Email: Hello from Antelope

Hello family,

Well I am sure that you have a ton of questions for me because well I am in a whole new place and stuff. Well I might as well get right to it. The ward I am serving in is the Citrus Heights 4th ward and Antelope 3rd ward. There are a ton of really great people here. It has been just an absolute whirlwind trying to meet everyone and learn everyone's names and all of that info. It is pretty much the same in every new ward you move into. The first two or so weeks are always just insane and a little difficult. It is really nice having a
really good companion. He is a great guy and a great missionary too. He has been out almost a year now, in fact he has been out the same amount of time as Elder Andersen was. He is originally from Maryland,
but did go to school at UVU for a little while.

So a little more about the area and he people here. I found out that my area here actually borders my first area, Van Maren ward. Something that is really neat is that I found out that a family that I worked with a lot
in my first ward is actually living here in this ward but they are less active, so I am going to go kick them into gear and get them active again. Anyways I am sure there are going to be plenty of adventures for me to share with you all in the coming weeks and months, I definitely look forward to serving here and getting to know
all the people here so well.

So one amazing thing that happened this past week was I got the opportunity to go to the temple. I got to go with one of the recent converts from up in Redding. His name is Cody Ohlau and he has been a member for just about a year and a half. He is going to be serving a mission in Tampa Florida. So Elder Harman myself and another elder he is close with all went to the temple with him for his first time. It was such an amazing experience being able to go to the temple after having been so long since I have gone. I love that place it is
such an amazing place to be. He was one of the most prepared people I have ever met to go through the temple. He is going to be a great missionary.

Well that is about it from me I will have a lot more next week once I get settled in more and have more for you all. Oh my address here is:

4116 Pima Way, Antelope, CA 95843

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Love Elder Payne

Email: Easter & Video: Missionary Work & The Atonement

Well oh my goodness it has been a crazy week! I forgot to tell you in my last weeks email that this week is transfer week. So I will start out by telling you what the results of the transfer call is. So I found out that I am training again! How crazy is that, I just barely got done training and I am doing it again. I cant believe how soon they are having me train again. I am pretty excited to train again the only problem is that this area doesn't have to much work going on. So that only leaves room for improvement. I am very excited to find out who I am training and really help out the beginning of someones mission.
       
So this past week we got to go to the temple! I was so grateful that I was able to go and partake of the blessings of the temple. It is truly such an amazing place where the veil is so this. I was able to go with quite a few of my really close friends around here. We went Thursday and did the 12o'clock session. Did you guys know how amazing the temple is? It is so great there. I just absolutely love that place.

So the rest of the week went pretty well. It was crazy hitting my 10 month mark. I am in double digits now, how crazy is that? It doesn't seem like I have been out nearly that long. Wasn't it just yesterday that I hit 6 months now I am closing in on a year.

So we were able to have a few pretty good lessons this week. Our ward council has been having us visit and teach a lot of Less active members. It has been pretty neat just getting to teach again. We had one strange lesson again this week. We were teaching this guy the Restoration and it was going really well and he was taking it in, then we started talking about Joseph Smith and Prophets and he just freaked out and ran inside, because we were having the lesson outside. It was kind of weird just the way he took off and wouldn't talk to us anymore. Well that is about the most of the week. Like I said we have been visiting a lot of Less Active members.

Easter was OK we have church until 3:30 so we didn't really have much time to do much. Dinner was OK but it was pretty much like any other day. The talks in Sacrament meeting were pretty amazing. One lady talked about taking the sting out of death, it was absolutely amazing. We also got to paint eggs with the McGhies which was a lot of fun.
       
Thank you for all of the pictures, everyone seems to be doing great. Great job Kate on making cheer again, that is so exciting. Keep up the good work. It kind of sounds like I need to come back there and liven up the Holidays a little bit. ha ha I am glad everything is going so well. I miss you all very much, but I am grateful that I am able to be out here serving the lord.

Well someone showed me this amazing quote and video and I really think you will enjoy. There is a quote by Jeffrey R. Holland that I think you guys will really like. It says,"Missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation was never easy. We are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, this is the truth! He is our Great eternal head. Why would we think, why would we ever believe that is would be easy for us when it was never easy for Him!"

