A Burning Feeling

Boa Tarde Gente!! How are you all doing today? Today I’m doing great because it is raining, haha. Today was transfers and luckily I will be staying here with Sister Aldana! We are very happy about that :) Three of the four elders here got transferred and we will only find out which ones are coming here when they arrive, which will most likely be tomorrow or Wednesday.

But, this week was really good. It was super hot!!!! But good :) But here when its hot, its hot and there´s nothing you can do about it! When we are out in the street we get fried, but when we enter a house we bake, ha. But the Lord was so nice and blessed us with a little bit of rain one day last week and today :) So, we are still alive :)

But anyways, this week flew by once again. But this week was a really good week! My comp and I were commenting last night on how much stronger the spirit was this week. We had a couple of lessons where the spirit was so strong that people were in tears and I was on the edge of tears! But, it really was such a good week!

So two weeks ago we started teaching a woman named Bia. She lives alone with her 2-year-old daughter Kathleen. In our first visit she was super receptive and we taught her the Plan of Salvation. The second we met her ex-husband and we talked to them about the importance of prayer and gave her the pamphlet of the Restoration. So this week we went back to visit her and we taught her the first lesson and I’ll just tell ya, it was really good! It was one of those lessons where the spirit led every word. She took in everything and was so excited to receive the Book of Mormon!! The only down side is that she works almost every Sunday, but she is excited to go to church and get to know more!

Then this week we spent some more time with Alsirene and her family :) They live just one street above us so we see them in the street a lot and every time her kids see us they come running to us and ask when we are going to visit them again. I sure love her kids :) She has a daughter, Estefani, who is 10 and she is super smart! In one of the lessons we asked her if she had read the Book of Mormon yet and she said no. But she said she really wanted to start reading it because it has a good name and so she thinks it is a good book. This week we have slowly been teaching them the Plan of Salvation. Unfortunately, they weren’t in church yesterday. We stopped by yesterday morning before church and nobody answered but we are going to stop by tonight and see what happened.

Yesterday we had some way awesome lessons as well! On Saturday we met a girl in the street named Yasmin who is 14. She told us that her family was looking for a church and told us how she has been to a couple of churches already. Basically all the stuff we love to hear :) So we went back to visit her yesterday and we met her Godmother, Raquel. So we got talking and we started to teach the first lesson, the Restoration. And it was going so perfectly! But of course, right as my comp was talking about the first vision a bunch of people entered the house, making a ton of noise and talking to Raquel and Yasmin.... super annoying. But we were able to bring the spirit back and my comp finished. But the coolest part was when we went to bare our testimonies. The whole time Raquel had that look in her eyes that she just wasn’t listening to our message, but she was feeling the truthfulness of what we were teaching. I love these moments! But when we bore our testimonies the spirit was so strong that is was tangible! And Raquel started to cry. So we invited her to be baptized and she accepted. But we didn’t mark a date because we think she has a boyfriend and we need to make sure that they aren’t living together. But for sure, she will be baptized :)

Then last night we went and visited Leo and Bella. I will admit, I wasn’t really looking forward to it because I didn’t want another lesson of him trying to prove us wrong. But we promised to return one more time so we went. The whole day we were praying for the spirit to really guide us in our lesson with them that they would be able to feel that what we were saying was true. And we really didn’t want to cut them because we haven’t been able to teach them anything else other then the first lesson and we really wanted to help them know a little bit more. So we went into the lesson planning to teach the Plan of Salvation. So when we arrived, there was a different feeling in the house. They were a little bit more quiet then usual and didn’t seem quite as happy. So as we got talking to them they told us that they had a really rough week that a lot of things happened so they were a little down. So we decided to talk about our purpose here in life and the Atonement. We only used scriptures from the Book of Mormon and it was perfect!! By the end Leo was emotional and said it was exactly what he needed to hear! But once again, it was all the spirit. The lessons we had this week were only possible because of the spirit.

