Blog letter 6/8/2015

Well the mission is coming to an end.

I don't know how to, and I don't plan on being able to put my feelings into this letter. I am super excited to see all of you. I plan on working hard, and doing great work this last week I have in the mission.

I am grateful for each and every one of you. Thanks for the love and support you have all given me. I don't know how many people actually read my blog letters, but for the people that do. I hope these letters have been useful for something. I hope you have been able to find faith, love, and been able to receive something from the experiences I have had in my mission.

I hope to be able to share many more experiences. I hope that all of you are doing well. I am excited to see you all.

I don't know if this will be the last letter I write, but if it is just know I love you all!

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 6/1/2015

I am worried that these letters are getting shorter and shorter. 

Hello family and friends!

I have had a wonderful week, full of great experiences. But, I don't exactly have a lot of time to tell you all about it. In a couple of weeks we will be able to talk a lot. 

I just want you all to know that I know this church is true. I can honestly say I have searched, I have studied, I have learned doctrine, and I have studied from the greatest books. I have compared the Bible to the Book of Mormon, I have compared the church Christ built, to the church restored by him in these, the last days, and there is NO OTHER CHURCH THAT COMPARES!! No other church comes close to being similar to the church Christ built. It's so obvious. If this church is not true, then NO OTHER CHURCH CAN BE TRUE! No other church has Prophets, Apostles, who proclaim divine authority by the laying on of hands. No other Church professes, and follows the commandments like our church. As other people and churches change their standards, and modify the Bible and it's teachings to accommodate the world. Our church never will because Christ is the head of it. 

I challenge anyone who is falling away, who is doubting, who wants to learn more or who is searching for the truth. Compare the Bible with the Book of Mormon, and modern day teachings. You will see, that this church is so obviously true! 

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

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 5/25/2015

Hello everyone!

This week has been great, I have learned a lot and felt the Spirit a lot as well. I don't have a lot of time to write because the branch is having an activity. The 25 de mayo is a HUGE holiday in Argentina. They always eat a traditional soup called Locro. It cooked in a huge pot that looks like a witches pot and cooked over a fire. It's filled with corn, beans, meat, sausage, spices, and of course...pigs feet. There is nothing like a good well cooked Locro. It takes about 3 hourse to cook, and is one of the most expensive meals they have here. So, we are doing an activity and it should be a lot of fun. 

We are working hard, and loving life. Time is short so we have got to start getting things going here. I am loving the work, and this church is true! I love you all!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 5/18/2015

Saludos a todos!

I hope everyone is doing great. This week for me has been really awesome!

We have a lot of great things going on, and a lot of great things that have already came. Just a couple of highlights on the week:

We are working with a hermana in the ward here to help her build her house, we are doing a lot of service, that normal missionaries would not do, but as branch president it becomes a large responsibility, the word for bricklayer in Spanish is Albañil.  I have learned a lot about how Argentine's build houses. 

We also had our zone meeting and we ate some delicouse pizzas, and cake. The cake is made of chocolate cake with dulce de leche frosting with chocolate covering...so its delicouse!! 

We have a new investigator that is doing great, we are hoping to visit him this week and have him tell us that he has read and felt the truch of the book of mormon. He has agreed to be baptized if he recieves and answer! I am super excited. 

The ward is doing great, the unity is going up, and the love they have as well. :) 

We also went to the temple dedication of the Cordoba Temple. We didnt get to go to cordoba, but we participated via satelite in La Paz. It was a lot of fun, and the spirit was amazing. It is great to see the work of the lord Extending, and it is a huge blessing to have another house of the lord here in Argentina. 

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

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 5/11/2015

Hey everyone! 

We just barely had the talk over skype, so this is not going to be a long email! But I hope you are all doing great! This has been a good week, we have had a lot of fun, and we are setting some good goals, and working hard to accomplish them. 

