Blog Letter 12/31/2014

¡Hola!

I am going to start off with talking about the days with the day AFTER Christmas. I hope you are all okay with that. And if you're not...well...bummer. 

Lets start with Friday the 26th:

We had our activity with President Zanni. Him and his family came to Paraná and we decorated cookies, played some games, and ate lunch. We then went to a children's hospital and gave away the cookies and sang Christmas hymns to the little kids and their families. It was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed it. On the way to the hospital it started to rain, but I am talking torrential, wash away cars rain. So we all got soaking wet. But it was fun. :) We also found out that Elder Reidhead was leaving, and my new companion is going to be Elder Quiroz. (more on that later)

Saturday the 27th:

We had a really good lesson with E., she is programmed to be baptized on the 17th of January. Then at night Elder Reidhead said goodbye to some people. 

Sunday the 28th: 

We got locked out of our pench, and somehow we luckily got in through a window that we are pretty sure we had locked. (blessings) The members threw a going away party for Elder Reidhead. The members here are AWESOME! I love them so much. We also ended up going to sleep really really late trying to get everything ready for the next day. 

Monday the 29th:

Transfers. I was in the Bus Terminal from 8 o clock to 7 o clock. Yes that is 11 hours. As a zone leader I have to make sure not only the missionaries from our zone, but from other zones get to there areas. Elder Reidhead left, which really did make me sad. I love that guy. Elder Quiroz got here. (more on him later). We played a trick on him. One of our male members told me to tell my new companion that we had a Inactive member that was attracted to men. Well the member is a really good actor, and we scared my comp pretty good. ha ha. 

Tuesday the 30th: 

We programmed two people to be baptized. It is awesome! We also have been having a lot of fun. The people here are great. I love them! One of our members that just got sealed in the temple has a son that wants to come back to church. We are hoping he can come back. I love that family so much! 

Elder Quiroz is from Bolivia. He is really cool 19 years old, has 14 months in the mission. We get a long realy well. He was serving in a city called San Nicolas before coming here. 

I love you all so much! You are all so wonderful!!

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 12/15/2014

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!

Well hello everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far! I saw a way that a missionary emailed his family and I kinda liked it, so I am going to try it. Let me know what you think.

Monday:

Last monday after going to the Ciber and talking to you guys, Elder R and I with two other sisters walked to the Giant Mate, we went into the giant mate store which is a souvenir store but it was SUPER expensive. So we went to the store to the side of the Giant Mate, and we got some souvenirs, I love going into some of the random corner stores here.

Tuesday:

Like all Tuesdays we had regular district meeting. After regular district meeting we went and taught some lessons in the tarde. We ended the night teaching our investigator D with some members inside the church it was a great lesson. 

Wednesday:

We taught a less active member who is really sick, and has a speech impetiment, we gave him a blessing. B passed her Baptism Interview which is awesome! And we taught a kid some english that had to take his final exam, he knew about as much English as I know German...So I am not sure if he is going to pass... R our recent convert is doing awesome. She has never read the scriptures before, but now she is reading 1 chapter of the Book of Mormon, The bible, and Gospel Principles every day. 

Thursday:

We taught that same kid English, he actually retained the first lesson pretty well. Maybe, just maybe he will pass. We went looking for a lady that we needed to find in order for a person to get baptized in La Paz. We had to go into a Villa, and right as we passed this one are, and talked to a lady we turned around and passed the same spot less then 4 minutes later and it was surrounded with Police with shotguns, and people were fighting...that was cool. 

Friday: 

B GOT BAPTIZED!!! It was a great baptism! A lot of people came and we had a great time. It went out without a hitch! (which has never happened). Elder Reidhead baptized her. It was a great baptism!

Saturday:

We helped a guy push his car to try and start it, as we were practically running, and pushing this car kinda down hill we got close to an intersection, we stopped pushing, but the guy decided not to stop, and ended up T-boning another car...But they got it all figured out. We also taught D, and S, they are two recent converts, that are kinda struggling, So if anyone has any marriage advice it will be welcomed. We also did service in the morning.

Sunday:

We had our stake conference with Pres. Zanni. It was a really good meeting. I felt the spirit really strong. Also D will be baptized this 20th of December she passed her interview!  We taught some good lessons that night. 

All in all this last week has been a good week! I hope you are all doing great!

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 12/8/2014

Hello Family and Friends!

