Email: Miracles!

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

Email: Following the counsel of the Prophet

Hello to you all,
                     How are you all doing? I sure hope that you have all made it back home safely or if you are currently driving I hope you are driving safely. It sounds like your trip out here to California went really well. Of course you have the normal craziness that is included in a Payne trip anywhere. I cant believe everything that you all were able to fit into a week trip that is amazing. So I have to ask what was your favorite part of the whole thing? The elephant ride looked and sounded like it was a pretty fun part. I cant believe that Lind's Ipad got stolen that is crazy! Did they have that insured? I hope so, if not that is really, really sucky. I cant believe all of the dishonest people that there are out there. Just makes you realize you're not in Tremonton anymore, now are you Dorothy! haha
                 So this past week has been pretty crazy. We are seeing so many miracles up here in Redding that it is absolutely amazing. I think a huge part of the reason that we are seeing so many great miracles is because we are taking and following the counsel of the Prophet. We are really applying what we have learned about working through the members, and I can tell you that it is amazing the difference that it is making. The miracles are just crazy too, like this week we received about 5 referrals and most of them were for other Elders. We were able to pick up quite a few new investigators as well. Our days are being filled and the Lord is maximizing our time. For example this past Wednesday was not very full. We planned the night before and we were just planning on doing some finding and contacting Less Actives. Well next thing we know some one wanted to meet, then another, then another, then next thing you know we were completely booked throughout the whole day. One man called us up out of the blue and was like hey I have someone that wants to meet you right now. So we headed over and found out the he had given her a Book of Mormon and she had already read through the 12th chapter of 1st Nephi. She was extremely interested and excited to learn more. In our first meeting with her we committed her to be baptized and she accepted. That is definitely a miracle if you ask me. Also the ward is really starting to get behind us. The Bishop is fired up, the Ward Mission Leader is fired up, and so is the entire Ward council. It is such a blessing to have a great ward behind us. I want to tell you about a great lesson we had this past Saturday, We met with this Recent Convert from the singles branch that was having some trouble. She was feeling very alone and unloved. The initial feeling of excitement and fire from being baptize was starting to wear off. She was just having a real rough time. I shared with her D&C 121: 7-9. It was such an amazing feeling as she read that. In fact she could not make it all the way through before she burst into tears. She told us the next day that, that is exactly what she needed to hear. I was so grateful for the spirit at that moment and moving me to share that with her. I was then able to testify to her how the lord is here for us and how he cares very much for us but sometimes we have to go through trials to learn and grow.
                    Things with Elder McMurray are going great he is such a great companion and I am learning so much from him. He has been out about 20 months now. Things are all going well and all of your prayers are definitely being felt.
                  Well I love you all, I don't think you noticed that my address was in last weeks email so here it is again 2148 Placer st. Redding, CA 96001. I love you all and hope that all is going well. Keep up those prayers. I love you all.

 Love Elder Payne

Elder Payne and his new companion Elder McMurray

 Hot! Hot! HOT!

Email: So Much Great News!

