Email: I know why I'm in Oroville

Hello to you all,
Well once again another week has gone by. It is so crazy to me that I will only be writing a few more of these to you guys. Anywho things out here this past week went very well. I have many a grand tale to tell you this week. I have also had it confirmed to me why it is that i am in here in Oroville. So I guess I will just have to begin at the start of the week.

For p-day we did something that was a lot of fun. We went on this hike up to this place called Feather Falls. It is about an 8.2 mile roundtrip hike, for a bunch of out of shape missionaries that was quite the feat. You hike for about 3.5 miles to get to these look out point that is just across this ravine from the falls. it definitely gives you the best viewpoint of the falls. The falls are about 160
feet tall, so yes it is pretty amazing. So we hiked there and back and then headed back into town for dinner.

Tuesday was overall a good day. We started off with District meeting. The topic was Revelation through Church attendance. I have been taught this topic about a millions times because they pretty much cycle through the topics for District meeting and when you have been out 23 months you can pretty much just recite exactly how it is going to be taught, so I decided to switch things up a bit. I allowed everyone to come up and teach a little bit, something about the Sacrament or Church attendance that they have taught in a lesson before and then after everyone had gone through we went into the chapel and in my eyes we had a very spiritual experience. We started talking about the Sacrament and how at some point in time each one of us has had a very spiritual or cleansing experience with the Sacrament. We took turns reading from Moroni 4 and 5, the sacramental prayers. We then discussed how the sacrament can bless our inv. and people we bring to church. After that for our practice teaching we practice taught doing a chapel tour. It was a lot of fun because there are only 6 of us but we were able to teach for about 1 or 2 minutes then we would switch and another companionship would take over the teaching. We just went around and around like that until we had gone through the whole church building. I don't know what everyone else thought but I thought that it went pretty well. The rest of Tuesday wasn't too eventful we spent
a lot of time just simply going around and visiting people and trying to set things up. We did have one set lesson in the evening. It was with a family that we meet with every tuesday. We taught them the restoration as a refresher and it went quite well.

Wednesday was a lot like Tuesday, in that we didn't have a whole lot of appointments. We had our Presidents interviews in the morning and they actually went really well. he just told me that he is proud of the way that I have handled myself here in Oroville that last few weeks. He told me that he didn't expect me to be where I am now, but this was just where I was needed. It was really nice this time because I was able to break through a little bit and get things a little more personal out of him. We talked about the fact that he his going home soon as well. (He leaves the 1st of July) He said that it is pretty strange that it is here already. Apparently his kids arent doing too good with it either.

Wednesday we were able to do a bit of service, we mowed a ladies lawn and then we helped someone people burn some stuff on a burn pile, it was pretty great.

Thursday was a a lot better day as far as lessons go. We were able to meet with quite a few people. We headed out to the Harts pretty early on in the day, around 11, and then we started by doing some service for them. We picked rocks and things and basically just did some random things around their place. After that we had a quick lesson on baptism. We were pretty much just prepping him for Sunday. In the evening on Thursday we had a couple of really good lessons with inv. We taught the Jones family by going over and reading scriputres with them. After that lesson we went and read a conference talk with another one of our inv. that we have been teaching for a while, we have been really trying to get him to quit smoking for a long time. We read a talk from this last conference called "Your Four Minutes" It is about basically now is the time to change your life and become your best self. If you don't remember that one from conference it would be a good one to go back and watch or read.

Friday was a pretty crazy day we did a lot of running around and saw a lot of people. We started out, as usual, with our weekly planning. We had a lot to plan for, especially with the upcoming baptism. After we were done with planning everything we headed to a man named Paul. Him and his family have been inv. for quite a while now. His daughter just recently turned 8 and so we went over to talk to him because she had expressed an interest in being baptized, we wanted to go and talk to him before bringing it up in front of everyone else. We had a good talk with him and we were able to figure out how best to proceed with the family. Later on in the day we met with Robert, the man that came to church and we have met with on a few occasions. Well we were able
to go over the Plan of Salvation with him and he seemed to take it all very well. We talked with him a lot about his parents who had passed away and he actually got quite emotional when we covered that. Then later on we had a lesson with our the young man who got baptized about a month ago, Wyatt Murphree. We taught him the Restoration using the childrens books.

That evening we got to go and have dinner with the Harts and the Labordas. They bought us a rotisserie chicken and we ate it out at their house. Once again I love that family, they are all so
humble and nice and caring towards everyone.

Saturday morning we went out and helped the Harts some more. We have been spending a lot of time with theme lately, which I am totally fine with. Elder Stein used the mower and mowed a bunch of stuff while I helped Joe take down an electric fence. After we were done working
they were nice enough to feed us lunch. So the real adventure of the week began on our way back from seeing them. So about two days prior as we were driving back down this dirt road from the Harts I saw a big rattlesnake in the middle of the road it was probably 4 to 5 feet long. I swerved and hit it but it was able to crawl off into the bushes. Well on Saturday we were driving back and I saw another one. I thought there is no way I am letting this one get away. I lined it up and hit it just perfectly. I slammed on the brakes and backed up to see it. We got out and saw that the tire had popped out part of its guts! by the look of it, it was definitely dead. Just for good measure, and because I am petrified of snakes I used our bike rack and smashed its head just to be sure. Well i claimed the rattle and Elder Stein decided he wanted to try and skin it. We tossed in a box and
then put that in the back of the car and headed back into town. We put it into the fridge so it wouldn't go bad while we went out and kept working. Neither Elder Stein of I have ever skinned a snake before so we weren't sure how to go about it, luckily for us there is an Elder in our zone who knows exactly how to do it, also he know how to tan it. So we did what he what he said and well to make a long story short we now have a snake skin drying on our window sill. So yes it was an
eventful day.

When Sunday came it was a great relief. I will save you all the details of the day and hop right to the baptism. To start off Joes baptism went amazing! We had so much support from the ward we actually had to move it into the chapel. Joe was able to bring his mom and Joes wife, Marcy, was able to bring her mom. i dont think the whole thing could have gone much better, the spirit was strong, the talks were great, and just everything was so fitting for how great of a man Joe
is. As I said earlier I had confirmed to me why it is that I am here in Oroville. During the time when the people are changing we teach everyone that came the message of the restoration. While teaching it I just had this overwhelming feeling that He is why I came here, he is the reason that I had to go through all of the stress of moving and changing and getting switched around and you know what it was worth it. I am so grateful that I was able to meet that family. That are right up there at the top of the list of people that have changed my outlook on life. After the baptism I was able to talk to his mom and , with tears in her eyes, she thanked me for bringing her son back.
That was such a sweet experience for me. To feel that love from another person for my service as a missionary, there is a reason that Joseph Smith said "After all that has been said the greatest and most important thing is to preach the Gospel." Wow what an amazing experience. After the baptismal service we went to a park down by the Sacramento River and ate dinner. It was a fantastic day.

