2148 Placer Street
Redding, CA 96001
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
Email: So Much Great News!
Hello to you all,
Well from moms email it sure sounds like you are all having a pretty busy summer. That sounds pretty normal for the Payne household. Katey congrats on making All-American that is awesome. I am so proud of you. Hannah I am so happy for you as well. It sounds like you are staying extremely busy as well. How is the play practices going? Are you working hard? I sure hope so because the harder that you work the more it will be worth it.
So I am not going to tell you about transfers yet because I want to keep you on the edge of your seat. Let me tell you a bit about this past week. This week we were on exchanges quite a bit. That is one of my responsibilities as District Leader is to go on exchanges with everyone in my district. Well just with scheduling two of those exchanges happened on the same week. It made it feel like I basically wasn't in my area at all this week. ha ha Elder Hyde did a great job of taking over the area. He is really filling in very well. On Wednesday we had Kris Conrad's baptismal interview. That went very well. He was a little surprised when he showed up to the church and there were 6 Elders there. Everything was going well, or so we thought, until the Elder who was interviewing him asked me to come in for a moment. He told us that he felt that we should postpone the baptism for a little bit because he didn't get a clear answer on whether or not President Monson was a Prophet. Kris was like hang on a second I didn't say that I said that all the Prophets are Prophets and that the Priesthood authority was handed down. It was really neat seeing him really stand up for his beliefs like that. Anyways the interviewer was like alright sounds great we will proceed then. So then came the baptism on Saturday. Kris came and picked us up on Saturday at about 11:20 because the baptism was scheduled for 12:00. When we showed up it was great because we had to hand him off to other elders they had to take care of setting everything up. Kris was so amazed at the support that he got . There were quite a few people that showed up for the baptism, people from both our ward and from there ward. The baptism went very smoothly. I was so grateful that i was able to step down into the water with someone as prepared and amazing as him. When he came up out of the water he was just absolutely glowing he just couldn't contain himself. The sister of the other ward were very nice and prepared a great lunch after the baptism. On Sunday Elder Hyde confirmed Kris and he did a great job. He gave him a great blessing as well. I know for sure that Kris is going to go very far. I am so grateful that I have had this opportunity to teach him. I know that there are going to be a lot of other people I teach, but I know that Kris is definitely one that I was sent here to teach.
I did get to watch the Broadcast at our church building. I didn't realize that Derek was on it I am going to have to try and find it again so that I can try and see him. So as far as facebook and stuff like that, we have not received and info on that yet. I am sure that we are going to be hearing more about that soon. I will keep you updated.
Alright so here is the big news. I am being transferred, I am actually going to be a zone leader now. I am also going to the very furthest North zone in the mission, Redding. I get to go be companions with Elder McMurray, who is one of my very good friends out here. I am so pumped for a variety of reasons, great area, great, comp, and many others. So that is all for now I love you all and you are all in my prayers. Thank you for all of the prayers on my behalf as well. I love you all.
Love Elder Payne
Well from moms email it sure sounds like you are all having a pretty busy summer. That sounds pretty normal for the Payne household. Katey congrats on making All-American that is awesome. I am so proud of you. Hannah I am so happy for you as well. It sounds like you are staying extremely busy as well. How is the play practices going? Are you working hard? I sure hope so because the harder that you work the more it will be worth it.
