April 29, 2013

Ola família!

First off, yesterday our good friend Eduardo was finally baptized. And it was wonderful because he was so well prepared and really knew what he was doing and why he was doing it. And almost the whole branch made the trek to the capela in faro to support him (which was really great even though we did not have enough food for all of them.. which I will explain in more depth in a minute.) One of the coolest things about this baptism that I got to witness is just that, that I got to witness it. It wasn't like 'my baptism'. it was Eduardo's baptism, it was his journey and his goal and I have just been able to be here to see it all, and clearly I learned and changed and grew along the way with him, but really all of those things that happened to him (personally witnesses of the Spirit, lifechanging decisions of quitting smoking, leaving the religion of your family, learning to forgive people, and so many major experiences) really did just happen to him. I couldn't have made a single one of those choices for him as much as I wanted to so many times. After the baptism, I said to my companion, 'I don't feel that different.' and she said, 'Well of course not, you're not the one who got baptised.' and I love that. I don't know that I really explained that very well, but I am so happy that the gospel is really happening in the lives of other people and not just mine.

As for the food, I feel I have to tell this experience. We tried to make cookies and we bought all the stuff before hand and made the dough the night before and were all ready to go in the morning. And then , we burnt all of FOUR pans of cookies.... yeah. I don't know how that happened. but finally we were out of time and out of cookies and out of any sort of resources... and I only have one more minute, so the short of it is: we served green American jello (they don't really like strong flavors here) and a few cookies and some cream cheese salami sandwiches and chocolate mousse made by the elders that was really chocolate soup....

But Eduardo was happy and felt loved so no worries.

sorry I couldn't upload the pictures... next week, and more details.

love you all. the gospel's true.

Steph

April 22, 2013

Hey family!

We had zone conference today, so I don't have a lot of time, but I just wanted to tell you all that I love you! and that I know absolutely 100% that this is the Lord's church and that He is guiding this work and that He will guide our individual lives too if we let Him.

I'll pray for you to have everything work out well with the move and with getting everything ready with the house and with all the changes that are happening right now.

Have a wonderful week!

Steph

April 15, 2013

Ola Família!

I'm still here in Portugal! and its still lovely loulé. Except that its even more lovely now because the weather has changed. and for the first time in my life I am grateful for dayight savings. Its warm when we leave the apartment and the sun doesn't go down until about 8:30 and then its still not really cold which makes it great for talking to people in the street ALL DAY LONG.

There was a massive festa here for some saint or other. There are often festas here. But that meant that the only people who stayed home were people who really didn't believe in saints. Which was cool. We met this guy named Miguel who when we first showed up said that he didn't believe in God, but then we kept talking to him for a while and he opened up a bit more and talked about how its so wrong that everyone goes to worship the saints and that we should only worship God (its so funny how often people who "don't believe in God" have things to say like that) and then he said that if God really existed why didn't He ever come talk to man, why does he only send Christ. Basically he was all primed to accept the 1st lesson so we taught that as simply and briefly as we could and invited him to pray. So when we find him at home today or tomorrow I hope he will have prayed. Because I know, 100%, that Heavenly Father answers every humble heartfelt prayer, in His time and in His way, but He absolutely answers, and that ANYone who prays sincerely to know if the Book of Mormon is true and if Joseph Smith is a prophet will receive an answer. Its that sincerely part that gets people, because God is so incredibly merciful that He doesn't give us more light or knowledge than we are ready or willing to receive. He respects our agency soooo much and wants us to succeed sooo badly.

I love this simple explanation in Alma 32 for the question that soo many people have.

17 Yea, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a^asign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe.

18 Now I ask, is this faith? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to ^abelieve, for he knoweth it.

19 And now, how much ^amore ^bcursed is he that ^cknoweth the^dwill of God and doeth it not, than he that only believeth, or only hath cause to believe, and falleth into ^etransgression?

How merciful is the Lord that He lets the specific direction we need be the part that sinks into our hearts. If we don't have any intention of following the direction He gives to us He only gives us a little and then we can't be punished for more because we didn't know. That we can't see everything is really a huge blessing because it gives us the opportunity to learn a bit at a time instead of being responsible for everything all at once. It makes enduring to the end possible and worthwhile.

