Email: Departing Testimony

Hello Family,
Well sorry that this email is coming so late. We left first thing this morning to go and do something fun for P-Day. We went out to the Harts because down below their house they have these little water falls. We wanted to go see them but mostly we wanted to pan for gold. Apparently their is still a fair amount of gold in the hills around their place. We spent a good 4 hours just hiking around and panning for gold and stuff, it was a ton fun. They also made us lunch which was very, very nice of them. I really love that family, I am going to miss them so much.

So let me tell you a bit about our week, this email wont be super long because there wasn't a whole lot that went on. So the reason I didn't email last week was because I actually forgot my iPad at the
house so I wasn't able to email you, sorry about that. Anyways, we had quite a few good lessons and quite a few fall through. Things are going very well though and so I know everything will be ok.

Tuesday we started out by doing a lot of service. We helped this LAlady prune back a whole ton of her rose bushes. We literally cleared out a wall of them. It was a lot of hard work but I really enjoyed it. Actually before we did all that we had already spent 2 hours laying concrete for a car port. We were helping a man with the foundation part of it. That was fun because I havent been able to do a whole lot of work with concrete so it was a whole new experience. So anyways we
had a good lessons on Tuesday night with the montanez family. We went over the parable of the Good Samaritan.

On Wednesday we did more service. We kept with the construction side of things and actually helped a man in our ward, with Joe Hart, put up trusses for a barn. That was a blast once again I learned a lot of good new skills The rest of wednesday we basically just spent going around and trying to see people. We were able to have a few lessons here and there.

Thursday was a crazy day! We began by having our zone conference. I did quite a bit in it. Mom, you will be proud of this. I actually sang a solo of come thou fount, with an accompaniment from the piano and the violin. It was a really pretty song and I think I did ok. I also had to give my departing testimony in front of everyone. I spoke mainly of how I gained a testimony and just how much my mission has taught me. I spoke of humility and love and how pivotal they are in
the work. It was a really neat experience.

Friday we did more service in the morning. We cleared and hauled the rose bushes away from that ladies yard. We also did some planning and then had quite a few lessons that day. We were absolutely packed that day. We got to eat at the Harts and the Labordas that night. They feed us about once a week now. Once again, I love that family! Saturday we had a few lessons cancel so we helped the Labordas work on their house some more. We also got to lead their horses to a place which was pretty neat.

Then came Sunday, church was amazing. I think that has been one of the things I have learned the most out here, that is just how much i love going to church. Strange the things you are able to learn while you are on a mission. Anyways we had a few appointments and dinner and that was pretty much the day. Nothing too crazy or special. In most regards this was a pretty average week. Nothing to crazy happened, we stayed busy which was good so i loved that. Anyways I love you all. Next week I probably wont have much of email for you. You will probably just get a short little something. Well I hope you all have a great week. Good luck you two girls with Seminary graduation and also the dance revue. I love you all and hope all goes well.

Love Elder Payne

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: New Comp

Happy Monday,
Well I sure hope that this past week has been a great week for you all. I know for me things were pretty good. We had quite a few cancelled appointments but hey that is ok we keep in trying. We have been working hard with a few of the people we have to get them to a baptismal date and I think that we are really close with them.

 

So I said things are good. Monday we had a good time. We actually headed about 15 minutes away to Gridley. We went over there and played like football and baseball and stuff like that. We had a great time doing it and we are probably going to be doing stuff like that again today. The weather here has been perfect. In the low 80's and nice and sunny. We have to make sure and do as much stuff outside as we can before the real bad heat hits.