So I am not going to tell you about transfers yet because I want to keep you on the edge of your seat. Let me tell you a bit about this past week. This week we were on exchanges quite a bit. That is one of my responsibilities as District Leader is to go on exchanges with everyone in my district. Well just with scheduling two of those exchanges happened on the same week. It made it feel like I basically wasn't in my area at all this week. ha ha Elder Hyde did a great job of taking over the area. He is really filling in very well. On Wednesday we had Kris Conrad's baptismal interview. That went very well. He was a little surprised when he showed up to the church and there were 6 Elders there. Everything was going well, or so we thought, until the Elder who was interviewing him asked me to come in for a moment. He told us that he felt that we should postpone the baptism for a little bit because he didn't get a clear answer on whether or not President Monson was a Prophet. Kris was like hang on a second I didn't say that I said that all the Prophets are Prophets and that the Priesthood authority was handed down. It was really neat seeing him really stand up for his beliefs like that. Anyways the interviewer was like alright sounds great we will proceed then. So then came the baptism on Saturday. Kris came and picked us up on Saturday at about 11:20 because the baptism was scheduled for 12:00. When we showed up it was great because we had to hand him off to other elders they had to take care of setting everything up. Kris was so amazed at the support that he got . There were quite a few people that showed up for the baptism, people from both our ward and from there ward. The baptism went very smoothly. I was so grateful that i was able to step down into the water with someone as prepared and amazing as him. When he came up out of the water he was just absolutely glowing he just couldn't contain himself. The sister of the other ward were very nice and prepared a great lunch after the baptism. On Sunday Elder Hyde confirmed Kris and he did a great job. He gave him a great blessing as well. I know for sure that Kris is going to go very far. I am so grateful that I have had this opportunity to teach him. I know that there are going to be a lot of other people I teach, but I know that Kris is definitely one that I was sent here to teach.
I did get to watch the Broadcast at our church building. I didn't realize that Derek was on it I am going to have to try and find it again so that I can try and see him. So as far as facebook and stuff like that, we have not received and info on that yet. I am sure that we are going to be hearing more about that soon. I will keep you updated.
Alright so here is the big news. I am being transferred, I am actually going to be a zone leader now. I am also going to the very furthest North zone in the mission, Redding. I get to go be companions with Elder McMurray, who is one of my very good friends out here. I am so pumped for a variety of reasons, great area, great, comp, and many others. So that is all for now I love you all and you are all in my prayers. Thank you for all of the prayers on my behalf as well. I love you all.
Love Elder Payne
Monday, June 17, 2013
Email: Happy Father's Day!
Hi guys,
Happy Fathers day!!! Dad i hope you had a wonderful Fathers day because you definitely
deserve it. Did you all do anything fun for Fathers day? I saw the pic of dad in his new shirt. He was looking pretty good. haha
So a little problem from this past week, So Kris our investigator is doing great. The only problem is that he is no longer our investigator. I will explain. So this whole time we have been meeting with him we did not know exactly where he lived. We had a general idea but didnt know his exact address. Anyways the reason behind that was he had some elders try to come by his house when he had asked them not too. They thought that he had gotten really mad at them so that is why they never followed up with him. So for some reason we got a media referral for him. So that is why we started teaching him. Anyways after all that we found out he actually lives in the other area. We called president trying to figure out what he wanted us to do. He told us that we should have him baptized in the other ward. We had a lesson on Friday with Kris and the other Elders. We had a big lesson on Priesthood keys and the reason that the church is so organized. When we told him that we had to pass him off to the other Elders he started to get really emotional. I felt really bad but i stuck to my guns. After we explained it for a while he seemed to understand it a lot better. He asked if I would baptize him and if Hyde could confirm him. We also went to church in that ward with him. So hopefully everything is still going to go well for him. We are really working hard to make him feel more comfortable. Everything is still on track for his baptism though so that should all work out well.
We were able to pick up a new investigator this week. She has a ton of friends that are members so it is great because we have a ton of built in fellowship. We are going to be trying to work a lot with Less actives this coming week so that should be great.
