Email: Updates on Investigators/ Slow Week

Hello family,
                   Well I hope that things are starting to slow down for you all. It sounded like there has been a ton of stuff going on back home. Lots of craziness. sickness, and fun. I cant believe that both Staci and Drake went so long with a pretty serious illness without getting it checked out. I hope that you are all sort of on the mend.
                 Well things have been a little slow this past week. It has still been a little difficult to get in a talk to anyone because they are all still really busy with vacation stuff. Hopefully the coming weeks will be better now that everyone is kind of getting into more of a regular schedule. So this past week I actually havent been feeling the best. I have been feeling kind of dizzy and have had some headaches and kinda nauseous. I dont n=really know what it is but I am feeling much better lately. So we were not able to meet with Jerry and Jolene this week. He was kind of sick so we didnt go over. We are hoping we can meet with them some time this week. Rodney has been doing alright. We found out recently that he has been talking to some other people from other churches, like this Pastor guy at a church that his brother attends. We are still working with him, so hopefully things begin to improve there. Hailey and Tyler the two that are getting baptized are doing great. Everything is on track for this Saturday. We haave one more lesson with them on Tuesday and then  they have a baptismal interview on Thrusday. On Tuesday we will be teaching them the Word of Wisdom The law of Chastity, and The law of the Tithe. It shouldnt be too difficult because they are very smart kids and take everything in very well. I am so happy to see someone that I have been able to teach from start to almost finish preparing to get baptized. Those kids carry an amazing spirit about them and I can feel it everytime we are with them. The other Hailey is going through a bit of a rough patch. She is having to decide whether or not she should move in with her mom or stay with her dad. The only problem is her dads is not the safest envirnoment for a 14 year old girl. We have really been trying to get her to seek counsel from her Heavenly Father. It just makes me more and more grateful that i was able to grow up in a family that is so amazing and for that i thank you all.
                Lastly I sure hope you have all been keeping up with your Book of Mormon reading. I know that it has definitely been such a blessing being able to go through the Book of Mormon knowing that there are many others that are right there with me. So i encourage you all to continue on. It can and will bless your life. I love the Book of Mormon with all my Heart. I love you all and I hope you all have a great week.

Love Elder Payne

6 month Book of Mormon Challenge

Hunter has asked our family to participate in a 6-month Book of Mormon challenge to countdown his 1 year mark of being on his mission on May 30th. We will start reading the book of Mormon this Friday (November 30th) and we are so excited to support him in this and of course, to read the Book of Mormon together as a family.

 

We'd like to invite any and all to join us!

 

I put together this chart to follow to stay on track to finish in time. If you are interested, please comment below with your email and I will send you an email with this chart in a Word document (The picture quality on this is quite blurry).

 

HAPPY READING!

Email: Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello to everyone back home......and out here in California,

I hope that everyone is doing well this week. Hopefully things have slowed down a little bit since the past few weeks. It sounds like the move went well and everything has gotten unpacked and put away just fine. Also, Mom, I am SOOOO sorry I wasn't able to help you put up your Christmas decorations. I'm sure you know just how much I missed doing that. haha

So just a little bit about what has been going on out here. We have been really busy lately teaching people. It is really nice to actually have people wanting to learn about the Gospel. I'm sure you are wondering how the couple with the twins is doing. Well they are doing just great. We have taught them the whole restoration lesson and now we are moving on to the Plan of Salvation. He is definitely a big searcher of truth, which is fantastic because that makes our job a lot easier. They haven't been able to come to church yet because he is just starting out at a new job and is afraid to ask for Sundays off already, so I will continue to let you know how things are going there. Also we are hoping to be able to get them married pretty soon. We are working with the bishop to get that done. They are going to be a such a great asset to the ward and I know that the Gospel is going to bless their lives so much.

