2 weeks worth of letters today! Now I am caught up!

"Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." ~Hebrews 5:8-9

Dear Friends and Family!

The rain has let up this week thankfully! It has been a good week and we've finally started to find some people to teach. We're still working on knowing the members, but it's going a lot better and this week will be even better! I love the work here and I love serving with Sister Rubio! She has so many great ideas that we can apply! We're having a great time together.

Neida: Last week we found her unloading her car and offered our help, which she accepted graciously. We returned a couple of days later and taught an incredible lesson with her! The Spirit was really strong and she was showing such a desire to have a better relationship with God. 

Cedilho: We found him in the road a couple of days ago and he said he wanted to change his life, he wants to start a family and raise them in a church. We'll teach him more this week, he's awesome!

We are still working on the finding part, but I know the Lord is with us in all we do. I love this gospel and I love being a part of this marvelous work.

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

Our chapel

A family home evening we had yesterday

Nametags! :)

"And thus they were instruments in the hands of God bringing many to the knowledge of the truth yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer." ~Mosiah 27:36

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, we did have a couple of sunny days here, but the rain has most definitely returned! But it's still great :) We're still in the finding process of things, but it's going good :)

Neida: She had to unexpectedly return to Cape Verde for family reasons, so we're hoping that she gets in contact with the missionaries there and continues to read the Book of Mormon, she is awesome and I know she'll excpet the gospel one day.

Cedilho: He has been working a lot and we haven't had a good opportunity to talk to him much this week, but we'll try more this next week.

Jolly: He is awesome!! He is from Nigeria and he's here working, he is learning Portuguese, but basically only speaks English, and Sister Rubio speaks very little English, so it's interesting teaching him. It's actually really hard to speak in English! You'd think after I've spent my whole life learning English, it's be easy to speak in English, but it is super hard! I have to concentrate really hard so I don't accidentally say Portuguese words. We also have to translate for him during church, so that's also fun :) But it's good. He grew up in a Christian church and has such a great desire to follow Christ. He will possibly be travelling to Spain this week for the next couple of weeks, but we'll see what we can do to keep contact with him.

I absolutely love being a missionary, I cannot say that enough, I just love it! :) I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and for the opportunity I have to share it with others. I'm so grateful for the Savior and the price He paid so that I can have eternal happiness. I'm grateful for my family and all my friends. I hope you all have a fantastic week and you take time to put Christ first always. We have so many blessing waiting for us when Christ is our priority. 

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

The Barbosa family!!

The stake patriarch and his wife, who knew my grandma when she served her mission here!

Daniel Casasnovas, who also knew my grandma! Small world :) 

New Area! Brasilean Companion!

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my throughts than your thoughts." ~Isaiah 55:9

Dear Family and Friends,

Wahoo!!! Opening a new area! We got to our new area on Wednesday night and cleaned our very dirty apartment! Thursday we found our way to our Chapel, which is about an hour away on foot, and talked to the Elders about our investigators that lived in our area. And oh ya! We don't have any!! Haha so we returned back to our house and started finding! It rained really hard this week and we got back to our apartment every night absolutely soaking, but with huge smiles on our faces :) I love the work of the Lord!

Sunday was awesome! The members are super super excited to have Sisters in the ward, so we received a lot of referrals from our members that we'll pass by this week. Other than that, we've just been doing a lot of finding! 

Sister Rubio is doing awesome! She's from São Paulo, Brazil and she has FIRE!! I'm so excited to teach with her, she is an awesome missionary! I love this area, and I actually really love whitewashing, I have no fear to talk to anyone in the road and invite them to be baptized right then and there, it's awesome :) We're going to see a lot of good things happen in this area :)

I hope you all have a fantastic week and you learn a lot from the scriptures!

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos: 

Saying goodbye to some of the members in Setubal!

Idalina and her family and..

Candida!

Sorry I don't yet have photos of my new area, they will come! :) 

Happy Birthday, for your gift you get a new area and a new missionary!

"Go your way withersoever I will, and it shall be given you by the Comforter what you shall do and whither you shall go." ~D&C 31:11

Dear Family and Friends!

Well, that scripture certainly applies to me this transfer. We had interviews with our Mission President on Saturday where he informed Sister Savage and I that we would both be leaving Setúbal! He also informed me that I would be training a bran new missionary and opening a new area in Cacém! They apparently haven't had Sisters there in quite some time, so this will be interesting! My new companion's name is Sister Rubio and I don't know anything else about her, but I'll meet her this Wednesday! This will be an adventure for sure!!

My last week in Setúbal went well, our whole district has been struggling with finding new investigators lately but we did find a couple of people that we're working with. But we'll leave them for the new Sisters to take over! I'm really excited to go to a new area and train, I'm a little nervous but I know that the Lord will help me. It's going to be a great transfer! 

I love the gospel and I love being here as a missionary! I hope you all have a great year and you all make the resolution to do what you need to do to come closer to Christ.

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

The Sisters of Setúbal at the New Years party!

Lucas and Silvana

The Salgado family! 

Happy New Year!

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heartç and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." ~Proverbs 3:5-6

Dear Family and Friends!

This week was great! We had a great Christmas and had the opportunity to do some caroling for some of the member's friends. It was great! I love the Christmas season and I really did feel the Christmas joy!