I was thinking there is a good chance I might be getting transferred this next week. So if you were going to send me a letter or anything just make sure you send it before like Wednesday so i will get it before transfers. Thank you all for all the love and support. Yes I did get the package and the G's fit fine. Thank you so much. If you could send me a pic of the fence that is crazy! Love you guys Love Elder Payne
Happy Fathers day!!! Dad i hope you had a wonderful Fathers day because you definitely
deserve it. Did you all do anything fun for Fathers day? I saw the pic of dad in his new shirt. He was looking pretty good. haha
So a little problem from this past week, So Kris our investigator is doing great. The only problem is that he is no longer our investigator. I will explain. So this whole time we have been meeting with him we did not know exactly where he lived. We had a general idea but didnt know his exact address. Anyways the reason behind that was he had some elders try to come by his house when he had asked them not too. They thought that he had gotten really mad at them so that is why they never followed up with him. So for some reason we got a media referral for him. So that is why we started teaching him. Anyways after all that we found out he actually lives in the other area. We called president trying to figure out what he wanted us to do. He told us that we should have him baptized in the other ward. We had a lesson on Friday with Kris and the other Elders. We had a big lesson on Priesthood keys and the reason that the church is so organized. When we told him that we had to pass him off to the other Elders he started to get really emotional. I felt really bad but i stuck to my guns. After we explained it for a while he seemed to understand it a lot better. He asked if I would baptize him and if Hyde could confirm him. We also went to church in that ward with him. So hopefully everything is still going to go well for him. We are really working hard to make him feel more comfortable. Everything is still on track for his baptism though so that should all work out well.
We were able to pick up a new investigator this week. She has a ton of friends that are members so it is great because we have a ton of built in fellowship. We are going to be trying to work a lot with Less actives this coming week so that should be great.
I was thinking there is a good chance I might be getting transferred this next week. So if you were going to send me a letter or anything just make sure you send it before like Wednesday so i will get it before transfers. Thank you all for all the love and support. Yes I did get the package and the G's fit fine. Thank you so much. If you could send me a pic of the fence that is crazy! Love you guys Love Elder Payne
Monday, June 10, 2013
Email: HOT week!
Hello to my wonderful family,
I hope that everyone is doing well after this past week. Can you believe that another week has passed? It seems like I was just barely sitting down to email you all. So how has everyone's week been. I hope things have slowed down a little bit with school getting out and everything. So I have forgotten to ask this the past few weeks when I email but are any of you planning and summer trips or vacations? You can tell me and I wouldn't care I promise I was just curious.
The past week out here has been a very interesting one. I say that because we had record breaking weather out here. On Friday it hit about 105 degree, but no it did not stop there. On Saturday it got up to 111 degrees. Seeing as you know just how I feel about hot weather I am sure you could guess just how I felt on those two days. I could barely even stand being outside. Thankfully that weather is behind us and we don't have to face any like that for a while longer. It cooled off to about low 90s yesterday and now today it is like 75 or 80. Quite the swing in weather right?
Our investigator Kris is doing very well right now. He is still meeting with us however now he is meeting with us twice a week. It is great getting so close to his baptismal date. I am so excited for him to get baptized. It is definitely one of the highlights of my mission so far getting to teach him. We talked with him mainly about the commandments this past week. We were also able to talk to him a bit about the temple and how he will be able to go and be baptized for his parents after he is baptized. We also told him that, that should be his ultimate goal, to make it to the temple.He was really happy to talk about being able to do all that. He is definitely ready to take these steps in his life.
We also had another really neat experience happen to us this past week. We were just biking down the road next to some stores when this lady stopped us. She is probably in her late twenty's maybe early thirties. Anyways she just stopped us and was like hey are you Mormons? We answered yes we are. She then asked do you have one of those books the book of.. book of.. book of something. We asked the Book of Mormon and she answered yes that's it. We told her yes we do and proceeded to talk to her more about it. Come to find out she was from Russia and she had been taught by missionaries back in Russia. Pretty amazing that we were able to find her right there. Anyways we exchanged info and headed out. unfortunately she doesn't live in our area so we will have to hand her off to someone else. Oh well at least she got found.
