Returned with Honor

Elder Trevino returned home from his mission on June 6, 2013.

The Final Letter

Well, as the remaining quickly passes, and as the return flight approaches, and seeing as how this we will be my last communication to you all before said return, I would like to write a final letter. Please ignore anything that sounds dumb, as I'm still used to talking in Spanish.

I will be eternally grateful to my Heavenly Father for having given such a wonderful opportunity to serve in a part of his vineyard here in the beautiful country of Paraguay. I have be extremely blessed in inumerable ways. In this incredibly short span of two years I have matured, learned Spanish, learned to teach the gospel, seen many unforgettable sights and had many unforgettable moments as well. But most importantly I have grown closer to my Eternal Father, and have helped some of his precious children grow closer to Him as well.

Many things happen to a young person during their service as a servant of the Lord. One learns to cook, clean, makes their bed. One learns to study the scriptures with diligence. One learns to pray, for guidance, strength, hope, faith, charity. One prays to make it through another rainy day. For the chance to just find that one person willing to listen to two young Americans who don't really know how to speak their own language on a hot dusty afternoon. One prays for forgiveness, for errors in the past, and from the small mistakes made everyday. One prays for their family who wait back at home, and knows that they too are praying for them One prays constantly for inspiration, trying to get along with a companion whos way of thinking is just different than yours. One prays everyday, that perhaps the Spirit might accompany them, and that the same Spirit will touch the heart of some desperate soul.

If there was anything that I have learned here during these past two years, is that God live and does aswer prayers. He give the guidance, the strength, the hope, the faith, the charity, and everything thing that we wask of him. He leads us as missionaries to those willing to listen and to follow, and He forgives us of our petty errors as we strive to improve daily.

I know that I never really have shared many of my own thoughts or feelings, as I generally am a bit more reserved in that regard. But one thing I would like to share is my testimony. Although it be simple, it is firm. I know that God lives and that we are His children. He loves us more that we can ever imagine. Because of this undying love he sent his Son, Jesus Christ to the earth. He taught us his perfect gospel, the perfect plan and path. He willingly sacrificed himself, and suffered beyond belief for us, that if we be willing, we can live again with him in His eternal courts above.

I know that this gospel was lost for a period of time, but that it has again been restored in its fullness. I know that Joseph Smith was called of God to restore his true church, and that he also restored the Holy Priesthood required to act in His name. I know that the evidence of this restoration in the Book Of Mormon. I know, by the power of the Holy Ghost, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and like Joseph Smith said, if we read and live by its precepts, will will grow closer to God. I know that a prophet lives today, and that he is guided by Jesus Christ. I know that the promises that he and his apostles give will also be fulfilled. I know that the covenants that we make with God, enable us to live with him again. I know that God wants us to live happily. I know that obedience to his commandments allow us to live with much gladness and joy.

I know that all of these things are true, and that The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church on the face of the earth.

This testimony I have shared with many of my fellow brothers and sisters here in Paraguay, and I hope that I have been of good use as a servant of God in these past two years. I know that as I return and move on to other "missions" in life, that I will miss this time, but I will be happy, know that I was able to do some good while it lasted. May God continue to bless each of us, and inspire those future missionaries, so that they too may bring about much good in his vineyard.

See you soon.

Elder Treviño.

Week of 20th May

whoowee. another week has passed incredibly fast. Last week on monday night, we traveled by bus into asunción for my last zone conference. It was really great and i was really grateful for the chance i had to be there. It was also Pres Madariaga´s last conference too, so it was pretty sad. Many were tearing up. I was able to share my testimony cause it was my last zone conference, and that went pretty well.

We got back on wednesday and headed back to work and doing some preparations for the wedding and Baptism of Gerardo and Andrea. The service was great and everything went pretty smoothly. The water was pretty cold, but not so bad. it was really cold outside on saturday, but that didn't stop anything from happening. They are probably the last investigators that will be baptized while im here, and it was a great way to end. They are a great couple.

Other than that, the week was really normal. This next week probably will be too. just work work working,

have a good week.

elder Treviño

hola hola hola

Well this past week was full of work like normal. We found a couple of sweet investigators and hope they keep progressing. One of the marriage/baptisms fell but the other is still progressing pretty well. The weather is slowing getting colder, and I hope that it doesn't get too cold before i part from here.

Today I am in Asunción for the mission leader counsel, and it was awesome. Like normal. I was able to visit one of my old areas as well. Good old times. It's great to visit and see converts that are still strong.

I don't got much time right now, but I love you guys and will talk to you on Monday!

