Templo!!!!!

"We believe in God because of things we know with our heart and mind, not because of the things we do not know." ~Pres. Uchtdorf, 'Be Not Afraid, Only Believe'

Dear Family and Friends!

We had the most wonderful announcement this week! The long-waited groundbreaking for the Portugal Lisbon Temple has been announced!! December 5th!! We are all so excited!! I hope the missionaries will at least get the opportunity to watch a transmition or something, the temple was announced 5 years ago and finally they are starting to build! I'm beyond excited! I hope I can return for the dedication, or at least to visit the temple here :) We had a week full of miracles!

Ivo and Milene: They have finally got their papers ready to get married and they have a date set for November 14th! So their baptism will be on November 21! We are so excited for them! They will be such a wonderful family!

Miguel: We started working with him this week and he was so prepared to receive the gospel! He has a lot of faith and just wants to know the truth! He has confidence that this is the true church of God. He says he's finally found a church that does what the bible says - preach the gospel to the world. He also told us how much he wants to serve a mission, he thinks that he'll be ready to serve in about a year, which is perfect because he'd have to wait a year after his baptism anyway! He is set for the 14th of November!

Paula: We are working with her as well, she is a sweet lady with 2 cute daughters and has a huge heart. She has a great desire to help others. She has a baptism date set for November 7th and we're excited for her!

I've had a great week and I love serving here in Setúbal! I know that this is the restored church of Jesus Christ, I know we have a prophet who leads and directs us in the world today. 

I love you all! 

Sister Steagall

P.S. I learned a new Portuguese phrase this week: "És um pão!" which directly translates to: "You are a bread!" And apparently it's used to say something like "you are hot/you are a beast/you are strong!" or something like that. Isn't that funny? I thought it was hilarious! You are a bread! I think I might start using it in english.

Photos:

Cutting Sister Landbeck's hair! We have fun adventures :) haha

A gypsy horse and wagon, we see a couple here :)

Our breakfast this morning.. we didn't have any food.. but it was enjoyable!

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." ~2 Peter 1:4&8

Dear Family and Friends! 

This week was really great! A couple of very interesting things happened as they always do on the mission :)

1. We were walking along the street and we saw a man carrying a large picture frame, so of course we offer to help him like any missionary would and he accepted! Which is not a common thing in Portugal! So we followed him in this door underneath a large apartment building, where there were a couple little offices there. We asked him if he had every visited the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, he responded with "have you ever visited my paper factory?" We were a little confused, but he opened up the door next to him and it lead to this huge underground paper factory!! We had no idea it was there! There's a huge paper factory underneath setubal! That no one would ever know was there! But we do now! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me.. so we didn't get a picture! But it was still a great adventure!

2. We had the opportunity to visit a gypsy camp this week! Gypsies don't really exist in America as far as I'm aware, but they are all over Europe. Some actually have houses, but most of them live in little man-mad shacks in fields right next to buildings! So that was a fun adventure we had! They are very nice people :)

Ivo and Milene: They are working on their marriage papers still, but they are still doing great! They don't want a big wedding, so we probably won't have a big party, but their baptism will be great.

Romario: We started working with Romario, Joel's friend, again and he is showing some real desire to be baptized. We learned that his sister and his mom are actually members in Cape Verde, so we're working with him. It should be great!

Paula: Paula was a reference from our member, Idalina, she's super cute! She has two daughters and doesn't know much about religion or the bible, so it's a good experience teaching her. She's very inviting to the missionaries and recognizes that there is something different about us, which is really great to hear. 

We had a good week, Sister Landbeck and I are always smiling and laughing together. We talk to a lot of people in the road and we always meet very neat people! I love this work!

I love you all!

Sister Steagall

Photos: 

Sushi with the setubal 1 and 2 ward missionaries! 

Me with one of our sweet members, Idalina! 

