Chasing Down Investigators

Well, I don´t have too much time but I’ll try to tell you guys everything that happened this week.

First off we have Fabrissa. We met her two weeks ago knocking doors and she accepted our visits. So when we went back to visit her, her sister had an emergency and she had to go help. Then we went to go visit her again and her tooth broke so she had to go to the dentist. But finally, deu certo :) So we got to visit her this week and it was so good! She told us right in the first visit that she wants help to quit smoking so we have been setting goals with her and she has been smoking less. She accepted to be baptized as well on the 19th of December! So we are super excited about her! When we taught her the first lesson the spirit was super strong and she new right away that is was all true! And she was so excited to receive a Book of Mormon!

Then we have Raianne and her family. So here is everyone, Edvania the mom, Raianne 18, Fabianna 16, Natalia 12, I think, and Anderson the cousin. So this week we stopped by a few times and we were able to teach all of them. Obviously they weren’t all together every visit but we have been able to help them all progress which was really good! Sometimes its a little difficult to teach them because we show up and its different people every time and some of the family members have heard more messages then others. But they are all reading the Book of Mormon! Anderson we met this week. He heard about our visits and wanted to participate so one morning when we went to go visit Raianne she went and woke him up and he participated so that was cool! And..... they finally went to church!!!!!! We were super happy about that and they loved it!!!!! But it may take them awhile to get baptized because they have a few commandments that they need to keep before.

One day as we were walking down the street, after all of our appointments fell through, we saw a man sweeping and we thought lets make a contact with him. But then he went inside and started to close his garage door and I thought oh crap...... but then he stopped half way. So we ran and talked to him. And it was so perfect! He asked us a bunch of questions, questions that hardly nobody asks, but questions that every missionary wants to hear! So we talked to him a bit then marked to visit him the next day. So we went back the next day and he wasn’t there. So we tried to call him, and out of nowhere he came running down the street, ha. He was caught up at his work and couldn’t leave to meet with us so he ran really quick so that we wouldn’t think that he forgot. So we set up to meet with him again this week. But, I’ll tell ya, he was definitely prepared by the Lord. So I’m super excited about this week!!!

Yesterday in church we FINALLY had some luck! We had 7 investigators in church!!!! We finally got to see the fruits of our work! And yesterday we broke the record here in Paracatú of the number of people. Normally we have like 28 but yesterday we had 40!!! And most of the people were investigators! So we are extremely happy about that! Now we just need to keep up with them so they continue to progress!!

Lately I have had the chance to teach the Plan of Salvation a lot and I have loved it! Never before have I realized how important it is to know the plan that the Lord has made for us. I always think of the movie Alice in Wonderland when she comes to a fork in the road and the cat appears to her. And she asks which path she should take. The cat replies saying that it depends on where she wanted to go, and she didn’t know. So the cat tells her that any path will do. This is very similar to our lives. In many moments we come to a fork in the road and we aren’t sure with way to take. But knowing our final destination (the Celestial kingdom) we are able to figure out which path will be better and take us to there. This path is Jesus Christ. If we follow him everyday and live his teachings, we will reach our destination. But only through him it is possible. Thus, we must always be searching for him, always reading the scriptures to know what we must do to stay on the path, praying for the strength and protection of the Lord to stay on the path, and being worthy to have the spirit with us to help us stay on the path. And by doing this, we will reach the gates of heaven and there we will meet our Heavenly Father with his arms out wide to take us in. I’m so eternally grateful for the Plan of Salvation. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father. He knows me personally and loves me. He loves each and every one of us. He wants us back, but he gave us our agency to choose. So I challenge each of you this week to do a self-evaluation to see where you are. Where on the path you are at and what you can do to continue? If you are not on the path, I invite you to return. He will help you make it back. Seek our Savior Jesus Christ. He will take your hand and guide you through.

I love this gospel. I love my mission. I love my Savior.

Have a Fabulous week!!

Com Amor,
Sister Steadman

Guará

What a wonderful week is was here in Guará! Here’s what happened:

This transfer we have been trying really hard to get the members to give us referrals and we haven’t had much success. But this week we received a ton!!! Not from the members but from other missionaries so that was a huge blessing! We were super happy about that, :) 

This week Jefferson was able to talk to our district leader and he set a goal to be baptized on the 15th of August! So please keep him in your prayers that he will be able to stop smoking and be baptized this date! He really has a desire to be baptized and everything, he just needs to stop smoking! So please remember him in your prayers!

