Oi todo mundo! Feliz ano novo!
Next week is week 5, which is likely my last full week at the MTC! I'll have been here for 5 1/2 weeks total when I leave, on January 13th.
I still haven't gotten my visa for Brazil yet, so I may end up in a
U.S. mission for a while, but that's alright with me if that does
happen. I can't believe I've already been here for a whole month! The
first 2 weeks were a little slow, but the past 2 weeks have completely
flown by! I think I have about 10 days left here now.
Alright, so, this week, I'm going to go through my days
one at a time and tell a little bit about them. This is my first attempt
at an actual "newsletter" or whatever you want to call it, so I'll
probably change how I do this later on. I was going to try to write a
blog post once a week for the blog that my fiancee (Alissa) is posting
things on for me, but I haven't been able to do that yet, unfortunately!
I'll try to do a better job of keeping up with that from now on.
Friday, December 27th:
I had this thing
called TRC (Teaching Resource Center, or something like that), today,
for the second or third time ever, where members of my church volunteer
to come in and be taught by the missionaries (in Portuguese, in my
case). We didn't have a lesson prepared (I guess we forgot about it),
but we just ended up talking to the two people we met with about their
lives and their family. They were actually married to each other, but we
met with them separately. **Side note: Alissa got her wisdom teeth out
today, and she sent me some pictures of her face, which was all swelled
up, and she had this ice pack wrapped around her head. It was funny, but
I couldn't help but feel bad for her, haha! She's doing better now
though I think. :)
Saturday, December 28th:
So we have
teachers come in and teach us for about 3 hours a day here (once or
twice a day), and at the beginning of class, they pretend to be someone
that they taught on their mission, and each set of missionaries goes in a
room and teaches them for about 15-20 minutes. We taught our teacher
(Irma Petitta) who was pretending to be an investigator (someone who's
learning about our church) named Edinea. We taught her about the 10
commandments and had her commit to keeping them in her life, which she
didn't seem to have a problem with. She's already agreed to be baptized,
and that's supposed to happen on January 11th
(again, this is all pretend, but we're trying to make it seem real,
because it's good practice). Our next investigator (Irmao Walker) was
named Sergio, and he's a little bit tougher to teach. He doesn't seem
too interested in what we have to say.. but we taught him about prayer
and about the Holy Ghost, and he committed to praying once a day. Later
on, Irmao Walker told my companion (Elder Gartside) and I, that we
needed to be more enthusiastic in our lessons.. haha! Otherwise, he said
it feels like we're only there because we have to be there.
Later that night, two of my roommates and I, stayed up
late talking. It was a lot of fun, but I was really tired the next day!
Oh also, another side note, at lunch- someone was doing the bird call
whistle from the movie "The Hunger Games" and held up the three fingers
sign, and just about everyone did the whistle back and held up the
sign.. it was pretty funny. (It's gotten a little annoying at this point
though.. haha! oh well)
Sunday, December 29th:
I absolutely love
Sundays at the MTC! We had quite a few lessons today about how to
recognize the Spirit. It's usually impressions that come into your mind,
a feeling in your heart, a warm feeling (for some people), or just a
good feeling. God communicates with us through the Spirit. Anything that
comes into your mind that is persuades you to do good, is from God.
Anything that comes into your mind that persuades you to do evil, or is
just bad by nature, comes from Satan. I also learned about inviting the
Spirit into lessons with investigators, through sincere, heartfelt
testimony.
We had a devotional (a guest speaker and his wife come in
and speak to us for about 50 minutes) later that night, and then we
watched a teaching demonstration video with Jeffrey R. Holland from the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in it, which was a little over an hour. It
was great. I love hearing him speak. The video was called "The Gift of
Teaching". He was saying that we should do the following things when
teaching:
1) "Ask, seek, & knock (spiritually)."
2) "Teach from the scriptures."
3) "Teach by & with the Spirit."
4) "Help the learner assume responsibility for learning."
