Blessings and Fruits

GOOD MORNING!!!! :D

well a little about this week:

on tuesday i had the opportunity to see Cristian get set apart. (do you remember Cristian!? he was my first convert in the mission...he got baptized last january!) he is going to Honduras San Pedro Sula West!! and he left last wednesday. when he got baptized i KNEW he would be so pilas. and he has just done that always! i so wanted to be able to see him get set apart, but wasnt sure if i would ever come back to mazate. but the hand of the lord made it possible and i was able to see him. he is so ready and will be a great missionary. i felt kinda like a mom sitting there (proud, worried, happy!) i kept telling my comp, "i hope he has____" (fill that blank in with lots of things from ointment to his scriptures lol) but i was SO HAPPY to see it. i could hardly speak spanish when i met him and i know there were times where he couldnt understand me. but the SPIRIT was there in the lessons and he knew it was true!! i was reading in the book of mormon this week and i came arcoss a scripture that speaks PERFECTLY of how i feel with Cristian. its in Alma 36:24-25,

 

24 Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

25 Yea, and now behold, O my son, the Lord doth give me exceedingly great joy in the fruit of my labors;

everytime i think of the mission and cristian this scripture comes to mind. i cried with joy as i saw him go from Cristian to Elder Cifuentes. :))) i am so grateful that i was able to be part of his life and he part of mine. we will now have a little over a month to write each other as missionaries..its super weird and cool!! :)))

also yesterday we saw a huge miracle. after church we had ward council and they invited us. so we went and for the majority of time we didnt do too much but we were able to put a cita with the Elders Quorum president to visit hermano Jimi. and then they were talking about a family that the relief society was going to visit because the sister is sick. and they invited us to visit her with them and told us that she also has a daughter that isnt a member. so that afternoon we went to visit hte family. we were there for about 20 minutes and the daughter wasnt there so we began to think that it would just be a normal visit to an hermana in need (something that is great to do anyway!!) but then the relief society president (who is SO PILAS) asked wehre the daughter was, and then we hear, "im in here, im coming right now." we were very shocked! but then she came and we met her. her name is Janeth. and she "goes" to an evangelical church but told us that she has always wanted to go to the mormon church with her family! and she loved the message we shared with her. and she told us that normally she has the meeting of church at 4 pm..we were there at like 5:20..and that she was running late that day and decided not to go. we testified to her that coincidences dont exist and that heavenly father was preparing her. also we met her husband and her 2 kids!! they are so great!! we have a cita tonight with them to do a small FHE!! hermana gunderson and i walked out of the house with our mouths wide open. THE LORD IS SO MERCIFUL IN LETTING US SEE THESE GRAND MIRACLES!!!!!!!

also we (hermana gunderson and i) talked in church yesterday. Hna Gunderson talked about loving the people and i talked about conversion. lets just say the spirit was really great in the meeting, and the gift of tongues was present :))) i love testifying of the saviors love, its the thing i love doing most. and since being here in guatemala the words of a hymn hit me differently. "I Feel My Savior´s love, in all the world around me. his spirit warms my soul through everything i see...he knows i will follow him, give all my life to him." i came up with a thought on the mission. the savior´s love is so intense and so warm that we can literally feel it as it fills our hearts. the sun here is SO hot that it sometimes literally burns through you. but to help me appreciate the heat more i compare it to the savior´s love. so instead of complaining all the time because its hot..i thank heavenly father for the heat because its his way of showing me that he and his son love me. I LOVE THE SAVIOR AND I KNOW HE LOVES US! John 15:10-12 says, "

 

10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in mylove; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

 

" how true is that!!! i love the scriptures and i love the gospel. i love being a missionary.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!! have a great week!!! :))) good luck with everything!!!