Hello to you all,
                     Well from moms email it sure sounds like you are all having a pretty busy summer. That sounds pretty normal for the Payne household. Katey congrats on making All-American that is awesome. I am so proud of you. Hannah I am so happy for you as well. It sounds like you are staying extremely busy as well. How is the play practices going? Are you working hard? I sure hope so because the harder that you work the more it will be worth it.
                      So I am not going to tell you about transfers yet because I want to keep you on the edge of your seat. Let me tell you a bit about this past week. This week we were on exchanges quite a bit. That is one of my responsibilities as District Leader is to go on exchanges with everyone in my district. Well just with scheduling two of those exchanges happened on the same week. It made it feel like I basically wasn't in my area at all this week. ha ha Elder Hyde did a great job of taking over the area. He is really filling in very well. On Wednesday we had Kris Conrad's baptismal interview. That went very well. He was a little surprised when he showed up to the church and there were 6 Elders there. Everything was going well, or so we thought, until the Elder who was interviewing him asked me to come in for a moment. He told us that he felt that we should postpone the baptism for a little bit because he didn't get a clear answer on whether or not President Monson was a Prophet. Kris was like hang on a second I didn't say that I said that all the Prophets are Prophets and that the Priesthood authority was handed down. It was really neat seeing him really stand up for his beliefs like that. Anyways the interviewer was like alright sounds great we will proceed then. So then came the baptism on Saturday. Kris came and picked us up on Saturday at about 11:20 because the baptism was scheduled for 12:00. When we showed up it was great because we had to hand him off to other elders they had to take care of setting everything up. Kris was so amazed at the support that he got . There were quite a few people that showed up for the baptism, people from both our ward and from there ward. The baptism went very smoothly. I was so grateful that i was able to step down into the water with someone as prepared and amazing as him. When he came up out of the water he was just absolutely glowing he just couldn't contain himself. The sister of the other ward were very nice and prepared a great lunch after the baptism. On Sunday Elder Hyde confirmed Kris and he did a great job. He gave him a great blessing as well. I know for sure that Kris is going to go very far. I am so grateful that I have had this opportunity to teach him. I know that there are going to be a lot of other people I teach, but I know that Kris is definitely one that I was sent here to teach.
                        I did get to watch the Broadcast at our church building. I didn't realize that Derek was on it I am going to have to try and find it again so that I can try and see him. So as far as facebook and stuff like that, we have not received and info on that yet. I am sure that we are going to be hearing more about that soon. I will keep you updated.
                              Alright so here is the big news. I am being transferred, I am actually going to be a zone leader now. I am also going to the very furthest North zone in the mission, Redding. I get to go be companions with Elder McMurray, who is one of my very good friends out here. I am so pumped for a variety of reasons, great area, great, comp, and many others. So that is all for now I love you all and you are all in my prayers. Thank you for all of the prayers on my behalf as well. I love you all.

Love Elder Payne

Email: Baptism of Keriann and Tyler

Hello to my great family,
                                  How have you all been doing this past week. It sounds like things there are crazy as ever. I hope you all are at least finding sometime to sleep in all of your busy schedules. I know there are a ton of the families out here that are going crazy this time of year and I just kind of chuckle to myself and think ya I remember what that was like back home.
                                    So just a little update on how I am doing. I am officially feeling a ton better. I thought I had kicked on Wednesday because I was feeling much better and we were able to go out and work some more and get some things done. Then on Thursday we went on exchanges and something hit me again Thursday. I woke up and I was really sick again. Mainly just my stomach. The worst part was having to go and teach District meeting. I was able to work through it and we ended up having a pretty good meeting. Later on that day I was feeling much better and we were still able to go out.  I think I am completely recovered from my little spell of whatever it was that hit me now. Hopefully I scared it off because i definitely do not want that coming back again. It was not fun at all.
                                      As you all know we had a baptism on Saturday, that went absolutely amazing. There was so much support from the ward and I am sure that Keriann and Tyler both felt so welcome there. We were able to get a lot of the young women from the ward to come and help with the program. I think that is great because they will both really be able to feel just how much they are cared for. Elder Hyde was able to baptize Tyler and i got the opportunity to baptize Keriann. When they both came up out of the water they just seemed ecstatic. After I was talking to Tyler and he just kept telling me that was so great, and that was so fun, and i loved that. ha ha He is such a great kid. Then on Sunday I got to confirm Tyler and Elder Hyde confirmed Keriann. So we just switched. That went great as well and the spirit was very strong there. They are going to do so well and I know that their family will be very blessed for all that they did.
                                    Now a little bit about Kris. Mom you asked why we don't meet at his house. So that is because the lady that he is renting from is extremely anti-Mormon. He is scared that she might get kicked out if she knew that he was interested in the church. He is still doing great as well. We met again last Friday and he committed to be baptized on the 22nd of June. We covered, in our lesson, the rest of the Restoration lesson that we did not cover last time. He once again loved the concept of the Priesthood and that we have Apostles and Prophets on the Earth today. He came to church with us on Sunday and there were some great messages that were given. There was a lot on missionary work and finding answers for ourselves There were also some that were about conversion. It was such a great time for him to be there. He is also wanting to meet with us more!
                                       i just wanted to write quickly on my year mark. Wow isn't it crazy that i have been out a whole year! For me it has just flown by. I just finished the Book of Mormon from the challenge that we did. It just struck me when I finished oh man this is the goal I have been working for, for so long. It was so amazing to look back and see just how far I have come in what seems at times like an extremely short amount of time. I only pray and hope that I will continue to grow and learn as much I have in these past 12 months. Thank you for supporting me so well and I ask that you will continue to help me over these next 12.
                                    Well that is about our week. There wasn't too much that has been going on, mainly because I was sick. I love you all and I am so grateful for all of the support and love that you have sent my way. I hope you all had a great memorial day weekend and good luck with the rest of you week.