Elder Treviño

Hola from the heart of Sudamerica

The week passed by very fast. Time just keeps speeding up i swear. its difficult to remember all that happens in that time, but still the work is going well. We ended the week with another baptism. The service was fantastic and our new member friend is very happy with his decision. Yesterday we went out with a member in his car to a neighboring colony i guess you could call it. Its called Santa Clara, and it is part of our area, as our area is very large, but mostly forest and farmland and stuff. anyway, out it this colony there are about 25 active members,and some children over 8 that need to receive the lessons, so we went our there. Let me tell you guys what, its a very very very pretty place. i will try to take photos next time we go. we left there at night, and because we are out in the middle of nowhere, the stars shined really brightly and we could see a great many of them. a cool experience for sure.

Anyway, not much is going on that is super exciting, other than that the work keep son progressing and time flying by. Love you guys, and have a good week!.

Week of April 15

whoowee. THe week just flew by like nothing to it. I don't really remember much that happened either. just lots of work and not a lot of time to do it. we are planning some more baptisms and some weddings as well in the coming weeks, so i hope that with the transfers that are coming up, i can stay here and end well. But i know that it is up to whatever the Lord wants. this week we were contacting around the area and we found a really nice couple. so we were talking to them and they invited us for lunch the next day. We weren't able to go, but it was a sweet contact. hopefully we can find them again and that they will be able to progress.

Today we hit up the waterfalls again, so i will send those fotos as well.

News item. we can now write all friends and family by email, and we get 2 hours instead of one. so if anybody wants to write me by email feel free to do so. (antonio.trevino @ myldsmail.net)

That's about it for this week,

have a good one!

Elder Treviño

Week of April 8

Well the week just flew by absolutely fast like normal. Here in Pedro Juan Caballero, it rained almost everyday for the past two weeks. For now it has stopped, but the temperature has dropped significantly, meaning that we have officially entered into Fall. Hopefully it does not get too much colder before I end, cause working out in the cold is not very fun.

We ended the week with another baptism, of a young lady named Hermelinda. She was super excited to be baptized and is really happy now having entered into the waters. I will attach a photo.

Other than that not much is going on here. We are still working really hard, trying to find those that are prepared, and the Lord is definitely blessing us more that I could ask for. He is very very merciful.

Last night I intended on making tinga, and it turned out really good. I didn't have poblanos or anaheims, but I did have chipotles from a can, and I made some Spanish rice as well. Super good. Made me miss home food though :( At least I don't have to wait too long now though.

Love you guys, and I hope you have a good week!

Elder Treviño.

2013

2013, a set on Flickr.

Elder Trevino's pictures taken from January - April 2013.

Week of April 1

Whoo it's April now! Time is flying by incredibly fast, and this week was definitely no exception.

This week was really interesting with what went down, but it was a good week anyway. Like i said last week, i was in Asunción for the leadership meeting that we have every month. That night we traveled back to my area and we got there like 6 in the morning and went to bed for a little longer. Traveling is not very fun, but i just have to deal with it. On tuesday it started raining really hard and it kept raining basically all week since then. Wednesday we worked normally again and got quite a bit done but nothing super exciting. On thursday, ELder Milne, and I taught a zone meeting going over what we learned and what we felt the zone needed so they can improve. That thursday night we were supposed to travel again to Asunción, but because of a lack of communication from some elders in the zone, we missed the bus. I wasn't too happy about that, but i just let it go. So friday morning we hopped on the first bus, and we got to Asunción at about 3 in the afternoon, where we went directly to the mission office to have interviews with President Madariaga. The interview was super good, and the last quarterly interview i will have, I also got my recommend renewed for the temple, because that same afternoon we went to the temple. Let me tell you guys, the temple is fantastic, and I'm super excited to be able to go more regularly when i get back.

We traveled back on friday night/saturday morning, and one of the bus tires blew out. fun fun, so we got back like two hours late, but CONFERENCE! super sweet. one of the messages that most stuck out to me was Pres. Monson's talk in Priesthood, as well as his talk sunday morning. something he said in the priesthood session was that Missions are a family affair. and they really are. I'm very grateful for all of you guys and your supporting me while I've been out here. Thanks for helping me to prepare and to get out here, you all have helped me a ton. The rest of conference was really awesome and i enjoyed many of the talks. Interesting that there were many talking about marriage...hmm.

Anyway, love you guys, and have a good week!

Week of the 18 March

Again another week has flown by, and the work keeps moving forward!

The week was just full of work work work, and I got a fever for three days, but worked anyways cause we had too much to do and we couldn't afford to rest too much. Yeah I know not the best idea but it's past. Anyway, we ended the week with another baptism, which was awesome, and we hope that we can augment our work ethic to maintain the success. The Lord is blessing us a lot. I will send photos next week cause I forgot the camera in the house, but don't worry, next week for sure.