Hailey is still doing well. Pretty much same old, same old. We just continue to work with her and strengthen her faith. She is a very smart girl and has a lot of questions. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to teach someone like her. We were actually finally able to find her mom home. We just went over and talked to her a little bit and resolved any concerns she has. Unfortunately she is still very hard in her heart and is still not open at all to what her daughter is learning. It is so tough because we want to help them both but the mother just wont let us. So we are just going to keep trying and hope that things will work out.

This past week we had our Zone conference. We had the mission president and the AP's come and speak to us. We were there from 9 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon, so yes it was a very long meeting. It was absolutely amazing though and I learned so much. President Weston talked to us a lot about the importance of the Book of Mormon. He then challenged us to read the Book of Mormon in 90 days or less. So from Thursday to the 15th to February we will be reading the Book of Mormon. Which is awesome because we will be reading it as well, starting the 30th of this month.

So, you asked for a bit more info. So I just think, just to go at your own pace.If you go by pages it is about 3 pages a day. So that isn't to bad at all. I think it would be really cool if you all got like new paper back copies (they are only like $3) and marked anything referring to family and any Christlike attributes. I found this site that has a reading progress chart on it. Tell me if you like it or if you can think of any other way to track our progress. http://lds.about.com/od/ldsscriptures/a/scripturecharts.htm

So let me know if you like that one. If you can find one that you like better let me know we will use that.

Anyways so things have been going really well here. I'm excited for Thanksgiving coming up this week. I can't believe that it is already here. IT has come up really fast. We are going to a members house for it. It is also a full P-day so that means we can do pretty much anything. There is a pretty big tradition our here. All of the missionaries get together and have a big flag football game. It is called the Turkey bowl, because it is on thanksgiving. So as you can imagine I am really excited for that. Well I love you all and I hope you all have a great week.

Love, Elder Payne

Email: Honey's Baptism

Dear Family,

Well this past week has absolutely flown by. I swear I was just barely sending you an email. This past week has been really great actually. There has been a lot going on. It has been great we have been meeting with Hailey every day. We feel that with her current situation she really needs the daily contact. We have actually found out a lot more about her situation at home. It is a lot of stuff that for legal reasons we, as missionaries, cannot get involved. I'm sorry but I cant really tell you because it is private and sensitive stuff. Just know that she is doing great! She is learning and growing every time we meet with her. It amazes me she is already wanting to teach stuff to other people.It is really neat to see someone want to learn so much. it is interesting because she does want to learn so much so quickly. We kind of have to tell her to slow down a little. She has to get the basics down before she can dig into some of the deeper stuff. In our reading with her we came across 2nd Nephi 28:30 "For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have."

It applied really well to her situation and I really think it will help her. Keep praying for her. She is really one that needs the support. It was really cool, Elder Newcomb had an extra set of really nice leather bound scriptures, so we had Sister Nielson take them and have her name put on them and we gave them to her. She was so excited to get them. She loves them so much she doesn't even want to use them in fear she will mess them up. She is such a sweet person and has such a sweet spirit, i really hope things work out for her.

So the other big main point of this week was Honey Greenshield's baptism. It was so awesome getting to go and see someone that I had taught be baptized. So Saturday afternoon we headed down to Citrus Heights to meet up with the other Elders. We had someone from our ward in Lincoln drop us off in C-Heights. It was really great because I got to see Elder Halle again as well. So we all met up and headed to her Baptism. It was an amazing experience. She was so happy and was just absolutely glowing. Her husband Will was just as excited if not more. Side note he has some medical issues he has to work out before he gets baptized. Anyways it was really great because Honey asked both Elder Halle and myself to participate in the baptismal service. She asked us both to be witnesses. I was so happy to see her making such important steps in her personal progression. That was definitely one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. i don't think I have ever seen somebody that happy and that sure in what they were doing, it was just fantastic. (Oh yeah in her picture, she had a tumor removed from her brain and it caused partial paralysis in a side of her face.) I was just so grateful that I was able to be a part of her life, even though it might have been in a small way, I am still grateful.