This next Sunday we have the dedication of the Cordoba Temple, it should be a great expirience, we are not going to cordoba unfortunately, but we are going to be able to participate of the dedication via satelite! 

I love you all so much! Stay safe, and read your scriptures! 

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog letter 5/5/2015

Well hello everyone! This week has been a great week! I dont have my agenda to be able to tell you about every day of the week, but I can tell you that it has been a great week!

Some of the highlights: We had a really fun Family night here in the church on Friday. A lot of people came, and we had a lot of fun. 

Saturday we got flu shots...I think I scared the nurse, when she stuck the needle in my arm I let out a shout, and started to groan. She looked at me really nervouse...until I started to laugh and she realized I was joking. 

Also transfers: I am now with Elder B. He is from Arizona. He is a great missionary. He has 1 1/2 years in the mission. We are the oldest companionship in the Zone. Elder B. is a hard worker, and knows a lot about how to be a successful missionary. I had met him before in Leadership councils. He was a Zone Leader in rosario, while I was a zone leader in Paraná. 

It was really sad to say goodbye to Elder P. He taught me a lot about how to be a loving missionary. He was full of charity, and really helped me out a lot. It was sad to see him go. 

With the begining of a new transfer we are planning, and setting a lot of goals! We are going to be seeing a lot of success, and we are going to be working hard. Its time to sprint, and not stop! 

I love you all so much!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 4/27/2015

Hello Family and Friends!!

How are you all doing! This week has been another really good week. We are working on a lot of things, and we have a lot of stuff we need to get done. 

As a mission we are starting to focus on finding families to teach and to bring into the Gospel, so far we have been finding and having a lot of success. 

One thing that I am loving about being here in Feliciano is seeing the conversion of the branch. They are becoming more united and more loyal. It's amazing to see. 

I can't think of anything extraordinary to tell you this week, but next week I will have more stories to tell! 

I hope you are all happy and doing great! I love you all so much!

P.S Next week is transfers so I will be telling you guys if I got a new companion or not. I am almost 100 positive I will stay here in Feliciano....knock on wood.

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 4/20/15

Hello family and Friends!

This week has been a really good one. It has been a challenging one full of new experiences, and full of a lot of learning. I am enjoying my time here, and having a lot of fun. 

We had a conference with President Zanni, I went back to Paraná. It is always an interesting feeling to go back to one of your old areas, its different to be assigned to an area. Honestly the time, and the place you are in an area is inspired, and when you are assigned an area to proselyte, and look after, its a big responsability! 

The Conference was great! I learned a lot about responsability, the consequences both good and bad if we fullfill and magnify our calling as missionaries, or if we dont. We also had interviews with Pres. Zanni. It was a good interview. I cant imagine how hard it would be to interview, and look after 240 missionarys. 

This Saturday we had a big activity. It was the Last activity of the Elder and Hermana F., they are senior missionaries working on a cow ranch here in Feliciano. They leave to there houses today. The new missionarys just got here. Elder and Hermana M. they are from Portland Oregon. They are really nice and good people. They lack the spanish. But they know more then I did when I began. 

I love you all so much! Remember to pray for missionary opportunitys and to study the General Conference Talks. 

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 4/14/2015

Hello Family and Friends!

How are you all doing? I am doing great!

It has been quite the week here in Feliciano! 

Monday:

After Ciber, I cut the hair of a member. It was a lot of fun. I have learned how to cut hair in the mission, I even have my own hair clippers. I also cut my own hair believe it or not. We also had a really fun Noche de hogar with some member and investigators!

Tuesday: 

There is this one family, it's HUGE. They all live on the same block and they all have houses on this block, but they all go to the same place to sit outside and watch the street. Every time we go by to teach them, we always meet and teach someone knew. But, they always let us pass. It's interesting to see the different people in the family. In the afternoon we taught M. who was to get baptized on Saturday. I had to do an interview that night, and we ended the night teaching are very loving family, they need to be baptized, but they wont stop working on Sundays. 

