Email: Conference Weekend

Well hello there family,
                       
       How was every ones conference weekend? Well mine out here was absolutely phenomenal. Who woulda thought that I would love to sit there for 10 hours of meetings in two days? Quite honestly I probably wouldn't think I could do it but man did I love it. One of the things that really struck me was how direct the talks all were. there was very little beating around the bush. They were all just absolutely laying down the law. One of my favorite talks was definitely L.Tom Perry's, he was really speaking about how badly the views of the world have become skewed. Also no matter  how bad the world gets and how far off their perception of things are the Church will remain constant. That is where we should look for stability. Wow those were some powerful words. I honestly cannot just pick out one favorite talk they were all just so great. The priesthood session was particularly amazing, and yes mom I did get to watch it, I am only in California not in like Nigeria or something. haha Anyways when the first presidency all spoke they were speaking with such clarity and vision that it would be hard to not know what it is they want us to do. Can you imagine not being able to have that guidance from our Prophet? It is hard to think about. I am just so grateful that we have a living Prophet on earth today, one with the Priesthood authority of God to govern and guide his people. Also how blessed are we as a people to be able to simply flip on a TV or jump on the computer and receive his word.
        Things here in Rocklin are going very well. The work is slowing picking up and for that I am grateful. We are really working on finding new investigators. Last week we were able to pick one up. A single mother with a young son. We stopped by there house because other missionaries had tracted there and she had seemed somewhat interested. So we stopped by and she was very kind to us we talked with her for about 10 to 15 minutes on her door step about the Plan of Salvation, because we found out her husband passed away. She was happy to hear a little about the Plan of Salvation and was interested in hearing more. We set up a return appointment and now we are going back this week. Other than that extremely bright spot the rest of the week was pretty dull. Mostly it was filled with getting Elder Hyde more familiar with the area and helping him figure things out.

                   Ah I forgot to talk about picking him up and how that went. So I went on Wednesday morning and met with all of the other trainers and trainees. It was crazy in this group there were 8 new sisters coming in and only 6 new Elders. In 3 more months we are going to double the number of sisters that are in this mission. Absolutely insane! Anyways we all met together and had a brief meeting and a little breakfast. After that we separated from trainers and trainees. We then had individual training for the two groups. After that we all came back together and were finally assigned our companions. I was assigned Elder Hyde. He is from Saratoga Springs,UT. He likes playing the drums and reading. He is a nice kid and coolest of all he is 18. haha Anyways after about 4 hours of meetings we finally got out and went back to Rocklin. So that is how that all went. I am excited to be training again, it brings an added level of difficulty to the work because I am still district leader on top of that. I am excited for it though and I am hoping I am up to the test.

         Oh one cool thing,Linds this is mostly for you, but one of the new Elders came up to me and was like hey I know you. I was like really where from. Then he proceeded to tell me how him and his mom had been checking out my blog to figure out what the area was like and what to expect. So keep up the good work because others are benefiting from what you are doing. Well everyone I love you all so much and I hope you all are continuing to do well. I love you once again.

Love Elder Payne

With Elder Peek and other missionaries-

With new companion and trainee, Elder Hyde, & President and Sister Weston

Email: Stolen Bike!

Dear Family,
                 How is every ones week been going? It sounds like it has been quite crazy back there with everything going on. I sure hope you can even find time to get everything done. At least you are all nice and relaxed from your cruise so that should make things a little easier for you. So a little about the bike situation, so we had them under our stairs, unfortunately because i was being stupid and lazy we did not lock them up. Anyways we went to bed that night woke up went down and helped some other Elders with some service and then came back. Some time between when we went to bed and came back they got stolen. We called the police, management and a few others that needed to be informed. What is crazy is that when Elder Peek and my bikes were stolen they were the sixth stolen in the past 7 days throughout the mission! Crazy right? So right now we are borrowing some of the bikes that the mission has. We ordered some from a member who owns a bike shop so they should be pretty good bikes. We are still keeping an eye out for our bikes so hopefully we can spot them soon.
                So as you can imagine with our bikes being stolen it was a little slower of a week. We spent a lot of time dealing with that. We were able to do a little bit though. On Monday evening we got a call from this old lady in our apartment and she needed help with something. So we went over and helped her out. We started talking about how she had come in contact with the missionaries and some of her views on religion and then we talked a bit about the Plan of Salvation. It was really neat just really connecting with someone and helping her to know a bit more about our beliefs. Anyways we are going to start teaching her now and her name is Mariam. So this week we spent a lot of time working with less actives and just trying to get in contact with people. Friday evening we had a ward talent show. I got dragged into performing in it with Elder Peek and another guy in our ward. i will have to send you the video soon. It was a lot of fun and absolutely hilarious. Also on Sunday I got to speak in church. I spoke on the talk given my Elder L. Tom Perry in the April 2009 conference. It is an amazing talking and you guys should definitely look it up and read it. I was a little nervous speaking because it was a homecoming for a guy in the ward but as soon as I got into it I was totally at ease. It ended up going really well and I hope that I was able to spark the members from the talk. In fact there was a less active lady who called us last night, who was in church this Sunday, and she said that she was very grateful for our talks and that they really inspired her to start changing her life and try to become better. I was so happy to hear that i was able to touch someones life like that, what a special experience. Well things are still going well here. I really like this area, it is heating up quite a bit. It has been up in the 70's almost every day. I am so grateful for each one of you. I am so grateful for the inspiration and support that i receive from you all. Please keep me in your prayers. I love you all and I am praying for you all as well.