I'm getting excited for conference, because its like Christmas to the Elders, and just trying to work all that I can, trying to lead my zone the best I can.

I found a quote that I like, that I will share by Elder Enzio Busche I think; I don't know who he is but I like the quote. "So you want to be good and to do good? That is commendable. But the greatest achievement we can get in this life is to be under complete influence of the Holy Ghost." I like this because as a missionary, the most important thing for us to be a conduit for the Holy Spirit, and nothing else.

Anyway. I told Dad and Tori, but I will be flying home on the 6th of June, arriving on the 7th. Two week ahead of schedule, but really on schedule because of some administrative changes and other things. Anyway, love you guys and have a good week!

Elder Treviño

Week of March 11

Thanks for the letter mom. I hope you all enjoy St. Patty's day. I did not wear green.

It will be interesting going back to a fully functioning ward again, as here in Paraguay, most of the branches barely breathe. Luckily here though my branch is fairly stable. The work here has been progressing quite a bit as well. The past weekend we had another baptism, and I will send you the photos. And we plan on having baptisms for the next couple of weeks as well. The Lord is really blessing us here, and I'm just trying to do my part to be faithful and obedient, and to help my zone to do the same.

Today we went to the border of Brazil, because there is a ton of shops and stuff, and we ran into 8 Brazilian elders. There were there for pday cause tomorrow they will have a zone conference or something. Oddly enough I understand pretty well Portuguese but my comp does not, so it was kind of funny.

Also, things here keep changing and I might come home a little early, but I'm still not sure. Whatever happens, happens.

Anyway, I hope things keep going well for you guys, it seems like the lord is blessing you all as well.

Have a good week,

Elder Treviño

Week of March 4

so the week was really good. like i told you guys last week, we had a conference on monday in the which Elder Viñas of the seventy was present. good conference. Then the rest of the week was hectic busy and we have so much to do right now and not enough time to do it all. we were late getting home almost everyday this week cause we were teaching as much as we could.

This past weekend, one of our investigators got baptized and confirmed. Also we had seven investigators that went to church, which is not a very common number to have. But we have baptisms planned for every weekend from here to the end of march, which is sweet, so i hope everything goes to plan.

The Lord is blessing us a lot, and i believe that a lot of it is from your guys prayers and the prayers of others. anyway, today we receive the transfers if there are any, but i don't think that i will see anything happen here, as the last time there was a lot of changes. but we will see.

love you guys and have a good week!

Just a note - I am not neglecting this blog. Elder Trevino hasn't emailed me since February 12. Apparently he's still alive, just very busy. Gettin' as much work in as he can in the 3 months he has left in the field!

Week of the 4th

So the week was fun, and you guys already know a little bit about what happened. I was in Asunción on Monday for a zone leader training, and on Tuesday, I stayed with one of the asisstants to do an exchange, because I'm important like that. The exchange was super great and I was actually able to see one of my converts from a year ago. She is still going strong which made me happy, kinda like Alma when he saw the sons of Mosiah after such a long time.

Tuesday night I traveled solo, which is always fun, but this time it was fine cause I didn't have to deal with luggage. And the alone time is nice. But I took an overnight bus so I just slept anyway. And I woke up just after my stop, so I had to walk a little, but nothing too bad. I walk all day anyway.

Wednesday was boring doing some administrative things again, but getting several visits in the late afternoon. And the rest of the days were all kind of the same. We are teaching a really sweet family, the dad is an inactive from the time he was 10 or so, so he does not remember much, but is really humble and understands that he does not know much and needs to learn. His wife is super kind, but a little shy, and he has two kids, a girl that is 11 and a boy that is 8. Hopefully we will see some progress there, but there work situation causes difficulties for them to go to church.

My comp Elder Nielson ends this week and will be flying back to sweet old Utah, so keep your eyes out for him, and I will be receiving a new comp. always fun.

Today we went on a really fun adventure. We went looking for some waterfalls. And we found some. To get out there we had to take a bus, which goes through a little bit of Brasil then goes back into Paraguay. So I have now been in Brasil, even though I had gone on the way here in the airport. Anyway, we hiked around, and went trailblazing near a creek river thing, and we found a water fall. It was fun. I will send some pics, but I took a lot and won't have time to send them all. But that was basically my week.