So that was a bit about my week. Thankfully things have cooled. Oh I forgot to tell you. Because of the high heat they had to cancel the high school graduation here, about half way through. they had about 15 people pass out. Two of which were in critical condition. Anyways I love you all and hope i get to here form you soon.
Love Elder Payne
I hope that everyone is doing well after this past week. Can you believe that another week has passed? It seems like I was just barely sitting down to email you all. So how has everyone's week been. I hope things have slowed down a little bit with school getting out and everything. So I have forgotten to ask this the past few weeks when I email but are any of you planning and summer trips or vacations? You can tell me and I wouldn't care I promise I was just curious.
The past week out here has been a very interesting one. I say that because we had record breaking weather out here. On Friday it hit about 105 degree, but no it did not stop there. On Saturday it got up to 111 degrees. Seeing as you know just how I feel about hot weather I am sure you could guess just how I felt on those two days. I could barely even stand being outside. Thankfully that weather is behind us and we don't have to face any like that for a while longer. It cooled off to about low 90s yesterday and now today it is like 75 or 80. Quite the swing in weather right?
Our investigator Kris is doing very well right now. He is still meeting with us however now he is meeting with us twice a week. It is great getting so close to his baptismal date. I am so excited for him to get baptized. It is definitely one of the highlights of my mission so far getting to teach him. We talked with him mainly about the commandments this past week. We were also able to talk to him a bit about the temple and how he will be able to go and be baptized for his parents after he is baptized. We also told him that, that should be his ultimate goal, to make it to the temple.He was really happy to talk about being able to do all that. He is definitely ready to take these steps in his life.
We also had another really neat experience happen to us this past week. We were just biking down the road next to some stores when this lady stopped us. She is probably in her late twenty's maybe early thirties. Anyways she just stopped us and was like hey are you Mormons? We answered yes we are. She then asked do you have one of those books the book of.. book of.. book of something. We asked the Book of Mormon and she answered yes that's it. We told her yes we do and proceeded to talk to her more about it. Come to find out she was from Russia and she had been taught by missionaries back in Russia. Pretty amazing that we were able to find her right there. Anyways we exchanged info and headed out. unfortunately she doesn't live in our area so we will have to hand her off to someone else. Oh well at least she got found.
So that was a bit about my week. Thankfully things have cooled. Oh I forgot to tell you. Because of the high heat they had to cancel the high school graduation here, about half way through. they had about 15 people pass out. Two of which were in critical condition. Anyways I love you all and hope i get to here form you soon.
Love Elder Payne
Monday, June 3, 2013
Email: Investigator Feels the Spirit
Hello there family,
How is the always busy and crazy Payne clan doing? It sounds like there is finally actually a chance for things to slow down, at least maybe a little bit. I am glad that last week went smoothly for all of you. I know that the last week is a lot of times the most stressful time of the year. I cant believe that dads car got broken into. That is crazy. You guys might be a little to trusting of our neighborhood. It is sad to see the evil of the world even creeping into our little area of the world.
Well let me tell you a little bit about my week. This past week has been a pretty decent week. We had Zone conference on Wednesday here in Rocklin. We got together with one other zone. I didn't have too many buddies in that zone but I was able to see a few guys. A lot of the zone conference was based on not shrinking. He based that part off of a talk given by Elder Bednar. I will send that talk to you.Anyways then we went over a lot about Repentance and how best to teach it. It was a very powerful meeting where I learned a lot.
On Friday I went on exchanges with an Elder in my district. His name is elder Edwards. He is a great guy. It has been heating up a lot here so Friday and Saturday were both just blazing hot. So during basically that whole exchange we were doing our best to stay cool. I forgot to tell you that on Thursday night I did burn a shirt. I sent you guys my memory card in the mail so you will get to see that. It was pretty awesome. Anyways the exchange went really well. We talked to some less active guy in there ward and he is a California highway patrolman so we got to talk about guns a lot which was great.
