4 Transfers Together

Well last night we got the phone call of the transfer and luckily..... we are staying together here in Guará! And we are very happy about it, :) so we will spend four transfers together! So today I left my planner at home so I don’t remember much from this week but I will try.

So we’ve got a couple of investigators who are really progressing and we are super excited!!!! First off Raimundo who has a date for the 15th! We taught him this week and he asked us, "So when is my baptism again?" ha, so he is doing well! He was in church yesterday and he is really liking everything!!

Jerffeson is doing well. I learned this week that I have been spelling his name wrong, ha. But he is lessening the smoking which we are super happy about and is continually preparing for baptism! So just keep praying for him please!!

We have also been teaching a man named Eduardo. He is super awesome and really interested in our message but he still has his doubts. So we are really trying to explain everything to him very simply and really trying to help him understand the basics. So we will see how this week goes.

We didn’t do any splits this week so it left us with more time to really work more in our area. Which was nice. But the splits should be starting up again this week.

Well thank you all for your emails and updates! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Sorry it’s short I’ll be better next week! Love you all! And remember to always read your scriptures and say your prayers!

Com Amor,
Sister Steadman

Changes, Familiar Faces and New Challenges

Well, as I am sure you all know by now, I have been transferred! It was sad leaving Cristalina, but I have left it in good hands. :) But before I talk about my new area I will start with this past week. And I will try to be a little more descriptive because Sister Dixon got a little mad at me ha... So I’ll try to be better, ha!

The miracles started Tuesday night. After a long day of working and not finding anyone in their home..... we were heading home and ran into the elders. So we got started talking about our day and everything, then they told us about their day. And they told us about a family they found of 9 people. They told us that the family was super awesome, the lesson was super awesome and they were able to mark baptism dates with almost all of them! Then..... here’s the good part..... they told us that this family lived in our part of the area!!!!!! Oh we were soooooo excited and happy!!! Finally after a long transfer we found a family!!!! So Thursday night we went and visited them. But first we ran into the mom, Bethania, in another house earlier that afternoon. And we could tell that right from the beginning she was really looking for the truth! So that night we went and visited, we taught them the first lesson, showed them the video of the first vision and it was more than perfect!!  They were all paying attention and loved it! Oh we were sooooo excited!!!! After the lesson we were walking in the street talking about how it went, and Sister Costancio was jumping in the street and screaming because she was so excited, and the older son of the family showed up beside us on his bicycle laughing at us, hahaha...... que vergonha [How Embarassing]! But we were super excited!!!

Also this week I was studying a little bit in the end of Alma in the Book of Mormon and I have decided that if I were ever to be a captain of war, I’ll just read Alma and follow captain Moroni and Helaman. They know exactly how to win. :) That is by having the Lord on their side of course... ha. :)

This week was a little hard with Denis. We tried to visit him every single day, but we were not able to find him. We finally found him one night this week, but we found him just a little drunk..... so of course we sat down and taught the word of wisdom, ha. We returned the next day and made sure that he really understood. But this week he just wasn’t feeling ready to be baptized. So he will most likely be baptized this following weekend. 

Saturday night we had our Fest Junina!! It was super fun! So the month of June here is kind of a big deal for the Catholics here in Brasil. They have a holiday, which name I have forgotten, but basically everyone in Brasil celebrates. So they have a big party where they all wear plaid shirts and dresses, boots, hats, things that farmers wear. Then they dance and dance and eat and dance and eat a little more ha! It was a lot of fun! Of course we didn’t get to participate in the dancing.... but it was fun to watch! Sister Costancio and I were able to find some plaid shirts so we could participate. :)

Yesterday was my last Sunday teaching Relief Society. But it has been such a good experience being able to prepare the lesson every Sunday! And I have officially decided that the teacher definitely learns a lot more than the people in the class!

Well I also passed my one year mark this week..... so weird! Sister Costancio and I were commenting that it doesn’t feel like we have been out for a year but then at the same time it feels like we have been gone forever!!! But time is flying by sooo fast!!!