This week has been a great week. We have had a lot of laughs, and a lot of good times. It feels good to be a missionary. 

We have had a lot of success and a lot of miracles have happened. 

We should have a baptism next week, then the week after that. We are hoping to have more baptisms in January. We are finding a lot of people, and seeing the lords hands go before us. 

This week I went on divisions with Elder G, he is from ecuador, he is a good guy, it was fun to be with him and learn a little bit about Ecuador, he actually lived on the Galapagos Islands. He made me want to take a trip to Ecuador. 

I also went on divisions with Elder C he is from Guatemala. He speaks a different Language that is an ancient tribal language. It was interesting to hear him speak it. I went to Victoria with Elder C. Victoria is a small pueblito about 2 hours in colectivo from Paraná. Its a really nice Tranquilo place. 

One part of the Mission I didnt expect is how much I am able to learn and interact with different cultures. I have met and talked with people from Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Guatemala, Columbia, Mexico, El Salvador, Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, and more. I have learned so much about other cultures. Its really been awesome!

We did Service for an hermana that had a pool that you had to put together. It was quite a big pool. and it took a long time to put together. It was super hot outside, and the Irony is that we as missionaries couldnt even get in the water. But I have learned to really enjoy serving other people. 

Now me and Elder R are going to go and try to find a Giant Mate. It supposed to be bigger then a human. It should be fun. I will be sure to take photos. :)

I love you guys so much!!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 11/24/2014

¡Buenas!

This week has been WONDERFUL! We have had a great week this week! I have a lot I would like to share with you guys, but very little time to do it! First of I would like to share a quote that is really popular but I feel like I need to share it.

There are two kinds of people in this world, those who act, and those who get acted upon. 

This week we visited a lot of people, and as a missionary its wonderfu to be able to see the fruit of your labor, and this week we saw it, many of the people we visited came to church, the church was full, and it was amazing to see! I was really really happy. But on top of that we have some even better news. 

D is an investigator of ours, she is also an active and faithful Jehovas Witness we had been teaching her a lot, and we weren't seeing a lot of progress, and the doctrine of her church and ours are very distinct on very important subjects. We always tried to teach her without letting it turn into bible bashing. We finally decided that what she needed was something out of our power to give her, on the 18th of October we fasted for her. With a lot of faith that she would get an answer. After fasting it seemed like nothing had changed, we continued to visit her, but we did it less frequently, and we felt a little bummed she had not recieved an answer, or that God had not answered our fast. 

Well as always The Lord never faileth. Deuternomy 31:6. But I had forgotten that his ways are not our ways, nor his times our times. Isaiah 55:8. 

This last week D went to the Buenos Aires temple with a member, she obvisouly could not go in, but she could be in the gardens, well while she was their she met up with a member who had lost her temple recommend and couldn't go in, after talking to the member, and being on the temple ground she felt the spirit and has decided to be baptized. MIRACLES!! The Lord ALWAYS answers the prayers of his servants! 

I invite you all to visit a website that the church is putting in. I believe it began this week. Look up christmas.mormon.org. Its a huge giant move the church is doing, including buying advertisement in New York, and also on Youtube. Its a big thing, our mission president has talked to us about it. We will be putting it in practice this next little while. Dont ever forget that 

"HE (Christ) IS THE GIFT. SHARE THE GIFT!!"

I love you all so much! You are all amazing people! Dont ever forget who you are, and that God loves you!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 11/18/2014

The Reid and Reidhead are staying together!

That's the good news about transfers! Me and Reidhead are going to be together for another six weeks! It should be really fun! I am super excited! We are gong to have a lot of fun, and work really hard this transfer! 

I am really enjoying my mission so far. I think one of my favorite parts about my mission, or one of the things I enjoy doing the most is teaching. I love teaching people. I love using the scriptures, and being able to help people grow their knowledge. It's one of my favorite, if not my favorite part of being a missionary. 

Part of being able to teach is studying. As the scriptures say we have to gain a knowledge of these things and study them before we can teach them. I have learned to love and enjoy daily scripture study. I love being able to know the scriptures. 

Our mission president has talked a lot lately on how to get the members to grow to love and read the scriptures daily. If we read the scriptures daily with joy and search them, we will always be blessed with the spirit, and we will stay strong in the gospel. I invite you all to read and study the scriptures more diligently. Memorize scriptures and share them with your friends and family. I promise that if you do, you will grow closer to Christ! If you feel like your faith is waning, that something is lacking in your life, or that something is just not right. Look back and reflect on your study of the Book of Mormon, and your diligence in prayer, make goals to be better, and do those things.