 

Tuesday through like Thursday were all pretty boring. There wasn't too much really that went on. We had a few lessons on each of those days but not a whole lot to write home about. Saturday was a really fun day. It was one of the better days that I have had in a while. We spent the morning with the ZL's doing service with Joe Hart and his family. He is building a house with his daughter and son-in-law. We went out and helped them for about 2and a half hours or so. We just did a lot of little stuff because quite honestly none of us had any building experience. It was a blast though. I miss being able to get out and get dirty and get things done. We had a lot of fun doing that kind of stuff. Anyways later on in the day we headed around visiting some people. We dropped back by Mandy and Permas house again. Mandy was really excited to see us. I can tell that she is really opening up
and that she is wanting to share more and more with us each visit. She shared with us how her mother isn't doing all that well and that they don't really know how much time she has left. We shared with her a lot about the Plan of Salvation and how much our Heavenly Father loves her. I shared Alma 40: 11-12, and she loved it. After speaking with her for a moment she asked us to go in and talk with her Mom and see if we couldn't get her to open up, and boy did we. She shared with us a lot about what she believes. We talked with her mainly about the Plan of Salvation and she also really loved our concept of what happens after we die. It was a really neat moment we were able to share with her. When we were about to leave she just kept telling us how grateful she was that we came and talked to her and how much she enjoyed speaking with us. She was like make sure and come back I want to keep talking to you cute boys. Well after we were done talking with her we headed back outside and Mandy was across the street talking to her friend. Her friend apparently was like, "uh there are those
mormons!" then Mandy did something that amazed me, she defended us! She told us how much she enjoyed speaking with us, how we weren't pushy or anything and that we are just normal, good people. That really made me feel good because that is something I have really tried to do throughout my mission is just be a real person. No gimmicks or fake personalities, just real. I was just happy that she noticed that. Anyways we are going to go back this coming Saturday for another lesson.

SoI am sure that you are all curious what is going on with transfers. Well here ya go. Elder Vaughan is leaving. Which to be honest I am pretty grateful for, he has been one of my tougher companions. He is headed down to Antelope. I am staying here and becoming companions with Elder Stein. It is really funny because we have served around each other for all but 1 transfer of his whole mission. I was his ZL up in Redding and now I have been double covering the ward here with him. So they are no longer going to be double covering the ward. His comp. is heading out and so is mine and so we are just going to be combining. It is going to be a crazy last 6 weeks, because we have a ton of work going on and so do they. We are most likely going to be absolutely swamped with work.

Well that is about it for me. i haven't been able to register for classes yet, I am trying to get in contact with my advisor so i can. Mom, have you been able to look into housing for me yet. If not could you please do that for me, thank you so much. Well I love you all and hope that all is well.

 

Love Elder Hunter Payne

Email: Teaching Like Crazy & Fishing Too

Hey guys so this is coming a little later because we went fishing this morning. I caught two one little baby bass and a bigger one that we are gonna cook up soon. Dad any good bass cooking ideas?

Hello family,
Well once again another week has passed. It seems like they are just melting away now. Things out here are steadily improving. The Lord is continuing to bless this area, we were able to have quite a
bit of success this past week which was awesome! So I will start by telling you about the week then I will answer all your questions.

So we started out the week by going to place called bald rock for P-Day. It was actually a pretty cool place. It actually reminded me a lot of the area where we going hunting when we come up the backside. There were a lot of big rock outcroppings and things like that. I kept on expecting big buck to jump out or something. haha Anyways that was a pretty easy hike compared with the ones that I have done in the past, but it was still pretty fun. After that we had to run back to Oroville and I had to quickly email you guys, that is why it was so short and choppy sorry about that, and then we finished out the day. It was overall a pretty good P-day.

Then Tuesday came, we had a lesson with a man named Merlin, besides him having an awesome name he also has a great beard. It literally makes him look like Abraham Lincoln. Anyways we taught him about the Word of Wisdom, because we know he has a smoking problem. He mentioned to us that he didn't really think that the WoW is a commandment but just a good idea. So we went back to Joseph Smith and whether he was a prophet. He said that he does believe that he is a prophet but that when he asked God about the WoW it was just because Emma was tired of cleaning all of it up. So anyways that is sort of where we are with him. He is a super nice guy and comes to church consistently but he just has a few things to work through first.

