Muy Buenas Tardes

Muy buenas tardes!! :))) espero que todos estén felices y saludables!! :)))))

well this week was a good one!! for starters, we have another meeting with Presidente Ruiz on wednesday! and he talked to us about the Divine Law and Repentance!! (SUPER GREAT!!!) he said something that i REALLY liked, he said, we will all experience our personal Gethsemane. and it is in THAT moment that we come to appriciate the saviors sacrifice more fully!" he also told us, "if you ever think, ´how would i have acted in the times of Jesus´ look at how you are now, ITS THE SAME!" wow!! how i love Presidente Ruiz! those two phrases just hit me! its true, every one of us will at some point in our lives have our "personal Gethsemane" and it is in that moment that we need to turn to the Lord and TRUST in him and USE his atonement!! im sure you all can think of at least a small Gethsemane that you have had to suffer, i invite you all to look at how you reacted, did you turn to the lord or turn away from him!? either way, how can you better prepare yourselves for the NEXT Gethsemane that you will have to do!?

This week has been a week of miracles and small trials. trial and miracle #1 JOSE ANTONIO was baptized!!!!!!! :))))) the service was so spiritual and so beautiful!! but he came late to sacrament meeting and wasnt confirmed.... so we will wait til this sunday!! trial and miracle #2 im a little sick, but the lord is STRENGTHENING THE WEAK!!!! and i have been able to work!!! :))))

but i want to share a quick story with you!! so i hope you all remember Alba (the reference that the elders gave us who is REALLY positive!!) well we went with her yesterday (she didnt come to church again....) and i asked her if she knew that hte church adn the book of mormon were true. and she said, YES! i have prayed and i have even cried bc ive been so happy! and i had a dream!! well she began to tell us the dream she had it goes like this:

we were in her internet, and we were talking, but i was crying. and she asked me why i was crying and i told her that i was so happy that i didnt have words! but that i was also sad. and i just cried, laughed, and cried again! 

and then she woke up! but as she was telling us this dream, i just felt so full of love for this sister!!!! i am so happy that she has recieved an answer to her prayers and knows its true! but also sad bc she hasnt physically showed that faith (by coming to church) and so now that is her challenge, to come to church and forget the fears!! :))) 

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! its the greatest thing i have ever done! and it makes me sad to think that i have so little time left, but also makes me work harder so that when i finish i have no "what ifs" I KNOW THIS CHURCH IS TRUE!!!! i know that Jesus Christ is my savior and the savior of ALL of us!! i love you all so much and hope you continue to press forward and be strong!! :) I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Canty

Handler´s Miracle Piece

BUENAS TARDES FAMILIA CANTY!!! :))))))

it sounds like you are all doing great...which is what i like to hear!! :) staying busy with all of the camps and trips and everything...whooo hooo!!!! :)) 

well this week was a good one!! :) we are preparing José Antonio for his baptism this weekend!! its also his birthday that day so we are trying to make it super special!! :))) he is really pilas and has such a desire to learn and grow in this gospel!!! :))) also we have had to put in pause some of our investigators, which is sad, but the time of the Lord is precious, and he knows when they will be prepared!! :) speaking of prepared, the Lord has placed PREPARED people in our path! we met like 3 different people this week who are SUPER postive. and i am super excited to see how the gospel helps them!! :)))

but today i want to focus my email on Thursday. we had interviews with Presidente Ruiz that day and so it was a spiritual powerhouse for sure!! :))) he is truly an inspired man, called of God. he knows exactly what to say and share to help each one of us!! (espeically Hermana Canty lol) but also during the interviews we have different workshops! well this week my comp and i were in charge of giving a workshop..SCARY lol but it was about the importance of the holy ghost in conversion! and wow!!! how much i learned from this!! we found a scripture as we were studying that i love!! its in 2 Nephi 33:1

 1 And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty inwriting, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh bythe power of the Holy Ghost the  power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.

i love this scripture bc its like us as missionaries, we arent always the most powerful in speaking and writing, but if we have the Holy Ghost, WE CAN DO EVERYTHING!!! i have a HUGE testimony of this, not just with not knowing spanish, but the lord can speak through us if we have the spirit. well that was the basis of our workshop!! :) 

but like the title of my email says, the assistants shared a GREAT story with us!!! it is about Handler (a great musician from a long time ago) and the story is really long but to sum it he was really famous and then got paralysed in half of his body. he tried a lot of things, and a lot of reading in the bible (especially in Isaiah 53) and after some time he was healed. he wasnt as famous as before and was really poor, but had such a testimony in the healing power of the atonement! and so he wrote a new piece, called Messiah! (he wrote this piece in 13 days, and normally to write such a piece takes more than 1 year!!!!!!) and it is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! and anyway the story goes on and he still doesnt have money, but to earn some money and help people in a debters prision (prision for people who cant pay of their debts) he does a concert to raise money to help free this people from their debts. well he raised so much money that he was able to free 152 people!!!! (we were watching a video of this and listening to Messiah!!) and then in the video they compare it to Jesus Christ. and how he saved all of us from our own personal "debter´s prision" Elder Russell M. Nelson said, (and i love this by the way) "The Lord Jesus Christ paid a debt he didn´t owe because we owed a debt we couldn´t pay." how true that is!!!!! bc of the atonement we are all free from our debts and can be saved!!!!!! handler saved 152 people, while christ saved ALL people!!!! i wish i could send you the video bc its so amazing but hopefully you can look up on youtube the music and see how beautiful it is!!!! 

