Transfer Week!

Family and Friends!

Transfers!! Sister Bakker and I will both be staying in Portimão for one more transfer!! Wahoo!! I am really excited to be staying because we have an awesome teaching pool, our members are getting stronger and stronger and our investigators are super elect!!

We are teaching an awesome couple, Antonio and Ana. They are so excited about the gospel!! They've been to church three times now and they always have so many questions! It rocks! Yesterday, they said they wouldn't be able to make it to church, but right before the sacrament started, they walked into the chapel! Sister Bakker and I were shocked!!! Ana said she woke up and knew she needed to go to church, so they moved their schedule around and were able to make it to sacrament meeting! Everything we've taught them, they've absolutely loved hearing about! They also already have their sites set on the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. I am so excited for them!! 

We had appointments to teach Mathew this week in the Chapel, but he didn't show up to any of them. He also didn't show up to church and we have no way to contact him because he doesn't have a house and doesn't have a phone.. So he is currently MIA and we have no idea if we'll see him again! Haha we have faith that in the Lord's time, he will be baptized, just not this weekend. I know he has a testimony and believes that this church is the true church, so he'll come back. I'm not too worried. 

We've also been working with a few less actives. Ana and Rosa (mother and daughter) they love the Sister Missionaries!! Haha we enjoy visiting them and hope they will come back to church soon. We also have Maria Nobrega who has a great family, but has to work a lot. We hope that by our reaching out to her and our love for her that she will also be able to come back to church. 

That's about it for this week! The work just keeps getting better and better. I know that this gospel was restored on the earth. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer. I know that we are His hands. I love being a missionary and I love seeing the light in people's eyes as they realized that this is the true church.

I love you all!!! Até próxima! Ficam bem!! :)

Sister Steagall

Pictures: Sister Bakker and I on the balcony of one of our members

My nametag in front of the church

Me with Antonio and Ana!

Fantastic Week!

Dear Friends and Family,

What a week!!! I absolutely love the work of the Lord and I know that when we work diligently we will see miracles! And we sure did!! :)

Monday: We taught an x-investigator with a member. Her name is Gabi and she wants to know more about the church, but her boyfriend doesn't want to have anything to do with church. So we are praying super hard for his heart to be opened and hopefully we'll meet with them again this week.

Tuesday: Today was really rough. Elida, our investigator that was marked to be baptized this weekend dropped us because we woke up her daughter when we tried to pick her up for church. We felt really bad, but I know she'll receive the gospel later. She really is a great lady who has so much potential!! 

Wednesday: We had a division with the Sister Training Leaders today!! I got to be with Sister Cullimore, who is awesome!! When you're with the Sister Training Leaders, awesome things happen. We taught several lessons and the spirit was so strong!! We taught a couple, Antonio and Ana who were at church last Sunday and it was awesome! They are so interested in the church and I hope they get baptized soon! The only problem is is that they are not yet married.. So hopefully we'll have a wedding soon!! :)

Thursday: BEST. DAY. EVER. Sister Bakker and I were walking down the street and a man, named Mathew from England, came up to us and said "wow! girl mormon preachers! I've never seen that before!" So we talked to him and found out that he used to be a Jehovas witness, he is searching for the truth, he had looked at so many different christian religions, and none of them felt super right. So we gave him the first lesson right then and there and the whole time he just kept saying "ya, that makes sense." So we challenged him to be baptized. And at first, he said "I won't make any promises right now, I have to read the Book of Mormon first, but I'll think about it." So we invited him to hold the Book of Mormon in his hands and ask God with a sincere heart if this book was true. So he did, and after we asked him how he felt and he said "This feels good. I can't really describe it, but I feel like this is right. Ya. Ok. I'll get baptized on the 26 of April." AAAHHH!!!! I was so excited for him!! He had been searching for the truth and he found it!!! 

Friday: Today we had a branch activity! and Mathew came as well as Antonio and Ana!! They had such a great time and got to know the members really well! They are being accepted into the ward so well! I'm so excited for them! :)

Saturday: We had an English class and we had a lady show up that we had contacted in the road who said she wanted nothing to do with church, but she'd come to the English class. After the class she started asking a million questions about our church and what we believe and now she wants to come to Sacrament Meeting! What a miracle! 

Sunday: We had 4 investigators in church! Mathew, Antonio, Ana, and Daniel. We've been teaching Daniel this past week and he's a little hesitant about the gospel, but he's willing to try it. I hope he progresses and comes to know that this is the true church. We also had a big dinner with a ton of the members! Our branch is really getting so strong and I'm so excited!

I love this work and I know that when we put our trust in God and when we consecrate ourselves to Him. We will see miracles and be blessed immensely! What a wonderful work this is! :) 

Until next week!

Sister Steagall

P.S. I went to a castle for P-day today!! It was beautiful!! :)

What a Week!

Dear Family and Friends!! 

What a week!! I learned so much about how God works and I have grown more than ever as well. 

First! A quote that I absolutely love:

"Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." ~John 14:27

Elder Holland said: "I am convinced that none of us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Savior.. when He finds that His people do not feel confident in His care or secure in His hands." TRUST IN THE LORD!!

