Coolest Baptism Ever!

Family and Friends,

This week I saw one of the coolest miracles I'll probably ever see on my mission. I have truly come to know that this is The Lord's work and His hand is in everything we do as missionaries.

On Friday we had Zone Conference with President Tavares and Sister Silva and I were feeling very inspired to baptize someone this weekend. We didn't have anyone lined up for baptism, but we decided to go forth with faith and we knew we would see miracles. Saturday morning during companionship study we thought about who we could baptize this weekend. Sister Silva suggested the wife of a member who was visiting from Denmark, Kirsten. She would be returning to Denmark on Tuesday, so we would have to baptize her the next day right after church and get special permission for her to receive the Holy Ghost, or we could baptize her before church at 7 am! We kind of laughed at the idea, but acknowledged that it was possible and we continued on. That night at 8:30 pm, we had a lesson with Kirsten. She has been taking lessons from the missionaries for 20 years and still has not been baptized. We explained to her why baptism was important and invited her to be baptized the next day. She was very hesitant at first, but then we testified and the Spirit was so strong. We told her that we knew she was prepared to be baptized. We could see it in her eyes. And then she agreed to be baptized. It was about 9:30pm at this time, so we called her husband, Paulo to come down to the chapel so we could tell him the news! He got there and we started planning. We learned that Kirsten wanted to be baptized in the ocean! But it had to be super early in the morning so that the beach wouldn't be too crowded. So we quickly called our mission president and got permission to have a baptism the next morning in the ocean at about 5 am. He said yes, we agreed with Kirsten and Paulo to meet the next morning at 5 am in the chapel and we would take care of getting enough cars to take us to the beach and the interview and everything. Sister Silva and I ran home and started calling people! We called the Elders and told them, they were so shocked! But so excited!! Our branch president was out of town so we called his only counselor who said he would be working all night and couldn't attend. So we called the leader of the missionary work here and he said he'd be at the chapel at 5 am. So we had one car with 5 seats and we needed at least one more! So we called our recent convert, Bruno! He rocks! He said he'd be there with his friend Sara so they could have enough space for everyone! He is the best! The next morning we woke up at about 3:45 am to get everything ready, we met at the chapel at 5 am and as we were waiting in the chapel for Kirsten to have her interview, in walked the District (Stake) President of the Algarve!! We were shocked!! He said that President Tavares told him what was going on and he was not going to let his missionaries do anything alone. I was so grateful to have his support!! We qucikly made a baptismal program and started the service at 5:45 in the morning! Then we all drove to the beach and saw the coolest baptism ever! It was absolutely beautiful! Paulo was so happy for her, the spirit was so stong. I wish you all could have been there!! We didn't have many people, it wasn't the most organized baptism in the world, but the important thing was that it was exactly how Kirsten wanted it to be. I am so happy for her :)

I know this gospel is true. Everything is possible in the Lord's hands, this is His work, and when we are obedient and consecrated missionaries we will see miracles like this. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve here and I know the Lord is always here to help me. Give me 7 hours to plan a baptism, 5 of which were spent sleeping, and I know I can do it with the help of the Lord.

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

Baptism at the beach!! 6:00am!!

We play zone games sometimes, and we won a peach cobbler.. ya.. i was pretty excited :)