Well I am sure you have a few questions as to when I will be skyping home this coming week.(I cant believe that is already here) We are planning on doing it in the evening. Probably about 7 my time and then just finishing out the evening that way. Will that work ok for you guys? Just let me know and we can make sure that things work out. I love you guys, just know that I am enjoying every moment of these last few weeks. Thank you so much for all of the love and encouragement.

love Elder Hunter Payne

Email: Joe Hart

Dear Family,
Well here is another installment into the life of Elder Payne. It is crazy to think I will only be writing three more of these after this. WEIRD! Anywho things out here in good ole' California are great. We had a fantastic week this past week and were able to see a lot of miracles.

I will try and answer some of the questions that you had. So things with Elder Stein are great. He is a great comp and definitely knows his stuff very well. We have been wondering why it is that they
downsized the ward and I think it is because we only had about 5 Elders come into the mission and a pretty good size group go home. So they just didn't have the personnel to fill back in. We are pretty sure that they will push it back out again sometime soon. With the organizing thing if you want to you can go through some of my stuff. You don't have to do the whole thing though I can do that when I get back. A question I have for you is do you want me to try and bring the mattress pad back, it is getting pretty old, same thing with the pillow. I have talked with Lindsay and she is going to pick up some of my stuff at the mission office sometime in the coming weeks. Also Linds if you can get my bike and one other little box plus a grey tote that would be great, thank you!

I guess I will start out with the good news because I usually save that for later on in the email but I guess I can do that now. So I dont know what you guys were praying for back there or how you were praying or if you were really doing anything differently because Joe Hart is getting baptized this coming Sunday. Let me tell you about the chain of events that took place for that to happen. Alrighty, so Tuesday evening the Harts invited us out to have dinner with them. They live clear out about 15 to 20 minutes outside of town in a little place called Bangor. So we went out there and we had an awesome dinner. It wasn't anything crazy or special, it was just burgers cooked over a wood fire. All the while we are just chilling outside on a beautiful day. It was my kind of night. We actually stayed out there for quite some time just talking and getting to know them on more of a
personal level. Eventually it came time for us to leave and so we shared a spiritual thought on having faith in Christ. We asked Joe if he had been thinking about a baptismal date and he said that he had. I then told him, Joe we have been thinking a lot about you and when it might be good to have your baptism. I then asked him if he would like to get baptized on the 10th of May. He said he didnt see any problem with that other than he might be out of town. So we said ok lets move
it to the 11th, and he said he would think about it. On Thursday we went over again for our lesson that we have with them. What we have been doing for about the past 2 weeks is we go out have a
lesson and then do some service because they have about 16 acres of land and so it takes quite a bit of work to maintain it all. So during the lesson we started off talking about the baptism. He said that he wanted to get baptized then and he felt he was ready! I don't know what it is but for some reason our Heavenly Father has seen fit to bless me with the opportunity to teach people who are very prepared. I do not feel worthy of being able to meet and teach them but I am so grateful for the opportunities that have been presented to me. Anyways we talked about studying the scriptures as well as Modern Prophets and then finished it off with tithing and fast offerings. Then we were
able to do a bunch of stuff for them. I got to mow the lawn while Elder Stein helped with taking somethings apart for them. What a great day!

So the story doesn't end there. On Saturday we headed out there again and like I have told you in past emails we have been helping the, build the Harts daughters house, which is just down the road from them. We spent the morning and a bit into the evening putting their roof on. It was a lot of fun, i really miss being able to get out and work hard and put in a good days work. Anyways we enjoyed being out there with them. They are all just such nice and humble people, grateful for what they have and firm in what they believe. Later that same evening we had a pie and ice cream social. It was a lot of fun especially because I got to be one of the judges, in fact Joe Hart and I were the judges for the event. There were a lot of really good pies there, so it is a good thing that I have learned to like pies out here. That evening a member that is good friends with Joe talked with him and they all decided that because it was Mother's Day was on the 11th they decided to move the baptism to the 4th. We were completely fine with that so we started putting things into place for the whole baptism and stuff.

Sunday was a great day we had a decent amount of inv. come to church. We had Joe Harts baptismal interview which went very well. The Elder that did the interview said that Joe is definitely very ready to get baptized. I sat there with just Joe and his wife for a moment later and asked him what it is that has made the difference, because he has been coming to church for about a year now and his wife has been a member for quite a few years as well. He told me that it is the way that the Gospel has helped his family and his daughter. He also mentioned that us missionaries had made a big difference in helping him feel comfortable. That really helped me feel like he is probably someone that I needed to come here to find and to teach. Anyways the baptism will be this coming Sunday so we are all excited about that. A few other things I wanted to mention were a few other lessons that took place. We met with Robert again and it went really well. He accepted an invitation to be baptized, if he came to know that church is true. We covered the Restoration and he had a few questions about the priesthood and prophets but we were able to explain it all for him. He also came to church with us yesterday, he is a really outgoing guy so it wasn't too hard for him to start finding common ground with people around him. It was really neat because he was making comments and asking questions in Elders quorum and usually new inv. that come to church just sit there. At one point the teacher started getting emotional because he was talking about the Plan of Salvation and hisdad who had passed away. I looked over at Robert and he was getting emotional as well, so i could tell he was really feeling the spirit. Hopefully we will be able to set a baptismal date with him soon and be able to start getting progressing towards baptism.

Well there is a little snippet from my week. As I said things here are going really well. We are seeing success and are constantly busy. I am really grateful that I am able to have the experiences that I am having here at this time. So I got my travel plans. I am sure that you have gotten them as well, or at least you will be getting them soon. From what they say it sounds like I am going to be getting into SLC about 1 or so. Well I love you all and hope everything is going well for you all.

Have a great week! Love Elder Payne

Email: Will Lockwood's Funeral & A Baptism

Happy Monday everyone,
Well I sure hope that this weekend hasn't left you all too tired.  It sounds like it was an extremely crazy and busy week for you all. All of the pics from the trip made it look like you had a lot of fun
and the weather looked like it was great. I cant believe how big the little kids are getting. It seems like every single picture drake is taller, and the two little ones are bigger and cuter.

Anyways so things out here have been going pretty well. This past week was extremely stressful. There was a lot going on and it seemed to all hit within a day or two. So we started out the week pretty normally. As I told you last P-Day President Weston said I would not be allowed to go to the funeral. Well I had a really good talk with him about the whole situation and told him why I really felt like I needed to be there. He told me that with funerals generally the answer is no, which i didn't really understand. He said that with the things that I had told him that he was beginning to feel a little differently about it though. I told him that to be honest I wanted to go for me and that I really could use the closure. That family is by far one of the biggest miracles that I have seen on my mission, I couldn't imagine not being there in their time of need. We probably talked for 20 or 30 minutes about it and about how I have been a little stressed out lately, with school and
just the prospect of coming home. It is such an odd feeling. It is so hard to imagine being home and not being a missionary. i have been doing this for so long that I don't know anything else. I thought it was weird how Elder McMurray was stressing a bit when he was getting ready to go home but now I know what it is like. It is so strange. Anyways so like I said I had a good talk with him about a bunch of stuff that has been weighing on my mind.

