Rhett

Hola Familia!

I hope you all had a great week! I found out this week that I'm getting transferred.... I'm pretty sad to leave this area, but I know things happen for a reason and the Lord has people prepared for me in my new area. I will miss the Paraguayans though! I serously have met so many great people here, and to see them change for the better in the gospel, I couldn't be more happy for them. I know their lives will continue to change as they continue to follow and live the gospel. 

Sooooo...I'm going to Argentina!! Kupepa.. they would say in Paraguay!! haha. I'm going to an area called Ruta which is about 40 minutes from Iguazu Falls from what I've heard. I'll be able to go there on Pday. So that will be sweetttt. I'm pretty sure it is a small branch there so we are going to work our butts off and try and help the church grow. My comp is an American, Elder Peters. He has about 3 months in the mission, so I'm sure he's gonna be pumped up to work and learn Spanish. I'm pretty pumped!! I dont know how it will be, but I know the Lord sent me there for a reason and that there are people waiting. I hope that I can just be open to the spirit enough to really be led to find each one of them. I love this work and I know that this church is true. It was restored to the Earth and Jesus Christ is at it's head. I hope you all have a great week!!! Much Love

Elder Reilly

Trent

Hola Everyone!

I have no time but I'll try to tell an experience real quick! This week we got half of a family of 8 to church. It was quite funny how we got them there. We had coordinated with them to pass by at 8:50 and walk to church which starts at 9:30. We went and everyone was asleep except one of the daughters who is 12. She said she was gonna wake everyone up and that they were gonna take a taxi there and that we should just walk and they were gonna meet us there...but that's what they said last week and they didn't come. So we just told her that we were gonna wait for them to get ready and walk together. She told us to come in. We watched as she woke up everyone in the family and as they brushed their teeth and put decent clothes on and then we all left haha. The parents thought we were kidding when we said, "Get ready because we're going to church with you in 15 minutes"....we weren't haha. So the parents, a daughter and a son came and the rest stayed asleep. They said that they're all gonna come next week! Persistence and diligence gets investigators to church!!

Love you and miss you all! I hope all is well! Till next week!

Elder Reilly

Trent

Excerpts again...

Oh and yes people are CRAZY about the World cup here. Saturday morning Argentina played and there was literally not a single soul in the street. We heard when they scored and when Messi missed the penalty and everything because people just shout it haha. We keep up just with talking about it in the street. Were all in for Argentina! 

This week was honestly another tough one haha but thats ok! Transfers are next week and I think the whole mission is gonna just stay the same the next transfer so the new president doesn't have to deal with all of the changes. I will be really sad to see our President go! I love him! I'm gonna ask him to give me a blessing in our last interview this week and I'm going to ask him about Rhett coming here. He might just authorize it because he's already leaving haha. Yes,

my comp literally saw a house with red bricks and a white door and a big patio in his dream and that's the house we found! We have also been praying for a family of three and they are a family of three! Pretty awesome! We went back and helped him on Saturday but then he had to go and pick up his friend really far and it was an emergency so we just had to end and we didn't get to have a full lesson with him! Really frustrating but we'll try again next week!

Sebastian didn't come to church! He just stopped answering his phone and we went by his house and he didn't answer either! It's so sad! We are going to pass by and call him this week. He was one of our best investigators and he seems to have disappeared. BUT, this week we found a really awesome guy named Fabian and we taught him the Restoration and invited him to be baptized the 14th of next month and he accepted! It was such a powerful lesson and it was one of the few times we've actually entered in a house and taught in these 5 weeks! I was so grateful honestly haha! Hes a really good guy and his wife is a less active member we found out. Were gonna keep helping him read and pray and get baptized.

We have this family of Bolivians that we have been teaching and we got them to have a lesson with us in the church this week and we set up everything to pass by their house and walk with them to church on Sunday but then we passed by and one of the kids came out half asleep and said they were all sleeping! We told him to comb his hair and wake everyone up and come late but in the end they never came. After church we went to their house and were very direct with them and they committed to prepare themselves and come to the church with us next week. And they are gonna give us lunch during the week haha. 