 

It sounds like there has been a lot going on back home. It is definitely that time of year and things will continue to be crazy. I am really glad that the move went well with Linds and Rob. The pictures you sent me of that were great. I really hope they like where they are. It looks like a beautifl area, and it sounds like the people are really great as well. I cant believe how far along staci is. Also it is hard to believe how big the baby is as well. It sounds like she has been growing fast.Tell Tyler good luck with the rest of school coming up. Katey i sure hope everything is going well for you. I sent the family a letter and I mentioned a little bit about you and your situation. Dont worry I will be sending you a better and longer one soon. Last but not least Hannah I am sorry you were so upset. It sounds like you have got a good new friend that is awesome. I am really happy for you . It is so important to have good friends.

So about the Book of Mormon challenge, I am glad you all liked the idea. I have a paper I need to send you that can help mark your progress. I will get it to you. Linds maybe you could do something on the blog that helps mark the progress. Im not sure if you can do that but just let me know. Well I think that is pretty much all I have for you. I love you all. Have a great week.

 

Love Elder Payne

 

And, here's a picture that was texted to my mom from a member sometime last week. It's of Elder Payne and his comp at a Birthday party at the church. 

 

Email: 6 month BOM challenge

Hello to everyone,
                    Well I hope everyone is finding some time to rest after this past week. It sounded like things were pretty crazy everywhere. I saw on Lindsay's blog that you all made it alright and didn't have the usual mishap of some kind that accompanies big moves in our family. How is the new house looking? Are you enjoying the beautiful Northern California weather? I really hope everything is going well for you. Staci have there been any new updates with the baby? How big is she now? How did the bears do this past weekend? I heard they were playing to see if they would go to play at Rice-Eccles stadium so hopefully they won. Thank you very much as well for the package you sent me. I baked the cake and it ended up looking pretty cool.
                     Well now that I got most of my questions out of the way let me fill you in on what has been going on here in Cali. This past week has been a very tiring one. We were out a ton and were able to teach quite a few lessons. I'm not sure if i told you about Hailey Duncan so if i did i will just retell you about her. So Hailey is a 14 year old girl who they started teaching only about a week before I got here. She is really smart and loves learning about the Gospel. She really wants to be baptized as well. Unfortunately her parents are extremely against her getting baptized. Her father is an extreme alcoholic who is drunk every day by noon. Her mom is just super anti-Mormon and wants nothing to do with her daughter.it is just such a hard situation and I feel just terrible for her. she has such a tender heart and has probably cried 9 or 10 times during lessons. Right now we are just reading through the Book of Mormon. If she cant get permission from her parents to be baptized she has to wait until she is 18. So we just keep working with her as much as we can. She actually wants to meet with us like every single day! Its really great because she is one that really needs daily contact. The man we had a baptismal date with actually dropped us so we are no longer teaching him right now. It sucks but hopefully he will realize how much this gospel can help him. We set two more baptismal dates on Friday for December 8th. A husband and wife named Juanita and Mario. They are really searching for the truth and we are trying to help them find it. Some of you might be wondering how Halloween went. It was alright. It sucked because we had to be in by 6 because they don't want any of us getting in trouble. Those are just kind of the main updates of this week. We have a few more people that we are teaching but they aren't as mentionable as the ones I put down. This area is really great and i am really happy to be here. Oh also another thing that i found out that is really cool. Honey Greenshield is getting baptized this coming Saturday. Elder Halle told me and I was so excited. I immediately called my mission president to get permission to go to it. He told me I could so i am really excited to go watch her be baptized this coming Saturday. I will make sure and let you know how it goes. So that is the update from this week. Things are going really well and i am really happy here.
                                          Something I have been thinking about doing. I want to do a 6 month Book of Mormon challenge. On the build up from 6 months to a year for me being out here. It would be about 1 chapter a day for 6 months. Starting on the 30th of November. It would end about the 30th of May.(my year mark) Let me know what you think. I think it might be kind of fun to do. Just let me know what you think about it. I hope you all have a great week. I love you all very much.

                                                                                              Love Elder Payne

I hope you like the pictures!