Wednesday: We had to do divisions this day. So I went to La Paz and our District Leader came down to Feliciano to do the baptism interview...and M. passed! We taught a couple of lessons, but we spent a lot of time contacting. Our last lesson was with...well I am almost positive he is a drug dealer. But a pretty cool cat. 

Thursday: We spent the entire day in La Paz for Zone Meeting. It was honestly weird to not be in charge or lead the meeting. It was my first zone meeting in ten months without being a Zone leader. Then we took our bus back to good ole Feliciano.

Friday: A great day. We taught another family. They have a baptism date for the 2nd of May. They are awesome! They lack knowledge and comprehension still, but they love the gospel, and the things we teach. We had our ward family night. It was awesome! A couple of members brought a less active that hasn't come to church in years to the activity. It was amazing. It's just proof of the power of members in missionary work. 

Saturday: We taught guy and he is programmed to be baptized on the 2nd of May as well. We spent most of the day preparing the baptismal "font" It was a lot of fun...you will see why. I had the opportunity to baptize M. It was amazing! I love baptisms!!!. 

Sunday: Fast Sunday was great! I found out and developed a new technique...I call it: "going fishin" It's when there is a gap in the meeting....and no one is giving there testimonies. I look around trying to make eye contact. I have found that if I make eye contact I can convince them to give there testimonies. I caught me a couple of fishes last Sunday. :):) We taught some good lessons, including two contacts that we taught. But the last contact was interesting...he is a pretty vile man. His only pleasures and desires are...well not good ones. He was drunk...and smoking. But he boasted of knowing more in the scriptures then me. So, I decided to challenge him. I told him that on Monday (today) I would be back. And that we would see who knows more in the scriptures. But that I would only talk to him if he was sober. It was a direct challenge...we will see if he can stop drinking for a day. 

I love you all! you are all so wonderful!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 4/6/2015

Hello Everyone!

This week has been so wonderful and I hope you have all felt the wonderful love of our Savior throughout this week! I honestly have. 

Monday 30:

Last monday we cleaned out the office in the church, and we got all the stuff we had to do done. We also had a Noche de Hogar with a member here everyone calls Abuela and her two grandsons. They are such great people!

Tuesday 31:

I had a couple of interviews in the morning and then we wen to Hermano E´s house to do service we helped put the roof on a shed that he was building. That was pretty fun. In the afternoon we taught some good lessons, the people here are really open. We also taught a mission prep class in the evening. 

Wednesday 1:

April fools...but I will be honest I didn't do anything for April fools, so I guess I am the fool. We did have a great lesson in the morning with a new investigator family that is awesome.  We also taught a member family. I also held my very first Branch Counsel, it's weird to have to run things like that. We taught our last lesson that night to a kid who is awesome and going to get baptized this Saturday!!

Thursday 2: We only taught two lessons this day. I spent most of the day trying to fight and get internet fast enough for General Conference...but it worked we were able to watch it here in Feliciano!! Aguante feliciano!!

Friday 3: On Thursday we left to go to La Paz, then we came home Friday afternoon after doing district meeting in La Paz. We had a really fun activity later that evening!

Saturday and Sunday: I am going to smash these two days together. It was a great time. A lot of people came to the church, and we had a lot of fun. The people here are so awesome! I also loved the conferences. I had a lot of questions and the Lord answered all of them. We only had one problem with the internet and that was for the priesthood session. It had rained super hard. A huge storm came in and just destroyed the internet. But we watched it Sunday morning before the conference seeing as the conference starts at 1 in the afternoon here. Next time I will share some of my favorite talks. 

I feel impressed to tell you all that I know this church is true. And just like Elder Holland shared when we feel we are falling, when we feel we are slipping on sand, the Lord will grab us. Don't ever give up, don't ever let hopelessness sneak in, and if it has. Kick it out with the light of christ, and the truth that he will never leave us. I know that the atonement is real. I know that through Christ even the darkest hours will become bright as midday, so continue on. Because the battle isn't over. Our general has sent in reenforcement. 

