Hello family,
Well once again another week has passed. It seems like they are just melting away now. Things out here are steadily improving. The Lord is continuing to bless this area, we were able to have quite a
bit of success this past week which was awesome! So I will start by telling you about the week then I will answer all your questions.
So we started out the week by going to place called bald rock for P-Day. It was actually a pretty cool place. It actually reminded me a lot of the area where we going hunting when we come up the backside. There were a lot of big rock outcroppings and things like that. I kept on expecting big buck to jump out or something. haha Anyways that was a pretty easy hike compared with the ones that I have done in the past, but it was still pretty fun. After that we had to run back to Oroville and I had to quickly email you guys, that is why it was so short and choppy sorry about that, and then we finished out the day. It was overall a pretty good P-day.
Then Tuesday came, we had a lesson with a man named Merlin, besides him having an awesome name he also has a great beard. It literally makes him look like Abraham Lincoln. Anyways we taught him about the Word of Wisdom, because we know he has a smoking problem. He mentioned to us that he didn't really think that the WoW is a commandment but just a good idea. So we went back to Joseph Smith and whether he was a prophet. He said that he does believe that he is a prophet but that when he asked God about the WoW it was just because Emma was tired of cleaning all of it up. So anyways that is sort of where we are with him. He is a super nice guy and comes to church consistently but he just has a few things to work through first.
Anyways the rest of the day was pretty interesting as well. We met with another lady that has been investigating for a while and we had to really throw down on authority. She has been through a lot of religions in her life and so she doesn't really know what to believe, so we are just helping her weed everything else out. After that we had a really neat experience to go to ARP with a couple of our investigators. (ARP is addiction recovery program). Anyways it was really neat because they just teach all of these people to overcome there addictions basically just using the Gospel of Jesus Christ,mixed with some self help activities. I was actually able to learn a lot from it. By the end of this day I was like man it is only Tuesday!
Wednesday was a little less exciting day, we had our district meeting and a couple of appointments, and that was about it. Thursday was a really great day. We started out by going and helping the Stake Patriarch with some service. We helped him dig a ditch for the footing of a parking garage. It was great because I may not be too great at construction stuff but I definitely know how to run a shovel with the best of them! I mainly used the big digging bar, that you will see in the picture that is included. It is sad because we don't get quite as much service as I would like so my hands have
gotten a little soft. I actually got a stinking blister from the digging bar. oh well it is just toughening me up I guess.
Anyways after all of that we got to go do more service for this less active guy in our ward. We helped pull cactus. Yes that is right cactus. Some guy that was taking care of his yard and planted all of these cactus pieces around the yard and the member didn't like that, so he asked us to come take them all out. They were mainly free of spikes but I did get jabbed a few times here and there. After that was the biggest adventure of the day. That same guy who had been taking care of his yard had left a big coop full of pigeons when he left. The member was tired of taking care of them so he had us get up inside the coop and catch about 16 of these pigeons and release them. What was funny was after we had let them all go we saw these 2 big hawks circling the area. They were probably thinking oh good a free meal. haha
Friday was probably the best day we had this past week. We started out with weekly planning, which took quite a while. Then we headed out to a place called Palermo, which is this smaller town about 10 minutes south of us here in Oroville. It is about like how like Bear River city is from Tremonton. We met with one of our investigators named Joe. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he loved it all. He doesnt really feel like he has a connections with God right
now, so we are trying to help him develop that. After his lesson we had a lesson with a 10 year old boy named Wyatt. We taught him about the WoW and then set a baptismal date with him for the 5th of April.
Like I said things are really starting to pick up here. Saturday was a pretty decent day. We had a lesson with some recent converts and pretty much just went around contacting other people. We
were able to meet with a couple of new investigators that we had picked up from the week before, to it was really good to have a follow up visit.
Sunday wasn't a bad day either. My allergies have been the worst I have ever had them and I think I might be coming down with a little bit of a cold. So Sacrament was a little difficult to sit through
because I felt terrible. We got a new councilor in the Bishopric which was kind of neat. Then after church we had another lesson with Joe where we talked with him about the Word of Wisdom. He said that he drinks a little bit of coffee but when we challenged him to stop he was just like, "Yeah I can do that it just depends on whether or not my wife can deal with me.", without any reservations. He truly is an awesome man. He is still waiting for that answer on whether or not this is right, I am confident that he will.
Anyways it was a pretty good week. Things with the companion are alright. He is very different from me and gets angry easily so I am doing my best to keep him calm. Hopefully this next week proves to be as fruitful as this last one. I realized that there were a few things that I didn't answer from the week previous mainly about my tooth. So I got the root canal on Thursday and it really wasn't bad at all. I have actually had fillings hurt worse and be more uncomfortable than that was. He just numbed it up and that was pretty much all I felt. I did do a lot of praying that it wouldn't hurt so maybe that is what did it, but yeah it was pretty simple. I will be going to get my permanent crown put on this Friday. Hopefully that goes as smoothly as the first procedure.
Well I sure love you all and hope that this coming week is a great one for you guys. It is kind of hard to deny that the time is winding down but I am still pushing and working hard. I actually finished the Book of Mormon today for the 7th time on my mission. It is amazing the power that is in those pages. One of my favorite verses is Moroni 10:32, Where he tell us to come unto Christ and be perfected in him. It is only through Christ that we can have that hope and peace. I am just grateful that I get to be here doing this each and everyday. No Regrets that is what I am striving for. I love all of you so much and I am grateful for all you do. Have a great week
Love Elder Hunter Payne