This week we didn’t get to visit Maria a lot because she wasn’t home, but we visited her one time with a sister here and it was sooooo perfect! We were only able to teach her half of the plan of salvation because she talks a lot but she loved it! She lost her dad when she was little so she never understood why. She also never understood why life is so hard and why we have so many trials. It was seriously the coolest thing to answer her questions and give her a different look on life. I love it when this happens!!! She also has a beautiful Huskie named Céu. Which is heaven so when we visit her we also play a bit with her dog. But seriously she’s the most beautiful dog I have ever seen! 

This week as we were making contacts in the street we met a man named Kleve Eduardo. He's about 25ish. So we went to visit him and Saturday and he was super happy to see us and a bit surprised because he didn’t think we would actually visit him. Well when we first met him we just gave him a pass along card about the Book of Mormon. So when we arrived in our appointment he started off right away asking about the Book of Mormon! We were super excited! So we taught him the first lesson explaining everything to him and he understood it all really well!!! And he kept saying, "Ya, that makes sense", ha it was so perfect! But during our lesson a drunk man kept trying to talk to us and kept interrupting us, it was a little annoying but it didn’t seem to budge Eduardo. So we were super happy about that! And he even was in church yesterday! He only stayed for sacrament meeting, but he really liked it and was asking a lot of questions and making a lot of comments! So please keep him in your prayers as well!

A couple of weeks ago we made a contact in the street with a man named Raimundo. At the time he was drinking so we just made a quick contact and left. We tried to visit him again but in the end we started to visit his neighbor who we are still visiting. But we found him again in the street and set another time to visit him. That same day we found him again so decided to teach him in the street really quick and invited him to church. Well out of the blue he was in church yesterday!!!! He stayed for all 3 meetings and really liked it! At the end he was asking our ward mission leader about baptism and what he needs to do to be baptized!! We were super happy about that! Finally our hard work is paying off, :) 

This week we did splits in Cristalina which was super cool! I loved being able to go back to the little town and seeing everyone and everything again! I got to see some of my recent converts and one of the people I was teaching I think was baptized on Saturday so it was super cool to see that!

Well that’s about it for this week! Thank you to all of you who continue to email me and give me words of advice! I really appreciate all of the love and support you all give me, :) I know my time is short here in Brasil, but I’m working my butt of till the end! I’ve still got Children of God to find, :) I love being a missionary. :)

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! Remember to always say your prayers and read your scriptures! There you will find the things you are needing. :) Love you all!

Com Amor,

Sister Steadman :) 

Miguel and Bea

Staying in Cristalina

Well today was transfers but luckily, I will be staying here with Sister De Paula!!!!! We are extremely excited. :)

This week was pretty good! We were able to find some more investigators, and finally get some to progress a little more! This week we had our first relief society activity and it was really good! It’s fun to finally have enough people to do these activities. :)

We met two young girls a couple of weeks ago, Jessica and Bruna, and this week we were finally able to sit down with them and teach them! They had been coming to all of our activities, and they even came to church! So we were able to teach the about the Book of Mormon and the plan of salvation and it was so good!! When we taught them about the Book of Mormon they were both so excited to start reading it! Then they were amazed with the Plan of Salvation. It was so cool to see them finally have answers to some of their questions and truly understand this plan. I love teaching the plan of salvation! We invited them to be baptized and they both accepted! So now we just need to talk to their parents...... wish us luck, ha!

This week I was also able to work a lot with some of our recent converts; Gilton who was baptized about 3 weeks ago and Aline who was baptized before I arrived. Gilton told me a little more about his life before he got to know the church and it’s truly amazing how the lord works. He’s got a plan for every single one of us and loves us so much! With Aline she got called as the seminary teacher and she is extremely shy! So we’ve been working a lot with her on talking in front of people and this week the classes start! So we are really excited to see how she does. :)

One funny thing for this week - we were looking for the house of an investigator of the elders and were in an area that we didn’t know yet. We were searching for a house that was more out in the farms. So we came to a strip of houses with a bunch of chickens in the front and a lamb. Ha, this lamb really liked Sister de Paula but she wasn’t to fond of him, ha. So he chased us around for a bit and kept bugging Sister de Paula ha. In the end, we found the house and everything was good. :)

Have a fabulous week everyone!!

Sister Steadman