And to those who feel hope, and love, Please look for someone who needs help. 

I love you all!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Oh, and Elder Uchtdorfs tie for the first Saturday session wins the Best Tie of General Conference 2015 award. 

Blog Letter 3/30/2015

Well hello everyone.

This week has been awesome here in Feliciano. We are working a lot, and getting a lot of stuff done. 

I am still trying to get to know the area. Its not a big place so I am learning it really quickly but I still don't know where everyone lives. But it is fun to get to know new places and feel lost every once in a while. 

For about a day or so I was with Elder Chamorro. He is from Buenos Aires. He is serving in La Paz but his companion and my companion had to go to Rosario. He came here and we worked together. We did A LOT of walking. It rained that same day and the mud here is like a mixture of gum and cement. It sticks to your shoes really hard, and when it dries its harder then diamond ha ha. 

I am having a lot of new experiences. And we are working on accomplishing a lot here in the Branch. It is a new experience being able to really see ALL the sides of the branch, and the members. I also feel humbled when I think of all the things I have to do. I am grateful for the opportunity to really have an impact on the members lives here. 

There are some members that treat us so well. I have come to love them really fast. 

I love you all so much!!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Ps.This weekend we have the opportunity to listen to the prophets and hear the words of God through them. I invite you all to go to conference with a question or a couple of questions you want the Lord to answer. He will answer I promise. Write it down, and leave some space for his answer!! I love you!!

Blog Letter 3/24/2015

Greetings, from Feliciano!

We started out the week really well. I was with Elder Q. and we were working hard trying to get everything set and ready for transfers. 

I figured I would be transfered to another area, maybe to train one of the new missionaries, but the Lord had other plans. 

I got a call from President Zanni at about 11 o clock at night on Wednesday right as we were about to say our nightly prayer and go to bed. President Zanni called me to be Branch President of the Branch in San Jose de Feliciano (Feliciano). 

I left friday in the Morning to Feliciano and got here friday at about 12:30. If you look at a map of the Argentina Rosario Mission you will see close to the top there is a small city called La Paz. Well about an hour and a half to the North, you will see Feliciano, its a small, really small, tiny, but wonderful town. It is the furthest point from the Mission home. Well it might be tied with a small place called San Cristobal. 

I had to get here early so that Elder L., ( the branch president before me) could show me the area and teach me a couple of things. Elder L. is going home now...crazy. But he taught me a lot. I also got to know a couple of the members. 

On Saturday we went out to a ranch that the church owns here. Its HUGE. Its a big cow ranch. We ate a sheep asado and we played a bunch of games it was a huge branch activity. 

Sunday was really great. I gave a talk. It was a really good meeting but it was a different experience being a Branch President. Elder L. left Sunday night. 

Since then I have had a lot of great expirience, and it has been a great time. I love to be here. Feliciano is awesome. The people are great. Its all just good small town country people. There are only a couple of paved streets. People have sheep as pets. I am loving it. 

My companion is Elder P. I know him from Paraná I was his zone leader. He has about 3 months in the mission. He is from Peru. He is a good guy. He helps me out a lot. and is full of charity. I have a lot to learn from him. He is the secretay of the branch here. 

I have a lot to learn. And I know that the Lord has a lot of things planned for me. I am ready for it. I know I have a lot of faults, and I lack a lot of things. But I am excited to do my best!

I love you all so much!!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 3/16/2015

Hello Family and Friends. How are you? I am doing great!

Monday 9:

We got what we needed to done, and then we started our trip to Rosario, My comp has tramites...I am still not exactly sure how to translate Tramites into english. It embarks a lot mor things then just paper work.

