Email: Happy Monday!

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

Love Elder Payne

Email: Crazy, Busy Week!

Hello to my wonderful family,
                    So did I mention last week that this was going to be a busy week, why yes I believe I did. Well that definitely came to pass. Holy smokes let me tell you this past week has been insane! It has been so stressful and yet at the same time there have been so many amazing things that have happened.
                    Let us start at the beginning of the week. How about Tuesday? So Tuesday we had interviews with President Weston. They went really well. He didn't have to much to say to me in fact it only took like five minutes. I think a big part of it was that I told him in my last interview before this that I just want to be one of those missionaries that he doesn't have to worry about. That he knows that I am always doing what I am supposed to do and being diligent. We talked a little about me being a zone leader and how I was liking that. We talked about the work a little bit, so ya it went well. So after that the miracles really started to happen. We had a lesson with Nike one of our investigators in the singles branch and we committed her to quit smoking and then right after that we committed her to be baptized. She accepted both so we are currently working with her on that. Well then later that evening we had a lesson with Dean and Tracey, and before I go on I am just going to tell you that they could really use your prayers. Anyways so we have been working with them for a long time now. Especially with Dean because he is trying to quit smoking and it has been really hard for him and that is the only thing holding them back from being baptized. Well we committed him right then and there to quit smoking and for both of them to be baptized. I then asked him for his cigarettes, it was extremely hard for him but he gave them to us. So for all three people we are working towards the 3rd of August for baptism. After that we went on exchanges the Assistants to the President. Well let me tell you that was an interesting day. I was with one of the assistants who is known as one of those missionaries that likes to brown noes President. Anyways it was a pretty good day. Apart from him partially offending one of the members of our ward.
                         Well the rest of the week was pretty great but stressful none the less. On Friday we had to do a ton of reports so yes mom there are a few things different about being zone leader. I feel like I am adjusting pretty well to all of the new work load though. So then came the craziest day yet, Saturday. So in the morning we had to drive about an hour and a half South to a baptism in a place called Chico. Someone that Elder McMurray taught about a year ago was getting baptized and he asked McMurray to come baptize him. So that was an amazing thing getting to see someone that went through so much get baptized. Then later on , on Saturday we had another baptism, this one was for Mitch who was an investigator in our ward. It went so well, he was just absolutely glowing. I love seeing someone who is so prepared get to enter into the waters of baptism. That is something that I have really seen out here so far. That there really are people that are so ready to be baptized. I love being able to feel the spirit in those lessons. I know for a fact that the lord is mindful of his children, he knows what we need and he loves us all so much. I also know that repentance is such a real thing. Repentance is available for everyone, no matter what we have done as long as we come with that truly repentant heart the Lord will forgive us.
                        So Sunday Mitch received the Holy Ghost. One of the members of the Ward was able to give him that. He told us that he just felt so much of a difference now. Well like I said there was a ton of stress this week but it was so worth it. It is a great feeling at the end of the day when you are able to lay your head down on the pillow and know you put in a hard days work. Well I love you all so much. Good luck to all of you especially Hannah and Katelyn. I know that you have a ton of stuff going on and just know that I am praying for you all. I love you and hope you all have a great week.

Love Elder Payne

Email: Some Manual Labor

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

Love Elder Payne

Email: 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: Hello From Redding!

Well hello to all of the members of my marvelous and wonderful family.
I send my regards from Redding. Well I will tell you more about my area and all of the new stuff in a little bit.
          It sounds like you are all doing really good. I am glad that you all made it out to Cali safely. I am happy that I am finally more than two hours away from a member of my family. haha Hannah looks really really cute in her dress. She is going to do so well in her play. I cant wait to hear more about it. It was pretty funny i have to tell you, this is mostly for Katelyn. So I pulled up the pic of her and all of the cheerleaders that you sent me and next thing I know there are 5 other Elders hovering over my computer checking out that picture. It was pretty funny, I had too exit out pretty fast just to make sure that they are all staying focused. Anyways like I said everything out here is going great.
        Now what you are all waiting info on the new area. So we will start out with the negative stuff then move to the great stuff. So as you have heard yes it is extremely hot here. In fact it is so hot that at some points I fell like my shoes are melting. On Tuesday when I got here it was raining, so that was nice because it to ok the temp. down a bit. Then on Wednesday it started to really heat up. Unfortunately because of the rain it was really humid. Since then it has not come down from the 100's, in fact it has been over 110 most days.  The problem is as well that it does not cool down at nights. Last night at 9:00 it was still 93 degrees. It is a lot like St. George weather around here. Now to continue my little pity party the very best part, we do not have A/C in our apt. That makes for some fun times sleeping. Luckily at least we have a swamp cooler. It doesn't do much but at least it does something.
          OK enough with the negative stuff on to the great things. Elder McMurray is a freaking stud. I absolutely love being companions with him. We have been talking and we are sure this is just a sign that we need to be brother-in-laws now. So Katelyn you better start writing him more consistently so that our plans can work out. Anyways things are going great. Right now we are covering two different wards. The main one is the Redding 5th ward and the second one is the Shasta student branch. it is a lot of fun working with people my age and getting to know them. We actually split those wards with a set of Sister missionaries. it makes the work definitely very different but a lot of fun as well. We have a few really solid inv. right now. One family is the Windums, they are such a great family and one that is very prepared. The only thing holding them back right now is that the father smokes and he is really trying hard to quit. As soon as he quits they can get baptized. The other really good inv. we have is Mitch. He just committed to be baptized yesterday. He is going to be baptized on the 20th of July. i really love it here because of the trees and all of the mountains. It is really beautiful here. From where i am I can see a good portion of Mt. Shasta. You should look up pictures of it because it is a really pretty mountain.
        Well that is about it for now I love you all and hope all is well.