I love you all so much!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 11/10/2014

Hola everyone!

How are you all doing? I would have to say that you are all struck with a little bit of Baby Fever. I am glad to see that little baby Kelton has been so well welcomed into the family. I would be surprised if he ever gets set down, or if there is ever a time he is not being held and cuddled. :) 

I am far away from Utah so I feel pretty safe saying that I still think new born babies look like aliens. Kelton is a cute alien, but an alien none the less. Nah, I love my cute little Nephew already I am super excited to see him and get to know him. 

This week has been really awesome. A lot of really fun things happened, and we have been working hard, and helping the zone here grow. 

Some big things that happened: 

I was able to give the Holy Ghost to our Convert: the spirit was very strong, and it was a wonderful feeling inside that sacrament meeting, we also had our highest attendance I have seen yet. WOO!!

At church on Sunday there was a really nice guy that has struggled with drugs, and even though now he is clean he suffers a lot from the side effects both mental and physical. Well, he passed out in Sacrament meeting and we had to carry him out. An ambulance came and picked him up. 

As we were walking home on Sunday we thought a group of guys was going to rob us, so we started doing the classic: Evade getting robbed missionary style. As I was walking I looked behind me to see if the guys were still following us. Out of the blue the ground disappeared from under me and my left leg disappeared into an abyss. Turns out the sidewalk was missing some panels, and I fell right through with my left leg. Other than a couple of scratches and a bruised ego I am fine, and we didn't get robbed. 

Sunday was quite the day. :)

All in all we are doing really good, we are teaching a lot, and I can feel the progression. I love you all so much!!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 11/03/2014

FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS TO THE MIDGET!!

I hope you have all wished my little sister Happy Birthday today!! Cause she is know 18, and is super old. Which makes her parents even older! So feel old everyone!! :):)

This week has been awesome! Lets start this out with last Monday, after emailing you guys we ran into the USA Men's Softball team in McDonald's, this has been the second time we ran into them. But it was fun to talk to them, and we also helped them order there food, seeing as how they didn't speak Spanish, after talking to one of the players we got invited to go to the hotel to buy a shirt, and get it signed by the players. So we went and got shirts, and free hats. Then they got signed by the players and the coaches including the president of the ASA! Which is really really awesome!

R GOT BAPTIZED!! So awesome! I am super excited for her she is going to be an awesome member for the church! The baptism was wonderful even though we had a couple of minor problems, but we solved them, and it was a great baptism. Elder R performed the ordinance. It was a super super good baptism!

I completed 1 year in Argentina this week! Which is cool!

I also have another crazy story, from two weeks ago. I forget to tell you guys.

 I was walking around with Elder M (one of the assistants) and we contacted a guy who did "umbanda" (Black magic) and he asks us if we had heard of this thing called Mánu, and we said no, and then he points to these two huge bull heads that apparently he had sacrificed, and then points to this little like caged dog house and says do you know what Macumba is? and we say NO. And he says in that box I have Macumba, and explains it has something to do with black magic, and right about then we decided it was about time we left. ha ha. Pretty crazy stuff.  

All in all, this week has been awesome and really eventful!! I hope you are all doing great and living the happy life! I love you all and pray for you!!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 10/27/2014

¡SÍ SE PUEDE!

Or in english: Yes you can!

In the mission here, we are in the middle of a huge change. The mission is changing a lot here in Rosario Argentina. When Pres. Zanni got here he saw a lot of missionaries who had the attitude that here in the Rosario Mission we do not baptize, or that there is very little success. That bad thought has been around for a long time, and we as leaders are now here to KILL IT and show the missionaries that here in Rosario we have a lot of success. We have been hounding faith, hardwork, and what I wrote at the beginning Sí se puede! We have seen a lot of miracles since and we are just barely beginning. Within a couple of months this attitude change, this feeling of: "yes you can" will change the lives of a lot of people. 

We as a companionship have been applying it to not only other missionaries, but to our members and investigators. Bringing a message of no matter what it is, no matter what the goal, or trial, or dream is: Sí se puede! Yes you can! 

That's what the gospel of Christ does for us. It makes everything possible, it makes whatever dream or goal we have possible, if we put Him first. Like it says in Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me. 