So Wednesday was a pretty average day. We spent most of it either in lessons or out trying to
find more people. Thursday was a good day, we had the baptismal interview for the young man that got baptized. He is a rambunctious little kid so he was a little distracted during the interview but he did just fine. We had a couple of lessons cancel that day but we stayed busy despite that.

Friday was the day we headed to Redding. I say we because Elder Andersen is actually serving here in Oroville so he was able to go up with me. There was a viewing at 10 o'clock so we made sure to make it for that part. When we first walked in it was just Tara and her 3 boys. As soon as she saw us she just broke down crying and told us how grateful she was that we were there. The boys,as you can imagine, were having a really hard time. Will had lost a ton of weight in his
closing weeks. It is such a bittersweet thing, sort of like with Grandma Payne. You hate to see them go because you will miss them so much, but they get to leave their mortal, diseased, and afflicted body and return to our father in heaven. Tara asked us if we could sit the boys down and talk with them about everything. So we took the oldest boy, Alex, and sat him down and taught him all about the Plan of Salvation and where his Dad was. We explained to him that soon he will
be able to hold the priesthood and be the priesthood holder in the home. He will have to be the big example for his two younger brothers. We told him to take everything that his father had taught him, all of the good, and share it with others. It was a really good talk and I hope that it helped him a little bit. The funeral itself went really well. It was a great tribute to a great man. A couple of the members of the ward spoke and a couple of his non-member friends spoke as well. There was a great spirit in the room when everyone was done. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of the Plan of Salvation. I am so happy that I was able to share just a little bit of it with that wonderful family.

Saturday was a very eventful day as well. We went to the morning session of conference. I absolutely loved Elder Hollands talk from that session. He definitely came out swinging. After the session was over we got picked up by a couple of members from another ward and helped them by going clear up into the hills and moving a little love seat thing. After that we watched the Afternoon session. While watching it we started filling the font because it takes almost 2 hours to fill to the point that you need it. We had the baptism at 3:30, so almost right after the second session. We had a pretty small turnout but that is ok because it is the ordinance that matters in the end. It was quite funny right before the baptism started a lady that was supposed to be giving a talk came up to me. She pointed at the program and was like you have me down giving the talk on baptism but I prepared the one on the Holy Ghost. So there we were with two ladies that had prepared talks on the Holy Ghost and none on baptism. I didn't want to make her pull a talk on baptism out of nowhere so I was like its ok I can do it. So i just sort of pulled a talk out of nowhere. I read a few scriptures (2 Nephi 31:5-10; Mosiah 18:8-10) and then bore my testimony. It ended up not being to bad. Anyways the baptism went great and the family was all really happy. The priesthood session of conference was fantastic as well. Elder Oaks talk was fantastic, I definitely recommend reading it. it explains a lot the role of the priesthood in our lives. Sundays sessions of conference went really well too. I loved the general theme of being courageous and standing up for what we believe in. We cant just sit back and let the world pound us into the concrete we have to stand up and show that we represent something. That is something i really want to be better at, no more sitting on the
sidelines. It is time for all of us to get into the game.

We had a great lesson with Joe Hart after the second session of conference. We talked with him about his feelings on baptism and he told us he is still waiting for a few things to be confirmed. We then moved to pray, this was probably the third time the lesson was led that way. Not necessarily on purpose but that is where the spirit led it. He has a hard time praying for himself because of some things that happened in the past. We assured him that God does answer prayers and we don't always understand what God is trying to do. I love the Scripture Isaiah 55: 8-9, it just talks about that our Heavenly Father knows so much better than us and so we should trust in his judgement.

The rest of Sunday was pretty normal. So there was my week. All of that plus finding out that I got
reaccepted into SUU was a huge blessing. I have been praying so hard lately for The Lord to lead me where I need to go. I just hope and pray that I am going and doing what he wants me to do.

Well I love you all so very much. I am grateful for the wonderful example that you all are to me. Stay strong and keep on keepin on. I love you all!

Love, Elder Hunter Payne

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

Email: Mt. Shasta P-day

Dear family,
First off I want to apologize so very much that this email isn't coming until today and secondly I want to apologize that I didn't let you know like I have in times past, I'm sure that it didn't help your particularly difficult week, mom I apologize and hope you will forgive me. I know it must have been very frustrating not
hearing any word and for that I am very sorry. We just had a very crazy day which I will explain in a moment. I will try and make this an extra long email to make up for not emailing yesterday.

Well I sure hope that all of you have a had a great week. From moms email it sounds like there has been a lot going on with all of you. That must have been really tough having to basically close the holidays off. That is never fun, especially because rob and linds and their fam all had to head back home. You definitely know it is the end when school starts up again. I am really surprised that they didn't just have them start this coming Monday. The kids out here had a huge break they got out like the 21st and they don't go back until tomorrow. In fact we were able to take some of those kids up to mt Shasta with us for our p-day.

So I am sure you are curious what exactly it is that we did, well let me tell you. So first we went out to those caves that are on the north end of my Shasta. They are actually the same caves that we went to last time. We went there again because there are a lot of new people in the zone that haven't been able to go there. We had a good time hiking up in there. It only took us about an hour or so this time because we didn't stop for as long in the back. After that we had planned to go ice skating! Well unfortunately it didn't work out exactly like we had planned. We showed expecting to be able to rent skates and stuff but when we got there there was nobody there at the booth that we could rent from. It was really weird because the sign said open and everything but nobody was there. Well you don't think that is going to stop a bunch of rambunctious
missionaries now do you?! Of course not! We just made the best of it and slid around on our shoes. It was an outdoor rink so we were able to just walk right on. We played all kinds of games and did a bunch of
fun things. Then we headed back and did some reports and that was pretty much it.

