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: Sick..Bummer.

Hello to my family,
                            How is everyone doing this week? I know that last week was a really tough one but I hope you all made it through ok. I know that it definitely was very tough for me at times but I am doing a lot better this week. Unfortunately just yesterday I came down with a really bad cold. It has just killed me the last two days. It has sort of being going through all of us missionaries. First a sister in my zone had it then it spread to my comp. then it went to me. Sometimes as companions we share to much. haha So it sounds like Grandmas funeral and everything went really well last week. That is wonderful, that is exactly what she deserved is a great memorial to her and the wonderful lady that she was. Thank you so much dad for the package that you sent me, it really meant a lot. I was feeling really down that day and it really helped to lift my spirits. Also mom thank you so very much for that story that you sent me about getting sick. It really is amazing the miracles that our Heavenly Fathers works in our lives. Sometimes they are not as prevelant as we would like but occasionaly he works amazing miracles like this. I am so glad that things were able to go so well at the funeral.
                                So a little on what went on here this week. We spent a lot of the week working with this one family, the Windoms. We are working on helping the father quit smoking still. He seems to be getting close to quitting. He really wants to get baptized so it is really sad that he has been able to get baptized up until this point. His son is also really ready to get baptized but he is just waiting for his dad. So that is what is going on with them. Also we picked up a new investigator this past week. We got a voicemail on Monday from a little boy. He said that he is 12 years old and wants to get baptized. He has permission from his mom and is ready to take the lessons. It was pretty awesome and a great miracle. Well that is about all i have to report this week. Like I said I am sick right now and it is not easy to sit here and type I apologize but I promise next weeks will be much better and longer. I love you all so much and hope you are all doing well.

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: 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: Really Sick! :(

Hi family,
              I am really sorry but this is just a note telling you guys that I am going to be emailing you tomorrow. I am extremely sick today and can barely stand sitting at this computer right now. I was up most of the night last night puking and......well i will save you from the details of the other end. So ya it kind of sucks. In fact i threw up so hard I broke a blood vessel in my eye, and a few in my eye lids!!! crazy right well I love you and i loved all of the pictures. You guys all look so great and little savannah looked just beautiful in her dress. Once again i am sorry but I will fill you in better tomorrow. Love Elder Payne


P.S. here is a pic of me last night after upchucking what felt like two gallons of stuff!!!!

Email: Getting transferred to Rocklin

Dear Family,

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

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

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

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

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

Love Elder Payne

Email: Baptismal Date Set

Hi everyone,
                 Well let me tell you about a very interesting week I had. Things were quite slow here, perhaps one of the slowest weeks that I have had thus far. I was able to witness my fair share of miracles thought that is for sure. So as far as lessons that we were able to teach, they were few and far between. Both Elder Holbrook and myself came into this week extremely excited because we had set up the week very well. We had multiple lessons set up and lots of people to visit. Well starting Monday evening a trend started to emerge. Cancellation after cancellation started happening. It seemed like our appointments were just dropping like flies. Even those investigators who are super solid and never drop there appointments had to cancel. It was just an extremely weird week. Definitely the greatest miracle we saw this week was we were able to set a baptismal date with one of our new investigators. His name is Chris, it was really neat because we went over to a friend of his that is a member and he ended up bringing his friend as well who is not a member and guess what?  We ended up setting a baptismal date with him as well. That was so amazing seeing two people who were so prepared to hear the gospel really accepting the invitation to follow Christ. The date is set for the 9th of March. Transfers are coming up this next week, and I have a good chance of being transferred this time. It will be very interesting to see what happens though because there are so many new missionaries that are coming out it could really put a kink in how things are usually run out here.  Also this past Friday both Elder Holbrook and I got really sick. I am pretty sure it is because we both ate something bad and it made us both very nauseous and sick. We recovered by the next day though. Something that we got to do on Saturday was a lot of fun. We offered service to a less active lady and her family about a week previous and they said they are building an add on to their house and could use a little help with the construction. So I got to try my hand at a little construction work. I was helping do the flooring like laying boards and putting in stuff like that. It was pretty fun and I think I did alright, if not the family will know in a couple of weeks when they step on a weak spot in the floor and fall right through. haha  Even though this hasn't been the best week in the world I was able to keep my hopes up the whole week. I am very grateful for my Heavenly Father giving my strength when I was in need.
                                              SO it sounds like things are going well back home, busy but good. Staci I am praying for you especially in these next few weeks. Good luck with everything. To answer your question mom I have been putting that address just so if they want to send it there they can. Yes I did get dads letter and I sent one to mom just today so be looking for that.You probably shouldn't send anything to me until I find out what is going on with transfers so just letting you know. Thank you for all that you all do for me. I hope things continue to go well for all of you. I love you all.

Love Elder Payne

Email: Updates on Investigators/ Slow Week

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

Love Elder Payne