So those are some of the frustrating things that happen on the mish haha. People disappearing and not waking up, but it's all good. We are just gonna keep working like crazy and asking for specific miracles and talking with everyone and being very bold with our investigators and we know that the success will come! My comp gave me a blessing a couple days ago and said that if I keep exercising faith with diligence, I will see miracles happen right before my eyes and I will be able to turn hearts hard as stone to smooth as running water. Pretty cool! I know that Lord has prepared people here for my companion and me. We're gonna do all we can to find them! LOVE YOU! Till next week!

Rhett

Hola!!

Sorry I really don't have much time this week, but I'll just start off by saying Happy Father's Day dad!! Thanks for everything you do for the family and have done for me. I would not be where I am without you! Love you dad!

This week went by super fast. We had lots of stuff to do. The other day we did an open chapel with the Zone in Obligado which is the last area I was in! So that was cool getting to see some of the members again and the people I got to know there! Basically we all just went out contacting and inviting people to the church to come to the event and learn more about what we do in the church. There were some cool people that came and others that were interested in the missionaries coming by to visit them. So it worked out well!

This week an investigator that has been really dificult to find, Analias, we were able to find and finally get her to come to church! She had been reading the Book of Mormon and praying but felt that she still hadn't received an answer if it's true yet, but she feels good about reading. We told her that the only way to really know and find out for yourself is by going to church. So she said she would come, and yesterday we passed by her house and she came with us to church! When she left she told us how she really like it and felt great! She understands really well and I feel like she knows the things we're teaching are true.

I'm really excited for her. Really there are a LOT OF GOOD THINGS HAPPENING HERE. We have been trying to do lots of service and figure out different ways to help and show our love for the people and I can see how it is helping them progress in the gospel. It's crazy to see how every person on earth has trials and problems that many times they know how to overcome. How great it is to know that with the help of the gospel, Heavenly Father can help us get through it all. I have been able to see that here a lot and has made me more grateful every time I share it. I hope you all have a great week! Much Love

Elder Reilly

Rhett

Holaaa familia!

Man the gospel is true!!! This week we were able to see some great things happen. We were able to find some good new people to teach and see a lot of changes in the people we have been visiting.

Fransisco is doing awesome. He received the priesthood this week and loves it. He wants to leave to go work with us everyday now. The last 2 days he was able to leave with us and share his testimony of how the Book of Mormon has changed his life. It was so powerful and we all could feel that he really knows it's true. So awesome!!

Also, Celsa came to church again. She has been reading the Book of Mormon every day and feels good about it. She is a teacher in a jail nearby and this week she told us she shared the Book of Mormon with a lady she had been teaching in the jail, and now the person in jail wants one too! She's already being a missionary. The power of the Book of Mormon is real!

Also this week we were able to visit a lady who, long story short, really needed the gospel in her life. We were able to teach her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how when we follow Him our lives can change and all the things bad that have happened in our lives we can forget about them and become clean through the waters of baptism. She has a desire to change and accepted a baptismal date. I'm so grateful for this gospel and for the opportunity we have every day to change and become better. I know that through Him we can do it! Have a great week! Much love

Elder Reilly

Trent

Excerpts from family emails:

Everything's good here in the VC(Villa Ceferino)! This week was pretty good! Honestly this place is pretty hard haha. Almost everyone rejects us but we've found some pretty cool people. Sebastian is doing well. We helped him with a service project he was organizing on Sunday. He basically got a bunch of people to come plant some trees. He was thankful that we came out and helped him. He said he's gonna come again to church next week. We hope to be able to baptize him this month. The Bolivians are good too but they didn't come to church!! Its frustrating sometimes, but we are gonna get them there next week. We are gonna try to have a lesson with them in the church before Sunday so they are already familiar with it. 