Now because we were so busy running around all day that is why I was unable to email until today. Which I am once again very sorry for. So now I will tell you a little about what happened this past week. Alrighty so let me tell you a little about my New Years week. It started off pretty normal, last p-day that is. We were just at the gym playing basketball and other games. Then Monday night, so Tuesday morning, I woke up at about 3 in the morning with a terrible sore throat. It honestly felt like I was being stabbed in the throat with a screwdriver. I was finally able to fall asleep after a while but I still woke up with the same problem. I started right then and there just downing as much vitamin c as possible. I know that I should have been drinking that in the first place but I wasn't being the smartest with my eating for a bit, but I am definitely trying a lot harder now.( I was thinking it might be good for you guys to maybe send me out some like multi vitamins or something. I have been getting sick a lot lately and I bet that would help.) Anyways Tuesday was sort of a slow day. We saw a few people around the area but not to many. It was a little difficult with it being New Year's Eve and all but we made the best of it. We had dinner with some members which was pretty fun. They definitely don't do New Year's Eve out here as well as we do back home. We just sort of ate and then left. We were able to go out to our branch New Year's Eve party for a little bit though that was pretty fun, we were able to play some games and chat with a bunch of good people and there were even a few non-members there. Then came 2014! The year that so much will change. I have been thinking about that a lot lately just how much 2014 will bring. There are going to be so many big milestones hit for me in this year. I mean first off I will turn 21 this year! Crazy right?! I can't believe that, things have been moving so quickly. Then of course this is the year I will get off my mission. Talk about a milestone right there. After these past 19 months of being a missionary I don't even think I can imagine not being a missionary any more and returning to real life. Weird! Anyways then after that I return to college and life will just continue on from there. So as you already know there is a lot to look forward too this coming year. However I know that it is hear and now that needs my attention, so that is what will have my immediate focus.

Alright so then came Thursday, this was the day my cold was in full swing. It hit hard and fast with a sore throat and runny nose and headaches! Yay what a good way to spend my week. Luckily for my sake we had a ton of reports that we had to do this day. We spent most of the time on the computer preparing for our 2 big meeting that we had that week. Let me tell you that is one thing that I have gotten really good at and that is being able to sit at a computer for hours on end compiling numbers and reports and making sure things are clear and concise and free from error. I hope that those skills will prove to be useful in the future.

Friday was such an amazing day and I am very excited to tell you about it. So our day started out with us
heading down to Gridley for our zone leader meeting. It lasted for about 5 hours from about 9 to 2. That is another skill I feel will prove helpful eventually, the ability to sit in a meeting for hours upon hours and pay attention for the majority of the time. Also to be able to retain massive loads of info in short periods of time. Anyways at the meeting they talked a lot about setting goals and making plans for the coming year. This past year we set a goal of 600 baptisms and we hit 420 for the year of 2013. In 2014 we upped the goal a lot we
upped it to 1200 or roughly 2 a week per zone. We have been challenged to double our baptisms so we are going to be trying our very best to do that. It most definitely won't be easy and you better believe that we have our work cut out for us but I truly believe it can happen.

So after the meeting was over we headed back home for an event of major importance. That would be the baptism for the Lockwood family. This is something that I have been looking forward too and have been working so very hard for for over 6 months here in this area. We have worked and worked and worked with this family. Overcoming trials and concerns, strengthening testimonies and building faith. However even
with all of those difficulties that it took to get them here let me tell you it was all worth it just to see that whole family standing in front of the font in white. Words cannot describe the joy I felt as a husband was able to take his wife by the hand, lead her down into the water, and with his recently conferred Aaronic priesthood baptize one he loves so much into the kingdom of God. Then on top of that to see a father lead not one but two of his sons down into the water to make those same covenants. It was almost surreal the feeling that was
present. To feel the love that our Heavenly Father feels for them each individually and as a family is enough to hang an entire mission on. Let me tell you that was most assuredly a life changing experience. Never again will I question whether or not the priesthood is real, why? Because I have seen it first hand in actions and I have seen it change one if the most amazing families I know and let them open that gate, to start that path to eternal life as an eternal family.

On Sunday we were able to witness all three of them get confirmed and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now the next step for them is the temple and oh what a glorious day that will be. Let me tell you I love this gospel. I love what it does to people how it changes the very people that they are and only proves to make them better. The restored gospel is such a blessing to all of us. It is something that I know that I took for
granted growing up but now that I know what I know all I want to do is help others find that as well. Thank heavens I am a missionary. Well everyone I love you all very much and hope all is well. I hope you all have a great week and know how much I love you.

Love Elder Payne

P.s. I don't have the pics of the baptism to send right now but I will
in a bit.

Email: Happy New Year!

Hello to you all,

Hello to my wonderful family back home. I hope you all had a great rest of your week. It was fantastic getting to talk with you all on Christmas. It was definitely the best Christmas present I could have gotten. I can't believe the change there has been in so many of you. I can't believe how big all of the new little babies are! Anyways so from the emails it sounds like you all had a very busy week. I loved the pictures of Hardware ranch it looked like it was a great time there. So the rest of the week for us was pretty lame. It was really hard to meet with anyone this past week. As you can imagine people were busy as can be. We were able to meet with a few people like our recent convert Dylan and the Windoms and the Lockwoods. What is great is that they confirmed their baptismal date for this weekend. The family that is getting baptized is the Lockwoods. Then on top of the baptism we are going to be having like two big meetings this next week. So yes this next week is going to be crazy! So that is pretty much it from me. Sorry I don't have much to say I told you all pretty much everything there was on Christmas. Well I love you all and hope you have a very happy new year.

Love Elder Payne

Email: Merry Christmas!

Hello to you all back home,

Well I sure hope all is going well for you all back in Utah. From what we have been hearing here it sounds like you are getting a good amount of snow. That is awesome! I'll bet the little kids are having a blast with that. Well my email today isn't going to be super long or in depth because I want to save at least something's to talk about on Wednesday. Speaking of Wednesday I can't believe that it is already here! This month is just absolutely flying by. I didn't think a month could go so fast. I am sure that you are curious as to what the plans are for Christmas and skyping and such. Well as of right now the plan is to start at around 8:30. There
is a member who is feeding us breakfast and letting us Skype there. From the sounds of your email you already know all of that. It is weird that you know a lot of the members here better than I do. Haha you have like a play-by-play of what is going on in my life. Anyways so like is said it will probably be around 8:30 my time so 9:30 your time. Oh also I got your big package and holy smokes yes it was big. Haha I loved it though. I haven't opened any of those gifts those because I am a good boy and can wait. I have loved the 12 days of Christmas. It has been a lot of fun getting to feel a little bit of love every day. So thank you again of thinking of me it means a lot.

So here is a little look into my week. It has been a crazy and irregular week which has sort of thrown me for a whirl. So we started off with a pretty normal week. Nothing to special going on. We had a really neat experience on Tuesday though. We had been planning on doing a few other things that day but seldom do those things ever work out. What I mean by that is somehow we ended up having 3 lunches on Tuesday. The first lunch was our normal one at its normal time. Nothing to special about that one. The second one  however was different. We went and did a baptismal interview for this man in another ward. After we were all finished up and about to leave his wife brought out a huge platter of sandwiches and pumpkin pie. We didn't want to be rude so we accepted and ate with the other two missionaries. We were doing ok at this point then all of sudden we get a text from this guy we have been trying to get ahold of for quite some time now. He asked if we wanted to go get some lunch with him. Of course we said yes because we wanted to get any kind of contact with him that we could. So we met at Panda Express and got something to eat ( side note I like Panda Express now. Weird huh?! Haha ) anyways we met up and had a great conversation about his beliefs and things that have led him to where he is today. He is a bethel student, which is a big mega-church here in redding. We set up an appt. with him on Saturday after we were all done.