We taught some less actives in their gypsy house! They live in the middle of a field in a little man made shelter. It's a very interesting lifestyle :)

Dear Family and Friends,

We got the call last night, Sister Landbeck and I will be staying in Setúbal! Which is awesome! I love it here! The elders that were serving in our ward with us had a whitewash, which means they both left, so now we have two new elders that will also be our zone leaders! It's gonna be a great transfer!

We finally finished watching all of general conference this week and I loved it once again! I especially liked the idea of "Ponderizing" it's definitely something i'm going to apply for the rest of my life! I think it will help a ton. If you guys need some motivation to start "ponderizing" a scripture each week, I'd love it if everyone would send me an email each week with a new scripture! It'd be great!

Ivo and Milene: They are doing great! Still coming to church, we finished their teaching record this week and now we're just waiting for their wedding to be official so they can be baptized! I love going over to their house to teach them. They are so humble and so willing to learn everything. They truly do want to follow the Savior, I have a feeling they will be very strong members.

Joel: Is still doing ok! We're working with him as well!

Marlene: The Sisters started teaching her 2 transfers ago, but they lost contact. We found her again and started teaching her and she has a great desire to change her life and do what's right. She lost her phone this week though, so we haven't had great contact with her, but we keep running into her in the road, which is a huge blessing! The other day we saw her and she pulled out her Book of Mormon from her bag (she had been carrying around her Book of Mormon!!) And showed us what she found in the reading we gave her. She is awesome!

That's about it for this week! I absolutely love being here on the mission, forgetting about myself and my worries and focusing on what others need. I know that I'm where God wants me to be and that He is with me when I'm doing what's right. Sister Landbeck and I are going to have a great transfer! 

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos: 

It's starting to rain here in the beautiful Portugal!

District photo!

Dear family and friends!

We had an amazing and very busy week! Which is great! We went on divisions with the Sister Training Leaders and had a really great experience. We also had interviews with President Tavares, which were also really great, he is a very inspired man. 

We also had a wedding on Saturday for some recent converts, it was absolutely beautiful! I had the opportunity to sing as the bride walked down the isle, which was a neat experience. I also sang a special musical number in the middle of the wedding, which was also really fun! I feel really blessed to be able to sing. 

Conference this weekend was amazing!! I absolutely love hearing the words of the prophet and apostles. We were all really excited to hear about the new apostles as well, they seem like really inspired men. I'm excited to know them more and hear their words. 

Joel is doing good, he's going to finally be able to receive the Holy Ghost this next Sunday after several weeks of waiting! We're excited for him!

Rafael: His mom is having doubts about baptism again, so we will continue to work with them. They are an amazing family who really needs the gospel, we'll continue to work with them, and hopefully they can all enter the waters of baptism together. 

I love this work and I'm having a great time in Portugal. I know that this is the true church, I know that this is the work of the Lord. I love being a missionary and I love sharing the gospel!

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

Divisions with the sisters!! They are awesome!!

Wedding of Silvana and Lucas!!

My district at the wedding!

Water, Water, and more Water!

Dear Family and Friends!

I have almost no time to email today due to our apartment problems! Haha it's been all good, we've just been coming home to a flood in our apartment almost every day and today the men came to fix it, so Sister Landbeck had to be in our house while they were trying to work out the problem, and now we are very short on time to email! Quick updates on our friends!

Joel: He wasn't able to show up for church yesterday to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, but he'll be able to get it next week. He's doing really well with his scripture study and he always has lot's of questions!

Rafael: We are planning his baptism for this weekend, and his mom and other sister are soon to come. They are a wonderful family who are ready to accept this gospel. They all came to church yesterday, which was a miracle! I'm so happy for them!

Ivo and family: They have their papers for their wedding in process! So we will have a wedding soon and a baptism shortly after! I'm really excited for them to have an eternal family! They have 3 beautiful daughters and one son who's only a month or so old! They are awesome!

