Rhett

Hola Familia y Amigos!

This week a lot of cool things happened. Through working with members and the Lord's help we have been able to find many people prepared for the gospel. It's been pretty amazing and we are always busy with people to teach. Yesterday we had some cool things happen. Jose continues to go to church and I had the opportunity to confirm him a member of the Church. He loves it and should be receiving the priesthood in the coming weeks. It's so great to see him progress in the gospel and the smile on his face when he comes to church. Yesterday one of our investigators, Karina and her 4 kids all came to church as well. She just had a newborn baby so she hasn't been able to come but we walked all the way over to her house Sunday and she came with us! She loved it and her kids seemed to make some new friends and enjoyed it as well. She is super ready for the gospel and should be getting baptized in the coming weeks.

We have been teaching this guy named Wilson with his wife Graciela. We found them a few weeks ago and they are progressing a lot as well. Wilson is from Argentina but moved to Paraguay a couple years ago to live with his wife and all of her family which comes out to 13 people in total, and he is the only one that works. He just built a little house that doesn't even have a floor so that he and his wife could sleep there while all the kids live in the small house next door. His situation is super bad, it's really sad to see. He wanted to come to church a week ago but didn't even have shoes so he didnt want to go. We have been teaching him and his wife a lot about how when we have faith and do the things Heavenly Father asks us to do, the Lord blesses us with all the other things we need. He and his wife really like the lessons and want to follow. They have so much faith it's crazy. From being here it's made me so grateful for the things God has given me. But even though these people basically have nothing, they are happy and are grateful for everything they have. How great is it to know that no matter where we are, what we have, or what happens in our lives we are all brothers and sisters of a Heavenly Father that loves us so much. So much that he gave his son to die for us so that we could one day return and have all that He has. I know that all is worth it when we follow Jesus Christ and His gospel. I know it will bless Wilson and Graciela if they continue to have the faith and follow. I'm excited to see them continue to progress in the gospel! I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He invites us all to come unto Him, especially during this Easter Season when we can think a little more about what He really did for each and every one of us. I love my Savior and am so grateful for this opportunity I have to try and be a little more like Him. I hope you all have a great Easter! Much Love

Elder Reilly

Doing some service

A guy trying to cut an entire field with a weedwacker. i think he will be done by christmas... 

Eating some asado for Fernandos birthday

Cooking pancakes with Edgar and his family

Painting our house

Trent

Hola Everyone!

This past two weeks have been so awesome! We have been seeing success like crazy. Last week we had 8 investigaters in church and this week we had 6. We are expecting a lot more the next couple weeks. God is really blessing us! We are finding many new people who need us.

We had a cool experience this week. When we were doing our weekly planning we felt that we needed to go work in this one neighborhood a little far away that we don't go to that much. So Sunday we went at 6 oclock and said a prayer. We told God that we weren't going to leave until we found someone who needed us. We were contacting for 2 and a half hours and not a single person accepted us. Then finally at 8:30 we found this man named Gerardo and his family. His wife had recently got put in a wheel chair after a serious accident and they were pretty much down in the dumps and ready to throw in the towel. We shared a mesage about the plan God has for them and why we're here in this life and why hard things have to pass sometimes and the importance of Jesus Christ and His central role in the plan of God and it was awesome! It gave them so much hope! They loved it and we set up another appointment next week! With a little diligence and faith and the Spirit we can find prepared people anywhere! 

I hope you are all doing well! Till next week!

Elder Reilly

Trent

Excerpts from his parents and grandparents' emails:

This week was SO AWESOME! We found so many new investigators after a crazy amount of fasting and prayer and we had 8 investigators in church! God blessed us so much and we are just so thankful. We wanted to cry and just thank God for blessing us with all these people. We have been praying for a family for some time now and we think we found them. They are the coolest and most prepared family for the gospel ever. They have a little daughter who is 6 years old and are about to have another girl. They lost their little boy about a year back and they want to know where he is. I love them! And I love that my message will HELP them and give them HOPE. I felt like I could see them how God sees them. After we taught them, we both began to cry, well during and after, because we just love them so much. We know they're our brothers and sisters! Experiences like that make the mission worth it!

The time is passing by very fast for me. It is almost hard to believe how fast the days are passing sometimes. I love the story about the woman who had the blood disease for many years and she believed that if she could just touch the border of the clothing of Jesus Christ she would be healed. I gave a talk about her story on Sunday. She stretched out her hand and touched the Savior's clothing and then she was healed. The Savior told her that by her faith she had been healed. For me, that gives a very important meaning to faith. If she would have just only believed and not stretched out her hand and touched the Savior's clothing she wouldn't have been healed. But she had the faith to REACH out her hand and GO to the Savior! That is what saved her. She had the faith to reach. That is faith. The belief and the action based on our belief. The Savior has power to heal and lift if we have to faith to reach and go to Him like the woman. I love it! Love you and miss you! Till next week!

Rhett

Hola familia y amigos!

I hope you all had a great week. To start off I just want to give a shout out to Morgan and Dan, Happy Birthday! Sorry a little late but I hope you guys celebrated well. I'll

be back in no time to to school you in highball like the good old days HAHA! Love you guys. Well, this week was a another good weekkkk. Jose got baptized yesterday! He is so awesome. He is 14 years old and and is super smart. He loved going to church and coming closer to God ever since we met him. He was a little scared to get into the water at first but after that his baptism went great. He has had a rough tough life, especially growing up with basically no parents. I know that the gospel will continue to change his life and his family's as well. His dad and step mom are also sharing with us and now want to come to church. So that is pretty awesome. 