So Friday E. Hyde and the other elder he was with taught Kris the Plan of Salvation lesson. He apparently was just ecstatic about it and was loving that Plan that we have. He wanted to meet again with us which was great. We met again the next day so on Saturday. We went over the Gospel of Jesus Christ and covered a lot about Repentance and how we can be cleansed from sin through Christ. He was about in tears at some parts of the lesson. Then after the lesson I asked him if he felt like he knew that this church was true and if he needed to get baptized. He responded that yes he did and that he really felt it when we asked him to be baptized. When he said that it felt like an electric shock when from the top of my head all the way through my body and out the tips of my toes. It was such a neat experience and to feel the spirit that strong at that moment was such a confirmation to me that he truly is prepared. He came to church again on Sunday and he brought fast offerings and he was even parInvticipating in class. He is such an amazing individual and he truly has a testimony of all of this.
I just wanted to tell you all thank you so much for the package you sent me. It is so crazy that I already hit my year. I really feel like I have grown so much and that I still have a lot of growth to come. I am still trying to work hard and fulfill my duty out here. I love you all so much and I am so grateful for you all. May God continue to watch over you and protect you.
Love Elder Payne
Link to Elder Bednar's talk that Elder Payne refers to- http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2013/01/that-we-might-not-shrink-d-c-19-18?lang=eng
How is the always busy and crazy Payne clan doing? It sounds like there is finally actually a chance for things to slow down, at least maybe a little bit. I am glad that last week went smoothly for all of you. I know that the last week is a lot of times the most stressful time of the year. I cant believe that dads car got broken into. That is crazy. You guys might be a little to trusting of our neighborhood. It is sad to see the evil of the world even creeping into our little area of the world.
Well let me tell you a little bit about my week. This past week has been a pretty decent week. We had Zone conference on Wednesday here in Rocklin. We got together with one other zone. I didn't have too many buddies in that zone but I was able to see a few guys. A lot of the zone conference was based on not shrinking. He based that part off of a talk given by Elder Bednar. I will send that talk to you.Anyways then we went over a lot about Repentance and how best to teach it. It was a very powerful meeting where I learned a lot.
On Friday I went on exchanges with an Elder in my district. His name is elder Edwards. He is a great guy. It has been heating up a lot here so Friday and Saturday were both just blazing hot. So during basically that whole exchange we were doing our best to stay cool. I forgot to tell you that on Thursday night I did burn a shirt. I sent you guys my memory card in the mail so you will get to see that. It was pretty awesome. Anyways the exchange went really well. We talked to some less active guy in there ward and he is a California highway patrolman so we got to talk about guns a lot which was great.
So Friday E. Hyde and the other elder he was with taught Kris the Plan of Salvation lesson. He apparently was just ecstatic about it and was loving that Plan that we have. He wanted to meet again with us which was great. We met again the next day so on Saturday. We went over the Gospel of Jesus Christ and covered a lot about Repentance and how we can be cleansed from sin through Christ. He was about in tears at some parts of the lesson. Then after the lesson I asked him if he felt like he knew that this church was true and if he needed to get baptized. He responded that yes he did and that he really felt it when we asked him to be baptized. When he said that it felt like an electric shock when from the top of my head all the way through my body and out the tips of my toes. It was such a neat experience and to feel the spirit that strong at that moment was such a confirmation to me that he truly is prepared. He came to church again on Sunday and he brought fast offerings and he was even parInvticipating in class. He is such an amazing individual and he truly has a testimony of all of this.
I just wanted to tell you all thank you so much for the package you sent me. It is so crazy that I already hit my year. I really feel like I have grown so much and that I still have a lot of growth to come. I am still trying to work hard and fulfill my duty out here. I love you all so much and I am so grateful for you all. May God continue to watch over you and protect you.
Love Elder Payne
Link to Elder Bednar's talk that Elder Payne refers to- http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2013/01/that-we-might-not-shrink-d-c-19-18?lang=eng
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