answers. But hopefully this week will good!

We had the elders visit José week which was perfect! We dropped by as well and left an envelope with him so he could write his card. We returned the next day and he wrote the card... we were amazed! And he came to church without us saying anything... he is sooo ready to be baptized! Elder Dobner asked him all the questions and everything! He just needs to say yes! But hopefully this letter will help him.

Well that’s about it for this week. We move apartments tomorrow, we have a mission activity this Wednesday and then Thursday, my birthday, we are going to sing Christmas songs for a retirement home so it should be a good week!

I love you all and hope you’re feeling the Christmas spirit! Have a fabulous week!

Sister Steadman