I am here to tell you all, that YES YOU CAN! Because of Christ's atonement and through faith in him, you can do whatever you want! I have no doubt, cause I have seen it. It's his infinite love in action! We just have to have faith!

On a change of thought process: This next week we are going to be having a baptism. Our investigator will be being baptized! I am super excited. Her daughter is 5 years old, and loves us! She put us down as older brothers for a report she had to do in school! It really made my day! It's wonderful to be a missionary! 

I love you all so much! I hope you are all smiling and just living happily. 

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 10/20/2014

Alright Muy buen día a todos!!

Wanna hear a REALLY funny story at the expense of my companion?

If anyone answered "yes" Shame on you! But its okay I got his permission, wether it was given bitterly or lovingly I dont know. I didnt wanna ask more then once. :) 

So we were waiting for the bus to get home, we where standing and talking for about 10 minutes when we saw the bus, right as we are just about to move to get on the bus my comp realizes he has been standing on an ant hill for the past 10 minutes, and he is covered in ants. These are not just your regular black ants, they have Pitbull heads on them, they got some teeth.

Well we get on the bus, my companion sits down trying to get the ants off his leg through a series of shaking his feet, and swatting with his hands. I am sure everyone thought he was on drugs. I was containing my laughter...well trying to contain it. He literally had ants in his pants. The entire ride you see two kids in white shirts, one laughing, and the other swatting at his legs. Just a great scene. After getting off the bus, and heading home he is in a panic trying to fight the now biting ants. I am sure it was a terrible experience for Elder R, but he was a good sport, and didnt get mad at my laughter. But it did make for a good story. :)

This week has been awesome for us, we are working with a lady who I hope well be baptized within the next two weeks, and another lady who we found yesterday. I will tell more about her next week.

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

P.S Remember: We are always going to follow the desires of our heart.

Put God first, then others, then ourselves

Blog Letter 10/13/2014

Saludos De Paraná

Just before anyone asks, I am doing great! I really am. I have had a wonderful first week here in Paraná. My companion is a Capo, and for those of you who don't speak Argentinian, that means stud. Really Capo is a stronger, more capo way of saying stud. It's like super stud. He loves to work and we are getting a lot done. We are also getting along great. 

President Zanni in a council of leaders once said: "In order to accomplish things never accomplished, you have to do things never done." That is what we are doing here in Paraná. We are changing a lot of things and trying to change the mind set of the people here. It's a lot of work and it's going to require time, effort, a lot of faith and prayer, but we have high hopes for the Paraná stake. 

I would like to share with you an observation I made Sunday in sacrament meeting. A single mom stood up to bear her testimony accompanied by her 7-8 year old daughter. As she was giving her testimony her little baby boy who can't walk, but can definitely crawl, crawled from the front row to the pulpit. She picked him, and continued giving her testimony. There I was, watching this single mom give her testimony of Christ, with her baby in her arms and her daughter by her side. I thought to myself: This is a single mom, who has to try and keep her family together, teach them the gospel, and be an example for the kids solo. She is in charge of protecting, providing, and nourishing her kids. When I saw her there at the pulpit with the kids I realized she is succeeding. She might be struggling with a lot of doubts and fears of money, bills, work, house keeping, and time for her kids. But here she was with her family at church. It really touched me. I realized how much she loves God and I respect her so much. She is a wonderful parent and a wonderful example to her kids and me. Even though she has her faults, just like every single one of us. 

That is what I would like to share with you all this week! To always remember our priority's and never lose our love for Christ and our trust in him. It will always bless us and our family's. 

I love you all so much!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 10/7/2014

Hey family how are you doing? 

I really had a great week this week. I have good news and some bad news for you all. Well, maybe its not bad news, but I wasn't looking forward to it. 

I will be leaving my current area of Nébel to go to Paraná which is actually Elder T's old area.  I will stay a zone leader. I am pretty excited to go over there and it should be pretty interesting. I have been told there is a lot of black magic and gypsies, which is even more interesting. I will keep you informed on the black magic. :) 

It will be hard to leave this area. I really do love the people and I feel like I didn't have too much time here, but as the scriptures say ,my ways are not the Lords ways. 

This last conference has been amazing! I hope you all could watch it and really soak it all in. If you couldn't I strongly invite you too. It was super good this year. 

My favorite talks were:

Jorg Klebingat: He gave us six pieces of advice to have a better life.