We found this sweet family last night! This guy was mixing and putting down some concrete outside his house so we offered to help him shovel dirt to mix with the concrete and he accepted. We started talking for a while while we were helping and he was really interested in talking with us! His wife made us sandwiches and gave us some mate cocido. It was sweet. We are going to come back next week and teach them! My comp basically saw their house in a dream and the guys dream is to visit California and were both from California. It's like he's been waiting for us! I'm excited to teach them. Their names are Alfredo and Marisol, and they have a little daughter named Catalina.

Time is going by so quick and I want to finish as strong as possible. This area is pretty difficult but there's potential here. I just hope I can be guided by the Spirit to find EVERY person that God has prepared for us here. I don't want to miss any! LOVE YOU! Till next week!

Trent

Excerpts from family letters...

It's going great! This week was a lot better! We found some good people and we got a sweet investigator in church named Sebastian. He's 27 and he's really interested in the gospel. This week was stake conference which was in downtown Neuquen a little far away but he came anyways! We are both really excited to keep teaching him. We haven't been able to teach him very many times though because he works a lot but the next time we get in his house we are going to invite him to be baptized in the 23rd of June! We're gonna do everything we can to help him arrive and find many others too. We have a family of Bolivianos that has 6 people that are the age of baptism but we are struggling getting them to commit. But I'm gonna keep praying hard and fasting so that the powers of heaven come down and touch their hearts and give them desire!

Yes, dad I am trying to be very bold and loving like you said! This week we improved a lot on that! Many of the investigators that the missionaries had here were more like friends and less like investigators so I felt really uncomfortable trying to be bold and commit them because we didn't have that kind of relationship, but I decided that obviously their salvation is a lot more important than making them feel maybe a little uncomfortable so we were really bold with all of them. We saw who was in and who wasn't. My comp is a lot better now! We are working hard together and now he's really onboard. He's been here for a long time without success so he kind of lost his faith but now he's motivated and ready to go!

The Gospel really does give us a very different perspective on the world. And that perspective influences every decision that we make. It's such a blessing. It always helps us stay on the right path! I love sharing the Gospel with others and telling them how it will help their lives! It's hard being rejected so much but it's the best thing I've ever done! LOVE YOU guys! Hope that all is well!

LOVE the idea about Rhett coming here. It sounds a little crazy but im gonna talk to my mission President about it and see what he thinks. Till next week!

Elder Reilly

Rhett

Hola Familia!!

This week was awesome!! I just want to say how greatful I am to be a part of this great gospel and for the opportunity I have to share it! This week we saw some great things happen.

Fransisco got baptized on Saturday!! My comp baptized him and I got to confirm him a member of the church. So awesome! He seriously has changed so much. He was an angry 14 year old kid who didn't want anything to do with the church or his family. He was fighting so much with his mom that at one point he even left the house to live somewhere else. We had the opportunity to keep teaching him through all of this. He started reading the Book of Mormon and praying. And on Saturday he was baptized and now is happy with his family and has a strong testimony of the gospel. He seriously is so happy now, it is crazy. I love this gospel so muchhh!! I'm so happy for him and his family! 

Unfortunately we weren't able to visit Celsa 

this week. But on Saturday we passed by her house and were able to talk to her son Isaiah who's in his 20s. The last time we talked to him we talked about the power of The Book of Mormon and how we can come closer to God when we read it. When we passed by he told us he had been reading, opened up his book, and even had been marking it up. He shared with us how he really likes the book and feels like every time he reads it, he reads something that's just what he needs. He also told us that his mom has been reading a chapter every day! That was really great to hear that they are reading! It really is true what Isaiah said. Every time we read we can find something just that applies to us in our lives. I have been reading it for a second time in Spanish, and I can say that I feel that way every time I read. I know that it is true and that Christ lives! He is our Savior and loves us so much that He suffered, so much, even bled from every pore. And He offers forgiveness and joy to all that come unto Him. Man the mission is so great. This week was a good one, and we continue to see the Lord working with us to bring souls unto Him! Love you all!

Elder Reilly