"And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father." D&C 18:15

Dear Family and Friends,

Sister Williams and I are staying in Cacém! Wahoo! I love this area! I'm really excited to be staying. This week has been an incredible one!! We found a lot of new people to teach, and we had a great easter! I am super excited for this next week.

Emerson: We contacted him on the street this week, he had already talked to the missionaries in the past, but didn't remember much. He said that his way of life is following the bible and living the 10 commandments! Perfect, that's what the church of Jesus Christ does too! He's accepted the date to be baptized for the10th of April, and he's super awesome. He'll bring a lot of friends to the church.

Xana and Cristovo: We found an amazing family that lives right below is in our apartment. They have 5 kids, and the kids got so excited when we introduced the Book of Mormon! They all started reading it and looking at the pictures before we even said the closing prayer! I'm so excited to be working with them, and they are super accepting of everything we've said so far. I'm so grateful for the opportunity we have to work with families. That's what this gospel is all about! Families! They'll be amazing members of the church :)

We are continuing working with our other investigators as well as our new ones. I know that this is the work of the Lord. He is always involved in everything. I am so grateful for my Savior and for His atoning sacrifice. I hope you all had a great Easter and found time to remember our Savior. I hope you all have a great week and prepare yourselves well to hear the prophets speak. 

I love you all!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

Iza, a girl we contacted 2 weeks ago was baptized! She lives in the Elder's area, so we didn't get to teach her, but we did find her. That was such a miracle!

Easter! Reese's!!

Easter with the Barbosas!!

"Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not." ~D&C 6:36

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was great! Finally we began to see more miracles! Mostly it was because I needed to have more faith, which is a constant work in progress. We all need to rely on the Lord just a little bit more and let Him help you.

Jolly: We finally got him a date set for baptism! May 7th! Which for this mission, is forever away! haha but at least he has a goal now. We had a really good lesson with him about goal setting and how we need to have a goal or we'll never get there. He is such a solid guy. I'm excited for him.

Edilson: Awesome story! We had taught him a couple weeks ago but after that he basically just stopped talking to us, so we thought he was a no go, but all of a sudden yesterday, as we were walking to church, he called us and said that he was in Cacém, but couldn't find the church. We basically started running like crazy to try to find where he was, but without success (it was out of our proselyting area, so we didn't know the area super well) so we finally decided to pray, and both of us felt that we should head to the church. He called us a few minutes later and said that he was with the elders on the way to the church! He ended up being super far away from the church and where we were looking, but he happened to run into the elders on their way to church with another investigator and he said "hey, do you guys know where your church is?" haha of course! So he came and had a great experience, we'll talk to him more this week.

Life is full of miracles, especially the work of the Lord, we just need to open our eyes and see the miracles in front of our face. God loves us perfectly, He knows us perfectly and He wants us to be happy. I'm so excited for this Easter Sundayand I hope you all find time to remember and focus on the Savior this week. Also, check out the new video the church put out! I think it's called Follow Him in English? haha I don't know for sure, but it's great! 

I love you all!

Sister Steagall

Photos: 

From left to right: Renata, Sister Williams, me, Rodgerio (recent convert) and Jolly after an awesome lesson

Divisions with Sister Neves!

Pi day!!!!!!

"And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" ~Alma 5:26

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has been good, but full of finding once again. We have been struggling in our area to find some solid investigators, but we have fun coming up with creative ideas to do better contacts in the road and get referrals from members. We are still smiling and we love working, that's all we know how to do, so we'll continue doing it! :) 

We found some new investigators this week that have a lot of potential. We decided to open up our area book and look at some former investigators and it turned out to be a great idea. While most of the people we found were no longer living in that address, it opened up a great opportunity to invite the current resident to hear a message about Christ and they have some real potential. We're excited to work with them.

Our other investigators that we have are doing well, but not progressing too much, so we're back to finding! But it's awesome :) I love talking to people, especially the older people, because part of the culture here is that if you don't know someone, you're not going to say hi to them. But when we say hi, even just in passing, they always have this look of "do i know that person?" it's always great! I love Portugal! haha :) 

We had a really fun Pday today! We went to Belém, a really popular tourist site, and played some American football, which I have no idea how to play! But it was fun to just run around! Haha

I hope you are all well and that you have a great week, continue in your faith, knowing that with Christ, everything is possible, but also remember that His will will always be greater than yours. Just follow His plan and trust in Him.

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

American football for pday! (I have no idea how to play that game..)

Belém!!

Belém pastries!! Literally the best in the world!!

BENFICA!! BENFICA!!!!

"For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round." ~1 Nephi 10:19

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was the big soccer game in Portugal against the big rivals, Benfica and Sporting. Obviously we didn't watch the game, but while the game was going on, the whole city was like a ghost town! haha no one was in the street, but all the cafes were absolutely full of people. At one point we were walking by a cafe, and all of a sudden, everyone in the cafe stood up at the same time and started shouting "BENFICA!! BENFICA!!" Benfica had scored, it was a great time :) haha it's fun to experience the culture of Portugal.

This week has been a little more tough in terms of investigators, we don't have many progressing, but we did have a greally good lesson last night with a girl named Rodna, her family was baptized in Cape Verde 15 years ago but she was never baptized. She hasn't been progressing at all and we have been praying to know how to help her. We talked to her yesterday about the love that God has for her. The Spirit was super strong and we finally got her to say a prayer thanking God for the love he had for her.

I'm so grateful to be here teaching the people of Portugal. I know that each one of them is a literal child of God and He has a plan for each and every one of us. He knows us perfectly and He knows what we need. That's why it's so important that we always teach by the Spirit, the One who really knows what's going on. I'm so grateful for the gospel and for the Love that I feel from my Heavenly Father and my Savior. I hope and pray that each of you will find someone to share the love of God with this week. Pray for the opportunities and they will come.

I love you all!!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

We went to Lisbon for pday and i found my "mom" (trainer) and my "sister" (the other sister she trained) and then my "daughter" (who i'm training) so we had a little family reunion! haha :) 

The day that only comes once every 4 years!

"And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. Therefore, go forth unto this people, and declare the words which I have spoken, unto the ends of the earth." ~3 Nephi 11:38, 41

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been good! We are still doing a lot of finding and trying to pick the work back up after we had a couple of investigators drop us. Sister Williams is doing great though and I love working with  her.

Jolly: He is doing awesome! He's praying and he's doing good with the commandments, he finally has recieved the answer that he needs to be baptized, but he still doesn't feel ready. We'll keep working with him :) 

Edilson: We knocked on his door this week and it turns out, he's very prepared and available to receive the gospel. He moved from Guinea a year ago to start working, he was raised a christian and has a strong desire to follow Christ. He had to work this Sunday, so he wasn't able to make it to church, but he wants to go. More to come about Edilson.

This weekend we had stake conference and it was fantastic! We had the president of the Europe area come and he said that there was a sacred spirit that was unusual for such a large group of people. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve here and participate in such spiritual experiences. I love this gospel and I know the Spirit is with me. 

I love you all!

Sister Steagall

Photos:

LOOK! THERE'S SNOW IN PORTUGAL!!! or.. just hail... we love the weather here.

Me and Sister Williams!

The beautiful view of Belas :) 

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