Martes 10:

We went to a big building that had something to do with Imigrations, we waited a long time, and my comp actually did not do his tramites. He didnt have to do them. There was a mix up in the system. So we actually went down to Rosario for no reason. But we had to stay because of the leadership counsel we had the next day. So we did divisions with the assistents. I was with Elder A. We had a lot of fun, All of Rosario lost power while we were giving our last lesson of the day. But we got a ride back to the pench.

Wednesday 11: 

We had Consejo. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot. We are being pushed to find an inner pressure. And to forget all about ourselves and just work. When we got back into Paraná from being in Rosario we were in our taxi heading home when I remembered I left the keys in the mission home cause I didnt want them to get robbed the day before. So we ended up sleeping in the pench of the missionaries of San Agustin, on the top of a blanket, on a tile floor, without a pillow...it was definately a terrible terrible nights sleep. 

Thursday 12:

After waking up several times the alarm finally went off. ha ha. Thursday was a great day. We had a lot fun, and we visited a lot of people. We had an interesting lunch with one of our less active members. and in the afternoon we had some really good spiritual lessons. 

Friday 13:

Friday was a good day. We did a lot of contacting, and taught a couple of lessons, really tranquilo. 

Saturday 14:

We had our Zone Meeting, we talked about all of the things we talked about in Leadership Counsel, and we applied it to the zone. We are seeing a lot of changes, and a good response form the missionaries here. It will be really cool to see how the mission responds. In the afternoon we taught our investigator about obeying the commandments of god. And how it brings blessings, she didnt end up coming to church...so this week we need to repass it, and help her understand. We got stopped by a really drunk homeless guy in the street, and we had a really long conversation. We ended up giving him food. We want to try and help him. Both me and my comp felt something that told us we needed to reach out and help him. 

Sunday 15:

We gave a couple of blessings on sunday. One to a less active member, and the other to Hermana R's daughter. She was a little sick, and it was to give her a blessing before schools starts. We challenged a couple of our recent converts to start preparing to go to the temple. 

It has been a great week. I hope you are all happy. Stay safe, and love each other. Pray for Missonary opportunities!

Elder Mason Paul Reid 

Blog Letter 3/10/2015

Hello everyone!

This week has been a great week! We have a lot of stuff going on today. So I am just going to inform you all on the biggest things of last week. 

I think the most interesting thing that happened this week was that I went to an argentine cemetery with a mortician. That is pretty cool. 

One of the Elders in our Zone is a mortician. He is from Utah. And we were in Divisions, and we passed a cemetery. We went in cause he is a fanatic for that kind of stuff. Honestly it was really cool. The cemetery here are A LOT different. Really really different. They have like houses. There are very very few tombstones. They are almost all houses. And some of the places aren't very well kept so you can see broken caskets...which is weird. But in almost all the places you can just see the sealed caskets. And they have big almost apartment type buildings just full of these things they call "niches". Or just wear they put the caskets. It is really cool, and kinda creepy. It was different then I expected. 

Other then that this week has been pretty tranquilo. We have been working a lot, and trying to find new people to teach. 

One thing that I heard that I would like to share is this: There is a difference in being active in the church, and active in the Gospel. 

Going to church 1 every month is considered active. But that doesn't make us active in the gospel. It is up to us to be active in the gospel, and it requires a lot more sacrifice, and will power. 

I love you all so much, and hope you are all happy!

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 3/2/2015

Muchas gracias!

Thanks to everyone that wished me a Happy Birthday. You guys are so great! 

This week has been amazing. We are seeing a lot of miracles. And we are seeing a lot of changes with the members. Missionary work is really Member work. The missionarys are just in charge of accompanying the members. If you guys havent had the opportunity to really participate in Missionary Work. I invite you to repent. and DO IT!