This week we also had probably the hardest drop of my mission. Tatiana decided that she wanted to return to her old church. We really tried everything to help her gain a testimony, she was accepting everything that we had taught her, and then she dropped us and asked us not to visit again. It was a really rough time, but we'll continue on searching for the people that the Lord has prepared :)

We haven't heard from Luis or Andrey since Christmas Eve, so that was also a little rough, we've left the invite open, so they can come when they need it.

We are working on finding new people again. Sister Savage and I are working on bettering our street contacts and our teaching skills and i have faith that we will be led to those who are ready to recieve this gospel.

I'm doing good here in Portugal, loving the people and the work! I hope you all have a great week and you remember our Savior.

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos

Studying on Christmas! 

Helping Iara do her Frozen Puzzle

The ward missionaries in our ward here :)

NATAL!!!

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." 

~Luke 2:11

Dearest Family and Friends!!

I am so excited for Christmas this year and the whole Christmas season! Christmas in Europe is quite different than Christmas in America and unfortunately it's not celebrated as much, but it is still a celebration of the birth of our Savior and I couldn't be more happy to share the Christmas spirit!! :)

We have seen so many miracles this week and I've loved it!! We also had our mission Christmas Conference with the whole mission (except the island missionaries) and it was awesome!! I love Christmas!!

Tatiana: She is doing great! She came to church yesterday and she liked it a lot, she believes everything about the restoration and she's been reading in the Book of Mormon every day! She is incredible! Last night she called us and told us that she hadn't felt the Spirit in church and she was really concerned about this, we had a really awesome lesson with her where she prayed for guidance and felt she needed to continue talking to us and go to church next week. She has so much faith and such a strong desire to follow Christ. 

Luis and Andrey: THEY ARE AWESOME!! They're 2 brasilian futebol players that are looking for a church! I'm so glad the elders stopped them in the road! They live in our area, so we started teaching them! Luis accepted a baptismal date for the 27th and Andrey said he wanted to talk to his family first, but they both have a super strong desire to follow Christ and do what's right and the ward has already accepted them really well! They are awesome!!

The Lord's hand is in this work. I love being a missionary and I love sharing the gospel. I know that the Lord is preparing people to receive us and when we are worthy and obedient, He will help us find them. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas week and you find someone to share the Love of Christ with!

I love you all!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

WOODS CROSS!!! Dallin Cordon and Kyle Easton are in the Portugal Lisbon mission and we met up at the Christmas conference! They are both doing awesome! It was great to see some old high school buddies :) 

Selfie while waiting at the train station!

A great view of Setubal :) 

​"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen." ~ Moroni 7:48

Dear Friends and Family!

The Christmas season is coming!! I wish it looked like it though, unfortunately we have no snow in the city of Setubal.. but there are people who decorate for Christmas! So we still get to see some lights in the windows :) We also set up our christmas tree in our apartment.. we found it in a closet, so it's not the best looking tree, but it does have Christmas lights! Haha but that's not what Christmas is all about anyway! 

Tatiana: She is incredible!! She has such a great desire to do what is right and she has the goal to bring her whole family back to church! She wasn't able to arrive in church this Sunday because she was with her grandma, so we're hoping she'll be baptized on the 27th of December. She is awesome :)

Miguel: He received the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday and he's doing great! He went to institute this week and has plans to go every week! He is also already planning on serving a mission! He is awesome! :)

We had our ward Christmas party this week and it was really great! I love this ward a lot! I could stay here forever! The members are really great and they are really supportive of the missionary work. We are doing a lot of finding here and visiting less actives. I love being a missionary and I know this gospel is true. I'm so excited for the Christmas season!! Make sure all of you share the new film the the church has! It is a great way to be a missionary!!

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos: 

Ward Christmas party!!

Family night with Engrácia and her beautiful family :)

Camel Spit! It's a wonderful dessert here in Portugal, who knew camel spit was so tastey! ;) 

Temple Groundbreaking!!!!! And Stake Conference!!!!!!

"And they cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually." ~Mosiah 5:2

Dear Family and Friends!

This week was really great! We got to watch the groundbreaking ceremony for the Portugal Temple and we are all very excited for it to be complete in about 3 years or so! I hope to return and be able to visit! :) We also had stake conference which was really great, they talked a lot about missionary work and the self-sufficient (i think that's how you say it in english) program in Europe that the church has implimented, it was really great and I hope to be able to apply what we've learned :) 

Miguel: Miguel was baptized yesterday and it was an awesome baptism! He even bore his testimony after the baptism, he is for sure working towards serving a mission too which is awesome! 

Tatiana: She is progressing really well! She's reading and praying and has a lot of questions! Her family is super nice and very inviting as well. She is preparing to be baptized on the 20th of December. 

Nuria: She is the younger sister of the Elder's recent convert, but she lives in the Elder's area, so we'll start teaching her tomorrow. She is super excited and also preparing to be baptized on the 20th. It'll be a white Christmas for us! :)

This week has really been fantastic! Our mission president has made a new rule that we can't speak English, which was really hard at the beginning, but now i'm starting to forget English, so excuse my spelling and grammer mistakes! haha but I still love working here and I especially love the Christmas season! Everyone needs to go watch A Savior is Born!! It's incredible!! Share it with everyone! :) 

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

Miguel's baptism!!

Our district! Elder Badger is our district leader now, he was in my MTC district, so it's fun to work with him again. 

Beautiful sunset here :)