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.
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