We celebrated my birthday in two parts. Friday, and saturday. We were super busy both friday and saturday so we didnt have a lot of time to celebrate my birthday so we just kinda celebrated a little bit both of the days. ha ha. I didnt do anything special or big for my birthday. We spent the entire day teaching. Which for me was perfect. When we are serving our fellow beings we are serving the Lord. And if I can serve the Lord for my Birthday...well thats perfect. 

It rained a lot this week. A LOT!! It has been pretty crazy. I also figured out that you can tell if its going to rain by looking for Dragon flys. If you see lots of dragon flys in one place...its for sure going to rain. 

I got to go to an area called Terminal to do divisions. It was a lot of fun. I was with Elder B. He is a great missionary, we had a lot of fun and made some Empanadas for dinner. 

I love you all so much. Next week I will send some photos. From this week and the next week. 

I love you all so much!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog letter 2/23/2015

Well not a lot has happened since last Wednesday. 

Thursday: We had a couple of really good lessons. We also did service for an older couple in our ward. The hermano said I was too pretty to know how to work a shovel. I quietly proved him wrong. :)

Friday: We did divisions. I was with Elder S. He is from Argentina. Close to Buenos Aires. He is a really good Elder. We taught some awesome lessons and had a lot of success. I also learned some more 

Argentine slang. 

Saturday: We had a good day. One of the members got married so they had a little fiesta we went and ate a little bit of food. 

Sunday: Sunday was awesome. We had some really good lessons, we had a lot of people in church, and we had a family that we are working with come to church. Which is always the best! 

We don't get as much time to email as we did before so I will have to be shorter with my words. But I would like to leave you with 2 good thoughts that have left me thinking this week. 

1. Which is more important/ neccesary in a car. A wind shield, or a rear view mirror? If anyone has tried driving a motorcycle without glasses or a windshield they can say that it is impossible to drive for any time at all without something to protect you from the wind up ahead. I would opinion that although both the windshield and the mirrors are necessary the windshield is more important. Which I think is Gods way of telling drivers, and his children it is more important to look ahead then backwards. 

2. I was talking with our bishop. We were talking about someone and I said. I just don't understand this person. And he said to me: God never commanded us to understand each other. The only thing he commanded us to do was to love one and other. 

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 2/10/2015

Well hello everyone. 

This letter is going to be really short. Sorry but, I have a lot of stuff to do today ha ha. 

This week was awesome we had some really good lessons and we are enjoying working together. 

We had transfers this week, I will be staying here in Bajada Grande With Elder Q. 

Due to the mission splitting in June there are a lot of changes going on in the mission. But it is all for the better. We are doing a lot of work with the members inviting them to grow and have a stronger conversion. Some of the areas here in the zone have closed due to the changes, but this next transfer they should be opening again. 

I am doing awesome! It's still hot here, but hey, what are we going to do? It's summer. 

Next week I will be writing you all on wednesday due to a lot of crazy thing going on next week that you will all find out about next week. :) 

To add to the randomness of this letter I would like to scold my parents and whoever else had the opportunity...Why didn't anyone ever invite me or tell me to eat plums before? Plums are delicous and I have lost 19 years of my life without plums. Shame on you all!  

On a more serious note. I invite you all to read M. Russel Ballards talk on praying for missionary opportunities, and do what he invites you all to do!

Thanks so much,

I love you all

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 2/18/2015

WOW!! I do not know where to begin with this week. It has been a crazy crazy crazy week. 

I will begin by telling you why I am emailing on Wednesday. Sunday night we left to go to a leadership Counsel with Elder Ávilas and President Zanni in Rosario Monday night. Elder Ávilas is an area 70. He is also a wonderful and really humble man that teaches powerfully. The Counsel was awesome, after the counsel we got some lunch and headed back to Paraná. We had a lesson with one of our investigators when we got back home. 

Yesterday we had the multi-Zone Conference in Paraná with Elder Ávilas and President Zanni with the missionarys from La Paz and Concordia. In the morning we were getting all that ready, and then we had the conference in the afternoon. 

