Another Baptism! :)

We had another baptism yesterday! It was a guy named Eugenio who is 17 years old. The baptismal service was really great, and I felt the Spirit really strongly, as I usually do at baptisms! I love going to baptisms, and watching people make the decision to promise to God that they will keep His commandments, and take the name of Jesus Christ upon them, and be an example to others, and serve others. It is so amazing. Eugenio bore his testimony after being baptized, and he said that he thought that 2 weeks was really fast when we made the goal with him, but we were teaching him, and he was reading The Book of Mormon, and doing a lot of pondering, and he received an answer to his prayers, that the church, and The Book of Mormon, are true, and also, he said "If Jesus Christ, our Savior, went through all of the horrible things that He went through, and suffered so much, for us, how can we not do this simple act of being baptized, that He has asked us to do, to thank Him?" I'll be honest, when he said that, I started crying. It's true.. how could we not do the things He asked us to do, when He gave his LIFE for us? He loves us, and He gave us the opportunity to receive forgiveness for our sins, and return to live with our Heavenly Father again, and our families, for eternity, after this life. We just need to do the things that He has asked of us! Have faith in Him, repent of our sins, be baptized by someone who has the authority to do so, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. Live the gospel, basically. It's not a lot that He has asked of us! I know that as we seek to live the gospel and follow Christ's example, that we can be cleaned of our sins, and return to God's presence after this life. I love the gospel, and I love this church.

Have a great week, everyone!

P.S. Last week was transfers, and I stayed with Elder Wellington again, and we're still in Mangabeira II. It's great here! We made a Ward Mission Plan yesterday with our new Ward Mission Leader, and we're super excited. We have another baptism set for next Sunday, too! :)

I love each of you!

Elder Canto

Brida's baptism (last week)

Eugenio's baptism (yesterday)

Did I ever mention how hot it is here?

Hi everyone! I just got back from a 3-4 hour hike to the beach and back. It was pretty awesome. We weren't originally planning on going to the beach.. our plan was just to follow this trail that goes really far into our area and then come back, like we accidentally did on Thursday, out of curiosity, but then, since we were already fairly close, we decided to continue to the beach. I'm.. pretty sure that it's not outside of our area.. we aren't allowed to leave our areas without permission from our mission president, President Nogueira. Imagine being stuck in your city/town, and not being able to watch TV, listen to music, use a computer, or a cell phone, or anything. All of the things that I just listed are part of life as a missionary. haha -- entertainment is basically not allowed. But, I love being a missionary! The feeling that I get when I'm teaching someone or serving someone, there just isn't anything quite like it.

We had a baptism yesterday! The girl who was baptized is 9 years old, and she is a recent-convert's daughter. The baptismal service went really well, and there were 30+ people there! It's always a great experience. It was interesting, teaching a 9 year old. I enjoyed it. :)

A few days ago, a member said -- wait a second.. HAHA the song that the LAN house is playing right now is "What Does the Fox Say?" XD oh man.. haha!

So anyways.. I got distracted for a second there XD -- a few days ago, a member mentioned how on his mission, basically all of the people who he baptized had family members who are members, or were people he found through referrals from members. Only 1 family that he baptized was a family he found through doing street contacts and knocking on doors. I started to think a bit, and I realized that the same is true for me! I've only baptized one person whom I found by doing street contacts. I think maybe I need to change my focus a little bit here.. I'll have to start asking church members for some more help in finding people to teach. To whom it applies, give referrals to the missionaries in your ward! And don't just pass their information to the missionaries, but actually follow-up with them, and help them to set up a time to meet with the person/people, and go and visit them with the missionaries! This helps a ton! And don't be afraid to invite people to church! You don't need to feel bad for inviting someone to learn about the gospel! There is really nothing better that you could invite someone to do! :) Imagine, if Joseph Smith had said nothing about his vision.. the church wouldn't even be here today! You need to open your mouth and share the gospel. If you don't, you are denying people the opportunity to live with God in the Celestial Kingdom after this life. Share the gospel -- please! People need to hear your testimony! I promise that as you seek to do this, your testimony will grow and you will be blessed for doing so. Don't be ashamed of your beliefs. :)

I love you all, and I hope that you have a great week! :)

I'll be emailing on Wednesday next week, since we have transfers on January 21st.

Elder Canto

Merry Christmas, and happy New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families! Have a happy new year! Let's make 2015 great! :) I had a great Christmas here in Brazil! It was super hot, and I was tired, but, I loved it! I got to talk to my family on Skype. :)

Elder Canto

Exciting announcement!