5) "Testify." (share how you came to know the truth of whatever principles you are teaching the class (or the person) about)
I
liked when he said "You may not be able to teach them, but you can love
them." and also, "If you love them today, maybe you can teach them tomorrow." I need to develop a greater love for the people that I teach! :)
Monday, December 30th:
We had two
substitute teachers today. Almost all of our teachers are students, so
they're going on breaks to see their family and things like that right
now, and as a result, we've probably had.. about 7 or 8 substitute
teachers in the past month.. haha! One of my main teachers (we have two,
Irma Petitta, and Irmao Khang (Irma means "Sister" and Irmao means
"Brother)), Irma Petitta, is actually getting married tomorrow! So that's why she's gone right now. She's awesome, and I am so happy for her.
So our first substitute teacher was really awesome, and his name is
Irmao Tiago (Brother James). He taught us some Portuguese, and then I
asked if he could name objects in the classroom for us, so that we would
know how to say their names in Portuguese. After that, we took a short
break, and came back, and then he said "Let's go outside." or something,
and we went outside, and he just went around and named objects/things
outside and we wrote them down. It was a lot of fun, but my hands were
hurting after being outside in the cold for so long, and my pen almost
stopped working! haha! After that, we went over the Preterite and
Imperfect tenses (past tenses) for Portuguese.
Our second substitute, Irmao Laws, was very serious about
missionary work, and he essentially gave us a lecture about how we need
to use our MTC time wisely, and how it's up to us to figure out how to
use our time, for the most part. He made an analogy with Lehi's family
traveling in the wilderness for many years, and then when they finally
arrive at the land that they called "Bountiful", which had a nice beach,
and everything that they needed, the Lord told Nephi "Get thee up into
the mountain". So instead of laying in a hammock and resting after his
long journey, Nephi was obedient, and he climbed up into the mountain.
When he got to the top of the mountain, he prayed to the Lord and asked
what he needed him to do. He told him that he needed to build a ship to
cross the ocean, to go to the Promised Land (the Americas). Instead of
saying "I don't know how to do that" or asking for tools, he inquired of
the Lord to know where he could find ore to make tools. Anyways, the
analogy here, was that our time at the MTC could be fun and easy, like
the valley Bountiful, or, we could climb to the top of the mountain
(aka, work hard and study, and focus). The MTC is can be as easy or as
challenging as we make it. I'm trying to challenge myself more now,
after hearing that analogy. (for those of you who are unfamiliar with
this story, it's from the beginning of The Book of Mormon :])
Tuesday, December 31st, 2013:
I got two
Brazilian cookbooks from Alissa this week, and they are full of colorful
pictures and recipes for tasty Brazilian food. Sweet! Some of the
recipes look a little complicated, but that might just be me being
intimidated by the professional-looking pictures of food that are in
them, haha! So it was New Year's Eve that day, so obviously, what did I
do? I stayed up till midnight!
There were even fireworks outside (off-campus), which we watched for a
little bit (they were partially blocked by some buildings, though).
Earlier that day, we had two substitute teachers at once
(they accidentally signed up for the same day). Irmao Laws again, and
then a new one, Irma Compton. We did something interesting today. We had
our 4 companionships split up into groups of 2 companionships, and 1
companionship taught the other companionship, who was pretending to be
investigators. It's actually really fun, and I think I like it better
than teaching my teachers, in some ways. Since it was just us
missionaries, we snuck in some English words when we didn't know the
Portuguese words, haha! So my companion and I taught two other
missionaries, and then two missionaries taught my companion and I. I
have to admit, it's not the easiest thing, pretending to be someone
else, and pretending to not know everything that I know. It went alright
though, and we've met with the two missionaries who are teaching us
twice now. It's not too bad, and can be a lot of fun at times, when
we're joking around with each other. :)
That night, we had a devotional, where Brother Stanley G.
