New Companion!!!

"Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear." Moroni 8:16

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been great! We lost contact with a couple of people because I had to wait in another area for a couple days until my new companion arrived, but we'll pick the work back up this week. Sister Williams is awesome! She's straight from the MTC, and she speaks portuguese pretty well, but she's a hard worker and a fast learner. 

Teddy: He dissapeared this week unfortunately.. we got a message saying that he had to go to work in Setubal and wouldn't be back for 2 weeks. We were ready to hop in the car with the Assistants to the President and go get him, but he stopped answering his phone, so we didn't know where he was. We're hoping we'll get in contact with him again.

Jolly: He's doing super awesome, he says he's not quite ready for baptism yet, but we'll continue to work with him, it's easier to teach him now that i have a companion that speaks english, our lessons are going good with him :) 

We are always finding here, and we know we have the Spirit with us when we're finding. We have a great ward that passes on every referal they have. They are really involved with the missionary work. I'm so grateful to be here in Portugal, I know that God is with us in our work. I'm so grateful I can share this message with people here. I love this gospel, I know this is the true church of Christ here on the earth. I know that we have prophets that are literally servents of God that receive revelation for us. I know that each and every one of you can know these things as well if you pray and ask God. I know He answers our prayers. 

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

Hanging out with the other Sisters while we waited for our new companions, I was getting my hair done :)

Sister Williams and I and Renata, one of the members :) 

TRANSFERS!!!! New Companion!

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." -1 John 3:1-2

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been great! We got the transfer call last night, Sister Rubio will be leaving and I'll be staying in Cacém and training again! Sister Williams will get here on Wednesday or Thursday this week, I'm super excited to meet her! I still don't know anything about her though, but it'll be an adventure!

Teddy: Talk about opposition! He was all set up to be interviewed on Saturdayand Baptized on Sunday, but all of a sudden he got really sick on Saturday and had to go to the hospital! He left his phone at home or else we would have called and gone to the hospital to have his interview. But he's doing a lot better now and he'll be baptized this weekend.

Jolly: We had an awesome lesson with him this week, he's someone who has a lot of questions and i love answering him! Finally in the middle of the lesson, he wanted to know in a basic summary all that we believed in. I was super grateful that my parents had made me memorize the articles of faith when i was 10 years old and I was able to recite them to him. He said "you should have told me these things when you first met me." Haha we also invited him to pray to know if these things were true and he got the answer that he needed to follow this church. He's thinking about returning to Nigeria so he can understand better (he doesn't speak much portuguese). He still isn't quite sure that he needs to be baptized again, but he'll continue to pray, and we'll see if he can be baptized this weekend too :) 

Adriana: She is doing great! She's reading and praying and accepted a baptismal date of March 5th. She has a real desire to come closer to Christ. She still hasn't been to church yet, so we're working with her on that. But she has real intent, she is awesome!

I also received great news this week! I had a super elect investigator in Portimão, named Matthew who completely disappeared. Well, the sisters in the Acores found him and he was baptized yesterday! I was glad that I got to participate in planting that seed for him :) 

This week we also had a conference with Elder Dyches of the 70, and it was really awesome! I learned a lot about how I want to plan better and how to be a better trainor and mentor. I'm really excited to train again and I know it'll be a great experience for me. 

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos: 

Rain..

And.. wind! 

(I love this weather :) 

Matthew's baptism

"And now, I Moroni, would speak somwhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." ~Ether 12:6

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been great! We had Zone Conference with President Tavares and we had Divisions in Mem Martins, which was really fun! We've also been working hard here and it's been going great! I love being a missionary!! We have so many great adventures!! 

Teddy: He is awesome! He went to church yesterday and loved it. He said that he couldn't explain how he felt, just that he had been to a lot of churches before, but this was so different. He said it was "maravilhoso!" (Sorry, forgot how to spell that word in english) He is progressing really well, reading, and praying. He is a little hesitant on getting baptized next week, but we shared our testimony that the Lord had prepared this date for him, we'll continue in faith!

Jolly: He is also doing well, he's opening up more to new ideas and is coming to understand authority better. It's really fun to teach him in English, but it is so hard! I can't remember how to say anything! haha but it's good.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be her in Portugal, i have loved the time i've spent here and the people i've come to know. I know that the Spirit truly does testify the truth to us and we can know that this is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ through study and prayer. I have seen so many miracles on my mission and I'm so grateful for the time i've had here. I'm so grateful for my family and all that they do for me, it is wonderful to know that my family is eternal. 

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

They have Dominos in Portugal!!

Divisions with Sister Barron!! Who was in my MTC district!!

1 year down! 

It's February already!

"If thou wilt do good, yea, and hold out faithful to the end, though shalt be saved in the kingdom of God, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God; for there is no gift greater than the gift of salvation." D&C 6:13

Dear Family and Friends,

Is it already February!! Time passes sooo fast!!! This week was really great! the work is finally starting to progress here in Cacém and we are happy as ever! 

Teddy: He was our miracle this week! We were walking along the road in front of a grocery store where people were walking in all directions, we walked passed a guy and felt immediately impressed to turn around and talk to him. We started up a conversation asking about his religious background and all that stuff. He had never heard of the Church of Jesus Christ before, but he accepted the invite to talk to us more. We talked to him last night in a park bench and the Spirit was incredible!!! He accepted the invite to be baptized on February 14th. I loved teaching him, and he was super accepting of everything, he said that what we were teaching made sense to him, which is one of the feelings that the Spirit brings: clarity. I'm so grateful we followed the prompting to talk to him. 

Jolly: He's doing really great! He didn't go to Spain this week thankfully! So we'll talk to him more this week and we'll see if we can get him baptized this weekend! Miracles!

Thank you so much for all the support that i have from home, you are all incredible! I know that this is the work of the Lord and I'm so glad I'm here. 

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

Sister Rubio and I!

A cool alleyway we found!

Sister Rubio was really upset that the loaf of bread had an uneven amount of slices. I love this Sister! Hahaha

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!