I hope you guys have a good one,

Elder Treviño

Week of January 21

Sorry, but this week i don't really have too much to say. Last monday we were in concepcion which is four hours away, and tuesday we traveled back. The week went fairly normally with nothing too exciting, but we did find a couple of cool investigators. Today we played more soccer, then we are going to go buy some groceries, and the relax a little bit. Anyway, nothing much other that that is going on. if you have questions ask, as that helps me to have something to talk about. anyway love you guys and have a good week

Elder Treviño

Week of Jan 14

Whoowhee. This last week has been pretty long, and full of interesting things, so hopefully i will remember them all and i can tell you guys.

On monday, nothing really happened, we played soccer, and had a ton of fun with that, and then was finally able to print out some photos and do some other things that i have been meaning to do.

Tuesday, my companion ELder Nielson and I taught a zone training meeting in a town called Yby Yau, i will tell you how to say it when i get home. anyway, its a 2 hour bus ride away, so a good chunk of our time was taken up with that, but the training went well. Then we went back to our area and we had to be a in a cybercafe for quite a while doing some more administrative things for the zone, and that basically killed the day.

Wednesday we were able to work and we got a lot done, but then we got a phone call from the President asking if we wanted to do our interviews with him then, instead of the next day. SO we said yeah and we went and did our interviews. Mine went really well, and there wasn't really a lot that we discussed, but we touched on the fact that my time is winding down, and now is my time to shine and really be an influence for the other missionaries in my zone, and just work to my full potential.

Thursday, was interesting. we were able to work all day, and it went pretty well, but for some reason i was having some weird muscle pain in my core area, the front mainly, but the sides and back as well. annoying but i just dealt with it. That night my comp had a fever of 102, which was fun, so i gave him a blessing and we went to sleep.

Then friday morning, we both woke up fine, and we got on a bus to go to Horqueta, which if you guys remember was my starting area. We went there to do some interchanges, as well as some baptismal interviews. When i got of the bus, we had to walk about 10 block to get to the elder´s house, and i could not walk because of some crazy intense pain that was similar to the day before, but i took some tylenol, and the pain subsided for a bit, and i kept going on. Anyway, being back in Horqueta was really awesome, because i thought that i was never going to be able to visit because of the distance, but i got the opportunity. Many of the members remembered me quite well, which also surprised me, cause i feel that they would just forget about us cause there are so many that they know, but that seems to be wrong.

anyway, the day was sweet, and not too hot. My comp though was still sick and stayed in the house all day with another elder.

Saturday morning, we got up at 3:30am to catch a bus going back to Pedro Juan, which is about 3 hours away, but it took about 4, and then when we were about 10 miles out of the city, the bus broke down. not fun, but they got it fixed in about 30 min, and then we kept going. That night the district(like the stake) had a talent show, and we the missionaries did a skit about the day of a missionary, and it was pretty funny, and we actually won a prize, which was cool.

Yesterday was sunday, and other than church, nothing special happened.

Then today, we went to the gym in the morning, came back and showered then hopped on another bus headed for concepcion, which is a bout 4 hours away, and we are here doing some division, and going to their district meeting out here. then tomorrow we will head back again.

the week has been full of a lot of things, but it's not that fun when i can't really work in my own area, which is really what i want to do,but i will do what i can and hope that the Lord will take care of the rest.

Love you guys and have a good week!

Week of January 7

So this week wasn't very eventful, but had some good moments as well. On Monday night after I wrote you guys, we went to an Adidas outlet store because we were in Asunción and we had to wait until 11 at night for our bus ride back to Pedro Juan Caballero. i bought a new backpack cause mine was broke, and i found a sweet whirt (??) that i bought as well. Then we went to the bus terminal so we could wait for about 4 hours. While there we talked with some other missionaries from our mission who were also waiting for a bus. Remember Elder Hill, the old neighbor of Aunt Aimee? He was there and we talked for a good bit. after that, we went to a small restaurant there in the terminal to eat some empanadas, and we talked to a lady who was really cool, who had worked in Germany, and who knew some of the missionaries from Paraguay that are also serving here. We got her directions and sent the reference to the office so they could then send it to the the missionaries.

The bus ride back was long, and the bus´ air conditioning was crazy cold, but we made it through. we got back Tuesday morning at about 5 and we went and slept for a bit until we needed to go to district meeting. the rest of Tuesday was shot cause we had some more administrative things to do, and after that, it was time to return back to the apartment.

Wednesday was a blur, and Thursday, and Friday as well. Saturday my comp was really sick and we had to stay in for a bit. Chivivi guazu se llama. I will tell you about it later. Then Sunday was fairly uneventful, and today we played soccer with half of the zone which was fun, but now I'm very tired. We found a gym that we go to in the mornings. It is cheap and very ghetto. We found a rotting rat about 8 inches big, plus its tail. It was awesome. Anyway now I'm getting ripped.

I will finally send some pics today.

love you guys and have a good week!