Lynn G. Robbins: We need to have confidence in who we are, and not fold under pressure.

Richard G. Scott: Tools of God: Prayer, Scripture Study, Family Home Evening, and Temples

Dieter F. Uchtdorf: "Lord, is it I"

James J. Humula: The blessings of the sacrament. 

My favorite one liners were: "Absolute truths do exist" -Elder Bednar

"Acknowledge your weaknesses but dont be immobalized by them" -Elder Jorg Klebingat

"Come and see" -Elder Bednar

"Stay in the boat"- Richard G. Scott. 

"Never forget which way you face"- Lynn G. Robbins

I really loved this general conference. I hope you are all doing great.

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 09/29/2014

Hey everyone!

I hope you are all doing great!

I am super excited for General Conference this week. I always try to think of some questions or doubts that I really want the Lord to answer, and he always answers. I have a huge testimony of that. I invite all of you to think about some questions that you would like the Lord to answer. I know that he will answer you through his servants. 

This week has been great! We have been teaching and finding a lot of people. A couple of days ago we were going to begin to contact. It was kind of a hot day and we weren't exactly excited to contact, but we decided to do it. We knocked or clapped the first door and a lady came out. My companion said "Hey, we are missionaries and we are sharing a message." She said "Cool, would you like to come in." Well, obviously we would like to come in! It was a really good lesson and she was really nice. We explained to her the Restoration and we gave her a Book of Mormon.

We have had a lot of good lessons this week. We have had a lot of people really be honest with us and share the problems they are having, and we have been able to help them. It was really a great week. 

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Lettter 9/22/2014

Family and Friends!

Alright I have to begin this letter getting upset at all of you! I was told by my only true friend over there in Utah that some people have been making fun of me for my spelling of the word Delicious. I would like to explain that spelling was NEVER my strongest attribute, and count learning another language in on top of it just doesnt help at all. And the only time I write in english is to you guys, and the computers here are programmed to spanish so they dont help me with word check. 

I dont know who, or when, but I expect no more of this burlando of my spelling. I love you all. :) (Shout out to Riley you are the greatest).

This week has been awesome we really have seen a lot of blessings, and seen a lot of miracles, we have found quite a few new familys, and seen a lot of people coming back to church. 

This last saturday we had the goal to teach 6 lessons in one day. WE had the plans and we headed out, well we were going good up until the fifth lesson, it got cancelled on us, and we only had 30 minutes until the planned 6th lesson. So we decided to start knocking doors. I then remembered the house of an old contact that had relatives from our church, we knocked, and the husband who I have never talked to opened the door, and talked to us, he offered us water and told us to pass in. We got in and taught a short lesson. We then went and completed our 6th lesson. It was a blessing from the lord for our faith, and diligence. It was amazing to do, and we felt great. And every single one of those lessons were good lessons, that really helped the people. 

I also had a really awesome baptism interview with a 10 year old girl. She was so gosh dang sweet. And she knew everything! She told me about when she knelt down to pray about the book of mormon, and how she had felt a silence come over her. And she knew the book was true. 

That girl is 10 years old. That is a true testimony, I felt the spirit of it! It was so awesome!

This week has been a blessing for me. 

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Letter 9/15/2014

Elder Reid is kind of struggling with his English a little bit...

Family and friends!

The weeks are just flying buy! I cant believe how fast all of it goes. It is really scary. This week has been a really busy week. And it was also full of traveling as well as the other week. We had Leadership Counsel with President Zanni. It was a really good meeting. But the trip to and from Rosario can be a little exhausting. Me and Elder T. did eat McDonalds which just makes everything better. 

Now we have the special p-day when all 22 missionarys from the zone get together, and we have some fun, and then we have our zone meeting afterwards. We are planning on cooking and eating Choripanes. Which is Chorizo sandwhiches with tomatoe and lettuce. With a good potatoe salad on the side. Potatoe salad style Argentinian. It is going to be delicouse. 

Randmo fact, before the mission I really did not like tomatoes, or peaches. But my family will be suprised to learn that I LOVE THEM! Wow, you just cant have a good sandwhich or salad without tomatoe. :) 

I really hope you guys now that I love you all so much. I am so grateful to be here on the mission. There is no other place I would rather be. It is a privelige to be on the mission. To be allowed to carry the name of The Lord on my plate. 

I know the Lord sacrificed his life for us. He knows us, and knows every trial and difficulty we have. He is mighty to save. He loves us. and he wants to forgive us. 