Alissa and I have decided on December 1st, 2015, for our wedding date. Whoever plans on going, it'll be in the Seattle, Washington temple. You all now have plenty of time to plan so that you can be there, haha! It's going to be awesome, I promise! :D

Elder Canto & Sister Marshall

Christmas is coming!

Hi everyone!

I wanted to share this video with all of you -- go to natal.mormon.org (I'm not sure what the link is in English XD). There's this great video about the birth of Jesus Christ -- it's.. 2 minutes and 24 seconds long, I'm pretty sure. Take the time to watch it, and share it with your friends and family! I promise you'll love it! :D It's really awesome!

Happy Holidays, to all of you!

John 3:16

:)

Elder Canto

One Year!

Hi everyone!!!

I've officially been on my mission for 1 year!!! I can't believe it. It's been great though! 11 more months to go! :) I don't really have any time left to write now, but, I wanted to mention this, haha :) I burned a white shirt to celebrate, and filmed it XD My MTC companion did too -- he was living with me. We went up on the roof at night to do this XD It was awesome!

We baptized a 56 year-old woman 3 weeks ago, and she is amazing! She has a very strong testimony of the restored gospel and the church, and it was awesome to see her progress. She was in depression when we met her, but now, she is a lot happier. What happened was, 3 years and 5 months ago, her husband was run over by a bus, in front of her.. and then, she entered into depression, and moved here, from Sao Paulo, to live with her mom. About 2 months ago, her mom passed away, and then 2 days later, her sister told her that she had to leave her house, since it was in her name, and not her mom's. So now, she's living with her half-sister, but, it's not so great there, because her husband is always smoking, and there is a boy with autism there, who doesn't really realize what he's doing, and it's difficult to be around him. We're helping her find a new place to live, and maybe a part-time job. Her daughter, in Sao Paulo, is trying to save money to get a new apartment, so that she can go and live with her. So yeah, that's the situation with her for now. But, I want you all to know, that living the gospel truly changes people's lives.

I have a very strong testimony of the work that I am doing here on my mission. It is truly the work of salvation. Even though many do not believe, I do. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the one true church here on the Earth. It is the church of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is God's church. We have a living prophet, and apostles, who receive revelation from God -- and so, it is God who is directing the church, not men. I know, without a doubt, that this church is true. I will never deny my testimony of this church. Thank you all for your love and support, and your letters and emails, and packages.

I love you all! Have a great holiday season!!!

Elder Canto

P.S. I was going to send pictures, but the SD card reader isn't working on this computer.. oh well! :S

One More Year Left!!!

I'm going to have to be really quick here -- I have 1 minute left.. hah!

This Sunday will be the baptism of our investigator, Tarcilia, and I am so happy for her! She is excited for this Sunday as well :) It was so amazing, the day that we visited her, when she accepted the invitation to be baptized. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation, and told her how her ancestors have been waiting and praying for the day that she would be able to accept the restored gospel in her life, and be able to perform their temple ordenances for them. She will be the first person in her whole family line to become a member of Christ's church, and she will have a lot of family history work to do! After the lesson, we asked her what she needs to do, and she said "I need to have faith in Jesus Christ, repent of my sins, be baptized..." and then she paused, and started crying, thinking about what we had taught her, and then she said, through tears, "I want to be baptized.", and we both had tears in our eyes too. I will never forget this lesson that we had with Tarcilia. She is an amazing person, who has a lot of faith. I am so honored to be able to say that I was one of the missionaries who taught her. We will be continuing to work with her this week to prepare her for baptism. :) Tonight, we are going to be having a family home evening in her house, and we're going to watch the movie about Thomas S. Monson, our living prophet. (it's called, "On The Lord's Errand")

Yesterday at church, I taught the Gospel Principles class for the first time ever. I was nervous, but, I was thinking it wouldn't be too hard. It was even easier than I was thinking that it would be!!!! I was reluctant to accept the invitation to teach the class yesterday, but, in the future, I will happily accept. :)

Oh, by the way, Halloween basically wasn't celebrated here.. :(

And -- I'm in a new area now! Mangabeira II, I. I'm back in the city again! Conde is literally in the middle of nowhere. XD My new companion is Elder Wellington. He is 19 and from Sao Paulo, Brazil. He's awesome! I am learning a ton with him. We are a great team. :D

Anyways, I need to get going now, but, I hope that you all have a great week!!! I love you all, and I am always praying for you!

I now have a few days less than a year left on my mission.. it's hard to believe! I think I'll be getting home on November 5th, 2015. Looks like I'll be having another uneventful Halloween here.. haha!

Elder Canto