Monday, February 24, 2014

Email: Pro Table and Chair Putter Upper

Hello Family,
Well I sure hope that all of you are doing great! I cant believe just how fast this past week has gone. It really feels like the weeks are just flying by now. We are now entering the 6th and final week of the transfer. This honestly has been the fastest transfer that I have ever experienced. I think it is really because I have a good companion, the ward and work and going good, and I am happy. You know what they say time flies when you are having fun! Anyways so this week has once again been a good one. Like i said it went very fast but I really enjoyed it.

So it sounds as if things are still going really well back home. It sounds like dad you are really starting to have the heat out on with his time of year. It is funny I have talked with a few of the accountants out here and I have been asking them if they are getting ready for the busy season. Most of them just look at me and shrug their shoulders and say well as ready as I can be. I remember just how crazy this time of year gets for the family so just remember to take it one day at a time. It sounds like that basketball game was pretty intense! I would have loved to have been there for that one, I am just glad they finally got that monkey off there back and beat those guys.
That is really awesome that there are so many people that have served out here. It is really funny all of the little connections that can be made in one area. I will let you know if I need anything from
Charlotte but I right now I am doing well. I wasn't able to go and get a new pair of pants yet but I will soon. Well I hope I answered all of your questions, if I didn't just let me know. In also I almost forgot I went online and started looking into school again and my registration doesn't begin until like April 9th so I have a little time before things need to start happening. As it gets closer I will
let you know what more needs to be done.

For starters we began the week Tuesday morning with our zone conference. We had three of the zones with us, those being Roseville, Citrus Heights, and of course us. There were around 55 missionaries there. We were actually the host zone leaders, which sounds cool but it really just means we set up and took down tables and chairs and stuff. I have realized something lately. The main thing that the church trains us men to do is take down and set up chairs. Think about it when we are deacons one of the most common things we do is set up chairs and tables, by the time you leave on a mission you are a stinking pro at it! haha There is the priesthood in action right there
my friends! haha ;) Anyways so the meeting started at about 9 in the morning and ended at about a quarter to 4. So yes it was a very long meeting. We did have a break for lunch of course. It was a really good zone meeting though. They basically went over making sure that we are all focusing on the importance of missionary work. There was a lot of different training and teaching and different people that spoke to us. We had a few safety presentations for us. In fact there was an Elder out here that actually got hit by a car about like August or Septemberish. He was riding his bike and went through an intersection when the light was red and got nailed by a car. He is doing fine now
but he showed us al pictures from when it happened and just stressed to us all the importance of wearing helmets and following the laws. So overall it was a pretty good meeting. Of course it was a lot of sitting and studying but i survived.

I am sure you are all wondering about how the teaching is going and about the few new investigators that we picked up the week previous so I will fill you in on them. So the two boys that I know from Van Maren, Chris and Nick, both had to cancel their appointment with us. We were both pretty sad about that but we will reschedule soon with them. Actually we had a lot of cancelled appointments now that I think more about it. We had a few cancel almost everyday, but hey thats ok because we were ready and willing to teach them and I think that shows The Lord a lot. I have found that, that is a big part of this work is your attitude. Are you ready and willing to go out there and teach when you receive the opportunity or are you going to shrink from it. I am really trying to prepare myself more and more because I have been out for a while and when you have been out for a while there is the tendency to think, "oh i got this I have this all figures out." Well
that is usually not the case because when you develop that attitude The Lord will show just how much you actually do not know everything and how much you do need to rely on him.

Anyways I wont bore you anymore with my mindless ramblings. So something interesting that happened today is we received a new bishop in the singles ward. The past one got called to be the stake patriarch, so they had to call a new one. He seems like a really nice guy and I am excited to get to know him.

Well thats about all that I have for you all this week. I am sure this following week will bring plenty of adventures for me to report on next Monday, and hey by next Monday I will be able to tell you
whether or not Elder Harman and I are staying together. So until next Monday I bid you all Adieu.
Love Elder Hunter Payne

Monday, February 17, 2014

Plans for Elder Payne's Return!