So then came Thursday. Now for all of us missionaries in Redding this was a pretty big day. Why? You
might ask, well that is because Thursday was the day we got our iPads! We learned all about the new features and all that we can do with them. Now I am sure that you are a little curious as to what those all
are but I am going to make you wait and not tell you until Christmas. Sorry there is just way to much to cover, and like I said it will give us something to talk about on Christmas. So a lot of Thursday was taken up by that. Then on Friday we drove all the way down to Chico, which is about an hour or so drive, and had our big half-mission conference for Christmas. We had a whole bunch of musical numbers and a few comments from President Weston. Overall it was a pretty good meeting. Then we had to rush back to Redding because we were having our ward Christmas party. The zone all got to sing at that as well. So that was a pretty great day as well.

Now Saturday. We had such an amazing thing happen Saturday morning. 3 little girls were baptized Saturday morning at 11. I was given the honor of getting to baptize all 3'of them. It was such a special experience and one I know that I will never forget. On Sunday I had the opportunity to confirm the 2
younger girls and Elder Andersen confirmed the older girl. What a sweet experience that was. To feel the love that our Heavenly Father feels for them while working as a conduit for the spirit. In the font I had such an overwhelming feeling that overcame me. While I was reciting the baptismal prayer, I had the impression, wow what a blessing it is that I am so blessed to be "commissioned of Jesus Christ" and be able to perform that beautiful ordinance. I am so grateful that I have that in my life, and also that I am able to hold that holy and sacred priesthood. Anyways that has been a lot of our week. It just flew by and was jam packed with all kinds of great stuff. Know that I love you all so very much and I am so grateful for the wonderful family that you all are to me. I love you and pray for you all the time.

Love Elder Payne

Email: I'm Famous!

Hello  family,
                      Well it sounds like you all are just wrapping up a crazy, hectic week back home. Pretty much that just sounds like a normal holiday week back at the Payne household. I am sure that this coming week is going to be just as crazy and insane as ever, but then again it wouldn't be the holidays without it right?! So before I go on with what happened this past week I will answer a few of the questions that were asked. So first off with the packages, I have only received the one so far, that one being the package with the sweaters and some goodies. I am still waiting for the other two to come. Hopefully nobody has stolen them because I don't exactly live in the safest part of town. I will keep my eye out for them though. Second question was about Christmas and what will be going on there. So currently we have 2 places lined up to go, the one is in the morning to skype and have breakfast. That will be at a family called the Dunns. We will most likely skype starting at sometime between 8:30 and 9 our time, so like 9:30-10:00 your time. That is the plan at least or right now. I will be sure to fill you in more for next week. I most likely wont have much of a time constraint, just however much time we need to talk with everyone.  After that we will be going to a really fun family in the ward named the Crosbys for dinner and games and stuff. So it should be a really fun Christmas day.
                           Alright so about my week. Let me tell you how that all went. This has been such a crazy week for me as well but very great at the same time. So starting out on Monday evening after I had already emailed you something amazing happened. So  we met with a young man that we have been working with for a while, his mother and sister were the ones that I got to baptize the weekend before.  Anyways we met with him just briefly because the sister missionaries mentioned that we needed to go over there and see him. We just sat down and started talking with him and his friend Dylan,( Dylan got baptized a few weeks ago), and he said "Dom dotn you have something to tell the Elders?" Then Dom proceeded to tell us that he wanted to get baptized. This was such amazing news because week or two previously Dom had told us that he didn't want to get baptized because of issues with his father. However over the past few weeks he has had a change of heart. What an amazing thing that has happened in that house. So far there have been 4 people get baptized that are living in that house. Talk about a house full of miracles! So we then started preparations for him to get baptized Saturday. Let me tell you i have gotten really good at throwing together a baptismal service. You give us a week and we will give you a great service that is filled with the spirit! Anyways lets continue through the week.
Then Tuesday we had our transfer day. That was a crazy day for us. It was just filled with running people around and getting people where they needed to be, one of the perks of being a zone leader is you are pretty much a free taxi service for missionaries.
Thursday was a great day for us we had our zone meeting which was a lot of fun. That is the meeting that my comp. and I get to teach once a month. After that we had a few lessons as well as Dom's baptismal interview. We also talked with the Lockwood family, the ones that are going to be baptized by their dad, and they told us that they are going to have to push their date back to January 3rd. There is just a lot of stuff going on at there house. They are almost as busy as our family is.
Saturday came as a very busy day for us. We had the baptism for Dom, which went amazing. It was a pretty small service but went very great! I love having baptisms, the spirit is always so strong at services like that. So that evening we had a great opportunity. This will explain the subject line a little better. The Redding Zone had the opportunity to sing on Redding channel 9 news. They had a special Christmas presentation and we got to sing a bunch of Christmas songs. I absolutely loved it. The whole thing was pretty mediocre but I enjoyed singing and stuff. Anyways as you see we had a great week. The weather has been so nice here. All of the snow is gone and it is in like the 60's everyday. I am still loving this place. Well I love you all so very much and hope you all have a great week.

 Love Elder Payne

Email: SNOW, baptism, and staying in Redding!

Hello to my most amazing family it is crazy to think that another week has just flown by! It seems like the weeks are just constantly speeding by. This past week was a very interesting but great one. We were able to see, once again, a lot of really amazing things happen.
                The week of course started out pretty normal not too many things going on. We had our District meeting and  Tuesday and then on Wednesday as well. We have to go to both sometimes because we are zone leaders and had to check up with everyone before the end of the transfer.
                  On Friday we headed down to Gridley for our Monthly meeting for the Missionary leadership. It was kind of weird this time around because it usually starts at 9 in the morning so that means we have to leave at like 7 in order to get down there in time. This time it didn't start until 12 for a couple of odd reasons, it was really nice though because we didn't have to wake up really early. Anyways the meeting went really well. We talked a lot about continuing to build our faith in missionary work and using that faith to continue building the lords kingdom here on earth. Also one of the other big topics that we discussed was the goals that we are going to be shooting for in 2014. We have been challenged by Elder M Russel Ballard to double our convert baptisms in 6 months. That is a pretty tall order but I truly believe that it can be done. It is something that we have actually been able to accomplish up here in Redding. Last year in Redding we had 21 convert baptisms, this year as of last Saturday we have 42 convert baptisms in the zone! It has been such an amazing thing that has taken place. President Weston was very happy with us, in fact he had us give a little presentation during our meeting of what some of the factors were that helped us to accomplish that. We talked mainly about how close we are as a zone, how everyone loves and respects each other. Also one other big thing has been the love that each of the missionaries has for their investigators and all those that they are working with. I have really found while I have been out here how much of a motivator that love is. It is definitely  something that can change the perspective that someone has on doing missionary work. Anyways like I said overall the meeting went really great. After the meeting was over we headed back to Redding. We didn't get back into town until about 7 and by that time the snow was really coming down. We started to go to dinner but unfortunately we couldn't make it up a hill by our house! There were cars sliding down the hill and tons of people getting in wrecks and stuff. Silly California drivers don't know how to drive in the snow and there ended up being like 60 wrecks around town. We took it as a great opportunity to go out and help people. We spent the rest of the night just pushing peoples cars out of the snow. It was an absolute blast!
                   Then on Saturday we had a great thing happen, two women that the sisters have been teaching asked Elder Andersen and i to baptize them. It was such a neat experience, There is nothing quite like being in the water and being able to participate in that amazing ordinance.
                 Sunday was one of the best days on my mission so far. The man who got baptized a few weeks ago got the priesthood and so now he is going to be able to baptize his two sons and his wife. I am so excited for that. It is going to be taking place this weekend. What an amazing event that will be.
                 Well that is about it for this week. Oh before I forget to tell you, we got our transfer call and I am staying in Redding! I was so happy to hear that because we have so many amazing things going on in our ward and I just did not want to miss any of it. Well I love you all and hope everything is still going good.  Stay warm out there. Also mom thank you very much for calling Bro. Miles. He said he really enjoyed your phone call.