In both the Council and the Zone Conference I learned so much. I learned a lot of stuff I need to put in practice, and do better. I have had the opportunity to listen to a couple of General Authoritys in my mission...I am always inspired by their love and humility as well as their scripture knowledge. One day I wanna know and feel what they know and feel. 

After the Conference we cleaned up everything and headed back to our pench to grab some things before going to the church and doing our Book of Mormon Class. It was our first one, we are starting to give a Book of Mormon Class to talk about, teach, and help people understand the Book of Mormon better. I was very grateful for the people that came to the class, it was a great class. 

Last week as well was awesome. All in all I am doing great! This last week and a half was very spiritual and edifying. I love you all so much, and hope you are all smiling. 

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Dont forget to remember to pray for missionary opportunities!!

Blog Letter 2/2/2015

Lets get this thing started!

Monday 26th:

We had a lot of fun with the zone. We had a P-day with the entire zone. Well almost the entire zone 4 of the Elders couldnt make it from pueblitos outide of Paraná. We played ping-pong, fútbol, and Volleyball. It was a lot fun. After p-day ended we taught a part member family, and we made tacos with them. 

Tuesday 27th:

We have a meeting with our bishop every week, and this meeting was really good. We are really changing and makeing big strides in the work here in Bajada Grande. In the afternoon we had District Meetings and we had divisions with the Elders From Terminal I was with Elder V. We taught a few lessons that night. My favorite lesson was with R's sister. She is starting to open up to the missionaries. 

Wednesday 28th:

Bad news, the guy that came to church last sunday that Elder Q and Elder A gave 10 pesos too and we were really thinking would progress...well turns out he is more interested in the church for its money than for is gospel. The guy wants nothing to do with the teaching, he just wants free money and food. Which is really sad. But oh well. We taught a bunch of really good lessons this day. We challenged a lot of people to begin to change there lives. 

Thursday 29th:

D is doing great. She got baptized not too long ago, and due to a lot of problems that have gone down with another member that has really lost his mind...but really the other member is crazy...well D has suffered a lot, but now she is doing a lot better. She is still feeling good about church, and has a good strong testimony. We were really worried about her. 

Friday 30th:

We got up at 3 o clock in the morning to take a bus to Rosario to go to a leadership council. It was a great meeting. We all learned and shared things. I love being a zone leader, and helping the mission grow. I also got to see a lot of the other missionarys from around the mission. The mission is changing a lot, and I am loving it. I am learning a lot, and becoming a better person everyday. When we got home we had to stay up late to wait for some missionaries to get to our pench and stay the night to be able to go to the meeting Saturday. 

Saturday 31st:

We had our zone meeting in the morning. It was a good meeting, we are now more aware of what is happening inside the zone. We are doing a lot more verification on them to make sure they are progressing and changing in order to become better missionarys, and work harder and smarter. 

Sunday 1st:

I love sundays. Sadly, a lot of the people we were expecting didnt come to church, but now we are working on something to change that. We have a vision, and we have direction, now we just have to really work and put it all together. The ward, and the members are becoming more converted. Its a process, but we are just in the beginning. 

Thats about all I have. I love you all so much. Thanks for all you do!

Love,

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 1/26/2015

Hello how is everyone doing? I hope the answer is great!!

Lets get this thing started:

Monday 19th:

This day was fun, it was rainy, and I was super sick from something I had eaten so we left to start working, and had to return and stay in the pench. I was pretty destroyed. 

Tuesday 20th: 

We had divisions with the assistents again. I was with Elder C. He is a great missionary from Atlanta. They got to our pench at 2:30 in the morning. We had a lot of good lessons and had a lot of fun. Elder A from Chile was with Elder Q. 

Wednesday 21st:

(Side note: It took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure out that its 21st and not 21th. Wow...Spanish...)