CON AMOR,

Hermana Canty

The Greatest Love of All

hello family!

i hope you all had a great week!! and that Valentine´s Day was fun, here it was great! i spent it will the people i have come to love..my other family! :D

but just a little about the week!!

we went with la familia cardenas this week and we had challenged them for the 20 of Feb and they said they would pray. well when we went with them we asked them if they were able to pray, and without hestitation hermano jimi answered, "yes hermanas i have prayed and i will be baptized on the 20th!" we about screamed we were so happy!!! i love them! hermana mildred is still not sure because she wants to recieve her own answer and do it because she feels it and not just because jimi does it. but i know she will do it soon!!! unfortunately some things came up and he wont be able to be baptized the 20th but the 27th yes!! so please pray for him! im serious these people are SO AMAZING!!

we also had some really great lessons with Kerin and her husband (another family we are teaching) with José (a guy we met last week) and various others. i love being a missionary. its so special to see how the gospel changes the lives of everyone so differently. for example..kerin and bartolo so easily believe in the book of mormon and José loved church yesterday!! we teach the same gospel to them.. but it depends on what part THEY need specifically! sometimes we go to the lesson with one thing planned..and the spirit completely changes it! its amazing to see!!!

but yesterday one of the talks in church was about the atonement. and as i sat there listening to it i was reminded of how IMENSE is the atonement and even more is the love of god for all of us. yesterday was valentines day, a day where we but gifts and chocolates for the ones we love dearly, but really everyday sunday is like a valentines day for our heavenly father to us. he gives us the gift of the sacrament to take in rememberance of his son and the life he gave for us. i have always known that god loves us, but being here in the mission has helped me amplify that knowledge. as a missionary we see everyone as a possibility, but not just a statistical number for a baptism, but as a CANDIDATE FOR THE CELESTIAL KINGDOM! we see people through god´s eyes! thats why we are here...to help these people become like him! and we can only do that throught the atonement of jesus christ and baptism in THIS church. the atonement of jesus christ really truly is the greatest love of all! and how grateful i am for it!

i love you all so much and am so grateful for you all and your love and prayers always! good luck this week with everything!! and remember that we are in a process of bettering ourselves ALWAYS! I LOVE YOU!!!!

con mucho amor,

Hermana Canty

Casa De Gringas y Cucarachas

HELLO FAMILY!!!

boy do i have lots to tell you all, so lets get started..

FIRST, changes were this week...and guess what. I HAVE MY FIRST GRINGA (WHITE) COMP IN 15 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!! its so wierd and i love it. her name is hermana gunderson. she is from chicago and has like 4 1/2 months in the mission. also fun fact..she read my blog before the mission so we were basically already friends lol she is so pilas!! this is the first comp ive had in a LONG time that has tried hard so to be obedient. its a LOT funner to do it with your companion. ive tried all my mission, but its like 2 cows pulling a wagon..when only one pulls hard and the other doesnt it makes it kinda difficult. well now the 2 cows are pulling together and the wagon is beginning to roll!! :DDDDD its really weird to walk around with another white girl..we draw a lot of attention... lol

SECOND..we had a lesson with la familia cardenas this week that could have been filmed for the district videos. (it was THAT powerful) we went with our district leader and wow was the spirit so strong. Hermana Jimi told us that he wants to get baptized now, and hermana mildred just wants to recieve an answer. they have a fecha for the 20 of Feb so keep them in your prayers please. this family is SO special to me!!!

THIRD..we had an investigator Giovani in church yesterday! we met him like 2 weeks ago and then he kinda disappeared but yesterday morning we were passing for some investigators and no one was home or was gonna come and we thought of him and after waking him up...he came to church with us! and he loved it!! he also accepted fecha for 20 of Feb!! he is so believing. like he doesnt have a ton of knowledge of churchy things but he believes so easily and wants to know the truth! :D

FOURTH..i realized something yesterday in church. it was testimony meeting and every person who went up but 1 was a sister. as i realized that i remembered the talk from general conference in octuber from elder nelson when he talked about the importance of the women in the church and how we need women who can testify with CONVICTION and POWER to help build the church. that made me so grateful for the testimony i have obtained in my life, and especially on the mission. but something else i realized that made me sad is that ONLY ONE brother shared his testimony. the men of the church hold the power of god and should share their testimonies always!!!! i think lots of times we take for granted the testimonies that we have. so dad and chance..share your testimonies!!!!! :))) and everyone else too!! THE POWER OF A SIMPLE TESTIMONY CHANGES LIVES!!!!