Those people who really know how to trust the Lord, who are really willing to do what the Lord wants in that moment often receive the direction more quickly than those who just think it would be nice to know. 

The Lord is preparing people everywhere.(Did you hear how many times the prophet and apostles talked about that in conference, about sharing the gospel?!) Its up to us to be worthy and willing bear testimony of the truths they need to hear wherever and whenever its right for them. And like mom taught me last week: He promises to give us the words in the exact moment, and if its not the right moment their not going to remember anyways :)

I love you all!

 

Steph

 

Also, Hannah: Andreia is a girl from our ward, she's been a member for a few years now and is the only member in her family. She speaks English really really well (written its probaby less perfect but spoken its completely normal). I told her to go find you on facebook cause she likes speaking english and you like writing people and you're about the same age. So you should just be friends with her and be willing to share you testimony with her too- things you learn in the scriptures- as well as just be a normal teenager cause she's cool and watches shows you like. the end. love you.

Also, as for advice: make the most of your last moments in school and your last summer in Utah (if you guys don't move before then). You won't ever get these moments back, so go help somebody or make cookies for neighbors or help mom with cleaning and try not to stress about that italian.. He will be ok if he's half as good as you say he is. If he trusts the lord and loves his family enough to be working to help them the Lord will teach him the things he needs to know for life with these experiences. Its up to you to learn what you need to know for your life right now :)

Oh and Heather emailed me so no worries.

Also, when you guys move I need your new address to give to the mission office.

If anyone wants to here's the study plan Pres. Fluckiger just gave to us:

In a clean copy of the Book of Mormon, underline the following in 4 different colors:

1. Every reference to Christ (any one of His names or pronouns referring to him or the prophets describing what he did during His minister on earth

2. His words (spoken by Him or by prophets when they say "thus said the Lord"

3. His attributes, and

4. The doctrine of christ (faith in Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism (water and fire), and enduring to the end)

At the bottom of each page, count the total number of each reference you underlined (1-4 above)

Numa cópia limpa do livro, sublinha o seguinte com quarto cores diferentes:

Cada referência de Jesus Cristo (qualquer um dos Seus nomes ou pronomes referentes a Ele ou o que os profetas descreveram o que Ele fez durante durante o Seu ministério na terra);

1. As palavras Dele (faladas por Ele ou por profetas quando eles dizem, “Assim diz o Senhor”);
2. Os Seus atributos; e
3. A Doutrina de Cristo (vejam o cartão o nosso “Propósito” e PME p.5).

No fundo de cada página, conta o número total de cada referência que sublinhaste (itens 1-4 acima).

April 8, 2013 "Just keep Swimming. . . "

Hey family.

Dad, don't stress, you're not stressing me out with any of the things you said about the move or anything. I'm really not all that worried about it. And even so, the most amazing thing was that as I was listening to conference and all the things that the speakers said about the power of strong families and the importance of families being centered on Christ and on the teaching of the gospel and on service I was so happy to be able to think, "my family is really trying to be that way all the time." I was grateful to know that you are all praying to know what to do and that you all will be willing to do whatever the Lord asks because of the testimony that you each have of the Lord's love for us and for His other children as well. And since I know you have all been praying I can trust on the words of D&C 6

14 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast ^ainquired of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time.

15 Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me and I did enlighten thy ^amind; and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest know that thou hast been ^benlightened by the ^cSpirit of truth;

16 Yea, I tell thee, that thou mayest know that there is none else save God that ^aknowest thy thoughts and the ^bintents of thy^cheart.

So I'm not worried. I know that you want to follow the Lord and that He knows you well enough to give you the inspiration and direction that you will be able to recognize and follow even if you don't always know that you are.

I have a lovely new companion, Sister Vernon. She's from upstate New York and I am already learning so much from her, not the least of which is to have more patience with myself and love everybody more. We're not perfect and the Lord doesn't expect us to know how to do everything all at once. And in conference in somebody's talk (I don't know whose at the moment) I heard the promise that the Lord knows that we aren't capable of focusing on all the things that he has asked us to do at the same time, but that we have the promise that He will help us to know what it is that we need to be focusing on in our own lives at the right times.