Well Friday night we found out that we were transferred. So we packed everything up and left Sunday afternoon. We stayed with the Sister trainers in Guará 2. So last night as we were getting ready for bed, the assistants called and told me to leave my luggage in the Sister’s house and the next day they will pick it up and take me and my new companion to our new area..... ya let’s just say that the assistants aren’t really good at lying, ha. So it was confirmed this morning. So now I am in Guará 2 with Sister Alves, minha mãe!!! My first companion here in the mission!! I was super excited! But being here in Guará 2 means that I am a Sister Trainer. Which means we will be doing splits every week with the sisters, helping them out and stuff.  I’m super excited and honored for the opportunity but a little nervous. But it will be good. :) It will be good to get to know all of the Sisters. :) 

Today I finally got to see my companions from the CTM [MTC]! I was so happy! When I saw Sister Dixon I ran up to her, gave her a huge hug, and we started to cry, hahah. I know we are babies.... but it’s been almost 7 months since I have seen her! So that was super cool!

Well that’s about it for this week! Sorry, no pictures this time but I will try next week! Well, I love you all and hope you all have a fabulous week!

Love Sister Steadman

A Crazy Week

Well this week sure flew by so fast! So many things happened! But, best of all it was so good to talk to my family :) But here’s a load down of my week here in Cristalina :)

Last Monday we did an activity for our district here. We planned on walking to a club that has a beach so we could visit it and take some pics. Well in the end, it turned out to be about 12 kilometers away so we ended up walking for six hours that day! We were all dead and by the end we could even walk straight, ha. But we spend the night in a pizza place and ate a good dinner, ha. 

Wednesday morning I set up an interview for Maciele and Elder Todt (leader of my district) because we really felt like she just needed to talk to him to feel better. So we sat there while they had the interview and she came out and was like well, if I’m going to get baptized I’ve got to be baptized soon! So she was like let me grab my planner. So she grabbed her planner and looked at us and said, "Can I be baptized today at 4:30?" haha, we said of course! So we hurried and ran home and got everything ready! It was so cool! 

This week my comp wasn’t feeling too good so we took it a little slower so she could recover. Friday night we were in our house making some cookies for a surprise birthday party for one of the Elders when she got super sick. The Elders started freaking out and told me that I had to run her to the hospital because they thought she had dengue. So I ran her to the hospital and we ended up staying there for 7 hours...... until 1 in the morning. But in the end she just has a little cold. So we’ve been laying low so she could get better and she is doing a lot better now :)

Saturday I got to talk to my family!!!! And Nivaldo was baptized that night! Ha, he was so scared to go under the water but it all worked out! He only has one leg so he was super nervous about that but two elders helped him. But when he came up from the water he freaked out because he was so scared, ha! But he was so happy after :)

Well today is the transfer and I’ll be staying here with Sister Costancio and we only have one Elder that was transferred. The new Elder is Elder Barker, I worked with him when I was in Asa Norte so I already know him a little bit! But we are all super excited! And this next transfer is going to be great :)

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! Keep reading the scriptures and saying your prayers! Love you all! 

Love,

Sister Steadman

Nivaldo's Baptism

He has Risen

Well what a wonderful weekend we had! General Conference was absolutely wonderful!!!! I loved how much they talked about the importance of our families and marriage in the temple :) We had some of our investigators watch some of the sessions with us and it was really cool to explain everything to them and help them understand it all. They all seemed to really like it :) 

Well transfers were today and Sister De Paula got transferred. She is going to Palmas again! In the exact same ward as we were in, haha. But she will be in the part of the ward that I was in but she will work on my side of the area. So a little different but she will be with my companion from the CTM Sister Mercer!!! I am super excited for her!!! But my new companion is Sister Costancio!!! Who I lived with as well up in Palmas :) So I’m super happy to be working with her now!

We had our baptism this past Sunday of Dhiully and it was super cute! She was super excited! We had a bunch of people show up to support her! 

Well that’s about it. This week we just continued teaching and finding new people. This next transfer we've got to work on strengthening our relief society and continue to grow!

I hope you all had the chance to think about our Savior a little bit this weekend and all that he does for us.  It truly is comforting to me to know that he lives. He is Risen. Because of him, sooo many things are possible. I hope you all take the time to watch the new video of our Savior on the church website. If you haven’t, watch it. But I love you all and hope you are all doing well :)

Keep on reading the scriptures!!! 

Love,

Sister Steadman

My District