Love Elder Payne

P.S. My address is 2148 Placer Street Redding, CA 96001

Transferred to Redding- New Address

2148 Placer Street

 Redding, CA 96001

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: Happy Father's Day!

Hi guys,
            Happy Fathers day!!! Dad i hope you had a wonderful Fathers day because you definitely
deserve it. Did you all do anything fun for Fathers day? I saw the pic of dad in his new shirt. He was looking pretty good. haha
             So a little problem from this past week, So Kris our investigator is doing great. The only problem is that he is no longer our investigator. I will explain. So this whole time we have been meeting with him we did not know exactly where he lived. We had a general idea but didnt know his exact address. Anyways the reason behind that was he had some elders try to come by his house when he had asked them not too. They thought that he had gotten really mad at them so that is why they never followed up with him. So for some reason we got a media referral for him. So that is why we started teaching him. Anyways after all that we found out he actually lives in the other area. We called president trying to figure out what he wanted us to do. He told us that we should have him baptized in the other ward. We had a lesson on Friday with Kris and the other Elders. We had a big lesson on Priesthood keys and the reason that the church is so organized. When we told him that we had to pass him off to the other Elders he started to get really emotional. I felt really bad but i stuck to my guns. After we explained it for a while he seemed to understand it a lot better. He asked if I would baptize him and if Hyde could confirm him. We also went to church in that ward with him. So hopefully everything is still going to go well for him. We are really working hard to make him feel more comfortable. Everything is still on track for his baptism though so that should all work out well.
           We were able to pick up a new investigator this week. She has a ton of friends that are members so it is great because we have a ton of built in fellowship. We are going to be trying to work a lot with Less actives this coming week so that should be great.
            I was thinking there is a good chance I might be getting transferred this next week. So if you were going to send me a letter or anything just make sure you send it before like Wednesday so i will get it before transfers. Thank you all for all the love and support. Yes I did get the package and the G's fit fine. Thank you so much. If you could send me a pic of the fence that is crazy! Love you guys  Love Elder Payne

Email: HOT week!

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

Love Elder Payne

Email: Investigator Feels the Spirit

Hello there family,
                         How is the always busy and crazy Payne clan doing? It sounds like there is finally actually a chance for things to slow down, at least maybe a little bit. I am glad that last week went smoothly for all of you. I know that the last week is a lot of times the most stressful time of the year. I cant believe that dads car got broken into. That is crazy. You guys might be a little to trusting of our neighborhood. It is sad to see the evil of the world even creeping into our little area of the world.
                        Well let me tell you a little bit about my week. This past week has been a pretty decent week. We had Zone conference on Wednesday here in Rocklin. We got together with one other zone. I didn't have too many buddies in that zone but I was able to see a few guys. A lot of the zone conference was based on not shrinking. He based that part off of a talk given by Elder Bednar. I will send that talk to you.Anyways then we went over a lot about Repentance and how best to teach it. It was a very powerful meeting where I learned a lot.
                         On Friday I went on exchanges with an Elder in my district. His name is elder Edwards. He is a great guy. It has been heating up a lot here so Friday and Saturday were both just blazing hot. So during basically that whole exchange we were doing our best to stay cool. I forgot to tell you that on Thursday night I did burn a shirt. I sent you guys my memory card in the mail so you will get to see that. It was pretty awesome. Anyways the exchange went really well. We talked to some less active guy in there ward and he is a California highway patrolman so we got to talk about guns a lot which was  great.
                          So Friday E. Hyde and the other elder he was with taught Kris the Plan of Salvation lesson. He apparently was just ecstatic about it and was loving that Plan that we have. He wanted to meet again with us which was great. We met again the next day so on Saturday. We went over the Gospel of Jesus Christ and covered a lot about Repentance and how we can be cleansed from sin through Christ. He was about in tears at some parts of the lesson. Then after the lesson I asked him if he felt like he knew that this church was true and if he needed to get baptized. He responded that yes he did and that he really felt it when we asked him to be baptized. When he said that it felt like an electric shock when from the top of my head all the way through my body and out the tips of my toes. It was such a neat experience and to feel the spirit that strong at that moment was such a confirmation to me that he truly is prepared. He came to church again on Sunday and he brought fast offerings and he was even parInvticipating in class. He is such an amazing individual and he truly has a testimony of all of this.
                      I just wanted to tell you all thank you so much for the package you sent me. It is so crazy that I already hit my year. I really feel like I have grown so much and that I still have a lot of growth to come. I am still trying to work hard and fulfill my duty out here. I love you all so much and I am so grateful for you all. May God continue to watch over you and protect you.