Wednesday was a great day as well. We taught a great family that we had taught Sunday. They have been waiting 10 years to get baptized, but haven't done the papers to get baptized yet. We are trying to help them begin to due all the basics again like reading the scriptures, and going to church. Sometimes our desires do not reflect our works. These people want to get baptized but aren't working to hard towards the goal. We also had Executive Committee with the priesthood. It was a good meeting. We are really starting to see the ward follow our example and work hard. It is awesome.

Thursday 22nd:

We did weekly planning, and had a really good lesson with one of our investigators named Sandra. She is having family issues, but we are trying to help her. Thursday was kinda a rough day we did a lot of walking. 

Friday 23rd:

We had a bunch of really good lessons today, My favorite was with E she has a date to be baptized, but is having a lot of opposition from her parents and stuff. She even had a Catholic Priest visit her house to convince her to not be baptized. But we had a good lesson and still have hopes that she can be baptized. We are seeing a lot of success with the recent converts here. They are really responding well, and progressing. And we are having a lot of less actives come back. The church is progressing. 

Saturday 24th:

We did service with the Ib family. They are really cool. We cut there grass and weeds with a machete...its normal here for people to cut their grass with machetes...Not nearly as effective as a lawn mower, but for a minute way more entertaining. I challenge you all to do it. We had some good lessons throughout the entire day. We also taught S's son A English. He needs to take a big test. We made it fun so he actually enjoyed learning. 

Sunday 25th:

We had a lot of people show up to church. Including a family from the very bottom tip of argentina. Our ward is really growing here and I love to see that. 

I love you all so much. I do have a request. I am trying to put together stories for genealogy here. I would love for anybody and everybody to send me some history forms for my grandparents/ great grandparents. And pioneer stories. Please send me what you can!! Its something our mission is focusing on.

Love you all!!

Elder Mason Paul Reid

Blog Letter 1/20/2015

Hello everyone. I am sorry to say that this letter probably will not be as interesting to you as the last letter. :) But read it anyways!!

Monday 12th:

We played futbol (soccer) with some members in our capilla. I am without a doubt the worse soccer player out of all of them. But I did make a goal. So watch out when I get home I will give you a run for your money to all you Yankees out there. (Here they say yankee instead of gringo)

Tuesday 13th:

We had district meeting this day. It was pretty fun. Just a really regular day. It was raining though. It began the rain that seemed to continue on and off all week thise week. 

Wednesday 14th:

Wednesday is a weirdly spelt word. We did divisions. I was with Elder P. from Peru. He is a really cool guy. He has like 3 weeks in his mission. He has a lot of energy and loves being a missionary. But being with him really made me feel like an old fart. We taught a couple of lessons with President Gericke (the stake president) It was a really good time. 

Thursday 15th: 

We had a lot of fun. We got our phone from the Mission home, and gave back the phone we had been borrowing from the elders of San Agustin. (Another area). We had to use their phone while we were getting ours replaced from the robbery. We taught a couple of lessons. And learned how to play an argentinian card game called trucos. Apparently it is a game based on lieing. I still dont fully understand how to play it...its a really difficult game to comprehend. 

Friday 16th: 

We did divisions with Nogoya, I was with Elder N. (my comp from concordia). We had a lot of fun. We taught a bunch of lessons. I had to travel in bus to nogoya its a pueblo about 2 hours from Paraná. 

Satureday 18th:

We spent most of the time walking around visiting with a short amount of time all the people we wanted to come to sacrament. It was fun to go around and visit for a quick moment with all the people. A lot of walking though. 

Sunday 18th:

Most of the people we visited came to church, thats always a good feeling. We visited with some investigators that want to get baptized but due to the complicatedness of the divorces here in argentina they have not been able to. But we are trying to help them be able to and get everything they need done. We gave them a lot of encouragment they were a little down about the whole thing. I also gave a talk in church. I love giving talks I really do. :)

Thats my week. I hope all of you are doing great. :)

Love,
Elder Mason Paul Reid