Ellis (from the Quorum of the Seventy), and his wife, spoke to us.
Afterwards, we had an awesome testimony meeting with our Branch
President and his wife. The Spirit is always so strong in our classroom
when we have testimony meetings.. I love it!
2013 was a great year. Spending so much time with Alissa
is what made it great, in my opinion. I can't wait to marry her in 2016!
:) So far away.. haha. I also got to spend a lot of time with my
family, which I really enjoyed, and I got to know a bunch of the
associates at the Webster Walmart, and made some good friends there. I
absolutely loved December, at the MTC, and that was a great way to end
the year. I miss my fiancee, and my family, and my friends, but I know
that I'm where the Lord needs me to be right now, and that's exactly
where I want to be. I'm willing to give up these two years of my life to
serve the Lord, because He has done so much for me! Everything,
actually! Also, knowing that I'll see my friends and family again near
the end of next year makes it easier to be here. And knowing that I'll
be getting married to Alissa a few months after I get back makes it
easier too! haha! I can't wait! :)
Alissa actually has decided to serve a mission since I got here, and
I am SO excited for her. It's great being on a mission. I love it! I am
learning so much about myself, about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and
I'm learning the awesome language of Portuguese. Eu amo Portugues!
I want to be a better person this year, 2014. I want to
be the best that I can be, for my family, for my fiancee, for my mission
companions, but most of all, for my investigators. People are counting
on me. I can't let them down. One full year of missionary work, here I
come!
Wednesday, January 1st, 2014:
Happy New
Year! It's nice to be in an even year again. Today, there were about
300-400 new missionaries arriving at the MTC, and my district was asked
to be hosts for the new missionaries. Basically, what that is, is we
help new missionaries get their nametags, their books, find their
residence room, and then we bring them to their classroom. It was cool
to get to know some new missionaries and help them find their way
around, and answer their questions about life at the MTC.
Today marked the 13th month that I have been engaged to
Alissa! I am so happy that I get to marry her, she's absolutely amazing,
and she has been such a great example to me. She has written emails to
me almost every day since I got here, and it makes me so happy, and
makes my week a little more exciting. :) She has been very supportive of
me since I've been here. I love her so much!
I'm grateful for all of you who have written to me so far, and who
will write to me in the future! I've said it once, and I'll say it
again.. I love receiving letters and emails! So feel free to write to me
whenever you want!
Okay, here's a funny story:
About two weeks
ago, we got two new districts in our zone. The day that they got here,
Elder Taylor (a missionary in my district (which has 8 missionaries in
it in total)), said to all of them, "So, this may sound a little weird,
but, as a zone, we like to pray on top of our wardrobes at night,
because it helps us feel closer to God." None of us thought that they
would believe him, and he didn't even think that they would believe
him.. but.. haha XD (I'm laughing as I'm typing this) they confessed
today that ALL of them have been doing that EVERY. NIGHT. since they got
to the MTC! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! XD my district just about died
when we heard that. hahaha!!!!! They haven't done that since then (we
never did it in the first place!). It was so funny though.
Oh also, and we had this one Elder here (who went home), but, he was
in our district, anyways, he was pretending that he was from Scotland,
and he did a Scottish accent around the two new districts every day
until he left, and then before he left, we had him record a video on
someone's camera, saying that he wasn't Scottish, he wasn't from
Scotland, and he didn't have a Scottish accent. (All in an American
accent) And we showed the video to the other two districts. Nobody knew
that he was faking it! haha!
Thursday, January 2nd:
I got up a little late today.. I need to work on getting up right at 6:30am when my alarm goes off. It was probably 6:54am when I got up, but I still made it to breakfast at 7:15am
on time, so it wasn't a huge deal. So our investigators (two other
missionaries), are "Kevin" and "Mark". "Kevin" is a friend of one of the
missionaries, and "Mark", is one of the missionaries, if he had fallen
away from the Mormon Church. It's interesting teaching them. "Mark" is
pretty open to our lessons, but he's worried about not being able to be
forgiven for the things that he's done in life, which is why he stopped
going to church. "Kevin", has never really attended a church, and he
isn't very open to our lessons.. but we're working on that. We invited
them to come to church next Sunday,
and they're going to try to free up some time to go with us. (again,
this is all pretend, but we're trying to make it seem real) We
encouraged "Mark" to pray and ask God for forgiveness for his mistakes,
and he said that he would try.