Hi everyone,
   Just wanted to add some info to Hunter's email for this week.  He will be coming home Tuesday, May 27.  We don't have the time yet but will let you know when we do.  The Sunday after he gets home will be fast Sunday, so we will be having his Homecoming on June 8, @3:00. I know it's still a little ways away but wanted you all to know in case you needed to get work off or need to travel to get here.  We are getting so excited!!!! There's 98 days left, but who's counting:)  Thanks for all of your continued prayers. Love and prayers to all of you and have a wonderful week!!
Love,
Sheri

Email: "Superman"ed Out!

Hello to you all out there,

Well I sure hope that this email finds you all doing well. From what mom told me it sounds like it was another busy week having Drake out there with you all. I sure cant wait to see him and Savannah and little Sara just to see how much they have grown. Anyways I know that busy weeks are pretty much normal for you all back home. I loved the pics of Drake and all that he was doing, he looked like he was having a lot of fun. With the blown out tire story I am just curious did that
happen right there in Willard? Because if so that area is just deadly for our family. I think that is like the 3rd or 4th thing that has happened there. Beware of the Willard exit bad place haha

So I want to make sure and answer the questions that mom had for me before i move on at all. So, first thank you very much for the packages, they were awesome. I really loved them and they had a bunch of stuff that was great. The shirt was a bit big seeing as it was a xxl and I wear an xl but I can make it work. Also all of the hearts and other things in there were fantastic as well so thank you very much. I will be watching for the other packages when they come and thank you in advance for them. I did get the cuff link and in fact I wore them yesterday! It was fun because we had stake conference so I got all supermaned out. I had the cuff links and the ring you sent me and someone out here gave me a tie bar. So ya you could say I was pretty styling.

Alright so let me tell you a little bit about my week. As you know we have been working really hard to find new investigators lately and guess what this past week we were successful. One of the new
investigators that we found his name is Darius. He is the son of one of our investigators. We were supposed to start teaching him last week but it didn't work out so this week is when it is taking place. He is a really neat kid, he is about 14 years old and a really nice kid. He, hopefully will be coming to P-day today to place basketball with us. Also the other two new investigators that we picked up are named Chris and Nick. They are actually two of the kids from the family that I
taught at the beginning of my mission in Van Maren ward. We are going to begin teaching them and then if everything works out they will get baptized! I am super excited to teach them because the family is a great family and they are all a lot of fun. They will also hopefully be coming to P-day as well.

So this last Saturday and Sunday we had Stake Conference. It went pretty well, I mean it wasn't as good as the stake conference up in Redding with Elder Baxter but it still went ok. President Weston spoke and talked a lot about members and missionaries working together. He did a pretty good job. After having been out this long and having heard a lot of his talks I can almost predict what he is going to say. Overall it was a pretty good weekend. This coming week should be an interesting one because we have zone conference tomorrow which last from about 9 in the morning until like 3 or 4 in the afternoon, so that should be fun.

Well I love you all and hope that you all have a great week! Love Elder Payne

The Antelope "Temple"
In other words this is our humungous stake center. It actually has 12 chapels in it and can accommodate up to 8 wards!
 The weather has been great here. It has been in the 60's and 70's lately and as you can see some of the trees are beginning to bloom. 
Hello February! haha

Monday, February 10, 2014

Email: Prayers answered for Rain

Dear family,

Well I sure hope you all had as good of a week as me. Things out here are still going great. We have been seeing miracles and great things out here. Anyways so let me get into the week a little bit for you.

