Letter 12/17/2013

¡FAMILIA!

I have some really really good news, that news is: I am not going to get transferred! I get to stay in my area! I am so happy. We have been seeing a lot of success, and in the next couple of weeks we are expecting at least 4 baptisms. I love this area, and leaving it would have been a bummer. But I get to stay here. 

This week has been a good week, a little crazy, but a good week. We got a new rule that we are no longer allowed to be in the streets after it gets dark; just until the city starts to calm down. It is supposed to get really loco this Friday and Saturday. We are told to have 72 hours worth of water and food, just in case we can't leave our pench. 

Like I said today was a really good week, we have seen a lot of blessings, we found a lot of people that are going to be really good investigators. We contacted a lady because all of our lessons fell through, without us asking she just let us in. As we were explaining a little about the church, she kept saying "well that's just logical" It was nice to have someone so open, and willing to learn. 

We had another lesson with a contact that we found and oh my goodness, he likes to talk. He is one of the people that I fondly call: Gatling Gun talkers. The kind that just go off, and there is just NO end to when it is going to stop. You can try to interrupt them in order to teach, but unless it is done tactfully and with a delicate touch, well you just have no chance they will just talk right through you. 

I am loving the mission. I am loving the time I have here. This time of year is very very very special. My challenge for all of you is to go and read the story of Christs birth as a family, or alone. But read it, and let the miracle of that soak in your mind. 

I love you guys, 

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Luke 2-Story of Christs Birth

Letter 12/9/2013

One another week come and gone, That is CRAZY! It feels like just yesterday I was sending Mail. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Hopefully a good thing. 

So I decided to start this E-mail out with a funny story. Well it is funny now, not so much when it happened. So friday we had a meeting with the whole zone in Rosario, after the end of the meeting we were running late to our appointment back in Galvez. So I had the brilliant idea to not get off the bus on the normal stop, but take it to the end of Galvez to were our investigator lives. So we where on the bus, and all was going well until it turned off into the other part of Galvez. Me and my companion weren't too worrid we figured that it would eventually return back to San Martin, (the biggest road in Rosario and Galvez. So we stayed, and stayed on the bus. Until it stopped and well...it stopped for the bus drivers break in the very opposite end of Galvez. About 25 minutes from our pench and 35-40 minutes from our investigadors house. So in other words we were VERY late to our appointment. Ha ha. But it all ended out working. That same night we had a dinner with the ward. It was just a giant asada and you only had to bring plates, utensils, and something to drink. We showed up late, due to the bus. We planned on just staying for a second, making some contacts an appointments, but when a couple of the ward members found out that we didnt have plates within three minutes we had about 4. It was really nice. One of the members saw I didnt have a drink he filled up HIS glass and gave it to me. I was just so thankful for the love, and support of this ward. I really do love them. The dinner was a huge success and we ended up having 7 investigadors there. 

Another good thing: We have a person that owns a Kiosko his name is A, he went to the states for thanksgiving, and brought me and my companion back Butterfingers and Milky Ways, He also said he had Peanut Butter on the way. He is such a cool guy. We are hoping we can get him to start investigating here soon. 

The streets are a little crazy. The police have gone on strike, and the people due to the christmas season have begun to rob a lot. It is kinda like Black friday, but more then once a year, and the people dont pay for the stuff. ha The owners have begun to close down the stores. We now have military police gurding the stores. Its kinda crazy. Its called sackeos in spanish. Its just huge groups of people that run into stores and take anything they can. As missionarys we are just told to be really careful. So we are just being very cautious. 

I hope this Christmas season finds everyone well. Dont forger what the christmas season is for. Christ is the reason we have our lives, and the ability to return to our father in heaven. Without him, we would be nothing. Dont forget to remember him in all the craziness of Christmas.

 

I Love You All!!

 

Elder Mason Paul Reid 

Letter 12/2/2013

¡HOLA!

Hello family! I hope you are all doing well and you are having a good week, and enjoyed your Turkey Day. Me and Elder B went out and for exercise played a little bit of football for Thanksgiving. That's right I said football, not fútbol. Elder B brought a football to Argentina, he was a kicker in school, and is planning on kicking in college. So I tried my foot at kicking, lets just say it is not as easy as you think it is. But it was pretty fun to play a little bit of good old American football for a little while, and have our own little Turkey Bowl. It was pretty good. Other then that our Thanksgiving was just another day at work. We didn't do a whole lot. 

As for the spider bite you can all take a deep breath. I am doing good. I am taking antibiotics from the doctor and it is healing up good. 

So this week was a tough week in terms of appointments, it seems like no matter what we did our plans fell through. I don't know why, but our luck just was not very good this week. But we sure did walk a lot!! ha ha. We did have one appointment that really was a special one. It was with the R's. They are a family that is really loving, and loves missionaries. We have been working with them for a while, and they haven't been progressing. We thought about not visiting them this week because we lacked time, and had other people that we where having more respect with. But with all of our failed appointments we got time to pass by them Saturday night. When we got there they asked us where we had been all week, why we hadn't passed by. They where scared that we had dropped them, or that the Bishop had said they where a waste of time and told us to not pass by. We told them it was nothing like that. But then as the appointment progressed Elder B shared a scripture about repentance, and the blessing that it was. In that moment the idea of repentance really clicked in my mind. I really understood that repentance is not a thing meant to punish us, it is meant to bless us. Meant to really give us the ability to improve, and change for the better. So I explained it to him, and then asked him to pray and repent. It was weird to ask a 40 year old man to repent. Asking him to humble himself and pray forgiveness for his errors after all, I am only 18 years old. But I did it. And he was really touched. He was really touched by it. It was a really good appointment, and I left there full of the spirit, and really edified by the whole experience. 

I am doing wonderful here in Argentina. I hope you are all having a good week. And enjoying the cold Utah weather!

 

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

 

Words of Mormon 1:7