Love Elder Payne
                   

Email: Baptism this Saturday!

Dear Family,
                 Hello to you all, well here is a little update on how things have been going. I am currently feeling quite a bit better than I was yesterday and this morning. Up until just a little bit ago I want able to get much fluid or food in me without it going straight through me. As you could tell I was a little dehydrated. Hopefully I can start getting things to stay down now. I should be feeling quite a bit better tomorrow.

                   Well anyways enough about me haha lets talk more about what has been going on out here. Lets start with the Allans, they are still doing great. We had our last lessons with them last week. We covered the Word of Wisdom on Tuesday and then on Wednesday we covered the Law of Tithing. As you can imagine they took all of it just fine and didnt have any problems with any of it. They are looking very solid for this Saturday. We were getting everything set up for the baptismal program and Keriann their daughter wants me to baptize her! I am really excited because this family is one that I have gotten really close to over my time here.

                  Alrighty well let me tell you about one of the investigators we picked up this last week. So this guy was a media referral that we have not been able to contact for about a month and a half. The thing with him was that in the referral info all there was, was a phone number and no address. In the info it said that he did not want us contacting him at his house, which I thought was funny because there was no address anyways. haha Anyways finally we got a hold of him and he said he would meet us at the church. So we met with him and lets just say that he is one of the most prepared people I have ever met. We started out talking about his past associations with the church. He told us that his older sister had met with the missionaries when they were younger. He said that he could really feel a difference when the missionaries would come over. Then he told us how he went to the open house of the nauvoo temple and he just absolutely loved the feeling that he had there. Then he told us how he went to temple square in Salt Lake and had the same feeling. Well I told him that, that was the Holy Ghost and that there is a reason that he feels that way in those places. Well he also came to church with us on Sunday and  definitely the best part was after when he told us how much he loved the High Priest Group. He said that he felt so privileged to be in a room with so many amazing men who have the spirit radiating from them so well. We are going to be meeting with him again on Friday. I am so excited to meet with him again.

                    Hey I just wanted to comment on what has been going on with you guys. That is so awesome about the baby blessing. You all looked great and it looked like it was a great experience. Savannah looked absolutely gorgeous as well. By the way I liked how in one of the pictures dad is holding a cup of Diet Coke. haha I am sorry about the rain, it seems like that is just sort of a theme that goes a long with our family activities. Also something really neat about the scripture that you sent me. So in my personal scripture study I found the exact same scripture and I really, really loved it. It was so cool that you had heard the same exact thing.
                   Well that was pretty much the highlights of our week. It was a good week right up until I got sick things should be better now though.I love you all and hope you have a great week.