Presidente talked more about this and the atonement! and we watched a great video from bruce r mckonkie (spelling check...) about his testimony of jesus christ, and wow!!!! HE KNOWS CHRIST!!!!! i hope to one day have a testimony just as strong as his!!! i know that my savior jesus christ loves me and is there to help me 100% of the way!! he truly is the SAVIOR and REDEEMER of the world!! how lucky we are to know this truth!! i know that only through this church we can recieve ALL the blessings that God has for us. and i know that the Lord LOVES US SO MUCH MORE THAN WE CAN IMAGINE!!!!!! 

thank you all for everything!!!!! have a great and enjoy your summer and the trips and everything!! :)))) I LOVE YOU!!!! :))) 

Hermana Canty

And Again I Am Reminded

HELLO FAMILY!!! :)))) oh how are you wonderful people!! :))))))

well i am a REALLY bad daughter because i have been so busy here in Guatemala that i forgot to wish the WORLDS GREATEST DAD EVER a happy Fathers Day! (im so sorry dad, i promise i do love you lol) so in honor of the worlds greatest dad, and the worlds greatest dad-to-be, 

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!! (dad and jeff!!!)

but anyway, a little about this week!!! so do you remember José Antonio, the joven i talked about last week! well he is our miracle of the week!! :) all week we went with him and tried to put a firm baptism date, but he was a little unsure still. but i knew that we needed to invite him on a sunday, after church! we planned to do that. well sunday came and we called him in the morning and he was already getting ready to go to church. and we showed up at 7:50 (church starts at 8) and he was already there!!!!! and he stayed for all the classes and participated in them too!! well we went to the relief society and he went to the young mens. and i guess there were only 5 young men (1 of which was José Antonio) and so for the batallon mormon that we do every sunday we went to look for the young men who havent been coming! well after church we didnt see jose...he left really fast! and we tried to call him, and nothing! so we were a little worried bc we didnt have a firm cita with him. but we went to the activity, and when we walked in, guess who was sitting the front row, JOSE ANTONIO!!!! our investigator came to visit less active members!!!!! wow!! and he really liked it!! 

and we challenged him with the baptism date, AND HE ACCEPTED!!!! :)))))) i was so happy! ALSO! (sorry so many things happened yesterday!) our ward is going to the temple on saturday, and jose is going with them too!!!!!!!! wow!! how amazing is that! i have really seen the truthfulness of the words of President Hinckley when he said, "every {investigator} needs 3 things, a friend, an asignment, and be nourished by the good word of god." WOW!!! friends (the young men making jose feel at home) the asignment (the batallon mormon) and the word of god (church and the temple) THE WORDS OF THE PROPHETS ARE TRUE!!!! :))) i am so excited for jose antonio!!! :)))}

this week i learned a lot about elevating our spirituality (we had a sisters conference monday and tuesday and that was the theme) and how my eyes have changed! i am half way through my mission, and that terrifies me!!!! but i also still have a lot of time to work in this marvellous work we call missionary work!!! :) i know that our Heavenly Father loves us and is waiting to pour ALL of his blessings on us, if we obey him and let him! he loves all of his children, and how blessed are we to KNOW that we are his children! Keep working hard and TRUSTING in the lord!!! he is aware of each and every one of us!! i love you all so much and am so blessed to have you as my family!!! thank you for everything! have a great week and be safe!!! :)))) I LOVE YOU!!!! :)))))

con mucho amor,

Hermana Canty 

Meet the Mormones, Malacatan

Buenas Tardes Familia!! :)

well first off...sorry for not sending fotos. its just a lot of the computers have virsuses and i have lost a lot of pics. so i will try to print more off and send them to you, or wait!!:)

but i dont have too much time this week so i will give a brief overview of the week (dont worry im writing in my journal again so i will have all the details there!! :P) but where to start???