As it says in D&C 45:3-5 Christ is our lawyer, our friend, and through him we will gain mercy. 

I love this work. 

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 09/08/2014

Hey family!

How are all you doing? I am doing great. It has been a great week for us. We have been working a lot, and doing a lot of good things. This week has been kinda crazy. 

We went to Santa Fe to have a conference with President Zeballos from the Quorum of the Seventy. He talked about a lot of things, but most of it had to do with love. He talked about how everything we do and say should be based on our love for the Lord and for other people. Without charity we are nothing. 

It was really fun to be in the conference. It was with half the mission so I got to see a lot of my good friends that I haven't seen since December. I also got to eat Subway for the first time in almost a year. I never thought black olives, ranch and barbecue sauce could taste so good, but it was expensive...

The trip took a long time, we left Concordia at 2:15 A.M and got to Paraná at 5:50 A.M, then we took a bus to Santa Fe and got there at 7:00 A.M. We then had the meeting from 9:00-1:00 P.M and took a bus at 5:30 P.M to Paraná and when we got there ALL the buses where taken so we ended up taking a bus at 1:25 in the morning. It was a bus for all the people that live in the little towns, so it took us 9 hours to get back to Concordia. So all in all I had been in my suit for about 33 hours. We didn't get to sleep at all because we got back at about 10 and it was a shower and off to work However, the trip was worth it and was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it. 

My companion and I are doing great! We found a family that we are hoping to be able to baptize. It is a family of 6 and they are really nice. 

I hope you are all doing great I love you all!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 09/01/2014

Hello everyone! How are you all doing?

This week has been really awesome. We have had a good week and we have had a lot of fun. We should be having quite a bit of success here in not too much time. 

Elder T. has been getting to know the zone and the area here. He is a great guy, and I don't just say that cause he is from Spanish Fork. :) 

We have a lot of new elders and hermanas in the zone, so it has been really cool to be with them and see there progression. Most of them just came from the MTC, and they are now seeing and experiencing a lot of new things. We are living with Elder I. and his new companion is Elder F. He is a good kid as well who is trying to learn Spanish. It always makes me think back when I had just began the mission, and really had to try hard to understand and speak the language. 

I have learned so many great things this week. A couple of notable things that I would like to talk about are the importance of responsibility, faith, and knowing who we are. 

I have seen the difference in elders as they are moved from being junior comp, to senior comp or to trainer and the difference is significant. I think when we realize the weight of our actions, especially in the sense of the effect they have on other people or how big our responsibilities are we change and we become better. It is really important that we magnify our callings even if our callings are just son, daughter, brother, sister, mom, or dad. All of those things are really important and effect a lot of people. 

I was studying the other day about faith. I started reading a little bit about the brother of Jared. He had so much faith, was such a great guy, had to deal with a lot of stuff, a lot of responsibility, and the entire time he probably had people doubting his ability's about building a boat, having air, having light, and a mountain of other things. However, he held strong and through his faith, not doubting anything he saw the finger of God, and eventually God himself, and all his creations. That is faith!

Me and Elder T. have been asking a lot of questions to each other lately just getting to know each other better. Well we stumbled upon three questions that are really difficult but to me they seem really important. They are: Who was I in the past? Who am I now? And who do I want to be? A simple answer would be a child of God, but that is a simple answer, and it requires no effort, everyone is a child of God. Don't get me wrong that is a big deal, but who are we going to become? Who are we right now? and who were we? Behavior, personality, likes, dislikes, faults, strengths? When we know those things we can begin to improve, and we can begin to not only be called children of God, but become like God! 

This is a long letter. Thanks for reading it, I hope you are all doing great!

I love you so much,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 08/24/14

Family, and friends,

How are you all doing? This email is going to be a shorter one, I can already feel it. :) This week has been a really normal week, but I hope you know I am doing great!

We do have transfers, and I will be staying in Nébel which is what I expected, but Elder N. is leaving. My new companion is going to be Elder T. He is from good ole Spanish Fork. He went to Maple Mountain High School, and I new him a little bit before the mission. I am really excited to get to know him more. It should be a great time here in concordia!

We have been working with a couple of new familiess, and also with a couple of older investigators, and we are seeing a lot of progression. Especially with an investigator from a partmember family named M. He has started to open his heart, and really think about Christ. It has been really cool to see. Now we just gotta see if we can get him off the Wine. 

