Hey everyone, heads up!

I won't be able to email until Wednesday next week, since we have transfers. I'm expecting to be transferred, since we generally don't stay more than 3 transfers in the same area, and this is my 3rd transfer (the one that I'm in right now), which will be ending on March 4th.

I've had a great time here in Mangabeira 2.1, and I love the ward that I'm serving in! Lots of great memories here, and lots of friends made. :) Whether or not I am transferred on the 4th, I'll be happy.

Oh so unfortunately, the baptism that we had marked for the 22nd fell through.. but.. it was remarked for March, likely after I leave this area.. I'm happy that it was remarked, and not canceled! We're going to help the boy's mom become active in the church again this week -- she hasn't been in 20 years, like I mentioned last week! She will be a much better support for her son, if she is active in the church herself!

Anyways, I need to get going, but, I hope that you all have a wonderful week. :) Seek for opportunities to share the gospel with others! The world will be a better place if everyone does this!

Tchau!

Elder Canto

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

Carnaval!

This week is Carnaval, which is the Brazilian holiday that's like Mardi-Gras, and so basically half of the members in my ward here weren't there yesterday! Exciting, right? Also, it was a bit of a challenge to find a LAN house that was open today -- but, we found one. (obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be writing this!) I got a package from Alissa for Valentine's Day, which I opened on Saturday, and it was awesome! She sent me a bunch of candy, and a card, and a letter, and 11 pages about things that she's learned on her mission so far -- it was awesome! I don't know how I'm going to compete with this.. haha

We've been teaching a 13 year-old boy this past week, and he went to church with us yesterday. He's really awesome! We set a goal with him to be baptized on the 22nd (next Sunday), and he accepted, so we're going to be teaching him a lot this week. His mom is a less-active member, who was baptized when she was 16, but then when she was 19, she moved to another state, and there wasn't a church there, so she stopped going. It's been 20 years since she's been to church now, but she's going to start going again. :D I'm excited for her and her son and the decisions they're making. I hope that all will go well!

On Tuesday, we had what's called a Mission Tour, where an Area Seventy (Elder Granja) and his wife came and spoke to us. It was really awesome. I talked with him afterwards and he said that there's a beach in Brazil called "Canto Beach". :D haha -- my name is everywhere here! In church hymns, names of stores.. it's funny. Canto means "corner" or "place" (in a sense), also, "song", and "I sing". So yeah.. that's why.

Anyways, sorry that this is short, but, I need to get going now. I'm not very good at being consistent with these updates, I know.. I'm sorry!

I hope that you're all doing well! Feel free to respond to this message and I will respond to you also. :D If you're not wanting to receive more updates from me, just let me know, and I will remove you from the list of recipients!

Have a great week, everyone!

I love each of you!

Elder Canto

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

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