Love Elder Payne

Email: Meeting Elder Neil L. Anderson

Hello family,
                 Well how is everyone doing this week? It sounds like things have slowed down a little bit but not to much yet. So I was asked to tell you all about the meeting with the apostle in good detail, well I don't know how well I can do that so I will have to do my best. So the meeting was this past Saturday down in Roseville. It was really great because the whole mission came together, and President Weston said that, that was the first time that they had ever done that. I got to see a lot of the guys who I have served around. It was great to see so many familiar faces and guys that I admire. So Elder Anderson came in and he asked us all to line up so that we could all shake his hand. That was such a cool experience and something I will never forget. Even with just the brief interaction that we had I could just fell the love that he had for each one of us. After we all went down and shook his hand we started the meeting. Sister Weston spoke first, then President Weston. He spoke on Alma 13:4 and it was amazing. He talked about how each one of us have a Holy calling to perform and how we must live up to that. After him Craig C. Christensen of the seventy spoke, he spoke on the conversion process. The best thing that he said for me was,"Conversion is not an event it is a process." that was a very inspiring quote and really helped me to understand not only for my investigators but for ourselves as well. After him Sis. Anderson bore her testimony, then Elder Neil L. Anderson spoke. He talked mainly on the atonement and how through the Grace Mercy and merits of Christ we can all be cleansed. It was phenomenal how he laid it out for each one of us. It was so amazing to be so close to an Apostle of the Lord and receive instruction that is focused right to us. I was very grateful for the opportunity I had to hear him speak.
                  So the rest of the week wasn't too eventful. I didn't have to teach District meeting because we had zone meeting instead. We had one great lesson with our investigator. We talked about the Word of Wisdom and how it can be such a blessing in her life. We really recommitted to trying to quit drinking coffee. I received some very great news this past week as well. I found out that Will Greenshield, Honey Greenshields husband, got baptized. That was such amazing news. They are both doing great and they are both really feeling the happiness from being members of this Gospel. As soon as I heard I got her phone number and called her up and got to have a great talk with her. They are both very happy! So that was kinda the highlights from this week. i am doing great and so is Elder Peek. Thank you so much for the package it was much appreciated and yes I baked them all and they tasted great. Well everyone thank you so much for the emails you sent me and all that you have done I love you all so much and cant wait to hear back from you. I love you all very much. Love Elder Payne

Email: About Rocklin & New Address

Dear Family,

                 Well hello to one of the busiest families around. haha So let me just start out by telling you a bit about the area. So Rocklin is only like 15 to 20 minutes away from Lincoln. In fact it is right between Lincoln and Citrus Heights. There are quite a few apartment complexes around here and it is mostly city. It reminds me a little bit of like Draper area. There are a few kind of older neighborhoods and then one or two neighborhoods with really nice houses. Our area is pretty big which kind of sucks being on a bike. Also there are a few hills here that have just about kicked my butt. Other than it isn't too different from my last area. It is a little like my first area and my last area combined. As far as people we are teaching, the work around here is going pretty slow. We currently only have one investigator who cant meet with us very often because she gets sick a lot. So that gives us plenty of work to do. We are really working right now to get the members involved, and get them out helping us because it is really hard to pick an area up when there is nothing going, especially if it is all by ourselves. So that is what is going on currently. My companions name is Elder Peek, he is from South Weber, so not to far from us. He has been out about 3 months now. So far things have been going really great with him. He is a really soft spoken guy which really allows the spirit to come in.

