A Surprise Baptism

SURPRISE!!! Many more miracles have happened here in Cristalina! This week we were able to have a baptism and it was such a special moment! I felt like I could really see the Lords hand in our work this week! It’s truly amazing! So here’s a little bit about my week. :)

So this week we ended with the baptism of Thayná! She is the granddaughter of Irma Carmen, who was baptized about a month ago and she is 14. So she’s been staying with her grandma for about a month now, and every weekend she told us she was going to return home to go back to school, but she never returned. So she sat with us in most of the lessons with Irma Carmen so she basically already knew everything. So this weekend we got talking to her and just asked her if she wanted to be baptized and she said yes! So we made plans to have her baptized here! So Saturday afternoon was her baptism and it was so special! It was so cute! She was sooo happy! She had her best friends with her and Irma Carmen was so proud! It was such a special moment! As of today we aren’t sure if she’s going to go back to her house or if she is going to stay here with us. We have been praying for weeks for her to stay, and she stayed long enough to get baptized. So we will see what the outcome is this week.

We had another cool experience yesterday! One of our recent converts, Gilton, received the priesthood yesterday and he got called as the secretary of our group! It was so cool and such a special experience to see it all happen :) Just seeing how the Lord worked in his conversion. The Lord had it all planned out. We met him in the exact moment that we needed to and the rest is history! I’m super excited to see what else the Lord has in store for him! Every week he tells of new people he is inviting to church or moments he has had of sharing the gospel. He is already such a great missionary!

We also had some more progress with some of our investigators this week. Regis and Edivaldo. They are a couple that we met the other week and we have been trying really hard to help them out. They have a lot of problems, but their desire to change is huge! So we taught them the word of wisdom this week and talked about marriage with them. They weren’t too happy with the idea of marriage but they are getting more comfortable with it. Regis has really improved with the Word of Wisdom but Edivaldo is still having problems. But they are progressing! We went and visited them yesterday and Regis was telling us how she was telling a friend about the church and her friend brought her a book. Basically the book was full of churches that are sects or do things against god. And our church just so happened to be there. So we looked at it and the information it contained was correct. It was very interesting. So we taught the first vision and that seemed to calm them down a little bit ha. But the book is just one more sign that this church is true. There isn’t another church here on the earth that is attacked more than The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. From the beginning, from the days of the bible, this church was attacked and continues to be. Just goes to show that this church really is the true church.

Just another quick story. Last night we were doing visits with Gilton, and it started to pour so a lady invited us to take cover in her little garage until the rain stopped. We got talking to her and she told us that she sees us almost every day passing by and she noticed that we were someone different when we would say good morning to her. So she told herself that one day she would talk to us. So we took advantage of this opportunity and taught her and her sister. It turned out to be such a good lesson, more of her family showed up as the lesson went on. In the beginning she and her sister were telling us how her mother recently died. So we asked them what they believed with life after death and so we ended up teaching them the plan of salvation because they didn’t believe in much. It was perfect! It was such a spiritual lesson! So we are going to visit them again later this week :)

I’m so grateful for this wonderful plan that our heavenly father has made for us. He truly loves us. I’m so grateful for this opportunity i have to be here, helping these people find this hope and joy! I love this gospel!

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

Love,
Sister Steadman

Like the Pioneers

This week sure was busy but it was so good! We ended up having a lot of activities in the church and a few baptisms as well! Our “group” sure is growing and getting a little bit bigger every week! We joke all the time that we are like the pioneers. We are starting from the ground up, spreading the gospel with everyone that we can!

So our first day here in Cristalina we met a woman named Carmen, she’s 63 years old and probably the cutest old lady I have ever met! She’s got so much excitement about her and loves this gospel. So we’ve been teaching her and we set a date with her for the 14th of this month to be baptized. Well, as we visited her this week, things were going super well and we started teaching her all of the commandments. When we went to ask her how she was feeling about being baptized, she told us that if she could, she would be baptized in that day. So we moved her baptism to this past Saturday and she was baptized! It’s truly amazing to see people get so happy! It was amazing to see. As soon as Carmen made the decision to be baptized and accept this gospel, there was a different light in her eyes. I love helping these people!!

This past weekend was also the baptism of Adrianno! I sure had my doubts about this one but it just goes to show that the Lord still puts miracles into our lives. We were struggling with him. Every time we set up a time to meet with him, he always planned something else or just wouldn’t show up. So finally we got him one night in his house and just sat down with him and asked him what he really wanted. It turned out to be really good and turns out that he just wasn’t feeling prepared for his baptism. So we went over all the commandments and he knew everything. So he was baptized this weekend as well and it was such a beautiful baptism!

So on Saturday, the same day as the baptisms, we started the morning with an activity with the youth! We had such a good turn out! We talked about family history and had them fill out the little booklets to get them started. We had a lot of investigators there and they loved it! After we had lunch with them and they did a little water fight, ha. Then we had a baby shower. It was for one of the investigators of the elders. She’s super young and doesn’t have a whole lot so we tried real hard to make it special for her and a lot of people came to help out! It was so good!  We made some yummy treats and made some cute decorations! Then we had the baptisms.....man was it a crazy day! But it turned out to be so good!

I sure love serving other people! I feel the closest to my savior and feel the spirit so strong when I am out helping those who are in need. I love being a part of this work. I love watching this church grow here and helping them all get started here in Cristalina. We really feel so much like the pioneers.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! Remember to read your scriptures!

Love you all!

Sister Steadman

It's raining baptisms

Lorrane's Baby Shower

The True Sadness of a Missionary

What a wonderful week it has been! I hope you all have had a wonderful week as well. :)

So this week we tried really hard to visit Luana every day and get her acting so she could be baptized. We visited her a lot and read a lot out of the Book of Mormon with her so she could learn how to relate the stories to her life and get in the habit of reading. It’s amazing to see how much we can really relate these stories to our lives :) So as the week went on she wasn’t reading. It’s not because she was too busy, it’s because she simply just doesn’t want to. So we got together with the Elders and had a family night with them. We talked about the atonement and really focused on what we need to do because he gave us everything. So we started out with an activity. We asked them questions, and they were tough questions, and every time they got one wrong, Elder Noyes did 10 push-ups. It’s moments like these I’m grateful we have Elders here ha! But we tried to show them what it was like for our savior. Oh the spirit was so strong! As of right now Luana isn’t reading the Book of Mormon, but her mom is and they were in church yesterday!!!!

We are also teaching the uncle of some recent members in our ward. With the elders he never did anything and never showed up to anything. So we had a good talk with him. And this week he stopped drinking coffee, he showed up to our bible study, fasted with us and showed up to church! All within a week! We were amazed!! I was so happy! He has a date set for this Sunday to be baptized so we are hoping he can stay strong!

We were also able to find some awesome people to teach this week! We are planning on setting more dates this week for baptism!

But there is one thing I have truly come to learn this week. ya it’s a bummer when we get rejected in the street or people just really don’t want to talk to us, but the hardest thing is when you have done everything for a family, taught them everything and they know it is true, but they just aren’t willing to take the little steps to be baptized. This is truly the sadness that we missionaries feel. Knowing that they have so much potential but they just don’t see it. But I am so grateful for this gospel and this knowledge that I have. I am so grateful to have this opportunity to bring others unto Christ. I love this gospel!!

Well, have a fabulous week! Love you all and read your scriptures!

Sister Steadman

Church house in Cristalina

Family Home Evening in Luana

Playing Soccer

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