 Love Elder Payne

Addendum from Mom:

Hi everyone, 
   Just a little info on the first of his letter.  We got a short email from him on Monday saying that he was really sick and would email us tomorrow.  After you see the picture of him you'll understand just how sick he was.  So thankful that he has great people in his ward to take care of him. The McGhies have been so great to he and his companion and it is their daughter Makaylie that was baptized on his bday, after they adopted her two weeks ago.  Buffy, the mom, called to just check on them since she hadn't heard from them since Sunday and she knew he wasn't feeling well.  She wouldn't take no for an answer and went to the store and got him all the things he needed to get feeling better.  They are an amazing couple and I am so thankful for them.  She called and let me know that she was taking good care of him and that he was slowly getting back to the land of the living.  The Lord is so mindful of his missionaries!! So grateful to have him serving on a mission.  Thanks for all of your love and prayers in his behalf.  Have a great week.
Love,
Sheri

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. :)

Happy 20th Birthday Hunter!!!

A member in Elder Payne's ward contacted Mom about a week ago to find out what Hunter's favorite dinner and dessert is. What an amazing lady!

She made him poppy-seed chicken for dinner and then made my mom's FAMOUS CHOCOLATE CAKE that is Hunter's absolute favorite!

She was sent this picture tonight. What a fantastic surprise!

Tomorrow is Elder Payne's birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUNTER!!!

Email: Baptism Dates Set!

Dear Family,
           Wow, let me tell you this past week has absolutely flown by. I have barely had time to breath. ha ha We definitely kept ourselves busy the entire week, which of course is a blessing. So let me tell you a little about what happened with the Allan family. SO they are the less active family that we have been working a lot with lately. Last we they agreed to have their children start taking the lessons. This of course was absolutely amazing news and something I have been waiting for, for a long time. So we went over Tuesday and had the Restoration lesson with them. It went absolutely amazing! They both were just taking it all in and seemed to be understanding very well what we were teaching them. We committed them both to be baptized and they both accepted! They are scheduled to be baptized on May 18th. On of the most amazing parts and the most spirit filled parts of the lesson was at the end. We started talking about prayer and the importance of it. I invited them all to kneel down and have a prayer, right then I asked Bro. Allan to give us the closing prayer because he is the head of the household. I just bowed me head and didn't even give a chance not to accept. Anyways he gave a wonderful prayer and after he finished he said," I want to let you Elders know that, that is the first time that I have prayed out loud in front of anyone in 20-30 years!" Holy smokes, at that moment the spirit was so strong it was almost tangible. There has been such a huge change in that family that it is amazing. I am just so grateful that I am able to be apart of it. We had another lesson with them on Thursday and that went extremely well too. We covered the Plan of Salvation and it went very smoothly. They were also in church on Sunday. They are coming a long very well.
                  So the finalizing of Mikaylas adoption went very well. They told us it honestly only took about 5 to 10 minutes once they got in there. We had a joint Restoration/Plan of Salvation lesson with her just to go through and overview everything. She is a very smart girl so she has everything down. She is on track to get baptized on May 11th.
                    Also I know that you asked about Cece and what is going on with her, well unfortunately we have not been able to get a hold of her at all this past week. We have called and called and gone over there. We are a little nervous that something may have happened so we are going to keep working on her. Hopefully everything is fine, but you never know.
                   Lastly for the big updates of our investigators there is Marian. She is the older lady that lives in our apartment complex. She actually came to church yesterday. She is actually doing very well. We are hoping that we can set a baptismal date with her soon, but she does still have a little ways to go. She is making great progress though. So as you can see things are picking up nicely. we have a few other potential investigators that we are working with so I will keep you updated with them.
                   Also just a quick note I found out recently that the Lopez family from Lincoln is going to be getting sealed together in the temple soon! I really hope President will let me go.
                   It looks like everyone is keeping quite busy back home. That is great! I really loved all of the pictures that you send me so keep that up. Little Savannah is growing up so fast it is crazy. Wow and she is such a beautiful little baby. Hopefully things will slow down eventually. I am sure they wont too son because it is getting close to the end of the school year so that always means there is plenty of stuff to do.
               As far as skyping goes, I will most likely be doing it after my church which will be about 5 your time. That is what will work out best for me. Just letting you know so you can get everything worked out. Well everyone I love you all very much and I have definitely been feeling your prayers this past week thank you for all that you do. I love you all so much.

