April 28, 2014

Villa Galvez ha llegado a ser un segundo hogar

How is everyone doing? I hope you are all doing well, and are happy. This week has been another great week. I feel like just last tuesday I was talking to all of you. ;) 

I have a couple of highlights from this week. The first would be the Stake Conference that we had. We had a very special Stake Conference. We had Elder Viñas and Elder Urra who are both from the Quorumn of the Seventy. Normally in stake conference you dont have two General Authoritys there but we got the opportunity, and it was such a great expierience. One of the comments that Elder Viñas shared was that this Stake conference was being held under the authority of the First Presidency, and that the topics chosen to be shared where all chosen by the First Presidency. As missionaries we got invited to two different meetings with them in which they spoke to a smaller groups of people. It was a great expierience, and I felt the spirit so much. 

I think all of the talks that were given were all centered on members, and being involved with the missionary work. Talking about how members can help with the hastening of the work. As a missionary I know first hand the power and responsibility that every member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has to bring people to Christ. It is not JUST missionaries. I invite everyone that reads this letter to find someone, and invite them to go to church, or read the Book of Mormon, or to listen to the missionarys. I promise there is someone out there that you guys can help. 

I learned a life lesson yesterday. We were teaching a lesson to an investigator that is the sister of a recent convert. We had been teaching her for a while, she was progressing a lot. She had been reading, and doing a lot of good things, she had came to church, we had even given her a baptism date. But she doesnt want to change some small simple things. She doesnt want to change the type of clothes she wears, and she doesnt want to stop partying. 

The craziest thing is that she has told us that she isnt truely happy, but she wants to be. We tried to tell her that the only way to true happiness is through Christ, but she isnt willing to put Christ first. That made me think, and learn, that each and everyone one of us, at one point or another has wanted something, but we dont realize that the first and foremost is Christ. Christ always, ALWAYS needs to be put first. THEN we can go out and accomplish whatever we want, as long as it is something righteous, and not against God's Commandments. 

All in all this week has been great. I have loved it. I hope you guys are all happy. I love you all, and pray for you every day!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Letter 4/22/2014

¡¡FELIZ PASCUA!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!! I hope you are all feeling a little chubby for all the chocolate you ate. ;) I am doing great. We didn't eat a whole bunch of chocolate, but the chocolate we did eat was very very good. Here in Argentina they make really big hollow Chocolate eggs that are really good. On the topic of food I would just like to catch you all up on the list of parts of the cow I have eaten. I am sure the list will continue to grow. But I have eaten face meat, kidney, liver, intestine, heart, and blood sausage. I would recommend face meat, heart, and liver. The other parts...not so much. :) 

I should also tell you that I will not be leaving Villa Gobernador Galvez this transfer. It is very odd for a missionary to have as much time as I do in an area, but I am excited to find out why the Lord wants me to stay here for another 6 weeks. I love this city, and all the people in it. I am happy to be here and help the people here. 

This week has been a very full week. It has been a very busy week. We got a lot done, and helped a lot of people. I would just like to share two of the miracles that happened with us this week. We got told by our mission leader that his daughter in law who is not a member, but knows about the church and the priesthood. Well, her little baby son had gone to the doctor and found out that he was missing 4 vertebrae in his spine and that he might not walk. She also happened to have a dream and dreamed about the missionary's and the priesthood. Well she asked our mission leader to invite us over and give her child a blessing. I would like to tell you all that the following day our mission leader let us know that they had gone back to the hospital, taken the X-rays, and the little baby has all four of those missing vertebrae. The power of the priesthood is very real. I know it is. I am so happy for this knowledge. 

Like I said before, this week has been a great week. I am excited to continue working and see what the Lord has planned for us next. 

Love, Elder Mason Paul Reid

Letter 04/14/2014

Nunca sé lo que poner aquí para empezar, entonces pondré este con esperanza que no me entienden. 

This week has been a wonderful week, we worked really hard and got a lot of stuff done.  We also got blessed by having 2 baptisms this week. It was so wonderful. The best part was the the family of the people being baptized, baptized them. The father in law baptized his daughter in law, and the brother, baptized his brother. Both the brother and the father in law are recent converts. The brother is our baptism from January. It is amazing to see them stay strong in the gospel. I know they are going to stay strong and become very strong leaders in the gospel. I am so excited for them. We have been teaching them since I got here. I should probaly explain that they are a couple. I would put the names but do to legal issues, I have been advised not to. They are a couple that we have been teaching for a long time, but they weren't married. Well we taught them...a lot. And they decided to follow the example of Christ. They got married this Friday, and baptized the following day. They are so very strongly converted to the gospel. The girl went from being atheist to a true believer in Christ. 

So this week, when speaking of health, has been a bummer. We have had some stomach sickness get passed around, My companion and I are good buddies and we figured that if one of us is going to get sick, the other one might as well too. So, in order to support one another we both puked at 2:30. One in the sink, the other in the toilet. It was quite the bonding experience. But hey, we are told to never leave a missionary alone ha ha. I am feeling better now. 

This last Saturday we did service by helping a member cut down some tree branches and hauling them out of his yard. When we finished we ate pizza until we were very full and walked home. Getting home we saw we had a missed call and when I called back it turns out it was a person we had contacted, and only talked to once. He told us he had prepared lunch, and wanted to know if we could pass by. I was not going to tell him no, so I said yeah, we will be there in 10 minutes. Me and my comp were very full but we ate anyways. I will keep you guys up to date on the progress of this investigator. But I have high hopes.

Next week is transfers, so I will be writing next Tuesday! I don't know where I will be going but I am thinking I will be leaving Villa Galvez. I will have the news next Tuesday. I love you all so much.

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Letter 04/07/14

¡Una semana buena!

This has been a great great week. I have loved it. I really enjoyed General Conference and hearing all about what the Lord wants us to know in these times. I know that the prophets are called by the Lord, and receive direct revelation from him. I know that they are the mouth of the Lord, and that we need to pay attention to their words just as we would if it was Christ talking to us in person. I personally went to Conference with 5 questions that I wanted answered. I had prayed about these questions, and written them down. I had complete faith I would get the answer to these questions, and I did. It was so wonderful. 

Another part of this conference that I loved was outside of the stake center was a little chaotic, it was during the clasico between Newelles, and Rosario Central. It is the second biggest fútbol rivalry in Argentina. With that reason the people can go a little crazy...well a lot crazy, they where blocking streets, honking horns, letting off little bombs, (not to kill people, just to make noise). Shooting off guns, and just going a little crazy. All of this was happening as we where sitting in the stake center watchin conference. Although you could hear very vaguely the noise and craziness of the outside world, inside the chapel was calm and peaceful. It was really a testament and a real life example of being in the world, but not of the world. It is an example of how we live, that even though life can be crazy and challenging. Inside the gospel we find strength and peace. 

Along with this week with one of our new convert families we had a family home evening. Me and my companion set up a jeopardy type trivia game with different categories and level of questions. It was so much fun. They had a lot of fun, and they learned a lot about the gospel. 

I would also like to tell you guys that by the end of this week we should have two more members baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is so amazing. 

I love you all so much!! I pray for you!

Elder Mason Paul Reid