So last Sunday all of California was authorized by the first presidency to fast for rain. Everyone was very strongly encouraged to do that because we are witnessing one of the worst droughts in California's history. It went almost 60 days without any rain! All of this in the middle of what is supposed to be the wet season. A lot of the smaller communities were getting really scared because many of them were going to be out of water in approximately 60 days or so. So as you can see things were getting pretty bad. Then we fasted and prayed for what we needed. The weather forecast for the week on Sunday showed nothing just sun and a few clouds, then Monday what was the forecast...rain! And rain it did. It drizzled just a little the first part of the week then about Thursday it really opened up. It was amazing to see the miracle that was taking place. It pretty much rained from Thursday to Sunday evening. Everyone was just so ecstatic with what was taking place. Sunday was really fun because of all of the prayers and gratitude that everyone was giving to our Heavenly Father for the moisture that we were receiving. This past weeks fast and the rain we got will forever be a great testimony builder to me. It is amazing to see how much our Heavenly Father cares for all of his children. A lot of the parents out here were saying how much this meant for their kids and how that now their kids can see that prayer really does work.

Anyways so as far as working with people recently we are still really working on getting more people to teach and finding more new investigators. We were able to pick up one new investigator last night. We have been working with this lady named Sandina Rice. We usually just talk with her outside her house but then she started telling us how she wants us to come in and teach her son, Darius. He is 13 years old and a real good kid. She was telling us how that a lot of her kids have kind of chosen the wrong paths in life and that she
wants him to go down a better path. So we are going to do our best to help him.

We are still working with a lot of returning members. One of them is a guy named Cody. He is really cool, he likes guns and sports and stuff so Elder Harman and I have a lot of stuff to talk with him about. He has come to church for the last 2 weeks in a row. I will make sure and keep you updated.

Well I love you all so very much. It looks like everyone back home changing so much it is crazy. I don't know what to think about it all. Well you are all in my prayers.

Love Elder Payne

Monday, February 3, 2014

Email: Happy February!

Dear family,
Well I sure hope that this email finds you all doing well. I am sure you all had a busy week as always. I know things out here have been really great! I am finally getting a little used to the area and all of the people I have to know. It is always really crazy and stressful the first couple of weeks. I am really starting to love this area a lot. I do from time to time really miss Redding but that is ok there are a lot of really good people here that I am learning to love a lot.

So basically we have been extremely busy lately. We had 2 baptisms this past Saturday, which was phenomenal. One was in the YSA ward and the other was in the family ward. I am covering both wards now just like in Redding. I actually really enjoy working with two different wards. Especially when one of them is YSA. There is just a lot different feeling when you are working with YSA because you are able to relate with them a whole lot better than older people. So the girl who was baptized in the YSA was one they had been working with for quite some time now. She was referred to the missionaries about 4 or 5 months ago and now she finally got baptized! The one who got baptized in the family ward was a young man who is about 10 years old. His mother is a less active member that they have been trying to reactivate for a while. Anyways that baptism went really well as well. I didn't know either of the people super well because I only went to
like 2 or 3 lessons with them but it was a great event none the less.

Lately we have been working with a lot of less active members. We had a great turnout yesterday for church. There were about 9 less active members that came, it was great. These are all people that we have
been working a lot with lately too. It is a lot different working here than in Redding. The members are a little different, they are all really nice but just different. Here we have been working with a lot more of the less actives, and helping them to get active again. Which I don't mind at all, I figure that reactivating someone is right up there with baptizing them. I will have to keep you updated with all of the people as well, as soon as I get to know them a little better.

So I guess I will fill you in a little more about my comp. I think I told you a lot last week about him. I am really enjoying serving with him. We get a long really well. I probably get a long with him better than just about any of my companions. We have a lot of the same interests which is nice because it gives us quite a bit to talk about.

So that is about all I have for all of you today, Hopefully this next week will be a little more exciting. In answer to you mom, I know it is crazy how close you are to me. I will keep a watch behind me just in case I do see you following me. It wont be too long though , I realized yesterday that I only have 16 weeks left. It is amazing just how fast time goes. I am so grateful to be out here though. It has been such a blessing to me to see the gospel work in people in so many amazing ways. Well I hope you all have a great week.

Love Elder Payne