Thanks again, Love Elder Payne

Email: AMAZING week!

Hello to my great family,
                                  Well let me just start out by telling you that we had an amazing week! I don't know what it is that all of you were praying for or what you did differently with your prayers but it definitely worked. So I'm sure you remember the family I told you about that the parents decided last Sunday that they wanted to get baptized Thursday. Well let me tell you what took place with them. So Monday we got a text from Tara the wife, know let me tell you why that was big news. Usually whenever she would text us it was to cancel things with us, but this time she was just confirming the baptism but just moving it to 7:30. Phew that was an exciting moment. Anyways Tuesday we were in a bit of contact with them just confirming a few plans with them. Then on Wednesday we were planning on going over to their house for their interview, well like I said whenever Tara texts us it is usually to cancel. Well that is what happened she said that is was their sons birthday party that night so we would have to reschedule for another time. Well we weren't just going to let a text stop us. Knowing that it was their oldest sons birthday we took that as a perfect opportunity to go over there with a gift. We bought him this little remote control car that was pretty cheap. Then we wrapped it up in a proselyting pamphlet and took it to him. We were able to go over a few things and plan the interview for the next day. So now we were coming down to the wire. We usually like to have the baptismal interviews done about 2 or 3 days before the baptism, this time we didn't have that luxury. So here comes Thursday. We had a missionary correlation meeting in the morning with our Ward Mission Leader and went over a few things with him concerning the baptism. We were all freaking out a bit because of how close the interview was to the baptism. So here comes 3 O'clock ( which was the time of the interview). We headed over to there house all ready for the interview. We show up and what do you know things were in our favor that day. We found them all home and ready for us. The interview went great and Will was super excited. The only curve ball that got thrown at us was the wife, Tara. She told us that she wasn't quite ready to get baptized yet. We respected that and didn't push it, knowing that she would definitely feel something at the baptism. Then came the baptism. It was a very small baptism because they had only invited 3 families. They wanted to keep it very small and sacred for their family. If they had opened it up to the whole ward it for sure would have filled up the chapel. Anyways the program went amazingly, the talks that were given were amazing and definitely invited the spirit so strong. Then the baptism took place. I had one of the most overwhelming feelings from the spirit as he was baptized. All baptisms are fantastic but this one was very special because of what it means to this family. The husband has terminal cancer and has been battling it for a long time now. Now because he was baptized, will get confirmed on Sunday, receive the priesthood the same day and then baptize his boys and hopefully his wife as well on the 6th of December. I am just overcome with joy for this family. They have so much love and support from the ward and all those around them and since this took place it will only increase. Oh also the mother/ wife was overheard saying she feels like she should have gotten baptized that night. Didn't I tell you that I knew she would feel something. Now the worse case scenario is that the husband will be able to baptize his whole family practically. What a special experience that will be. So that is what took place with them. It was by far one of the defining moments on my mission so far.
                                  On Friday we drove about an hour south to a place called Chico. We had the opportunity to meet with Elder Stanley G. Ellis of the Seventy. We had a great discussion with him and with President Weston as well. After the main meeting, which included 3 zones, we met as a leadership council. So all of the zone leaders and district leader and trainers as well as a few select others. He talked with us a lot about being a leader and setting the example. Overall that was a great meeting as well.
                                 So as you see it was a great week. There was a lot that kept us busy.  I love you all very much and hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Have fun down in St. George!

I love you  Love Elder Payne

1st Pic is of the baptism

 2nd Pic are all Elders who claim me as either a father, grandfather, or great grandfather in the mission.

Email: Miracles!

Hello to my wonderful family,
                Well things here are going absolutely fantastic right now, but before I tell you about that I have to talk to  you about a few other things. So to answer a few of your questions that were posed. So my comp. and I are still getting a long very well. He is a little like me in the sense that he gets a long with pretty much everybody. It is nice because it is a lot easier to work with someone if you get a long with them. Ah yes and Sister Huskey did come tell me hi for you mom so thank you very much. I shrugged it off because that is just like you to find somebody in my area through facebook and then some how get to know them better than I do. Anyways it was good to hear from you through her though. Sis. Huskey and Sis. Schaub are both awesome. We are in a lot of contact with Sis. Huskey because she is the building schedular and so we talk to her quite a bit because of that. Then Sis. Schaub is also fantastic they feed us all the time. We probably eat there once a week at least. They are a great family too. So um I think that was most of the questions.
                 Alright let me tell you a bit of the week we had. I really wish that I could tell you all about it, especially the last few days because they were just awesome. So earlier in the week we had our zone meeting on Wednesday. We taught a lot about higher expectations because Pres. Weston  met with Elder M. Russel Ballard and Elder Ballard said that he wants us to double the number of convert baptisms that we have in 6 months! That is not because we aren't doing well either. We have been doing really well. So we discussed a lot of what needs to happen in order for that to take place. That meeting went really well so I was very happy with that. On Thursday we had exchanges with the APs. I got to go down to Rocklin which was a lot of great. It was great to see a bit of my old area again. I also got to see the family that I love down there, the McGhies. I stopped in and said hello and had to pick up something from them. I wasn't with the best Elder in the world but things went just fine. On Friday we had the baptism for Dylan. For those of you who saw the pic on facebook than you already know of this event. It was a great baptism and the spirit was definitely there very strong. I was very happy about how well things went. We had a few of his family members in the program and it went very well. Then came Sunday, this had to be one of the most miraculous days of my life. first off we started with the confirmation of Dylan. His Uncle was able to come from out of town to do that. Then we met with that family the Lockwoods that I have told you about. The ones that we have been working with for a very long time. We asked the parents how they felt about baptism and they both just looked at us and told us that there is nothing that is holding them back anymore. They are ready to do it. What an amazing feeling it was to hear that. We talked about them getting baptized on December 7th than the member brought up the possibility of the father baptizing his sons. His face just lit up when he heard that. He asked " Wait I could do that?" We explained yes you can receive the priesthood and then baptized your boys. So then out of the blue they were just like OK we want to do it this Thursday. I thought that they just wanted to meet but then they were like no we want to get baptized! WOW! that was so cool to hear. So the wheels are turning and we are going to have a baptism this Thursday. It will be such a wonderful experience because this family is seriously such an amazing family and they are going to be benefited so much from the Gospel. Well that was our week and the miracles contained therein. I love you guys and hope all is going well. Oh by the way you might want to know the reason that I am emailing so late today is because we went golfing this morning. We just went to this cool driving range where you drive balls into the water. It was a great time. Well once again I love you all and hope your weeks go great! Love Elder Payne

