11 Months Down

Well as of today, my companion and I have officially completed 11 months! So crazy!!!! We are still trying to wrap our minds around the fact. But, time sure does pass by quickly.

But this week was good! Our focus this past week was to either mark a date for baptism with our investigators or drop them. And basically all of them got dropped, ha. But we have found some new investigators that I am super excited about! 

First off we have an investigator named Mabia. She is so funny! She’s this little lady who is probably 45 but she is so full of energy! I love it! This week we taught her a couple of times and she was reading the Book of Mormon and was praying as well. Yesterday we went and visited her with a member and we were just checking up to see if she was still reading a praying and she said she had been reading. So she pulled out her Book of Mormon and she opened to Mosiah 25 and told us that she had read until there. At first I did not believe it. Never before had I had an investigator that had read that much. So we asked her to explain to us what she had read. So she went off talking about the Lamanites and King Benjamin and the government..... We were AMAZED!!! I was so excited! So we also asked her if she had prayed to know if the things that we have taught her are true and she said she had prayed and knows that it is all true! So we were super excited! We just haven’t marked a date with her yet because she has to get married and stop smoking.... but we are getting there :) 

We also have another investigator, José Fernando, who was in church yesterday which was also another surprise :) He is catholic, but the catholic that never goes to church, ha. So we’ve have been explaining a lot to him the importance of having the priesthood. He seems to be understanding it all very well. We were able to mark a date with him for June 6th. And he said if he knows it’s all true, he will be baptized. So we are praying like crazy, ha! 

Last Monday, one of our members finally got married!!!! We had been waiting sooo long for her to get married! So now she will be able to help out a lot more in our group! 

Well that’s about it for this week! Remember to always read your scriptures and say your prayers! Love you all!

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

Crocodiles In Our Lives

Not too much has happened this week, but it has been a good one!

We've got 3 investigators that I think have so much potential! I’m so excited to continue to work with them and help them learn more about their savior!!

First we have a lady named Leila. We met her one day when we were just walking down the street. We shared the plan of salvation with her and her mother and they loved it! We've taught them the restoration as well. She is 30 years old and has been recently divorced and is still trying to get back into the swing of things. Our last visit with her we talked about courage. We shared the Mormon message about Esther. If you haven’t seen this video I would highly encourage that you watch it. It’s mainly for women but I love it! It talks about the courage Esther had, then gives three examples of women today. Super good!! But Leila loved the video and I think it helped her a lot. We are hoping to continue to work with her this week.

Next is Luci, we are still working with her and helping her to feel more comfortable with things. She came to church with us yesterday and participated so much! She loves it! She’s progressing every day. She tells us that she shares our messages with everyone at her school and shares the book of Mormon as well. Ha she isn't even a member but is already a missionary! I love it!

One of our investigators, Val, decided to show more of an interest this week. She is six months pregnant and her husband is away working a lot right now so she gets pretty lonely sometimes. She is neighbors with Luci. We went and talked to her about the book of Mormon again. Ha, it was a funny conversation. I guess there is a group of people that has a name similar to Mormon that did human sacrifices and painted their faces and stuff so she was a little skeptical about the book of Mormon for this reason. She thought we did the same rituals. But we explained everything to her ha. She even came to church with us yesterday and really enjoyed it! So hopefully she will continue to progress!

We have lots of people we've been trying to contact but haven’t had a lot of luck so we just keep trying! We ran into one of the less active members this week which was great! He lives really far out so it’s hard to visit him so it was perfect that we ran into him! He has a really strong desire to return to the church and asked for our help so we are trying out best ha. Our phone doesn’t have any more credits on it right now so it’s a little challenging at times but it’s all working out :)

You’re probably wondering about the title of this email. Crocodiles in our lives. Let me explain. Last Friday we had an activity with the ward. We started off by asking them a bunch or random questions. When they would get them wrong, one person would have to do push-ups to pay for their errors. In the end we talked about the atonement and how Jesus Christ paid for our errors. I told a story that my companion in the MTC told me

One day there was a little boy playing in a swamp near his house. His mom was watching him through the window. When she looked out the window she saw a crocodile on the other side of the lake headed towards the boy. She hurried and ran out trying to get the boys attention before the crocodile got to him. The mother reached the boy the same time the crocodile did. The mother grabbed the boy’s arms as the crocodile grabbed the boy’s legs. She fought for the boy. Not giving up, she was finally able to pull him to safety.

Years later this same boy was on a talk show sharing his story with the world. The host and audience of the show asked to see his scars on his legs, but they boy wouldn't show them. He said the scars on my legs aren’t important. The scars on my arms are what matter. The fact that my mother wasn't willing to let the crocodile take me. My mother fought for me and pulled me to safety. She saved me.

Many times in our lives, we have crocodiles at our legs trying to pull us down and it can be very easy to let him. But we must always remember we have a savior. He is there waiting for us to reach up and take his hand. He is there to pull us to safety. So when life gets hard, look for the scars on your arms. And always remember that there is always someone to help you.

I am so grateful for my savior. I’m so grateful that I am able to repent for my sins and become clean. I know that he suffered for my sins. But he also suffered for our weaknesses, our failures, when we are feeling sad or depressed, when we feel weak and feel like we can’t move on. He knows exactly how we are feeling. He is there to lift us up and get us back on our feet. We should always remember him.

Have a fabulous week!

Sister Steadman