Email: Feeling the Savior Guiding Me

Dear everyone,
                         How is everyone doing back in freezing Utah? Are the computers even still working with how cold and snowy it is? haha  It sounds like there has been a lot going on back home, just like every week I guess. That was a really sweet story about Hannah. I really appreciate you sharing that with me it helps me to know and feel how blessed and loved I am. Hannah I hope you know that I love you as well. Also that is a huge bummer that the bears lost. It sounds like it was a real heart breaker. I'm sure they will bounce back though and turn out just fine. I am really glad that dad liked my card i definitely put a lot of thought into that one and gave it my own personal touch if you couldn't tell. When I saw it in the store I was just like man that is definitely right up dads alley. Oh yeah make sure you aren't wrecking that truck, haha I still really like that thing and I would like to return with it still in one piece, however that sounds just like dad though gotta push  it to the limit. So as far as Staci goes wow I cant believe there are only like 4 weeks left. That is insane! Don't fret too much Staci, you are going to be an excellent mother.
                              So a little bit about what has been going on out here in good ole' California. As I'm sure you know it has been a chilly 65 degrees out here. Some days it is so chilly I even have to think about putting on a jacket. Whew Life is tough! haha So this past week has been a great improvement from the week previous. It started out kind of slow, with not finding many people home and a few cancelled appointments but towards the end it definitely took off. So this past Wednesday was an amazing day. We had a lesson with Juanita and Mario where we went over the Plan of Salvation and their Book of Mormon reading and they were taking it in so well. Everyone about the Plan of Salvation just rang so well in their ears. She was a little worried that she wasn't really going to be able to know who her mother was in heaven so we shared Alma 34: 32-34 with her and she was absolutely amazed. Just simply that we are the same people on the other side of the veil as we are here, and if we do our best and live correctly we can live with our families forever. She was so happy to hear all of that, and wow the Spirit was so strong in that meeting. We also talked about both of their Book of Mormon reading so far and in a week and a half she had read 70 pages. I was absolutely shocked when she told us that, the reason being is that we have had such a hard time getting her to read. We set a goal with both of them to finish 2nd Nephi and then come to church. Well they both agreed and so hopefully they will be coming very soon.  So later that night we had a little scheduling conflict, we had to decide between dinner and a lesson with our recent converts or dinner and a lesson with one of our investigators, so we did what any missionary would do and went to both. So we had a lesson at 5:30 and dinner at 6:30 at our recent converts, where we taught them the Plan of Salvation. Then at 7:30 we walked about 4 houses down and had dinner about 10 minutes later. As you can all imagine I was quite stuffed because of course I don't want to be rude and not take very much at one house. So I ended up stuffing myself to the point I thought I was going to pop, no joke my belly had to have been as big as Staci's! Only the problem is, mine was only a food baby, not a real baby. We had a really good Restoration with our investigator. Everything went well and he is progressing slowly. The rest of the week was pretty slow, nothing to special ever. As soon as Saturday hit, however, things just exploded! We went on exchanges, elder Holbrook in the other area and me in mine, and we absolutely tore up the town. We were able to find 3 new investigators before noon. One through potentials, one through a referral, and one through just plain tracting. It was such an amazing morning and I could definitely see the lords hand in it. Two of the three that morning were people that we had tried multiple times as well but could never get an answer. Oh but wait there is more later on in the day I just really felt like we should go try this couple, who we had tried multiple times, but had never been home. Well guess what? We found them home, and they were extremely open to learning more. That day was such a blessing to be able to to really feel the Savior next to me guiding me and helping me a long. So that was pretty much our week. There were many miracles and many blessing pour out upon us here in which I am so very grateful.
                               I was able to read this scripture this past week and I just really want to share it with you all. It is Romans 5:19 "For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."  I just loved how well this stated things. It constantly amazes me how powerful an example is. Just like this scripture states examples are so important. No matter who we are or where we come from people are always watching us, so be the example that our Heavenly Father would be proud of. Thank you all for all you do and all of the support you give me. I hope you all have a wonderful week. Love Elder Payne