Later that night, during language study, I learned the verb
conjugations for regular AR/ER/IR verbs in the Imperfect and Preterite
past tenses, and I learned a few new verbs. It wasn't too difficult, and
it should be useful when I'm teaching lessons or having conversations
in Portuguese. Not everything can be said in the Present Tense! haha!
Friday, January 3rd (today):
I just wanted
to say, that I am so grateful for how much my faith has increased, and
my testimony has grown, since I got here. I am so grateful for the other
missionaries in my district, and my zone, and for all of the things
that I have learned from them. My district feels like my family right
now, and they might as well be! We're all pretty close at this point,
after being here for 4 weeks. I love being a missionary, and being at
the MTC. I am really happy here, and I haven't been missing everyone too
much (it comes and goes, but I've been doing alright away from everyone
for now).
I know that the Lord has called me on a mission for a reason, and
that this is where I am supposed to be, and that I'm here when I am
supposed to be here. I have a strong desire to share what I know about
the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone, and that's why I'm here. I
want other people to know what I know, and to be able to find true
happiness and joy in their lives. I want them to be able to return to
live in heaven after this life, with their families, forever. I know
that this is only possible through following the example of Jesus Christ
and having faith in Him. I know that God wants us to pray to Him every
day, in sincere, heartfelt prayer. He wants us to be happy, and He wants
to bless our lives. All we have to do, is ask Him. I'm not afraid to
say all of this, to anyone. I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but, I
know with a surety that having faith in and following the gospel, and
the example, of Jesus Christ is the only way for us to return to live
with Him and with God, and with our families. Those who do not get the
chance to accept the gospel in this life will be given a chance after
they pass away. They will be taught, in the Spirit world, after they
die, and they will be able to choose whether or not they want to follow
Jesus Christ and accept Him as their Lord and Savior.
You can pray to know the truth of these things for yourself, and I
would encourage anyone to do so. :) I am by no means perfect, and I
still have a lot to learn, so you don't have to take my word for it.
Read The Book of Mormon if you want to know more! :) I know that The
Book of Mormon is a true account of the Lord's dealings with the people
in the Americas, and that anyone who reads it can pray to know the truth
of it. I know that if anyone does this, sincerely, with real intent,
and a real desire to know, that they can (and will) receive a knowledge
of the truthfulness of it, from God, through the Holy Ghost. Maybe not
right away, but in time, if they are diligent, He will answer their
prayers.
If anyone has any questions about what I said in this
email, or about how I'm doing, or anything, feel free to send me an
email! Or even if you just want to say hi, or tell me about your life,
or something that's happening in the world right now (I'm completely cut
off from the news, the media, radio, TV, etc. haha!), feel free to do
so!
Thank you to everyone who wrote emails to me this week.
It made me very happy, and it's nice to know that so many people care
about me.
I love you all, and I hope that you have a great week!
Until next week,
Elder Canto
------------------------
I forgot to mention something!
During our lesson with the two other missionaries on Wednesday,
I asked (in Portuguese), if one of them had a girlfriend, and he said
yes, so I asked (in Portuguese), "how old is she?" And he said "dois
anos" (two years old), and me, his companion, and the teacher burst out
laughing. Him and my companion both thought that I had asked how long
he'd been with his girlfriend, and they were confused why we were
laughing at first. It was so funny though, and once they figured out
what happened, they were laughing too, haha!
Anyways, I just wanted to share that experience with all of you.
Tchau!
Elder Canto