The video is absolutely riveting. Please check it out, please share. It really helps me to feel the true meaning of the Easter holiday. It is only through Jesus Christ that we can receive our everlasting Salvation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6FKiNVbw3Y

If you can watch that video without feeling the spirit resonating from it you are deceived and not truly prepared to feel the spirit in your life. I don't mean to be overbearing only bold! We must tell people and help them to find the way, to know the truth, to feel the light of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I love you all and I am so very grateful for the great blessing I have of having you in my life. Good luck in this coming week and may God bless you continually.

With Love Elder Payne

Email: Thanksgiving and Temple!

 Dear everyone,

                      Well I hope you were all able to have a very Happy Thanksgiving. I heard that there were quite a few places that you were all going so I am sure it was very busy but very great.
So for Thanksgiving we woke up and then went and played flag football for a couple of hours. It was an absolute blast! It was really muddy but I didn't mind it just added to the fun. It was really cool come to find out we had been playing with Mrs. Udy's brother or brother-in-law I can't remember. It was funny so later on in the week we went and visited her. She said she was going to be sending those pictures to you so hopefully she did. After we played football we went and had a zone breakfast. We also played a bunch of basketball. After all of that was done we went to dinner around 4. They had a lot of really great food. The best by far was they got a banana cream pie for me. After dinner we just went back to the church and played some more basketball and some card games. That was basically our Thanksgiving day.

Then definitely the best part of the week was when we got to go to the temple. Oh man that was so amazing! We went early Saturday morning and took pictures before our session. It was absolutely packed in there. It was by far the most spiritual experiences I have had at the temple so far. I just absolutely love the temple, the spirit is always so strong there.

Oh I also got your package that you sent me. Thank you so much for that. It really meant a lot to get that. I especially loved the cookies. Make sure and keep those coming my way. Isn't it crazy that this is the last week of the transfer already! By the next time I email I will know what is going on that way. Elder Newcomb thinks that he is being transferred so we will see what happens. Well I love you all and I miss you a bunch.

Love Elder Payne

Hey sorry I hope you don't take this the wrong way and I want to say this in as nice a way as possible but when you guys are coming our to visit Linds and Rob could you like just not mention it to me because it makes me kinda really homesick knowing you guys are passing like 15 minutes away from me. Thanks a ton I hope your trip to San Fran went well. Love you all.

Visiting Mrs Udy and family (his Middle School Math teacher)

Thanksgiving dinner! 

 Sacramento Temple-





Called to Serve: Entering the MTC

Hunter entered the MTC and began his mission on Wednesday, May 30, 2012.

In the words of a friend, it was a day filled with 

EXCRUCIATING JOY.

We are so unbelievably proud of him for his desire, his choice, and his willingness to serve the Lord as a full-time missionary. We have no doubt that he will have incredible success. We know that this is where he is supposed to be and that he was called to Roseville, California for a specific reason. We can't wait to see him learn and grow over the next 2 years. We will miss him more than words can express, but we are SO EXCITED for him and wouldn't want him anywhere else! 

We love you so much Hunter!

Here are pictures from the day we took him to the MTC-

Hunter held up this sign as he passed Alex Munns and his family at the crossroads in Tremonton.

Alex was on his way to the MTC as well!

Hunter was greeted with this awesome message as we drove under the Forest St. exit overpass.

Lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. The guys telling him what to expect when he gets to the MTC.

Nervous, but excited!

Walking to the Provo Temple to take pictures and say goodbye...

It was a beautiful day outside.

Families on the left saying goodbye to their missionaries...

Dad stuffed Hunter's suit coat pockets with money when Hunter wasn't looking.

Time to say goodbye see you in 2 years.

Advice from Dad...

Driving into the MTC. Dad kept it light and said to the traffic guide, "Hi, we're looking for Wendy's?" haha!

Hunter saw his buddy Hayden Marsh directing traffic while we were driving in. They talked for just a second as we drove by. Hayden has been there for 6 weeks. Hunts was so excited to run into him!

 Elder Payne's drop-off number. 24= 24 months! We all loved this!

And now we wait for our first letter....!!!

Stay tuned!

Elder Payne's Endowment

On April 7th, family gathered with Hunter as he received his endowments in the Logan Temple. It was such a beautiful day!