Well, one more transfer left. It’s a little strange but its gotta happen sometime. One thing that I am so grateful for, is my testimony. Before the mission I thought I was ok. That I was prepared for whatever life would bring. But that is so untrue. I have learned so many things here on the mission that has only strengthened my testimony. I’m so grateful for everything that I have been through here on the mission.  I’m grateful for everything that I have learned as well. I’m grateful for the testimony that I have gained. I’m grateful that every time I share my testimony, the spirit confirms for me that this gospel really is true. I’m grateful for my Savior. I’m grateful for my Heavenly Father. For all the things he has taught me to prepare me for my future. I’m so grateful for this gospel. I don’t know where I would be without it :)

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week. Keep reading the scriptures and saying your prayers. Work on your own testimony and share it every opportunity that you have. Love you all!

Com Amor,
Sister Steadman

What is Faith?

Well it sure has felt like this week has flown by!! So crazy! And this transfer! This transfer was a little different because it was only five weeks so it flew by way too fast! And I’m basically 100% sure that I will be transferred next week. So I’m working as hard as I can to leave everything set and ready for the next sister :) But this week was a really good week! 

On Monday, Alessandra and Edson finally got married!!! Investigators of the Elderes. But they have been waiting for months now! So they were finally able to get married and then they were baptized that night! It was so exciting!!! 

Our investigator Nivaldo is progressing so well!!! He seriously was so prepared by the Lord! This week we taught him the word of wisdom and at first he was a little nervous because he drank a lot of coffee throughout the day, ha! But we gave him cevada (it’s like coffee but a lot healthier and it’s not against the commandment) and he’s been drinking it every day! He said he’s had a few headaches but by the end of the weekend he was perfectly fine! So this week we are just going to finish teaching him everything and he will be baptized this Saturday!!!!! We are extremely excited!! Also, the other day when we were teaching him his friend walked in and we could tell that he had drunken a few.... so Nivaldo started teaching him why it was bad to drink, haha it was so funny! But we are extremely happy with him :)

We weren’t able to visit our family as much as we wanted to this past week but they aren’t progressing as well as we expected. They weren’t in church yesterday and one of the girls is avoiding us.... So we will see what happens this week. 

We were able to find a couple of new investigators that we think have a lot of potential so hopefully things work out this week! Also Thursday night we had a surprise birthday party for one of our members, Mariano, who helps us with everything! 

But today I had a little bit of time to reflect on my time here in Cristalina and it has been one of the best experiences of my life. I have been so amazed by the members and I have learned so much. But one thing that I am so impressed with is the Faith of these members. Faith. It’s a simple word. Just five letters. But it’s a word with so much power. It’s a word we here often, but do we truly understand the meaning of faith. But through the scriptures we learn that faith is believing in things we can’t see. Faith is having hope, and faith is acting upon what we believe. Through faith, we can have miracles in our lives. Through faith we can accomplish just about anything we want, as long as it is according to the Lords will. But, this short amount of time I’ve had here in Cristalina, I’ve learned more about faith then I ever have in my life. The people here have so much faith. But it’s easy to tell who really believes and who just says that they believe. Those that have faith are in church every single Sunday. Our church may be small and simple, In fact it’s just a little house with a few benches and chairs, but they people who really believe and have faith, are there every Sunday to learn more and to renew their covenants with the Lord. These are the people that amaze me. The pathway of the Lord isn’t an easy pathway. Its straight and narrow. It’s full of hardships and trials. But it’s the only pathway that will give us true happiness and that will lead us to our Heavenly Father. The members here now this. They know it’s not easy. They tell us all the time that the pathway of the world is a whole lot easier. But that’s not where they find true happiness. That’s not where we will receive blessings. The world may say it has many promises and wonderful things, but they are only temporary. The pathway of the Lord has blessing and promises much greater than anything else this world has to offer. And the only way we can stay on this pathway is through our faith. By walking with our eyes of faith.

I am so extremely grateful for this gospel in my life. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father and everything he has prepared for me. I love this church and this work.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! And happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful Mothers out there! And a special shout out to my wonderful mother! If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be where I am today! But seriously... If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be here on the earth, hahaha. But I love you so much mom! Thank you for everything! And Happy Mother’s Day to my wonderful sisters and sister in law! I love you all so much and am very grateful for your examples! I can’t wait to talk to you guys on Saturday! Have a Fabulous week!

Love,

Sister Steadman