Love Elder Payne

Email: Do miracles cease? No!!!!

Dear Family,
                 Wow what an amazing week I have just been through. So starting out the week on Tuesday, I was on exchanges. I was with one of the zone leaders in my ward and Elder hyde went with the other zone leader to the other ward. Well we had a wonderful day that day. We had a lesson with Cece and that lesson was absolutely amazing. We started out talking mainly that we lived with our Heavenly Father before and then went through the lesson. There were parts of the lesson that she was almost in tears, especially when we started talking about how she would one day be able to live with her husband again. It was so amazing being able to convey the importance of the Plan of Salvation to her. She is still doing really well and progressing very well towards her baptismal date of May 18th. The next big step with her is just getting her to come to church. We are going to be working with her a lot this week on coming to church.
                 OK so that was miracle number one, you may not say that it was necessarily a miracle but hey it was a miracle to me. So miracle number two, lately we have been working very closely with a less active family. The husband in the family wasn't able to come to church for a long time because he is a truck driver so he is gone a lot. Well recently he had a medical emergency which made it so he has to be off work for about 3 or 4 months. Well that gives them plenty of time to come to church now doesn't it. ha ha SO we have been going over there a lot and keeping pretty close contact with them. On Friday we went over and started sharing a message with them about realizing the blessings in our life. I was planning on asking the parents if they would like to have there kids. who are both 14 and not baptized, to have the lessons. Well before i could even start talking she cut me off and said We would really like to have our two kids take the lessons and get baptized! Oh my goodness that was so amazing to hear and know that they are so ready and willing to open themselves to the Gospel. We are going to be meeting with them twice a week and we are shooting for a baptism for them on May 18th or 25th.
                Alright so there are two great miracles for you, how about one more. So the McGhies have a little girl that is 11 years old. They have been trying for about the last year and a half to fully adopt her. Well I am pleased to announce that there waiting is over. She will be fully adopted on Tuesday the 23rd of April. We are also going to overview and finish the lessons with her and try for a baptism on May 11th. This has been a long wait for the McGhies so as you can imagine this is a huge miracle. I am very grateful that i am going to be able to be a part of her learning and growing in the gospel. She is such a sweet little girl and she is so blessed to be adopted into a wonderful family that will help her to learn and grow not only in life but in the gospel as well.
               Well this has been a crazy week and very full as well. We have been working hard and trying to get things done. A few other updates, our ward mission leader in our ward just got released, also the former Elder Halle now just Matthew halle came out and visited us. He came by yesterday and so i got to talk with him for a while. It was great to see an old familiar face from the beginning days of my mission.
              So about my B-day, I had a feeling you were going to ask about that. I am pretty sure I got a new bike for that so I think I am OK. ha ha maybe some new garments or socks would be great ha ha. Those thicker gold toe socks that you sent me are really nice so I wouldn't mind some more of those. but hey if you are really asking I guess I kind of like this watch. http://www.gshock.com/watches/Classic/GA100A-7A I know I already got a watch for Christmas but that is pretty much the only thing I can use out here. Anyways like I said I feel like I already got my B-day present so if you don't get it that is just fine.
               About skyping, I am not entirely sure of the time yet. I will have to let you know, we have church at 12:30 so it may be before or after church i am not sure right now I will get you more info next week. Are Lindsay and Rob coming home for that because if not I know that there is a way to skype multiple people at one time =. Anyways just let me know. I love you all so very much and hope all continues to go well.