Baptism

Last night this young man entered into the waters of baptism. It was an amazing event that took place. I am grateful for the restoration of the Priesthood that allows for these saving ordinances to take place.

Pictures Galore & Email: Goodbye Elder McMurray

Hello to you all,
                      How are all of you doing this fine week? It has been absolutely crazy out here! A ton of this past week was devoted to getting Elder McMurray ready to leave. We had a lot to do. On top of that we were visiting people and having lessons and things of that sort. So as you can imagine it was good but pretty stressful and crazy. It was really neat though because we were able to see quite a few miracles and tender mercies from the Lord.
                        I will tell you a little about what happened this week. On Friday, Elder McMurray went down to the temple with all of the departing missionaries. I stayed with some Elders from another ward. We got asked from a Bishop to come and sing at some guys funeral that we didn't even know. We got to sing Abide with Me Tis Eventide. It was a really neat experience because a lot of the people that were at the funeral were not members. It was at this Veterans Memorial cemetery that is just outside of Redding. They did the whole military honors with the Rifle salute and taps and everything. It was a really,really cool experience. Then on Saturday there was a lot that went on as well. Basically we started out the day with a lesson with one of our new investigators that is a 12 year old boy. We were able to teach him the Restoration and commit him to be baptized on the 9th of November. He is very solid and very bright for his age. Later that night on Saturday we had our ward trunk or treat /chili cook off party. It was a blast, there were quite a few of our investigators who came and enjoyed the fun and festivities. Overall it was a fantastic day. Then Sunday, I had the opportunity to confirm Anthony a member of the church. I love being able to participate in Priesthood ordinances, it is a blessing to be able to do that. We spent basically the rest of Sunday running around seeing people. Then transfers came, I will be getting a new guy, name is Elder Andersen. He has been out about 9 months. I don't know much more about him so I will tell you more about that next week. Well I love you all. I am including a few pics from our last weeks adventures. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love Elder Payne

Email: 15 mile bike ride and a baptism

Hi everyone,
                  I am just going to start off by apologizing now because this email might be kinda short. I am extremely exhausted. I guess I will start off the email by telling you why. This morning our ward mission leader took us on a very long bike ride. It was something that we have been planning for quite a while now but I wasn't really too prepared for. It was about a 15 mile bike ride up and down a mountain. It was a really pretty ride but tiring. I'm glad we did it but once again I am tired!
                   So about this last week. Oh boy this was a doosy of a week. It started out like any other week. Nothing to crazy or special, then came Wednesday. One of the young men from the Windom family decided he wanted to get baptized on Saturday. That means we only had from Wednesday to Saturday to plan and prepared for a full baptism. Let me tell you we saw some miracles. Everyone in the ward stepped up big, especially the young men. The baptism went amazing. He was so happy and his mother started crying when he got baptized it was such a neat experience. Also on Wednesday a family, the Lockwood's decided they wanted to get baptized as well. They are such a great family and so ready that we were so happy to hear that. Like I said Saturday the baptism went great and it was a great day, then came Sunday! On Sunday everything just seemed to fall apart. The young man that got baptized didn't show up to church to get confirmed because his mom was really sick. Also the family who was super ready completely backed out of their baptism. it was just a lot of really tough stuff at once. Hopefully this coming week will be better.
                       it is crazy Elder McMurray goes home next Tuesday. He is so close. It has been great being able to serve with him and I am grateful that i had that opportunity.
                        i am glad you all have been having a good time at Disneyland. I loved the pics. It looked like you guys had a lot of fun and made the most of your time. Well i love you all and hope you have a great week. I love you all and God Bless.

Love Elder Payne

Email: Gratitude for the Book of Mormon & a Baptism

 Wow so this past week has absolutely just flown by. There has been a ton of stuff going on. We had a few big meetings and we also had a baptism! It was a really good week but also very busy.
                                 This past week we had a really great meeting with our whole zone. It was a great meeting where we got to cover a lot of material. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon. Mainly a lot about what the BoM is, why we should use it , and how we should use it. We watched Elder Hollands talk where he talks about the BoM. It was such an amazing talk to watch. Every time I watch it I get chills. Just the way he testifies of the truthfulness of the BoM and how we  can gain a testimony of it. I personally am so grateful for the Book of Mormon. It has definitely made a huge difference for me out here. As I am sure many of you remember I had not read the Book of Mormon all the way through by myself before I came out. I struggled to read it and definitely struggled to get anything out of it, but now i am happy to say that has  changed. I have now read through it almost 5 times and wow what a difference it has made. I am able to see the way that the Book of Mormon can affect people. I can see the relevance of reading and studying from its pages. We also talked a lot about the power and authority of our calling. I love studying how it is the lord has called us to this work and has prepared us to be able to go out and teach to those around us. We read from John Ch.15 V.1-16 which is a lot about how the lord has allowed us to assist in this work. i love it!
                        So as I said we had a baptism this past Saturday. It was of a girl named Julia. For a long time it has really just been very off and on with her. At times it has been very difficult to meet with her and others not so much. Finally she just fully committed and put forth just a little more effort and then was able to get baptized. It was a wonderful meeting and the spirit was so strong there. I was very grateful that I was able to be apart of that ordinance by being a witness. I was so happy for her.
                           So the last thing i wanted to address was transfers. We had transfer calls again yesterday. This one was pretty nerve racking because we weren't quite sure what was going to happen. For all we knew either one of us could have been transferred, but neither of us did. Elder McMurray is staying here. He was very happy about that because if he had been transferred he would have only been there for 6 weeks. It is crazy though because he has been up here for 9 months already and by the end he will have been here for 10 and a half months. I am very happy that he is staying because he is a good comp and we get a long very well.
                          Well that is about it. It was a great week and all is well here. I love you all and I am very grateful for all of the wonderful support that you give me. I miss and love you all. Love Elder Payne