i love this work. it is truly the greatest work that their is in the world and we are all a part of it. i know my savior lives and loves me and that these guatemaltecos are his children. I LOVE THE CHAPINES!!!!!!!!!!!! i hope this week goes great for all of you and that you know how much i love you. :))))

con amor,

Hermana Canty

I Stand All Amazed

i hope everyone is doing well and that you arent freezing your toes off!! :)) im just sitting here..baking like a vanilla cake in the oven!! :) but its all worth it!!

well about my week...KAREN GARCIA GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!! :DDDD it was the craziest experience i have had on the mission...she came to church last sunday, we had our first lesson on tuesday, interview on wednesday, she was baptized saturday, and she was confirmed sunday!!! WOW!!!! (it happened like that because she had already had attendences and SHE WAS PREPARED BY THE HAND OF THE LORD!!!) the whole week i just stood in shock because i couldnt beleive what was happening. everything fit so perfectly together..that there is NO doubt that this is GOD´S work and not ours. She would not have been able to be baptized without the lord´s help. but like always satan tries to come in. we were in her baptism and she had changed into her clothes and we were about to start but she started feeling really sick and looked like she was going to pass out. (she has a small problem with convulsing and she felt the same symptoms that she feels right before she usually does it so we were a little worried...) but then a thought came to my mind..."give her a blessing." so we asked out district leader to give her a blessing...and in the blessing he promised that the lord wanted her to do this and that she would be able to complete this ordenance. it was really a special blessing. almost immediately after the blessing she felt and looked a lot better! and the rest of the baptism was great!!!! also she was confirmed on sunday and even brought her little girl to church. i still dont really beleive that it happened because like i said...it was a true miracle..and they usually blow your mind...so just know that the lord is working in the vineyard of Mazatenango.

he is also working in the ENTIRE vineyard of the Mission Retalhuleu!! this month the theme was 200+++! and that was our goal as a mission. MORE THAN 200 BAPTISMS!! in Novemeber Elder Alonso, the 2nd counselor in the area presidency, came to the mission and told us that we "are a mission of 200 or more every month." and it took us 2 months to fulfill that promise, but we did it. we finished the month of January with 203 new converts, and SOULS saved!!! it is so amazing to be apart of the lords work. i know with out a doubt that hte lord is wokring here...presidente and all of us missionaries have been working so hard to eliminate the bad things in our lives and trust in the lord more throught FASTING AND PRAYING! and to see the lords words fulfilled...is somethign so amazing. that again...i dont quite understand.

i love being a missionary, i know that hte lord has always worked in my life and has truly performed MANY miracles throught it, but as a missionary i see miracles in a different way. they are the SMALL miracles everyday that make the difference. in like in basketball...the last 3 piont shot in the last 5 seconds doesnt win the game...even though most people like to think so...its the CONSTANT effort throughout the entire 32 mintues..every pass..every play..every point..that truly win the game. thats the miracles in the mission...the miracle we saw this week of karen is one that is so big i dont understand...but the constant small miracles that i see everyday (when someone lets us into their house..when the investigator keeps his committments..when we eat our favorite food) that have truly converted me. i know with all my heart that this is the work of the lord...and i am just a small simple missionary and instrument in his hands. like the song says, "I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me, confused at his grace that so fully he profers me," the lord loves me, and he loves these people and THATS why we do his work.

I LOVE YOU!!!! have a great week!!! :))))

con amor,

Hermana Canty

We're All in This Together

HELLO MY FAMILY!!!!!