Anyways the rest of the day was pretty interesting as well. We met with another lady that has been investigating for a while and we had to really throw down on authority. She has been through a lot of religions in her life and so she doesn't really know what to believe, so we are just helping her weed everything else out. After that we had a really neat experience to go to ARP with a couple of our investigators. (ARP is addiction recovery program). Anyways it was really neat because they just teach all of these people to overcome there addictions basically just using the Gospel of Jesus Christ,mixed with some self help activities. I was actually able to learn a lot from it. By the end of this day I was like man it is only Tuesday!

Wednesday was a little less exciting day, we had our district meeting and a couple of appointments, and that was about it. Thursday was a really great day. We started out by going and helping the Stake Patriarch with some service. We helped him dig a ditch for the footing of a parking garage. It was great because I may not be too great at construction stuff but I definitely know how to run a shovel with the best of them! I mainly used the big digging bar, that you will see in the picture that is included. It is sad because we don't get quite as much service as I would like so my hands have
gotten a little soft. I actually got a stinking blister from the digging bar. oh well it is just toughening me up I guess.

Anyways after all of that we got to go do more service for this less active guy in our ward. We helped pull cactus. Yes that is right cactus. Some guy that was taking care of his yard and planted all of these cactus pieces around the yard and the member didn't like that, so he asked us to come take them all out. They were mainly free of spikes but I did get jabbed a few times here and there. After that was the biggest adventure of the day. That same guy who had been taking care of his yard had left a big coop full of pigeons when he left. The member was tired of taking care of them so he had us get up inside the coop and catch about 16 of these pigeons and release them. What was funny was after we had let them all go we saw these 2 big hawks circling the area. They were probably thinking oh good a free meal. haha

Friday was probably the best day we had this past week. We started out with weekly planning, which took quite a while. Then we headed out to a place called Palermo, which is this smaller town about 10 minutes south of us here in Oroville. It is about like how like Bear River city is from Tremonton. We met with one of our investigators named Joe. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he loved it all. He doesnt really feel like he has a connections with God right
now, so we are trying to help him develop that. After his lesson we had a lesson with a 10 year old boy named Wyatt. We taught him about the WoW and then set a baptismal date with him for the 5th of April.

Like I said things are really starting to pick up here. Saturday was a pretty decent day. We had a lesson with some recent converts and pretty much just went around contacting other people. We
were able to meet with a couple of new investigators that we had picked up from the week before, to it was really good to have a follow up visit.

Sunday wasn't a bad day either. My allergies have been the worst I have ever had them and I think I might be coming down with a little bit of a cold. So Sacrament was a little difficult to sit through
because I felt terrible. We got a new councilor in the Bishopric which was kind of neat. Then after church we had another lesson with Joe where we talked with him about the Word of Wisdom. He said that he drinks a little bit of coffee but when we challenged him to stop he was just like, "Yeah I can do that it just depends on whether or not my wife can deal with me.", without any reservations. He truly is an awesome man. He is still waiting for that answer on whether or not this is right, I am confident that he will.

Anyways it was a pretty good week. Things with the companion are alright. He is very different from me and gets angry easily so I am doing my best to keep him calm. Hopefully this next week proves to be as fruitful as this last one. I realized that there were a few things that I didn't answer from the week previous mainly about my tooth. So I got the root canal on Thursday and it really wasn't bad at all. I have actually had fillings hurt worse and be more uncomfortable than that was. He just numbed it up and that was pretty much all I felt. I did do a lot of praying that it wouldn't hurt so maybe that is what did it, but yeah it was pretty simple. I will be going to get my permanent crown put on this Friday. Hopefully that goes as smoothly as the first procedure.