This isn't my story but its something I needed to hear this week that someone else shared with me and so now I want to share it with you:

 

“Our District Leader called us one night and asked us to find 3 new investigators! It was pretty late, and putting all doubt aside, I simply replied, ‘we will.’ Kneeling in prayer, I asked for the spirit to literally lead me to those that would hear our message. I stood up, and just started walking. To make a long story short, the Spirit lead us to 5 different people, all of whom accepted our message and gave us their contact information. It was such a testimony builder to me, of how aware God is of each of us. And if we trust in him, we can do ALL things.”

 

For me this week we had a somewhat similar experience. We had zone conference and I wasn't feeling so great, but our zone leaders promised me that we would be able to find new investigators that day who would progress and new investigators that week that would be important to me for ever. And so tuesday I decided that I would trust that, that I would trust in the testimony that I have of the power of priesthood and that those elders hold the priesthood keys to lead and guide me and so that day we found 4 really great people who said we could come back. One lady said she had a Book of Mormon and she didn't really know what it was but she likes to read it when she is feeling down because she always feels better, a kid who is the cousin of another youth in our branch who promised to pray to know if God is really there and loves him, and two other teenagers-one who started out saying he didn't believe in Christ but believed in God and after we explained about 30 sec of why Christ is important he said, yeah that make sense. There are always lots and lots of other little experience to share, but I'll stick with that for now and give you another short update next week.

 

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the last session of conference (I think we will watch it right now). But I'm looking forward to Elder Holland's talk since everybody talked about it so much.

Thanks mom for this:"Remember that God will direct you if you turn your day over to Him. I am working hard on it. That one decision moment by moment is the best and hardest. To just be obedient in all things is the big test. And I'm learning it little by little."

Hannah. You're so good. Just keep praying for what's right to happen and it will work out.

Paul. You are awesome. Did you know that? You are going to do some amazing things in this life. You already are doing amazing things in our family.You have been the most amazing example of cheerful obedience ("Sure, mom, sure!") and Pres. Monson told us yesterday that ultimately that's all we need to do. Be willing to do all the things that the Lord asks of us and to do them cheerfully. I know that if we do that we'll be happy. If you want to know what type of cheerfulness I think of when I think of you look at will on a day when he is happy and proud of himself for helping and accomplishing something.

Tom! You should write me a letter this week since you like writing so much :)

And will. Keep smiling :)

 

Jeremy! what did you like from conference? Do you have any inspirational advice for your big sis? How's Elmira? How are you feeling about the move?

I love you all so much

Steph

April 2, 2013

Ola familia!

Transfers happened yesterday, so sorry you didn't here from me. But all is well, I have a new companion (Sister Vernon) and the lovely Sister Campos went to my first area, Quinta do Conde. Funny how that happens. Also, an Elder I met yesterday during transfers played football with David. Life is funny and the world is small.

I was\am a little nervous about Sister Campos leaving and me being the one who knows how to get around and knows the investigators and members here and everything and the responsibility that implies (as small as it is), but my new companion is really great. She immediately started asking questions and talking about goals that will really really help this area and already helped me feel a bit more focused and not so flustered. So I am already excited for what we are going to be able to do this transfer. Also, she's from New York and knows Elmira. Small world.

This last week has been one of pequenas milagres. One to see how much the Lord has and is blessing me and those around me. The Lord gave me answers to all of my questions before I even realized the questions. One of our investigators finally had a bit of time off and in this short bit of time that she was able to give more of her time to the Lord, receive an answer about the Book of Mormon and begin to realize how important it is to give our time to Him. One of our eternal investigators finally had that lightbulb moment of "oh, I actually want to get baptized, this actually is a great blessing for me!"

Also, General Conference is this weekend!

I wish I could give everyone the excitement that I feel to be able to hear the words of a living prophet, in our own language! I don't know how to impress on people the knowledge that God is speaking to His children, that all the answers they need in this moment are right there, they just need to take a bus a half hour away and sit for a couple of hours and listen and they will have answers to what they need! How amazing is that! and how amazing it is that its to big a trouble for so many people to get out of bed on Sunday to go hear.

I love you all and I know that this gospel is true. That we have prophets on the earth today and that God is doing a marvelous work and a wonder in our day and age!