Love Elder Payne

Link to Elder Bednar's talk that Elder Payne refers to- http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/ces-devotionals/2013/01/that-we-might-not-shrink-d-c-19-18?lang=eng

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
                   

Beautiful Day!!

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: 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. :)

Skyping on Mother's Day!

Hunter's view-

 Payne Family view-

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: Update on Investigators

Well Hello to everyone,

Wow what an amazing week that we have had out here. There have been a few low points, but hey that  happens. So lets get the lows out of the way. First off I thank you all very much for all of the prayers that you have said on Cece's behalf. Unfortunately this past week she dropped us and is no longer going to
be taking the lessons. It was really quite a shock how it happened. As you know from the last email that i sent about her the lesson that we had with her went very well. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and how it can bring us strength and peace in times of trial. At times it seemed as if she was about in tears. Well after that we could not get a hold of her at all. We tried relentlessly with no results. Finally we went over one day and she was home. We met her at the doorway and she did not seem that happy to see us. She  mentioned to us that either her Sister or sister-in-law had just passed away. We did our best to show her we cared and asked if there was anything that we could do to help. We asked if we could come back and talk with her more and help her out and she told us that she did not want us to come back. Oh man that kind of sucked mainly because i know how much this message could help her if she would only accept it. I guess at this time she just isnt ready for it. We are going to try back in a few weeks and see if there is any renewed interest on her behalf.

So there is kind of the downer part of the week but let me tell you about what else has been going on here. Mikayla is doing awesome! She is so excited for her baptism this coming Saturday. We have been going over the lessons with her, just to review for her baptismal interview. She is a very smart girl and has remembered basically everything that the other missionaries have taught her. We have been busy setting up the program and so that has kept things interesting. What is awesome is she actually asked me to be one of the witnesses! I am so excited and yes it is going to be a wonderful birthday present. I just want to reiterate what i have already said in past emails. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be apart of helping her in her path to baptism. There have been so many missionaries that have taught her and there have been so many prayers said specifically for her to get adopted, and some how i have been lucky and blessed enough to be here and be apart of the actual ordinance. Wow what an amazing experience.

Well Keriann and Tyler are still doing great. We have gone over the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a few of the
commandments. They are taking it all in very well and are learning so much. i love when I get to be able to see the change that the Gospel not only makes in an individual but in an entire family. Each one of them seems to be coming closer together. i know that is because of the importance our Heavenly Father puts on the family. He wants the family unit to be our main focus and is one of the most important things to him. We are going to be putting a big focus on getting young women to their lessons this week. Mainly for fellowship for Keriann. We want her to really feel like she is welcome and want to be their at church and mutual and even at school. Please be praying for her.

So i just wanted to share with you one of the testimonies that was given on this past Sunday. Their was a lady and she was talking about an uncle that she had that found out he had terminal brain cancer. The doctors told him that he only had 3 months to live. So the very first thing he did was go to his bishop. His
bishop asked so why is it you wanted to me with me? The man explained the situation and then asked "Bishop I have a firm testimony of the Plan of Salvation, but I just want to know, Am I good enough?" Wow the second that woman uttered that phrase a wave of emotion past over me. It really made me think and made me ask the same question, Am i good enough? I truly think, that is something that we need to ask ourselves every now and then. Am I living up to the standard that our Heavenly Father has set for us? Or is there more that i can be doing? I want you all to keep that in mind this coming week, because that is what I
am going to be doing.

Well I want to thank you for the package you sent me. That was such a great surprise and thank you so much for the wallet. You know just how much i love Superman and when i saw that i was just giddy with joy. Thank youall for all that you do for me. I really do appreciate the love that i feel coming from back home. I truly have the best family on earth. So a little info about skypng, plan on about 5 oclock your time. If I have to adjust things i will just calls you guys and figure it out. I should have pretty much as much time as i
need because we are eating dinner the same family that we are skyping with so it will work out perfectly.

Thanks again and I love you all.
Love Elder Payne

Pictures from Elder Payne!

My new tracting approach- haha

 This is Brother Allan's mountain man stuff-

 Chili cook-off

Thank you for the package 

I loved this! 

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