Well I sure love you all and hope that this coming week is a great one for you guys. It is kind of hard to deny that the time is winding down but I am still pushing and working hard. I actually finished the Book of Mormon today for the 7th time on my mission. It is amazing the power that is in those pages. One of my favorite verses is Moroni 10:32, Where he tell us to come unto Christ and be perfected in him. It is only through Christ that we can have that hope and peace. I am just grateful that I get to be here doing this each and everyday. No Regrets that is what I am striving for. I love all of you so much and I am grateful for all you do. Have a great week

Love Elder Hunter Payne

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: 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: Member Present Lessons

Hello my dear family,
                              How is everything going back at home? It sounds like things are going great back there with everything, except for of course grandma breaking her wrist. That was really unfortunate that, that happened Make sure and give her my best and let her know that I am praying for her.
                              So wow let me tell you a little about my week. Things have been amazing out here. This is definitely one of the happiest times of my life. I am just absolutely so blessed to be where I am right now with all that is going on around me. So to start off the whole Facebook thing is crazy! It is really nice in some ways but sort of weird in others. We are currently working through all of the kinks and things but it seems to be working out ok. i an awesome experience with it on Tuesday. I was on and i saw that one of our investigators was online. she is one that it has been very hard to get a hold of for a very long time. So what I did was start chatting with her and asked how her day was going. She was struggling really bad because of some things with her mother. i was able to share a little bit with her. Then i noticed that our Elders quorum president from out at the branch was on. i connected with them both and boom there you go, an online member present lesson. It was absolutely amazing being able to help her just by sitting at a computer. That girl is actually getting baptized this coming Saturday, we are super excited because it has been a long time coming. That experience right there showed me just how effective this tool can be.
                               Well lets see what else took place this past week. On Friday we headed about an hour and a half away from Redding to a place called Gridley. We had our monthly zone leader meeting. it was a really great meeting with everyone. We discussed a lot about the way things are going in our zones. Like some of my past emails have said Redding is just exploding right now. This past month in August we averaged 36.2 member present lessons, this is huge because back in like May and June we only averaged about 19, so that is a huge jump. This past week we had 41, it is just so awesome to see the work moving forward the way that it is and to see the way that the members are rallying around us missionaries to help is such a blessing. We also talked about our upcoming training meetings, which will take place this Thursday. It was a great meeting where i really feel like i learned a lot.
                               So the reason that i am emailing so late is because we decided to utilize our surroundings and go do something fun outside. We went and did this hike called the Castle Crags hike. It is about 3 miles to the top, it was a ton of fun and great to switch things up and do things a little differently. It was a little tiring and reminded me of how out of shape i am but it was definitely worth it. Also on our way back we saw this huge fire going on. It is a couple miles outside of Redding and moving fast! But luckily not in our direction. it is headed towards two small towns call Igo and Ono which are both in our ward boundaries so hopefully they can knock it down before it gets there.
                           Well that is about it for the week. Dont worry i am still doing great and loving it here. I love you all and hope all is going well. i love you all and hope you have a great week

Love Elder Payne

Email: The Future is Now!

Hello to my wonderful Family,
                                  Well I have some very big news to share with all of you. You may have noticed some activity on my account on a certain social networking site over the past few days. No, you don't need to worry I have not just gone super disobedient and started breaking all of the rules. My mission is now one of 12 missions in the World that are piloting, you guessed it, Facebook! We found out on Friday that we are going to be using Facebook as a proselyting tool. It is crazy, I never in a million years would have thought that I would be adding people on Facebook and sharing videos and stuff on there while on my mission. The past few days have been very strange trying to figure out how we are going to be doing this. We found out that it is just going to be starting with the Zone Leaders and some select Sisters and then eventually filter out to the rest of the mission. One of the things we have to do is make our Facebook pages much more professional. That involves going through and hiding all of the pictures that are not in line with our calling, as you can imagine that means there are quite a few that I have to go through and hide. We also have to clean up all of the posts that we have been tagged in or have posted ourselves. So if you have seen that I have untagged myself there is a reason for that.
                      I am very sure that this new tool that has just opened up to us will definitely help to further the work. This is most assuredly the generation that can use these resources for what they were meant to be used for. Like I said on Friday I learned a little of how we can use Facebook to teach lessons and do things like that. This is going to be a huge learning experience for me and I am excited to see where it will lead the work.
                  So other than the announcement about Facebook the rest of the week has been pretty dull. haha  So on Wednesday I was on exchanges up in a little place called Weaverville. It is this little tiny city of only about 3,000. I got to meet some really neat people and have a lot of really great lessons. One of which was with this Less Active family. They are older and just kind of one day stopped coming to church. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and how we need to continually be reading it. There are so many teachings in there and so many things that can help us that we really can be blessed by it. The woman at one point said," I have already read it why do I need to read it again?" At the point I was able to bear my testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon and how it has blessed my life by continually reading it. I sure hope something that I said will help them. Anyways then on Friday we had our Zone conference. That is where I found out about Facebook. Then Elder McMurray and I got to give a training on the Doctrine of Love. It was a really neat experience teaching about love and how important it is to have it in our zones, districts, and companionship's. We read from Matthew 22:36-40 that talked about the first great commandment. Then we read a little from Jeffrey R. Hollands talk "The First Great Commandment". It went really well, we got to talk for about 25-30 minutes.
                                  In our zone we had 4 baptisms this past week. It was amazing to see the miracles that are taking place out here. Well I believe that is all I have for the week. Like I said it was a crazy one but it was great. I love you all and I am so grateful for the amazing family that I have. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Love Elder Payne