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the thunder and rain storms over there in Utah. 

Just wanted to share Mathew 5:14-16. Each and every single one of you is an example! Always be worthy of being a disciple of christ. Serve, love, and teach others.

I love you all,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

This is a poem that me and another elder, Elder M. from Arizona came up with. 

A dusty road, we´ve been walking for quite some time

This road is long, and we´re getting tired my companion and I.

He looks at me, ¨I can´t go on,¨ he says with a sigh.

I encourage him, ¨What would He do?¨ but his words are mine

¨It´s okay my friends,¨ He says standing at our side.

¨I know the way, I´ve done this before, I´ve given you the strength.

Though it be rough, the way is clear, take your steps with length.

I walked to Cal´vry a dusty road,¨ the Savior replied.

¨There´s a man ahead waiting, for help he has cried.

Without your help, he can not be saved, he needs your sacrifice.

Continue on. Save our lost brother. Tell him I´m the Christ.

Though he knows me not, he will through you. For him I died.

¨Elder, do you feel that?¨ as the last stair we climb.

¨I heard a voice. I feel that we have been led here by

the word of God. He wants us hear. Though I know not why.¨

Lets do His work, walk this road, and be part of the Lords time

Blog Letter 08/19/2014

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the day long wait. Yesterday was a holiday, and there wasn't a cyber that was open. So that is why I am a day late. 

This last week was a crazy crazy week. We had a lot of stuff that we were doing. On top of P-day and Zone meeting that I mentioned last week. 

This week we had a huge district activity, which had 4 branches involved. My companion and I planned the activity, and got everything for that done. It was about the Plan of Salvation. 

We began in the pre-earth life (sacrament room) then we went into the real world and had different activities such as, go to church, play a card game, sports, watch general conference, go on a mission, watch a movie, or just chat. The point of the activity was to show the importance of our actions and the importance of using our time wisely.

After that we gathered into the Spirit world (sacrament room) and we explained judgment. We taught more of the plan of action, we then sent them to be judged according to their works. We had three other rooms set up as the three degrees of glory. In the celestial room there was cake, cookies, soda, and all that good stuff. In the Terestial room there was one bag of chips, and the Telestial room there was nothing but smelly trash. We had a lot of people there, and a lot of good comments from the members that came. It was fun. 

That was pretty much the highlight of the week. I also did divisions with an Elder who is from Chile, and is working in a pueblo about 5 hours from here. He is really cool. I learned a lot from him. 

I hope you are all having a great week! Next week is transfers so I will talk to you all on Tuesday!

I love you,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 08/11/2014

Well if last week, I didn't have anything new to talk about, this week is completely different. 

We traveled to Rosario to have a meeting with all the other Zone Leaders and President Zanni which is six hours away from here in Colectivo. Then traveled back the same day, which is 12 hours of traveling in a 24 hour time. But, it's okay because I got to eat McDonalds, I even splurged a little bit and got a Mcflurry. :) 

This week was District Conference. Our area does not have a stake, all the congregations are branches so instead of it being a Stake it is a District. We had our District conference and President Zanni came because as Mission president he is the head of the District. It was a good meeting and I learned a lot. President Zanni is really an inspiring man, he teaches with power and authority. I was able to have an interview with him and learned a lot, I feel really good. He really knows how to inspire the hearts of the people. 

We have been teaching a lot lately and this week we did divisions with the elders from Federal. I was with Elder M. he is really cool and helped me out a lot. He is assigned as branch president of Federal. Actually, the first North American to be a branch president in more then 3 years. He is a stud. 

I heard a story and I invite you all to read up on it. I don't know if it is true, but I really enjoyed it no matter what.

It is based in Stanford hospital. A little boy is asked by a doctor if he would give his blood for a blood transfusion to save his little sisters life. His little sister was dying of a blood disease that he had overcome, and she needed the anti bodies in his blood. The little kid breathed deeply and said: "Yes, If it is what will save my sisters life." As he was hooked up and the blood started leaving his body to enter his sisters, he asked the doctor: "When will I start dying?" The little boy had misunderstood the doctor, he thought he would have to give ALL his blood to save his sisters life, he was prepared and ready to die for his sister. 

I loved the story and think it shows the pure love of a brother to his sister. 

Jesus Christ had that same love for all of us. I know he died for us, He is our savior, our friend, and our brother. 

