Last week in the CTM

It’s been a super-fast week but very good! Lots of learning and finally getting comfortable with the language!

We got to hear a lot from our president on Sunday and he is an amazing man! He worked with the apostles in assigning mission calls so it’s cool to hear his stories and hear him testify!

We also had our fake investigators get baptized and it was cool. It made me think of my baptism and how important that day really was. I definitely didn't realize it then but I am now. It is so important! I can't wait to get out there and do it for real now!!

Speaking about investigators... we were teaching Vivianne about temple work for the dead and I was explaining sealing’s, except I accidentally told here there were seals in the temple... that one was fun to explain ha. I love teaching Vivianne! She gives us some tough questions but it is so good for us! I’m going to miss her a lot!

The temple was so bitter sweet this morning. It’s so beautiful and the Sau Paulo temple has a special place in my heart. It’s going to be sad not going for a while but there is work to be done! I listened to some of the session in Portuguese today and I understood it! It was so awesome! I love the temple so much!!!

We also saw one of the old American elders at the distrubutino center today. He just had a baptism and was showing his newest member the stuff. It was super cool and we talked to them for a bit. It gave me hope ha

So we fly out Tuesday. I’m not sure what time yet but we will probably leave here around 630 that morning. The plane ride is only about an hour and a half so not bad at all. I’m getting so excited!!

Have a fabulous week!

Sister Steadman

McKell and her MTC companions in their dorm room.

The Days Feel Like Weeks, and the Weeks Feel Like Days.

Well one more full week here at the CTM! Time really does fly by so fast! Nothing too crazy happened this past week but there’s a little bit.

Our Brasilian roommates left so it’s back to the three of us again which is nice but at the same time we miss them a lot!!

We had a funny moment in one of our lessons last Saturday! Sister Dixon was teaching about arrependimento [repentance]. She was explaining how we need to confess serious sins to the bishop. Well in Portuguese the word bishop means fag and to say bishop it is bispo. She didn't know that so when she was explaining it to him she said you need to repent of your sins you fag. He busted up laughing and we had no idea what had just happened. Then he explained to us and we all laughed. It was pretty funny!! then later in the same lesson, she said we would come back in the next visit and ask him more questions but instead she said we would come back and fart.... it’s a good thing he can speak English and explain things to us ha!

Our lessons have gotten a lot better this week. We are teaching more by the spirit and are feeling its presence more which has been such a blessing! It’s been so nice to have the spirit here to guide us.

The language is coming... slowly but surely! To end, here is a quote that I really like:

“a distancia entre out ceus e a terra e a mesma distancia entre seus  joelho e o chao"

Love you all!

Sister Steadman

Week 3 in the CTM

Well it’s been another good week here at the CTM!

On the fourth of July the lunch ladies made some hamburgers and hot dogs and they had ice cream!! So I got some cake batter ice cream and it was so yummy!!!!

Sunday and Tuesday were super good days! They devotionals were amazing!! I’ve learned a lot about the atonement lately.  In our classroom, we watch this movie about the atonement and missionary work and it is amazing! President Eyring and elder Holland speak in it and it is so powerful! At one point elder Holland is talking about missionary work and he says something like why is it so hard? Why don't they accept the message? but we must remember we are not the first ones to ask these questions. They were once asked by someone much greater, in the garden of Gethsemane and upon the cross. As missionaries, if we want to be successful, we must walk part of the path Christ walked.

Another thing that really hit me this week was that Christ didn't just take on our sins, he took on every sickness, infirmity, affliction and sorrow. A quote I heard from an elder this week.

"The savior puts you at your lowest so he can raise you up, but while we are down there he is right by outside."

The savior knows each one of us personally. I love that. He will reach out to the one and tend to the one when they are in need. That is one thing i am going to try to apply here on my mission. D&C 112:14.

Wednesday we went proselyting and it was crazy! We went to the metro station and there were people everywhere!!! But we were able to give out 8 books of Mormons. Pretty sweet! It was a little scary at first but once we got going to was awesome! We got talking to this one couple and they had a lot of questions about the bible and why we only wear skirts. So we did our best to explain it all to her. But the both took a book and when we walked past her a couple of times she was reading it!! We were so excited!! Then some other ladies were so happy and took a picture with us and wanted to look us up and fb and everything. The people are just so nice down here and so willing to help us with the language. Most of the time i had no idea what they were saying but it was still really good! And we only got rejected once!!

Well that’s it for this week. Nothing other than that. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and stay safe!