Email: 2 Baptisms! And a McDonalds Stand-Off

Hello Family,
                  Holy Smokes where do I begin? This has been such an amazing week. We have seen a ton of miracles a ton of craziness and a ton of change. So I guess we will just start at the beginning. So Tuesday we began our day by doing a lot of running around, because we are the zone leaders we had to go and babysit a lot of missionaries because a lot were leaving. So we had to go out about 10 minutes North of where we live to pick up an Elder. Well come to find out that didn't happen he just ended up doing some other thing to get his new comp. Anyways back to the story, so we are heading back home to do some things and I was like man i would really like some McDonald's breakfast right now, and Elder McMurray was like ya me too. So we head to McDonald's. Well we pull into the parking lot and what do we find? Oh nothing much just a parking lot full of cop cars with their guns drawn and pointed at this car that was between us and them. So basically we were looking down the barrels of about 3 glocks, and of course the first words out of my mouth were, " oh man now we cant use the drive through!" ha ha ya no joke i am brilliant. So we wheel around and get out of there as quick as we can. We decided to park a ways away from the action and observe. Of course I snapped a few photos and I wont explain to much because i am pretty sure they speak for themselves. So after they get the guy in cuffs and start searching the car we go into the other side of McDonald's. It was awesome because while we were in there i got talking to a guy. He was super excited to learn that we were church people, so of course we picked him up as a new investigator.
                       So enough with that action, on Thursday we had our zone meeting. That is the one that Elder McMurray and I teach. We had a great time teaching it. We talked mainly about strengthening the faith of the missionaries and strengthening the faith of the members. It was great because we had out Ward Mission leader come in and talk about what missonary work is like from the members point of view. i thought it went very well and we all learned a lot. At the end we challenged everybody to go through and read Ether 12, because that is the whole theme of that chapter is faith. So of course that is my challenge to all of you. Go read Ether 12 and tell me what you think. Better yet tell Lindsay and she can put your responses on the blog.
                     Now we continue, Later that day we had the baptismal interview for Tracey and her son Demitris. They both did awesome and are so ready to be baptized. Continuing on through the week, we had a great lesson with Shane Toro. We went over the Restoration with him. It was so amazing when we were going over the lesson. We were talking about some things and I was explaining the Apostasy when i stopped and wanted to ask a few more questions to make sure he understood but he was just sitting on the edge of his seat and when i stopped he just blurted out, " Well then what happened?" It was so cool because I have never had an investigator that was that excited to hear the message of the Restoration. When we recited Joseph Smiths vision he was just about in tears. He told us that he got chills when it was being recited. What an amazing person. We explained that those feeling were form the Holy Ghost and they were confirmation that the message is true. We invited him to be baptized on the 31st of this month and he said he would pray about it!
                        Alright shall we continue with the miracles? i believe we shall! So Saturday we had one of the most amazing baptisms of my mission. Tracey and her son Demitris got baptized and what was even more amazing was that i got to baptize Demitris! What was also pretty neat was that because Tracey had brain surgery and isn't very strong I got to be in the water with them Tracey while Elder McMurray baptized her. It was such a neat experience. Then Sunday I got to confirm Demitris as well. It was amazing seeing someone as prepared as them both completing all of those ordinances. Later that night we visited them and I personally witnessed scripture being fulfilled.
2 Nephi 32:2-3  "Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost?
 3 Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do."
                    So she usually has trouble speaking but she said a prayer that was absolutely amazing. I will stop there because this is a long post. Well I love you all and hope all is going well. Good luck to Lindsay this week because she definitely needs it. I love you all.

 Love Elder Payne

Email: Crazy, Busy Week!

Hello to my wonderful family,
                    So did I mention last week that this was going to be a busy week, why yes I believe I did. Well that definitely came to pass. Holy smokes let me tell you this past week has been insane! It has been so stressful and yet at the same time there have been so many amazing things that have happened.
                    Let us start at the beginning of the week. How about Tuesday? So Tuesday we had interviews with President Weston. They went really well. He didn't have to much to say to me in fact it only took like five minutes. I think a big part of it was that I told him in my last interview before this that I just want to be one of those missionaries that he doesn't have to worry about. That he knows that I am always doing what I am supposed to do and being diligent. We talked a little about me being a zone leader and how I was liking that. We talked about the work a little bit, so ya it went well. So after that the miracles really started to happen. We had a lesson with Nike one of our investigators in the singles branch and we committed her to quit smoking and then right after that we committed her to be baptized. She accepted both so we are currently working with her on that. Well then later that evening we had a lesson with Dean and Tracey, and before I go on I am just going to tell you that they could really use your prayers. Anyways so we have been working with them for a long time now. Especially with Dean because he is trying to quit smoking and it has been really hard for him and that is the only thing holding them back from being baptized. Well we committed him right then and there to quit smoking and for both of them to be baptized. I then asked him for his cigarettes, it was extremely hard for him but he gave them to us. So for all three people we are working towards the 3rd of August for baptism. After that we went on exchanges the Assistants to the President. Well let me tell you that was an interesting day. I was with one of the assistants who is known as one of those missionaries that likes to brown noes President. Anyways it was a pretty good day. Apart from him partially offending one of the members of our ward.
                         Well the rest of the week was pretty great but stressful none the less. On Friday we had to do a ton of reports so yes mom there are a few things different about being zone leader. I feel like I am adjusting pretty well to all of the new work load though. So then came the craziest day yet, Saturday. So in the morning we had to drive about an hour and a half South to a baptism in a place called Chico. Someone that Elder McMurray taught about a year ago was getting baptized and he asked McMurray to come baptize him. So that was an amazing thing getting to see someone that went through so much get baptized. Then later on , on Saturday we had another baptism, this one was for Mitch who was an investigator in our ward. It went so well, he was just absolutely glowing. I love seeing someone who is so prepared get to enter into the waters of baptism. That is something that I have really seen out here so far. That there really are people that are so ready to be baptized. I love being able to feel the spirit in those lessons. I know for a fact that the lord is mindful of his children, he knows what we need and he loves us all so much. I also know that repentance is such a real thing. Repentance is available for everyone, no matter what we have done as long as we come with that truly repentant heart the Lord will forgive us.
                        So Sunday Mitch received the Holy Ghost. One of the members of the Ward was able to give him that. He told us that he just felt so much of a difference now. Well like I said there was a ton of stress this week but it was so worth it. It is a great feeling at the end of the day when you are able to lay your head down on the pillow and know you put in a hard days work. Well I love you all so much. Good luck to all of you especially Hannah and Katelyn. I know that you have a ton of stuff going on and just know that I am praying for you all. I love you and hope you all have a great week.

Love Elder Payne