               So this past week I had to teach my very first District meeting, as you can imagine I was pretty nervous. I wasn't sure how it was going to go or what to expect but everything turned out really well. I am really blessed because I am in a district with a lot of really great guys. All of them are relatively young. Actually i came out with two of them. I really excited to be able to serve around all of these guys. My apartment here is pretty nice. It is a bit nicer than my last one and in a much better neighborhood.

               Well it sounds like things are a bit crazy back home. That is really sad to hear about grandma but it is good to hear that she is doing a little bit better. Give her my best and tell her I love her. That is also sad to hear about the boys basketball team. too bad they couldn't pull that out. Staci i cant believe that Savannah hasn't come yet, you look like you are about ready to pop. make sure you don't go around any sharp objects we don't want anything bad happening. Well i love you all and I hope I have answered most of your questions. before I go my address is 5780 Springview Dr. Apt. 57 Rocklin, CA 95677. Also I have not gotten the cuff links yet but they did arrive back in Lincoln and the Zone leaders are going to get them for me. Thanks a ton  I love You all and hope you have a great week and good luck with everything. 

Love Elder Payne

Email: Getting transferred to Rocklin

Dear Family,

Well from reading all of your emails it sounds like the cat is out of the bag. Yes the news is true I am being transferred. I am going to a place that is only like 20 minutes away from where I am now. That part kind of sucks because I was really hoping I would go further North but oh well where I am going will still be great. I am going to Rocklin which is known as kind of the rich part of the mission. I am also going to be the District Leader there. That part is pretty nerve racking. I'm not really sure what to expect but I am really excited to find out what it is like. I was kind of surprised when I found out that I was going to be the District Leader, like I said I'm not sure what to expect but I am very happy that President Weston has put that much trust in me. I am going to be serving with an Elder named Elder Peek. I don't know too much about him yet but I will be sure to let you know. I do know that he is just getting done being trained. He came out with Elder Holbrook.

Speaking of Elder Holbrook he has been selected as a trainer. Every single person in the Lincoln District is training. That is absolutely amazing! There are so many new missionaries coming out that it is just phenomenal. I am sure we are going to see a huge jump in the amount of work being done. Something really neat coming up, I'm not sure if I have mentioned this or not, but we are actually having an Apostle come here. He is coming out on March 9th and is having a special meeting with our mission. No one knows who or why he is coming but it should be a pretty amazing experience.

So this past week was a strange one again. We started out just fine, we had a bit zone conference on Wednesday where three Zones met. That went just fine, but on the way back one of the Elders we drove there with started not feeling very good. He had a really bad stomach ache and some other bad stuff going on. Anyways when we got back we gave him a blessing and Elder Holbrook and I had to go to a lesson. During the lesson we got a call from them but we had to silence it because we were in a lesson. Anyways after we called them back like 3 or 4 times. When they answered the other Elder told us that the sick one had passed out had like a mini seizure and threw up everywhere, so he called an ambulance and they took him to the Hospital. The doctors thought he had appendicitis but fortunately for him it ended up being a lot more minor than they thought. He just had the flew on top of some intestinal inflammation and he was super dehydrated. So he was able to come back like a day later. We were all very worried but it all turned out fine. Unfortunately I was quite sick this week as well. I got hit by a horrible cold. It put me out of commission for a good two days. I am feeling much better now though and am back on my feet.

We were able to have one or two really good lessons this week. One was with the Plauts which went very well! They are coming along slowly but surely and with them I feel like it is only a matter of time. We also had a member just walk up to us in church yesterday and introduce us to someone who is interested in joining the church. That was such a shock and such a blessing. There is so much great work going on here and I am really going to miss this ward. There have been so many great people that I have met and been able to be around I really hope that my next ward will be able to match up with this one. I know that if i go in with the right attitude no matter what that ward can be a great one for me.

Well it sounds like everyone had a great Valentines day which was great. I had a great one as well. It wasn't anything too different. I got a lot of candy and I feel about 15 pounds heavier because of it haha. I cant believe that there is a possibility by the next time i email you guys that there could be a new addition to our family. That is crazy the time has absolutely flown by. Good luck Staci, I'm sure everything will go just great. Well everyone I love you very much and appreciate all of the support that you are sending me. I Love you all and have a great week.

Love Elder Payne