Email: Baby Sara and Beautiful Hike

Hello Payne Family,
            Holy Smokes only one week goes by and the whole world back home changes. First off I want to congratulate Linds and Rob with their new little baby Sara. That is so awesome that she is finally here. It seems like just yesterday that Drake was telling me over Skype that she was pregnant and now she is already here. I am really sad that i wasn't able to be there to meet her but i know i am where i should be.

         So mom i did hear about Hailey getting baptized. That was such a miracle to hear that. It has definitely been a very long road for her and i am so sure that her getting baptized is going to help her so much. I did call President to find out if I could go down to it and for some reason he said no. I don't really understand why. Him telling me that was really upsetting. I mean someone that i had worked so much with and poured so much time and energy into and I am not allowed to go and witness it. I didn't really get it. It especially sucks because i talked to her and congratulated her on getting baptized and she told Elder McMurray and I that we had to be there. Now I have to tell her that we aren't going to be able to go really sucks. I am sure everything will work out fine though I just wish it had gone a little different.
               
             So this past week was really quite slow. We were able to see  a few miracles though. Unfortunately the week started out with both Elder McMurray and I getting sick. It really was a bummer because getting sick really sucks but even worse getting sick out here on your mission is even worse. We did our best to push through it though. On Tuesday we had this great service project. We along with the whole young men's quorum went to a less active guys house that we work with a lot. He had a whole lot of yard work that he needed to be taken care of, so everyone brought their weed whackers and went to town on all of the weeds. They had everything cleaned up and ready to go in a matter of about 45 minutes. It was really impressive. Then after we had sort of a impromptu lesson with all of the young men and even better our investigators that came and helped as well. The Bishop said some very powerful things about cleansing ourselves and preparing for missionary service. It was great because both I and Elder McMurray got to bear our testimonies of missionary service. That was a wonderful night. On Thursday we had a lesson with those same investigators and set baptismal dates with them. Oh by the way they are the son and husband of the lady we baptized a few weeks ago. Anyways they accepted the date of Sept 7 for baptism. We are so excited for them both and are working very closely with them to help them get there. So now comes the highlight of the week. So all of the youth in the ward have been planning on going and doing a big hike up a mountain near here called Mt. Lassen. We thought hey this would be a great opportunity to take our investigator to get to know the youth, so we got to go on an awesome hike. We hike from about 8,500 feet to about 10,500 feet elevation. It was a beautiful hike and very spiritual as well. We got to say a prayer on the top of the mountain and wow that was amazing. I am very grateful that i got to go on that hike and see all of that. It was definitely an experience I will never forget.
             Well there is pretty much my week, it was definitely a great week but it was a very interesting one as well. I love you all very much and I hope your week goes great

Love Elder Payne

Email: Happy Monday!