That's about all that happened. We had a good week despite the flooding problems! I love serving a mission here and I'm so excited for General Conference this week! 

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

Cleaning up the flood!! Every day...

Dragging the mops that we borrowed from the chapel through the field next to our house, looking real fancy ;) 

Costa Rica District party!!

Dear Family and Friends!

We had a very interesting week!! It started out with an overflowing kitchen sink, causing a huge flood in our apartment which we spent a couple of hours cleaning up! I got a good video of Sister Landbeck freaking out! It was hilarious!! Welcome to Setúbal! Haha but we did see a lot of good things happen as well :)

Joel: Joel was baptized yesterday which was awesome!! We ended up having the baptism later at night because he had somewhere he needed to be in the afternoon, but he was still baptized and it was incredible! He is awesome! It's really amazing to be here to be able to teach people like Joel. He will be a great member.

Ivo and family: They are doing great! They have a meeting this week with the bishop to plan for the wedding so they can get baptized! Ivo also received a blessing yesterday to help him quit smoking. They are doing really well!

Rafael: He's the brother of a recent convert and he's only 8 years old, so it's a little different teaching him but he is so excited to get baptized! We're planning his baptism for the week and we're hoping we can baptize his sister this week as well, Margarita.

Marlene: We started teaching her this week, she was taught 2 or 3 transfers ago and actually had a baptismal date, but then she disappeared. So we are teaching her again, she doens't remember a whole lot, so we're starting from the Restoration with her. She is awesome! She said that she wants to be baptized, so we'll talk about a date this week. I'm excited to continue working with her, she is wonderful!

That's about it for this week! We had a grand adventure with our plumbing problems in our apartment, but it's still great! I'm having so much fun with Sister Landbeck here in Setúbal! We're going to have a great transfer! I love being a missionary here and I love Portugal!

I love you all!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

Baptism of Joel!!

Setúbal!

Someone tied their door shut from the outside.. so they can't open it from the inside.. not really sure about that one.. welcome to Setúbal! :) haha

Dear Family and Friends!

I am absolutely loving Setúbal still! The people we are teaching are doing well and I'm learning a lot with Sister Landbeck! We are both still pretty new in the mission, but we never stop smiling because we love what we're doing and we know the Lord is with us! 

Joel and Romario: Joel was taught everything and he passed is interview! He is so ready to be baptized, but he has to go to church at least 2 times and he slept in yesterday, so we'll have his baptism next week and he's hoping that we'll be able to teach Romario so he will want to get baptized this weekend as well. They are awesome and I'm so happy to be teaching them!

Vanda and Rafael: Vanda has decided that she's content with her religion right now and doesn't want to change, but she is still willing to let us teach Rafael (her 8-year-old son) and he is very excited to be baptized. I'm excited to teach them! 

Ivo and Marlene: They are doing great! They came to church yesterday and had a really great time, they're 11-year-old daughter learned about missionary work in primary and she got a "future missionary" nametag. She was so excited to show us! They are a wonderful family and they're progressing really well! 

Carlos: He is awesome! He gave us some African Cachupa this week, it was awesome! He accepts everything we teach him really well. He is having some trouble seeing why baptism is important because he was already baptized in the Catholic church, so we'll continue to work with him. He let us come over and play his organ this week, which was super fun! He rocks!

Sister Landbeck and I are learning a lot together, especially with speaking the language. But our testimonies are growing so much stronger. There are times when I walk away from lessons having no idea what I just said, I knew that it was the Spirit speaking, not me. This work is amazing and I know that the Lord is always with us. We are putting forth our best efforts here and I'm having amazing experiences. I absolutely love serving a mission!! 

I love you all!! 

Sister Steagall

Photos: 

I'm currently living in a house with 3 other sisters, it's always a party! The other sister's investigator took us to see a castle and an old Catholic temple right on the edge of a cliff today! It was beautiful!!

African food!! And.. McDonald's