March 25, 2013

Arizona! Congrats to all who prefer the heat and to Dad who gets to do what he loves in the town he loves closer to family. :)

Mom and Dad both said so many times that moving to Arizona will have a big effect on me, but I don't see how that could be. I'm in Portugal. So no worries. We don't have to worry for quite a while (well over a year). :) But I will be praying for Jeremy and Katy. And for you all to know how to get through and succeed in whatever new circumstances you are faced with. I will be praying that you will know what to do with each and every decision.

 

Most of all in both of the emails from mom and dad, what stood out was that the Lord is answering your prayers already. The details aren't in place, but that desire to know that direction you should head in was finally answered and it seems like that has been something that you have both been looking for. So I'm happy.

Scripture of the day:

 

Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.

Sorry this is short, but I love you all a lot.

 

Fight the good fight.

Steph

Yesterday we went to the baptism of two young men in our district in the elders' area with one of our investigators (Adriana) who I happen to love a lot. Adriana has been investigating the church for quite a while and always has one more doubt, one more question, always has one more fear of being wrong. One of the young men being baptized met the Elders last week, prayed and then decided (after hearing about fasting) to fast to know if the Book of Mormon is true, and then followed through with that decision. Both of these investigators are working and praying with all their might to do the will of the Lord, and because He knows their hearts and their desires He has the ability to answer them in the exact moment that is right for them, for them to know and not fall away.

March 18

Hannah. I laughed way hard at your #hannahprobs. Not the problems themselves but your reference to them in the subject of your email. :) You will do great things in this world:)

Mom said she liked my insert from my letter to president the other day and since it saves on time I thought I would do it again... and then I wrote it in Portuguese... so I'll stick it in at the end and if you get bored you can try to work it out. Maybe google translate can help? I don't use very complicated Portuguese.

 

Good luck with the interviews dad. I'll be praying for you. You are definitely a blessing to the ward, and I am glad as always to have a dad who always does what the Lord asks of him:)

 

As always, p-day letter reading and writing time is one of the most inspiring times of the week. It's a time for me to review all of the things that have happened this week and what I've learned and hear about the best and worst and just details that stand out to everyone that I love! I really appreciated the quote that mom sent me "The Lord said he would give us the words in the very hour what we should say... If the time isn't right their not going to remember anyway." I don't think there is anything that could be more comforting to a missionary. Some days, after rejection after rejection you start wondering if you're doing something wrong. Clearly we can always be improving and always should be, but that promise of the Lord's to give us the words we need wasn't dependent on our personal organizational skills or speaking skills or studying abilities or anything else. It was dependent on our efforts to treasure up his words by studying and living and doing all that we can to make it a part of who we are. And his other promises I have come to realize are the same. They are generally connected to commandment. If you pay tithing you will probably learn how to budget and will have a better ability to take care of the things you need, but the blessings of tithing are present long before we learn how to budget or be better. They are short term and long term. They come immediately because of power of the Atonement to make up the difference in our lives, and they come over time as the Atonement changes who we are.

 

I love you all. Fight the good fight.

Steph

p.s. Nos tivemos um pesquisador marcado por baptismo esta fim de semana que deixou de fumar por 18 dias já, mas ainda não um testemunho forte da restauração, Joseph Smith, ou o Livro de Mormón. Então nos esperamos a ensinar dizimo por mais tempo que nos devíamos. Quando nos ensinamos, não foi muito bom e não foi muito mal-- ele disse que cumpriria mas depois quando estava sozinho ele ficou um pouco confuso e chatiato com tudo. Então ele começou a beber e fumar de novo. Ele falou connosco no telemóvel e explicou que ele não estava muito bem e depois perdeu o telemóvel e nos não conseguimos falar com ele novamente. Depois todos nossos compromissos caíram e nos oramos que ele pode ser protegido até ele pode ter oportunidade a entender este mandamento e que nos podemos sentir do paciência e perdão que Cristo sempre tem para nos e para ele. E depois nós o encontramos na rua perto da capela e fomos lá e esta vez, ele entendeu dizimo--porque o ESPÍRITO estava la--nosso ensino foi mais ou menos ou mesmo, mas o espírito foi diferente. Tambem, por meio desta experiencia (não sei como exactamente) ele entendeu que ele não está a buscar uma resposta mesmo. Eu sou grata que o Senhor pode usar nos mesmo com nossas fraquezas para fazer este trabalho.