Love Elder Payne

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: Feeling the Savior Guiding Me

Dear everyone,
                         How is everyone doing back in freezing Utah? Are the computers even still working with how cold and snowy it is? haha  It sounds like there has been a lot going on back home, just like every week I guess. That was a really sweet story about Hannah. I really appreciate you sharing that with me it helps me to know and feel how blessed and loved I am. Hannah I hope you know that I love you as well. Also that is a huge bummer that the bears lost. It sounds like it was a real heart breaker. I'm sure they will bounce back though and turn out just fine. I am really glad that dad liked my card i definitely put a lot of thought into that one and gave it my own personal touch if you couldn't tell. When I saw it in the store I was just like man that is definitely right up dads alley. Oh yeah make sure you aren't wrecking that truck, haha I still really like that thing and I would like to return with it still in one piece, however that sounds just like dad though gotta push  it to the limit. So as far as Staci goes wow I cant believe there are only like 4 weeks left. That is insane! Don't fret too much Staci, you are going to be an excellent mother.
                              So a little bit about what has been going on out here in good ole' California. As I'm sure you know it has been a chilly 65 degrees out here. Some days it is so chilly I even have to think about putting on a jacket. Whew Life is tough! haha So this past week has been a great improvement from the week previous. It started out kind of slow, with not finding many people home and a few cancelled appointments but towards the end it definitely took off. So this past Wednesday was an amazing day. We had a lesson with Juanita and Mario where we went over the Plan of Salvation and their Book of Mormon reading and they were taking it in so well. Everyone about the Plan of Salvation just rang so well in their ears. She was a little worried that she wasn't really going to be able to know who her mother was in heaven so we shared Alma 34: 32-34 with her and she was absolutely amazed. Just simply that we are the same people on the other side of the veil as we are here, and if we do our best and live correctly we can live with our families forever. She was so happy to hear all of that, and wow the Spirit was so strong in that meeting. We also talked about both of their Book of Mormon reading so far and in a week and a half she had read 70 pages. I was absolutely shocked when she told us that, the reason being is that we have had such a hard time getting her to read. We set a goal with both of them to finish 2nd Nephi and then come to church. Well they both agreed and so hopefully they will be coming very soon.  So later that night we had a little scheduling conflict, we had to decide between dinner and a lesson with our recent converts or dinner and a lesson with one of our investigators, so we did what any missionary would do and went to both. So we had a lesson at 5:30 and dinner at 6:30 at our recent converts, where we taught them the Plan of Salvation. Then at 7:30 we walked about 4 houses down and had dinner about 10 minutes later. As you can all imagine I was quite stuffed because of course I don't want to be rude and not take very much at one house. So I ended up stuffing myself to the point I thought I was going to pop, no joke my belly had to have been as big as Staci's! Only the problem is, mine was only a food baby, not a real baby. We had a really good Restoration with our investigator. Everything went well and he is progressing slowly. The rest of the week was pretty slow, nothing to special ever. As soon as Saturday hit, however, things just exploded! We went on exchanges, elder Holbrook in the other area and me in mine, and we absolutely tore up the town. We were able to find 3 new investigators before noon. One through potentials, one through a referral, and one through just plain tracting. It was such an amazing morning and I could definitely see the lords hand in it. Two of the three that morning were people that we had tried multiple times as well but could never get an answer. Oh but wait there is more later on in the day I just really felt like we should go try this couple, who we had tried multiple times, but had never been home. Well guess what? We found them home, and they were extremely open to learning more. That day was such a blessing to be able to to really feel the Savior next to me guiding me and helping me a long. So that was pretty much our week. There were many miracles and many blessing pour out upon us here in which I am so very grateful.
                               I was able to read this scripture this past week and I just really want to share it with you all. It is Romans 5:19 "For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."  I just loved how well this stated things. It constantly amazes me how powerful an example is. Just like this scripture states examples are so important. No matter who we are or where we come from people are always watching us, so be the example that our Heavenly Father would be proud of. Thank you all for all you do and all of the support you give me. I hope you all have a wonderful week. Love Elder Payne