Well hello to you all
                    It was so good to here from you all and be able to hear a little about what has been going on back home. It sounds like everyone has been extremely busy with parties and trips and other crazy things so I am sure many of you are exhausted. I guess it is getting to be that part of the summer when you need to start fitting in all of those extra vacations, just make sure you don't wear yourselves out too much. Thank you all so very much for all of the pictures that you sent me, it is always good to see all of your faces. Per request of Staci i need to answer a question for her. I would love for you to print off pics and send them to me because it would be a lot easier for me to get good prints of them, thank you. I am glad that the fireworks went over so well, that is great. Ya, you better expect next years show to be the biggest ever.
                       so let me tell you a bit of how my week went. Compared to most weeks this has been a relatively slow week. ha ha only because we didn't have a million and one things to get done just a million. This coming week is going to be insane! i don't quite know how to put this but it is by far going to be the busiest week of my mission. We have 2 baptismal services to schedule this week, then we also have a meeting on Friday that is for the mission leadership (Zone Leaders) that goes pretty much all day, and we also have a huge stake meeting on Sunday that we have to prepare for. On top of those few things we have to meet with all of our investigators and do many other things. So if you wouldn't mind praying for me, especially that we will be able to accomplish it all that would be wonderful! We are continuing to a lot of miracles happen though so of course I am not complaining and being busy is definitely a huge blessing. things around here are just exploding and I love it. We are getting close to the end of the transfer and i am pretty sure Elder McMurray is leaving. It will be sad to see him go but I know that i have learned a lot from him. I don't know if you heard about the Elder that died in Guatemala in  a car wreck, but that was actually one of Elder McMurrays close friends back home. So please also keep him in your prayers.
                             I am sure you are wondering why i am emailing to late as well. Well that is because for P-day today we did something a little out of the ordinary. We decide to go do an awesome hike. There are so many beautiful hikes and mountains around here that it is crazy. We hiked up to this place called Whiskeytown falls. It was only like a 2 mile hike but it was amazing. i will include some pictures at the end.
                         I want to send a HUGE shout out to the girl that is a play this evening. Yes i am talking about the magnificent and talented Hannah Rose Payne! I want to wish you good luck, and you know like they say "break a leg" but not really at least not like Drake almost did but in the way that means you are going to awesome in the play. :) I hope everything goes well and know that i will be praying for you.
                       Well everyone i love you all so much and once again i will close my email with a "I love you" and a " Cant wait to hear from yall" Hope all goes well this week.

Love Elder Payne

Email: Some Manual Labor

Hi everyone how are you all doing this week?
                    So first off I must apologize for something I accidentally omitted from my email last week. Mom called me to repentance for not doing the following and I am grateful for that. So let me tell one particular person I am so sosososososososososososososososo sorry that I forgot to tell you Happy Birthday last week. I am also sososososososososososo sorry that my card took so long to get there. I hope you at least liked it. Elder McMurray and I put a lot of thought into it. We actually were trying to decide what to do for your birthday for about 2 weeks before hand and couldn't decide on it until we finally found that card. So I hope even though it was a little late you still enjoyed it.
                   So a little about my past week. It has been a pretty good week. There actually isn't really that much to report on because even though it was a great week it was still a pretty average week. I know that isn't exactly what you want to hear but that is really about it. I was able to take over the area for the first time this past Thursday. It was a lot of fun even though I was a little nervous about it. We had quite a few good solid lessons with a few of the less active people in the ward. I guess one of the most interesting things that happened this past week was on Saturday. I was on exchanges in the Weaverville ward which is like an hour and a half west of Redding which is way up in the boonies. We had a big huge service project going on for this less active family. We had to build a wheelchair ramp into their house for their father who had been really sick. We had to build it across this big about 5 foot gap. Well lets just say it took quite a while. We started at about 8 and didn't finish up until 3:30. It was a lot of fun actually getting to do a little manual labor, the only problem was my neck and face has not seen too much sun lately well not until Saturday at least and let me tell you they saw all of the sun they could handle. After all those hours I looked at my neck and it was absolutely fried. I unfortunately wasn't too smart and forgot to wear sunblock. Way to go Elder Payne! haha Anyways like I said earlier it was a good week and this coming week is going to be even better. There is a lot going on. On Tuesday we have Presidents interviews, then Wednesday we have AP exchanges, then Saturday is our investigators baptism. So don't worry next Monday there will be a lot to report on .
                     I guess I better answer a few questions, I am in the Redding 5th ward and Shasta YSA branch and they are both great. Anyways I love you all so much and mom and dad I hope you both have a wonderful anniversary I love you both and happy 30 years together.