I invite you all to start praying for mission experiences or opportunity's to share the gospel to those around you. 

I love you all!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

"The important things, always begin with a prayer"

Letter to Venturing Crew 1532 for Kodiak 2014

This is a letter written by Mason for a venturing crew he was a part of before his mission. His adviser asked him and some of the other people that were part of the crew, that are on missions now to write a letter to be read on Kodiak. 

Hello Crew, 

I am so happy to be able to talk to you guys through this letter. This is the second letter I have been able to write since my mission began, and sadly also my last letter. My first letter I wrote, I wrote in the MTC. Since that moment, a lot has passed, and I have learned a lot through personal experiences, scripture study, and the Holy Ghost. 

I would like to focus this letter on two things that I personally learned during my time in the crew. 

The First: Personal Preparedness. In Luke 2:52 it says: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and Man." This scripture shows us the areas that we should always trying to improve in, that is, if we want to follow the savior. In other words Christ increased Mentally, Physically, as a citizen, and Spiritually. Those four categories. Which just so happen to be four categories stressed by the venturing program. I personally feel like although I was in the venturing crew, I did not take full advantage of all the great and wonderful opportunities and experiences the crew offers. I invite you all to take advantage, and appreciate the time you have in the crew. There is a phrase I have heard about the Holy Ghost and helping us in our problems. As missionaries we are told that if we are worthy we will be reminded in the moment of the things we should say. That the Holy Ghost would pull feelings, knowledge, and wisdom out of the well that is our lives. But the spirit cannot pull water out of an empty well. We have to fill it, so the spirit can use it. 

The Second: Ambition. I am speaking of the healthy ambition that leads to setting goals, and making plans to accomplish our desires. The world is full of people. As the scripture say: "Many are called but few are chosen." Many of us will be called upon, but in order to become not only called, but chosen we need to have the ambition to develop talents, accomplish goals, and make ourselves better. Multiply our talents. The crew taught me a lot about setting goals, making plans, and accomplishing them. Alma 29:4 I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction. God grants unto us according to our desires. Or in other words our ambition. As a member of the crew I learned a lot about leading people, and being a "Go Getter". 

I learned a lot in the crew that helped me prepare for my mission. I am so grateful for all the leaders, and all the people that helped me accomplish goals, and helped me become who I am today. I love you all, I am jealous I cant be there with you. Have a great rest of the week. 

Con mucho amor,

Elder Reid

P.S ¡¡¡¡VIVA ARGENTINA!!!

Letter 8/4/2014

Family and friends

Well it seems to me that mother nature is trying to make me look like a fool, cause this week has been a really hot week. It seems like winter was only about a week long, and now we are heading straight into summer!

This week has been a really good week, but also a really normal week. Nothing too new or exciting to talk about. Just a regular week. 

One new thing that I would like to talk about, due to the new mission president we have had more options in teaching. We can now teach in the streets, and teach in more places. We have been able to reach more people through the scriptures. I love it. The book of Mormon has a special testifying power. It is way more powerful then I could have ever imagined. It truly is the word of god. 

Sorry for the shortness of this letter. I love you all so much! You are all in my prayers!

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

P.S I hope you all enjoyed the photos. Sorry for not sending more.

Letter 07/28/2014

¡HOLA!

How is everyone doing? I am hoping everyone is happy. This week has been a good week, I just have a couple of funny stories. 

In a couple of letters to people I have been bragging about how the weather is not too hot nor too cold. Well, I went on divisions with another elder and it got really cold and I was very unprepared. I wasn't in our area and we were already out working, so I had to suffer a day and a night in the cold. I think it was for bragging about the weather, it has stayed kinda cold but with long sleeves and a sweater its not too bad. I have only had to break out the scarf twice.

The other thing would have to be the "Off-Road Colectivos." Here in Concordia there are a lot of places that just have dirt roads and it rained. With those two you get really muddy roads, but the colectivos still have to drive there routes. In other words sometimes riding in the colectivo can get realy fun. I imagine it is somewhat like monster trucking. 

In our area we are doing a lot of finding and trying to get new investigators. We are centering our efforts on finding and baptizing a family. The branch is growing and doing really good. They lack a little bit of training, but it is getting better.

To end this letter I would like to ask for classic american foods and there recipes. Many members have wanted us to cook American food, and I can't think of anything. So if anybody has ideas, Please send them to me.

I love you all,

Elder Mason Paul Reid