Man I feel like Heavenly Father has blessed us so much these past few weeks. We go and talk with a member or go and visit someone, and find out that their family member has just moved here and wants to go to church, or that their friend just passed through something difficult and wants to meet with us, or even just being led to some random house and finding someone that needs the message just at the time we arrive. I know that when we do our part and do all we can do, the Lord will always be there to help us. 

I'd like to end off sharing a scripture. I gave a talk this week ar church about the Book of Mormon and this came to mind. Helaman 5:6-7. We can read from the scriptures and learn from all the lives that lived before us and how they were blessed when they followed the Lord. But now we are all here at this time for a reason and Heavenly Father can use to to do big and great things as well. What will be in our books and what will we be remembered for in our lives? I thought that was cool, and I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for every one of us! Have a good week, love you all

Elder Reilly

Some cow feet 

baptism of Jose

Riding in thr back of a truck to gp to a lesson

Rhett

Hola Familia!

Sorry I don't have much time to write, but the week went super well. I have been trying lately to really just stay focused and do all I can do. We worked so hard this week and were able to see a ton of miracles from it. We are teaching a lot of really awesome families right now, and found some cool new people as well. We are still trying to work with the members a lot and have gotten some pretty awesome references out of it! Also free lunch which is always good haha. 

We have been teaching this family of three for the last 2 weeks and they are progressing a lot. There names are Liz, Oscar and Jose. They also live right in front of a big family of members, so the members are doing a great job with visiting them and helping them out. Jose, the son of Oscar, has been going to church the last few weeks and really likes it and could be getting baptized this week. Liz and Oscar have had some struggles with going to church with work and everything but really like the lessons as well and have a desire to change their lives and follow as well. I can see how the gospel has already helped them change a lot since we started teaching them.

I just love this work and seeing the change and the impact it can have on people's lives and in my own life. I know that life's pretty hard and we all have challenges to face but its great to know that our brother Jesus Christ is with us and can help us every step of the way. I know that's true and He is always blessing us when we follow Him. Have a great week! Much Love

Elder Reilly

A contact(monkey) that accepted a card

Edgar the homie.. an investigator with his mom

Making the classic Chipa of Paraguay

Trent

Hola Hola!

Miss you all a bunch. Everything is going solid here in San Martin. The beautiful weather is coming to an end unfortunately and it will start raining a ton here in these coming weeks. Usually the people are a little bit more compassionate when they see us walking out in the rain and they let us in more haha so that should be nice.

I have almost no time to write this email,

but just know that everything is great and Elder Johansson and I are working like CRAZY out here. We have fasted and prayed a ton and we hope the Lord gives us success like he did with the sons of Mosiah if we suffer with patience our afflictions and keep going hard every second of every day!

Love you guys! Ciao Ciao

Elder Reilly

(Excerpt from Trent's letter to his grandma)

We find so many ways to serve people here on the mission its such a great opportunity. The coolest thing for me here in the mission is the understanding I've gained of the Atonement and the Plan of Salvation. As I have learned more about the Savior I just LOVE him! And I want to be like him. I recognize my fallen state and that He is the only one who can help me back! I think that knowledge will do me the most good for my whole life. I know my Savior and I'll always strive to be like him.

Trent

So this week was solid! We had to push the baptismal date of Darci and Leo back a little because the bishop said the less active dad needs to wait a little bit more to baptize them. But they are pretty solid for their baptism. We're not worried! The Lord is blessing us a ton. San Martin has one big ward. It's a lot better working with the members now! They all remember me surprisingly and it's sweet. There is a branch in the next city over and a branch in Villa la Angostura. There are 4 missionaries in SM and 4 in Junin and 2 in Villa la Angostura. We always walk. ALL DAY haha! But it's all good. And, Yes I cook ñioquis and empanadas and many things now. It's pretty sweet.

I'm trying to do EVERYTHING I can here and I'll try to be better every day! Love you! Nos vemos! I'm trying so hard and I knock every bad thought out of my mind and talk to everyone and invite with valentia! God will bless you!! Use this time to get closer to God and get to know Him! He gives every trial for a reason so use it for growth! 

Elder Reilly

Rhett

Hola familia y amigos,

I just want to start off by saying that I know Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us and with that has made a perfect plan so that we can experience all of the joy and blessings that He has and enjoys. This week I have been able to reflect a lot on that and have seen how the Lord blesses us when we are down. He is always extending his hands, we just have to be willing to reach up and take them.

The work is going super great. I have seen that working with members is something so important in this work! When the missionaries work with the members, something changs and the lessons are so much more meaningful and powerful. The members here in Capitan all really want us to work with them and visit their friends. This week we continued to work with Ronald, a member, and his step son Fransisco. It's pretty amazing to see how much he has opened up and how he now lets us share with him. We have also been working a lot with their neighbor Maria. She is doing super well and has started to gain a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. She told us about how she has prayed to know if what we were sharing was true and she felt good about the things she was taught. We shared with her Alma 32, and how if she keeps excercising her faith and doing the things Heavenly Father has asked her to do her testimony will grow and she will know for a surety that it is true. During a lesson with her yesterday, it was just awesome to hear Ronald bear testimony on how the Book of Mormon has helped him to change. He is such a strong convert to the church. It also helped me to see how powerful the Book of Mormon is. I can say that I don't have any doubts that it is true. When I read it, I feel a greater desire to follow the Savior and become better. I know that anyone who really reads it with intent and with a desire to know, will feel of that same power. I love the Lord and know He loves me and all of you. I hope you all have a great week, and can read the most powerful, and impactful book there is on the Earth! Love you all.

Elder Reilly