i hope you are all doing great! well there are lots of things to tell so we´ll get started:

on wednesday we had a WORLD WIDE MISSIONARY BROADCAST!! thats right...WORLD WIDE!! every missionary in the world was watching it, and wow...just the thought of that brought a huge spirit. the theme of the conference was "Teach Repentance, Baptize Converts" were listened to the general authorities speak to us about the importance of teaching the basic doctines!! i thnk sometimes, not just as missionaries, but as members we try to give all of the knowledge we have in the first chance we get, but sometimes just teaching to the basic doctrines WITH THE SPIRIT is what the people need. the thing that stood out to me the most is something that Elder Neil L. Anderson said. he stated, "No matter how much we talk of chirst, it will never be too much" WOW!!!!! what truth that has. as missionaries we literally wear his name on our chest everyday and it is our duty to "talk, rejoice in, preach, and prophesy" of CHRIST!!!! but that shouldnt just be a duty of full time missionaries with the black name tag on, but a duty of every person in the world!! and especially of the members of HIS church. Also he said, that if we dont know what to talk about that we should talk of Christ. so just remember that. :D

also we saw a huge miracle this week. a few weeks ago we were looking at hte old investigators in our area book and we came across a name, Karen Garcia. we looked for her for a while..but the direction and number werent very good. so we asked some of the members that lived close to where we thought she lived. they gave us a direction..but it was almost as hard to find it as before. flashforward, saturday night we were again looking at the area book and the progress forms in it...and again came across her name. i told hermana chan that i felt we should visit her the next day and we made our plans. flashforward to church. i had to lead the hymns and half way through the meeting a teenage girl walked in. as i saw her i felt something...the spirit. and after the meeting we talked to her.. and guess who it was..KAREN GARCIA!!!! she came to church. the bishop had invited her. lets just say that the spirit is trying to tell the whole ward that she is ready!!! we have a cita tomorrow!!! :)))

i love being a missionary because i get to focus on the hand of the lord. he is always there in our lives but as normal people we often cant focus solely on his hands because of hte demands of hte world...but how special it is to put aside every other care in the world and focus on helping other know our savior. i invite you all to try, amongst the distractions of the real world, to focus on the hands of the lord in your lives. i promise you that you will be astounded at the miracles you see!!

i love you all so much and i really do have the best family in the world! thanks for your prayers and love!! I LOVE YOU!! have a great week and good luck in everything!!

con amor!!

Hermana Canty

PS: this week i ate shark and chicken liver...those are some new things...

2 Nephi 25:26

Well hello my beautiful family!! :)))

this week was a trying week, and i have very little time today, so i will try to do a recap! :)

we went with la familia cardenas a few times this week! they are so great!! the want to be baptized but the only doubt they have is that they dont know too much about the church (not so much the doctirne of the church, but how it works) for example Hno Jimi is from a Evangelical family and Hna Mildred is from a Catholic family. they are a little hesitant about changing all of that, but they are so great. and our ward mission leader helps us so much. he is always there with us and testifying to them. they werent able to come to church this week :/ but its okay, they can still be baptized this weekend. we are gonna have an FHE with them tonight to see how they are doing!! :))

also, as a mission, we have 3 scriptures that we also quote in every meeting, and up until last tuesday one of them was 3 Nephi 5:13. but presidente ruiz changed it and we are now memorizing 2 Nephi 25:26

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

i love this scripture. as missionaries that is what we are doing everyday!! and we, as MEMBERS of the church should do that too!! never be afraid to testify of christ!!! speaking of that...i have another goal. Presidente Ruiz challenged us all to learn the living christ is spanish before march...but since i already know it..im joining with presidente and i will learn the living christ in ENGLISH!!! he is learnign it too!! and already has like 2 paragraphs!!!! i invite you all to join with us in learning this...i promise you that your testimony of Jesus Christ will grow!!!!!!:DDD

im not sure what else has happened...so much and so little and so fast that i cant keep up!! but jsut know that the lord is speeding up his work, its a full time job we have people...we need to prepare everyone for when our savior comes. please keep him close to you!! the one thing that i have come to know here, is that my savior lives and loves me. as imperfect as we are..he came to die for us so htat we could overcome those imperfections. trust in him. I LOVE YOU!!! have a great week!!!!! good luck with everything this week!!!!