Now about my week:

Monday: We visited a man named Antonio who we had visited before and gave him a Pascoa (Easter) card and told him to watch the Because He Lives video. We passed by today and he said that he showed the video to his wife and she said "What is the name of this church? I want to know more." Miracle!!! So we set up a time later to meet with him and his wife and talk about the video.

Tuesday:We had a great district meeting where we were reminded that we are servants of God and that we have more authority on the earth than the President of the United States. We don't need to apologize for sharing this message with the world.

Wednesday: Bad day. I can say that, because the following days were awesome. But today, hardly anyone wanted to talk to us and all of our appointments fell!! Haha it was rough, but I learned that the Lord loves His missionaries and He helps them out. Because....

Thursday: INCREDIBLE DAY!! We Marked Elida for Baptism!! Finally!! We also went to Parchal today to find some more people to teach. We only knocked on two doors, both of them answered and both of them invited us in because they talked to the Elders 5 or 6 years ago! It was really great and they were super interested in our message!! We also went past Antonio's house and his wife wasn't there, but as we were leaving, she came in the door! So we invited them to church on Sunday, and they said maybe. So we weren't sure if they were really coming or not, but we always hope! 

Friday: We talked to a few less actives about sharing the gospel with others. It's really awesome how even though they don't really come to church, when you invite them to share this awesome message with their friends, they suddenly want to come back! Awesome!

Saturday: All of our appointments fell again!! Haha wahoo!! And I don't really know what happened, but at about 6:30, we ended up having absolutely nothing to do for the rest of the night. So Sister Bakker suggested that we go to Praia da Rocha and visit a family there. So we did! We got there minutes after Mauna (the wife) got home from work, so we were able to enter the house and have a lesson with Americo and Mauna and their two children Edi (11) and Ariana (8). We invited them to church the next day!

Sunday: We went to pick up Elida for church, and she wasn't in her house. So she is no longer marked for baptism. But we will keep trying with her! So we started off pretty bummed about Elida.. But we still had hopes that Americo and his family would come! And they did!! They walked in just before Sacrament meeting and I was so happy to see them!! Then. A miracle happened. During the sacrament hymn. Antonio and his wife walked in!! We didn't think they would really come! But they did! And they loved it!! And they're coming to our branch activity this Friday and they want to come to church next Sunday! Ana, the wife, gave us her phone number so we could have lunch with her this week and talk more about the church! Wow!! So incredible!! What a miracle!!

But that's not all! The Elders in Lagos had 3 baptisms scheduled for today. One of them smoked on Saturday, so he couldn't be baptized, and another decided on the way to the baptism that he wanted to wait another month so his mom could be there. But they still had Margarita to baptize. She was baptized and it was incredible! While she was getting dressed, everyone went into the chapel and listened to some music. After a while, the man who had previously decided to wait to be baptized leaned over to the Branch President and said "I don't want to wait anymore. I want to be baptized right now." So Fernandez was baptized as well! The spirit was so strong. I didn't even know these people, but I was moved to tears. What an incredible thing to happen! The best part is, the Branch President also decided that they would recieve the Gift of the Holy Ghost right then and there, and they wouldn't wait untilnext Sunday to receive it during Sacrament meeting. Isn't that incredible!? 

What a week of miracles!! I absolutely love the gospel and I love the work. I am so happy to be in Portugal right now serving the Lord. This is the best decision I've made in my life so far. Even though some days are hard and it seems like we might not be doing a whole lot. I know we are and I know that we will be blessed for our hard work.

My advice for this week (especially for all the people in Utah with a million mormon neighbors) is to start being a missionary right now. Sure, there are other people who can invite them to church and friendship them, but why can't that person be you. If you don't know any non members, go out with the missionaries!! They ALWAYS need help! 

Sorry this one is super long! But it was a fantastic week :)

Sister Steagall

Pictures: I love Gelato.. and we found a dead seagull. 

Dear Friends and Family,

What a week this has been!! I still love being a missionary and the language is coming along just great!! 

We taught a lesson this week to an old man named Jesus Salvador about prayer, it took him a while to understand that we didn't memorize our prayers, but that they were words from our heart. Eventually we got him to say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father for help with his problems and he was moved to tears. It was great to see him get closer to his Father in Heaven. I hope we'll be able to teach him more. 

Elida came to General Conference on Saturday and stayed longer than she said she could because she was too curious about what these people had to say. I think she really enjoyed watching and we will probably mark her for baptism this week!

General Conference was absolutely amazing! And I got to listen to it in English which was an awesome blessing. Being a missionary and hearing the words of the prophets is a million times better than at home! I especially liked the talk by Brent H. Nielson when he said that we are all like the prodigal son trying to get back to our Father in Heaven. We are all struggling together and we all need the saving power of the atonement in our lives.

What a great week! I love the work here and I love getting to talk to everyone about the gospel. Sister Bakker and I have goals to have the best transfer ever and we are both willing to completely give ourselves to the Lord. I know that He is watching over us and if we are exactly obedient, we will see so many miracles. 

I love being a missionary and I know this gospel is true! I hope you all had a chance to remember our Savior this Easter. Have a great week!!

Sister Steagall

 My companion received an Easter dress that was too short for her so Happy Easter to me!

Embracing my curly hair!