Sister Steadman

Feliz Dia de Independencia (Happy Independence Day)

Oi!

Everything is good here! Nothing too exciting happened this past week. Just lots of learning and teaching. We now teach two investigators, our two teachers. We have each instructor for 3 hours a day and in those 3 hours we go and teach them for 30 minutes. Sometimes they tell us what to teach but most of the time we just teach them one of the lessons. Monday wasn't a good teaching day for me. In our first lesson, we taught Irma Bueno and she is a very good investigator! She asks some really tough questions which is good for us. But when she was talking, I had absolutely no idea what she was saying. Then my companions would answer her back and I just sat there. I had no idea what anyone was saying. It was rough. But our lesson after that went a lot better!! I was able to understand and I answered Irma Barros questions and said a lot. I felt super proud of myself!!

In our devotional on Tuesday night president Swensen talked to us. He received a letter from the first presidency and said we had received modern revelation. They decided to change the way we teach. So now we have to teach lessons 1 through 5 before they get baptized, 1 through 5 again, after they are baptized and then stay in touch with them for 3 to 4 months after they become members. The United States has the highest rate for baptisms and Brazil is second. But in Brazil, only four percent stay active. So I think by changing this, those numbers will go up a lot. I’m excited for it!!

This week I’ve been studying a lot about the Holy Ghost and what a blessing it has been! The spirit has been so strong this past week and I can really see the lord’s hand in my everyday life. I can feel his love for me at all times.

I know our heavenly father loves each one of us and knows us personally. More than that, he actually likes us. All we need to does put all of our faith and trust in him and our savior. By doing so, we will be blessed more than we can imagine. When life gets hard, turn to your father in heaven, put all your faith in him and he will take care of you. Just do your best and he will take care of the rest

Mosiah 7:33   

I love you all and hope you’re all doing well. Have a fabulous week!!

Sister Steadman

Oi Familia

[McKell sent us her first email on June 27.  You can find it below]

Sorry it’s been so long. My p-day is on Fridays and I get on about 1 here. But everything is really good. I’ve gotten really good at understanding Portuguese. I’m still struggling at talking but I can understand as long as they talk slow ha! My district had five people in it. It was me, Sister Dixon, Sister Mercer, Elder Leme and elder chamberlain. But Elder Leme took a year of Portuguese at BYU so they moved him up with the two weeker's brasileiros and moved the other Elder with the new ones this week. So it’s just me and my sisters now. We were the first sisters in then months who would be here for 10 weeks. Pretty crazy!!! Food here is good. We eat lots of meat which is super yummy!!! Sundays and Tuesdays are devotionals and they are really good!! They were broadcasted from Provo and I saw Cassidy on the screen! I was so excited. So here’s my day, I get up at 630, get ready and eat. Then we head to our classroom and have personal study for an hour. Then our teacher teaches us for about three. We prepare lessons and she teaches us vocab. then we eat lunch, finishes our lesson, then we go teach our other instructor. Then we come back to the class, study, prepare another lesson, do some language study. Then we eat dinner, and the past couple of days we have played volleyball after dinner and it has been so much fun!! They are crazy here and that makes it so much fun!!

So when Brazil played soccer on Monday it was crazy here!! Ten minutes before the game started they were shooting fireworks and honking every horn possible.  Then every time they would score the lunch ladies would run out and scream and yell, but then the president got mad. But the people would shoot more fireworks and make tons of noise!! There are a bunch of tall apartment buildings around here and they would shoot the fireworks off of their balconies. It’s so cool to watch!

Letters take 2 or 3 weeks to get here.

The first couple of days were pretty cold!!! And the sun didn't shine forever but this week has been so nice! We've been doing some studying outside on our porch thing.

Tuesday was Presidente Swenson’s birthday so we got American food for lunch and it was so nice! I definitely miss American food! We got hamburgers and French fries. We all loaded up on it ha!

I heard a quote the other day that fits the first week of the MTC so well! It says:

“The first week at the MTC is like drinking from a fire hydrant. You get a little bit of water but it mostly hurts your face” ha!! It’s so true. It really sucks but then Sunday comes and everything is awesome!! I absolutely love it here!! Everyone is so nice and we have so much fun!! Except my two sisters got in a fight about Disney princess the other day..... It was ridiculous and I had to break it up. But other than that we get along really well.

Well I hope everything is well at home! Sorry it’s short I don't have much time. But I love you all so much!

Love you all!!

Sister Steadman