CON AMOR,

Hermana Canty

Contraataque El Enemigo

HELLO MY BEAUTIFUL FAMILY!!! :D

its a great day and was an amazing week. i have lots to tell and little time so we will get right to it :))

First, Hna Karla A. is so great!! her little son is doing a LOT better this week..i saw him smile and laugh for the first time in a while which is great!!! she has been having lots of trials lately, trials which would normally break the desires of the people, but she has been PRESSING FORWARD!!!! she wasnt able to come to church this week because she had to take her son to get checked, but her testimony of the book of mormon is growing!! :) her whole family is catholic..which sometimes worries her but she is progressing toward baptism!!

Also this week we had a meeting with presidente Ruiz, it was kinda "improv" bc they told us tuesday night and it was wednesday, but it was great!!! :)) the focus of the meeting was "Contraataque Al Enemigo" that means, "counter atack to the Enemy." we have a goal this month of MORE THAN 200 BAPTISMS!!!!! and we started the month very low..so presidente wanted to help us find out what was happening and how we can change it. he did this analogy that we can relate to:

in sports when the other team starts to get ahead, what do we do!? (the first thing that came to my mind was Diamond Hard...but i couldnt say that to Presidente Ruiz lol) WE COUNTER ATACK THEM!!!

well thats waht we planned in this conference. first, we have changed a LOT of things in the culture of our mission to help us really focus on the calling that we have, and we talked about being more obediente as a mission. we also made plans as a districts as to what we would do to counter atack the enemy in our areas and even made battle crys...all of these things are to help us reach the goal that was PROMISED to us by an APOSTLE OF THE LORD in November!!! BRILLANDO MISION REU!!! :) also to finish the conference, we started a fast together (we fast every wednesday) and let me tell you...IT WAS SO POWERFUL!! the spirit was so strong!!!! there is power in fasting!!! :D

also the members of our ward this week REALLY helped us!! we received lots of references and were able to contact almost all of them! members really are the best way to do missionary work...so remember that!! ;) but i would like to tell you of the BIGGEST miracle we had this week...and it all started with a desire to visit a MA family:

friday night we planned to visit a MA family with our ward mission leader, bc we didnt know where they lived. it had been a good day but we hadnt found any new investigators. we were sitting on a bench waiting for him to come and i was just thinking about the day that we had had, and i felt calm, but also like something was missing. i didnt recognize the feeling until later but it was the spirit telling me, "just wait and see what the lord has planned" well our WML got there and we started walking to the house of the MA family, but on the way he told us, "hermanas, if its okay with you i have a friend who is waiting to meet us right now, can we go before we go with the family?" of course we said yes!! and i felt like jumping in the street with joy because it was the first member reference WITH A CITA that we had recieved!!! :) so we went to meet this friend, and it turns out that this friend has a wife!!! :D thats when we met la Familia Cardenas, Jimi and Mildred. they are so great!! they are younger, (22-25) and just got married 9 months ago! they were talking with the sisters in the area about 6 months ago but Jimi went to the States and Mildred went to live with her mom and they lost contact. well he is back now and they are SO willing to learn!!! :)))) they are really special! we left their house and i was smiling like a child on christmas!!! :))) ALSO they came to church on sunday!!! :))) (they walked in RIGHT before the sacrament!! :D) and they really liked it!!! and later that night we went with them and Hermano Jimi accepted baptism for the 23 of JAN!!!! :)))) they truly are prepared!! we have a cita with them on Wednesday and we are going to do a FHE and make food!! :)))

that experience taught me lots of things, the first of which is it reaffirmed a phrase we have in the mission "Exactly Obedient So God Cannot Deny A Miracle" hermana chan and i try very hard to be obedient, we arent perfect but everyday we do our best so that just like heavenly father lead us to Familia Cardenas, he can lead us to others!!! also it helped me remember that HE NEVER LEAVES US ALONE!!! its right in the moments that we are about to give up that he sweeps in and saves us!!!

this is truly the work of the lord, and how amazing it is to be a part of it!!! please pray and ask heavenly father for the names of people who you can invite the missionaries to teach. THIS IS THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH AND THE ONLY CHURCH THAT HAS THE KEYS TO CELESTIAL KINGDOM!!! we cant let anyone NOT recieve these blessings!!!

I love you all so much! have a great week!! work hard, pray harder!! :D

Con amor,

Hermana Canty