Email: Christmas Week

Hello Family,
                 Well it sure sounds like if there was any one year to be away from home for Christmas it was this year. I cant believe that basically all of you got sick, that is horrible. To answer your question, no I have not gotten sick out here. There has been a bug going around but I have been blessed and haven't caught anything yet. It was really great getting to see you all and talk to you for so long. I am glad that you all were feeling well enough to be able to talk to me. That also really sucks that there is no Perry New Years Eve party. We haven't skipped that party in a long time. So I guess a little about what I did after skyping with you all. Elder Holbrook and I just headed back to our apartment and cleaned a bit.(I know sounds like an awesome Christmas day activity)ha ha anyways we headed to dinner at a member of the ward about 5. They had a ton of family over, which was a little awkward because we didn't really know anyone that well. They had us play some games with them, which was really fun. Then we ate and took off for the church. There we played basketball for about 4 or 5 hours. It was a blast! We had a whole bunch of missionaries and so there always a game going. So that was basically what we did all Christmas day. A lot of food, a lot of basketball, and a lot of fun. Also to answer your other question, no neither of us were all that homesick. We didn't really have much time to be homesick. So don't worry we were doing just fine.
                     The rest of the week was pretty lame. It was really hard to meet with anyone. Mainly because, basically no one could meet up with us. We spent one day out for about 4 hours  and even with all of the doors that we knocked only like 2 people answered. As you can imagine that was a very long day. Things should start to improve soon though, especially with everyone getting back onto more of a set schedule. There were a few good things that came out of this past week. We were able to start meeting with Juanita and Mario again. They are doing really well and have really recommitted to reading the Book of Mormon and searching out the truth. We are going to be taking them on a chapel tour this week. We also met a new couple, Jerry and Jolene. They are a part member family, Jolene is a member and Jerry is not. We are going to begin teaching them very soon. We were also able to reset Rodney's baptism date for the 19th of January. We are extremely excited for that, and really praying hard that it will go through. Other than that nothing else has really been going on. I guess the only other thing is I hit my 7 month mark yesterday. Pretty weird stuff , it feels like I hit 6 months just last week.
                        I'm sorry that this email is so boring but that kind of how this week has gone. Anyways everything is going great my suits are holding up well, my shoes are still holding in there, and my shirts are great too. Oh and to answer your other question, no we do not ride our bikes in the rain. We actually do not ride our bikes very much at all. Mainly because our area is quite small so we don't really have to, plus it really really sucks riding bikes in the rain. Well that's all for this week I love you all so very much. I think I have noticed that more this past week than I have in a long time. Also thank you for all of the love you have been sending my way. In all of the various forms. Once again I love you all and I hope you have a Happy New Year! Love Elder Payne

Picture from a Member

Pictures Galore! (Sept-Oct)

The memory card is back and we have many pictures to share! Enjoy!

Pictures from 7/28/12-10/17/12

(with Hunter's captions)

Pioneer Day Celebration

 Creepy spiders I saw-

Awesome picture I made- 

 Somebody's cool dog-

 The Triple Burger- I ate a triple, then a double, then a single. Yes, I was very sick after.

 Pretty flower-

 Last P-day before transfers-

 Last time with Elder Woolley-

New companion, Elder Halle/ We got new chairs!-

Nathan and Renton, the two coolest kids in the ward-

My little trick I do-

 Ultimate Plan of Salvation chart-

 Brolympics (ward party)-

Nasty pie with almonds, olives, and prunes (he won the pie eating contest)

 Jousting, I was the overall champion- (with red helmet)

 Bouncy velcro wall-

 Sweet rifle-

 Monkey bread!

 Sister Funua-

 Announcement 18 year olds can now go on missions!

 Elder Rodriguez, Spanish Elder-

 Daddy Daves, Part II

 We are Awesome!

(Elder Halle)

 Last of the district-