Love Elder Payne

Email: HOT week!

Hello to my wonderful family,
                       I hope that everyone is doing well after this past week. Can you believe that another week has passed? It seems like I was just barely sitting down to email you all. So how has everyone's week been. I hope things have slowed down a little bit with school getting out and everything. So I have forgotten to ask this the past few weeks when I email but are any of you planning and summer trips or vacations? You can tell me and I wouldn't care I promise I was just curious.
          The past week out here has been a very interesting one. I say that because we had record breaking weather out here. On Friday it hit about 105 degree, but no it did not stop there. On Saturday it got up to 111 degrees. Seeing as you know just how I feel about hot weather I am sure you could guess just how I felt on those two days. I could barely even stand being outside. Thankfully that weather is behind us and we don't have to face any like that for a while longer. It cooled off to about low 90s yesterday and now today it is like 75 or 80. Quite the swing in weather right?
          Our investigator Kris is doing very well right now. He is still meeting with us however now he is meeting with us twice a week. It is great getting so close to his baptismal date. I am so excited for him to get baptized. It is definitely one of the highlights of my mission so far getting to teach him. We talked with him mainly about the commandments this past week. We were also able to talk to him a bit about the temple and how he will be able to go and be baptized for his parents after he is baptized. We also told him that, that should be his ultimate goal, to make it to the temple.He was really happy to talk about being able to do all that. He is definitely ready to take these steps in his life.
           We also had another really neat experience happen to us this past week. We were just biking down the road next to some stores when this lady stopped us. She is probably in her late twenty's maybe early thirties. Anyways she just stopped us and was like hey are you Mormons? We answered yes we are. She then asked do you have one of those books the book of.. book of.. book of something. We asked the Book of Mormon and she answered yes that's it. We told her yes we do and proceeded to talk to her more about it. Come to find out she was from Russia and she had been taught by missionaries back in Russia. Pretty amazing that we were able to find her right there. Anyways we exchanged info and headed out. unfortunately she doesn't live in our area so we will have to hand her off to someone else. Oh well at least she got found.
          So that was a bit about my week. Thankfully things have cooled. Oh I forgot to tell you. Because of the high heat they had to cancel the high school graduation here, about half way through. they had about 15 people pass out. Two of which were in critical condition. Anyways I love you all and hope i get to here form you soon.

Love Elder Payne

Email: No transfer and Pictures

Hi guys,
            I'm sorry but this email is going to be very short. It is just basically to inform you that I am not being transferred. Elder Hyde and I am staying together for another 6 weeks. There are three of the Elders that are being transferred out. I am excited to get to know some new Elders and get to know new people.
            It was so good to get to talk to you all Yesterday. You don't really know how much you miss someone until you get to talk to them again. I just want to thank you all for all that you have done for me. I truly have the best family in the world. i don't know what I would do without you all. So thanks again for being such a wonderful family. Hey dad I was just wondering if you could send me out my "toolbox" binder out to me. I would really love to have it. Well family you are all great and I promise that next weeks email will be much longer ha ha love you

Love Elder Payne

I hope you enjoy my pictures.

Brother Allan's mountain man stuff-

 For Whitney-

 A member called my Mom for Elder Payne's favorite cake and made her famous chocolate cake for him!

 Birthday packages!

 Mikayla was baptized on Elder Payne's birthday! Hunter was a witness.

 Making goop with Mikayla-

 Birthday celebrations for Hunter!

 Letter from Drake! Drake loves to cut little pieces of paper, scribble on them, and put them in an envelope for his uncle. He also drew him a picture of himself and wrote his name! This all came in one envelope. :)