1: Hermana Alba

we did an area attack this past week and two of the elders contacted her in her house and she said we could visit her! well we went back and visited her! she is SO PILAS!!!! we taught the restoration and gave her a book of mormon and she is reading it!!! we also challenged her with the date of the 20 of June to get baptized and she accepted it!! and said she was coming to church!!! (#golden investigator) but like a lot of them here...they have family from other churches. sunday morning we called her to tell her we were gonna pass by, and she said that her dad had yelled at her for agreeing to come to church and a bunch of other really bad things. i was so sad for her, bc this lady has seriously felt the spirit!!!!! she has!! and its just the fears of the family that are preventing her! but i nkow that if it is her time to be baptized heavenly father will help!!! we are going to pass by this week to see how we can help! bc when someone has felt somehting like she has...you cannot deny it!! please keep her in your prayers.

2: José Antonio

he is a teenager and is really cool! we met him like 2 weeks ago and he has been super pilas since then! he is having a little trouble with reading his book of mormon! but he is more animated to do it now! and also he came to church!!!! :)))))) its been a while since we have had a positive investigator in church and so we were SUPER happy!!! :))))) we are going to put a fecha with him this week! :) i will keep you posted!

well lots of other things happened, but they can be summed up with, HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES US!!! i have felt his love so much this week! even when the work is hard, when the temptations and trials come, HE LOVES US!!! he never forgets about us and he knows our personal challenges!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! please trust in him and PRAY to him! talk with him and he will help you! 

i love you all so much and know that i have the greatest family in the whole world!! :))))) thank you all for everything!

Hermana Canty

Culebras y Milagros y Nivel 2

HOLA FAMILIA CANTY!!! :)))))

well to start i would like to tell you all a story! 

It was tuesday night, after a nice guatemalan rainstorm, and my comp and i were arriving at our house. we were talking about the day we had and the rain and the usual stuff we talk about at night. we walked into our house and turned the lights on (better said..my comp turned the lights on) and we we welcomed home by a lovely SNAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES! a snake was in our house!!! a real, live, slithering, SNAKE! i freaked out and ran up the stairs and so did my comp. but luckily she is a little more brave than i am and she ran to get a broom to kill. (mean while hermana canty stood on the stairs.) and my comp began to try to kill this snake. after about 5 minutes of trying to kill it, it hid itself in a part of our wall and didnt come out. my comp hit it like 3 times really hard and it was bleeding..so we thought it would just die. so we went to bed normal and without thinking to much about it. wednesday were the changes and the 2 other sisters went to reu, so i woke up wednesday and was gonna make pancakes for my comp and i. so i walked down the stairs, and to be honest i was looking for the snake, and what would you know, I FOUND HIM!!!! he was in a corner by the desk of the other sisters!!!! and so hermana canty did what she does best..i called for hermana leon to come and kill it! hahahaha well my comp really is like a jungle worker, bc she killed this snake with 2 brooms!!! and where was hermana canty during all of this....she was standing on a kitchen chair!!! hahahahaha we also called our neighbor to come and help us throw the snake out! and so since that day every time we walk into our house at night we are almost scared to death!!! but thats the joys of the mission!! :)))) 

now to the spiritual part! ;) this week was really good!!! :) our area has been struggling a little bit to find new investigators, so we did an area attack (i think thats what it is in english...its where the zone comes to the area and everybody works in the area for like 2 hours. tracting and trying to find new people!) well we had a lot of success with that!!! :))) we received like 14 references of people to go and contact!! :) and we saw miralces!!! :) my comp and I and some elders worked in a part of our area where we go almost daily !!! but this day we found a new street!! (really not new, but I've never seen it! lol) the Elders went in and worked there and my comp and I worked near there! there was this house super close to this street that we contacted. And that is when we found Flor. we started to talk to her and she told us that she has a friend who is serving a mission (and i actually know her! we met in the ccm!!!! which is kinda weird) and that she has gone to church several times! we only had a short lesson with her, but really the Lord put her our path!! i am super excited to see her progress! its also really cool to see how different people find different parts of areas!!! :)))) 

i am always amazed at the love that heavenly father has for these people! i cant only imagine how great his love is, bc my love for them is really big!! thats the key to missionary work! LOVE!!! thats the key to the gospel, LOVE. i was really sad to hear about Elder L. Tom Perry´s death, but i know that he is happy! i know the only way to have true happiness in this life is through this gospel! thats what the world doesnt understand, it doesnt matter if you are a good person, if you dont enter into the gate of baptism, WITH AUTHORITY, you cant receive the fullness of the blessings Heavenly Father has!!!! i just want to scream in a microphone sometimes to help these people realize that!! but i also know that Heavenly Father has a time and a plan for everyone!! and we are here to LOVE THEM ALL!!!!!! :)))))) 

i love you all so much! thanks for being so great! BE SAFE THIS WEEK!!!! :))) and enjoy summer!!!

Hermana Canty

ps: I HAVE FINALLY PASSED LEVEL 1 WITH MY COMPS! hermana leon is my first comp that i have been with for more than 1 change!!! WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! :)))))